My Favorite Ambient CDs

Ambient music isn’t for everyone, but it is a great way to slow the mind down. It is also so fun to play, as I an’t rely on ‘stock licks’ and massive amounts of gain. It all is very slow, and evolves over time. Here are my 2 favorite ambient releases, like, ever.

Brian Eno’s Discreet Music

Discreet Mu

This album comes in 2 parts, but what I really like is the composition called Discreet Music. Composed of super simple 3 note melodies (at the most) weaving and overlapping, this is not a constant loop. It is a slowly evolving loop over time, and this is what caught me, and set me using loops the way that I do. As these simple melodies come in and out, I could almost hear what they should be before they were played. A brilliant piece of modern composition using primitive synth tones, it takes time to understand exactly what is happening here, which is why I think it is so brilliant.

Fripp & Eno’s Evening Star

Fripp_&_Eno's_Evening_Star

Add Brian Eno’s ambience to Robert Fripp’s angular, sustaining guitar and you have a win-win from me. Side 1 works better for me than Side 2, but there were really no rules here about what this music should sound like at the time. Yes, there are some guitar solos here, but they are more beautiful than shocking. We can hear how how loops build up, and how Eno manipulated them as they were played. It is difficult to work with someone this closely who gets what you play, and is sensitive enough to lift the whole thing up higher rather than push you out of the way. We can hear this here. The cover photo is the perfect idea of what you will hear.

 

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