Challenged by Luc Martin at Facebook, I will write a ten post "review" on web sites, artists, albums and musical pieces that has made me as a big fan of ambient music. I also give you a chance to find out more via my old image uploads made here at ipernity.First I of course need to define what ambient music is. I recall Brian Eno saying something like it is a "music that does not disrupt ambient sounds, and which does not become disrupted by the ambient sounds.". So, one can listen to it and do something, almost anything at the same time. And what is most important is that the background noises even seem to belong to the music as a part of the sounds heard.
Brian Eno - Thursday Afternoon from Jonathan Jolly on YouTube.
By listening this first sample on my series, you may notice the following things. Sounds are somewhat minimalist, aka the music is not filled with number of overlapping instruments. Sources of sounds can be familiar and recognizable (e.g. piano), but also caused by some more modern electronic instruments. Music also does not seem to repeat itself. In other words, it seems to "change it's path" all the time.Therefore a nice piece of ambient music is like a walk through park on a sunny Sunday afternoon. On every step one sees something new, and yet very familiar and comfortable. No one jumps out of the bushes wearing a clown mask and starts to monotonously beat drums.
What is also important for me is the duration of the musical piece. It should last at least six minutes. When I for example seek music online, I often do not accept anything shorter than six minutes. Moreover, a good ambient music can be played in a loop, without immediate risk of becoming annoyed and bored. Therefore even number of tracks by Brian Eno are way too short and not perfect as played in loops. Although, one has to admit that Brian Eno's music is often made to be listened as complete albums.
UPDATE June 5, 2020: I manage to discover Brian Eno's famous video painting at UbuWeb.
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