Ambient - The Megathread

[droid]

[gnarlybog]

 

Perhaps more collage field recording than ambient, but still relaxing. Like an ancient artefact found in a gas station 200 years after a nuclear meltdown 

[Rubin Farr]

 

[gnarlybog]

Perhaps this has been posted already. I always thought Hiroshi Yoshimura only had 2 or 3 albums... There seem to be many more on YouTube.
Sometimes the sounds are a bit corny, but it doesn't take me out of it too much. Mega relaxing. Do not listen while driving or you may drift into oncoming traffic.
 

 

[Rubin Farr]

[Rubin Farr]

[droid]

This is excellent. Flaming Pines almost never miss

[chenGOD]

6 hours ago, gnarlybog said:

Perhaps this has been posted already. I always thought Hiroshi Yoshimura only had 2 or 3 albums... There seem to be many more on YouTube.
Sometimes the sounds are a bit corny, but it doesn't take me out of it too much. Mega relaxing. Do not listen while driving or you may drift into oncoming traffic.
 

 

He released 13 albums during his life and another 3 I think were released posthumously. Of course "Music For Nine Postcards" and "Green" are what propelled the "Kankyo Ongaku" (environmental music) into prominence (relatively speaking lol) but a lot of Hiroshi's other works are worth exploring. I really enjoy "Soundscape 1: Surround" (which came out the same year as Green) as well as "Wet Land" (which has that Sound Process style, even though the label was defunct by the time this came out).

Now that I'm in Japan, I should try and hunt down some of these lesser known albums on physical media.

[droid]

Nice picks. Surround and wetlands are two of his best. I think my favourite is Air In Resort.
 

 

[chenGOD]

I'm always in the mood for what I term "beautiful ambient", and I think Leandro Fresco encapsulates that as well as anybody...had this record on repeat for most of the day.

 

[Rubin Farr]

 

[Rubin Farr]

[cern]

For me this track is just an average ambient track but it has over 116 Million watches(listens) on Youtube. 

Can someone explain why this track is so special to so many people? What does it have that other ambient tracks doesn't have? 
 

 

[cern]

Okay I just saw this comment on Discogs wholy shit this is next level deep brain study stuff! 

 

Spoiler

"Weightless - by Marconi Union and Lyz Cooper, founder of the British Academy of Sound Therapy - works by using specific rhythms, tones, frequencies and intervals to relax the listener. A continuous rhythm of 60 BPM causes the brainwaves and heart rate to synchronise with the rhythm: a process known as ‘entrainment’. Low underlying bass tones relax the listener and a low whooshing sound with a trance-like quality takes the listener into an even deeper state of calm.

Dr David Lewis, one of the UK’s leading stress specialists said: “‘Weightless’ induced the greatest relaxation – higher than any of the other music tested. Brain imaging studies have shown that music works at a very deep level within the brain, stimulating not only those regions responsible for processing sound but also ones associated with emotions."

The study - commissioned by bubble bath and shower gel firm Radox Spa - found the song was even more relaxing than a massage, walk or cup of tea. So relaxing is the tune, apparently, that people are being advised against listening to it while driving."

 

[droid]

Its shit though.

[cern]

11 minutes ago, droid said:

Its shit though.

So why can a random shitty average ambient track like that break the internet? 116 million listens.. 

[droid]

I suspect spotify playlists or some other dark pattern. Also, shit floats.

[cern]

you are right.. 

I think it just targets average joes that doesn't know much about electronic music 

[auxien]

a good video can go a long way at triggering that algorithm to get more casual electronic listeners fed with the tune, and that video is pretty decent for what it is.

music ain't bad but it ain't anything special to my ears. it's fine. lots of ambient stuff like that is fine.

[decibal cooper]

Been listening to this Basinski piece a lot lately when reading, find myself getting distracted from whatever book I am reading to focus more on the music from time to time, the piece opens up nicely and has a lot of subtle little variations when listened to on speakers rather than headphones

 

[droid]

I love this guy.

 

[cern]

 

[cern]

On 4/27/2023 at 5:25 AM, logakght said:

 

This is stuff I really like!

Can not find this Gyou album anywhere. Do you know where I can find it except on Youtube?

[logakght]

15 minutes ago, cern said:

This is stuff I really like!

Can not find this Gyou album anywhere. Do you know where I can find it except on Youtube?

In Spotify probably. I found this dude thanks to Tim Hecker. This artist seems to release a new album each day, and most of them are cute.

[chenGOD]

Was listening to some mix and one of the tracks really caught my ear, led me to this label based out of Australia.

Lush ambient. They have seven albums in their catalogue and you can buy the whole bundle for $7AUS, which is like a cup of coffee for you Americans.

https://perceptualtapes.bandcamp.com/

Edit: this is the mix I was listening to - Focus on Tranquility - lots of other good tracks on there.