"Chill" music

This topic seems sorta - kinda related to the tiki sensibility, exotica music, etc. This fun and comprehensive article in slate.com
http://www.slate.com/id/2120345/
might be old news to many of you jetsetting urbanites, but out in the outskirts of the city (Bullhead City, to be precise!), I am quaintly unaware that such developments are major world trends until I read about them on something like Slate (or, of course, Tikicentral!). I figured why not share the link...

Wow you really must live WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY out of town not to have heard of Ambient music, the finest ambient album you could ever purchase is the KLF Chill Out..

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000003RFD/qid=1118172757/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/102-7758405-6598505?v=glance&s=music&n=507846

I've been listening to "chill" music for 25 years. Modern chill has evolved into a kind of sanitized, "easy listening" style that's not too interesting and fairly disposeable, imho. It's getting very hard to find chill music that has real staying power, i.e., something produced by true artists you can listen to 10 years from now, and not just something a record company threw together to capitalize on the chill craze.

I've posted a couple songs by great chill composers/DJs on my site that I think are good examples of high quality, time-tested, exotica-inflected chill:

http://www.tikibot.com/songs/big_sea.mp3
A nice, moody, almost-exotica piece by the DJ collective known as Funki Porcini.

http://www.tikibot.com/songs/hovering_glows.mp3
A classic (over 10 years old!) by Terre Thaemlitz, one of the modern chill pioneers.

Other great chill and ambient artists to check out are:
Harold Budd (my overall fave)
Biosphere
Loop Guru
DJ Shadow
Boards of Canada
Space Time Continuum
"Pop Ambient" series
Aphex Twin
Michael Brook
Brian Eno (search TC for recent Eno thread)

Most of these artists are primarily DJ/chill/ambient type music, but some veer into mild techno or groove stuff (Biosphere).

There's so much great music like this out there, I don't know why people continually settle for dreck like Enya or Deep Forest or Enigma. Blah!

I know, but my out-of-it-ness is a point of pride in some ways. Anyway, I'm not that behind the times. My record player does feature stereo, and I do have a VCR.

Actually, I just realized we get Sirius Chill, via Dish Network (TV). I have to say, I'd generally prefer to "chill" to more "organic" sounds than what I'm hearing now. We live in an electronic world; I think I want my little chillout sanctuary to feature instruments that are actually struck or plucked, and give off a sonic glow that seems somehow "natural." This music makes me feel like I'm riding in a subway for some reason. Hey, that's just me I guess.

The article does reference other stuff that probably fits my preferences more, given the descriptions of them, and I bet the one you recommend is excellent too. I need to explore the genre more than the 15 minutes I've given it so far!

Tiki-bot -- posted mine (above) before seeing yours. Excellent references I will check up on, including links! BTW, the Sirius channel is now playing some stuff I like a great deal -- obviously got to be patient and pick and choose.

Good luck finding much ambient/chill that's not electronic in origin, or at least sampled from real instruments. The only example I can think of that I own is an album by Brokeback called "Field Recordings from the Cook County Water Table". Just guitar and a little stand-up bass and tone-down drums. Almost falls into "indie-experimental" category, but there are some beautifully eerie, mellow songs there.

They have 3 albums, but I think this is their best:
http://tinyurl.com/dkfnt

Tiki-bot

[ Edited by: Tiki-bot on 2005-06-07 13:29 ]

Oh, and Michael Brooks' album "Colbalt Blue" is all just guitar, albeit heavily treated, looped, echoed, and overdubbed, but all played and mixed live! Check out his album "Live at the Aquarium" if you don't believe me.

On 2005-06-07 12:39, atomictonytiki wrote:

the finest ambient album you could ever purchase is the KLF Chill Out..

Good Sir,

I see your KLF Chill Out...

...And raise you SPACE

For those of you who care, Space was a little project from The Orbs' Alex Paterson and Jimmy Cauty (who left to work with Bill Drummond as KLF) The project was the starting point for both KLF's Chill Out and The Orb's Adventure Beyond The Ultraworld

It's good to own rare vinyl :)

-Z

On 2005-06-07 13:08, Tiki-bot wrote:

Other great chill and ambient artists to check out are:

Aphex Twin

Be careful with Aphex, Richard James has dabbled with ambient (Selected Ambient Works II), but most of his stuff is on the level of thrashcore/drill n bass/acid/noise (even Selected Ambient Works 85-92 isn't what most would consider ambient). All of his work is quite good in my opinion, but (other than SAW II and some parts of Drukqs) not for 'chill' purposes.

Global Communications 76:14 is a fantastic album too.

Quite American has some fascinating field recordings, especially the SE Asian ones.

http://www.quietamerican.org/index.html

[ Edited by: BaronV on 2005-06-08 14:56 ]

On 2005-06-08 14:54, BaronV wrote:

Be careful with Aphex, Richard James has dabbled with ambient (Selected Ambient Works II), but most of his stuff is on the level of thrashcore/drill n bass/acid/noise (even Selected Ambient Works 85-92 isn't what most would consider ambient). All of his work is quite good in my opinion, but (other than SAW II and some parts of Drukqs) not for 'chill' purposes.

Global Communications 76:14 is a fantastic album too.

All true. And I agree, GC 76:14 is a great, spacey chill album. I always forget about it since none of the tracks have names and by default it falls to the bottom of any playlist in iTunes.

Some more great chill:

Michael Brook's "Hybrid" (as mentioned in the Eno thread, has a great, almost exotica tune with distant drumming and dreamy horn sounds of Jon Hassel)

Pieter Nooten & Michael Brook's "Sleeps with the Fishes" (has sad-core vocals by former Xymox founder Nooten)

Brook also has an album with Indian musician U. Srinivas called "Dream". It's pretty ambient and features Brook's atmospheric processing of Srinivas' & his guest musicians' traditional instruments.

I never get tired of the compilation "em:t 2000 em:t 2295" either. Lots of experimental weirdness and vocal samples from whoknowswhere.

Tiki-bot

[ Edited by: Tiki-bot on 2005-06-08 15:58 ]

Some late '70's / early '80's "chill" music I used to listen to after a hard nite of slamming in "the pit" so I could unwind enough to cop a few ZZZZ's before work in the morning:

Heavenly Music Corporation / Swastika Girls - Fripp & Eno

Warm Leatherette / T.V. OD - the NORMAL

Frankie Teardrop - Suicide

Anything by Klaus Schultz or Tangerine Dream

Death Threat - Throbbing Gristle

On 2005-06-10 18:09, Shipwreckjoey wrote:

Heavenly Music Corporation / Swastika Girls - Fripp & Eno

Wow, I haven't thought of that album in ages. I just found out that Fripp & Eno did a new album last year called "The Equatorial Stars". Nothing new, just the same old nice Frippery drone music.

Speaking of "drone" music, I was perusing Aquarius Records' site and found this experimental drone gem:

http://www.aquariusrecords.org/cat/l2.html

(scroll down to Alan Lamb's "Night Passage")

Warning, shamless plug to follow: :blush:

Well if you're looking for some decent trance drone stuff, just check out my homepage.

Click on homepg button below...

I know I know, it's a few months out of date and the html look of it is ancient, enough already.

On 2005-06-10 20:52, Hakalugi wrote:
Warning, shamless plug to follow: :blush:

Well if you're looking for some decent trance drone stuff, just check out my homepage.

Hey, Haka, just checked out your site and there's a lot of stuff there, but did you do the 2 MP3s that you can download ("Asaresult" and "Somnambulist Transmitter")? If so, great work!

I was perusing another site while listening and saw a piece of artwork that "Asaresult" looks like the soundtrack to:

Here's the page if interested:
http://www.jonathanlevinegallery.com/index.cfm?method=Exhibit.ExhibitDescriptionCurrent

I love ambient and experimental music or as I like to call it trippy music.

Here's some of my favorites.

Mice Parade
Mum
Nobukazu Takemura
The Orb
YMO
Godspeed-you black emperor
Tetsu Inoue
Ryuichi Sakamoto

Does anyone listen to these bands? If so can you please suggest some others like them. I'm always looking for new music.

On 2005-06-16 09:46, FLOUNDERart wrote:

Does anyone listen to these bands? If so can you please suggest some others like them. I'm always looking for new music.

You mean more than are already listed in this thread? There's a couple dozen here that you'd like based on the list you posted.

I just wasn't sure what people consider ambient music. I don't care for techno or groove stuff so much.

Have you listened to the bands I listed?

In my opinion the best ambient album is YMO Technodom Remixes II.

Check out Godspeed if you haven't already also.

I'll check out some of the bands you listed.

Thanks

On 2005-06-16 14:24, FLOUNDERart wrote:
I just wasn't sure what people consider ambient music. I don't care for techno or groove stuff so much.

Have you listened to the bands I listed?

In my opinion the best ambient album is YMO Technodom Remixes II.

Check out Godspeed if you haven't already also.

I'll check out some of the bands you listed.

Thanks

I own or have heard 5 of the 8 you listed, but I wouldn't classify any of these as "ambient" (at least the ones I've heard). You might check out this Eno thread for some ambient suggestions:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=12975&forum=11

There's an excellent record store here in SF that has a very informative site with lots of samples to listen to (the the folks working there have great knowledge of all kinds of ambient/trip/chill/drone/slowcore/exotica music):

http://www.aquariusrecords.org/

I stand corrected: There is some Sakamoto stuff I would call "ambient", but I wouldn't really call him an ambient artist, per se. There's a very ambient-sounding album by him and another artist on the front page of that Aquarius link I just posted. Artists like him are pretty hard to classify, but I haven't followed his career since I was really into him in the 70s and 80s.

You say you don't like the techno/groove stuff so much, but the YMO remix album is your favorite? All the YMO remixes I've heard are straight up techno/house. Maybe the one you mention is more ambient, I don't know.

On 2005-06-14 18:16, Tiki-bot wrote:
Hey, Haka, just checked out your site and there's a lot of stuff there, but did you do the 2 MP3s that you can download ("Asaresult" and "Somnambulist Transmitter")? If so, great work!

Yes I have to take much of the blame. Thanks!

Here's a direct link to that page if anyone else is interested.

And that Painting that went along with Asaresult is an excellent match!

By the way have you heard the Mysterious Skin soundtrack? It is a collaboration between Harold Budd and Robin Guthrie. I haven't heard it yet but should be receiving a copy very soon.

On 2005-06-16 21:05, Hakalugi wrote:

By the way have you heard the Mysterious Skin soundtrack? It is a collaboration between Harold Budd and Robin Guthrie. I haven't heard it yet but should be receiving a copy very soon.

I heard them mention this soundtrack on the NPR interview about the movie, which is unusual. I'm trying to figure out if it's just remixed from The Moon & the Melodies, or is it all new? I can't seem to find any samples to verify.

I'm a huge Harold Budd fan and recently picked up his latest (and suupposedly last) album, Avalon Sutra. It's gorgeous. The 2nd CD is a single, 70 minute remix of 1 song from the 1st disk and it's amazing.

On 2005-06-17 11:31, Tiki-bot wrote:
I'm trying to figure out if it's just remixed from The Moon & the Melodies, or is it all new? I can't seem to find any samples to verify.

From what I've read it's all new stuff. Definitely not remixed from the the Moon and the Melodies which however would not be a bad thing. Amazon has some snippets you can listen to.

Thanks for the heads up on the Avalon Sutra release. I'll check it out.

Tiki-Bot

Which five have you listened to and if you don't consider them ambient then what category do they fall into?

I have another copy of the YMO cd burned somewhere if I can find it I'll send it to you.
P.M. me your address if your interested.

On 2005-06-16 09:46, FLOUNDERart wrote:
I'm always looking for new music.

I can only heartily recommend listening to stuart maconies FREAKZONE on BBC radio 6..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/freakzone/

..its a one stop shop for finding new and unusual music, from vintage prog classics to random tone experiments.

Excellent link, ATT. Thanks!

I'm sitting here listening to this and am blown away that the BBC has DJs that actually have knowledge of what they play. The only thing we even have close in America is college radio, but the DJs are pathetic and can't speak and rarely know much about what they play. This morning I heard a pathetic college DJ trying to pronounce "Stephen Malkmus" like she had never read the name before. She should have been forbidden from ever being on the radio again right there. You folks don't know how good you have it with the BBC.

[ Edited by: Tiki-bot on 2005-06-17 18:41 ]

On 2005-06-17 11:42, FLOUNDERart wrote:
Tiki-Bot

Which five have you listened to and if you don't consider them ambient then what category do they fall into?

I can't say they each fall into a neat category, but I'll take a shot at describing what each is like:

The Orb: Electro-dub. Big beat techno mixed with dub-style reggae toast.

YMO: Hi-NRG Japanese electro pop, very techno-ish.

Godspeed-you black emperor: Atonal orchestral prog. Almost unclassifiable.

Tetsu Inoue: Plink-plonky Japanese electro-pop, with lots of percussive elements.

Ryuichi Sakamoto: All over the board from Japanese Electro pop to orchestral soundtracks to solo piano work, some experimental ambient and electronic stuff, even a lot of progressive new wave in the 80s.

A couple here have worked with collaborators who are more strictly ambient or electro-groove type artists, like Bill Laswell.

On 2005-06-17 18:04, Tiki-bot wrote:
You folks don't know how good you have it with the BBC.

As much as i hate paying my £120 television Licence fee every year, I actually Love the BBC its a joy to have media not stuffed full of adverts.
In fact if anyone wants to download a version of "Real Player" that isn't full of adware, then download it from the BBC because Realplayer had to create an ad-free version because of the BBC's charter.

You tv license fees are still a lot less than "free" basic cable here. :wink:

Glad you mentioned the Real Player thing. For those that aren't aware, Real Audio is the tool of the devil. It's an evil, spyware-filled mess that takes huge resources and spies on everything you do on your computer! Well, maybe not everything!

Instead, try "Real Alternative", which is a stripped down Real player with none of the ad- or spy-ware. You can get it for free at:
http://www.free-codecs.com/

On 2005-06-17 18:55, Tiki-bot wrote:

On 2005-06-17 11:42, FLOUNDERart wrote:
Tiki-Bot

Which five have you listened to and if you don't consider them ambient then what category do they fall into?

Electro-dub. Big beat techno mixed with dub-style reggae toast.Hi-NRG Japanese electro pop, very techno-ish. Atonal orchestral prog. Almost unclassifiable.
Plink-plonky Japanese electro-pop, with lots of percussive elements. All over the board from Japanese Electro pop to orchestral soundtracks to solo piano work, some experimental ambient and electronic stuff, even a lot of progressive new wave in the 80s.

Holy shit Tiki-Bot! I think I'll just stick with "trippy Music".

Thanks

For those that care: I found out about this band (really! They're a band!) called Stars of the Lid. Go to the Aquarius Records site I linked above and search their name for some long audio samples (2-1/2 minutes compared to Amazon's paltry 30 seconds).

They are straight up drone music. If you're not familiar with this genre, it's sort of a cross between minimalist ambient and orchestral prog. Sometimes it sounds like an orchestra tuning up in slow motion. There are no melody lines or lyrics and it tends to not sound too, um, cheery. But SotL have a big, warm sound that's both mysterious and grand, and is actually created with guitars and bass and a lot of 4 track experimental wankery. Joe Bob says check it out.

I don't know it this fits in with your discussion or not, but Peter Gabriel's "Passion" has always been one of my favorites. I don't know what to call that except 'ambient'.

I'ved been into " ambient " music for almost as long as Exotica ...I've got tons of CDs ...IMO , the master of ambient-atmospheric-electronic music is STEVE ROACH . He's got it ALL covered and then some . I'm listening to SLOW HEAT ( on a sultry summer late afternoon in the Japanese boonies ) now ...

http://www.steveroach.com/

Prodigious output ...

Year Title Label

2007 Fever Dreams III Timeroom Editions
Immersion: Three Projekt
2006 Immersion: Two Projekt
Kairos: The Meeting of Time and Destiny Timeroom Visions
Proof Positive Timeroom Editions
Storm Surge: Live at NEARfest NEARfest Records
Terraform Soleilmoon
Immersion: One Projekt
2005 Somewhere Else Projekt
The Dreamtime Box Timeroom Editions
Dreamtime Return Projekt
New Life Dreaming Timeroom Editions
Possible Planet Timeroom Editions
2004 Places Beyond: The Lost Pieces 4 Timeroom Editions
Holding the Space: Fever Dreams II Timeroom Editions
Mantram Projekt
Fever Dreams Projekt
Spirit Dome Projekt
2003 Life Sequence Timeroom Editions
Texture Maps: The Lost Pieces Vol. 3 Timeroom Editions
Space and Time: An Introduction to the Soundworlds of Steve Roach Projekt
Mystic Chords & Sacred Spaces Projekt
2002 All is Now Timeroom Editions
Darkest Before Dawn Timeroom Editions
Day Out of Time Timeroom Editions
Trance Spirits Projekt
InnerZone Projekt
2001 Pure Flow: Timeroom Editions Collection 1 Timeroom Editions
Streams & Currents Projekt
Core Timeroom Editions
Time of the Earth Projekt
Structures From Silence Projekt
Blood Machine Green House Music
Early Man Projekt
2000 Prayers to the Protector Fortuna/Celestial Harmonies
The Serpent's Lair Projekt
Ritual Ground Projekt
Midnight Moon Projekt
Live Archive Groove Unlimited
Circles & Artifacts The Contemporary Harmonic
Early Man Manifold
Vine ~ Bark & Spore Timeroom Editions
1999 Light Fantastic Hearts of Space
Quiet Music: Complete Edition Fortuna/Celestial Harmonies
Body Electric Projekt
Dreaming... Now, Then: A Retrospective 1982 - 1997 Fortuna/Celestial Harmonies
Ascension of Shadows Projekt
Atmospheric Conditions Timeroom Editions
Stormwarning Timeroom Editions
The Dream Circle Timeroom Editions
The Electric Body Timeroom Editions
Truth & Beauty: The Lost Pieces Volume Two Timeroom Editions
1998 Dust to Dust Projekt
Slow Heat Timeroom Editions
1997 On This Planet Hearts of Space
Cavern of Sirens Projekt
1996 Halcyon Days Hearts of Space
The Magnificent Void Hearts of Space
1995 Well of Souls Projekt
Kiva Hearts of Space
The Dreamer Descends Amplexus
The Lost Pieces Projekt
1994 Artifacts Fortuna/Celestial Harmonies
Earth Island Hearts of Space
The Dream Circle Soundquest
1993 Origins Fortuna/Celestial Harmonies
Forgotten Gods Hearts of Space
Ritual Ground Silent Records
The Lost Pieces Rubicon
1992 Soma Hearts of Space
Now / Traveler Fortuna/Celestial Harmonies
World's Edge Fortuna/Celestial Harmonies
Forgotten Gods Grabaciones Lejos Del Paraiso
Stormwarning Lektronic Soundscapes
1990 Australia: Sound of the Earth Fortuna/Celestial Harmonies
Strata Hearts of Space
1989 Desert Solitaire Fortuna/Celestial Harmonies
Earth Dreaming New Era Media
Stormwarning Soundquest
The Art and Vision of James Hubbell KPBS TV, San Diego
1988 Dreamtime Return Fortuna/Celestial Harmonies
Quiet Music Fortuna/Celestial Harmonies
1987 Space Dreaming New Era Media
Structures From Silence New Era Media
Traveler Fortuna/Celestial Harmonies
Western Spaces Innovative Communication; Chameleon Music; Fortuna/Celestial Harmonies
1986 Quiet Music 3 Fortuna/Celestial Harmonies
Quiet Music 2 Fortuna/Celestial Harmonies
Empetus Fortuna/Celestial Harmonies
Quiet Music 1 Fortuna/Celestial Harmonies
1984 Structures From Silence Fortuna/Celestial Harmonies
1983 Traveler Domino Records
1982 Now Fortuna/Celestial Harmonies
1979 Moebius

I've always considered Steve Roach to be more New Age or Spacemusic. I love his stuff though, I have several CDs by him! But when I think of "ambient" i think of the stuff that has a beat to it--not the pounding dance music, but stuff like Royksopp, Theivery Corporation, Smoke City, Zero 7, Tipsy, etc. I guess you could call them Ambient Lounge. To me, that is kinda like the exotica of today. However, I would love to hear some ambient remixes of classic exotica tunes.

Also, I'm listening to the "Exotica '90" CD you managed to snag for me....Thanks million!!!

MARK