Ambient music is a loosely defined musical genre that incorporates elements of a number of different styles - including jazz, electronic music, new age, rock and roll, modern classical music, reggae, traditional, world and noise.
It is sometimes characterised as possessing a sense of resonant sonic space, and of being designed to function equally effectively for both passive and active listening.
“ 'Ambient Music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting.' — Brian Eno (Music for Airports liner notes [1], September 1978) ”
The earliest electronic soundscape music and theories come from the work of Pierre Schaeffer who followed the futurists in classifying music into categories such as man made, natural, short and long. He made some of the first electronic music using record players and natural sounds, and cutting up tape, making the first experimental music use of recording and magnetic tape. Even his work can be seen as preempted by Schopenhauer's ideas of 'soundworlds', literally worlds made up entirely of sounds. Karlheinz Stockhausen created pioneering electronic musical experiments later in 1955, and these two (amongst others) lay the groundwork for ambient music to appear decades later when music technology had developed.
The term "ambient music" was first coined by Brian Eno in the late 1970s to refer to music that would envelop the listener without drawing attention to itself, that can be either "actively listened to with attention or as easily ignored, depending on the choice of the listener" (Eno, who describes himself as a "non-musician" termed his experiments in sound as "treatments" rather than as traditional performances). Hence, Brian Eno is considered the father of ambient music: his 1978 release Ambient 1: Music for Airports includes a manifesto describing this music. Although having coined the word "ambient", he is also quick to reference the works and influence of Erik Satie. Eno coined the term in an essay to distance his work from elevator music and Muzak, it is more often similar to mood music or an ambient background in movie and radio sound effects.
Some of the works of the 20th century French composer Erik Satie, today best known for his Trois Gymnopédies suite, can be regarded as predecessors of modern ambient music. He referred to some of his music as "Musique d'ameublement" ('furniture music' ,or more literally, 'music for the furniture' and 'music to mingle with knives and forks', referring to something that could be played during dinner and would simply create an atmosphere for that activity rather than be the focus of attention. Similarly some of the works of the French composer Edgard Varèse, who used the theremin extensively in his compositions as well as atonal techniques and non-standard time signatures, can also be viewed as predecessors of ambient music. John Cage created the ultimate ambient work with his 4'33", three periods of silence first played on the piano, which make the audience listen to the ambient sound surrounding them. Cage inspired minimalist composers such as La Monte Young, Morton Feldman, Terry Riley, Steve Reich and Philip Glass also influenced Eno's groundbreaking style, and ambient music can be seen as a kind of minimalism.
Early albums by Pink Floyd (such as Ummagumma and Meddle) and by the "kosmische music"-oriented krautrock artists, like Tangerine Dream, Popol Vuh, and Cluster have greatly influenced the genre. Among the first electronic ambient albums were Affenstunde (1970) and In Den Garten Pharaos (1971) by Popol Vuh. Another important album was Sonic Seasonings (1972) by Wendy Carlos. Other early artists such as Klaus Schulze (a former member of Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel), Jean Michel Jarre, and Kraftwerk in the 1970s and 1980s were influential. In the 1970s, some ambient, krautrock, and other musicians who were influenced by new age spirituality created the eclectic genre known as New Age music, selling millions independent from the mainstream music industry by direct order or new age shops. By the 1980s, New Age music had become so much better known than ambient music, that ambient was taken as a synonym for "New Age", and many ambient musicians deliberately took on new age themes to market themselves to this audience.
Beginning in the 1980s, Ambient music influenced some pop bands (examples can be found among instrumentals by New Order, Depeche Mode, Simple Minds and U2). Later, electronic dance music and synth pop merged in many artists' works with the dreamy, meandering sound of Eno-style ambient music. Under the guise of various styles, this new genre sometimes referred to as ambient house, ambient techno, ambient dub, IDM, ambience, or simply "ambient" in common use, saw the birth of a new wave of artists like The Orb, Aphex Twin, the Irresistible Force, and Geir Jenssen's Biosphere.
Early Warp records artists, (as well as later ones such as Aphex Twin), FSOL Future Sound of London (Lifeforms, ISDN) Autechre, (Incunabula, Amber), Boards of Canada, Massive Attack, Portishead, and The KLF all took a part in popularising and diversifying ambient music. There are now a dizzying array of different sub-genres, festivals, websites, discussion lists, clubs, labels and artists making new, interesting, original music.
Ambient music has been used in many television shows and motion pictures and is notable for contributing to their atmosphere. Being an alternative to canned incidental music or stock music cues, it also gives the musician artistic freedom. The traditional practice of composing for film or television usually involves the composer creating recognizable theme songs or jingles for the setting, hero or villain, and for plot elements such as love interest, action, and death scenes. However, ambient music is noted for taking a less formulaic approach in its use in film and TV shows. David Lynch's 1984 film Dune, for example, forgoes the epic sci-fi adventure style theme music popularized by Star Wars in favor of a more atmospheric music score by Toto and Brian Eno.
Derivative forms and sub-genres
Organic ambient music
Organic ambient music is characterised by integration of electronic, electric, and acoustic musical instruments. Aside from the usual electronic music influences, organic ambient tends to incorporate influences from world music, especially drone instruments and hand percussion. Organic ambient is intended to be more harmonious with nature than with the disco. Some of the artists in this sub-genre include Robert Rich, Steve Roach, Vidna Obmana, O Yuki Conjugate, James Johnson, Loren Nerell, Numina and Tuu.
Some works by ambient pioneers such as Brian Eno, which use a combination of traditional (such as piano) and electronic instruments, would be considered organic ambient music in this sense. In the 70's and 80's Klaus Schulze often recorded string ensembles and performances by solo cellists to go along with his extended Moog synthesizer workouts.
Nature inspired ambient music
The music is composed from samples and recordings of naturally occurring sounds. Sometimes these samples can be treated to make them more instrument-like. The samples may be arranged in repetitive ways to form a conventional musical structure or may be random and unfocused. Sometimes the sound is mixed with urban or "found" sounds. Examples include much of Biosphere's Substrata, Mira Calix's insect music and Chris Watson's Weather Report. Some overlap occurs between organic ambient and nature inspired ambient. One of the first albums in the genre, Wendy Carlos' Sonic Seasonings, combines sampled and synthesized nature sounds with ambient melodies and drones for a particularly relaxing effect.
Dark ambient
Main article: Dark ambient
Dark ambient is a general term for any kind of ambient music with a "dark" or dissonant feel, but often involves extensive use of digital reverb to create vast sonic spaces for frightening, bottom-heavy sounds such as deep drones, gloomy male chorus, echoing thunder, and distant artillery. It has a relentlessly gothic feel. Robert Rich's collaboration with Lustmord on Stalker epitomizes this sub-genre. Related styles include ambient industrial and isolationist ambient. (See also List of dark ambient artists)
There are also a great number of Black metal bands who follow an ambient path. An example is Burzum.
Ambient industrial
Main article: Ambient industrial
Ambient industrial is a hybrid genre of ambient and industrial music; the term industrial being used in the original experimental sense, rather than in the sense of industrial metal or EBM. A "typical" ambient industrial work (if there is a such thing) might consist of evolving dissonant harmonies of metallic drones and resonances, extreme low frequency rumbles and machine noises, perhaps supplemented by gongs, percussive rhythms, bullroarers, distorted voices and/or anything else the artist might care to sample (often processed to the point where the original sample is no longer recognizable). Entire works may be based on radio telescope recordings, the babbling of newborn babies, or sounds recorded through contact microphones on telegraph wires.
Among the many artists who work in this area are Coil, CTI, Lustmord, Susumu Yokota , Hafler Trio, Nocturnal Emissions, Zoviet France, PGR, Thomas Koner, Controlled Bleeding, and Deutsch Nepal. It is important to note, however, that many of these artists are very eclectic in their output, with much of it falling outside of ambient industrial per se.
Isolationist ambient music
Also known as isolationism. The term was popularized in the mid-1990s by the British magazine The Wire and the Ambient 4: Isolationism compilation from Virgin, this began as more or less a synonym for ambient industrial, but also inclusive of certain post-techno streams of ambient, such as Autechre and Aphex Twin.[2] The Sombient label is now the primary purveyor of isolationist ambient, in particular with the "drones" compilation series. Some of the artists known for this style of ambient music include Robert Fripp.
Political ambient music
This particular style stands in direct contrast to the apolitical, or acontextual, "disconnected" sound which is argued that other forms of ambient music represent, in that these other forms either reinforce or stand commentless on existing social, sexual and political structures and the dynamics of interpersonal relationships. Terre Thaemlitz's Soil and Tranquilizer releases in the early and mid-1990s served to introduce this form of ambient music, continued in later releases such as Couture Cosmetique and Means from an End, which aim to recast the usually passive artist-listener-environment equation.
Other 'less ambient' ambient styles
There are many other styles which identify themselves as ambient music. There is information on these styles on other pages, but many artists who are not in the new age world of music making produce albums which mix beatless ambient music with downtempo electronica, so the categories have blured edges. Chill out (music) is generally linked to club culture and is sometimes used as a term which includes ambient music as a subset of itself. UK techno developed in particular at Warp Records in Sheffield, where previous electronic pioneers such as Cabaret Voltaire and Autechre laid the groundwork for ambient techno to develop, and for Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada to develop later. From this scene developed ambient dub and ambient techno. Intelligent Dance Music is another term synonymous with this scene. Electroacoustic and acousmatic music are 'classical' art music forms that use electronic sound creation instead of or alongside acoustic instruments. Glitch music is a subset of this work. Some club groups have made live ambient music, mixing dub techniques and styles with ambient textures and dance grooves, for example artists such as Sonic State, Junkielover, The Orb, Chillage People, H.U.V.A. Network, Solar Fields, The Starsound Orchestra, Eastern Sun, and the Kuma Mela Project.
Notable musicians and works in chronological order
Main article: List of ambient artists
Artist name Influential works
Erik Satie 1917 - Furniture music (1)
1920 - Furniture music (2)
1923 - Furniture music (3)
Edgard Varèse 1934 - Ecuatorial
Pierre Schaeffer 1948 - Etude aux Chemins de Fer
Terry Riley 1964 - In C
1968 - A Rainbow in Curved Air
Miles Davis 1969 - In A Silent Way
1974 - Big Fun for "Orange Lady"
1974 - Get Up With It for "He Loved Him Madly"
Popol Vuh 1970 - Affenstunde
1971 - In Den Garten Pharaos
Pink Floyd 1971 - Meddle
Tangerine Dream 1971 - Alpha Centauri
1972 - Zeit
1974 - Phaedra
1975 - Rubycon
1975 - Ricochet
1976 - Stratosfear
—
2000 - The Seven Letters from Tibet
Wendy Carlos 1972 - Sonic Seasonings
Klaus Schulze 1972 - Irrlicht
1973 - Cyborg
1975 - Timewind
1976 - Moondawn
1977 - Mirage
1977 - Body Love Vol. 2
1978 - X
1979 - Dune
1995 - In Blue
— With Pete Namlook:
1994 - Dark Side of the Moog I - Wish you were there
1994 - Dark Side of the Moog II - A saucerful of ambience
2002 - Dark Side of the Moog IX - Set the controls for the heart of the mother
2005 - Dark Side of the Moog X - Astro know me domina
Can 1973 - Future Days
1974 - Soon Over Babaluma
Gong 1973 - Flying Teapot for "The Octave Doctors and the Crystal Machine"
1974 - You for "A Sprinkling of Clouds"
Fripp & Eno 1973 - No Pussyfooting
1975 - Evening Star
2005 - The Equatorial Stars
Kraftwerk 1975 - Radio-Activity
Robert Fripp 1981 - Let The Power Fall
1998 - The Gates Of Paradise
Brian Eno 1975 - Another Green World
1975 - Discreet Music
1978 - Ambient 1 / Music For Airports
1980 - Fourth World 1 / Possible Musics (with Jon Hassell)
1982 - Ambient 4 / On Land
1983 - Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks
Steve Reich 1976-1978 - Music for 18 Musicians
Jean Michel Jarre 1976 - Oxygene
1977 - Equinoxe
Steve Roach 1984 - Structures from Silence
1988 - Quiet Music
1988 - Dreamtime Return
1993 - Origins
1994 - Artifacts
1996 - The Magnificent Void
2000 - Early Man
2003 - Mystic Chords & Sacred Spaces
Coil 1984 - How to Destroy Angels
1998 - Time Machines
The KLF 1990 - Chill Out
Enigma 1990 - MCMXC A.D.
The Orb 1991 - The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld
1992 - U.F.Orb
Biosphere 1991 - 1994 - Patashnik
1995 - Substrata
Aphex Twin 1992 - Selected Ambient Works 85-92
1994 - Selected Ambient Works Volume II
Pete Namlook 1992 - Silence I
1993 - Air I
1994 - Air II
1996 - Outland 2 (with Bill Laswell)
1996 - The Fires of Ork (with Geir Jensen of Biosphere)
Moby aka Voodoo Child 1993 - Ambient
1996 - The End of Everything (as Voodoo Child)
Global Communication 1994 - 76:14
Alpha Wave Movement 1995 - Transcendence
2000 - Drifted Into Deeper Lands
Future Sound of London 1994 - Lifeforms
1994 - ISDN
Richard Bone 1998 - The Spectral Ships
1999 - Ether Dome
Stars of the Lid 1999 - Avec Laudenum
2001 - The Tired Sounds Of Stars Of The Lid
William Basinski 2002 - The River
2002-2003 - Disintegration Loops I, II, III and IV
Marvin Ayres 1999 - Cellosphere
2002 - Neptune
Subject: So the history of this genre 
Sat Feb 03, 2007 3:28 am
