Rolling ambient/chill out/drone/moodz thread: from 2010s 'til infinity!

I think we should have a separate thread for this stuff, because the bobbins and techno albums threads aren't really the best place to discuss it.

I don't think the discussion should be limited to stuff that's just come out, but preferably we should talk about newish records, so this doesn't just turn into old fogeys reminiscing the glory days of FAX and Rising High and em:t.

To get the ball rolling, here's my top 8 ambient albums of 2015 (partially copy+pasted from the techno albums thread):

1. Raw C + Pharmakustik ‎– Anamorph Specimens
* Excellent, droney and acid-tinged ambient techno (think of early Air Liquide and Khan & Walker albums) from Atom Heart's new label, No. If you buy this from their Bandcamp page, you get a 20-minute bonus ambient remix by Material Object, which is dope too.

2. Anna Thorvaldsdottir ‎– In the Light of Air
* An excellent modern classical album from this Icelandic composer, peformed by International Contemporary Ensemble. It's droney and minimal but not discordant, so good listening for ambient lovers. The package also includes a surround mix on Bluray, which I feel is the preferable medium for this kind of music, if you just happen to have a 5.1. speaker set.

3. Thomas P. Heckmann – Ghosts
* I think this is the first "proper" ambient album by this legendary producer and gearhead. Ghosts looks and sounds like a soundtrack to some imaginary science horror film, some cold and harsh dark ambient with occasional beats; simply put, it succeeds in doing what the Monolake album of the same name didn't quite achieve.

4. & 5. Omni Vu Deity - Vuunayatu & Nuiemu Rift
* These two albums are pretty much the opposite of "Ghosts", light and colourful and breezy ambient. They're supposedly inspired by, respectively, Polynesian and African music, but I'm not sure if I hear those influences, except for some gentle percussion samples and occassional disembodied voices, so you don't have to fear cultural appropriation here.

6. Lorenzò Montana - Vari Chromo
* Mr. Montanà has been on fire lately, releasing several quality ambient and IDM albums in the last two years. This one sounds like old-fashioned "home listening techno" with its syncopated beats and moody synth melodies, so nothing groudn-breaking, but boy is this guy great at producing it.

7. Material Object + Ishq ‎– Invisible Light
* These two acts from the opposite ends of ambient music, with Ishq specializing in soothing cosmic sounds, and Material Object in metallic drones. As expected, the result of their collaboration is somewhere in between, but it works. This one is also on No.

8. Lorenzo Montanà ‎– Nihil
* Another quality release from this guy, this album is more ambient and long-form than Vari Chromo. Some lovely, subdued and organic vibes to be found.

not really bought much ambient this year, but here are a few i have and enjoyed

in no particular order

- synkro - changes : old school synths and 90s ambient-techno mellow grooves on r&s. generic at times, but very pleasant

- jens-ewe beyer - emissary : released on the newly launched kompakt ambient label offshoot, kompakt pop ambient, that's for artist albums (as opposed to the pop ambient compilations). very sunday morning vs vangelis, featuring acoustic instruments mixed in amongst the usual ear candy synthetics.

- the orb - moonbuilding : this year i hit the kompakt groove hard. and this 2015 release hit the spot perfectly.

- sherwood and pinch - late night endless : not exactly ambient, but very laid back late night bass heavy dubbed out brilliance.

- lee bannon - pattern of excellence - cant recall too much about this, but i enjoyed upon its release.

- pop ambient 2015 - yes, more of the same, but when in the mood, this stuff is very addictive.

I haven't really paid attention to them recently, but are the Ultimae artists still doing good stuff?

I found the Jens-Uwe Beyer EP that just came out (Amor dark pink tencel satin suit) a lot more engaging than Emissary, which didn't really click with me at all tbh.

Thanks for the recommendations, Mark! Synkro in particular sounds like it's right up my alley, so I'll have to check that one out.

If we can recommend stuff that's a bit older, last year Oliver Lieb released Inside Voices (on Psychonavigation), his first ambient record in 20 years, and it's amazing! Pretty much my favourite "proper" ambient album of this decade. Like his 90s ambient music on Recycle or Die, this is cosmic and completely beatless, but it's not soothing and warm, rather than ominous and cold. If you can imagine Lovecraftian sense of cosmic dread put into music, this would be quite close. One track is called "Spooky Action at a Distance", which I think summarizes neatly what the album is all about.

Kevin Drumm's Tannenbaum is so majestic, i can rarely bypass it for anything else on dark winter nights. ditto Imperial Distortion. samples available on bandcamp.

hmmmmmm, is this where i put my pretty, coffee-table beats listening (like say this years EPs from Shigeto, Made of Oak, monte booker)?

Sure!

glad tuomas said that !
tis his thread, but i am all about coffee table beats ..
anything that is recommended that i can buy in a high street music emporium the better i.e. fopp/hmv/rise

http://glisteningexamples.bandcamp.com/album/oxidation-states

just heard this today.. thick, beautiful mass laden with troubling dissonances and delightful timbres. varied tonal zones, heavy vibes throughout

I mentioned it in the Ethereal/Goth thread, where it didn't really belong other than being released by Projekt, but Stratosphere's Aftermath is really, really good in 2015:

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

My favorite ambient record of the year was Jonas Munk's Absorb/Fabric/Cascade--really lovely stuff.

Also Chihei Hatakeyama released I think five albums this year, most of them good, but his collaboration with Federico Durand, magical Imaginary Child, was the tops.

Other runners up: Jefre Cantu-Ledesma's A Year with 13 Moons and Sam Prekop's last album, which wasn't really ambient but was all modular synth stuff. Chris Bissonnette put out a nice one on Kranky, too.

basinski: cascade - pulls the same strings he always does, the ones that walk you over to stare at the rain on the window

kaitlyn aurelia smith: tides - you just woke up and you can float above the heap of thoughts on suspended waves of synthesis for a little while, calmly

some of my favs from 2015 (these are all on Spotify in the US):

Sarah Davachi – Qualities of Bodies Permanent: incredible psychedelic analog synth/mellotron/flute drones, everyone should listen to this
https://ctatsu.bandcamp.com/album/qualities-of-bodies-permanent

Ryuichi Sakamoto / Illuha / Taylor Dupree – Perpetual: delicate and beautiful microsounds
https://12kmusic.bandcamp.com/album/perpetual

Benoît Pioulard – Sonnet
https://pioulard.bandcamp.com/album/sonnet

Thore Pfeiffer – Im Blickfeld

Ken Camden – Dream Memory

Steve Hauschildt – Where All Is Fled

Oh yeah I like that Kaitlin Aurelia Smith album too. She has another one, Euclid, that's also very good.

I want to like Euclid more but when i listen to it I hear a lot of sounds I really don't like! especially the chipmunk vocals. there are some parts that sound cool to me but too much of it just grates

I really love that Jonas Munk record though

yeah sarah davachi is great

Benoît Pioulard – Sonnet
https://pioulard.bandcamp.com/album/sonnet

This one is great. I love to put it loud on speakers and let these beautiful sounds fill the room.

The Perils album is pretty enjoyable too (Perils = Benoit Pioulard + Kyle Bobby Dunn)

Ryuichi Sakamoto / Illuha / Taylor Dupree

Max Richter Sleep is excellent although I must admit I haven't sat through the entire eight hours of it yet.

Any love here for the Northern Electronics label? Acronym, Föd Dödd, Varg (no not *that* Varg).

On the "Sleep" note, Robert Rich recently released a Bluray which compiles two extra-long "sleep music" pieces by him, the 7 hour "Somnium", which was previously released in 2001 on DVD, and the 8 hour "Perpetual". which is a new piece. They're meant to be used as background music to doze off to; I've done that on my sofa, and the music certainly works well like that. But considering the length, they're also suprisingly rich in tecture... Obviously, on the surface level they are very slow and unmoving, otherwise they wouldn't serve the sleep function properly, but there's a lot going on beneath the surface.

http://www.discogs.com/Robert-Rich-Perpetual-A-Somnium-Continuum/release/6204275

"tecture" = "texture"

After being inactive for almost ten years, Northaunt returned this year and Istid I-II should be a sure thing for anyone who liked Biosphere's 'arctic' period.

e/tape

https://soundcloud.com/etape/t-12

http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/images/245x/TO48.jpg

a classic

also, https://noticerecordings.bandcamp.com/album/i-hope-you-like-the-universe

came out this year, very finely detailed and subtle.

gotta second Imperial Distortion (Drumm), it's both airy and massive sounding.. definitely heavier than the Toral stuff, but calming in its massiveness. still put it on to help me sleep

n.b. leave off the last track, "we all get it in the end", for your sleepytime playlist

Haptic is also excellent.. fantastically detailed compositions. Abeyance, for instance, is very slight and airy on the surface but there's remarkable volume and detail to its makeup.

mattress.... i do it every time (take off that track), hah

Jason Lescalleet's The Pilgrim has a similar 'surprise', sonically very similar. another hour-long piece worth getting familiar (it's on Bandcamp)

kaitlyn aurelia smith: tides

Hey, thanks for recommending this, I bought it from Bandcamp. Like Crüt, I was a bit weirded out by some of the elements in "Euclid" (though I still like them if I'm in the right mood), but this is just excellent ambient music, so oceanic and soothing.

Any love here for the Northern Electronics label? Acronym, Föd Dödd, Varg (no not *that* Varg).

i'm a fan, these are really really good:

http://www.discogs.com/Ulwhednar-Withatten-1892/master/635076

http://www.discogs.com/D%C3%85RFDHS-M%C3%B6rkret-Kylan-Tystnaden-Ensamheten/master/890509

i'm prob repeating myself from the noize dude thread but

this is an absolute classic, everyone listen to it right now
http://www.discogs.com/Heathered-Pearls-Loyal/master/554972

Thanks for starting the thread Tuomas!

Seraphim Rytm's Aeterna album is my fave ambient thing lately, it is apparently inspired by Tarkovsky and his obsession with water, like a lot of stuff on the Silent Season label it is very watery/evocative of nature type ambient.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XKBTIMGk60

yea I love that too

what are some other standouts on silent season? not too familiar

been playing this jack jutson album a lot lately:
https://youtu.be/_Zce6sKmbek

<3 how each track has some type of wind sound rustling around it

Oh yeah, that's good stuff.

Dream Carpets too

https://youtu.be/a4-HcZAa_Yo?list=PLN3rJSAGi0v3ryuJL7eQ5PGrc3J6ePpj5

http://www.discogs.com/Alva-Noto-Xerrox-Vol2/release/1610507

alva noto - xerrox vol. 2 -- similar to tim hecker's work, though it's more exquisite.. super-fine textures and tonal zones. volume 3 was released this year, but it doesn't feel so well-realized.

xxxp

There is an excellent Silent Season comp. Asc has made 2 excellent albums this year and I quite dig Purl and a couple of years back I absolutely loved the Segue album, their follow up - not on SS - wasn't much cop though. They are not the most prolific of labels but I really admire their commitment to such a good aesthetic.

Wow @ this thread. So much to catch up on.

I'm serious about that Heathered Pearls album, it was one of those "I've been hearing this music in my head all my life" experiences

xerrox vol. 3 is fantastic imo, probably my favourite of 2015 in this vein

Asc has made 2 excellent albums this year

Yeah was about to mention that, I really liked Imagine The Future even though it sounds at times a bit too close to FSOL and Burial. Fervent Dream is the minimalist one, I have only just got that but sounds great on first listen.

If we can recommend stuff that's a bit older, last year Oliver Lieb released Inside Voices (on Psychonavigation), his first ambient record in 20 years, and it's amazing!

Speaking of techno artists releasing surprise ambient albums ...

http://editionsmego.com/release/EMEGO-215

I checked the Silent Season bandcamp page, but it seems all their CDs are sold out, even the one that came last month. :( And I'm not really into paying 12$ + taxes for a digital release alone. Do you have to like pre-order their stuff so you might get a copy?

I'm a big fan of Natalie Beridze/TBA, and enjoyed her ambient album this year, "Between The Naps," which also included her prepared piano pieces (not "prepared" in the John Cage sense, more like programmed via computer)
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUSRfoOcUe4b-Ok7VE3lQNYCIiuA4b_Um

She's also on the Gacha album "Send Two Sunsets," which isn't entirely ambient, but is mostly downtempo/lush. One of my faves this year.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLu6sgxcUkSyMfFg3kgEmZ5MSmFW_PWbkC

if only that surgeon was on cd.
sounds fantastic.

I've really liked a few of his albums though he walks a fine line for me, the noisier and more experimental he is, the better.

Persona grabbed me the most. It is a good deep-listening headphones album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwS5cpqFCvo

Maria Steed - Green Eyes

sailing out to sea

Made some really great discoveries through the latest Trilogy Tapes NTS show, most notably Ernest Hood (jazz guitarist who lost the ability to play and walk from polio, made some amazingly ahead of their time records on zither and synth in the '70s, maybe all you hipsters already know about them?):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvFdJqbV8a4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUdSrNAgr2Y

And this lovely EP of tactile piano/cello/guitar pieces (Flaer - Preludes):

https://flaermusic.bandcamp.com/album/preludes

This new Moritz Von Oswald record is something, drone-y but has so much detail and depth with the choir elements, and just enough rhythm lurking under the surface

Really lovely record from Memotone on The Trilogy Tapes:

https://thetrilogytapes.bandcamp.com/album/tollard

I’m enjoying this Purelink album on Peal Oil:

https://purelink.bandcamp.com/album/signs

very chill moodz

Glad to see that record has somehow had such reach, I've enjoyed Akeem's dance music for years

xp hearing the Purelink for the first time after noticing it on Pitchfork's AOTY list -- brilliant stuff

Not sure where to put this, but I would have nominated it for the EOY poll if I had heard it a few weeks ago (came out in December). Pretty stunning electronics + Rhodes + vocal improvisations.

Joseph Branciforte + Theo Bleckmann - LP2
https://josephbrancifortetheobleckmann.bandcamp.com/album/lp2

no idea who ferdi schuster is but this rules

https://cosimapitz.bandcamp.com/album/nun

YES!!

I recently discovered that label exploring Gespensterland connections, love most of it

same label also did this stunning 90-minute tape of Arvo Part on guitar

https://cosimapitz.bandcamp.com/album/wherever-i-go

(which I fell asleep to just last night)

damn, i can already tell i'm gonna play the shit out of this

ha I immediately bought like six tapes from that label, the Balruin and Spiritual Emojis ones are good too

*Baldruin

Part album is sounding very lovely, ty sleeve

<3

immense vibe on this track

https://ufordia.bandcamp.com/track/earth-love

This is more like a film score than ambient music per se, but it's super good

https://svbkvlt.bandcamp.com/album/ministry-of-tall-tales

The live instruments rework/reimagining/re-recording of Taylor Deupree's Stil. (w/Joseph Branciforte) is excellent -

https://taylordeupree.bandcamp.com/album/sti-ll-2

This is the stuff — cheers for the heads-up.

Lovely stuff

https://hotspring.bandcamp.com/album/apodelia

That sounds great

digging the hell out of this https://wereleasewhateverthefuckwewantrecords.bandcamp.com/album/quiet-logic

and it comes with a hat. more ambient albums should have hats.

That's sounding great ^^

Listened to this a few times; it's good - based on JG Ballard's 'The Drowned World'.
https://healingsoundpropagandist.bandcamp.com/album/ephemeral-maps

got a spare ticket for Kali Malone's gig in London on Friday. Can't make the child care work, So one of us must stay at home. chiz chiz.

https://www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/calendar/kali-malone-all-life-long-organ-choir-brass/

if anyone interested, I can let you have it for a donation to a refugee / womens refuge charity.

let me know in advance in case its gone already.

Nice travelogue-in-Japan synth record from beaunoise
https://beaunoise.bandcamp.com/album/ongaku

^ loving that

bliss

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

"Be Sure To Loop (Be Sure To Loop Remix)
Remix – Tatsuki Masuko"

i am late to the kali malone parade. i just started listening to the sacrificial code this week in my car and the sound is just massive, it feels like another dimension. im overwhelmed.

this beaunoise is stellar, thanks for sharing

https://stroomtv.bandcamp.com/album/teratai-kande

An absolute stroomer

Good uses of guitar a+

https://dustinwong.bandcamp.com/album/water-map

The Royksopp thing "Nebulous Nights" is worth a listen. I'm only partway through but this is two hours of Rokysopp at their most Vangelis with some of their usual collaborators.

this album brings 2am at noon

highly recommend both albums by Cloud Forest Protection Agency, kind of like a more benevolent Rainforest Spirtual Enslavement…

https://infinitytraxrecords.bandcamp.com/album/c-f-p-a-itc002

https://infinitytraxrecords.bandcamp.com/album/c-f-p-a-vol-ii-itc011

uhhhhhh p sick, thanks

srsly it's my birthday on Saturday and I doubt anyone is going to get me anything as good as this

big St. Giga vibes on these

I keep coming back to these. Thanks for the heads-up, brimstead.

oh glad to hear yall enjoying it :-)

fr

big St. Giga vibes on these

― sleeve, Wednesday, April 2, 2025 5:03 PM (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink

I will direct you to Lucy Liyou’s 'Dog Dreams'

https://lucyliyou.bandcamp.com/album/dog-dreams

The tone of this is somewhere in between a St. Giga broadcast complete with Satsuki Shibanoesque furniture piano, Luc Ferrari’s ‘Cycles des Souvenirs’ and the glut of ASMR videos on youtube.

For better or worse, it seems like lately if you dig around enough you can find exactly what you want. It used to always be elusive.

This 2019 album by INNSYTER, Magnolia Shade is really doing it for me lately, just my kind of lofi chill vibes

https://goodmorningtapes.bandcamp.com/album/innsyter-magnolia-shade

anybody into the ambient musician Warmth? these albums were great winter droney ambient companions for me. anybody in the southern hemisphere needing some musical... warmth right now might want to check these albums out

https://archivesdubmusic.bandcamp.com/album/home

https://archivesdubmusic.bandcamp.com/album/mourning-ghost-slowed

https://archivesdubmusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-night

New Purelink album: https://purelink.bandcamp.com/album/faith

Good interview with them with Philip Sherburne. https://pitchfork.com/features/interview/purelink-make-ambient-music-you-can-believe-in/