From: Mike J. Brown <mjbrown@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Subject: FAQ: Ambient music [1/3]
Followup-To: bit.listserv.emusic-l,alt.rave
Originator: recmusic@galaxy
Reply-To: mjbrown@magnus.acs.ohio
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 08:56:37 GMT

Part 1 of 3

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 |  THE AMBIENT FAQ                                                 
 |  (Information about Ambient Music)                               
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Last Modified 8 Oct 1992

Written by Mike Brown, mjbrown@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu.
with contributions (some unsolicited) from readers of alt.rave
and rec.music.industrial.

This FAQ is for public use; distribute freely, just be sure
the author's credit remains intact.  Direct questions, comments,
additions, and corrections to the address above.
______________________________________________________________________

Contents:
	Definition: FAQ
	Definition: ambient
	Definition: ambient house
	Definition: deep house
	History: earliest roots of ambient music
	History: dance music genres related to ambient house
	History: ambient house and The Orb
	Definition: ambient industrial
	Clarification: The Orb vs Orbital
	Recommendations: my own collection
	Recommendations: by others
	Ruminations: On the other hand...
	Ruminations: Chill Out Areas
	Ruminations: Eno
	Ruminations: Kraftwerk, LFO, 808 State
	Information: Where to find information
	Information: Where to find ambient music
	Late news
______________________________________________________________________        

Definition: FAQ

When I first sent out a request for recommendations of good ambient
tracks, somebody actually asked me this.  I laughed for a little
while, then thought, well, it is a valid question, so here is the
answer.  FAQ is an abbreviation for Frequently Asked Question.  Many
of the hundreds of newsgroups on UseNET get the same questions being
asked over and over, so it is now common practice for a list of these
FAQ's and their corresponding answers to be compiled and periodically
posted to the appropriate newsgroup.  These "answers to frequently
asked questions" documents are being referred to now as FAQs.  I wrote
this FAQ to answer the frequent questions that appear on the
newsgroups alt.rave and rec.music.industrial, and the various rave
mailing lists.  I maintain and post the FAQ to those groups/lists
as often as I can get to it.
______________________________________________________________________

Definition: ambient

Here is my interpretation.

In musical terms, ambient refers to an arrangement that surrounds the
listener, usually with long, smooth chords, absence of hard rhythm or
vibrant melody, and using instrumentation which is neither too sharp
nor too round.

Some soft music is ambient, to varying degrees.  As with all attempts to
pigeonhole a musical style, one ultimately has to admit that
interpretation is always subjective and that the "best" definition of
"ambient" or any other form of music is one's own.

That said, here are some common characteristics of music people tend to 
think of as ambient:

     1) sound effects, especially environmental sounds and voices you
	can't quite make out
     2) long instrumentals, mainly done with synthesizers
     3) one or more repeating synth lines, often sounding artificial
	but smooth
     4) long, inoffensive tones and chords
     5) all sounds are "softened" so there is no more than one sharp,
	abrasive sound (like an electric guitar solo) at a time
     6) few or no vocals
     7) rhythm tracks are limited and often muffled
     8) new sounds, especially the repeating loops, fade in and out
	slowly, rather than cutting out hard at a 1-beat
     9) dreamy or macabre moodiness, but usually never upbeat

One alt.rave reader offered this definition: 
I think Ambient is generally characterized by long flowing sounds,
pleasant atmosphere generating samples like waterfall, birdcall,
wind, rain, etc. nature stuff....
long chords..... beats optional.

______________________________________________________________________

Definition: ambient house

Ambient house is mostly ambient, as defined above, but with a bit of
trance-dance percussion here and there.  Some ambient house tracks
have no percussion, and are only defined as ambient house by who made
them and with what, rather than by what the music sounds like.

The idea is you relax in the Chill Out room and listen to ambient
music most likely while under the influence of psychoactives.  You get
absorbed into the music and sound effects and are transported to
another reality.  Every so often the sounds of the "real" dance floor
in the adjacent room permeate your excursion and enhance it at the
same time.  Ambient House is the new psychedelic experience, no drugs        
required; it is the 1990's equivalent of old-New-Age.

Now go listen to The KLF - "Witchita Lineman Was A Song I Once Heard",
track 9 on _Chill Out_, and see what I mean.  Then listen to the whole
ablum again.
______________________________________________________________________

Definition: Deep house

I'm not sure how to best define deep house.  It's house, but extremely
repetitive, trancey... the only example of a deep house song breaking
the Top 40 in America that I can think of is "Finally" by Ce Ce
Peniston.  If anyone else can offer a more descriptive definition,
be my guest.
______________________________________________________________________

History: earliest roots of ambient music

===ccat@netcom.com (Chris Beaumont)

In my opinion the first ambient musician was Eric Satie, the French composer
of about the turn of the century.  His "Gymnopeides" is one of the most moody
pieces of music ever written.  Years ago I met Brian Eno and he told me that
Satie had been one of his main influences.  Made me feel good because my 
father was a composer... and Satie was one of his friends in Paris in the 
20's.  (my father was 60 when I was born in 1958)

My father was also one of the fathers of industrial music, but that's a
different story......

If any of you have seen "Henry and June" they use some of his pieces
in that movie.  Never fails to raise a chill on the back of my neck.
This is the music that Picasso liked to play when he was painting, I hear.

______________________________________________________________________

History: Dance music genres related to ambient house

House music, a formerly underground form of New York black club music 
dating back to c.1985, is round and soulful, but relatively sparse, 
usually consisting of a wailing diva over a constant disco bass beat and 
hi-hats, repeating bassline, stumbling snare, and simple chords in
place of complicated melodies.  While mainstream music focused on lavish
production, house was simple, being little more than the result of
DJ's playing with drum machines at intimate 'house' parties and discos.
The introduction of sirens, screaming, whistles, reverb, and squiggly 
303 'acid effects' noises, with the removal of most of the vocals from 
house in 1987 resulted in Acid House.  This hypnotic new form of house 
was popular initially in Chicago and England, existed as a fad in 
American gay clubs shortly thereafter, was merged with hip-hop and rap 
to form hip-house, then more or less died out (or went further 
underground) in 1989.  It was then that the Belgian 'New Beat' sound 
fused acid house with rigid, soulless techno, using breakbeats and 
samples played at what was at the time fairly high speeds.  Technotronic, 
a New Beat pop act, scored international success with their hits 'Pump Up 
The Jam', 'Get Up', and several other club chart-toppers.  Sleaze, a 
slower, pseudo-ambient form of New Beat enjoyed brief popularity as 
morning music after hours at dance clubs.  In 1990 and 1991 the UK acid 
house scene was revitalized by the new techno sound coming from the 
continent, a bleep-and-breakbeat merger combining all the elements of 
house, acid house, New Beat, the Detroit groove techno of Derrick May and 
Kevin Saunderson, as well as the early electro of Kraftwerk.  More and
more 'raves' or 'acid house parties' started happening around the world,
with hundreds and even thousands of young people coming together for
secret, impromptu techno dancathons.  In late 1991 and 1992 'Techno-
Rave', which has come to describe the hook-oriented pop fringe 
of techno, dominated the UK and European pop charts and has begun to make
its presence known in the USA.  Following San Francisco's lead, major
cities across the States got a taste of the rave experience in 1992, with
fairly prominent scenes developing in Denver, Chicago, Boston, New York,
and parts of Florida.
_____________________________________________________________________

History: ambient house and The Orb

Ambient house music is fairly new.  Most of it is being made by a very
small group of people, most of whom know each other.  Most of what I
know about it centers around the activity of The Orb.  Things seem to
have gone like this.

1987 WEA A&R man Bill Drummond meets London artist Jimmy Cauty while
making arrangements for Cauty's band Brilliant to meet with the
infamous Stock-Aitken-Waterman production team.  The pair hit it off
and form the JAMs, a novelty act of bad Scottish rapping over what was
at the time dangerously blatant "sampling".

1988 The JAMs begin recording more serious dance tracks under the
pseudonym Kopyright Liberation Front, unexpectedly scoring hits in the
expanding acid-house scene.  Jimmy Cauty meets Editions EG A&R man Dr.
Alex Paterson, a London DJ with similar interests in 70's pseudo-
psychedelic music.  They begin working with the idea of something
called Ambient House, a combination of modern dance percussion, sound
effects, and ambient synthesizer sounds heavily influenced by 70s
dinosaur progressive rock.  In the Summer of 1988 ("the second Summer
of Love" according to the British music press) S'Express, Mark Moore's 
acid house outfit, record their album _Original Soundtrack_, which 
includes the first ambient house track on wax, Coma II (Am/Ok).

1989 Guitarist Steve Hillage, fascinated by the house movement,
wanders into the Alex's "Ambient Lounge", the first-ever Chill Out
room, upstairs from Land Of Oz night at DJ Paul Oakenfold's London
club Heaven.  Alex is playing material by Kraftwerk, Brian Eno, and
Hillage's "Rainbow Dome Music" over environmental sound effects and
tribal chants as part of his set.  Hillage, Paterson, and Oakenfold
become friends and Ambient House soon becomes a reality.  Jimmy Cauty
and Alex Paterson record an album's worth of material under the name
The Orb, though their album was never officially released.  Alex DJ's 
for more than six hours at an eleven-hour ambiathon with the KLF.  
Alex and Jimmy's 20-minute tour-de-force "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating 
Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld" is broadcast on the 
John Peel show in December.

1990 Alex gets tired of being treated with Jimmy's "you're just the
DJ, I'm the artist" attitude and splits, retaining the name The Orb
for himself.  He begins collaborating with Hillage, Miquette Giraudy,
Andy Falconer, Thrash, Thomas Fehlmann, Youth, and others, recording
various tracks for his Orb project.  The KLF cause some more head-
scratching with the release of _Chill Out_, the first ambient house
album, recorded live with two DATs playing cut-ups from the ambiathon. 
Jimmy calls himself "Space" and releases his own ambient house album,
which is now nearly impossible to find.  Youth and Alex form the WAU!
Mr Modo label.  Hillage, Oakenfold, Youth and Alex form System 7. 
Youth, Alex, and Falconer gently remix the Art of Noise's softer
tracks for _The Ambient Collection_.  The whole House scene becomes
psychedelic and spiritual.  The European outfit Engima, who have no Orb
connections, release the Balearic-beat oriented _MCMXC a.D._, spawning 
the first international ambient house hit "Sadeness Part 1".

1991 The Orb, now officially the duo of Dr. Alex Paterson and Thrash,
release the colossal double-album _The Orb's Adventures Beyond The
Ultraworld_, which along with _Chill Out_ clearly defines the new
genre.  Alex and Youth end up remixing everything by everyone.  System
7 (Hillage, collaborating with Alex, Oakenfold, Giraudy, Youth, Zoe,
Derrick May, Steve Waddington, Aniff Cousins, Mick McNeil, and Thrash)
release a self-titled album.  [System 7 = 777 in USA due to copyright
problems with Apple Computer.]

1992 As techno-rave takes over, the boundaries between the genres
disappear.  All new dance music has a little bit of acid, ambient,
techno, new-beat, deep, and hip-house in it.  Ambient House music per
se remains underground, but Chill Out rooms are now the norm at even
the most commerical raves now getting started around the USA. 
Thumbing their noses at the music business, the KLF announce they've
quit making music and head off to Mexico.  Shortly thereafter the Orb
release a 39 minute, 58 second single to spitefully comply with
Britain's forty-minutes-is-an-album-not-a-single rule.  The Orb's
dazzling second album _U.F.Orb_ is released.  Ambient techno appears
on the scene quickly and in quantity, the most notable release being
the acclaimed _Accelerator_ album by The Future Sound Of London.
______________________________________________________________________

Definition: ambient industrial (=postindustrial?)

Ambient industrial has been around longer than ambient house,
actually.  A number of old-techno and industrial bands have been
working ambient arrangements into their compositions since the early
days of Kraftwerk.  This ambient industrial music has a harder,
angrier edge, usually consisting of repeating, often disjointed
samples, and rigid, aggressive, often distorted dance beats.  In this
sense ambient industrial almost sounds like a contradiction in terms,
but there really are great similarities between certain industrial
tracks and more traditional ambient music.

===amanda@wam.umd.edu (Amanda Babcock)

Can any of the classification fanatics out there tell me the name of this
subgenre?  Heard a program of slow, rhythmic, occasionally New-Agey 
industrial and this is the name that stuck in my mind.  The name of the 
album sounded like "Estra"...

===tmcfarla@fraser.sfu.ca (Tara McFarlane)

the name of this genre that i general use is 'postindustrial' but it doesn't
really seem to get much usuage around here. other groups i tend to label 
post-industrial are nurse with wound, current 93, hafler trio, lustmord,
organum--basically anyone who used to release on the united dairies, laylah,
etc. labels and now tend to be found on staalplaat, soleilmoon, torso, dov,
etc. 
 
the particular :zoviet france release you refer to is 'eostre', one of their
best. fans of the band also tend to rank 'shouting at the ground' and 'misfits
loonie tunes and other squalid criminals' as among their best albums though
they also release complimentary tapes with each record which i am not as
familiar with. i also like 'monomishe' very much, and unlike most fans i
also liked 'a flock of rotations'. one noteworthy cassette release that i
believe dov (death of vinyl) plans on rereleasing as a cd is 'soviet folk
songs and dances' which accompanied 'eostre' but has long since been out of
print (most if not all :zoviet france releases are limited). supposedly
they will also be touring the u.s. in september, but you must really keep
your eyes out as they likely will not be advertized anywhere. best to check
at your local retailer of industrial/postindustrial music for tour dates.                                 


______________________________________________________________________

Clarification: The Orb vs Orbital

Just in case you're confused, The Orb and Orbital are two completely 
separate entities.  Orbital are Paul and Phil Hartnoll, who do spacey 
synth techno, using very few if any sound effects.  Their music is 
very good and is somewhat ambient, but not nearly as ambient as The
Orb.  William Orbit is not associated with either band.
______________________________________________________________________

Recommendations: my own collection

AMBIENT HOUSE:
The Orb
	<everything by the Orb>
	<everything remixed by the Orb>
		Some of the remixes are more traditional dance tracks
		but most are still pretty good.  In the interest of
		space I won't list them all here.  My favorites are:
		
		Depeche Mode - Happiest Girl (Pulsating Orbital mix)
		Primal Scream - Higher than the Sun
		Sun Electric - O'Locco (Orbital Therapy pts 1-4)

The KLF
	<ambient things by the KLF>
		Space (1990) - Jimi Cauty's solo album.  I recommend this 
		as highly as the Orb.  Good luck finding it, though.
		
		Chill Out (1990) - Belongs in every Orb fan's collection.
		No beats to speak of, except in one song.  Music to stare
		at walls to.  Classic.

		3am Eternal (Blue Danube Orbital)
		Last Train To Trancentral (original Pure Trance mix)
		Last Train To Trancentral (Mu-D. Vari-Speed version)
		What Time Is Love? (Virtual Reality mix)
		America No More
		
		Not quite as ambient but worth mentioning:
			What Time Is Love? (Moody Boys vs the KLF)
			3am Eternal (Wayward Dub)

	<things remixed by the KLF>
		Pet Shop Boys - It Must Be Obvious (UFO mix)
			A minute of the song, followed by 6 minutes of
			wild sound effects and broadcast samples, then
			the last couple minutes of the song.
		Pet Shop Boys - So Hard (The KLF vs Pet Shop Boys)
			Not that ambient, just kind of smoothed out.
		Depeche Mode - Policy Of Truth (Trancentral mix)
			Mistakenly called Pavlov's Dub on the US 12".
			Very smooth, has a beat.

Art Of Noise
	<everything>
		The Ambient Collection (1990) is one of the dullest 
		Art of Noise albums, especially considering who
		remixed it --Youth and Alex Paterson.  But they've
		had their share of beautiful, mellow, borderline
		ambient tracks through the years.  I can't recommend
		them more highly.  Before the Orb my world was Art of
		Noise.
		
The Beloved
	Hello (Godfrey's Tonic)

Ingrid Chavez
	Hippy Blood (Freedom's Beating Heart mix)
		A happy pop instrumental.  A good 12"/CD5 to pick up.
		She's one of Prince's projects.

The Dream Academy
	Love (all mixes)
		A tasteful Lennon cover with Funky Drummer beats.
		Some mixes are more ambient than others.  Reminiscent of
		Strawberry Fields Forever by Candy Flip.

Enigma
	<everything>
		I think they deserve more respect than they get, or
		he gets, or whatever.  The album MCMXC a.D. is as
		ambient house as they come.  No one will ever be able
		to produce a Balearic (Soul II Soul) beat ambient
		track without sounding like Enigma.  Mea Culpa is
		exquisite.  Sadeness is classic.  Gregorian chants
		galore.  (1990)

Fortran 5
	Crazy Earth (Music For Ice Caps)
		US 12"/CD5: Elektra 66587; UK: Mute 113 (remix) (1990)

Jam & Spoon
	Stella (all mixes)
		Get them!!!  UK 12": R&S RSUK 14X

Kirsty MacColl
	Walking Down Madison (6 A.M. Ambient mix)

Moby
	<various things>
		All of his stuff is trancey, some things are really
		ambient, some are noisy.  I highly recommend all of his
		work including the remixes he's done for other artists.
		For a good sampling of his music, try his self-titled album.

New Order
	Confusion (Trip 1 - Ambient Confusion)
		Very very good.  US 12": Minimal Records QAL-249 (1990)

Pet Shop Boys
	We All Feel Better In The Dark (all mixes)
		As much as I like them, I'm saddened by how they're never
		at the forefront of dance music; they just copy whatever
		else is going on at the moment.  Luckily, they do it
		extremely well.  This song is the tops.

PM Dawn
	Paper Doll (instrumental)
		More remixed than the title suggests.  Very pleasant.

Primal Scream
	Higher Than The Sun (produced & mixed by The Orb)
	Inner Flight
	Shine Like Stars
		All from the album Screamadelica (1991)

The Shamen
	Possible Worlds (Imaginary)
		Shades of Tangerine Dream.

Tracie Spencer
	This House (Space Dub)
	This House (Ambient Dub)
		Remixes by Justin Strauss, actually quite good.  Dope
		beats, smooth keys.

U2
	Mysterious Ways (Apollo 440 Magic Hour remix)
	Mysterious Ways (Tabla Motown remix)
		I assume the Apollo 440 mixes of Even Better Than The
		Real Thing are equally ambient.  Has anyone heard them?
		What about Apollo 440?

Yazoo (Yaz in USA)
	Situation (Space Dub)
		A Francois Kevorkian remix available on the 1990 re-remix
		single.


NON-AMBIENT HOUSE AMBIENCE:

David Byrne
	Forestry EP
		remixes of material from his excellent orchestral album
		The Forest.  Two of the mixes are by Jack Dangers of
		Meat Beat Manifesto.  Very cool.  (1991)

Dead Can Dance
	Within the Realm of a Dying Sun (1987)
	The Serpent's Egg (1988)
		As depressing as 4AD label stuff can be, but
		mesmerizing all the same.  Haunting pre-Renaissance
		female vocals, often in Latin.  Future Sound of London
		sampled "Dawn Of The Iconoclast" for "Papua New Guinea".

Depeche Mode
	Christmas Island
	PIMPF; FPMIP
	Never Let Me Down Again (aggro mix)
	Agent Orange
	Stjarna
	Sibeling
	Mephisto
		Gotta love those b-sides.


Enya
	<everything>
		Love her or hate her, she's ambient.

Massive Attack
	Safe From Harm (all mixes)

Pink Floyd
	<everything>

Recoil 
	Hydrology plus 1+2 (1988)
	Bloodline (1992)
		Ambient industrial from Alan Wilder of Depeche Mode.
		The old stuff is very good.  The newer stuff is more
		traditional electronic industrial, but not really
		like FLA, Front 242, Bigod 20, etc.  Try them both;
		if you don't like one you might like the other.
		The tracks on Hydrology run about 15 minutes each.

Ryuichi Sakamoto
	Exhibition
		The b-side to Field Work (Sakamoto & Thomas Dolby), 15
		minutes of, umm, uh, ambient industrial...?  No beats,
		just asynchrous bleeps over some orchestral and synthy
		stuff.  Hard to describe.  Sakamoto's stuff is really
		good, very diverse.  Check him out.

Severed Heads
	Clifford, Darling, Please Don't Live in the Past
		I haven't heard any of their other stuff.  This is
		a very good compilation made mostly of looping sound 
		effects.  Ambient industrial.

Single Gun Theory
	Millions, like stars in my hands, daggers in my heart, wage war
		Dancey, almost industrial, but with sweet female vocals.
		There is a lot of good stuff on Nettwerk Records that's in a
		more ambient, less industrial vein than Skinny Puppy.  If you
		like Skinny Puppy and Pink Floyd, listen to The Tear Garden.

Skinny Puppy
	Draining Faces
		This track is on Cleanse Fold Manipulate (1987).  This one 
		song is the soundtrack to my nightmares.  It's evil, it's 
		ambient, it's great.  Get it.

Slowdive
	<everything>
		I don't know whether it's a good idea to call shoegazer
		music ambient, but it's one of those things where if you
		like ambient stuff you'd probably like this stuff too,
		so give it a try.  Other good bands in this genre include
		Curve, Lush, and My Bloody Valentine.  Things on the 4AD
		label are kind of along these lines too.  Check out the
		manchester mailing list for more.

David Sylvian
	Words With The Shaman (Parts 1-3)
		with Steve Jansen, Jon Hassell, Holger Czukay (1985)        
	Plight and Premonition
		with Holger Czukay

Tangerine Dream
	<works from 1975-1980>
		Ricochet (1976, live)
		Force Majeure (1979)
		Tangram (1980)
		The further back you go, the more acoustic the music.
		These are the better of the albums I've heard from this
		time period.

	<works from 1980-1986>
		Pergamon (1981, live)
		Exit (1981) - Highly recommended, though some parts sound
		a bit dated.
		
		Risky Business (1983) - Some of the tracks are
		recycled from Exit and Force Majeure.  The highlight is
		the immortal Love On A Real Train, which is unfortunately
		whittled down to 4 minutes from over 20 in the film.  If
		anyone can find the long version for me, name your price.
		This album is well worth seeking out just for the
		Tangerine Dream tracks, but there are other good songs on
		it as well.

		Poland (1984, live) - Probably the closest thing to 
		ambient house prior to the real thing.  No sound effects 
		to speak of; the emphasis is on ambient arrangements, 
		melodic loops, and electronic percussion.
		
		The Park Is Mine (1986) - Recorded in 1985, much of it
		sounds like typical soundtrack music, other parts are
		excellent, like The Letter and Taking The Park
		(pts 1 & 2).
		
		Underwater Sunlight (1986) - Very good but sometimes the
		guitar work sounds more like Satriani than Floyd.  This
		was the tail end of what is to me their 'good period'.
	
	Avoid the Firestarter soundtrack; sounds too much like movie
	music.  I'm not sure about their other soundtrack albums.

	After Underwater Sunlight they switched to that awful (IMHO)
	New Age yuppie jazz.  Tyger is alright, but Canyon Dreams and
	everything they've done for the Private Music label have been 
	a far cry from their head-trippy roots.

Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
	Rising Above Bedlam
		A good album that incoporates 85% of all the different
		types of World Music out there.  Various types of
		vocals.  Some tracks more ambient than others.
	Visions Of You (various mixes)

Yello
	L'Hotel (1987)
	Sweet Thunder (1991)
		I don't understand how these guys get overlooked as one
		of the driving forces in techno through the 1980s.  Their
		stuff comes in pre-"Oh Yeah" and post-"Oh Yeah" flavors.
		Try them both out.  I love the post-"Oh Yeah" stuff (the
		last three regular albums).  Latin techno.  L'Hotel and
		Sweet Thunder are very ambient tracks.

various
	Requiem For The Americas
		This is an excellent album paying tribute to the American
		Indian culture.  Lots of big names on it, including Jon
		Anderson and most of the members of Duran Duran.  Lots of
		good ambient stuff, poetry, sound effects.  (1989)

______________________________________________________________________

continued in Part 2

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