MixTape 8: After Airports, Before Orbs [obscure 80s ambient; other oddities of the era]
It can't be understated the significance Brian Eno had in ambient music's formative years, nor the impact Alex Patterson had taking the genre into new avenues. But what about the 10 years between? It wasn't all just Eno, his buddies, and 70s new wave composers (Vangelis, Jarre, etc) making the stuff, was it? Not at all.
Gathered and mixed together here for your listening interest and pleasure are a variety of tunes and compositions of that time period. This is by no means a collection of 'greatest hits', full of instantly recognizable names (sorry, no Roach) and songs (were there any ambient 'hits' in the 80s?); rather, it's a spotlight on the influential, the unheralded, and the obscure. Oh, and all the analog hiss of old recordings you can handle!
Feedback, as always, is welcomed, encouraged even.
1. Kevin Braheny - Ice Forests Of Orion (1988)
2. Iasos - The Angels Of Comfort (1978)
3. Steve Hillage - Garden Of Paradise (1979)
4. Zoviet France - Untitled (B1) (1983)
5. J.D. Emmanuel - Part III - Evening Devotional (1986)
6. Richard Burmer - Riverbend (1984)
7. Robert Turman - Flux 3 (1982)
8. Dada - Yuuen • Inraku • Gaki (1978)
9. David Parsons - Gangotri (1982)
10. J.D. Emmanuel - Visions During Movement (1981)
11. Kevin Braheny - Lullaby For The Hearts Of Space (1980)
12. Alan Hawkshaw - Saturn Rings (1979)
13. Michel Magne - Plane Alpha II (1978)
14. Joel Vandroogenbroeck - Meditative Contemplation (1980)
15. Quiet Point - Empty Corridors (1987)
(PS: special thanks to Sushipunk for hosting this for me, as it seems Soundcloud didn't like one of the tracks in here )
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Everyone has an opinion. Mine just happens to be a little more informed than most. Electronic Music Critic: Near-Daily Ruminations Of Music I Own, In Alphabetical Order!
Last edited by Sykonee on Jul-14-2013 at 12:20
Jun-27-2012 05:13
Mr Game+Watch
Luka Luka * Night Fever
Registered: Nov 2002
Location: Long Island, NY
Very clever name, unfortunately the Sushi link is broken so I can't check it out
D'oh! Thanks for catching that. What I get for c+p'ing the abbreviated version of the link.
Fixed.
___________________
Everyone has an opinion. Mine just happens to be a little more informed than most. Electronic Music Critic: Near-Daily Ruminations Of Music I Own, In Alphabetical Order!
Jun-28-2012 20:18
Mr Game+Watch
Luka Luka * Night Fever
Registered: Nov 2002
Location: Long Island, NY
Absolutely loved this. Some great retro-futuristic melodies, would be great for a sci-fi game or something. Everything was all-new to me, as my first exposure to ambient music (and what was responsible for me getting deeply involved in EDM to begin with) was The Orb.
Originally posted by Mr Game+Watch
Absolutely loved this. Some great retro-futuristic melodies, would be great for a sci-fi game or something.
Funny you should say that, as that Vandroogenbroeck guy went on to become one of the earliest chiptune musicians. There's actually quite a few interesting little 'future connections' in that list of names.
But... no one else comments? I swear this mix isn't all noodly pseudo New Agey stuff! Hm, maybe I need to change the genre names in the thread title.
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Everyone has an opinion. Mine just happens to be a little more informed than most. Electronic Music Critic: Near-Daily Ruminations Of Music I Own, In Alphabetical Order!
Jul-02-2012 09:16
Magnetonium
Dubstep = Douchestep
Registered: Sep 2001
Location: Port Burwell, Ontario, Canada
Amazing mix. Finally someone is making a mix of 70's 80's ambient and new age. I thought I was the only one who listened to that stuff on this forum
Huge fan of Iasos!!! I have one of his ultra-rare cassette tapes from 1975.
Big fan of Hearts Of Space
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Jul-02-2012 15:46
ziptnf
Programming your future
Registered: Jun 2008
Location: Louisville, KY
It took me a while, but I listened. Very cool, but very weird. I can't believe all these tracks are so old, they sound great!
Originally posted by Magnetonium
Amazing mix. Finally someone is making a mix of 70's 80's ambient and new age. I thought I was the only one who listened to that stuff on this forum
Honestly, aside from the usual suspects (Eno, etc.), I can't say that I regularly do; however, I've been researching ambient's overall history lately, and gathered up a ton of tracks in the process. Felt some of the lesser names deserved a showcase.
And yeah, ambient and New Age tended to go hand-in-hand in the early years, sharing the same synthy attributes and atmosphere. Then New Age got... well, corny, a bit too focused on actual musicianship than simple droning synth sweeps. Least that's the divide between ambient and New Age that I found.
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Everyone has an opinion. Mine just happens to be a little more informed than most. Electronic Music Critic: Near-Daily Ruminations Of Music I Own, In Alphabetical Order!
Originally posted by Sykonee
And yeah, ambient and New Age tended to go hand-in-hand in the early years, sharing the same synthy attributes and atmosphere. Then New Age got... well, corny, a bit too focused on actual musicianship than simple droning synth sweeps. Least that's the divide between ambient and New Age that I found.
It is hard to put a satisfactory line between ambient and New Age, I agree. The question interests me enough that I made a thread about it:
To paraphrase what I said in that thread: New Age puts you in a place to observe, whereas Ambient makes you a part of a place to be. In a way, that's also where you see some of the similarities when you get into the 'meditative' aspects of both.
Case in point is Steven Halpern, who's often credited in pioneering New Age music. His idea is using musical tones for healing and meditation, very much New Age concepts, but when you listen to some of his music, it has many of the attributes we'd associate with ambient (droning synths and such). Plus, some of the artwork associated with his work seems like it should be in a psy-chill vid!
New Age though that 'scene' may be, the music is quite effective in making you a part of a place, even if that place might be your inner consciousness.
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Everyone has an opinion. Mine just happens to be a little more informed than most. Electronic Music Critic: Near-Daily Ruminations Of Music I Own, In Alphabetical Order!
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