Ambient music has existed since the late-nineteenth century. Although Brian Eno was the first artist to use the term ‘ambient’ to describe his music on his 1978 album, Music For Airports, composers like Claude Debussy and Erik Satie, with their notion of composing pieces to complement listening surroundings, broke with musical conventions and expectations. Frenchmen Erik Satie ...
conventional rock instruments with sound effects, tapes and synthesizers, questioning and changing the nature of the ‘traditional’ band. By the 1970s, Brian Eno had produced the first ambient music, and Jean-Michel Jarre and Vangelis were writing epic compositions for synthesizers. Kraftwerk explored sampling, and their fusion of synthesized melodies and rigid electronic beats laid the foundation ...
1971 and the band recorded three albums with his replacement, Japanese singer Kenji ‘Damo’ Suzuki, Tago Mago (1971), Ege Bamyasi (1972) and Future Days (1973), which edged towards ambient music. Can established a significant following in Britain and in 1976, achieved a minor hit with ‘I Want More’ by which time Suzuki had departed leaving Schmidt and Karoli ...
, b. 1961) Born Eithne Patricia Brennan in County Donegal, into the Clannad musical dynasty, Enya trained as a classical pianist, and remains a major innovator in ambient music. Her first solo endeavour was a 1986 BBC soundtrack, The Celts. Her trademark luxuriant soundscapes and melodic mysticism are present and correct. These elements washed through her follow-up ...
solidarity could not survive the loss of a single constituent. When John Bonham died in 1980 there was little doubt that everything was over. ‘We were above all else an ambient band,’ Jimmy Page told me. ‘That was the key thing about it.’ They were, as all immortal bands must be, a whole much greater than the ...
tape delay machine, Martyn made his debut with 1968’s London Conversation and after two albums with then wife Beverly, he released the seminal Solid Air (1973), a prototype ambient album. On 1980’s Grace And Danger Martyn made the transition from solo artist to band leader; he received the OBE shortly before his death. Styles & Forms | Seventies | ...
A topped the US and UK charts. Recorded at the same time as Kid A, Amnesiac (2001) had a lighter feel, but the guitars were mostly used for ambient textures, apart from Greenwood’s catchy hook on ‘I Might Be Wrong’. While the songs on Hail To The Thief (2003) remained complex, some of Radiohead’s earlier energy returned. ...
own music, Madonna worked with British musician/producer William Orbit on the ambitious Ray Of Light (1998), which restored her commercial pre-eminence. The album expertly blended pop with electronica, ambient trance and quasi-psychedelia whilst the lyrics were largely personal, with Madonna reflecting on her recent motherhood. Further collaborations with Orbit followed on Music (2000), which developed its predecessor’s shift ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 2003–present) Signed to Sheffield’s Warp Records, a label more synonymous with ambient dance acts like Boards of Canada, Newcastle’s Maxïmo Park – Paul Smith (vocals), Duncan Lloyd (guitar), Archis Tiku (bass), Lucas Wooller (keyboards) and Tom English (drums) – deliver a view of the north-east of England that is refreshingly different to the sterilized slants on ...
1965) New Yorker Richard Melville Hall started his career in punk Vatican Commandos before becoming fascinated by the sound and possibilities of dance music when it emerged during the 1980s. Ambient and techno works won him club reputation with tracks like ‘Go’ and ‘I Feel It’ seeping into the lower branches of UK charts. His abilities continued to develop throughout the ...
The Moon (1973) established Pink Floyd as the biggest progressive rock band of the decade. They have remained massively popular and their influence continues to be felt in rock and ambient music. The band were formed in London in 1965 by singer/guitarist Syd Barrett (born Roger Keith Barrett, 6 January 1946, died 7 July 2006), bassist Roger Waters (born ...
(drums) in Reykjavik, the Icelanders’ wholly unique sound, perhaps most successfully achieved on third album Ágætis Byrjun (1999), is a lulling, lurching blend of classical music and ambient, of rock with something from far outside the genres’ confines. Orri Páll Dyrason has since joined on drums, while Kjartan ‘Kjarri’ Sveinsson now adds smooth keyboard sounds. Started ...
giving a fresh twist to his progressive style on the vibrant ‘Narnia’. Spectral Mornings (1979) focused on Hackett’s own identity with powerful guitar playing on ‘Every Day’, balanced by the ambient atmospherics of the title track. Defector (1980) maintained the same direction, using Hackett’s touring band. Cured (1981) and Highly Strung (1983) moved closer to the pop mainstream, and ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1980–98) The otherworldly tones of albums such as Treasure (1983) and Victorialand (1986) helped define ambient music. The Cocteaus comprised Robin Guthrie’s layered soundscapes and Liz Fraser’s spectral voice (also used by Massive Attack), plus bassist Will Heggie (replaced by Simon Raymonde). None of their lyrics could be discerned, but the atmospheric ‘Pearly Dewdrops Drop’ (1984) charted ...
(Electronic group, 1989–present) The main fountainhead of creativity was the highly collaborative Dr. Alex Patterson. The Orb redefined ambient music taking listeners on journeys irrespective of genre-fusing elements of dub and even progressive music into long extended pieces. Singles ‘A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld’ (sampling Minnie Riperton’s ‘Loving You’) and ‘Little ...
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