Jump to content

beatless ambient


moni

Recommended Posts

personally i am not much into beatless ambient. i find it too simple for the brain, easy to produce, boring, sometimes longish and annoying.

maybe i just don't get it?

 

so here are my questions:

 

why do you like it?

do you like it when sober or when stoned or both?

 

so please, feel free to praise beatless ambient, describe it with your own words, tell me what effects it has on you (body and brain), maybe even give me your favourite beatless ambient tune.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 55
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

i think it depends on the mood i am in...

 

most of the time i prefer chill with beats, but sometimes i need smthg really chill...

to just relax and space out... i find that with no beats it's easier to relax sometimes...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Heh :) It's simple, you like something and you don't like something. I personally adore beatless ambient, I think it's the only proper way to go if you wanna chill. This psychedelic downtempo music (HUVA Network, Asura, Entheogenic, Aes Dana...you name it!) on the other hand is something I can't understand! :D

Ok, well some are well executed, f.ex. banco de gaia, astralasia... the older stuff in general :) and I have a soft spot for Shulman too :)

Tastes do differ so dramatically, but there's nothing wrong with that :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not a very big fan of beatless ambient, most times i prefer to chill out to something with beats. Yet there are times that my brain doesn't want ANY beats at all. Sometimes anything else except beatless ambient will disturb my relaxed state and will not let me concentrate on what I want (e.g. a magazine, a book, drifting in my own thoughts). Other times, I play some beatless ambient before I sleep (for that purpose usually its Ishq, Dreamfish or some compilation).

 

So, for me, on the one hand its the clear, subtle structure of beatless ambient that does not try to get your attention. On the other hand, by not trying to get your attention it is let free to act in the background. It gets into you after all, but by using the back door! It changes the atmosphere of the room, it gives your activity, whatever you were doing, a new dynamic. It is in a way easier to get immersed to what you were doing (eg. reading a novel) and the whole world that you create in your mind gets more interesting.

 

Favorites:

 

-Albums:

Pete Namlook & Mixmaster Morris - Dreamfish

Ishq - Orchid

Matt Coldrick and Matt Hillier - Elemental Journey (collaboration between Green Nuns & Ishq)

Mantaray - Numinous Island

Biosphere - Substrata

everything I can get my hands at from Robert Rich

 

-Compilations:

Twelve

Wabi

Floatation

Link to comment
Share on other sites

well, I'd say beatless ambient is really the only kind of ambient music in the true sense of the word.

 

It is music that (when done right) requires no conscious attention, but subtely chances your mood and soothes your feelings nonetheless. It's simply a direct communication of soothing feelings between the artist and you - no cultural barriers, just pure feeling. I like the simplicity of it, just one state of mind that is communicated in aesthetically beautiful perfection. The repetition you mention has a function: it subtely puts you in a trance and opens your mind to the kind of feelings that are being communicated.

 

Compare it to sphongle: shpongle is all over the place musically (especially 2nd and 3rd albums), very restless music. It requires your constant attention; you have to follow the story, if you don't the listening experience will very schizophrenic. If you don't understand that the music is supposed to be psy-ambient style tripping music, you probably won't even be able to understand what to make of it at all. (again, this is mostly the 2nd and 3rd album, the first album really eases you into it...)

 

Also, shpongle and lots of other psy ambient artists use freaky and squelchy sounds that I find ugly and grating. In beatless ambient tracks like those on the Kompakt label there are no ugly or grating sounds, just smooth washes of synths. Which makes it more true ambient, IMHO. I think the freaky voice-manipulating effect that is used constantly on the 3rd shpongle album is an especially good example of an effect that is annoying and certainly not pleasurable to listen to, and seems to be there just for the sake of it.

 

okay rant over!

 

beatless ambient tip: Markus Guentner - In Moll (Kompakt)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry but i think its stupid to ask "why do you like it".Why do i like it?Because.

If you dont like it you will never understand even if i explain it to you.

Oh and im absolutely sure you have never heard high class minimal ambient.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pete Namlook & Mixmaster Morris - Dreamfish

Biosphere - Substrata

Twelve

 

304868[/snapback]

Oh yes...

 

I can add :

 

Biosphere - Insomnia

Robert Rich & Brian Lustmord - Stalker

Robert Henke - Floating Point

Liquid Mind - Ambience Minimus

Biosphere - Cirque

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i personally enjoy good beatless ambient when i am reallly stoned and im going to bed...

so i drift for like half cd in la-la land and it eases me into a sleep...

 

nothing pisses me off more than being at the doors of dreams when the kick just wakes you back to reality...

 

it's also really soothing music when i have to do work...

 

 

Oh yes...

 

I can add :

 

Biosphere - Insomnia

Robert Rich & Brian Lustmord - Stalker

Robert Henke - Floating Point

Liquid Mind - Ambience Minimus

Biosphere - Cirque

304921[/snapback]

 

ha nice one!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry but i think its stupid to ask "why do you like it".Why do i like it?Because.

If you dont like it you will never understand even if i explain it to you.

Oh and im absolutely sure you have never heard high class minimal ambient.

304901[/snapback]

thanks for the "stupid" thanos.

you COULD say a few words about the music you like.

but nevermind :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Beatless ambient?

 

Well ambient is supposed to have no beat you know.

 

Seems like none of you has ever heard of Brian Eno and his albums On Land (the album that actually putted Ambient on the music map) and Apollo.

 

So for those like Moni that wonder why people (including me) like 'beatless ambient' just buy an original copy of On Land,put the headphones in your ears,lay on your bed and close your eyes...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So for those like Moni that wonder why people (including me) like 'beatless ambient' just buy an original copy of On Land,put the headphones in your ears,lay on your bed and close your eyes...

305184[/snapback]

I second that. You'll have to give it a serious chance... some patience is required.

 

I like this ambient because of the fascinating sounds and atmospheres it creates... music without rules or boundaries... it can play with your mind and imagination... and of course it has very relaxing qualities.

 

There is beatless ambient that I find too boring and only works as background noise... there's some very minimal stuff that just doesn't work for me.

But good ambient can be listened to intensively OR used as background music for chilling, sleeping, meditating.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

good beatless ambient is good and bad beatless ambient is bad .. simple as that :P

 

i really enjoy some of it like robert rich stuff that has lot of cool synth sounds etc but then theres stuff that has absolutely nothing like recorded 80 minutes of noises in street

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Beatless ambient?

 

Well ambient is supposed to have no beat you know.

 

Seems like none of you has ever heard of Brian Eno and his albums On Land (the album that actually putted Ambient on the music map) and Apollo.

 

So for those like Moni that wonder why people (including me) like 'beatless ambient' just buy an original copy of On Land,put the headphones in your ears,lay on your bed and close your eyes...

305184[/snapback]

I've heard both albums and they are very good but actually too minimalistic for me.

I do like some kind of progression in sound, which those albums miss, they are pure soundscapes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would like to write more, but no time.

 

 

Beatless ambient, aka "Drone-music" is wonderfull! (and complicated, magical, trippy).

 

.. Dont remember the website for this radio-channel. But if you use iTunes as your music-player. You can find a GREAT beatless ambient channel in the Electronica section.. It's perfect for all medication ;)

 

 

*POFF*

 

now wish I was playing: Biosphere's album whitch is pretty beatless. (Cant remember the album title at the moment) ... Oh and check out some music by "Fires of Ork" -In heaven- ect.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

thanks for the "stupid" thanos.

you COULD say a few words about the music you like.

but nevermind :)

304990[/snapback]

Hey sorry if i was a lil bit offensive :) At least you know i didnt mean it

 

Describe it......hm......well i love this atmoshpere.From light to darkness,from heaven to hell.It can touch your soul and play with it.Its music for the senses.

Slow,deep keyboard sounds with forest whispers and birds singing at dawn....it can make you "trip" in another way.You know while you dont dance and sit to listen all your energy goes to other things like....thinking or....travelling ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

personally i am not much into beatless ambient. i find it too simple for the brain, easy to produce, boring, sometimes longish and annoying.

maybe i just don't get it?

 

so here are my questions:

 

why do you like it?

do you like it when sober or when stoned or both?

 

so please, feel free to praise beatless ambient, describe it with your own words, tell me what effects it has on you (body and brain), maybe even give me your favourite beatless ambient tune.

304838[/snapback]

well you tell me it's simple and easy to produce i just think you listened to the wrong CDs. Try :

Thom brennan,

Vir unis,

Steve Roach,

Tom Heasley,

Yen Pox & Troum, dark as possible, really

Vidna Obmana

 

...

subtle and musical as possible, psy ambient is basic and pale compared with this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

well, I'd say beatless ambient is really the only kind of ambient music in the true sense of the word.

 

It is music that (when done right) requires no conscious attention, but subtely chances your mood and soothes your feelings nonetheless. It's simply a direct communication of soothing feelings between the artist and you - no cultural barriers, just pure feeling. I like the simplicity of it, just one state of mind that is communicated in aesthetically beautiful perfection. The repetition you mention has a function: it subtely puts you in a trance and opens your mind to the kind of feelings that are being communicated.

 

Compare it to sphongle: shpongle is all over the place musically (especially 2nd and 3rd albums), very restless music. It requires your constant attention; you have to follow the story, if you don't the listening experience will very schizophrenic. If you don't understand that the music is supposed to be psy-ambient style tripping music, you probably won't even be able to understand what to make of it at all. (again, this is mostly the 2nd and 3rd album, the first album really eases you into it...)

 

Also, shpongle and lots of other psy ambient artists use freaky and squelchy sounds that I find ugly and grating. In beatless ambient tracks like those on the Kompakt label there are no ugly or grating sounds, just smooth washes of synths. Which makes it more true ambient, IMHO. I think the freaky voice-manipulating effect that is used constantly on the 3rd shpongle album is an especially good example of an effect that is annoying and certainly not pleasurable to listen to, and seems to be there just for the sake of it.

 

okay rant over!

 

beatless ambient tip: Markus Guentner - In Moll (Kompakt)

304869[/snapback]

 

i CAN'T agree more with you auryn ; )

ambient is a music that doesn't need attention but that rewards attention.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My list of all time best electronic albums would definately include a lot of "beatless ambient" along with 70s synthmusic that has ambient qualities.

 

Now there's one track I think y'all should listen to, the unbelievable:

 

Steve Roach - Infinite Shore

 

You will not comprehend this track the first time. Let your ears and brain adjust. Listen to it some more and you might discover the beauty of it.

Believe me, it only seems easy... it's not like you play a few random synth presets and get results like this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...