Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes tone and atmosphere over traditional musical structure or rhythm. A form of instrumental music, it may lack net composition, beat, or structured melody. It uses textural layers of sound which can reward both passive and active listening and encourage a sense of calm or contemplation. The genre is said to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual", or "unobtrusive" quality. Nature soundscapes may be included, and the sounds of acoustic instruments such as the piano, strings and flute may be emulated through a synthesizer.
Ambient 1: Music for Airports is the sixth studio album by English musician Brian Eno, released in March 1978 by Polydor Records. The album consists of four compositions created by layering tape loops of differing lengths, and was designed to be continuously looped as a sound installation, with the intent of defusing the tense, anxious atmosphere of an airport terminal.
Robert Rich is an ambient musician and composer based in California, United States. With a discography spanning over 30 years, he has been called a figure whose sound has greatly influenced today's ambient, new-age, and even IDM.
Vidna Obmana is a pseudonym used by Belgian composer and ambient musician Dirk Serries. The name Vidna Obmana, a phrase in Serbian, literally translates to "optical illusion" and was chosen by Serries because he felt it accurately described the music. Serries created music under the Vidna Obmana pseudonym from 1984 until 2007, when he officially retired the name. Most of his current work is released under the Fear Falls Burning pseudonym.
Selected Ambient Works Volume II is the second studio album by Aphex Twin, the pseudonym of British electronic musician Richard D. James. It was released by Warp in March 1994. Billed as a follow-up to James' debut Selected Ambient Works 85–92, the album differs in sound by being largely beatless ambient music. James claimed that it was inspired by lucid dreaming, and likened the music to "standing in a power station on acid."
Lifes Rich Pageant is the fourth studio album by the American alternative rock band R.E.M., released on July 28, 1986. R.E.M. chose Don Gehman to produce the album, which was recorded at John Mellencamp's Belmont Mall Studios in Belmont, Indiana. This was the only album the band recorded with Gehman, who moved them from the more obscure and dense sound of their earlier albums to an accessible, hard rock-influenced quality. The album was well-received critically.
Dreamtime Return (1988) is a double album by the American ambient musician Steve Roach, based on Australian Aboriginal culture and the concept of the Dreamtime. Described as "one of the pivotal works of ambient music" and "groundbreaking," the album has been included on a number of lists of the world's best music, including 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die.
Soma was the second collaborative album by the U.S. ambient musicians Steve Roach and Robert Rich, following their 1990 album Strata.
Pete Namlook was an ambient and electronic-music producer and composer. In 1992, he founded the German record label FAX +49-69/450464, which he oversaw. He was inspired by the music of Eberhard Weber, Miles Davis, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Chopin, Wendy Carlos, Tangerine Dream and Pink Floyd, and most importantly Klaus Schulze.
Geometry (1991) is an album by the American ambient and electronic musician Robert Rich. Although completed in 1988, this album was not released until three years later.
Ambient 4: On Land is the eighth solo studio album by British ambient musician Brian Eno. It was the final edition in Eno's ambient series, which began in 1978 with Music for Airports.
Sunyata (1982) is the debut album by the American ambient musician Robert Rich. The title refers to śūnyatā, the Buddhist concept that all things in the material world are empty of meaning and independence.
Timeless is the debut studio album by British electronic musician Goldie. It was released on 31 July 1995 and is universally regarded as a groundbreaking release in the history of drum and bass music. The album blended the complex, chopped and layered breakbeats and deep basslines of jungle and drum and bass with expansive, symphonic strings and atmospherics, and female vocals.
Hypnos is an independent record label, located in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was started in 1996 by M. Griffin to release his own recordings, both solo and for his collaborative project Viridian Sun, and has since become an established ambient label.
Yearning (1995) is a collaborative album by ambient musician Robert Rich and sarod player Lisa Moskow. It is based on the classical Indian musical form known as alap. Alap is the first and slowest section of a raga. The music on this album consists of Moskow’s sarod solos set against Rich’s classic droning ambiences.
The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid is the sixth studio album by ambient drone music group Stars of the Lid. It was released in late 2001 on the Kranky label, on two CDs and three LPs. The album features long minimal, droning compositions created from heavily treated guitar, horn, flute, piano, and other classical instruments.
Pomme Fritz is a mini-album by English electronic music group The Orb, released on 13 June 1994 by Island Records. Produced to sustain the group during a period of mismanagement, it was their first album with German producer Thomas Fehlmann, as well as their last with input from Kris Weston, who appears in a much diminished role as engineer. The chaotic Pomme Fritz moved the group away from their melodic, ambient sound towards a more abstract, experimental style, incorporating instances of noise, sampling, fragmented rhythms, industrial textures, indecipherable voices, and sound collage techniques. Island Records "hated" the album and "didn't understand it at all", according to group leader Alex Paterson.
Simon Scott is an English musician, best known as the drummer in Slowdive and formerly of Lowgold and The Charlottes. He also fronted Inner Sleeve/Televise, and has released ambient music as a solo artist.
centrozoon is a German electronic improvisational music group. The core members are Markus Reuter and Bernhard Wöstheinrich. The group's music is flexible and has altered from album to album, but frequently-used elements include ambient music, improvisation, electronica, progressive rock and IDM.
Novus Magnificat: Through the Stargate (1986) is an album by American musician Constance Demby, with additional sonic textures by composer Michael Stearns. The album sold over 200,000 copies worldwide It was voted in 2002 one of "The 25 Most Influential Ambient Albums of All Time".
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