Ambient and drone recommendations

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This has probably been discussed here before, but I'm wondering what ambient and/or drone albums you all would recommend? List some of your favorites. Maybe some lesser known ones ie: (I've got all the Eno I need!). I always find myself in the mood for some more this time of year. Today Greg Davis' 'Somnia' album on Kranky sounded great while taking an after Xmas meal nap. Fennesz "Venice" and Brokeback's "morse code in the modern age" also have been favorites lately...

CL, Saturday, 25 December 2004 23:47 (nineteen years ago) link

Actually, I should have said ambient(ish) and drone(ish) albums as the Fennesz and Brokeback are pretty diverse in their sounds. But you know, that type of stuff.....

CL, Saturday, 25 December 2004 23:56 (nineteen years ago) link

and i was just wondering whether a rollign ambient/drone thread would roll rihgt off the screen never to be seen again.

xpost. careful with the "that type of stuff" line. derailed the last ambient thread we had from the start.

:| (....), Sunday, 26 December 2004 00:04 (nineteen years ago) link

the last two dronerecords 7"es are good if a bit spooky: soleilkraast "choresonic preludes" and cisfinitum "vs". there has also been a re-release of organums "vacant lights" which is like a very mild noise/improv session embedded into traffic sounds.

:| (....), Sunday, 26 December 2004 00:05 (nineteen years ago) link

the record I played most often this year was this.

(Jon L), Sunday, 26 December 2004 00:06 (nineteen years ago) link

That looks fascinating--what it's like?

mrjosh (mrjosh), Sunday, 26 December 2004 02:35 (nineteen years ago) link

You want to find Storm of Drones and Swarm of Drones -- awesome multi disc collections of drone music...

Jimmyt, Sunday, 26 December 2004 08:28 (nineteen years ago) link

Sunn0)))

Steev (Steev), Sunday, 26 December 2004 09:12 (nineteen years ago) link

\2004\pan sonic - kesto\disc 04\Radiation.mp3

harshaw (jube), Sunday, 26 December 2004 09:17 (nineteen years ago) link

for pretty drones check Polmo Polpo - Like Hearts Swelling

for frightening drones check SunnO))) - White1

for minimal drones check Kaffe Matthews - cd eb + flo

Rizz (Rizz), Sunday, 26 December 2004 14:34 (nineteen years ago) link

Probably stating the obvious here, but check out anything by Thomas Koner, especially Teimo, Permafrost and Kaamos.

Also, several of Robert Rich's early releases (Trances/Drones and Sunyata) as well as Below Zero or the awesome Stalker album he did with Lustmord would probably do the trick.

jeffery (jeffery), Sunday, 26 December 2004 20:36 (nineteen years ago) link

William Basinski "The Disintegration Loops"

Accelera Deck "Ski" (3" CDr on Scarcelight of lofi electric guitar drone.. beautiful)

Black Forest/Black Sea "Radiant Symmetry" (live improvisations from european tour... cello & guitar + guests unique to each show, based on location)

I'll second the SunnO))) recommendations.

Ian John50n (orion), Sunday, 26 December 2004 20:46 (nineteen years ago) link

more guitar-y drones:

Amp -- Perception
Stars of the Lid -- Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid

MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 26 December 2004 22:55 (nineteen years ago) link

also.. DOUBLE (FUCKING) LEOPARDS! Thick walls of slow-moving psych/ambience. But not offputting in its heaviness.

Ian John50n (orion), Sunday, 26 December 2004 22:57 (nineteen years ago) link

lately for me, on the guitar tip,
Aarktica - Pure Tone Audiometry
Bowery Electric, s/t

On BE, how are their subsequent albums?

derrick (derrick), Monday, 27 December 2004 00:31 (nineteen years ago) link

nurse with wound 'spiral insana' and 'a missing sense' are both nicely droney.

Vibrcathedral Orchestra are thick layers of acoustic/sometimes electric drone and clatter. S: Dabbling With Gravity & Who You Are on VHF and My Gate's Open, Tremble By My Side on Lexicon Devil.

Birchville Cat Motel is generally pretty decent, I guess. I've never been bowled over by his stuff but I know people who are crazy about it. There's tons of it, too, so maybe I just haven't heard the right bits.

Ian John50n (orion), Monday, 27 December 2004 00:42 (nineteen years ago) link

The Dead Texan (new band from the Stars Of The Lid guys)
and seconding the William Basinski

Gator Magoon (Chris Barrus), Monday, 27 December 2004 02:13 (nineteen years ago) link

Dead Texan is just one SOTL guy. Also on Kranky, new Growing album drones nicely.

Derrick, later Bowery Electric albums weren't as good. 2nd was OK, but now probably sounds too much of stale trip hop. 3rd was truly awful.

assseenontv (j22433), Monday, 27 December 2004 02:47 (nineteen years ago) link

you should really check out Disentegration Loops by William Basinski.It's a 4 cd set of decomposing drones available only from his website for $20.00.It is really fascinating.

evan chronister (evan chronister), Monday, 27 December 2004 05:37 (nineteen years ago) link

I don't know if Auburn Lull fits, but I'll toss their name out anyway. I mean to pick up their second album, Cast From the Platform, on sale this week.

That's a shame about Bowery Electric. I take it they're defunct now?

derrick (derrick), Monday, 27 December 2004 07:15 (nineteen years ago) link

I disagree about BE -- the 2nd album, "Beat", was their best. Part astoundingly beautiful shoegaze (the singles) and part isolationist guitar drone (everything else).

It is universally agreed that their third album is their weakest, but the stuff that sounds like Curve is really quite good. No drones, however.

MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Monday, 27 December 2004 08:08 (nineteen years ago) link

And of course, Basinski comes highly recommended as well.

MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Monday, 27 December 2004 08:11 (nineteen years ago) link

the young / zazeela tamburas record -- well it's just 74 minutes of them playing tamburas. no melody, no progress, just that sound. you can hear the microvariations of human playing, the sound never changes but is always changing, sends me into orbit within 10 seconds of being on.

(Jon L), Monday, 27 December 2004 08:18 (nineteen years ago) link

I've only heard that once but that doesn't diminish how wonderful the experience of it was.

I really wanna hear pandit's teacher Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan: he reacorded a one hour long version of a raga for all india radio. This wz released but its prob out of print.

Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 27 December 2004 14:10 (nineteen years ago) link

PARSON SOUND is good skull (or bong) rattling drone rock. 60's swedish hippy sounds. A lot dronier than the later Trad Gras och Stenar permutation (but they also get into the drone quite a bit).

Beautiful Speck Triumph is the best Birchville Cat Motel album I have heard, and it is completely epic and beautiful, I can't recommend it enough. There are a ton of BCM titles, but this is the one to buy.
It's on Last Visible Dog.

Have you heard the first five or six Tangerine Dream albums yet?

Trip Maker (Sean Witzman), Monday, 27 December 2004 16:08 (nineteen years ago) link

tim hecker's "mirages" is pretty lovely; like MBV w/out drums or tunes

kyle (akmonday), Monday, 27 December 2004 16:15 (nineteen years ago) link

b-b-b-but Basinski is not drone-y. he's ambient, minimalist, ever-changing, but not mmmmmmmmmzzzzzzzz (a good sound, mind you).

and this never ever gets said, but John Duncan's Phantom Broadcast is one of the loveliest drones ever. a captured shortwave shimmer that sounds like the monolith scene of 2001 if it were on the sun instead, all plasma and somewhat 'metallic'.

chrome primitive, Monday, 27 December 2004 16:24 (nineteen years ago) link

re: Birchville Cat Motel - he is touring the U.S. in January and I intend to check it out.

contribute, Monday, 27 December 2004 16:26 (nineteen years ago) link

Birchville Cat Motel live show pwned!! i almost feel sorry for his tourmates, they're probably getting showed up every night by his set.

re: "drone" live shows - been to a few myself, enough to have noticed that apparently the standard/proper way take in the show is eyes closed, legs crossed, rocking back and forth, head down. does the guy who looks the deepest meditatively get the girl? (assuming there is one in attendance)

contribute, Saturday, 8 January 2005 05:39 (nineteen years ago) link

The Tired Sounds of STARS OF THE LID should work

bee lips, Saturday, 8 January 2005 07:24 (nineteen years ago) link

one month passes...
Theres lots of droney ambient stuff on Kranky. I recommened Aix Em Klemm and Pan American.

dmun, Monday, 28 February 2005 17:01 (nineteen years ago) link

How in the world did I miss this thread? Must have been out of town. Yes to Birchville, I've recently gotten around to finally listening to them and they are grand.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 28 February 2005 17:05 (nineteen years ago) link

i'm likely to include minimalistic stuff as drone... hell, anything that's repetitive in extremes is drone for me. so...

otm harshaw on the 4th disc of pan sonic's rekkid from last year. tributes to charlemagne palestine are appropriate to this thread.

phil niblock's "young people's guide to..." is goodness.

polyphonic spree "a long day"... the only PS song i really care for. the haley's comet cult halleluyah chorus.

i like lot's of the krautrock/motorik influenced rock that might fit here. stereolab, etc. boredoms. suicide. oneida to thread.

youngsbower and vibracathedral orchestra rule. in that direction you can really go into bollymusics and probably find some great trance out stuff.

pita, etc?

mahogany.

etc
m.

msp (msp), Monday, 28 February 2005 18:01 (nineteen years ago) link

Another thread where I get to recommend Antarctica by Windy and Carl!

peepee (peepee), Monday, 28 February 2005 18:06 (nineteen years ago) link

My refrigerator. Dude, it's totally like an self-contained white obelisk shamanic ceremony. Waaaaaaahmpwaaaaaaahmpwaaaaaahmp.

Added bonus, ice-cream!

john'n'chicago, Monday, 28 February 2005 18:15 (nineteen years ago) link

our central heating unit kicks ass here. cheers to washing machines and dishwashers!
m.

msp (msp), Monday, 28 February 2005 18:42 (nineteen years ago) link

the new Eluvium record kicks fuckin' drone! er..ass..

Rizz (Rizz), Monday, 28 February 2005 18:44 (nineteen years ago) link

is the magnog stuff on kranky still available? i remember liking that a lot.

fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Monday, 28 February 2005 19:44 (nineteen years ago) link

I can't believe this thread's gotten so far and nobody's mentioned Xenakis.

Ian John50n (orion), Monday, 28 February 2005 21:09 (nineteen years ago) link

mobb deep - hell on earth

russignol, Monday, 28 February 2005 21:13 (nineteen years ago) link

Peter Warren & Matt Samolis' Bowed Metal Music

milton parker (Jon L), Monday, 28 February 2005 21:21 (nineteen years ago) link

i'll see your Warren/Samolis and raise you Robert Rutman's Music to Sleep By, 1939, and Zuuuuh ...oh, you know, the Die Stadt CD. and Rutman/Tiedemann's Big Waves.

echoinggrove (echoinggrove), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 00:49 (nineteen years ago) link

i guess its kosher to advertise your own album on here? my debut full-length as 'a million lights' (called 'album') is a limited edition cd-r available directly from me. im still waiting on reviews to roll in, so its low profile at the moment - foxy digitalis really liked the lathe-cut ep i put out, though...

chris andrews (fraew), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 00:55 (nineteen years ago) link

fumio kosakai and ikuro takahashi - ...of dogstarman

one incapacitant, one overhang partier, more than an hour of hurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 00:58 (nineteen years ago) link

or zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
that's the one Pataphysique title i never "got."

echoinggrove (echoinggrove), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 01:13 (nineteen years ago) link

x-post to echoinggrove, I almost ended my post with 'better than Rutman' but decided not to because they're too different to compare

Rutman is the innovator who's being doing this for decades, his records are more crazy/wild noisy than mellow. Warren and Samolis' record actually manages some consistent intervals, they've actually tamed the instrument into producing consonant sounds... Rutman 'industrial', W&S 'space music'.

I've only heard 'music to sleep by' and '1939' though.

& there's earlier W&S recordings that are noisier, and probably better, that should come out... if you have a label looking to put out some crazy brilliant drone, you should drop them an e-mail

(Jon L), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 01:32 (nineteen years ago) link

HENRY FLYNT "C TUNE" and "YOU ARE MY EVERLOVIN/CELESTIAL POWER"
TAKEHISA KOSUGI "CATCH WAVE"
PELT "EMPTY BELL RINGING IN THE SKY"

Ian John50n (orion), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 01:43 (nineteen years ago) link

I really need to hear Pelt.

(Jon L), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 01:46 (nineteen years ago) link

I suggest that one. Also good are Ayahuasca and the newesest(?) one Pearls From The River.

Ian John50n (orion), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 01:51 (nineteen years ago) link

hammock - kenotic

Aerodynamic (Aerodynamic), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 01:58 (nineteen years ago) link

Zuuhh!! Muttie Muu!! is bookended by Mika Vainio outtakes but otherwise vast and echoey and unearthly, in an abandoned spaceport (or Robert Rich/Lustmord) kinda way. Bertoia with the amps turned up to '11'? phenomenal.

echoinggrove (echoinggrove), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 02:10 (nineteen years ago) link

Nurse With Wound - Soliloquies for Lilith

The Argunaut (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 02:14 (nineteen years ago) link

that's the one Pataphysique title i never "got."

is there something to "get?" i just put it on and let it go. seems like an obvious descendent of the taj mahal travellers, kosugi's "catch wave," etc.

el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Thursday, 3 March 2005 05:09 (nineteen years ago) link

I can't believe this thread's gotten so far and nobody's mentioned Xenakis.

not ambient nor drone! neither is pita! shit is aggressive, dudes!

hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 3 March 2005 06:45 (nineteen years ago) link

six months pass...
I would say that one can listen Xenakis or Pita "as ambient" if one
is in a right frame of mind. I think if one terms something as "aggressive" it just mirrors the speaker's own feelings about it.....
I can listen Pain Jerk & Merzbow as "ambient" - I do not think that
kind of music as "aggressive".

But, to the recommendations ;):

Pandit Pran Nath
Thomas Köner
William Basinski: The River
Bernhard Günter / John Duncan: home, unspeakable
Eliane Radigue (everything by her - she is truly a genius!)
Lionel Marchetti: La Grande Vallée


Bombastic, Thursday, 22 September 2005 12:18 (eighteen years ago) link

I can listen Pain Jerk & Merzbow as "ambient" - I do not think that
kind of music as "aggressive".

Totally OTM. I have been saying a very similar thing about the satastornade album for a while now.

hmmm (hmmm), Thursday, 22 September 2005 12:21 (eighteen years ago) link

9/24/2005 $24 La Monte Young "Trio for Strings" Trio for Strings (1958); Just Intonation Version (1984-2001-2005) World Premiere; The Theatre of Eternal Music String Ensemble.
Led by Charles Curtis 9 PM MELA DREAM HOUSE 275 Church Street, 3rd floor NYC

Ian John50n (orion), Thursday, 22 September 2005 12:22 (eighteen years ago) link

Rh Band First Tone and 12.27.01

Tripmaker (SDWitzm), Thursday, 22 September 2005 13:05 (eighteen years ago) link

Some of these might be obvious, but I haven't seen them listed. Most are ambient more than drone:

Gas - Pop (or anything else) (drone)
Woob - 1194 (ambient)
Vladislav Delay - Anima (drone/ambient)
Mick Harris & James Plotkin - Collapse (drone)
Bill Laswell & Terre Thaemlitz - Web (drone/ambient)
Klimek - Milk & Honey (ambient)
Omicron - Acrocosm (ambient)

recovering optimist (Royal Bed Bouncer), Thursday, 22 September 2005 14:21 (eighteen years ago) link

And shit, I haven't seen this either, so: Earth - Earth2

recovering optimist (Royal Bed Bouncer), Thursday, 22 September 2005 14:21 (eighteen years ago) link

try this:
Arvo Part "Fur Alina"

richard wood johnson, Thursday, 22 September 2005 17:31 (eighteen years ago) link

noise is shit.

kate da saint, Thursday, 22 September 2005 17:32 (eighteen years ago) link

Current 93's In A Foreign Town, In A Foreign Land
Coil's Time Machines
The second CD of Nurse With Wound's Shipwreck Radio Vol. 1
The recording of The Hafler Trio live at the Horse Hospital.

Sasha (sgh), Friday, 23 September 2005 04:52 (eighteen years ago) link

I got Morton Feldman's Crippled Symmetry from the library last week and it's well lush. Flute/Piano/Glockenspiel play gradual rhythmically changing riffs for a couple of hours. Nice.

Don King of the Mountain (noodle vague), Friday, 23 September 2005 08:15 (eighteen years ago) link

If it's drone you're after then it's Folke Rabe, What?? you want

Raymond Douglas Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 23 September 2005 09:01 (eighteen years ago) link

one year passes...
.

fies, Tuesday, 6 March 2007 21:16 (seventeen years ago) link

i like the new k salvatore record on fusetron.

ian, Tuesday, 6 March 2007 21:23 (seventeen years ago) link

three years pass...

My refrigerator. Dude, it's totally like an self-contained white obelisk shamanic ceremony. Waaaaaaahmpwaaaaaaahmpwaaaaaahmp.

Added bonus, ice-cream!

― john'n'chicago, Monday, February 28, 2005 12:15 PM (5 years ago)

Some A+ recommendations in this thread, plus the above lol-worthy quote.

ilxor has truly been got at and become an ILXor (ilxor), Monday, 27 September 2010 19:04 (thirteen years ago) link

nine months pass...

artist called Soriah hitting the drone/ambient bullseye for me this morning

love in a grain elevator (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Tuesday, 5 July 2011 15:39 (twelve years ago) link

in case folks are not aware, the black dog have teamed up with psychick warrioirs ov gaia under the dadavisitic orchestra guise, and are to release a proper full length album of golden FAX era ambient drones.
the results are very nice.

mark e, Tuesday, 5 July 2011 15:43 (twelve years ago) link

holy fuck that sounds awesome

love in a grain elevator (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Tuesday, 5 July 2011 15:56 (twelve years ago) link

Soriah is a super nice dude fwiw

sleeve, Tuesday, 5 July 2011 16:25 (twelve years ago) link

Didn't know this thread existed... I was searching for a Loscil thread yesterday but couldn't find one, so I'll ask here: can someone do a c/d s/d on his discography? I've loved most anything I've heard from him but have not heard any full lengths - something I want to remedy.

scott pgwp (pgwp), Tuesday, 5 July 2011 16:57 (twelve years ago) link

'Submers' and 'First Narrows' have steadily been my favorites, I think they are archetypes of Loscil's sound. Great depth and density, underwater waltzes. You can't go wrong with either, though I'd recommend 'Submers' for starters.

Asamoah Nyan (Le Bateau Ivre), Tuesday, 5 July 2011 18:45 (twelve years ago) link

Noted, thanks for the rec.

scott pgwp (pgwp), Tuesday, 5 July 2011 19:43 (twelve years ago) link

Lustmord is too obvious?

Siegbran, Tuesday, 5 July 2011 20:09 (twelve years ago) link

Gonna have to dig through this thread more because this type of stuff is up my alley recently.

Anyone have anything to say about CM Von Hausswolff? The bits on iTunes sound promising but hard to judge this type of stuff with clips that short.

Sean Carruthers, Tuesday, 5 July 2011 20:15 (twelve years ago) link

Also if anyone cares, here's something I did for a friend's art installation a number of years ago: https://files.me.com/seancarruthers/c6tod4.mp3

Sean Carruthers, Tuesday, 5 July 2011 20:33 (twelve years ago) link

Second Loscil's _Submers_ as the album to start with, as it's the one that hooked me to pikc.

Also, Loscil's _Stases_ is a free album download here. It's at ...archive.org, as it seems the original site is defunct. Good bookend to his first four albums.

the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Tuesday, 5 July 2011 21:22 (twelve years ago) link

"to pikc" = "to pick up his other albums". There are also a handful of compilation tracks on iTunes, if you're a completist.

the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Tuesday, 5 July 2011 21:23 (twelve years ago) link

Man, thanks for the Submers recommendations. Listening to it now and it is absolutely gorgeous.

scott pgwp (pgwp), Wednesday, 6 July 2011 17:53 (twelve years ago) link

Has anyone ever done a POX for classic/best ambient records? ie the ten ambient albums that must be in your collection.

scott pgwp (pgwp), Wednesday, 6 July 2011 17:55 (twelve years ago) link

Ah, I see that the answer is yes.

scott pgwp (pgwp), Wednesday, 6 July 2011 17:56 (twelve years ago) link

Although hearing everyone's personal top 10 might be more interesting.

scott pgwp (pgwp), Wednesday, 6 July 2011 17:57 (twelve years ago) link

Ha! Very glad you're enjoying it!

Asamoah Nyan (Le Bateau Ivre), Wednesday, 6 July 2011 18:06 (twelve years ago) link

one year passes...

Soriah on America's Got Talent

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsSenMfLc_s

is capybara gay? (Ówen P.), Wednesday, 11 July 2012 13:45 (eleven years ago) link

^ this video made me angry btw, just so you know, it's not a pleasant yay Soriah thing but more a burn in hell Piers Morgan thing

is capybara gay? (Ówen P.), Wednesday, 11 July 2012 13:47 (eleven years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlqXyjwJwYM

am0n, Wednesday, 11 July 2012 16:39 (eleven years ago) link

three years pass...

This is a friend of mine, and I think it's really fucking good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jGdApdqGV8

a man a plan alive (man alive), Tuesday, 31 May 2016 14:55 (seven years ago) link

I guess this responding to a post from four years ago, but Soriah live (with Ashkelon Sain) was probably one of the best shows I've ever seen.

erry red flag (f. hazel), Tuesday, 31 May 2016 15:24 (seven years ago) link

two years pass...

gas - rausch is very good. starting my second proper listen right now. "The album consists of one piece of music that is indexed solely for navigational purposes, and is designed to be listened to in one sitting" : good to know, it felt like it.

Sébastien, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 02:26 (five years ago) link

one year passes...

i can't remember this and it's impossible to google and it's driving me crazy: who composed the early drone/experimental piece "was?" (german for "what?")

na (NA), Tuesday, 9 July 2019 17:02 (four years ago) link

folke raab

brimstead, Tuesday, 9 July 2019 17:09 (four years ago) link

rabe

brimstead, Tuesday, 9 July 2019 17:09 (four years ago) link

THANK YOU

na (NA), Tuesday, 9 July 2019 17:17 (four years ago) link

emeralds are all you need.

meaulnes, Tuesday, 9 July 2019 23:07 (four years ago) link


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