Ambient Drone Odysseys
I've had a renaissance of interest in ambient/drone lately and I feel like it's lacking from a lot of your diets so here's a little vitamin pill for you all to chew on.
Thanks to Keyblade for getting me into half of this stuff (and tinashe) |
| 1 |  | Alio Die
Deconsecrated and Pure
Layers of Faith
Probably the single greatest ambient/drone piece ever composed
A divine motif undulates beneath ethereal synth waves and all that good shit
Check the rest of the album and Aura Seminalis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdM_KBRKhO4 |
| 2 |  | Steve Roach
Mystic Chords & Sacred Spaces
Within the Mystic
The best track from probably the greatest ambient/drone album ever composed.
Has a mysterious ancient egyptian flare to it (or at least the stock standard music that plays whenever egypt is referenced in the media)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3lPnpQQ0uo |
| 3 |  | Apocryphos
Stone Speak
Clandestine
Bittersweet closing track from a fantastic ambient drone record
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFDgqe64R9w |
| 4 |  | Remember
ルートバックホーム
Transmission (ft. Telepath)
Like a computer experiencing heartbreak for the first time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDFYqjc8LMM |
| 5 |  | Proton Kinoun
Apeiron
Illimitable
Nothing groundbreaking by any means but incredibly well composed and immersive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFdfaDk4d3g |
| 6 |  | Carbon Based Lifeforms
Hydroponic Garden
Refraction 1.33
I'd heard of these guys for years before I finally decided to listen... very solid and well nuanced ambient
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFNq0fBZAXM |
| 7 |  | 7038634357
Love Unbound
Love Unbound (underside)
A diaphanous hidden gem of ambience closing a strange EP that has nothing else of this nature. Altho the genre weightless pretty well sums up how you feel when you listen to it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFo-IEORjJY |
| 8 |  | Malibu
One Life
Tilting on Windmills
A beautiful, ethereal EP from a talented lass (whom I feel obligated to mention is rather prepossessing)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH6D04SJh54 |
| 9 |  | 2814
新しい日の誕生
ふわっと/Drifting
Played on repeat whilst I was lost in Tokyo at 3am.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt1Cas4ymWE |
| 10 |  | Facechain
Accensor
Visage II
Composed by a RYM user who I believe was 17 at the time, it's an immense track which transports you to somewhere not unlike the place depicted in the cover art
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5M9ze-gA5I |
| 11 |  | Eluvium
Static Nocturne
~35 mins onward
Like drowning peacefully in a sea of amniotic fluid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFC7OyhaqrA |
| 12 |  | Sleep Research Facility
Deep Frieze
79° S 83° W
It's said that before immediately perishing from hypothermia, the individual is imbued by a sense of warm and serenity [citation needed] and I think this is the musical equivalent of that moment.
Maybe one day I'll head to those coordinates and find out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9I0hRhB5jQ |
| 13 |  | Sophie
Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides (Remix Album)
Infatuation (Midnight Zone) / Infatuation (The Abyss)
It's on the shorter side but I had to include it. The world of music lost a true visionary this year, and it seemed that her music was only getting more interesting as she explored sound and genres.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZwG5F1ogcI |
| 14 |  | Troum
Grote Mandrenke
Grote Mandrenke
A 44 minute long mindfuck of a suite that is as dark and unsettling as it is breath-taking and beautiful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxUuhclRnvQ |
| 15 |  | Various Artists (Ambient)
Mono No Aware
Zhao Hua
I went to school with a guy who's last name was Hua and he was an absolute grade A cunt, but this track is fantastic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZE-a7V3mM24 |
| 16 |  | God Body Disconnect
Sleeper's Fate
Drowning with God
Act I: God dismebowels himself with a straight razor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMXgo1un7GY |
| 17 |  | Celer
Xièxie
Rains lit by neon / entire album
Sublime drone interspersed with field recordings.
I reviewed this on rym and Celer made an account just to thank me for it :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdrib-6NAGA |
| 18 |  | Irezumi
Endurance
Entire thing
Under appreciated ambient masterpiece that follows the journey of British Explorer Ernest Shackleton's fateful Antarctic voyage of 1914.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk8lVP5Mmtk |
| 19 |  | Le Moors
Multi-filament
I can easily understand how this could be considered dull and lacklustre, but the dismembered piano drones seem to hit the spot for me for some reason.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaKN8_MuOOQ |
| 20 |  | Jeremy Soule
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Soundtrack
Skyrim Atmospheres
Nearly 10 years ago I went about a month without seeing friends or venturing outside thanks to this game, and the soundtrack played a huge part in that.......also me being a fuckin gaming addict with no restraint...eventually mum confiscated my xbox but I found it and would play all night with a towel under my door so the light wouldn't shine through, then put it back just before she woke up...so it should come as no surprise that I failed nearly all of my year 11 exams. But It was worth it. I never really got into any game as much afterwards either. Probably a good thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPZtRmx1Dyk |
| 21 |  | William Basinski
Watermusic II
Watermusic II
I would listen to this on repeat for hours without even realising anything was playing whilst amped on stimulants doing assignments at 2am in the university library. It feels strange actively listening to it now, but sure enough I feel like a slimy aqueous bastard just as I suppose he intended me to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6lh9UJl2cI |
| 22 |  | Oval
94 Diskont
Do While
A lush drug induced reverie with occasional glimpses of the mental ward you're restrained in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn8mxzDYdbE |
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