[RELEASE] May Bi-Monthly Comp : Ambient
 

Here it is! An 11 track compilation full of delicious ambient soundscaping :) All you have to do is get it and give it a spin!

http://img532.imageshack.us/img532/4...kwaterdrop.jpg

Instead of the guessing game, again I'd appreciate if people could write a sentence or two about their chosen track(s)!

I submitted only one track, though it is a pretty long one, Brian Eno's opening track "1/1" on 1978 release "Ambient 1: Music for Airports". It's a soundscape featuring slowed down piano which has a very relaxing feel. Interestingly, this particular track was composed by Eno (of course) as well as Robert Wyatt, one of the central figures from the Canterbury scene, and Rhett Davies.

Brian Eno's supposed inspiration for the album came from spending a lot of time at airports. He felt waiting at airports could be more pleasant if they had a more interesting ambience. It was the first album of his to have Ambient in the title .. He's now widely known as the father of ambient music.

It was and possibly still is played at the LaGuardia airport. :)

damnit i was actually going to guess brian eno was you but i scrolled down and learned yalready spilled

Hang on guys, I forgot to add a track!

Gonna reupload and fix it. Will edit this post once I'm done. ;)

edit :

I felt Brian Eno sort of had to be on an ambient comp and since noone else picked him, I thought the job fell on me .. although by far, most of the ambient I listen to is Eno's, so it's an honest pick taste-wise. I also like Canterbury and Robert Wyatt, I think his participation makes that particular Eno track just a little bit more interesting. :)

The reason I'm admitting it so readily is I don't think the themed comp guessing games have worked particularly well in the past. I like a bit of background info to pique my interest before I listen to the tracks rather than after. The guessing games make everyone keep quiet!

edit :

There, Thomas Newman's Any Other Name added. I thought of adding it earlier, but somehow forgot about it .. now that's been rectified! The song is from the American Beauty soundtrack and has it's fair share of fans around the world, me included. It's a an ambient-ish piano song and it's just so deliciously haunting. Beautiful!

Downloading now!! As for what I contributed:

Arms & Sleepers - Butterflycatcher - one of the first Ambient artists I ever heard and this song blew me away. It's calm and soft but still has a lot of emotion and movement

Le Lendemain - Lois - my soundtrack for Winter. After finding Modern Classical and further on finding Modern Classical that was bordering on Ambient I found this gem. Heart achingly beautiful stuff.

I need some more good ambient stuff - works wonders when you're trying to work on stuff for uni, have a crack at some writing or whatever.

Anyhoo, my tracks are thus;

Tangerine Dream - Sequent C
Look this one up on youtube as well, as there are some of the most beautiful fan-made video clips to go with it that I've ever seen, as you may be able to imagine from listening to this. Like all of Phaedra (incidentally my favourite Tangerine Dream album), it's a very visionary track, inasmuch as it just takes you away by listening to it through a pair of quality headphones with your eyes closed. Basically, it's among the single most beautiful pieces of music I own.

Gong - Magick Mother Invocation
It's kinda weird that I should like this song enough to put it forward for inclusion on an MB compilation, as I can count the amount of times I listen to prog on a weekly basis on one hand (if even that). Like the Tangerine Dream track I submitted before it though, there's a very other-wordly, dream-like quality to the whole thing that really appeals to me, what with the eerie-sounding choir and that weird little synth motif it's got going. I feel it's very good as a segue between other songs, but hardly mindblowing. Worth a listen for sure though.

Baaba Maal - Call To Prayer
Underestimate West African folk at your peril! It's a corner of the musical world map that, as listening to this merry little ditty will testify, actually produces a much broader palette of output than you'd think. This absolutely beautiful track is not only, as mentioned before, a real testament to the gorgeous music that West Africa has been responsible for down the generations, but also to the talents of possibly Senegal's finest musical export in the shape of Baaba Maal. This is kinda like acoustic and uncomprimisingly African kind of ambient, and has a very unique and emotional edge to it as a result, as does the best of the music from outside of the Anglosphere.

...and, yeah, downloading the comp now! Thanks for your effort Tore - much appreciated :)

looks good, grabbing now :)

sadly i kept getting distracted and didn't get my tracks in on time.

this is what i planned on contributing:

I've listened to the comp while working on a project I'm spending time with and although nothing here sticks much, I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised this time around :) Everything here sounds nice, there's a little mix of styles and the less ambient tunes (like Seal's) adds a little life to the thing.

It's better than I thought it would be :p:

Cluster-Halwa-This is my second favourite ambient album and this track always stuck out to me just so peaceful.

Art of Noise - Moments in Love

This track was my introduction to ambient and immediately comes to mind when I think of the genre. I don't think I've experienced a song that gives me the same feeling listening to that one.