Topic: The Art of Ambient - Part One: Introduction

[Geoff]

My fine ladies and gents, I give you the art of Ambient Music, a much maligned and oft misunderstood art form that goes largely unnoticed in the modern American music pantheon despite huge popularity in other parts of the world.  

The term "ambient music" was first coined by Brian Eno in the mid-1970s to refer to music that would envelop the listener without drawing attention to itself, that can be either "actively listened to with attention or as easily ignored, depending on the choice of the listener" (Eno, who describes himself as a "non-musician" termed his experiments in sound as "treatments" rather than as traditional performances). Hence, Brian Eno is considered the father of ambient music: his 1978 release Ambient 1: Music for Airports includes a manifesto describing this music. Although having coined the word "ambient", he is also quick to reference the works and influence of Erik Satie. Eno coined the term in an essay to distance his work from elevator music and Muzak, it is more often similar to mood music or an ambient background in movie and radio sound effects.  As Eno so eloquently stated in the liner notes to Ambient 1, 'Ambient Music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting.'

As our part one of the journey into the amazing and suprising depths of modern Ambient Music, I give you the Father of the Movement, Mr. Brian Eno.

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[Geoff]

Piss me off....the embed function doesn't seem to work...


Todd.....


anyway...here's the hyperlink.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbtxhXynjuM

[Todd]

You can post them, you just need to out smart the board.

From the embed code take the YouTube link (it'll look something like this http://www.youtube.com/v/QbtxhXynjuM) and use the flash embed icon (Red icon with an f on the 2nd to last tow) and use that to bring in the video. The dimensions are 425 by 350.

[flash width=425 height=350]http://www.youtube.com/v/QbtxhXynjuM[/flash]

[Geoff]

Or not...perhaps like this...

[flash width=425 height=350]http://www.youtube.com/v/0jSWwtqr6IQ[/flash]

[Geoff]

Selected Ambient Discography for Brian Eno

1975: Discreet Music
1978: Ambient #1 / Music for Airports
1978: Music for Films
1980: Ambient #2 / The Plateaux of Mirror (with Harold Budd)
1980: Ambient #3 / Day of Radiance (by Laraaji, produced by Eno)
1980: Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics (with Jon Hassell)
1981: Fourth World, Vol. 2: Dream Theory in Malaya (by Jon Hassell, Eno played also)
1981: Empty Landscapes
1982: Ambient #4 / On Land
1983: Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks
1983: Music for Films, Volume 2 (with Daniel Lanois, reissued in 2005 as More Music for Films)
1984: The Pearl (with Harold Budd)
1985: Hybrid (with Daniel Lanois and Michael Brook)
1985: Thursday Afternoon
1988: Music for Films, Volume 3 (various artists)
1992: The Shutov Assembly
1993: Neroli
1997: The Drop
2000: Music for Onmyo-Ji (Japan only release with Peter Schwalm)
2001: Drawn from Life (with Peter Schwalm)

For a more detailed Eno discography, including collaborations as well as his earlier, rock-based works, click here