1 Mile North was me! Always good to be near the top of the noms list...
I'd also stan for Peter Wright. Kiwi relocated to London (I think). Snowblind is excellent and so is Angels Fell Where The Kestrels Hover.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfGrZj6HawM
― Good cop, Babcock (Chinaski), Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:02 (five years ago) link
This Aes Dana record is pretty standard mellow psy-trance and really shouldn't be in this poll. Like, it's pretty openly psy-trance.
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Thursday, 13 June 2019 19:00 (five years ago) link
It has beats yes but not much more than say FSOL, Global Communication or Biosphere? It definitely has long stretches of typical ambient, esp the latter half of the record. But far enough if ppl think it's not ambient enough.
― Siegbran, Thursday, 13 June 2019 20:18 (five years ago) link
*fair enough*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju2RrrtzsHM
I was listening to the first Baked Beans albums for the first time in years because of this poll, and I think it makes a strong case against the "ambient music has no beats" argument. It has steady beats throughout, but they're not used for propulsion rather than mood and texture... Like in the track above, they help to deliver the mood of some remote desert at dusk, which is an image the track conveys perfectly, and I'm not sure if it could do that without any beats.
― Tuomas, Friday, 14 June 2019 06:35 (five years ago) link
Adding beats to ambient is like bitters in a drink: A few drops may spice it up a bit, but if you keep shaking the bottle, you will eventually cross the line from tasty into nasty.
― Sassy Boutonnière (ledriver), Friday, 14 June 2019 07:14 (five years ago) link
xp to Tuomas, in that case, i'd have nominated a lot more stuff from Chain Reaction records, because so many of those tracks are ambient using beats or percussive elements as texture and atmosphere.
(that is to say, i don't think that Baked Beans track is ambient, and neither is the Aes Dana. Though at least Baked Beans released good material).
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Friday, 14 June 2019 17:12 (five years ago) link
hey I nominated Multila!
― Ambient Police (sleeve), Friday, 14 June 2019 17:13 (five years ago) link
sleeve, i noticed that! :-) i would have nominated Fluxion's Bipolar Defect if I'd known that sort of stuff was viewed as acceptable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgz693taU3c
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Friday, 14 June 2019 20:17 (five years ago) link
(that's just a sampling from the whole 2xLP, obviously)
i had never heard of Alio Die and am totally smitten with Aura Seminalis, whoever nominated it I kiss you.
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Friday, 14 June 2019 20:19 (five years ago) link
Also enjoying Alio Die, although their discography has that bewildering vastness that lots of artists in this field have. Where to start? (I used RYM and took a punt on Aura Seminalis. It's lovely.)
― Good cop, Babcock (Chinaski), Saturday, 15 June 2019 11:46 (five years ago) link
Chinaski, I also started by listening to that record, though the collaborations on the list are also pretty great.
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Saturday, 15 June 2019 21:37 (five years ago) link
I can help with some Alio Die recs! I nommed Aura Seminalis, glad people are digging it.
If you like Aura Seminalis, try Horas Tibi Serenas next, "In the Labyrinth Garden" might be his best single track ever. Those two albums are part of the Castles Sonorisations trilogy, the third being Tempus Rei which never really clicked with me.
Good albums from his early period (less drone and more found sound/field recordings/evocation of prehistory) are Under an Holy Ritual, The Hidden Spring (also part of a trilogy with Le Stanze Della Trascendenza and Leaves Net), and Suspended Feathers.
I like the Vocal Trilogy on Projekt, where he did an album each with vocalists who employ different styles - Asparas with Amelia Cuni, Eleusian Lullaby with Martina Galvagni, and Mei-Jyu with Chako (from Jack or Jive).
Post 2010 he has been wildly prolific and does a lot of collaborations with other artists... I really like "They Grow Layers of Life Within" from 2017 but mostly because I've listened to it so much over other recent work. If you like him, chances are you'll like whatever he releases. And it's all on Spotify, etc. so it's easy to poke around in his discography.
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Saturday, 15 June 2019 22:40 (five years ago) link
thank you!!
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Saturday, 15 June 2019 22:49 (five years ago) link
My favourite Alio Die albums are:
Deconsecrated and Pure: where he samples religious classical works, but like with Gas the source material is mostly unrecognisable. About as spiritual as ambient can get.
Amongs the Circling Spires, with Sylvi Alli: ethereal wordless singing by Alli combined with pristine drones, lovely.
La sala dei cristalli, with Mariolina Zitta: Zitta is a "cave music" specialist, she's done solo records (which are also awesome) based on her drumming and recording stalactites and stalagmites in Italian caves, as well as bat sounds (enhanced so the human ear can hear them). This is a collaboration where Alio Die adds his ambient touch to her stalactite/stalagmite music, and it's exactly as good as it sounds.
― Tuomas, Sunday, 16 June 2019 11:56 (five years ago) link
oh wow, just realized there was no Between Interval nominated
― Vape Store (crüt), Sunday, 16 June 2019 14:42 (five years ago) link
Bump! Remember, this is the last week you can vote.
― Tuomas, Monday, 17 June 2019 05:22 (four years ago) link
Ballot submitted. Sentimentality really influenced my top 20. Hope it get some fringe records on the board.
― octobeard, Monday, 17 June 2019 09:05 (four years ago) link
I've squeezed my longlist down to 61 (unweighted). A litte more listening this week and I'm good to go.
― Good cop, Babcock (Chinaski), Monday, 17 June 2019 09:38 (four years ago) link
Judging by the current situation, there'll be some controversial albums in the top 40, can't wait for the "not actually ambient" debates in the results thread. 😁
― Tuomas, Monday, 17 June 2019 11:16 (four years ago) link
I fully expect a top 3 of Portishead, Burzum and Arvo Pärt.
― Siegbran, Monday, 17 June 2019 11:19 (four years ago) link
Heh.
I'm afraid I won't have much time to dip into other people's noms, so I'll likely end up with an unadventurous list that solely reflects my ambient listening habits over the past 15-odd years.
― pomenitul, Monday, 17 June 2019 11:23 (four years ago) link
I took Arthur Russell and E2-E4 off my ballot because NOT AMBIENT while simultaneously arguing with myself, 'well, they sort of are...'.
― Good cop, Babcock (Chinaski), Monday, 17 June 2019 14:22 (four years ago) link
A useful question to ask oneself is 'would x musician/composer be offended if we were to suggest that their music is ambient?' In Arvo Pärt's case, I'm pretty sure the answer would be 'yes'. Vikernes too, most likely, but he can go fuck himself.
― pomenitul, Monday, 17 June 2019 14:27 (four years ago) link
i dunno, that's very subjective, and a lot of musicians resist having their work being categorized as any genre. for example, just last night i was reading the liner notes for a. coltrane's A Monastic Trio, and it has an interview with her where she's talking about john coltrane preferring that his music not be thought of as "jazz"
― i will never make a typo ever again (Karl Malone), Monday, 17 June 2019 15:05 (four years ago) link
Fair enough. Speaking only for my own subjective self, I do find the idea of describing Pärt's post-1975 output as 'ambient' mildly offensive due to the music's explicitly religious and often narrative heft.
― pomenitul, Monday, 17 June 2019 15:18 (four years ago) link
ILX CHILLOUT FOR EGGHEADS POLL
― brimstead, Monday, 17 June 2019 16:44 (four years ago) link
can't wait for the "not actually ambient" debates in the results thread
Is this why stuff like stuff like Pygmalion and Excursions Into Ambience got nominated but not Selected Ambient Works 85-92? Quite a bit of inconsistency in the list WRT what constitutes ambient? FWIW SAW 85-92 doesn't meet my personal criteria, but I can understand why it is listed.
― octobeard, Monday, 17 June 2019 20:36 (four years ago) link
I'm still bummed the most purely ambient Hammock album wasn't nom'd but three very arguably NOT ambient albums by them were ... argh.
― octobeard, Monday, 17 June 2019 20:37 (four years ago) link
I played F. Hazel's rec, Alio Die's 'Aura Seminalis' tonight. Blissful. So good. (reminded me of Polish neo-classical/ambient dude Jacaszek, check him out).
I'm fully in Pomenitul's camp: I'll vote for what I know, because I've barely time to catch up on the million great recs on the nominations list. Alio Die's was just one tonight, which doesn't bode well if I'd scour through the whole list. Blessing and a curse, this.
― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 17 June 2019 21:44 (four years ago) link
not Selected Ambient Works 85-92?my favorite thing about this poll
― but everybody calls me, (lukas), Monday, 17 June 2019 22:26 (four years ago) link
If other people wanted to nominate Hammock albums they had plenty of time
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 17 June 2019 22:38 (four years ago) link
Bump!
― Tuomas, Tuesday, 18 June 2019 07:18 (four years ago) link
Is Baked Beans out of print? I found a couple of tracks on YouTube and enjoyed them but I can’t find it for sale anywhere other than buying a second hand cd
― I am using your worlds, Tuesday, 18 June 2019 13:16 (four years ago) link
I know I missed the nominations thread but there’s seriously only two Orb records you can choose from?
― Naive Teen Idol, Tuesday, 18 June 2019 15:00 (four years ago) link
(and not the one I’d vote for!)
― Naive Teen Idol, Tuesday, 18 June 2019 15:02 (four years ago) link
Is Baked Beans out of print? I found a couple of tracks on YouTube and enjoyed them but I can’t find it for sale anywhere other than buying a second handřd cd
― Tuomas, Tuesday, 18 June 2019 15:15 (four years ago) link
The second Baked Beans album is also great, but less ambient, so I didn't nominate that one.
― Tuomas, Tuesday, 18 June 2019 15:16 (four years ago) link
Hmm I would appreciate this ...help as well if at all possible
― Evan, Tuesday, 18 June 2019 15:24 (four years ago) link
Just hit me with an email.
― Tuomas, Tuesday, 18 June 2019 15:24 (four years ago) link
Done!
― Evan, Tuesday, 18 June 2019 15:44 (four years ago) link
Bump.
― Tuomas, Wednesday, 19 June 2019 05:42 (four years ago) link
i'll be getting mine in tonight. i will continue to listen to the noms, though, because i'm getting some great material for an all-ambient iPod.
― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Wednesday, 19 June 2019 16:40 (four years ago) link
I'll rep for some Raison d'Etre, 1997's "In Sadness, Silence, and Solitude" is great if you like dark ambient, evoking haunted monasteries, abandoned industrial parks, etc:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8hbYiicsXk
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Wednesday, 19 June 2019 16:49 (four years ago) link
I should be turning mine in tomorrow, I just gotta order it
― brimstead, Wednesday, 19 June 2019 17:51 (four years ago) link
raison d’etre is top 5 for me yes, I’m most partial to The Empty Hollow Unfolds but it’s all good.
― Siegbran, Wednesday, 19 June 2019 21:49 (four years ago) link
The top 10 is starting to look pretty fixed, but there's still time to change that by voting!
― Tuomas, Thursday, 20 June 2019 19:13 (four years ago) link
I'll vote on the very last day, like god and Brian Eno intended
― Ambient Police (sleeve), Thursday, 20 June 2019 20:13 (four years ago) link
i'll also be submitting a last-minute ballot. like some recent posters, i'm afraid mine is going to be pretty boring because it's just going reflect my current pretty boring taste in ambient. i didn't spend nearly as much time as i wanted exploring the excellent suggestions in the nominations
― i will never make a typo ever again (Karl Malone), Thursday, 20 June 2019 20:19 (four years ago) link
Just trimmed down the noms to a longlist of 100. Haven't decided yet if I'm voting weighted or, er, weightless.
The nomination list is so overwhelming there was never going to be enough time to thoroughly check stuff out I don't know yet. Which is kind of a comforting thought :)
― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 20 June 2019 20:38 (four years ago) link