I mean, I loathe to use Pitchfork as a measuring stick, but their list, which includes a KFW intro and blurb by a bunch ppl who are over the age of 35 (Beta/Sherburne/Richardson/Masters/Reynolds) has a very open attitude towards what is considered "ambient"
https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/9948-the-50-best-ambient-albums-of-all-time/
― dragged across concrète (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 17 May 2019 21:48 (four years ago) link
fantastic work tuomas
personally prefer a wide definition myself
― Milton Parker, Friday, 17 May 2019 21:52 (four years ago) link
I mean, everyone can vote for THE ARTIST CLEARLY INTENDED THIS MODULAR SYNTH RECORD AS MUSIQUE D'AMEUBLEMENT PER THE DICTATES OF SATIE but that's not as fun imo
― dragged across concrète (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 17 May 2019 21:57 (four years ago) link
Also, I'm probably very close to my full noms but here's some big dogs that we've overlooked in case someone else wants to nominate them
Mort Garson - PlantasiaPhilip Corner - Satie SlowlyRaymond Scott - Soothing Sounds for Babies Vol. 1Raymond Scott - Soothing Sounds for Babies Vol. 2
― dragged across concrète (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 17 May 2019 22:02 (four years ago) link
Colleen - Les Ondes Silencieuses
15/30
― Soccer Team's Philosophies and Hypotheses (Leee), Friday, 17 May 2019 22:03 (four years ago) link
Fripp and Eno - No Pussyfooting Sakamoto and Alva Noto - Vrioon
― 29 facepalms, Friday, 17 May 2019 22:18 (four years ago) link
Vangelis, "L'Apocalypse des animaux"
― Ned Caligari (Tom D.), Friday, 17 May 2019 22:22 (four years ago) link
Steve Roach - The Magnificent VoidSteve Roach - Quiet Music
― Brad C., Friday, 17 May 2019 22:25 (four years ago) link
Robert Rich - Calling Down the SkyRobert Rich - Humidity
― Brad C., Friday, 17 May 2019 22:30 (four years ago) link
The Necks - MosquitoJohan Johansson - Fordlandia
― 29 facepalms, Friday, 17 May 2019 22:30 (four years ago) link
Looks like I get five more
Raymond Scott - Soothing Sounds for Babies Vol. 1Bohren and Der Club of Gore - Black Earth
― dragged across concrète (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 17 May 2019 22:36 (four years ago) link
that pitchfork list is kinda dumb, we talked about it at the time. like tim hecker, fennesz, pretty laptop noise... lol
― brimstead, Friday, 17 May 2019 22:37 (four years ago) link
Sorry
― brimstead, Friday, 17 May 2019 22:38 (four years ago) link
After 5-6 weeks of listing to Bacharach songs this will be a nice tonic.
― WmC, Friday, 17 May 2019 22:49 (four years ago) link
but that's not as fun imo
Part of the fun for me here is trying to figure out why some records feel ambient to me and some don't. Replica? Returnal? Persian Surgery Dervishes? Some of my favorite records, but they scratch a different itch.
But say Rifts isn't my definition of ambient either but fine, it's definitely part of the same fantasy musical universe as Structures From Silence.
So it is written, so shall it be done.
― but everybody calls me, (lukas), Friday, 17 May 2019 22:50 (four years ago) link
Eno Moebius Rodelius - After the Heat
― 29 facepalms, Friday, 17 May 2019 22:54 (four years ago) link
Oöphoi – Static Soundscapes: Three Lights At the End of the WorldAntrilon – Mind EraseMWVM – RotationsLull – Like A Slow RiverHazard – WoodDeep Magic / Pine Smoke Lodge – Split
― :∵·∴·∵: (crüt), Saturday, 18 May 2019 04:00 (four years ago) link
Les Halles – Transient
16/30
― :∵·∴·∵: (crüt), Saturday, 18 May 2019 04:03 (four years ago) link
^^^ good one
― brimstead, Saturday, 18 May 2019 04:44 (four years ago) link
I think ambient-ness for me has something to do with difficulty of perceiving movement, lack of drama, also just a general diffusiveness and um.... driftiness... a sense of distance/absence/“not there”-ness, indirect, sonic blanketsFennesz/Tim hecker include plenty of actual bursts of noise. and bald faced emotion. I like em bothSteve Reich/tony Conrad/Niblock stuff is so intense and lysergic it just doesn’t float or sit enoughI also hate sentimental gooey “ambient” that sounds like it could soundtrack a serious moment in a stupid movie/tv show. The ambient equiv of like Explosions In the Sky.Ok end rant, only posi non-annoying brimstead from now on promise
― brimstead, Saturday, 18 May 2019 04:57 (four years ago) link
Norman Westberg – 13Mark Wastell – Come Crimson Rays
18/30
― :∵·∴·∵: (crüt), Saturday, 18 May 2019 05:26 (four years ago) link
Irresistible Force - Dreamfish
This should be: Dreamfish - Dreamfish, and is Mixmaster Morris + Pete Namlook
― beard papa, Saturday, 18 May 2019 06:06 (four years ago) link
I also hate sentimental gooey “ambient” that sounds like it could soundtrack a serious moment in a stupid movie/tv show.
pleasantly surprised to see no bvdub yet
― groovemaaan, Saturday, 18 May 2019 06:14 (four years ago) link
beard papa at 9:06 18 May 19Irresistible Force - DreamfishThis should be: Dreamfish - Dreamfish, and is Mixmaster Morris + Pete Namlook
― Tuomas, Saturday, 18 May 2019 06:35 (four years ago) link
I've updated the nomination list, the link above still works, but here it is again:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1X14B7JHAooNtfPbNilJ1xPshNaKBbL6q-8E1xUdM7xU
― Tuomas, Saturday, 18 May 2019 08:15 (four years ago) link
Alain Presencer - The Singing Bowls of Tibet
1/30
― dogs, Saturday, 18 May 2019 11:16 (four years ago) link
I haven’t missed a playlist for the nominations, have I?
― I am using your worlds, Saturday, 18 May 2019 11:22 (four years ago) link
gas - narkopop
9/30
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Saturday, 18 May 2019 11:34 (four years ago) link
ta for correcting the dreamfish mistake folks.
― mark e, Saturday, 18 May 2019 11:55 (four years ago) link
I haven’t missed a playlist for the nominations, have I?If you start listening now you should get about halfway through by the time voting closes.
― groovypanda, Saturday, 18 May 2019 12:56 (four years ago) link
Tuomas at 9:34 17 May 19Steve Reich - Music For 18 MusiciansGroovypanda, you nominated this, but there are several different recordings of this composition. Which one do you want to nominate?Not sure. The original 1978 release I guess. Not bothered if it's left out if people don't think it's ambient as I possibly wouldn't vote for it anyway.
― groovypanda, Saturday, 18 May 2019 12:59 (four years ago) link
If you start listening now you should get about halfway through by the time voting closes.
I plan on sampling as many singles as possible.
― pomenitul, Saturday, 18 May 2019 13:04 (four years ago) link
― Tuomas, Saturday, 18 May 2019 14:10 (four years ago) link
E2-E4 (Radio Edit) xp
― groovypanda, Saturday, 18 May 2019 14:31 (four years ago) link
Sunn O))) - Monoliths & DimensionsSpacemen 3 - Dreamweapon: An Evening of Contemporary Sitar MusicGigi Masin - WindGigi Masin - Talk to the SeaEarth - Hex; or Printing in the Infernal MethodGrouper - Dragging A Dead Deer Up A HillGrouper - RuinsOneohtrix Point Never - ReplicaThe Caretaker - An Empty Bliss Beyond This WorldUlver - Messe I.X–VI.XTim Hecker - VirginsRyuichi Sakamoto - asyncStephan Mathieu - A Static PlaceThe Seven Fields of Aphelion - Periphery
― gman59, Saturday, 18 May 2019 14:37 (four years ago) link
14/30^
― gman59, Saturday, 18 May 2019 14:39 (four years ago) link
good call on Dreamweapon!
― Emperor Tonetta Ketchup (sleeve), Saturday, 18 May 2019 16:06 (four years ago) link
Deathprod - Morals and Dogma
― dragged across concrète (Whiney G. Weingarten), Saturday, 18 May 2019 16:42 (four years ago) link
btw whiney sunroof! is cancelled now dontcha know
― :∵·∴·∵: (crüt), Saturday, 18 May 2019 17:24 (four years ago) link
Slowdive - PygmalionJute Gyte - Penetralia
― gman59, Saturday, 18 May 2019 19:21 (four years ago) link
ooh yes Deathprod
― Siegbran, Saturday, 18 May 2019 19:43 (four years ago) link
Stars of the Lid - Gravitational Pull vs The Desire For an Aquatic LifeTerre Thaemlitz - SoilWolfgang Voigt - Rückverzauberung 10 / Nationalpark
― but everybody calls me, (lukas), Saturday, 18 May 2019 23:37 (four years ago) link
Shuttle358 - ChessaVladislav Delay - AnimaRod Modell - Incense and BlacklightVladislav Delay - AnimaFuture Sound of London - LifeformsAidan Baker - The Sea Swells a Bit
― beard papa, Sunday, 19 May 2019 00:58 (four years ago) link
Desiderii Marginis - That Which Is Tragic and TimelessDesiderii Marginis - HypnosisForrest Fang - GonglandForrest Fang - The Sleepwalker's OceanHarold Budd/Clive Wright - A Song for Lost BlossomsHarold Budd/Clive Wright - Little WindowsLucid Dreams/Celia Green - 0096Lustmord - Dark Matterv/a (Projekt Records) - The Promises of Silence
22/30
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Sunday, 19 May 2019 03:45 (four years ago) link
I love “Body sonic” off of incense and black light, really great mellow refractory dubby ambient techno. Rest of the album is nice too.
― brimstead, Sunday, 19 May 2019 05:58 (four years ago) link
Great title too
― but everybody calls me, (lukas), Sunday, 19 May 2019 06:51 (four years ago) link
I started listening to these plus a playlist of the Pitchfork thing. Ended up with the beginnings of a nominations list:
https://open.spotify.com/user/empeecee/playlist/4fPPFJHHNihMjlO9GVEs6F?si=hVKygUYXRJSuCafBZrfzlQ
Far from complete and still a bit of a mess. I'll resume tidying it up later. Certainly feel free to fiddle with it.
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Sunday, 19 May 2019 08:19 (four years ago) link
Are we, uh, definitely limited to 30? Only, all this lovely ambient techno is making me think the first Rhythm and Sound album really needs to be involved. And Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records. And the 'Plays' collection by Ekkehard Ehlers.
― Good cop, Babcock (Chinaski), Sunday, 19 May 2019 09:35 (four years ago) link
colleen - the golden morning breaksvirginia astley - from gardens where we feel securewilliam basinski - melancholiaemeralds - what happenedemeralds - allegory of allergiesrobert aa lowe / rose lazaar - eclipseshelios - eingyagrouper - the man who died in his boat
― meaulnes, Sunday, 19 May 2019 11:58 (four years ago) link
Hmm, I'm still not gonna disqualify anything, but just because some people have nominated dub techno shouldn't be an excuse to nom more dub techno. Most dub techno isn't ambient. If by the first Rhythm & Sound album you mean the one with Tikiman, it's a great record, but IMO it's not ambient by any measure. There are exceptions of course, for example I would say something like Liumin by DeepChord is both dub techno and ambient, but in general I would give a good consideration before nominating anything with a steady 4/4 kick beat. And yeah, I know have Empire State Building on my list which also has a 4/4 beat throughout, so I'm not trying to say all techno or IDM or whatever doesn't fit here, I'm just hoping people understand that that not all "home listening electronic music" is ambient.(xpost)
― Tuomas, Sunday, 19 May 2019 12:10 (four years ago) link