Ambient music

The Cover of Brian Eno's Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks, widely considered one of the best ambient releases.

Ambient music is a loosely defined musical genre that incorporates elements of a number of different styles - including jazz, electronica, new age and modern classical music. It is chiefly identifiable as having an overarching atmospheric context.

The term was first coined by Brian Eno in the late 1970s to refer to music that would envelop the listener without drawing attention to itself. Hence, Brian Eno is considered the father of ambient music. Sometimes associated with elevator music and Muzak, it is more often similar to mood music or an ambient background in movie and radio sound effects. Often listeners will forget they are listening to ambient music, which is one of the biggest attractions of the genre. It can be any musical style, including jazz, electronica and modern classical music.

Retrospectively, some of the works of the 20th century French composer Erik Satie, today best known for his Trois Gymnopédies suite, can be regarded as predecessors of modern ambient music. The invention of the first electronic instrument, the theremin in the early 20th century is also considered an important influence on the later development of ambient music. Similarly some of the works of the French composer Edgar Varèse, who used the theremin extensively in his music can also be viewed as predecessors of ambient music.

Although purely Ambient music is traditionally beatless, most modern Ambient electronica (sometimes referred to as Ambient techno) has reconciled rhythm with the dreamy, meandering reverb of the first wave of Ambient music. With the birth of a new wave of electronic music in the late 1980s, ambient saw a resurgence in the works of artists like the Orb, Aphex Twin and the Irresistible Force.

Ambient electronica

Ambient electronica is the current most popular form of the genre and began in it's modern form in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Founding artists included Aphex Twin, The Orb, Moby and William Orbit, and earlier artists such as Ray Lynch and Mannheim Steamroller, both of which were considered at the time, the 1980s, to be "New Age". Works by Kraftwerk and Vangelis have greatly influenced the genre. Other prominent artists that make ambient electronic music include Air, Biosphere and Jean-Michel Jarre. Mostly an underground movement, ambient electronica continued to rise in popularity until its less obscure status in the early 2000s.

Some types of ambient electronica:

Conventional. This most closely reflects typical electronic dance music. This combines a conventional techno beat (trance, drum and bass, etc) with a soothing electronic sound such as heard on Voodoo Child's "The End of Everything" album.
Beatless. This has no beat, but maintains rhythm through repetition of some sort of sound as exemplified on Aphex Twin's "Selected Ambient Works Volume II".
Unmeasured [soundscape]. This kind of ambient electronica is the most obscure, and for some listeners, the least accessible.

External links and references

David Toop Ocean of Sound: aethertalk, ambient sound and imaginary worlds (1995) Serpent's Tail ISBN 1-85242-382-X ISBN 1852427434