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

fantastic work tuomas

personally prefer a wide definition myself

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

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 - Plantasia
Philip Corner - Satie Slowly
Raymond Scott - Soothing Sounds for Babies Vol. 1
Raymond Scott - Soothing Sounds for Babies Vol. 2

Colleen - Les Ondes Silencieuses

15/30

Fripp and Eno - No Pussyfooting
Sakamoto and Alva Noto - Vrioon

Vangelis, "L'Apocalypse des animaux"

Steve Roach - The Magnificent Void
Steve Roach - Quiet Music

Robert Rich - Calling Down the Sky
Robert Rich - Humidity

The Necks - Mosquito
Johan Johansson - Fordlandia

Looks like I get five more

Raymond Scott - Soothing Sounds for Babies Vol. 1
Bohren and Der Club of Gore - Black Earth

that pitchfork list is kinda dumb, we talked about it at the time. like tim hecker, fennesz, pretty laptop noise... lol

Sorry

After 5-6 weeks of listing to Bacharach songs this will be a nice tonic.

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.

Eno Moebius Rodelius - After the Heat

Oöphoi – Static Soundscapes: Three Lights At the End of the World
Antrilon – Mind Erase
MWVM – Rotations
Lull – Like A Slow River
Hazard – Wood
Deep Magic / Pine Smoke Lodge – Split

15/30

Les Halles – Transient

16/30

^^^ good one

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 blankets

Fennesz/Tim hecker include plenty of actual bursts of noise. and bald faced emotion. I like em both

Steve Reich/tony Conrad/Niblock stuff is so intense and lysergic it just doesn’t float or sit enough

I 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

Norman Westberg – 13
Mark Wastell – Come Crimson Rays

18/30

Irresistible Force - Dreamfish

This should be: Dreamfish - Dreamfish, and is Mixmaster Morris + Pete Namlook

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

beard papa at 9:06 18 May 19

Irresistible Force - Dreamfish

This should be: Dreamfish - Dreamfish, and is Mixmaster Morris + Pete Namlook

I've updated the nomination list, the link above still works, but here it is again:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1X14B7JHAooNtfPbNilJ1xPshNaKBbL6q-8E1xUdM7xU

Alain Presencer - The Singing Bowls of Tibet

1/30

I haven’t missed a playlist for the nominations, have I?

gas - narkopop

9/30

ta for correcting the dreamfish mistake folks.

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.

Tuomas at 9:34 17 May 19

Steve Reich - Music For 18 Musicians

Groovypanda, 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.

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.

I haven’t missed a playlist for the nominations, have I?

E2-E4 (Radio Edit) xp

Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
Spacemen 3 - Dreamweapon: An Evening of Contemporary Sitar Music
Gigi Masin - Wind
Gigi Masin - Talk to the Sea
Earth - Hex; or Printing in the Infernal Method
Grouper - Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill
Grouper - Ruins
Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica
The Caretaker - An Empty Bliss Beyond This World
Ulver - Messe I.X–VI.X
Tim Hecker - Virgins
Ryuichi Sakamoto - async
Stephan Mathieu - A Static Place
The Seven Fields of Aphelion - Periphery

14/30^

good call on Dreamweapon!

Deathprod - Morals and Dogma

btw whiney sunroof! is cancelled now dontcha know

Slowdive - Pygmalion
Jute Gyte - Penetralia

16/30

ooh yes Deathprod

Stars of the Lid - Gravitational Pull vs The Desire For an Aquatic Life
Terre Thaemlitz - Soil
Wolfgang Voigt - Rückverzauberung 10 / Nationalpark

9/30

Shuttle358 - Chessa
Vladislav Delay - Anima
Rod Modell - Incense and Blacklight
Vladislav Delay - Anima
Future Sound of London - Lifeforms
Aidan Baker - The Sea Swells a Bit

Desiderii Marginis - That Which Is Tragic and Timeless
Desiderii Marginis - Hypnosis
Forrest Fang - Gongland
Forrest Fang - The Sleepwalker's Ocean
Harold Budd/Clive Wright - A Song for Lost Blossoms
Harold Budd/Clive Wright - Little Windows
Lucid Dreams/Celia Green - 0096
Lustmord - Dark Matter
v/a (Projekt Records) - The Promises of Silence

22/30

I love “Body sonic” off of incense and black light, really great mellow refractory dubby ambient techno. Rest of the album is nice too.

Great title too

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.

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.

colleen - the golden morning breaks
virginia astley - from gardens where we feel secure
william basinski - melancholia
emeralds - what happened
emeralds - allegory of allergies
robert aa lowe / rose lazaar - eclipses
helios - eingya
grouper - the man who died in his boat

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)

It's just a matter of time before someone noms Boards of Canada.