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
― The New Faeces (xelab), Saturday, 19 December 2015 11:50 (eight years ago) link
yea I love that too
what are some other standouts on silent season? not too familiar
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Saturday, 19 December 2015 20:40 (eight years ago) link
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
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Saturday, 19 December 2015 20:43 (eight years ago) link
Oh yeah, that's good stuff.
― lute bro (brimstead), Saturday, 19 December 2015 22:34 (eight years ago) link
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.
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Saturday, 19 December 2015 22:45 (eight years ago) link
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.
― The New Faeces (xelab), Saturday, 19 December 2015 23:11 (eight years ago) link
Wow @ this thread. So much to catch up on.
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Sunday, 20 December 2015 00:02 (eight years ago) link
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
― lute bro (brimstead), Sunday, 20 December 2015 00:06 (eight years ago) link
xerrox vol. 3 is fantastic imo, probably my favourite of 2015 in this vein
― a cruet of destiny (seandalai), Sunday, 20 December 2015 01:18 (eight years ago) link
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.
― Siegbran, Sunday, 20 December 2015 07:12 (eight years ago) link
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
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Sunday, 20 December 2015 10:59 (eight years ago) link
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?
― Tuomas, Sunday, 20 December 2015 19:03 (eight years ago) link
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
― Michael F Gill, Sunday, 20 December 2015 19:24 (eight years ago) link
if only that surgeon was on cd.sounds fantastic.
― mark e, Sunday, 20 December 2015 20:14 (eight years ago) link
Anyways, speaking of decent prizes for digital music, I noticed you can buy all the digital releases (excluding the two of her albums which have been released on CD) by French ambient producer Zalys for 4.50 Euros or more:
https://zalys.bandcamp.com/
Her music is very traditional space ambient, just glacial cosmic drones and synths with no beats, so there's few surprises there, but if this kind of "slowly drifting through galaxies" music appeals to you (as it does to me), you get over 5 hours of that stuff for peanuts.
― Tuomas, Sunday, 20 December 2015 21:29 (eight years ago) link
the best new-to-me ambient album i have heard this year is the lisa gerrard album, the silver tree.gorgeous vocals/production/sonic detail.dark sounds vs layers vs production.i mentioned this on the dedicated LG thread a few weeks ago and the fact that i was willing to send out cd copies to anyone interested given that the cds were being sold for bobbins.i will of course extend that offer to the folks on this thread, however, i will not be able to go back to the shop for a couple of weeks, due to the festive chaos, and so, there is a high probability that all of the cd copies will have been picked up by then.but just in case.and yes, the album is that good.deep sensual trip hop styled ambience.basically, the kinda stuff that soundtracks fragence adverts this time of year.
― mark e, Sunday, 20 December 2015 22:13 (eight years ago) link
http://www.thesirenssound.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Jocelyn-Pook-Untold-Things.jpg
surely i am not the only person that thinks this is special ?
― mark e, Sunday, 20 December 2015 22:54 (eight years ago) link
many x-posts but thank you xelab + others for the silent season recs :D
another one I've returned to quite a bit:https://25000kittens.bandcamp.com/
very new agey & soothing, I often put it on while studying
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Sunday, 20 December 2015 23:05 (eight years ago) link
essential:
http://www.discogs.com/Suzanne-Kraft-Talk-From-Home/release/7110013
one of my fav lps this year
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Sunday, 20 December 2015 23:08 (eight years ago) link
the jonny nash LP on the same label is also excellent
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Sunday, 20 December 2015 23:09 (eight years ago) link
spent so much time w/gas POP, didn't realize that Zauberberg is the real masterpiece.
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Sunday, 20 December 2015 23:15 (eight years ago) link
they're all great but pop is not my fav!
― COOMBES (mattresslessness), Sunday, 20 December 2015 23:44 (eight years ago) link
zauberberg maybe best at invoking that sensation of motion without movement he does so well.
while we're violating the thread criteria, and since it doesn't seem to have gotten much attention here, leyland kirby's "sadly the future is no longer what it was" is my most cherished thing in this neighborhood from the past several years. it affects me so much it's kind of embarrassing: https://leylandkirby.bandcamp.com/album/sadly-the-future-is-no-longer-what-it-was
also haven't quite found a way into KAS's "euclid" like i have "tides," as others said.
loving heathered pearls from stuff posted i've listened to so far, thanks.
― home organ, Monday, 21 December 2015 04:05 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHWeHQwlKzM
― clouds, Monday, 21 December 2015 17:04 (eight years ago) link
yeaahhh
http://vektroid.bandcamp.com/album/polytravellers
― lute bro (brimstead), Monday, 21 December 2015 19:38 (eight years ago) link
I've listened to "Euclid" several times this week and I'm beginning to appreciate it more and more... I guess my initial problem was that I expected it to be an ambient album of some sort, but really it's much more in Mouse on Mars vein, finding childlike joy in these hyperenergetic bursts of pretty sounds. I understand why this kinds of ADHD approach to electronic music can get tiring, but on the level of pure sonics I haven't heard a better thing this year.
― Tuomas, Wednesday, 23 December 2015 08:45 (eight years ago) link
Another valuable thread from Tuomas...
This wasn't my biggest year for ambient/etc. listening, and most of my favorites have been mentioned, including Jonas Munk's Absorb/Fabric/Cascade and Steve Hauschildt's Where All Is Fled. Does the Munk sample Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians, or just closely emulate it?
One 2015 treasure not yet noted here is Asmus Tietchens - Ornamente (Zwischen Null und Eins) (https://lineimprint.bandcamp.com/album/ornamente-zwischen-null-und-eins). Wonderfully delicate, transparent music made from inharmonic specks and washes of digital sound. Tietchens is evidently quite prolific, but new to me, I found the album via SFJ's 2015 EOY list (http://yearendlists.com/2015/12/sasha-frere-jones-89-favorite-albums-of-2015/).
― fka styx (paul santa cruz), Wednesday, 23 December 2015 21:35 (eight years ago) link
http://dustedmagazine.tumblr.com/post/126440900914/joseph-clayton-millssifr-suppedaneum
plain and affecting, this is therapeutic listening
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Friday, 25 December 2015 18:49 (eight years ago) link
huntress is great too
― ANU (sisilafami), Friday, 25 December 2015 18:51 (eight years ago) link
I'm guessing everybody is too chilled out to rave about that Heathered Pearls album. I'm serious, if you like Gas or the melodic stuff on SAW 2... you will not be disappointed. No I'm not street teaming I just really really love this record.
ALSO: Strike by 154 (aka newworldaquarium) is a semi-recent classic of very minimal gauzy warm ambient house (as much as Gas is ambient house, anyway)
― lute bro (brimstead), Saturday, 26 December 2015 23:18 (eight years ago) link
Strike is like a real time soundtrack of watching the sun set over a smog filled city
― lute bro (brimstead), Saturday, 26 December 2015 23:21 (eight years ago) link
copped the Loyal album upon seeing the first mention of it, but have barely listened to it. it's pleasant, though. the music has a warm, degraded quality.. like it's worn. parts of it reminded me of philip jeck, with the repetition and delay. but it's more sweet, melodic. also, the fun years. strong 'the fun years' vibe
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Sunday, 27 December 2015 00:50 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, that sweet warm degraded sound.. It's like van halen's brown sound compared to top flight sterile robot crap
― lute bro (brimstead), Sunday, 27 December 2015 00:58 (eight years ago) link
http://www.discogs.com/Minus-A-Rainy-Koran-Verse-UK-Live/release/629227
breaking the rule again, but i heard this just recently. if you've any love for the final track of I'm Happy, and I'm Singing, and a 1, 2, 3, 4 by jim o'rourke, it's up your alley.. it's really spare but it has a similar sense of bittersweet/melancholy. not pulse-oriented, however
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Sunday, 27 December 2015 01:09 (eight years ago) link
just gave that heathered pearls album a listen while hugging a napping cat <3 it is v beautiful, thank you for the rec
something about it reminds me of a hazier ver of the yume nikki ost in a way i am finding it hard to articulatehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGM8-YN5B64
the loops feel v sweet & emotional on tracks like "left climber". it's like gas, yes...
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Wednesday, 30 December 2015 23:04 (eight years ago) link
curious about this label: http://www.discogs.com/label/19403-Spekk
― lute bro (brimstead), Friday, 1 January 2016 03:59 (eight years ago) link
ambient labels should strive for more individuality. i really hate "movie soundtrack" ambient. i even started a dumb thread about it, i think!
― lute bro (brimstead), Friday, 1 January 2016 04:03 (eight years ago) link
http://s3-origin-images.politico.com/news/101007_lou_dobbs_face_ap_328.jpg
― lute bro (brimstead), Friday, 1 January 2016 04:04 (eight years ago) link
https://youtu.be/9bCPU305vpE
Dirk Serries + Rutger Zuydervelt - Buoyant (album preview)
has a sort of Fennesz/Stars of the Lid vibe.. pleasant
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Sunday, 3 January 2016 19:48 (eight years ago) link
Eleh – Homage is incredible: http://open.spotify.com/album/5wiZraNKzkUN6CwbXJnVAF
I love this album art, too. Not sure if it was on the original or just the reissue.
http://importantrecords.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/release_full/imprec/homage_final_0.jpg
― welltris (crüt), Friday, 8 January 2016 16:56 (eight years ago) link
slsk'ing it now, thanks :)
― clouds, Friday, 8 January 2016 22:59 (eight years ago) link
You know when you come across an album and it's so directly in your sweet spot you might as well have pulled the thing out of your heart? Why did I only just discover Eyvind Kang's Live Low to the Earth, in the Iron Age? Absolutely glorious.
― Poacher (Chinaski), Saturday, 9 January 2016 14:30 (eight years ago) link
The Omni Vu Deity album that Tuomas recommended is really hitting the spot
― 0 / 0 (lukas), Monday, 11 January 2016 20:51 (eight years ago) link
In case you want to discuss more historical vibes, I've continued my poll series of years in ambient albums with a new 1992 poll:
1992, A Wonderful Year in Ambient Music: Poll and Discussion
And here are the earlier polls in the series:
1994: The greatest year for Ambient music? Poll and discussion
1993, A Great Year in Ambient Music: Poll and Discussion (with a corrected album list)
― Tuomas, Tuesday, 12 January 2016 21:05 (eight years ago) link
just now hearing the Lee Gamble album, KOCH (2014).. fucking excellent ambient music
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Thursday, 14 January 2016 03:27 (eight years ago) link
this is really lovely, koto + piano with lots of tape and synth processing:https://psychictroublestapes.bandcamp.com/album/maxwell-august-croy-kaniza
― sam jax sax jam (Jordan), Tuesday, 19 January 2016 15:02 (eight years ago) link
i wish people would use higher quality tape stock when putting albums out on cassette.. assuming the Croy release is a normal bias cassette. you've got labels like Notice Recordings putting their music out on chrome bias (type ii) and cobalt tape stock (at a cheaper price), and it sounds great. these Kaniza sounds are pretty sweet, btw. http://dustedmagazine.com/reviews/7113, the sample song is a real beaut.
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Wednesday, 20 January 2016 19:30 (eight years ago) link
i did a chrome tape last year and they came out really nice, thought it was relatively inexpensive too.
― sam jax sax jam (Jordan), Wednesday, 20 January 2016 21:05 (eight years ago) link
I'm not sure whether to post this here, or the techno thread (it has beats, but the mood is pretty ambient), but I'm vibing hard on Cio D'Or's new album on Semantica: https://semanticarecords.bandcamp.com/album/cio-dor-all-in-all-semantica-73cd
It kinda reminds of the album Monolake did a few years ago with all the PVC pipe percussion, except that her approach is more streamline and appealing, you can just zoom in on individual SOUNDS! Everything is so well-defined and meticulously placed, it's almost like anti-drone. Too bad I didn't get this album until this week, otherwise I would've nommed it in the ILM EOY poll.
― Tuomas, Friday, 22 January 2016 21:59 (eight years ago) link
I’m enjoying this Purelink album on Peal Oil:https://purelink.bandcamp.com/album/signsvery chill moodz
― brimstead, Monday, 4 December 2023 17:11 (five months ago) link
Glad to see that record has somehow had such reach, I've enjoyed Akeem's dance music for years
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Monday, 4 December 2023 17:16 (five months ago) link
xp hearing the Purelink for the first time after noticing it on Pitchfork's AOTY list -- brilliant stuff
― Indexed, Tuesday, 5 December 2023 22:10 (five months ago) link
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 - LP2https://josephbrancifortetheobleckmann.bandcamp.com/album/lp2
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Wednesday, 17 January 2024 20:09 (four months ago) link
no idea who ferdi schuster is but this rules
https://cosimapitz.bandcamp.com/album/nun
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Wednesday, 31 January 2024 17:25 (three months ago) link
YES!!
I recently discovered that label exploring Gespensterland connections, love most of it
― dead precedents (sleeve), Wednesday, 31 January 2024 17:28 (three months ago) link
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)
― dead precedents (sleeve), Wednesday, 31 January 2024 17:29 (three months ago) link
damn, i can already tell i'm gonna play the shit out of this
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Wednesday, 31 January 2024 17:38 (three months ago) link
ha I immediately bought like six tapes from that label, the Balruin and Spiritual Emojis ones are good too
― dead precedents (sleeve), Wednesday, 31 January 2024 17:44 (three months ago) link
*Baldruin
Part album is sounding very lovely, ty sleeve
― rob, Wednesday, 31 January 2024 17:55 (three months ago) link
<3
― dead precedents (sleeve), Wednesday, 31 January 2024 17:57 (three months ago) link
immense vibe on this track
https://ufordia.bandcamp.com/track/earth-love
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Wednesday, 7 February 2024 16:30 (three months ago) link
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
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Thursday, 29 February 2024 18:39 (two months ago) link