a boring recommendation thread. seeking ambient/instrumental

[stale]

Hello. I am looking for interesting ambient or (mostly) instrumental indie rock shit. Albums along the line of BSS 'Feel Good Lost' and Album Leaf 'One Day I'll Be On Time' are prime examples. Good stuff to occupy my ears while I do homework.

[sean]

fuck man just go listen to godspeed.

[Joseph]

Tommydski will tell you to listen to Chris Herbert's Mezzotint.

He will be right.

[Tom]

DMST

[E. Spaceman]

Don Caballero - American Don

[TheFuriousWombat]

I do believe I've lost count of the number of times I've recommended this to people on here and elsewhere but one more couldn't hurt: Eluvium (and related projects: Matthew Robert Cooper and Concert Silence). Very pretty guitar and sometimes piano (and sometimes strings and woodwind) driven ambience. Although it's a little less beat-y than FGL or typical Album Leaf stuff so it might not be what you're looking for. Mum might also satisfy what you're looking for. Check out the album 'Yesterday was Dramatic - Today is OK' first as it's closest, I would say, to the stuff you mentioned. I dunno, I have tons of music like this so I'll probably recommend so more later.

[David_Dovey]

Fuck Buttons play noisy and oftentimes unhinged but still very beautiful instrumental post-rock/drone/ambient stuff. Their new album Tarot Sport is in the mediaf!re thread.

[michaelicious]

You should probably listen to Emeralds.

[sean]

oddly enough i just downloaded a whole bunch of ambient music, now that ive made a snarky comment in this thread.

[scarred]

Helios and Eluvium are both necessary ambience.

[Koremora]

Stars of the Lid or die. I will come back to this thread tomorrow and recommend a SHIT ton more. Be ready.

[Ptommydski]

Tommydski will tell you to listen to Chris Herbert's Mezzotint.

He will be right.

[stale]

Thanks. Downloading today.

[valley_parade]

Fonica, Fourcolor, Shuttle358, Seaworthy, Minamo.

[Daft pun]

For some ambient sounds try Fennesz, Tim Hecker or Belong. My preferred music for homework is minimal techno though. Superpitcher's Today would be a good introduction to the whole minimal sound and Worriedaboutsatan's abum is still in the mediaf!re thread, which is really good almost ambient post-rockish minimal.

[sean]

also i back helios so hard. he is pretty damn awesome.

[KvP]

Sunken Foal - Fallen Arches

Now this is an oddity. De-tuned acoustic guitar, gentle piano, light electronics, muted beats and occasional vocals are combined to produce an album that lurches between summery pastoralism and queasy claustrophobia – often in the same song.

Sunken Foal is known as Duncan Murphy by his mum. He’s from Dublin and Fallen Arches is his debut album. Tracks like “Dutch Elm” and “Cash Poor” are dominated by acoustic plucking and warm piano chords, and yet there is something just slightly ‘out’ about the music that separates it from the chill-out crowd. This is more apparent on “A Bear In The Hermitage” where the guitar has that kind of stilted, off-kilter sound that characterises John Cage’s prepared piano works. The beats, too, are slightly off-centre. Somehow, though, the result isn’t a wilful atonalism, but melodic, if a little disconcerting. The vocal (sample?) towards the end of the track transforms a snatch of a sing-song nursery rhyme into something unsettling and almost threatening.

Back when I was little, the village carnival always included a version of “It’s A Knockout”, played against teams from neighbouring towns and colleges. It culminated in the piano smashing competition where each team had a clapped out piano, and the winner was the one who could get it all through the middle of a suspended tyre. It involved much swinging of sledgehammers, crunching of wood and twang of piano wire. I mention it because “Foathing” sounds like the ghosts of those smashed pianos – strings detuned and broken, wood splintered and cracked.

The more I listen to this album, the more I’m fascinated by it – especially by the juxtaposition of laid back melody and discord. The electric guitar on “Rotunda” follows a familiar chord progression, but the acoustic sounds like a banjo after it’s been used against the proverbial cow’s arse. It’s surprising that this isn’t a distraction, but instead adds a kooky charm of its own. “Rikkic” is a favourite, too, even if it has more in common with Planet Mu boss Mike Paradinas’s stuff than it does with much of the rest of this record.

Ultimately, Fallen Arches is an album that defies adequate description. There are elements that will be familiar to fans of Animal Collective and Fennesz. Some of the more expansive tracks have a lot in common with the slightly boss-eyed sound of Matt Elliott’s recent work. Some people might find the ‘wrongness’ of some of the instrumentation too distracting. I find it refreshing and like the album a lot.

Code:

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?44rdfeogmmu

[NotAFanOfFenders]

fuck man just go listen to godspeed.

+1

[Lhefriel_Medies]

I've been listening to The Last Resort by Trentemoeller lately and liking it a lot.

[rynne]

Ambient thread fails without Brian Eno.

[De_El]

I was going to say that, but I was kind of thrown off by the OP's stipulation that he wanted ambient or instrumental "indie rock shit." Hence, I dunno, Helios, DMST and Don Cab.  

Wait, wtf, why didn't anyone say Tortoise?

But if we're talking about for reals ambient music, Eno, Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada are where it's at.

[spoon_of_grimbo]

Definitely check out "Eyes Like Brontide" by Lights Out Asia - really chilled out, yet very dark post-rock with mostly electronic beats.  The second track "Radars Over the Ghosts of Chernobyl" is easily one of the best tracks i've heard within the genre.  I think I upped the album a while back in the mediaf!re thread.  The search isn't working for me atm, but it should show it up for you.

[dancarter]

I'm gonna throw out anything by Stendeck, mostly because they kick ass and more people need to listen to them.  Also, if you want something a little more beat driven and drone-y, try some ESA.

Edit: crap, crap, crap!  Here is some more just remembered:

Beehatch(Phil Western and Mark Spybey's little instrumental project) Beehatch, Brood or Bratislava, all three are really good.
Kone (more Phil Western, this time solo)  Cirrhotic Psychotic is great, On Daddy's Farm is also excellent.
Download Effector or III are wonderful.

[Zingoleb]

I just noticed how "Ambient" is only one letter away from "Ambien".

[michaelicious]

Ambient thread fails without Brian Eno.

It's kind of boring to just talk about canonical shit all the time, man.

[TheFuriousWombat]

Eno is a pioneer for sure but I would rarely choose to listen to his music.

[De_El]

Haha! Awesome! Now we get to tell you that you're wrong.

But seriously, that's silly. For one, Here Comes the Warm Jets has got some amazing glam rock tunes, Another Green World is a masterful mix of arty rock, little electronic experiments and some proto-ambient segments, Before and After Science is great...Really the greatest disservice one could do one's self when it comes to Eno is to listen to Ambient 1 and assume that's all Brian Eno is about, because it's okay, but really a pretty boring record.  Ambient 2/The Plateaux of Mirror, Eno's first record with Harold Budd is a lot better. It's less programmed and detached; there's a stronger sense of melody across all of it, and although it's got a similar sense of gentle elegance, Ambient 1 is almost flimsy.

But really what you want to do is listen to Evening Star.

[E. Spaceman]

You mean Another Day On Earth?

[De_El]

I don't, but that one's good too. See! Another reason. So many reasons. Brian Eno for president.

[TheFuriousWombat]

Haha! Awesome! Now we get to tell you that you're wrong.

But seriously, that's silly. For one, Here Comes the Warm Jets has got some amazing glam rock tunes, Another Green World is a masterful mix of arty rock, little electronic experiments and some proto-ambient segments, Before and After Science is great...Really the greatest disservice one could do one's self when it comes to Eno is to listen to Ambient 1 and assume that's all Brian Eno is about, because it's okay, but really a pretty boring record.  Ambient 2/The Plateaux of Mirror, Eno's first record with Harold Budd is a lot better. It's less programmed and detached; there's a stronger sense of melody across all of it, and although it's got a similar sense of gentle elegance, Ambient 1 is almost flimsy.

But really what you want to do is listen to Evening Star.

Look, I actually have listened to a lot of what Eno's done, including the albums you mention. He's a diverse artists, absolutely. His work with Harold Budd is indeed rather incredible. I'm a big Budd fan but, again, I don't often have any urge to put on his music. You definitely accurately described a bunch of Eno albums there but that doesn't seem to me to be a compelling reason to listen to the guy a lot. Like I said, he was a pioneer. He opened musical and aural doors and is an undeniable influence on countless musicians and sound artists. At the same time, there's plenty of said artists that engage me more, that grab me in more visceral ways or that make me feel something more substantial. I feel like a lot of art is like this. Warhol is brilliant and absolutely crucial to the history of art but I'd still rather look at a Basquiat. Just b/c the guy set the stage doesn't mean his music is the best out there or the most engaging or even particularly enjoyable all the time so, when making a choice to listen to something ambient or more along the lines of "sound art" or noise or whatever, I tend not to choose Eno.

[onewheelwizzard]

I recommend El Ten Eleven for instrumental rock purposes and Growing for ambient purposes.

[KickThatBathProf]

Ef

[De_El]

@KickThatBathProf That's cool! I just really like Brian Eno.

[TheFuriousWombat]

Heh, on rereading my post, it seems a little aggressive. Sorry dude, didn't mean to come across as a jerk or whatever! I definitely see where you're coming from with the Eno love, my tastes have sorta honed a little more towards the denser, drone-ier and/or noisier approach at this point, stuff like Higuma, Barn Owl, The North Sea, and Tarentel I guess and that's not really Eno.

[KickThatBathProf]

@KickThatBathProf That's cool! I just really like Brian Eno.

 

[TheFuriousWombat]

I think he meant me...

[De_El]

Oh, hey, brainfart, sorry. But, yeah, I meant TheFuriousWombat.

[KickThatBathProf]

It ain't a thing