Quote:
Originally Posted by ultradave
that's open for interpretation. when you sum it all up regardless of bpm, it's all electronic music. what's ambient to one person differs from another.
|
Agreed. As per Brian Eno, "Mr. Ambient" himself:
"
Ambient Music is intended to induce calm and a space to think." - 1978
That's a pretty broad definition. Good! Music should never be restrictive or restricted.
Excellent article, BLD...definitely raises the issues of subgenres and overuse of the term. But still, i'm not sure i like rules for what qualifies as this or that style of music (i'm fondly remembering a discussion we had on here where i tried to convince Stimpee that UW had elements of Progressive Rock!)...for every "rule" there's an exception, and bands like UW that are adept at perfoning a lot of styles of music, it's even harder to classify.
When i was younger, "ambient" meant New Age and World Music I heard on public radio and my dad's Windham Hill records. More recently, i might have considered beatless tracks to be the definition. Then i learned about drone, soundscapes, noise, lo-fi, electroacoustic, blah blah etc...
I also agree that acid squelches or somewhat fast beats might not be calming or space-inducing to most, but i can see how a steady tempo and repeated loops can be hypnotic and comforting in their regularity. Is that ambient? For some.
For me, the most "ambient" Underworld compositions are several tracks on "Breaking & Entering" OST and the "I'm a Big Sister..." Riverrun EP. Not sure I'd call anything on their studio albums ambient. A number ofthe aforementioned Dark and Long mixes and B-sides, maybe.