ambient underworld

[holden]

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.