Top 100 Ambient Albums

Matt Ducasse had collected the raw samples for years, Toshi & Kudo provided the instrumentation when necessary, and Howie B blended it all together. This was pop ambient long before the compilations ... whereas Kompakt's collections have a bit of monochromaticism in common with the original 'Artificial Intelligence' pieces, Skylab's compositions patched together a much more diverse range of sources. Which resulted in a deceivingly bourgeois listening experience, but sacrificed little of the impact of raw sound art.

guess I felt I had to justify that one!

Yikes we are going to hit number one too fast

44. Roger Eno - Voices
43. Harold Budd - Lovely Thunder
42. Thomas Koner - Teimo / Permafrost
41. Steve Roach - The Magnificent Void (not like other roach. I swear.)

33. Cocteau Twins/Harold Budd - The Moon and the Melodies

100. Discreet Music - Brian Eno
99. Aphex Twin - SAW 85-92
98. DJ Shadow - Endtroducing
97. GYBE - F# A# oo
96. Shalabi Effect - S/T
95. Prop - Small Craft, Rough Sea
94. The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld
93. Global Communication - 76:14
92. ISAN - Lucky Cat
91. AIR - Virgin Suicides
90. King Black Acid - Royal Subjects
89. Gas - Pop
88. Tangerine Dream -- "Zeit"
87. Brian Eno -- "Neroli"
86. Michael Vetter -- "Overtones In Old European Cathedrals (Thoronet)"
85. Steve Hillage -- "Rainbow Dome Musick"
84. Zoviet France -- "Shouting at the Ground"
83. Ash Ra Tempel-New Age Of Earth
82. fennesz - endless summer
81. Susumu Yokota - Sakura
80. Tommy Guerrero - A Little Bit of Somethin'
79. Do Make Say Think - S/T
78. Beef Terminal - 20 Goto 10
77. Broken Social Scene - Feel Good Lost
76. earth - earth 2: special low frequency version
75. boredoms - super roots 6
74. Ry Cooder - Paris, Texas sndtrk
73. Ennio Morricone - Good, Bad, Ugly sndtrk
72. Harold Budd/Brian Eno - The Pearl
71. Mark Snow - The Truth and The Light, Music From The X Files
70. Miles Davis "Sketches of Spain"
69. Erik Satie "Piano Stuff"
68. Brian Eno "Ambient 4: On Land"
67. Labradford - Fixed: Context
66. Scorn - Gyral
65. Main - Hz
64. Stars of the Lid - Ballasted Orchestra
63. john fahey - blind joe death
62. Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells
61. Naked City - Absinthe
60. Popol Vuh - In der Garten Pharaohs
59. Cluster - II
58. Wendy Carlos - Sonic Seasonings
57. Miles Davis - In A Silent Way
56. Burger/Ink "Las Vegas"
55. Irresistible Force - Flying High
53. Nurse with Wound - Soliloquoy for Lilith
52. Eno - Apollo sndtrk
51. Klaus Schulze - Irrlicht
50. Coil - Worship the Glitch
49. Robert Rich/B. Lustmord - Stalker
48. Crawl Unit - Stop Listening
47. Skylab - "#1"
46. Sea Scouts - Pattern Recognition
45. The Necks - Sex
44. NO NECK BLUES BAND - Intonomancy
43. Roger Eno - Voices
42. Harold Budd - Lovely Thunder
41. Thomas Koner - Teimo / Permafrost
40. Steve Roach - The Magnificent Void
39. My Bloody Valentine - Tremolo EP
38. Bark Psychosis - Hex
37. Eno - Another Green World
36. Xenakis - Electronic Music
35. Spacemen 3 - The Perfect Prescription
34. Cocteau Twins "Victorialand"
33. Oval "Dok"
32. Swans - Soundtracks for the Blind
31. Cocteau Twins/Harold Budd - The Moon and the Melodies

now you'll have to think of somehting else for 1

This is the thread in which I discover that Lukas, LBI, Tuomas, KM, and Chinaski all have me killfiled.

:p

I can nominate some vapor ambient stuff, but not an expert on the larger topic at all

i'm listening to Sleepline by New Dreams Ltd right now and I'm curious if something like this would qualify

xp no way leee, i just forgot! i'm just pumped for the poll, whoever ends up running it :)

I had the bartender put a few drops in my beer last week. Horrible idea , turned it into soap abd caused it to overflow.

_I can nominate some vapor ambient stuff, but not an expert on the larger topic at all_


i'm listening to Sleepline by New Dreams Ltd right now and I'm curious if something like this would qualify

i don't envy the pollrunner on this one, tackling issues of what counts as ambient

i have a very expansive/permissive view of what "counts" in any genre, but i'm sure there will be questions about, say, seefeel's more well known albums

Xp hah - no way, leee! I got my 'l's mixed up and thought you'd sworn off cos you'd got the job. I'm up for it whoever runs it.

I'd prolly say NO Seefeel because beats but happy to be swayed. (While acknowledging there are some utterly beautiful ambient moments on Seefeel records, ofc.)

Thanks, chums!

As for what counts... if we say beats != ambient, then that would disqualify SAW and SAWII... and they have "ambient" in their titles!

and Gas albums have beats as well! or at least, they have pulses. :)

anyway, i prefer not to participate in the What is Ambient? wars of 2019, but i'll be very happy to choose my ballot from whatever makes it through the sift

also, very timely poll, as i just got David Toop's Ocean of Sound book on ambient music in the mail

Yeah, I won't die on the NO BEATS hill. Happy to vote on whatever appears.

Can't say how excited I would be about this poll, were there anyone to run it. Sad.

lllooolll

The recent-ish (2018?) Jurg Frey 5-disc album on Erstwhile = top ambient

...if you like the sounds of ocean surf, jet planes carving holes in the sky, passive (background / adjacent room-) listening, incidental sounds, vague tonal content, and silence

also, very timely poll, as i just got David Toop's Ocean of Sound book on ambient music in the mail

― these are not all of the possible side effects (Karl Malone), Wednesday, May 15, 2019 9:42 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Excellent book.

Oh and Leee I'd never killfile you, honest!

i don't understand what this is supposed to be saying:

if Eluvium is on this list there's no credible reason the first two Enya albums wouldn't be, except Pitchfork finds her way too unbeardly

Me neither.

I propose a totally free nomination process, beats/no beats, the voters will decide what they deem ambient. We're more or less adults here, I think we can do without strict rules?

Yeah, that's how I'm thinking of doing the poll. I think I'm gonna write some simple guidelines of how ambient is usually defined, to steer the nominations, but I'm not gonna disqualify anything if someone feels it's ambient.

For example, to me it seems pretty evident that SAW 1 is not ambient (despite the title of the) because of its dancey rhythms and beats, while SAW II is. But if someone still wants to nom the further, why not. But since we've had numerous generic polls on electronic music, I'm hoping this won't turn into one too, so hopefully people will at least consider what ambient means before nomming their favourite Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada albums.

if SAW1 counts then I'd think early LPs by The Black Dog and Autechre should also count

I don't think any of those count as ambient, but I'd like to hear justifications why they would?

I mean, if the one characteristic of ambient most people agree on that it's non-intrusive and doesn't call attention to it, then the jerky mood and rhythm changes of something like Spanners or Temple of Transparent Balls would absolutely disqualify it.

The first four Enya albums are amazing (the next four... less so) but I wouldn't call them ambient. Enya is Enya.

Would love to see everyone's top ten or twenty too!

Yeah, I love Enya, and there are many new age albums that are among my favourite ambient records, but her music isnt ambient, it's too song-oriented.

SAW1 shouldn't be eligible imho.

Let the great ambient gatekeeping begin.

hey tuomas, can i passionately argue for the inclusion of a field recording that i made of a train that's on my hard drive and no one else has ever heard, just so that i can be the one person that votes for it?

(jk)

everything is permissible but nothing is ambient

FSOL and Banco De Gaia, ambient or not?

FSOL has to be, how can Lifeforms not be ambient?

Your nominations for the ILX AMBIENT ALBUMS POLL (nominations close on Friday, May 31st)

Zoning out to saw1 after too much drink and drugs when I was far too young, as the sun rose over the trees, where me and my friends sat in sleeping bags we needed only for comfort, in a bright light back room in the west of england, we knew we were already late for saturday jobs, but it was alright because this music

Isn't ambient?

Posted on the wrong thread. Not to be I suppose