Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes tone and atmosphere over traditional musical structure or rhythm. It is often "peaceful" sounding and lacks composition, beat, and/or structured melody. It uses textural layers of sound that 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.
The Blueprint is the sixth studio album by American rapper Jay-Z, released on September 11, 2001, through Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam Recordings. Its release was set a week earlier than initially planned in order to combat bootlegging. Recording sessions for the album took place during 2001 at Manhattan Center Studios and Baseline Studios in New York City. Contrasting the radio-friendly sound of Jay-Z's previous work, The Blueprint features soul-based sampling and production handled primarily by Kanye West, Just Blaze, and Bink, as well as Timbaland, Trackmasters, and Eminem, who also contributes the album's sole guest feature.
"Idioteque" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released on their fourth album, Kid A (2000). Radiohead developed it while experimenting with modular synthesisers. It contains samples of two 1970s computer music compositions.
Pause is the second album by Four Tet. It was released on 28 May 2001 in the United Kingdom and on 9 October 2001 in the United States. Pause was Four Tet's first release on Domino Recording Company; his debut album, Dialogue, had been distributed by Output Recordings.
Rounds is the third solo album by British electronic musician Kieran Hebden, released under his alias Four Tet on 5 May 2003 by Domino Recording Company. Wanting to make a more personal record, Hebden recorded and produced the album in his North London flat over ten months using a desktop computer and a home hi-fi system. Its ten tracks feature elements of hip hop, jazz and folk; apart from a guitar part recorded for "Slow Jam", the music is composed from between 200 and 300 samples, many processed beyond recognition.
Stars of the Lid is an American ambient music project that formerly consisted of Brian McBride and Adam Wiltzie. The duo formed in Austin, Texas, in 1993. They have been acclaimed for their music incorporating droning, effects-treated guitars along with piano, strings, and horns, described as "divine, classical drone without the tedious intrusion of drums or vocals." After McBride's death in 2023, Wiltzie remains the sole member.
Pink is the tenth album by Japanese experimental music band Boris. It was originally released in 2005 through Diwphalanx Records in Japan and subsequently reissued in 2006 by American label Southern Lord Records.
Mirrored is the debut studio album by American experimental rock band Battles. It was released on May 14, 2007 in the United Kingdom, and on May 22, 2007 in the United States. Mirrored marked the first album in which the band incorporated prominent vocals and lyrics into their songs, as previous extended plays by the band had been completely instrumental, with the exception of occasional beatboxing and wordless vocals on certain tracks. The first single from the album, "Atlas", was released in the United Kingdom on April 2, 2007. Mirrored was released to wide critical acclaim and appeared on year-end best album lists from several publications, including Time, NME, The Guardian, and Pitchfork Media.
And Their Refinement of the Decline is the seventh and final studio album by Stars of the Lid, which was released by Kranky in April 2007. The album was Kranky's 100th release, and was issued as a double CD and as a triple vinyl LP set. And Their Refinement of the Decline features minimal, droning compositions of varied length created from treated guitar, horn, piano, and other classical instruments.
Pop is the fourth album by Wolfgang Voigt's Gas project, released on 28 March 2000 on Mille Plateaux. At the time of its release, reviews noted 'a striking left turn' in the sound, compared to other Gas releases; the album sounds considerably crisper, with a less muffled kickdrum and less of the 'underwater' quality present on other releases under the name.
Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I is the sixth full-length studio album by the band Earth, released on Southern Lord Records. Cello is introduced as a new instrument, along with the usual ones being used since the album Hex. Dylan Carlson describes the album as more melodic and riff oriented. The second part of the album was released in 2012. The album illustrations were created by Stacey Rozich.
The Dead Texan was an audio-visual musical duo comprising Adam Wiltzie and Christina Vantzou. Wiltzie is better known as one half of the ambient project Stars of the Lid. Vantzou has since released a series of solo albums of ambient music composed for strings and synthesizers.
Crime and Dissonance is a 2005 compilation album of Italian composer Ennio Morricone's film score work. Intended as a follow-up to two earlier Morricone compilations assembled by Dagored, the album was put together by Alan Bishop and released by Ipecac Recordings. Crime and Dissonance features work ranging from the later 1960s to the early 1980s, and contains scores taken from films of several different genres.
Terrestrials is a collaborative studio album by American drone metal band Sunn O))) and Norwegian experimental music group Ulver. Produced by Stephen O'Malley and Kristoffer Rygg, it was released on February 3, 2014, via Southern Lord Records. It has been described as "three live improvisation pieces".
Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) is the soundtrack for the 2018 horror film Suspiria, composed by the English musician Thom Yorke and produced by Yorke and Sam Petts-Davies. It was released on 26 October 2018 through XL Recordings.
Love & Evol is the twenty-fifth studio album by Japanese experimental band Boris, released 4 October 2019 on Third Man Records. The band describes the release as two distinct but interconnected works, bearing the titles LφVE and EVφL respectively, "encapsulating conflicting connotations that interweave and become intricately entangled with one another, gradually eroding before becoming utterly singular." The release was intended to illustrate the different extremes of the sounds Boris has explored previously in their discography, and as a counterpoint to their darker and more aggressive previous album Dear.
Body is an album by Australian improvised music trio The Necks first released on the Fish of Milk label in 2018 in Australia and on the Northern Spy label in the US.
Colores is the fourth solo studio album by Colombian reggaeton singer J Balvin, released on 19 March 2020 through Universal Latin. The album was produced by Sky Rompiendo. It was preceded by the singles "Blanco", "Morado" and "Rojo", with the latter being released the same day as the album pre-order. Each song on the album received a music video directed by Colin Tilley. "Amarillo" was released as the fourth single off Colores the same day as the album's release. At the 2020 Latin Grammy Awards, the album won the Latin Grammy for Best Urban Album.
W is the twenty-seventh studio album by Japanese experimental band Boris, released 21 January 2022 on the Sacred Bones label.
Nafs at Peace is the debut studio album by the Lahore-based jazz quartet Jaubi. The album was released on May 28, 2021, via Astigmatic Records.
