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Healer
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| Domesticated |
I am really not greatly into ambient/down-tempo music. On the whole, I find it overly languid and boring (yes, a stupid comment when you consider that ambient is for relaxing), but the works of Michael Andresen (Healer), are ing amazing.
He has a few aliases, but I believe 'Healer' to be his best stuff. He has done two albums: one in 2000 and another in 2004. Both are available FOR FREE on his website, along with plenty of other great tracks.
http://12moons.se/
My main problem with most ambient is that it sounds like background noise, with no recognisable hooks or interplay of elements (probably just me), but Andresen's stuff really grabs me. It has a sense of urgency and the interaction of elements is supreme. I highly recommend him. |
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| sljiva |
| quote: | Originally posted by Domesticated
On the whole, I find it overly languid and boring (yes, a stupid comment when you consider that ambient is for relaxing) |
Yes it's a stupid comment, but not as stupid as that little explanation of yours. I ing hate when people consider ambient background music, music for relaxation, chill out music... That only shows that they don't really get it (yet), just like the people who use classical music for relaxation only don't get it either. Using ambient just for relaxing is utilizing just a part of its potential. Quality ambient music is as demanding and complex as any music out there, and it requires a lot more patience and concentration due to its subtlety, but even that doesn't guarantee that you'll get it.
I can see however why you like Healer. I'd say he makes that "in your face" type of ambient music, with hooks and everything else people who are not usually deep into ambient enjoy. There was a thread about Benn Jordan not too long ago, and he makes that kind of music. Check out his Pale Blue Dot (Tribute To Carl Sagan) album. |
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| SMC |
I heard a few Healer tracks a long time ago on the "Ease Division" compilations, i can't remember what they sound like but they're probably good. This guy also made really good trance under the name 12 Moons, his album "Solid State" is excellent.
Most ambient is about texture, color and... ambiance. A wide range of different music falls into the ambient category, some of it is more busy and even melodic, but for the most part it's not the place where you're meant to find memorable hooks and stuff. It's music you have to meet halfway, or even further down the road, so to speak, depending on what it is. Many times it works best if you think of it as something that seeps through the speakers to fill the void of silence around you. Like a scent in the air, or a lighting. You don't need to engage with it directly. |
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| Domesticated |
| quote: | Originally posted by sljiva
Using ambient just for relaxing is utilizing just a part of its potential. Quality ambient music is as demanding and complex as any music out there, and it requires a lot more patience and concentration due to its subtlety, but even that doesn't guarantee that you'll get it. |
So one can't relax by concentrating on ambient music, just as one 'relaxes' by meditating intently?
I never said ambient was 'background music'. On the contrary, I consider good ambient it the same way you do; perhaps more involving and intricate than most beat-based music. However, to me it just seems like a lot of it is generic pad sounds layered on top of one another, hence my assertion that a lot of this stuff is not worth concentration.
| quote: | Originally posted by sljiva
I can see however why you like Healer. I'd say he makes that "in your face" type of ambient music, with hooks and everything else people who are not usually deep into ambient enjoy. There was a thread about Benn Jordan not too long ago, and he makes that kind of music. Check out his Pale Blue Dot (Tribute To Carl Sagan) album. |
Thanks for the recommendation.
In general, I am just a very restless person. I find it very hard to sit still and I hate lying down when I'm not going to sleep. I think this is why ambient has never grabbed me. I can certainly appreciate it when it's good, but when faced with a choice between something with rhythm and energy and something more relaxed, I'll usually go for the music that suits my personality.
p.s when I said 'hooks', I didn't mean the kind you'll be humming the next day like a pop song. I just meant something that's memorable and not generic. |
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| sljiva |
| quote: | Originally posted by SMC
This guy also made really good trance under the name 12 Moons, his album "Solid State" is excellent. |
Yeah, that's why his ambient stuff reminded me a bit of that chill out remakes of trance tracks that usually get mentioned in every thread about ambient music. |
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| RebeL9 |
Yeah Michael is a great producer. I met him back in 2004 for an interview and he gave me a copy of both the 12 Moons album and the Healer Higher Grounds CD. Excellent stuff. He's been in the swedish EDM scene for ages but is probably most known for his work under 12 Moons.
I personally prefer his trance material (check out the 17 minute Beyond Infinity which Sasha played in one of his EM back in the days. BANGING). |
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| sljiva |
| quote: | Originally posted by Domesticated
So one can't relax by concentrating on ambient music, just as one 'relaxes' by meditating intently? |
Yeah, of course you can, but as I said, it's not really making the most of what ambient can offer.
And that little rant wasn't beamed directly towards you, you just kinda sparked it with "My main problem with most ambient is that it sounds like background noise".
Ambient doesn't have to be memorable to be not generic. I don't think that any melody or pad on Substrata is particularly memorable or hooky, yet it's considered one of the best ambient albums ever.
I'll just quote what one guy said on ambient and I perfectly agree with it:
| quote: | | Ambient is not primarily an intellectual or emotional experience, but rather firstly a psychological experience... which is perhaps its biggest distinction between it and other forms of western art music? This is certainly true in my case. I'm not sure that I can think of any classical music that does not - in the first instance - seek to engage the intellect or emotion before the psyche. OTOH, ambient seeks to express nothing, to tell no story, to examine or solve no problem... but it does render a mood as an expressed purpose. Ambient's therapeutic properties (the feeling of well-being, dissipation of energy) is a strong characteristic of the music. |
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| SYSTEM-J |
| Just out of interest, what constitutes the "psyche" and why are intellect and emotions divorced from it? |
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| nefardec |
| quote: | Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
Just out of interest, what constitutes the "psyche" and why are intellect and emotions divorced from it? |
maybe it refers to 'subconscious' or 'unconscious' psyche?
intellect and emotions are usually considered to be within consciousness, may be a little murky though |
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| sljiva |
| quote: | Originally posted by nefardec
maybe it refers to 'subconscious' or 'unconscious' psyche?
intellect and emotions are usually considered to be within consciousness, may be a little murky though
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I was thinking along the same lines. I think he was talking about personal unconscious, although I'm certainly not going to claim anything in someone else's name. Besides, the point is in the middle of that quote: ambient is all about the mood, the ambience, the atmosphere. Not pretty melodies, warm pads or heartbreaking strings (and downtempo beatz). That stuff is for chill out compilations and trance producers who want something else on their albums besides trance. |
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| SMC |
| quote: | Originally posted by sljiva
I was thinking along the same lines. I think he was talking about personal unconscious, although I'm certainly not going to claim anything in someone else's name. Besides, the point is in the middle of that quote: ambient is all about the mood, the ambience, the atmosphere. Not pretty melodies, warm pads or heartbreaking strings (and downtempo beatz). That stuff is for chill out compilations and trance producers who want something else on their albums besides trance. |
You could just have quoted me instead. Support a local! :tongue3 |
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| sljiva |
| quote: | Originally posted by SMC
You could just have quoted me instead. Support a local! :tongue3 |
I just borrowed "the ambience" from you. I swear! |
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