Good electronic/ambient music?
Author
I'm trying to get into a new genre of music, ambient/electronic. I really don't know if that's a proper classification name, but whatever. Currently, the only ambient music that I'm familiar with is Brian Eno. The only "electronic" music I've really explored so far are the works of Orak, who made the music for the Deus Ex games. So far, I really like that style of music. I'm not into dancey beats. I'm more into dark and mellow tones, laden with synthesized sounds and calm beats. Listen to Orak-Grace or almost any track from the Deus Ex game soundtrack for a reference of what I'm looking for.
It seems that a lot of you are into this kind of music, so if you can suggest a few similar artists, or artists that you think I might like, please do so.
It sounds like you enjoy what I call "barely music". [lol] Good bands in that vein are:
Before anything else, I'd suggest Pink Floyd even though you already know who they are. Simply because a lot of these other bands inherit that ambient style mainly from them.
Mogwai
Godspeed You Black Emperor!
Sigur Ros
All three of these bands are excellent at presenting more of a "soundscape" that has a certain shapeless, ambient feel.
Stabbing Westward is good, but they have a range from crappy to excellent depending on the song.
Sinch is more electronic rock than "barely music", a little like Stabbing Westward.
Possibly Radiohead, but that might be a little far from your original premise.
Before anything else, I'd suggest Pink Floyd even though you already know who they are. Simply because a lot of these other bands inherit that ambient style mainly from them.
Mogwai
Godspeed You Black Emperor!
Sigur Ros
All three of these bands are excellent at presenting more of a "soundscape" that has a certain shapeless, ambient feel.
Stabbing Westward is good, but they have a range from crappy to excellent depending on the song.
Sinch is more electronic rock than "barely music", a little like Stabbing Westward.
Possibly Radiohead, but that might be a little far from your original premise.
Author
Actually, I'm a big Radiohead and Pink Floyd Fan. I have virtually all of their cd's. Perhaps I should have specified that I'm looking for music specifically without lyrics. I'm not really looking for ambient rock or electronic rock; in the rock area, I can take care of myself =). I'm really looking for mostly "instrumental" electronic and ambient music, preferably with little to no vocals.
You may like Xploding Plastics. You can even listen to their music online at their website, so you don't have to worry about illegally downloading their music just to see if you like it 
Aphex Twin: Selected Ambient Works 85-92 and Selected Ambient Works, Vol. 2. There's also some good stuff on Classics. I'd suggest starting with one of the Selected Ambient Works albums, Classics has some tracks that you might find 'challenging'. I wouldn't recommend starting out with any of his other albums - some of his recent work verges on the unlistenable even for me and I've been listening to this kind of thing for years... There's some really amazing tracks on the Ambient Works albums though.
Also worth checking out are Orbital (my favourites are Orbital 2 and In Sides and Future Sound of London (Lifeforms is my favourite, though the track Papua New Guinea from Accelerator is one of my all time favourites).
Also worth checking out are Orbital (my favourites are Orbital 2 and In Sides and Future Sound of London (Lifeforms is my favourite, though the track Papua New Guinea from Accelerator is one of my all time favourites).
Ulf Soderberg is pretty good; there are also some other ambient bands that I can't recall the name of right now.
Quote:Original post by mattnewport
Aphex Twin: Selected Ambient Works 85-92 and Selected Ambient Works, Vol. 2. Classics is also good. I'd suggest starting with one of the Selected Ambient Works albums, Classics has some tracks that you might find 'challenging'. I wouldn't recommend starting out with any of his other albums - some of his recent work verges on the unlistenable even for me and I've been listening to this kind of thing for years... There's some really amazing tracks on the Ambient Works albums though.
Good call on Aphex Twin - as I type this I'm listening to Heliospan from 85-92. I find volume 1 to be a bit more 'generally' listenable... Volume 2 is good, but much more background music - great for when you're at work [smile]I spend a fair bit of time listening to electronic/ambient while I work, so i'll add the following to the mix:
- Air - Moon Safari
- Air - Premiers Symptoms
- Brian Eno & David Byrne - My life in the bush of ghosts
- Brian Eno - Another Green World
- Lemon Jelly - everything!
- Moby - Hotel CD2 (only found in the Limited Edition release of Hotel)
- No Noise - Chakra Lounge
- Royksopp - Melody A.M. and The Understanding
I've made my personal favourites bold.
I can probably dig out some more if people want [smile]
Cheers,
Jack
Air is kind of poppish, but if you're going to go for them I also highly recommend Goldfrapp (and the rest of the Chillout Session CDs -- I think they are up to 6 now).
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