In our first ever blog post, we have put together a list of our top 5 ambient electronic albums to listen to while working. We hope you enjoy!
Electronic music has always been a popular genre, but it’s been taking the world by storm in recent years. For example, electronic music record label Monstercat recently broke into the Billboard 200 in North America. And while this is great news for mainstream electronic music fans, it can be difficult to find tracks that are appropriate for a work setting.
Fortunately, there’s a sub-genre of electronic music called “ambient” that helps us get around this problem. Ambient music is generally used for concentration and relaxation, because it tends to be free of distraction and easy on the ears. It’s like instrumental music, except with more depth and detail.
So if you’re looking for some tunes to listen to while working, here are my top 5 ambient electronic albums:
Ambient music is a genre that’s been around since the 1970s, with its origin being attributed to Brian Eno. The term “ambient” was coined by Eno to describe music that creates an atmosphere of its own without focusing on any particular source. It’s the perfect type of music to listen to while you work, especially on projects that are very task-oriented or require intense concentration. It’s also really great for studying!
Here are my top 5 ambient albums to listen to while working:
1. Biosphere – Microgravity
2. Loscil – Submers
3. Boards of Canada – Geogaddi
4. Jon Hopkins – Diamond Mine
5. Tycho – Dive
What is ambient electronic music? It’s a genre that has been defined and redefined so many times I think it is hard to say exactly what ambient electronic music is. But if you think about it, the genre of ambient music started somewhere in the 60s and 70s with artists such as Brian Eno, John Cage, Steve Reich, etc.**
Most of ambient music’s pioneers are also pioneers of electronic music as we know it today.
Ambient music relies on synthesizer and other technology to create sounds that traditional instruments cannot produce.
The genre is born out of the idea that you can “paint” a soundscape using these synthetic sounds, with melody and rhythm often taking a backseat.
Ambient is often difficult to pin down since most artists in the genre draw from a broad palette of sounds and styles.
Ambient music is a genre often overlooked and misunderstood by most listeners, but it has been around almost as long as electronic music itself.
Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes tone and atmosphere over traditional musical structure or rhythm. A form of slow instrumental music, it uses repetitive, but gentle, soothing sound patterns that can be described as sonic wallpaper to complement or alter one’s space and to generate a sense of calmness. The genre is said to evoke an “atmospheric”, “visual”, or “unobtrusive” quality.
Artists such as Brian Eno are credited with having created the genre in the mid-1970s. Ambient music can include features such as environmental sounds and found sounds integrated into composition. It can be played on looped tape players, giving a continuous ambient feel.
Ambient is often defined broadly as a sub-category of electronic music. It may incorporate rhythmic elements, but these rarely dominate the piece. Ambient pieces typically feature very few melodic elements; if there are any, they are usually restrained harmonies or tonal clusters which provide a minimal anchor for the work. Ambient compositions tend to be largely free of dynamic contrasts.
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