Ambient

Need a break from all the noises of your busy life? Try coming down to some ambient and ambient house music. Ambient music is a style of music that avoids all the typical structures of music to focus on atmosphere and mood. It was popularized by Brian Eno and later adopted and refined by many later artists. The purpose of ambient music is to provide calm, meditative music to encourage a sense of collectnedness to the listener while providing a quiet atmosphere.

Ambient music was later adopted by the house music scene. As club goers needed a place to come down from the loud house music, chill out rooms began to spring up. These rooms would play music by artists like Eno as well as others like Pink Floyd and 10CC. They would play light atmospheric songs like I'm Not in Love by 10CC to provide a calm place to get away. Eventually, the two genres would merge into one as ambient music would take some of the house music sensibilities to provide a new experience. An early example of this approach would come with the one off group Dr Calculus and their album Designer Beatnik in 1986. It would later be refined by The Orb. They would draw upon these influences as well as the works of the Japanese electronic band Yellow Magic Orchestra. Eventually other artists would take this approach and expand on it.

In addition to this, downtempo was another genre of music that aimed to slow things down. This style of music had more beat and focus on structure than ambient music, but still aimed to provide a more somber listening experience. These beats are still less than a typic pop or club song. They are also more keen to use vocals and melodies than ambient and ambient house music may use.

These genres overall have some overlap and broad definitions like most genres. Below are some albums that are considered important as well as personal choices. Relax and enjoy.

Some recommendations

Apollo by Brian Eno

This album was originally written for a documentary called For All Mankind.

Brian Eno is a producer who has worked with Roxy Music, David Bowie, Talking Heads, and countless others.

The album cover is a photograph taken during the Apollo 17 mission.

Ambient Works by Aphex Twin

This is his first studio album, which includes tracks he had made when he was a teen.

The album includes samples from movies like Willie Wonka, Robocop, and The Thing.

He released this album while he was attending college for engineering.

U.F.Orb by The Orb

The group began as DJs known for playing in chillout rooms before becoming innovators in the genre.

They are known for using music samples often without permission.

This album hit number 1 on the UK charts and is considered the commercial peak of ambient house.

Chill Out by the KLF

This is a concept album depicting a night drive from Texas to Louisiana.

The KLF were a very successful group before abruptly retiring and recording themselves burning a pile of a million quid.

They also wrote a book titled How to Have a Number One the Easy Way.

Ambient Collection by Art of Noise

Art of Noise were an influential synth group who pioneered new ways of sampling.

This album is a remix compilation covering several of their earlier hits, but styled to reflect the new emerging ambient house scene.

Designer Beatnik by Dr Claculus

Co-Founder Stephen Duffy was briefly a member of Duran Duran before leaving and having solo success.

This album is a prototype chillout ambient house album that consits of multiple tracks mixed together to create one long continuous track.

E2-E4 by Manuel Gottsching

The album is named after the popular chess move.

This album is considered to be a pioneer for the house and techno genres.

The entire album was recorded in a single hour long take.

Green by Hiroshi Yoshimura

He is considered a pioneer of ambient music in Japan and is known for mixing electronic sounds with sounds from nature.

This album has two different versions as the US version has additional nature sounds while the Japanese has none.

BGM by Yellow Magic Orchestra

At this point, they were one of only 3 Japanese acts to have a hit on the US Billboard Hot 100, the other two were Kyu Sakamoto and Pink Lady.

This is the first album to use the Roland TR-808

All 3 members have had successful solo careers.

Gone to Earth by David Sylvian

David Sylvian had been the lead singer of the successful and influential band Japan before going solo.

It's broken into two halves as the first is experimental songs with vocals, the second half is entirely ambient as the studio was uninterested in ambient so he self funded it.

Antartica by Vangelis

This is the soundtrack to a Japanese documentary of the same name.

Vangelis is electronic pioneer who has done solo work as well as scoring movies such as Blade Runner and Chariots of Fire.

For many years, this album was exclusively released in Japan.

Electric Hush by Heights of Abraham

This album was voted one of the top 20 dance albums of 1995 by the British magazaine Mixmag.

The Stone by Babble

Babble were originally the successful band Thompson Twins before rebranding themselves for their new chillout style that also mixed in their prior dance and dub style.

Despite the name and style change they continued to have a couple top 20 dance hits.

The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld

The track Fluffy Little Clouds samples an interview with singer Rickie Lee Jones.

The duo have done several remixes for high profile artists. These remixes are distinct for only using a small portion of the original song.

Moon Safari by Air

They have done the soundtracks for several movies like Lost in Translation, Virgin Suicides, and even the remaster of the first sci fi movie Trip to the Moon.

This album combines the styles of chillout, space pop, and downtempo.

Accelerator by Future Sounds of London

The song Papua New Guinea samples the baseline from Meat Beat Manifesto's song Radio Babylon and the vocals from Dead Can Dance's song Dawn of the Iconoclast.

This album has various releases each with different remixes depending on release date and country.

Album cover citations:

(1) title: Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks, owner: EG, source: Wikipedia, fair use , (2) title:Selected Ambient Works 85 to 92, owner: Apollo, source: Wikipedia, fair use , (3) title: U.F.Orb, owner: Big Life, source: Wikipedia, fair use , (4) title: Chill Out, owner: KLF COmmunications, source: Wikipedia, fair use (5) title: Ambient Collection, owner: Polydor, source: Wikipedia, fair use (6) title: Designer Beatnik, owner: 10 Records, source: Discogs, fair use (7) title E2-E4, owner: MG-Art, source: Wikipedia, fair use (8) title: Green, owner: Light in the Attic, source: Wikipedia, fair use (9) title: BGM, owner: EMI, source: Wikipedia, fair use (10) title: Gone to Earth, owner: Virgin, source: Wikipedia, fair use (11) title: Antartica, owner: Polydor, source: Wikipedia, fair use (12) title: Electric Hush, owner: ZTT, source: Discogs, fair use (13) title: The Stone, owner: Reprise, source: Wikipedia, fair use (14) title: The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld, owner: Big Life, source: Wikipedia, fair use (15) title: Moon Safari, owner: Virgin Records, source: Wikipedia, fair use (16) title: Accelerator, owner: Jumpin and Pumpin, source: Wikipedia, fair use

Background image: title: untitled, creator: T_ushar, source: Pixabay, cc

History of Chill-Out

Some recommendations