The tired sounds of ambience.
Man things are moving really fast lately, I've gotten behind on what I wanted to be doing with this site here, and I apologize for that, but I offer you a small update as a sign of goodwill.
One genre of music that I feel is highly neglected by most everyone is ambient. Ambient music to most people is more noise or sound than it is music, and that's a semi valid opinion. Ambient music is defined by the idea that it doesn't actually draw attention to itself. You're supposed to be able to listen to it without paying attention, and the music should mold and change your mood to suit the artists intent. According to Brian Eno, who pioneered the ambient movement and coined the term, "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." I know what you're thinking, sounds boring. But if you want my opinion it's usually way more interesting than that white guy with a guitar bullshit. And besides, it's absolutely fantastic to fall asleep to, or even for walking on one of those nights where you and the world seem just a little off. Ambient music is best used to put the listener at peace with themselves, for times when words and melodies seem too anchored to the material world.
Here is a song by Eluvium, maybe the best act in ambient today. It's off last years "Talk Amongst the Trees", and album I still listen to religiously.
Eluvium - Everything To Come
I've been thinking of making an ambient mix and putting it up on here, but I'm thinking it would take a good bit of work and I don't know if anyone would actually be interested. It would be cool if you guys could leave a comment telling me what you think.
I guess I should also update on a couple things I've been listening to lately. The new Max Richter album, "Songs From Before", has been lulling me to sleep the past couple nights. His work is what would most accurately be referred to as post-classical, blending flowing string arrangements with soft electronics and some spoken word. It really comes together well, and I think the song I've uploaded here is one of the more beautiful songs I've heard this year. It's two parts so I upped both of them. Pretty great.
Max Richter - Autumn Music 1
Max Richter - Autumn Music 2
The new record from Cyann and Ben is pretty great as well. They do a great job of mixing the sounds of post-rock, electronica, and dream pop into a sound all their own. Doing everything from fuzzed out guitar anthems to pretty piano ballads, and doing it well, "Sweet Beliefs" is definitely an album worth hearing. This song starts with humble structured beginnings and builds into a tremendous climax in only three and a half minutes. It's very good.
Cyann and Ben - Let it Play
One genre of music that I feel is highly neglected by most everyone is ambient. Ambient music to most people is more noise or sound than it is music, and that's a semi valid opinion. Ambient music is defined by the idea that it doesn't actually draw attention to itself. You're supposed to be able to listen to it without paying attention, and the music should mold and change your mood to suit the artists intent. According to Brian Eno, who pioneered the ambient movement and coined the term, "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." I know what you're thinking, sounds boring. But if you want my opinion it's usually way more interesting than that white guy with a guitar bullshit. And besides, it's absolutely fantastic to fall asleep to, or even for walking on one of those nights where you and the world seem just a little off. Ambient music is best used to put the listener at peace with themselves, for times when words and melodies seem too anchored to the material world.
Here is a song by Eluvium, maybe the best act in ambient today. It's off last years "Talk Amongst the Trees", and album I still listen to religiously.
Eluvium - Everything To Come
I've been thinking of making an ambient mix and putting it up on here, but I'm thinking it would take a good bit of work and I don't know if anyone would actually be interested. It would be cool if you guys could leave a comment telling me what you think.
I guess I should also update on a couple things I've been listening to lately. The new Max Richter album, "Songs From Before", has been lulling me to sleep the past couple nights. His work is what would most accurately be referred to as post-classical, blending flowing string arrangements with soft electronics and some spoken word. It really comes together well, and I think the song I've uploaded here is one of the more beautiful songs I've heard this year. It's two parts so I upped both of them. Pretty great.
Max Richter - Autumn Music 1
Max Richter - Autumn Music 2
The new record from Cyann and Ben is pretty great as well. They do a great job of mixing the sounds of post-rock, electronica, and dream pop into a sound all their own. Doing everything from fuzzed out guitar anthems to pretty piano ballads, and doing it well, "Sweet Beliefs" is definitely an album worth hearing. This song starts with humble structured beginnings and builds into a tremendous climax in only three and a half minutes. It's very good.
Cyann and Ben - Let it Play
posted by Kyle Funk at 1:54 PM
1 Comments:
oh my god...ambient music. the absolute best. it really is an escape. i love air, eno, and stereolab, and i really can remember driving to school one day in the fall and "the deadly nightshade" by daniel lanois came on the radio and it was just perfect. i guess he's not really an artist in the "ambient" genre, but i think belladonna was an album that could be categorized in there. aaand i'm done.
-alison
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