Ambient Electronic Music is a catch-all term for electronic music used by artists for the purpose of creating a mood. In most cases, it is not music used for dancing in clubs. It is an umbrella term that spans many sub genres, from synthpop and new age to industrial and experimental.
Ambient Electronic Music: A Genre Guide is a blog about the history of ambient electronic music. The goal of this blog is to help people find new ambient electronic music to listen to and educate them about electronic music that they may not have heard before.
Ambient Electronic Music: A Genre Guide is a blog about the history of ambient electronic music.
Ambient electronic music is a generative, immersive and atmospheric form of electronic music that explores the space between sound and music. It is an immersive experience in which the listener is enveloped by a constantly evolving musical landscape. These musical environments are often created using electronically generated sounds, but can also include recordings of acoustic instruments and found sounds.
The roots of ambient electronic music stretch back to the early 20th century with the use of mechanical devices in experimental music such as tape loops, turntable manipulation, musique concrete and early computer based composition. These techniques paved the way for modern ambient electronic artists who use technology to generate new compositions in real time. Ambient electronic music is typically composed with synthesizers, sequencers and various digital audio workstations (DAW).
Ambient Electronic Music: A Genre Guide, is a new blog about the history of ambient electronic music. The demand for information about this genre is evident and growing as more people discover it. From its inception, this genre has been largely ignored by mainstream media. As a result, people find themselves searching for information in many places.
Ambient Electronic Music: A Genre Guide will eventually contain all the information you need to know about this genre. It includes historical facts, album reviews, and interviews with artists who have made significant contributions to the genre.
This website is currently under construction. New posts are added every Sunday.
Ambient Electronic Music: A Genre Guide is a blog about the history of ambient electronic music and its related genres.
I created it to share my lifelong love of ambient music, to help new listeners discover the amazing world of ambient music, and to provide an alternative view of the history of ambient music.
The aim is to include reviews and histories of the most important artists, albums and compilations in each genre.
Each review or history will include a brief overview, essential listening list and further listening recommendations. This is a work in progress so there are only a few reviews so far but more will be added on a regular basis.
All reviews are written using my own copy of each album with no promotional copies being used.
The classification system was developed by me over many years through research and listening to thousands of albums with some input from friends and other sources. I have tried to make it as simple as possible while at the same time attempting to be accurate and objective.
There are currently eight main genres (Ambient, Dark Ambient/Drone, Minimalism/Reductionism, Post-Minimalism/Post-Reductionism, Neo-classical/Modern Composition, Space Music/Berlin School, New Age
Ambient Electronic Music: A Genre Guide. Ambient electronic music is a music genre that uses electronic means to create an ambient sound. The most often used instruments are synthesizers, drum machines and computer programs. This blog is about the history of ambient electronic music and how it has evolved through the years. It will focus on the more experimental styles of ambient electronic music, including space, Berlin-school, spacemusic and new age.
Ambient Electronic Music: A Genre Guide
The aim of this guide is to present a history of ambient electronic music and its many subgenres.
Ambient music is often a term used to explain atmospheric or mood-based instrumental music. It has several definitions, but it can be hard to pin it down to just one. Ambient music may be described as minimalist, relaxing, or even new age at times. The sound can be classified as “wallpaper” music that is meant to be played in the background for relaxation purposes. However, this definition does not fully explain the different sounds that fall under this genre.
Ambient electronic music emerged in the 1970s with Brian Eno’s Ambient 1: Music for Airports album. This genre began as a unique way of playing electronic music that became much more than just background noise. The genre evolved from this album through artists like Vangelis and Jean Michel Jarre who created popular synth-based ambient albums in the 1970s.
In addition to ambient, there are several subgenres that have formed over the years. The most popular of these are chillwave and witch house which emerged in the 2000s, but there are many more that pre-date these genres by decades.
Ambient electronic music is a genre of music that focuses on sound patterns more than melodic form and is used to create a certain atmosphere or state of mind. This genre of music is often characterized by repetitive, hypnotic rhythms or sustained chords and may be referred to as atmospheric, ethereal, meditative or mesmerizing.
Ambient electronic music emerged in the 1970s with the introduction of synthesizers and other innovative electronic instruments. The first album in this genre was recorded in 1978 by Brian Eno with the title Ambient 1: Music for Airports. The term “ambient” was coined by Eno to describe his own compositions as well as other works of similar style created around the same time.
Many artists have contributed to the evolution of ambient electronic music over the past four decades. Some examples are Tangerine Dream, Steve Roach, Klaus Schulze, Robert Rich and Aphex Twin.
The best way to get a feel for what ambient electronic music sounds like is to listen to it. We recommend starting with some of the artists mentioned above and exploring their work further through Spotify, Pandora or YouTube.