Just what in the world is "ambient"?

"New age" to me is bad ambient music. :)

The best website on Ambient seems to be Epsilon. There are essays on the origin, meaning and differences to Muzak there. The story is that Eno came up with Ambient when he was in hospital in January 1975 after an accident which immobilised him:

A friend has brought him a record of harp music to listen to. The man puts the album on. The music plays, but the stereo isn't working properly. The volume is barely above the threshold of hearing, one speaker is silent and the other is pointing away from him.

Conversely, you could just have someone listen to a Stars of the Lid record and figure it out from there.

Oh, and "Music For Airports" does get played in airports, just Japanese ones.

"Music that rewards close attention, but does not demand it."

There are probably multiple "Eno-definitions" floating around, though.

Another term I like is "space-creating music", which I think sums up a lot of the qualities of good ambient music quite nicely.

I've never been able to accept something like 777 (aka System 7) as ambient -- the use of that word by beat-heavy techno bands has always bothered me ("downtempo" has always seemed more appropriate for the music played in chill-out rooms). The term gets tossed around so much in technoland; I recently went to some website connected with the Epsilon page and downloaded some MP3s by a band that purported to be ambient. It just sounded like a cross between bad techno and bad new age -- glittery, slick, and sappy.

I think that ambient music often has uncomfortable overlap with other genres, like new age -- "uncomfortable" in the sense that, upon hearing a disc referred to as "ambient", one doesn't know what to expect. I wish there were a more functional terminology to allow me to distinguish disks like Datacide's Flowerhead or Seamonster1's Tsunamin Audio Prism from other, less interesting CDs. I've never been interested in huge distorted guitar-based drones (Bowery Electric, half of Flying Saucer Attack), whereas I very much enjoy certain other kinds of guitar-based drones (Landing, Seefeel, Labradford, the other half of FSA). Certain electronic-ambient albums with beats are not rewarding to me, but some are, like Spool's self-titled album or the Datacide album I mentioned above. And then what do you call something like the second track on Piano Magic's A Trick of the Sea, which is just completely gorgeous? How does one look for more of that, really, without having to go through an endless process of trial and error?

Personally, when I think "ambient", I think of something like this: "Music that is often slow, languid, quiet, and warm, mainly uses timbres that are pleasing to the ear, and at its best can stop time." Unfortunately, there's no classification for that yet, at least not in catalogues and record shops, so it's all been hit-or-miss...

I remember combing allmusic.com for five star ambient records in the early 00s, which inevitably led me to The KLF. I read up on the duo's extramusical exploits and was especially impressed with the million quid pyre, at a time when I knew next to nothing about performance and conceptual art in general (I was in my late teens). So when I first dipped into Chill Out I was doubly baffled: not only did it not sound flippant and revolutionary enough to be the work of the British Johnny Knoxvilles I had conjured up in my head but it also featured precious few of the transcendental synth cocoons I associated with the 'ambient' tag. My feelings towards it were more negative than not.

I revisited it a couple of days ago, after rereading that excellent p4k retrospective review from last year, and while the extra historical context helped me access a listening experience that is ultimately all about context, or very nearly, I don't think it has bolstered my subjective appreciation of its soundscapes per se. But it did get me thinking about an obvious and persistent bias of mine when it comes to ambient music (among others): I much prefer it when the sampled referents (instruments notwithstanding) are quasi unrecognizable. Indeed, the baaing and the chugging and the radio broadcasts and the snippets of pop/rock songs are a turn-off for me because they prod the music towards primarily verbal territory: discourse. This music talks, even when it isn't talking.

I think it would be unfair to reduce Chill Out to its explicitly referential material, if only because the way these sounds are juxtaposed and recontextualised throughout is quite eloquent (another linguistic metaphor), but I can't help but feel like it's all too clever for me to enjoy it as 'pure' ambient music. In other words, I have a much easier time approaching it as an instance of plunderphonics even though there is obviously a great deal of overlap between the two genres (hardly a bad thing, technically speaking: a 100% sample-delic approach is fine in my book as long as it covers up its tracks).

Anyway, I'm curious to find out whether this is an idiosyncratic hang-up on my part or whether referentially crisp, objective and verbose ambient is something you enjoy as much if not more than the more common post-New Age, vaguely spiritual, poetically hazy fare that has always been my favourite thing about the genre.

I'd say about 90% of my "ambient" music consumption falls into the quasi unrecognizable basket re: how the sounds are sourced. However Chill Out, which is one of my all-time favorite albums, is an exception to this and I think is sui generis in many ways. It's definitely a bold discursive statement to sample Elvis, Fleetwood Mac, 808 State, Van Halen, etc., but the particular songs that are sampled and the way the samples are deployed demonstrates an astronomical level of taste that floors me every time. Like I think familiarity with "Albatross" and "In the Ghetto" adds to my appreciation of Chill Out, but I also think those parts of the album are strong enough to enjoy without that prior knowledge. Also I think the most beautiful sections of the album are original compositions, e.g. "Madrugada Eterna" with its recurring two-chord synth progression and pedal steel improvisation.

But I also don't mean to minimize the importance of the album's referential nature. When I first heard Chill Out I was completely unfamiliar with the rest of the KLF oeuvre, so the little callbacks to Justified and Ancient, 3am Eternal, etc were completely lost on me. Then later when I heard those songs, it deepened my appreciation for their use in Chill Out. Then there's the whole meta-concept about the album being the soundtrack to an imagined drive through the American South. Layers upon layers. For me it's really the ultimate musical trip. Someone on ILM described the experience of listening Chill Out as having a staring contest with God...and winning...and driving off into the night. Which I think sums it up very well.

I'm always on the lookout for ambient music along the lines of Chill Out that rises to its level, but nothing ever does. So most of my favorite ambient music is abstract synthscapes like Tetsu Inoue's Inland, which I feel required to shill at every opportunity because it's just that good, and I don't see it mentioned very often.

I fucking love Inland. Great album.

For me ambient is just when atmosphere dominates at the detriment of traditional compositional conventions. That can happen to various degrees.

Good post, and thanks for the Inoue tip. I'll be sure to check it out.

Along similar lines, I don't fully 'get' The Orb, but their recurrent use of prominent beats pushes them into more danceable territory, reconfiguring my expectations in the process.

xp

Yeah I've had a similar experience with The Orb, though I think U.F.Orb and especially Orbus Terrarum are really cool, immersive listens. The artist from the 90s ambient/ambient techno axis I've really never been able to get is the Future Sound of London. They sound great to me on paper, but everything I've heard from them has struck me as a dull, uninspiring minor-key wash.

it’s a quantum effect thing my friends. there was a great post in that big eagles thread about biking around the neighborhood in the summer hearing the eagles coming out of driveway/garage boomboxes... I like to think that’s ambient music

Very much agree!

Fwiw I'm not trying to gatekeep what is and isn't 'true' ambient. I'm just interrogating my own preferences and wondering how they relate to those of others.

So most of my favorite ambient music is abstract synthscapes like Tetsu Inoue's Inland, which I feel required to shill at every opportunity because it's just that good, and I don't see it mentioned very often.

― J. Sam, Monday, February 8, 2021 12:21 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Everything this guy did was gold. Ambiant Otaku and Zenith are probably my favorites but I've never heard anything of his, including collaborations, that I didn't like. Terrible that he's been mia for something like 15 years now.

world receiver was always my fav... and that one he did based on the architecture of some old building? that was crazy

Ah waterloo terminal it was

I still have a CD of Waterloo Terminal; haven't listened to it in forever. I also have a collaborative CD that Inoue and Taylor Deupree did. Maybe I should check out more...

xp Yeah I think I've heard most albums involving Tetsu Inoue, and every single one is at least interesting and worth a close listen. It is awful that he went MIA not long after Inland came out, but if it turns out to be his final statement then it would be a fitting one, as it's one of the most perfect albums I know. Yolo from 2005 is great too--similar to Inland but glitchier.

As far as his 90s stuff goes I also love Ambiant Otaku, and Flowerhead by DATacide (Inoue and Atom Heart) is one of the least-dated pieces of ambient techno from that era. "Ring of Power" from Organic Cloud is probably my single favorite track of his, and it sounds like Rifts-era Oneohtrix Point Never but from 1995:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwnUw8XlIoo

Oh and brimstead otm about World Receiver. It's a masterpiece

wow I think Organic Cloud is now my favorite Tetsu Inoue album (need to re-listen to WR again to check.) Thanks!

Let's not forget 62 Eulengasse! That was my first so it holds a special place for me

Oh yeah I love that one, and the rest of the Inoue/Namlook collabs are awesome too (I think 2350 Broadway 3 and Shades of Orion 2 are my favorites). As I understand it, Namlook's preferred working method was to record entire albums more or less live (hence his outrageous prolificacy), while Inoue was evidently more meticulous. So it's cool on those albums to hear Inoue pushed into a more stretched-out deep space zone