Hey Peter,Originally Posted by PeterG
I've been listening to ambient music for about 30-35 years and have over 1200 "ambient" CD's so I think I can make some great suggestions. Keep in mind though that your enjoyment of these will naturally depend on what activity you are involved with while listening. If you're doing garage work etc, you may miss some of the great "deep ambient" releases because of their subtleties which would be best listened to in a quiet room and/or with headphones and so on.
My favorite artists for ambient:
BRIAN ENO---still great after all these years! Try On Land, Music For Airports, The Plateau of Mirror, The Pearl, Thursday Afternoon, The Shutov Assembly for starters.
STEVE ROACH--tons to like here---my favorite is still Dreamtime Return but many others come to mind like World's Edge, Darkest Before Dawn and Serpent's Lair just to name a few.
ROBERT RICH--like Steve Roach very prolific and a wide variety of styles from mellow and drifty to tribal and darker.
DAVID PARSONS---awesome stuff. He's from New Zealand and highly influenced by his travels through India, Tibet and Nepal, adapting these influences to his other-worldly soundscapes.
JEFF GREINKE--another amazing artist who's music ranges from quiet and industrial-influence to dynamic with use of percussion etc. His band LAND is also very good, leaning a bit more to world-influenced fusion.
DANNA & CLEMENT--from Ontario Canada, these two guys have done about 10 albums together of dreamy soundscapes, often with subtle nature sounds. Check out SUMMERLAND, their best, especially the 25-minute track To The Land Beneath The Waves. Wow!
JON HASSELL--a little different but also great! Hassell is deeply influenced by third world rhythms and uses electronics and effects on a multitude of sounds, most notably his trumpet which he refers to as "mutant trumpet". Try Dream Theory in Malaya or Power Spot for two of his best!
ZOVIET FRANCE/REFORMED FACTION/RAPOON--these three all tie together and the common denominator is Robin Storey from England who is one of the co-founders of the now-defunct Zoviet France. After they called it quits around 1992/93, he started releasing albums under the moniker Rapoon(I have approximately 90 CD's from these two) and now having gotten back together with Mark Spybey(formerly of Zoviet France) is releasing music under the name Reformed Faction. Their music leans more towards and experimental edge but don't let that scare you away as there is a wealth of GREAT! music here. Storey's music is like a dreamy trip to unexplored places much like the great ambient albums of the past such as Brian Eno's On Land. If you want to start anywhere, try his latest album "To West And Blue", which I can not stop listening to since I got it last week. Absolutely incredible!
DEUTER---started out as psychedelic with the album "D" but quickly changed to meditative, ambient with keyboards, guitars, sitars, bells,chimes,flutes,percussion etc. He has over 40 releases and lately has drifted toward the new-age "healing" type stuff which can be a little schmalzy, HOWEVER, you need to check out early releases such as AUM, ECSTACY and HALEAKALA, all of which have an incredible spiritual ambient quality that I've rarely found on any release!
BIOSPHERE---real name is Peir Genssen(?) and his music is incredible, evoking the desolate area of his homeland in Scandinavia but with a strange kind of warmth. Best albums are "Substrata", "Cirque" and "Dropsonde" but many others are great!
The above are pretty much my most-listened to.
Here are some other names that I feel are superior to most of the stuff out there: Mathias Grassow, Amir Baghiri, Tuu, Nemesis, Viridian Sun, Ma Ja Le, Harold Budd, Thomas Koener, Fatagaga, O Yuki Conjugate, Aeolian String Ensemble, A Produce, Vidna Obmana, Thom Brennan,David Hykes,Alio Die, Loscil, Jorge Reyes, Lammmergeyer, Labradford, Pan American, Loren Nerell, Forest Fang, Paul Schutze, Carl Weingarten, Stephan Micus and MANY more.
Hope this helps. If you need any other recommendations, PM me.
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