Ambient music

Music genre

Ambient music

Sounds of natural habitats are common in YouTube uploads of ambient music, with their thumbnails typically having images of landscapes and/or space, to attract listeners.

Stylistic origins|

* Electronic
* beautiful music
* background music
* light music
* easy listening
* impressionist (furniture)
* minimal
* experimental
* drone[1]
* krautrock
* dub

Cultural origins| 1960s–1970s, United Kingdom, Jamaica (dub music)[2] and Japan[3][4]
Derivative forms|

* Biomusic
* chill-out
* downtempo
* IDM
* new age
* post-rock
* space music
* trance
* trip hop

Subgenres

* Dark ambient
* drone[1]
* lowercase

Fusion genres

* Ambient dub
* ambient house
* ambient techno
* ambient pop
* ambient black metal
* illbient
* atmospheric drum and bass
* psybient

Other topics

* Ambient artists
* list of electronic music genres
* noise music

Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes tone and atmosphere over traditional musical structure or rhythm. Often "peaceful" sounding and lacking composition, beat, and/or structured melody,[5] ambient music uses textural layers of sound that can reward both passive and active listening,[6] and encourage a sense of calm or contemplation.[7][8] The genre evokes an "atmospheric", "visual",[9] or "unobtrusive" quality.[10] Nature soundscapes may be included, and some works use sustained or repeated notes, as in drone music. Bearing elements with new-age music, instruments such as the piano, strings and flute may be emulated through a synthesizer.[11][12]

The genre originated in the 1960s and 1970s, when new musical instruments were being introduced to a wider market, such as the synthesizer.[13] It was presaged by Erik Satie's furniture music and styles such as musique concrète, minimal music, Jamaican dub reggae and German electronic music, but was prominently named and popularized by British musician Brian Eno in 1978 with his album Ambient 1: Music for Airports; Eno opined that ambient music "must be as ignorable as it is interesting", however, in early years, there were artists that were pioneers in this genre, like Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Mike Oldfield, Wendy Carlos, Kraftwerk, etc.[14] It saw a revival towards the late 1980s with the prominence of house and techno music, growing a cult following by the 1990s.[15]

Ambient music did not achieve large commercial success, being criticized as everything from "dolled-up new age, ... to boring and irrelevant technical noodling".[16] Nevertheless, it has attained a certain degree of acclaim throughout the years, especially in the Internet age. Due to its relatively open style, ambient music often takes influences from many other genres, ranging from classical, avant-garde music, experimental music, folk, jazz, and world music, amongst others.[17][18]

## History

[edit]

### Etymology

[edit]

The English word ambient is derived from Latin ambientem (nominative ambiens) which means "surrounding, encircling, to go around, go about", which in turn comes from amb\- "around" (which ultimately derives from PIE root *ambhi\- "around").[19]

### Origins

[edit]

Erik Satie is acknowledged as an important precursor to modern ambient music and an influence on Brian Eno.

As an early 20th-century French composer, Erik Satie used such Dadaist-inspired explorations to create an early form of ambient/background music that he labeled "furniture music" (Musique d'ameublement). This he described as being the sort of music that could be played during a dinner to create a background atmosphere for that activity, rather than serving as the focus of attention.[20]

In his own words, Satie sought to create "a music...which will be part of the noises of the environment, will take them into consideration. I think of it as melodious, softening the noises of the knives and forks at dinner, not dominating them, not imposing itself. It would fill up those heavy silences that sometime fall between friends dining together. It would spare them the trouble of paying attention to their own banal remarks. And at the same time it would neutralize the street noises which so indiscreetly enter into the play of conversation. To make such music would be to respond to a need."[21][22]

In 1948, French composer & engineer, Pierre Schaeffer coined the term musique concrète. This experimental style of music used recordings of natural sounds that were then modified, manipulated or effected to create a composition.[23] Shaeffer's techniques of using tape loops and splicing are considered to be the precursor to modern day sampling.

In 1952, John Cage released his famous three-movement composition[24] 4'33 which is a performance of complete silence for four minutes and thirty-three seconds. The piece is intended to capture the ambient sounds of the venue/location of the performance and have that be the music played.[25] Cage has been cited by seminal artists such as Brian Eno as influence.[25]

### 1960s

[edit]

In the 1960s, many music groups experimented with unusual methods, with some of them creating what would later be called ambient music.

In the summer of 1962, composers Ramon Sender and Morton Subotnick founded The San Francisco Tape Music Center which functioned both as an electronic music studio and concert venue.[26] Other composers working with tape recorders became members and collaborators including Pauline Oliveros, Terry Riley and Steve Reich. Their compositions, among others, contributed to the development of minimal music (also called minimalism), which shares many similar concepts to ambient music such as repetitive patterns or pulses, steady drones, and consonant harmony.[27]

Many records were released in Europe and the United States of America between the mid-1960s and the mid-1990s that established the conventions of the ambient genre in the anglophone popular music market.[28] Some 1960s records with ambient elements include Music for Yoga Meditation and Other Joys and Music for Zen Meditation by Tony Scott, Soothing Sounds for Baby by Raymond Scott, and the first record of the environments album series by Irv Teibel.

In the late 1960s, French composer Éliane Radigue composed several pieces by processing tape loops from the feedback between two tape recorders and a microphone.[29] In the 1970s, she then went on to compose similar music almost exclusively with an ARP 2500 synthesiser, and her long, slow compositions have often been compared to drone music.[30][31] In 1969, the group COUM Transmissions were performing sonic experiments in British art schools.[32] Pearls Before Swine's 1968 album Balaklava features the sounds of birdsong and ocean noise, which were to become tropes of ambient music."[33]

### 1970s

[edit]

Developing in the 1970s, ambient music stemmed from the experimental and synthesizer-oriented styles of the period.

Between 1974 and 1976, American composer Laurie Spiegel created her seminal work The Expanding Universe, created on a computer-analog hybrid system called GROOVE.[34] In 1977, her composition, Music of the Spheres was included on Voyager 1 and 2's Golden Record.[35]

In April 1975, Suzanne Ciani gave two performances on her Buchla synthesizer – one at the WBAI Free music store and one at Phil Niblock's loft.[36] These performances were released on an archival album in 2016 entitled Buchla Concerts 1975. According to the record label, these concerts were part live presentation, part grant application and part educational demonstration.[37]

However, it was not until Brian Eno coined the term in the mid-70s that ambient music was defined as a genre. Eno went on to record 1975's Discreet Music with this in mind, suggesting that it be listened to at "comparatively low levels, even to the extent that it frequently falls below the threshold of audibility",[21] referring to Satie's quote about his musique d'ameublement.[38]

Other contemporaneous musicians creating ambient-style music at the time included Jamaican dub musicians such as King Tubby,[2] Japanese electronic music composers such as Isao Tomita[3][4] and Ryuichi Sakamoto as well as the psychoacoustic soundscapes of Irv Teibel's Environments series, and German experimental bands such as Popol Vuh, Cluster, Kraftwerk, Harmonia, Ash Ra Tempel and Tangerine Dream. Mike Orme of Stylus Magazine describes the work of Berlin school musicians as "laying the groundwork" for ambient.[39]

The impact the rise of the synthesizer in modern music had on ambient as a genre cannot be overstated; as Ralf Hutter of early electronic pioneers Kraftwerk said in a 1977 Billboard interview: "Electronics is beyond nations and colors...with electronics everything is possible. The only limit is with the composer".[40] The Yellow Magic Orchestra developed a distinct style of ambient electronic music that would later be developed into ambient house music.[41]

#### Brian Eno

[edit]

Brian Eno (pictured in 1974) is credited with coining the term "ambient music". Minimoog Voyager XL, owned by Brian Eno

The English producer Brian Eno is credited with coining the term "ambient music" in the mid-1970s. He said other artists had been creating similar music, but that "I just gave it a name. Which is exactly what it needed ... By naming something you create a difference. You say that this is now real. Names are very important."[42] He used the term to describe music that is different from forms of canned music like Muzak.[43]

In the liner notes for his 1978 album Ambient 1: Music for Airports, Eno wrote:[44]

> Whereas the extant canned music companies proceed from the basis of regularizing environments by blanketing their acoustic and atmospheric idiosyncrasies, Ambient Music is intended to enhance these. Whereas conventional background music is produced by stripping away all sense of doubt and uncertainty (and thus all genuine interest) from the music, Ambient Music retains these qualities. And whereas their intention is to "brighten" the environment by adding stimulus to it (thus supposedly alleviating the tedium of routine tasks and leveling out the natural ups and downs of the body rhythms) Ambient Music is intended to induce calm and a space to think. Ambient Music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting.

Eno, who describes himself as a "non-musician", termed his experiments "treatments" rather than traditional performances.[44][45] David Bowie created the Berlin Trilogy with Eno, both of whom were inspired during the production of the albums in the trilogy by German kosmische Musik bands and minimalist composers.[46]

### 1980s

[edit]

In the late 70s, new-age musician Laraaji began busking in New York parks and sidewalks, including Washington Square Park. It was there that Brian Eno heard Laraaji playing and asked him if he'd like to record an album. Day of Radiance released in 1980, was the third album in Eno's Ambient series. Although Laraaji had already recorded a number of albums, this one gave him international recognition.[47] Unlike other albums in the series, Day of Radiance featured mostly acoustic instruments instead of electronics.

In the mid-1980s, the possibilities to create a sonic landscape increased through the use of sampling. By the late 1980s, there was a steep increase in the incorporation of the computer in the writing and recording process of records. The sixteen-bit Macintosh platform with built-in sound and comparable IBM models would find themselves in studios and homes of musicians and record makers.[48] However, many artists were still working with analogue synthesizers and acoustic instruments to produce ambient works.

In 1983, Midori Takada recorded her first solo LP Through the Looking Glass in two days. She performed all parts on the album, with diverse instrumentation including percussion, marimba, gong, reed organ, bells, ocarina, vibraphone, piano and glass Coca-Cola bottles.[49] Between 1988 and 1993, Éliane Radigue produced three hour-long works on the ARP 2500 which were subsequently issued together as La Trilogie De La Mort.[50]

Also in 1988, founding member and director of the San Francisco Tape Music Centre, Pauline Oliveros coined the term "deep listening" after she recorded an album inside a huge underground cistern in Washington which has a 45-second reverberation time. The concept of Deep Listening then went on to become "an aesthetic based upon principles of improvisation, electronic music, ritual, teaching and meditation".[51]

### 1990s

[edit]

By the early 1990s, artists such as the Orb, Aphex Twin, Seefeel, the Irresistible Force, Biosphere, and the Higher Intelligence Agency gained commercial success and were being referred to by the popular music press as ambient house, ambient techno, IDM or simply "ambient". The term chillout emerged from British ecstasy culture which was originally applied in relaxed downtempo "chillout rooms" outside of the main dance floor where ambient, dub and downtempo beats were played to ease the tripping mind.[52][53]

British artists such as Aphex Twin (specifically: Selected Ambient Works Volume II, 1994), Global Communication (76:14, 1994), The Future Sound of London (Lifeforms, 1994, ISDN, 1994), the Black Dog (Temple of Transparent Balls, 1993), Autechre (Incunabula, 1993, Amber, 1994), Boards of Canada, and The KLF's Chill Out, (1990), all took a part in popularising and diversifying ambient music where it was used as a calming respite from the intensity of the hardcore and techno popular at that time.[52] Other global ambient artists from the 1990s include American composers Stars of the Lid (who released 5 albums during this decade), and Japanese artist Susumu Yokota whose album Sakura (1999) featured what Pitchfork magazine called "dreamy, processed guitar as a distinctive sound tool".[54]

### 2000s

[edit]

In the early 2000s, offshoots of trance music oriented around ambient music garnered popularity. Established in France in 2001, Ultimae has become the go-to label for space ambient, and they included artists such as Carbon Based Lifeforms. DJs in Ibiza's Café Del Mar began creating ambient house mixes that drew on jazz, classical, Hispanic, and New Age sources. Consequently, the popular understanding of "chill-out music" shifted away from "ambient" and into its own distinct genre.[55] Producer Wolfgang Voigt co-runs the German label Kompakt, which has released installments of the influential ambient techno compilation series Pop Ambient annually since 2001.[56]

In indie music, chillwave emerged, inspired by the atmosphere of dream pop.[57] Atlas Sound debuted with the album Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel, which featured ambient pieces.[58] Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion was an album released in January 2009 that was particularly influential for its ambient sounds and repetitive melodies.[59]

### 2010s–present

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#### YouTube

[edit]

From the early 2010s to present, ambient music gained widespread recognition on YouTube, with uploaded pieces, usually ranging from one to eight hours long, getting over millions of hits. Ambient videos assist online listeners with yoga, study, sleep (see music and sleep), massage, meditation and gaining optimism, inspiration, and creating peaceful atmosphere in their rooms or other environments. Such videos may be titled "relaxing music".[60]

Many uploaded ambient videos may also be influenced by biomusic where they feature sounds of nature, though the sounds would be modified with reverbs and delay units to make spacey versions of the sounds as part of the ambience. Such natural sounds oftentimes include those of a beach, rainforest, thunderstorm and rainfall, among others, with vocalizations of animals such as bird songs being used as well. Pieces containing binaural beats are common and popular uploads as well, which provide music therapy and stress management for the listener.[61][62][a]

#### Digital releases

[edit]

iTunes and Spotify have digital radio stations that feature ambient music, which are mostly produced by independent labels.[5]

Acclaimed ambient music of this era (according to Pitchfork magazine) include works by Max Richter, Julianna Barwick, Grouper, William Basinski, Oneohtrix Point Never, and the Caretaker.[66][67][68][69] In 2011, American composer Liz Harris recording as Grouper released the album AIA: Alien Observer, listed by Pitchfork at number 21 on their "50 Best Ambient Albums of All Time".[70] In 2011, Julianna Barwick released her first full-length album The Magic Place. Heavily influenced by her childhood experiences in a church choir, Barwick loops her wordless vocals into ethereal soundscapes.[71] It was listed at number 30 on Pitchfork's 50 Best Ambient Albums of All Time.[70] After several self-released albums, Buchla composer, producer and performer Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith was signed to independent record label Western Vinyl in 2015.[72]

In 2016, she released her second official album EARS. It paired the Buchla synthesizer with traditional instruments and her compositions were compared to Laurie Spiegel and Alice Coltrane.[73] Kaitlyn has also collaborated with other well-known Buchla performer, Suzanne Ciani.[74] Long Ambients 1: Calm. Sleep. was released by American electronica musician Moby in 2016, as a free download.[75][76] In March 2019, Moby released a follow-up ambient album, Long Ambients 2. Iggy Pop's 2019 album Free features ambient soundscapes.[77] Mallsoft, a subgenre of vaporwave, features various ambient influences, with artists such as Cat System Corp. and Groceries exploring ambient sounds typical of malls and grocery stores.[78]

## Related and derivative genres

[edit]

### Ambient house

[edit]

Main article: Ambient house

Ambient house is a musical category founded in the late 1980s that is used to describe acid house featuring ambient music elements and atmospheres.[79] Tracks in the ambient house genre typically feature four-on-the-floor beats, synth pads, and vocal samples integrated in an atmospheric style.[79]

Ambient house tracks generally lack a diatonic center and feature much atonality along with synthesized chords. The Dutch Brainvoyager is an example of this genre. Illbient is another form of ambient house music.

### Ambient industrial

[edit]

Ambient industrial is a hybrid genre of industrial and ambient music.[80] A "typical" ambient industrial work (if there is such a thing) might consist of evolving dissonant harmonies of metallic drones and resonances, extreme low frequency rumbles and machine noises, perhaps supplemented by gongs, percussive rhythms, bullroarers, distorted voices or anything else the artist might care to sample (often processed to the point where the original sample is no longer recognizable).[80]

Entire works may be based on radio telescope recordings, the babbling of newborn babies, or sounds recorded through contact microphones on telegraph wires.[80]

### Ambient pop

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Ambient pop is a leftfield indie style that developed in the 1980s and 1990s contemporaneously with post-rock in the first wave, deriving from indie pop. It incorporates structures that are common to indie music, but extensively explores "electronic textures and atmospheres that mirror the hypnotic, meditative qualities of ambient music", which is also central to indie electronic music.[81] Ambient pop utilizes the musical experimentation of psychedelia and the repetitive traits of minimalism, krautrock and techno as prevalent influences. It is distinguished by its adoption of "contemporary electronic idioms, including sampling, although for the most part live instruments continue to define the sound"; examples of bands in the style include Stereolab, Laika and Broadcast.[81]

Dream pop band Slowdive's 1995 album Pygmalion was a major departure from the band's usual sound, heavily incorporating elements of ambient electronica and psychedelia with hypnotic, repetitive rhythms,[82] influencing many ambient pop bands and subsequently being regarded as a landmark album in the genre;[83] Pitchfork critic Nitsuh Abebe described the album's songs as "ambient pop dreams that have more in common with [first wave] post-rock [bands] like Disco Inferno than shoegazers like Ride".[84] The genre continued to stylistically progress in the 2000s, often in conjunction with indietronica.[85]

### Ambient techno

[edit]

Main article: Ambient techno

Ambient techno is a music category emerging in the late 1980s that is used to describe ambient music atmospheres with the rhythmic and melodic elements of techno.[86] Notable artists include Aphex Twin, B12, Autechre, and the Black Dog.

### Dark ambient

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Main article: Dark ambient

See also: List of dark ambient artists

Brian Eno's original vision of ambient music as unobtrusive musical wallpaper, later fused with warm house rhythms and given playful qualities by the Orb in the 1990s, found its opposite in the style known as dark ambient. Populated by a wide assortment of personalities—ranging from older industrial and metal experimentalists (Scorn's Mick Harris, Current 93's David Tibet, Nurse with Wound's Steven Stapleton) to electronic boffins (Kim Cascone/PGR, Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia), Japanese noise artists (K.K. Null, Merzbow), and latter-day indie rockers (Main, Bark Psychosis).

Dark ambient features toned-down or entirely missing beats with unsettling passages of keyboards, eerie samples, and treated guitar effects. Like most styles related in some way to electronic/dance music of the '90s, it's a very nebulous term; many artists enter or leave the style with each successive release.[87] Related styles include ambient industrial (see below) and isolationist ambient.

### Drone music

[edit]

Main article: Drone music

Drone music is a minimalist[88] genre of music that emphasizes the use of sustained sounds,[89] notes, or tone clusters called drones. It is typically characterized by lengthy compositions featuring relatively slight harmonic variations. La Monte Young, one of its 1960s originators, defined it in 2000 as "the sustained tone branch of minimalism."[90] Elements of drone music have been incorporated in diverse genres such as rock, ambient, and electronic music.[91][92][88]

### New-age music

[edit]

Main article: New age music

Ambient music fused with new-age music styles has an explicit purpose of aiding meditation and relaxation, or aiding and enabling various alternative spiritual practices, such as alternative healing, yoga practice, guided meditation, or chakra auditing.[93][94] The proponents of new age-ambient music are almost always musicians who create their music expressly for these purposes.[95] To be useful for meditation, the music must have repetitive dynamic and texture without sudden loud chords or improvisation, which could disturb the meditator. It is minimalist in conception, and musicians in the genre are mostly instrumentalists rather than vocalists.[96]

Subliminal messages are also used in new-age music, and the use of instruments along with sounds of animals (like whales, wolves and eagles) and nature (waterfalls, ocean waves, rain) is also popular. Flautist Dean Evenson was one of the first musicians to combine peaceful music with the sounds of nature, launching a genre that became popular for massage and yoga.[97]

### Space music

[edit]

Main article: Space music

"Interstellar", by Tamaki Tso

Example of a self-described ambient music song fused with experimental and post rock elements

* * *

Problems playing this file? See media help.

Space music, also spelled "Spacemusic", includes music from the ambient genre as well as a broad range of other genres with certain characteristics in common to create the experience of contemplative spaciousness.[98][99][100]

Space music ranges from simple to complex sonic textures sometimes lacking conventional melodic, rhythmic, or vocal components,[101][102] generally evoking a sense of "continuum of spatial imagery and emotion",[103] beneficial introspection, deep listening[104] and sensations of floating, cruising or flying.[105][106]

Space music is used by individuals for both background enhancement and foreground listening, often with headphones, to stimulate relaxation, contemplation, inspiration and generally peaceful expansive moods[107] and soundscapes. Space music is also a component of many film soundtracks and is commonly used in planetariums, as a relaxation aid and for meditation.[108]

## Sleep

[edit]

Main article: Music and sleep

Ambient has been selected by participants from online sleep surveys to aid sleep.[109] The ambient music genre, among other genres, was used in a study pertaining to insomnia in adults, where it facilitated a large improvement in sleep quality for insomnia patients.[110] Participants, who were between 20 and 45 years old, listened to Max Richter's album Sleep, which was originally meant to work as a sleep aid. They used headphones and were able to shut their eyes, but they were informed to stay in a sitting position so they do not fall asleep. Though one participant fell asleep whilst listening to the music.[111]

## Film soundtracks

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Examples of films with soundtracks that feature some, or extensive, usage of ambient music include, Forbidden Planet (1956), Solaris (1972),[112] Blade Runner (1982),[112] Dune (1984),[112] Heathers (1988),[112] Akira (1988),[112] Titanic (1997),[113] Traffic (2000), Donnie Darko (2001), Solaris (2002), The Passion of the Christ (2004),[114] Pride & Prejudice (2005),[112] The Social Network (2010),[112] Her (2013), Enemy (2013), Drive (2011),[115] Interstellar (2014), Gone Girl (2014),[112] The Revenant (2015), Columbus (2017), Mandy (2018),[116] Annihilation (2018), Ad Astra (2019), Chernobyl (2019)[117] and Dune (2021),[118] among many others.

## Notable ambient-music shows

[edit]

* Sirius XM Chill plays ambient, chillout and downtempo electronica.
* Sirius XM Spa blends ambient and new age instrumental music on channel XM 68.
* Echoes, a daily two-hour music radio program hosted by John Diliberto featuring a soundscape of ambient, spacemusic, electronica, new acoustic and new music directions – founded in 1989 and syndicated on 130 radio stations in the US.
* BBC Radio 1 Relax was a radio station offered by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that broadcast ambient music. The channel featured a variety of ambient genres, including electronic and instrumental compositions.
* Hearts of Space, a program hosted by Stephen Hill and broadcast on NPR in the US since 1973.[119][120]
* Musical Starstreams, a US-based commercial radio station and Internet program produced, programmed and hosted by Forest since 1981.
* Star's End, a radio show on 88.5 WXPN, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1976, it is the second longest-running ambient music radio show in the world.[121]
* Ultima Thule Ambient Music, a weekly 90-minute show broadcast since 1989 on community radio across Australia.
* Avaruusromua, the name meaning "space debris", is a 60-minute ambient and avant-garde radio program broadcast since 1990 on Finnish public broadcaster YLE's various stations.[122]

## See also

[edit]

* Music portal

* Ambient video
* Balearic beat
* Easy listening
* Furniture music
* Incidental music
* List of ambient artists
* List of electronic music genres
* Mallsoft
* Microsound
* Minimalist music
* Music and sleep
* Ocean of Sound
* Onkyokei
* Postminimalism
* Reductionism (music)
* Space age pop
* Sound map

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ One notable exception is the Caretaker's Everywhere at the End of Time, an ambient series of albums featuring over 22 millions views as of 28 May 2025. It is widely considered to evoke strong negative emotions due to its musical representation of Alzheimer's disease.[63][64][65]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Drone is now classified as a subgenre of ambient music, but early drone music influenced the origin of ambient. See the other note from Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century Music (Cook & Pople 2004, p. 502), and the note from Four Musical Minimalists (Potter 2002, p. 91).
2. ^ a b Holmes, Thom (2008). Electronic and Experimental Music: Technology, Music, and Culture. Routledge. p. 403\. ISBN 978-0203929599. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
3. ^ a b Q&A with Isao Tomita Archived 2017-04-24 at the Wayback Machine, Tokyo Weekender
4. ^ a b Isao Tomita, an Early Major Japanese Electronic Composer, Is Dead, Vice
5. ^ a b The Ambient Century by Mark Prendergast, Bloomsbury, London, 2003.
6. ^ Elevator Music: A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy Listening & Other Moodsong by Joseph Lanza, Quartet, London, 1995.
7. ^ Crossfade: A Big Chill Anthology, Serpents Tail, London, 2004.
8. ^ "Ambient music". Dictionary.com. Archived from the original on 2018-02-12.
9. ^ Prendergast, M. The Ambient Century. 2001. Bloomsbury, USA
10. ^ "Ambient". Dictionary by Merriam-Webster. Archived from the original on 2015-04-20.
11. ^ "Ambient". Cambridge Dictionary. Archived from the original on 2018-02-12.
12. ^ George Grove, Stanley Sadie, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Macmillan Publishers, 1st ed., 1980 (ISBN 0-333-23111-2), vol. 7 (Fuchs to Gyuzelev), "André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry", p. 708: "in L'épreuve villageoise, where the various folk elements – couplet form, simplicity of style, straightforward rhythm, drone bass in imitation of bagpipes – combine to express at once ingenuous coquetry and sincerity."
13. ^ Lanza, Joseph (2004). Elevator Music: A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy-listening, and Other Moodsong. University of Michigan Press. p. 185\. ISBN 0-472-08942-0.
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16. ^ Cooper, Sean. "Ambient". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 2011-11-14. Retrieved February 19, 2025.
17. ^ New Sounds: The Virgin Guide To New Music by John Schaefer, Virgin Books, London, 1987.
18. ^ "Each spoke, tracing a thin pie-shape out of the whole, would contribute to the modern or New Ambient movement: new age, neo-classical, space, electronic, ambient, progressive, jazzy, tribal, world, folk, ensemble, acoustic, meditative, and back to new age... "New Age Music Made Simple Archived 2010-04-05 at the Wayback Machine
19. ^ "ambient (adj.)". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved February 21, 2025.
20. ^ Jarrett, Michael (1998). Sound Tracks: A Musical ABC, Volumes 1–3. Temple University Press. p. 1973\. ISBN 978-1-56639-641-7.
21. ^ a b "/seconds". slashseconds.org. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
22. ^ "Epsilon: Ambient Music, Beginnings and Implications, by Chris Melchior". music.hyperreal.org. Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
23. ^ "Musique concrète | musical composition technique". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-12-07.
24. ^ Kostelanetz 2003, 69–71, 86, 105, 198, 218, 231.
25. ^ a b Hermes, Will (May 8, 2000). "The Story Of '4'33"'". Npr. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
26. ^ The San Francisco Tape Music Center : 1960s counterculture and the avant-garde. Bernstein, David W., 1951–. Berkeley: University of California Press. 2008. ISBN 978-0-520-24892-2. OCLC 174500759.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: others (link)
27. ^ Johnson, Timothy A. (1994). "Minimalism: Aesthetic, Style, or Technique?". The Musical Quarterly. 78 (4): 742–773\. doi:10.1093/mq/78.4.742. ISSN 0027-4631. JSTOR 742508.
28. ^ Szabo, Victor (2015-04-22). "Ambient Music as Popular Genre: Historiography, Interpretation, Critique". University of Virginia Library. Archived from the original on 2020-02-10.
29. ^ Rodgers, Tara (2010). Pink Noises: Women on Electronic Music and Sound. Duke University Press. doi:10.1215/9780822394150. ISBN 978-0-8223-4661-6.
30. ^ Intermediary spaces = Espaces Intermédiaires. Radigue, Eliane, Eckhardt, Julia. Brussels. 2019. ISBN 978-90-826495-5-0. OCLC 1127969966.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
31. ^ A Portrait of Eliane Radigue (2009), retrieved 2020-12-09
32. ^ Eliot Bates, "Ambient Music", MA thesis (Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University, 1997, pg.19)
33. ^ "100 Records That Set the World on Fire (While No One Was Listening)". The Wire. No. 175\. September 1998.
34. ^ Walls, Seth Colter (17 September 2012). "An Electronic-Music Classic Reborn". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
35. ^ "Voyager – Sounds on the Golden Record". voyager.jpl.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
36. ^ "INTERVIEW: Suzanne Ciani On... Her Buchla Beginnings, Talking Dishwashers and Why No One Got Electronic Music In the '70s". self-titled. 2014-04-03. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
37. ^ "Buchla Concerts 1975". Finders Keepers Records. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
38. ^ Tamm, Eric (1995). Brian Eno: His Music and the Vertical Color of Sound. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80649-5.
39. ^ Orme, Mike (7 December 2006). "The Bluffer's Guide: The Berlin School". Stylus Magazine. Archived from the original on 16 February 2022. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
40. ^ "AmbientMusicGuide.com – A history of ambient". Ambientmusicguide.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-13. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
41. ^ Yellow Magic Orchestra at AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-05-25.
42. ^ Morley, Paul (2010-01-17). "On gospel, Abba and the death of the record: an audience with Brian Eno | Interview". The Guardian. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
43. ^ May, Chris (12 April 2016). "The essential guide to Brian Eno in 10 records". Thevinylfactory.com. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
44. ^ a b Brian Eno, [ Music for Airports liner notes], September 1978
45. ^ Potter, Keith (2002). Four Musical Minimalists: La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass (rev. pbk from 2000 hbk ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. [ 91]. ISBN 978-0-521-01501-1. (Quoting Brian Eno saying "La Monte Young is the daddy of us all" with endnote 113 p. [ 349] referencing it as "Quoted in Palmer, A Father Figure for the Avant-Garde, p. 49".)
46. ^ Abramovich, Alex (20 January 2016). "The Invention of Ambient Music". The New Yorker. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
47. ^ Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (2014-07-08). "Laraaji: the Brian Eno of laughter". The Guardian.
48. ^ Webster, Peter (September 2002). "Historical Perspectives on Technology and Music". Music Educators Journal. 89 (1): 38–43, 54. doi:10.2307/3399883. JSTOR 3399883. S2CID 143483610.
49. ^ "Ambient pioneer Midori Takada: 'Everything on this earth has a sound'". The Guardian. 2017-03-24. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
50. ^ Warburton, Dan (October 2005). "Éliane Radigue". The Wire. 260: 26.
51. ^ Ankeny, Jason. "Pauline Oliveros Artist Biography". All Music.
52. ^ a b Altered State: The Story of Ecstasy Culture and Acid House, Matthew Collin, 1997, Serpent's Tail ISBN 1-85242-377-3
53. ^ Childs, Peter; Storry, Mike, eds. (2002). "Ambient music". Encyclopedia of Contemporary British Culture. London: Routledge. p. 22.
54. ^ "Susumu Yokota: Sakura". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
55. ^ Snoman, Rick (2013). Dance Music Manual: Tools, Toys, and Techniques. Taylor & Francis. pp. 88, 340–342\. ISBN 978-1136115745. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
56. ^ Colly, Joe. "Pop Ambient 2009". Pitchfork. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
57. ^ Fitzmaurice, Larry (14 October 2019). "How Chillwave's Brief Moment in the Sun Cast a Long Shadow Over the 2010s". Pitchfork.
58. ^ Fitzmaurice, Larry (October 14, 2019). "How Chillwave's Brief Moment in the Sun Cast a Long Shadow Over the 2010s". Pitchfork.
59. ^ Eady, Ashley (February 14, 2014). "Chillwave: Has The Next "Big Thing" Arrived?". WRVU Nashville.
60. ^ Yehuda, Nechama (2011). "Music and Stress". The Journal of Adult Development. 18 (2): 85–94\. doi:10.1007/s10804-010-9117-4. S2CID 45335464.
61. ^ How Music Works by David Byrne, McSweeney's, 2012.
62. ^ Brooke, Eliza (16 February 2021). "The Soothing, Digital Rooms of YouTube". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2021-12-28. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
63. ^ Ezra, Marcus (23 October 2020). "Why Are TikTok Teens Listening to an Album About Dementia?". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 8 April 2021. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
64. ^ Ryce, Andrew (12 April 2019). "The Caretaker – Everywhere At The End Of Time (Stage 6) Album Review". Resident Advisor. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
65. ^ Clarke, Patrick (19 October 2020). "Everywhere At The End Of Time Becomes TikTok Challenge (Leyland James Kirby gives us his reaction)". The Quietus. Archived from the original on 14 July 2021. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
66. ^ "The 50 Best Ambient Albums of All Time – Page 2". Pitchfork.com. 26 September 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
67. ^ "The 50 Best Ambient Albums of All Time – Page 3". Pitchfork.com. 26 September 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
68. ^ "The 50 Best Ambient Albums of All Time – Page 4". Pitchfork.com. 26 September 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
69. ^ "The 50 Best Ambient Albums of All Time – Page 5". Pitchfork.com. 26 September 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
70. ^ a b "The 50 Best Ambient Albums of All Time – Page 3". Pitchfork. 26 September 2016. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
71. ^ "Julianna Barwick | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
72. ^ "Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith". Retrieved 2021-01-05.
73. ^ "Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith's Existential Synthesizer Music". Pitchfork. 15 March 2016. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
74. ^ "Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and Suzanne Ciani collaborate on Sunergy for RVNG". Resident Advisor. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
75. ^ "Little Pine Restaurant". Little Pine. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
76. ^ Moby. "Long Ambients1: Calm. Sleep. by Moby". Moby.com. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
77. ^ Blistein, Jon (18 July 2019). "Iggy Pop Previews New Album With Meditative Title-Track 'Free'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
78. ^ Chandler, Simon (8 March 2017). "The Mall, Nostalgia, and the Loss of Innocence: An Interview With 猫 シ Corp". Bandcamp Daily. Archived from the original on 3 March 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
79. ^ a b "Ambient House". AllMusic. Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved October 4, 2006.
80. ^ a b c Werner, Peter. "Epsilon: Ambient Industrial". Music Hyperreal. Archived from the original on August 5, 2012. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
81. ^ a b "Ambient Pop". AllMusic. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
82. ^ Abebe, Nitsuh. "Pygmalion – Slowdive". AllMusic. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
83. ^ Korber, Kevin (6 August 2015). "Holy Hell! Pygmalion Turns 20". Spectrum Culture. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
84. ^ Abebe, Nitsuh (28 November 2005). "Slowdive: Just for a Day / Souvlaki / Pygmalion". Pitchfork. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
85. ^ "Indie Electronic Music Genre Overview". AllMusic. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
86. ^ "Electronic » Techno » Ambient Techno". AllMusic. Retrieved January 8, 2010.
87. ^ "Dark Ambient: Significant Albums, Artists, and Songs". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 21 June 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
88. ^ a b Cox & Warner 2004, p. 301 (in "Thankless Attempts at a Definition of Minimalism" by Kyle Gann): "Certainly many of the most famous minimalist pieces relied on a motoric 8th-note beat, although there were also several composers like Young and Niblock interested in drones with no beat at all. [...] Perhaps “steady-beat-minimalism” is a criterion that could divide the minimalist repertoire into two mutually exclusive bodies of music, pulse-based music versus drone-based music."
89. ^ "Drone". britannica.com.
90. ^ Young 2000, p. 27
91. ^ Echo, Altstadt. "Drone Techno Introduction". www.dubmonitor.com. Dub Monitor. Archived from the original on 18 February 2015. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
92. ^ "Drone-based music" is used for instance in 1995 (Paul Griffiths, Modern music and after: Directions Since 1945, Oxford University Press, 1995, ISBN 0-19-816511-0, p. 209: "Young founded his own performing group, the Theatre of Eternal Music, to give performances of highly repetitive, drone-based music"), or in Cow & Warner 2004 (cf. cited quote of p. 301).
93. ^ New Age Music Genre Overview, allmusic, retrieved February 9, 2025
94. ^ Ambient Music Style Overview, allmusic, retrieved February 9, 2025
95. ^ Steven Halpern, New Age Voice Magazine, June 1999 issue
96. ^ Marini, Stephen A. (2003), Sacred Song in America: Religion, Music, and Public Culture, Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, ISBN 9780252028007
97. ^ Newport, John P. (1998), The New Age Movement and the Biblical Worldview: Conflict and Dialogue, William B. Eerdmans Publishing, ISBN 9780802844309
98. ^ Hill, Stephen. "What is spacemusic?". Hearts of Space. Archived from the original on 2006-03-25. "... Originally a 1970s reference to the conjunction of ambient electronics and our expanding visions of cosmic space ... In fact, almost any music with a slow pace and space-creating sound images could be called spacemusic"
99. ^ "Any music with a generally slow, relaxing pace and space-creating imagery or atmospherics may be considered Space Music, without conventional rhythmic elements, while drawing from any number of traditional, ethnic, or modern styles." Lloyde Barde, July/August 2004, Making Sense of the Last 20 Years in New Music[usurped]
100. ^ "When you listen to space and ambient music you are connecting with a tradition of contemplative sound experience whose roots are ancient and diverse. The genre spans historical, ethnic, and contemporary styles. In fact, almost any music with a slow pace and space-creating sound images could be called spacemusic." Stephen Hill, co-founder, Hearts of Space, What is spacemusic? Archived 2006-03-25 at the Wayback Machine
101. ^ "A timeless experience...as ancient as the echoes of a simple bamboo flute or as contemporary as the latest ambient electronica. Any music with a generally slow pace and space-creating sound image can be called spacemusic. Generally quiet, consonant, ethereal, often without conventional rhythmic and dynamic contrasts, spacemusic is found within many historical, ethnic, and contemporary genres."Stephen Hill, co-founder, Hearts of Space, sidebar "What is Spacemusic?" in essay Contemplative Music, Broadly Defined Archived 2010-12-25 at the Wayback Machine
102. ^ "The early innovators in electronic "space music" were mostly located around Berlin. The term has come to refer to music in the style of the early and mid-1970s works of Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel, Popol Vuh and others in that scene. The music is characterized by long compositions, looping sequencer patterns, and improvised lead melody lines." – John Dilaberto, Berlin School, Echoes Radio on-line music glossary Archived 2007-06-14 at the Wayback Machine
103. ^ "This music is experienced primarily as a continuum of spatial imagery and emotion, rather than as thematic musical relationships, compositional ideas, or performance values." Essay by Stephen Hill, co-founder, Hearts of Space, New Age Music Made Simple Archived 2010-04-05 at the Wayback Machine
104. ^ "Innerspace, Meditative, and Transcendental... This music promotes a psychological movement inward." Stephen Hill, co-founder, Hearts of Space, essay titled New Age Music Made Simple Archived 2010-04-05 at the Wayback Machine
105. ^ "...Spacemusic ... conjures up either outer "space" or "inner space" " – Lloyd Barde, founder of Backroads Music Notes on Ambient Music, Hyperreal Music Archive Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine
106. ^ "Space And Travel Music: Celestial, Cosmic, and Terrestrial... This New Age sub-category has the effect of outward psychological expansion. Celestial or cosmic music removes listeners from their ordinary acoustical surroundings by creating stereo sound images of vast, virtually dimensionless spatial environments. In a word — spacey. Rhythmic or tonal movements animate the experience of flying, floating, cruising, gliding, or hovering within the auditory space."Stephen Hill, co-founder, Hearts of Space, in an essay titled New Age Music Made Simple Archived 2010-04-05 at the Wayback Machine
107. ^ " Restorative powers are often claimed for it, and at its best it can create an effective environment to balance some of the stress, noise, and complexity of everyday life." – Stephen Hill, Founder, Music from the Hearts of Space What is Spacemusic? Archived 2006-03-25 at the Wayback Machine
108. ^ "This was the soundtrack for countless planetarium shows, on massage tables, and as soundtracks to many videos and movies."- Lloyd Barde Notes on Ambient Music, Hyperreal Music Archive Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine
109. ^ Trahan, Tabitha; Durrant, Simon J.; Müllensiefen, Daniel; Williamson, Victoria J. (2018-11-14). "The music that helps people sleep and the reasons they believe it works: A mixed methods analysis of online survey reports". PLOS ONE. 13 (11): e0206531. Bibcode:2018PLoSO..1306531T. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0206531. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 6235300. PMID 30427881.
110. ^ Jespersen, Kira V.; Pando-Naude, Victor; Koenig, Julian; Jennum, Poul; Vuust, Peter (2022-08-24). "Listening to music for insomnia in adults". The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2022 (8): CD010459. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD010459.pub3. ISSN 1469-493X. PMC 9400393. PMID 36000763.
111. ^ Kuula, Liisa; Halonen, Risto; Kajanto, Kristiina; Lipsanen, Jari; Makkonen, Tommi; Peltonen, Miina; Pesonen, Anu-Katriina (2020-05-04). "The Effects of Presleep Slow Breathing and Music Listening on Polysomnographic Sleep Measures – a pilot trial". Scientific Reports. 10 (1): 7427. Bibcode:2020NatSR..10.7427K. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-64218-7. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 7198497. PMID 32366866.
112. ^ a b c d e f g h 10 Best Ambient Movie Soundtracks by Lucy-Jo Finnighan from ScreenRant. October 31, 2021. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
113. ^ ‘Titanic’ Soundtrack Making Its Own Waves Steve Morse, The Boston Globe. 20 February 1998. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
114. ^ The Passion of the Christ James Southall from The Movie Wave. 29 March 2004. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
115. ^ Gilchrist, Todd (September 18, 2011). "Johnny Jewel on Developing the Unique Soundtrack For Drive". Box Office. Archived from the original on November 7, 2014. Retrieved September 30, 2011.
116. ^ Review: The Mandy Experience at Revue Cinema Canculture. November 1, 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
117. ^ "Joker and Chernobyl composer Hildur Guðnadóttir: 'I'm treasure hunting'". the Guardian. 2019-12-13. Retrieved 2022-05-08.
118. ^ Masterfully MASSIVE: Hans Zimmer’s Multi-Dimensional Score for ‘Dune 2' Sound of Life. 11 March 2024. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
119. ^ "The program has defined its own niche — a mix of ambient, electronic, world, new-age, classical and experimental music....Slow-paced, space-creating music from many cultures — ancient bell meditations, classical adagios, creative space jazz, and the latest electronic and acoustic ambient music are woven into a seamless sequence unified by sound, emotion, and spatial imagery." Stephen Hill, co-founder, Hearts of Space, essay titled Contemplative Music, Broadly Defined Archived 2010-12-25 at the Wayback Machine
120. ^ "Hill's Hearts of Space Web site provides streaming access to an archive of hundreds of hours of spacemusic artfully blended into one-hour programs combining ambient, electronic, world, new-age and classical music." Steve Sande, The Sky's the Limit with Ambient Music, SF Chronicle, Sunday, January 11, 2004 Archived August 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
121. ^ "Star's End" is (with the exception of "Music from the Hearts of Space") the longest running radio program of ambient music in the world. Since 1976, Star's End has been providing the Philadelphia broadcast area with music to sleep and dream to." "Star's End" website background information page Archived 2007-08-14 at the Wayback Machine
122. ^ "Avaruusromua 25 vuotta radiossa ja kerran televisiossa!". yle.fi. 30 April 2015. Archived from the original on 2016-06-25.

## External links

[edit]

* Ambient Techno in Sound on Sound
* Ambient Music Guide – Comprehensive ambient music resource site Archived 2016-04-07 at the Wayback Machine

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2020s|

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