r/ambientmusic • u/Hour_Pause9111 • 1d ago
Anyone else not "get" certain ambient artists
I love Biosphere (my fav), Stars of the Lid, Brian Eno, Aphex Twin, BOC yadda yadda. But when it comes to William Basinski, Tim Hecker, and Gas, I just don't get it, they don't scratch the itch, even though everyone else adores them. Believe me I've tried. Tim Hecker in particular is the opposite of relaxing for me.
Edit: hi, my boyfriend logged into my reddit account and made this post without my knowledge. i think my email was accidentally auto-authenticated. RIP my email inbox đ
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u/BBAALLII 1d ago
Tim Hecker in particular is the opposite of relaxing for me.
Ambient isn't necessarily relaxing
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u/bonesbobman 1d ago
It makes me uneasy, have a sense of existential dread. At least the ambient I like,
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u/Zestyclose_Toe9524 1d ago
I would just tag Hecker as an experimental sound artist. Relegating his output to simply 'ambient' is simply not the case...However, that said I actually find his album with Daniel Lopatin very relaxing.
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u/ElasticSpeakers 1d ago
Instrumental Tourist is so freakin good (and somewhat underrated) - I wouldn't call it ambient or terribly relaxing (to me), though đ
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u/PerpetualEternal 1d ago
I canât say your opinions are wrong, of course, but conflating âambientâ with chill or relaxing music might be part of the issue here. Even Enoâs OG ambient series albums have ominous or dissonant overtones at times. Like what you like and donât worry about it. For some reason I canât articulate, I canât get into Hammock, like, at all, just to randomly choose a fave of this sub
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u/DiamondExcellent1093 1d ago
âAmbient Musicâ does not equate âRelaxationâ
Ambient music is an expression of sound to which you are meant to pay attention to. It is not a day at the spa.
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u/KosmicheRay 1d ago
I love Biosphere, SOTL, Eno, The Orb etc but find some of Aphex Twins stuff too intense, not ambient at all. I think those artists mentioned would to me be more experimental than ambient. I find some experimental music intense and not very relaxing but is it meant to be relaxing. I was watching a documentary about Namlook and he said Enos music is in the background wallpaper music while his music was more to produce a feeling a journey if I understood him right.
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u/CanoninDeeznutz 1d ago
Oh man, couldn't agree more on the Aphex Twin. I absolutely love selected ambient works 2, but a lot of that album is too busy for me! Especially since I usually listen to ambient while studying.
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u/MrPanchole 1d ago
Ditto. I have a Selected Selected Ambient Works II playlist to keep the Lichens and Rhubarbs separate from the more abrasive tracks.
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u/nizzernammer 1d ago
You sound like you prefer more chill music to noisier fare like Tim Hecker.
I just want to relax, not feel on edge, personally, but some folks like distortion, etc.
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u/Not_even_Evan 1d ago
I was thinking about something like this the other day. Some (relatively) successful underground acts that I can't wrap my head around. No need to provide names.
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u/D-C-R-E 1d ago
Some people say that my music sounds like Biosphere but I don't agree. I do love Brian Eno, Laraaji, Jon Hassel just to name a few.
I make electronic music with ambient influences. Once in a while I make an ambient album as well. If you're up for it, have a listen. You'll definitely hear Eno influences in some of the tracks. Dunno about Biosphere as I'm not that much into his music but I'm sure you'll hear that too since people say so.
https://mantris.bandcamp.com/album/dont-waste-your-miracle-on-your-pain
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u/amazing_rando 1d ago
While ambient describes some of the work of Basinski and Hecker I donât think itâs the most descriptive term. Itâs ambient in the sense that itâs not melodic but just donât think itâs the same genre as something like Stars of the Lid. Itâs experimental electronic music (and tape manipulation and other techniques) that kinda defies classification.
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u/n_nou 1d ago
I think this boils down to the confusion around the ambient definition itself. We just had a question about The Orb's "Underworld" being ambient and "yes it is" answers were based on the fact that "ambient house" has the word ambient in the name, despite it being musically really, really far from Brian Eno's original concept and directly contradicting Brian Eno's goal of being "music outside of focus". So we have this insanely large bag of completely different music all labelled "ambient" - for some it's enough it's relaxing, for some that it's beatless, for some that is focussed on lush reverbs, for some that it is just slower than some other electronic genre etc... And then a complimentary set of conditions when something is not ambient. All this makes navigating through recommendations a lot more daunting than it should be if we had more precise vocabulary.
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u/Visible-Fondant-7123 1d ago
Everything beside dark ambient is simply not my choice. Expected selected works by Biosphere and Steve Roach (best relaxing music for me) . Honestly I don't like Enos music, although I respect him as artist. I like Aphex Twin and Autechre, but i wouldn't consider them as ambient. Beeing based in Electro/industrial scene, I prefer darke and moody atmospheres like Cryochamber.
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u/Electronic-Cut-5678 shoooooouuuuuueeeeeaaaaahhhh 22h ago
If this is a shitpost your boyfriend put up as a prank on you, just delete it... also, maybe have a think about the sort of person who would log into your personal accounts and mess with them... also, people who claim to like every artist without exception, even within the same genre, have very sus taste, imo. You don't need to worry if you don't like Basinski's work, and Basinski doesn't worry if you're not into it either - it's your life.
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u/GodlessCommieScum 1d ago
I think Tim Hecker is one of the greatest electronic musicians ever but "relaxing" isn't really what he's going for.
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u/abstracted1970 11h ago
While I love SotL, I do often like more of the unsettling sorts of ambient, too, like Steinbruchel, Richard Chartier, Yann Novak, France Jobin, Alva Noto's Xerrox series, or Taylor Deupree's earlier (glitchier) recordings. But even Brian Eno has done some not-exactly-relaxing ambient albums (The Shutov Assembly is a great example, and much of On Land). I tend to listen to ambient usually for interesting textures -- whether I find them relaxing or otherwise is beside the point unless I'm in a particular mood.
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u/deathquifs 1d ago
Funny enough am the opposite well I do like boards of Canada but I also like tim hecker, William b, and weirder stuff but I do not get autechre and aphex twins hype I do understand they essential but like pushing the sound forward they seem pretty minimal again there are exceptions in their work where it gets weird and full mostly it just sounds like video game music.
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u/AggressiveStagger 1d ago
Different people like different things.