Ambient, Psybient, Psydub, not Goa and what more not

[fas42]

Right, lower key it is ... couple of others that hit the spot, for us, were

 

Art of Noise

Vollenweider

[NOMBEDES]

I think it is great that there is so much music out there to explore.

Doubt I will ever have time listen to any of this, but cool none the less.

[juanitox]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec7l)L30pF5w

( some samples of Forbidden planet film ? )

would like to be young again ...  sunny girls everywhere ?

[PeterSt]

2 hours ago, juanitox said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec7l)L30pF5w

 

Yes, good example !

I don't have this one, nor can I get it (OK, 2nd hand at Discogs).

 

Indeed much of it is "trance" influenced. And if not explicitly that, it may get you there.

[look&listen]

On September 9, 2018 at 4:13 PM, PeterSt said:

All I can do is point to something like the opposite ... do NOT press play yet :

 

Envision my explicit telling that Clox is about glockenspiel and bells to the most clarity you can imagine.

Also envision that I promise the most "drive" in music possible (think upbeat now) and that it sweeps up and up and up until you burst. Now press play.

Again, you make me crazy with 'opposite' inversion…    Not understand, but move on-

 

I read post, then listen to embedded YT video (nice images) on terrible PC speakers. Uh, ok.

Then download YT mp3 audio file, xfer to library. Listen to mp3 thru ‘ordinary’ iTunes system on main rig. Ok. but what is big deal? Then reboot to best sounding (but some PITA) SDcard system. Listen for while to adjust ears to recent speaker floating fix/upgrade. But mine is not full, up-to-date Phasure system, so?

 

Then listen to CLOX again, listen thru couple of times. Better now, little familiar.  Ok song structure, timbres, rate track 3 Stars (‘would listen again’). Liked big, Powerful, rubbery(?) bass line in middle (over fizzy beat), but "drive" escapes me? Hear clock-like effect in beginning, then bells die out, to return later 

 

Always like bells & similar, prefer timbre of percussion to most others, but not hear quality you say (?). Maybe my old ears, but think hear better recently. Still, whenever listening to those parts, memory of early spring walk through my town, pops into head. Was windy, blustery, but gentle. I stop in front of nice little house with 4 big(~55cm) wind chime sets hung along front porch & 3 smaller(~35cm) ones at side. Stood for maybe 10-15 minutes hearing most beautiful natural symphony I ever hear, big stupid smile on face! (no electronics! no humans!)

 

Do these reports mean anything to you? Not sure what you seeking here?

 

Later  

[juanitox]

another gemm for you peter ?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OcmW79X67k

[marce]

I wnet to see quite a few bands on the list in the 90's at Megadog night at the Manchester Academy, also at Herbal Tea party's at Manchester, what memories,?

[Albrecht]

On 9/9/2018 at 4:09 AM, PeterSt said:

If you can't bear my English, skip to the list more below.

 

All right. So PeterSt and his Phasure produce a couple of audio components and what he tries to accomplish with it, is the ultimate very best Sound Quality. Now, assumed that this succeeded/succeeds to some degree, we may wonder what music he actually uses to "test" all, so in the homes things work out by kind of guarantee. Music which contains it all, including the foot-tapping. From the lowest frequencies to the highest transient spikes. From impacting to fragile.

 

I thought the thread to be of interest for the handful of people who are into the same type of music which I use for testing - and since maybe 8 years mostly play (for enjoyment).

More below you will find the list of artists which do the thang for me, and with some basic interest in this type of music, you will recognize at least what it is not. And well, isn't it difficult to describe (apart from just showing the list).

 

I named the general folder where this music is put "Ambient". But hey, ambient as such it is not. Maybe back in the days (like early 70's) I could play 20 minute (LP) tracks of Brian Eno, Edgar Froese or Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and a few dozen more. But today they don't make it to my list, apart from a few which g(r)o(w) along with the times, like the latter mentioned or like Jean-Michel Jarre. But they are exceptions. No, the stream-type of music I refer to emerged somewhere in the 90's and it could be called Psybient in general. But it isn't that either. It comprises mainly of too high beat/minute music, and I don't refer to that at all. OK, unless it is Infected Mushroom and a handful of others. Down-tempo then. Well, better already, but also not quite. Goa. Sort of, but just because it is the base of what I am talking about. But yet again, way too high bpm. Psydub ? yes, almost all in there suits the bill. Only the fact that it comprises maybe 5% of everything in my list, tells that there is more (to name). Back to ambient ? actually yes. Especially when we see that this comprises soundscapes. But then again, not Brian Eno's Airport music, or worse, elevator music. But soundscapes, yes. Whether it is water, wind, birds, thunder, or ... all what is implied by that - scratching included (Psytrance Scratch) ... even LP needle ticks are all over the place.

Slow beat soundscape music, maybe best characterized by an artist like Azura  or Solar fields. And no, not electronic music at all, although most will have synths in it for support. No, the best ones use real guitars with real drums and real basses. And citars and such or so many more Indian instruments because the roots seem always to be there (like Goa is). Looking at the track names often tells enough. And of course tracks are mostly 6 minutes at least.

Oh, did I mention the psychedelic influence ? OK, you saw that.

 

On the last matter it is easy to call it Pink Floyd on Asteroids. So really, one might aver back think that Umma Gumma did something, but no way it (PF) appears in the list below because the SQ is way under par. SQ ? I mean for what the ultimates in "sound" can be. Those lowest to the highest frequencies and such - it is just not in there. The music type would be similar though. This is also how Edgar Froese does not apply but with the notice that Tangerine Dream also does not occur in my list (them really still producing up to at least recently). There is no music in there - no beat (and mind you, "ambient" as such is allowed to have no beat, but there music stops for me, and soundscaping is NOT about that for me - (like New Age mweh)).

 

If I counted right, the list comprises of 168 artists but with the notice that it is not always easy to obtain the artists, which often is in a special scene (like Bandcamp is that, and a lot indeed comes from there). What I mean is, a lot is on collection albums, though mixed / produced by gurus in that scene, like DJ Zen or Bluetech and a lot more. So what happens there is that an album is created from existing tracks/songs, and that the sauce of such a "DJ" creates a new album with those recognizable tracks but with explicitly recognizable elements from that DJ (you might think Ben Liebrand if that rings "a first" 70's bell, though for mainly Disco). Those albums are not in the list below (apart from some "series" mentioned) because they are actually Various Artists albums, and although I have maybe a 100 of them, the initial arists used in it, I have not. And mind you, it could be a Metal artist at least I don't want to listen to, while what the DJ made of it is superbly ambient as I like to have it. Example is the "Life Is ..." sequence (4 albums) of which almost each track suffices but with Artists I don't have a single album of. I just looked at the first album of that sequence and ... Sandman ? B.L.T. vs Realistic ? Space Cat ? Mental Orange ? Oforia ? Violet Vision ? Liquid Metal ? ... each of those I don't have anywhere, while each track suffices for "my thang".

 

For those familiar with the music, I like to note that anno 2017/2018 it becomes a bit more difficult to find the new better ones, because like with pop it is almost exclusively about vocoders or other voice morphing devices (software), for the type of music I refer to this is about so called super saws. This is a synthesizer means which out of anything excels in my system, but which is so difficult to render well, that it I have laying a cable wrongly (so to speak) it doesn't work out. But recognizable example of it could be Yello's latest ("Toy") where it has been mildly sneaked in in half of the tracks. Mildly because not too square and for that not giving a 100% character to the whole track. But now try Liquid Stranger. Very very interesting if you hear it at first and are able to let your system render it well, but after the 3rd "Nomad" EP you're really done with it. After six months it will sound interesting again, but not tomorrow already. It is too profound. The same guy(s) made superb albums in 2007 and before, and nothing of the (super saw) existed at that moment. So it is easy to start to be destructive for this genre, just because the environment challenges for it (it *is* "sounds" as such and indeed it is so that it is difficult to render (which is what I am after)).

 

Before going over to the list, let me tell that I mostly select from of 2008 (and newer) productions. Before that the SQ capabilities are sub par, so to speak, unless it is by analogue synthesizer but this is more rare, because more complex to fabrique (the sounds). Ron Boots (Dutch) would be an example, but with the notice that he bought all the analogue gear of Klaus Schulze at some stage. This is also about how the "scene" has to learn to make the music, which seems not to be difficult for some (producing 2 or 3 albums in a year) but which requires the hang of it first and that could not be easy at all. So all these guys are obviously not Syd Barret's, while, mind you, each of the artists mentioned will have at least one such superb track on at least one album (the albums do not show in the list. And oh, quite many produced one album only and called it a day. You can already see such things happening in general, because relatively many "project" albums exist. The only other commonly known is The Alan Parsons Project, which you btw can see as such by means of at least his first album (apart from producing PF) (Alan Parsons itself doesn't make it to the list).

 

The list is not in alphabetical sequence. Edit Sept.10, now it is. And please remember, this is about Artists which at least produced one track on one album which ended up in my "demo" folder because of being all over interesting. This includes it being music as such *and* showing off with its sounds. So it is always the mix of both.

If you are interested in the particular album and track I imply with mentioning the artist, just ask.

Those denoted (~) don't exactly meet the criteria of the type of music I refer to. It may show nice sounds but it wouldn't be "ambient" as such (e.g. Faithless).

 

Oh, I have the hunch that only one CA member may collect the very same genre, so let's say that I at least address him with the question of "do you have more of this ?". Of course I'd love others to jump in just the same, as I always like to grow my collection of music of my interest. It could even be the most interesting to discuss why or why not an artist should be part of the list. And if it is a commonly known artist, which album we'd refer to. Example : Vangelis - Bladerunner (soundscape is outer space here, with the most exquisite sounds on many tracks). But Spiral and 20+ others really don't make it.

 

Lastly, most of it can be obtained from Tidal but looking for the genre is impossible (the general failure of Tidal). And just saying : Qobuz has almost nothing of it.

 

Peter

 

 

---------------

4T Thieves
Abakus
Adham Shaikh
Aes Dana
Afro Celt Sound System
Ailo
Air (~)
Ajnia
Akshan
Albedo
Aleph Zero (series)
Alpha Wave Movement
Alwoods
AmethystiumAndrocell
Aquascape
Ashtech
Astral Waves
Astralasia
Astropilot
Asura
Aural Planet
Biosphere
Blue Pilots Project
Bluetech
Boozoo Bajou
Boris Blank
C.J. Catalizer
Cabeiri
Capsula
Carbon Based Lifeforms
Celestial Dragon
Cell
Chronos
Cloower

Cosmic Leaf (*)
Cosmic Replicant
Craig Padilla
Crystal Vibe
D. Bastitatos
Dan Gibson (~)
Dan Rotor
Deep Forest
Dense
De-Phazz (~)
Digital Mystery Tour
Direc Connection
Direct Connection
Distant System

Doof
DJ Zen
Dub Fx
Easily Embarrassed
Eat Static
ELEA
Electroslide
Electrypnose
Elysium
Emit (series)
Entheogenic
Erot

Etan Reiter (*)
Euge Groove
Fahrenheit Project
Faithless (~)
Flooting Grooves
Galaxy
Ganga
Gaudi
Geomatic
GMO
Gong (~, newer)
Grains of Sound
H.U.V.A. Network
Hatfield's End (~)
Herbal Essence
Hibernation
Human Blue
Hypnotizer
Infected Mushroom
International Observer
Iono Music
Irukanji
Ishq
Jean-Michel Jarre (~, newer)
Jon Hopkins
Juno Reactor
Kaya Project
Keemiyo
Kenyon Fields
Khooman
Kick Bong
Klaus Schulze (Contemporary Works collection)
Korai Öröm
Krill.Minima
Kuba
Kumharas (series)
Lab's Cloud
LCD Soundsystem
Lemongrass
Liquid Stranger
Lyriel
Macaw
Magic Sound Fabric
Magnetic Fields
Makoto Ozone
Makyo
Massive Attack (~)
Master Margherita
Material Hallucination
Mauxuam
Merlin
Mikalogic
Mind Body Spirit
Moby
Omnimotion
Ott

Ovnimoon (*)
Oxycanta
Ozric Tentacles
Paddy Free
Pan Electric
Peyote
Phutureprimitive
Pitch Black
Porcupine Tree
Profondita

Progenitor (*)
Psychedelic Guitar Circus
Pushmipulyu
Ron Boots
Royksopp
Saafi Brothers
Sasha
Scene
Screen
Seamoon
Sérgio Walgood
Shpongle
Shulman
Side Liner
Snakestyle
Solar Fields
Sounds from The Ground
Step High
Suduaya
Sufi's Life
Suns of Arqa
Suruyademah
System 7
Taff
Ten Madison
Terra Nine
The Bhaktas

The Cinematic Orchestra (*)
The Cruel Sea
The Crystal Method
The Flying Mars
Third Ear Audio
Tripswitch
Twisted

Unoccupied (*)
Vangelis - Blade Runner
Warp Technique
Waveform
WideNoize
William Orbit
Yello
Yggdrasil
Zen Lemonade
Zen Mechanics
Zero 7 (~)
Zero One

ZiebZehn
Zymosis Elements into Data

 

(*) : Latest additions

N.b.: The strikethroughs were label or series names, abusively pasted in.

Odessa, Blunted, (Several Shadow Records artists), Tycho, Aaphex Twin, Orbital, Peace Orchestra, & my goodness, Tosca

[copy_of_a]

Eraldo Bernocchi & Harold Budd - Music for Fragments from the Inside (Recorded live 2003)
https://boomkat.com/products/music-for-fragments-from-the-inside
https://www.allmusic.com/album/music-for-fragments-from-the-inside-mw0000205475

 

John Foxx & Harold Budd – Translucence + Drift Music
https://boomkat.com/products/translucence-drift-music
https://www.allmusic.com/album/translucence-drift-music-mw0000322738

 

Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto
https://www.allmusic.com/album/vrioon-mw0001451372
https://www.allmusic.com/album/insen-mw0000812804
https://www.allmusic.com/album/utp--mw0000818684
https://www.allmusic.com/album/summvs-mw0002143951
https://bleep.com/artist/1200-alva-noto-ryuichi-sakamoto

 

----

 

Richard Barbieri - Things Buried & Stranger Inside
https://www.allmusic.com/album/things-buried-mw0001115975
https://www.allmusic.com/album/stranger-inside-mw0000795673
https://www.qobuz.com/de-de/album/things-buried-stranger-inside-richard-barbieri/0802644732626

 

Nils Petter Molvaer - ER
https://www.allmusic.com/album/er-mw0000446122
https://www.qobuz.com/de-de/album/er-nils-petter-molvaer/0886444382823

 

[Ralf11]

Does Techno-Funk fit into this 'genre'??

[PeterSt]

9 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

Does Techno-Funk fit into this 'genre'??

 

Combined with Funk ? I'd love it. I think I am able to cough up a handful. But not easy.

Do you have a few ?

[rando]

Afraid I'm going to have to give up for the time being. 

 

If you decide to look more in the direction of the following video I might be of more help than I could ever be in the sub-genre you are exploring here.  For kicks I'm posting the drugged out 80's futuristic sci-fi cartoon version to distract from the low quality sound.  I refuse to bother you any more with mp3 only releases.

 

 

[PeterSt]

On Tycho ...

 

No. This guy does it on purpose or there's something wrong with his workflow (like processing all in 16 bits maybe).

I now tried the first tracks of all his albums (on Tidal), but of not deliberately distorted (which I already wonder, so go figure), ALL is distorted. Let's say I accuse him (big word) for processing all through analogue and next don't take into account the headroom of that. That's how all sounds. All. "Oversteered" we call it in Dutch (too much level for what the analogue means can register, like magnetic tape).

And what about so many tracks being subject to flutter ? It hardly can be on purpose. But I don't like LP for a/o that reason.

 

Any comments ? am I wrong ?

It all sounds like dirt to me. Shame, because as I said already, the music is all right.

[PeterSt]

Briefly about Patchwork once more :

 

One FOR all AND one FOR me (2018) is really is nice "direct sounding" album. I think it is quite special. Nothing for the list, but at least something to revisit (frequently). No idea how to call this type of music. Something like the grandchildren anno 2018 of Nina Hagen First Band (completely made up this one - sorry).

[Ralf11]

12 minutes ago, PeterSt said:

 

Combined with Funk ? I'd love it. I think I am able to cough up a handful. But not easy.

Do you have a few ?

 

the first few Galactic albums (!!) when Macy Gay was the front man

 

Here is one about a tignon

 

 

 

[PeterSt]

59 minutes ago, copy_of_a said:

Eraldo Bernocchi & Harold Budd

 

OK, I start to be way behind now. Also knowing I don't have a second of time for this tomorrow.

Thank you !!

[look&listen]

47 minutes ago, PeterSt said:

On Tycho ...   No

For Tycho, suggest ‘Sunrise Projector’ track (in my Best playlist - but not for SQ)

 

Other notes to catchup with misc. artists, tracks-

 

Find Thievery Corporation promising but boring  Only 1 favorite (Lebanese Blonde) from 3+ albums. But live video via @rando is better (often heard difference of studio vs. live!)

 

The Cineamatic Orchestra - ‘All That You Give” in one of my ‘Demo’ lists (well known tracks for SQ evaluation), so start to see your SQ orientation in choices (Burnout). I sense a ’sparkily’ quality to this music/sound.  Overall quality of instrument sound (synth, electric, acoustic), reasonable, if not natural, soundstage, like that. Getting close?

 

Suggest African Head Charge - ‘Dinosaur’s Lament’ (SQ for Peter!) (bass like bursts of living wind, delicious floating shifting jangly metal things) deep & sparkly  

 

FYI, Everything But the Girl (ETBTG) - ‘Like the Deserts Miss the Rain’ album all favorite remixes chosen by band, heavy electronic components to fine (Alternative) songs (a few instrumentals). one of my 'Albums of Year'!

 

Still sampling some new things, but time to slow down some? 

 

 

 

[juanitox]

trippy.. ?

https://youtu.be/2tHEdIroUAA

 

[PeterSt]

2 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

the first few Galactic albums (!!) when Macy Gay was the front man

 

Sad I need to go for the night now. Groove is super of course ! Must try some or all of this.

Not much time tomorrow. 

Thank you Ralf.

[PeterSt]

13 hours ago, look&listen said:

but "drive" escapes me? Hear clock-like effect in beginning, then bells die out, to return later 

 

If you are not fed up with it ... how many of the bells (like in tolling bells) can you hear throughout the track ? Thus hits of the bell, I mean.

Btw, I counted them while listening through speakers, and in a setup which does NOT emphasize the mid, which is quite crucial here (no, it is super crucial, but alas).

 

So if you could quickly count and then by the means you are most comfi with ...

[PeterSt]

14 hours ago, look&listen said:

but what is big deal?

 

The big deal, in general, is that nothing of this type of music works to even the smallest degree, when all what is in there is not exploited. Example : one of the most beautifully sounding instruments is the distortion guitar. Just of what it can achieve in mid air, when all works. A year or so ago, out of all I dedicated a Rammstein album (Rosenrot) the best sounding album. So go figure.

 

The point also is, and I can't emphasize it enough, when this all does not work (and the degree of that can be ultimately high) then the type of music we talk about is not even music as such. It is noise. OK, with bass lines and rhythm, but maybe not with melody.

You just don't want to know how a melody can emerge just because of the emphasis to a frequency range. This is also how I told in my previous post that the count I did on the bell tolling was with a setup not emphasizing the frequency(s)  where the bell plays (say normal mid area). This is super crucial because it tells you how often you can hear the bell toll. Btw, this isn't a test track for anything at all (OK, maybe as of now) as I never used it for testing. But since the bell fades out and in, it comes handy.

 

If you hear the bell less than I do, over here, this is not a sign of bad reproduction. It is only a sign that the emphasis could be somewhere else. Now you get a complete different perception of the whole track. And I have said it so many many times (Phasure forum) - if I change something already in XXHighEnd settings, would you believe that a track like this can come across as never heard before ? No, you wouldn't believe that. But even with a track with fairly emphasized melody it is so. Last night (couple of hours ago), when I listened to it especially for you after reading your post I just quoted from, I again heard the track in a fashion that I thought to maybe this time put up another version. But I checked and I didn't. Still there is hardly resemblance with the YouTube I gave.

 

14 hours ago, look&listen said:

with 4 big(~55cm) wind chime sets hung along front porch & 3 smaller(~35cm) ones at side. Stood for maybe 10-15 minutes hearing most beautiful natural symphony I ever hear, big stupid smile on face! (no electronics! no humans!)

 

So ... and how do you think that happened, eh ? Was it because of something made music ? I don't think so. Yes, music to your ears but that's a different thing. Or is it ?

(btw, sorry for the opposite inversion)

How do you think it happens that I like soundscapes ? because I like thunder and outer space sound, a bird here and there and water ? Of course not. But indirectly the perception of such sounds sounding 100% real (at least that is wat I try to achieve with it all) gives a joy which will sound like music to you. You just talked about it yourself - and quite explicitly. So ... think about what really happens inside of you and the brain etc. and foremost how you as the audiophile already enjoy the realism in "sounds" as such. But as I said earlier on, preferably with rhythm and melody and not "stupid" New Wave whatever forest sounds.

Now listen to Deep Forest (it's in my list) and how almost each track is about sounds from the deep forest indeed, but intermixed with the music those guys make, if it's not the animal itself producing the melody (so that smart music can be made, obviously). You just see the frogs dance around the victory fire and you can also see them lift there knee one (leg) after the other. But no real frog because of a too slow system, and there's no frog at all and suddenly it is about nothing but stupid sounds. I am not saying that an MP3 "obviously" would diminish it all into nothing, but obviously it won't help when it is about the best rendition. Here, I just grabbed the very first of Deep Forest I just ran into (I wonder whether I heard it myself) :

 

 

 

Look at the title. And if you didn't see it, you can almost make it up yourself. This is how real artists are making this stuff.

To be sure this is completely random, here's the second one Google comes up with :

 

 

 

Again the "abduction text" which could be necessary for such artists to set you in the right mood (I never really thought about this).

And about the age of times ... you can hear Madonna's Immaculate Collection right through it (the synth bass does that).

[PeterSt]

7 hours ago, rando said:

If you decide to look more in the direction of the following video I might be of more help than I could ever be in the sub-genre you are exploring here.

 

 

Nah, maybe not. This I'd call typically Electronic Music. This is because it is "electronic" (computers) all over. It is about the one and only type I'd like not to play ever.

See the fragile difference with Autobahn (Kraftwerk). Made by human though still through computers which gives it a livery sound, and which even can interest the whole 20 minutes, There too, the synthesized sounds can improve massively (over how I experienced it, when ? early 70s ?) up to a sheer "wow" today. But no, it will never reach my "list" because of lacking finesse (SQ wise) and well, just not being my music. So not any Kraftwerk in there.

 

Thank you, Rando.

[fas42]

12 minutes ago, PeterSt said:

 

Nah, maybe not. This I'd call typically Electronic Music. This is because it is "electronic" (computers) all over. It is about the one and only type I'd like not to play ever.

See the fragile difference with Autobahn (Kraftwerk). Made by human though still through computers which gives it a livery sound, and which even can interest the whole 20 minutes, There too, the synthesized sounds can improve massively (over how I experienced it, when ? early 70s ?) up to a sheer "wow" today. But no, it will never reach my "list" because of lacking finesse (SQ wise) and well, just not being my music. So not any Kraftwerk in there.

 

Thank you, Rando.

 

I'm curious why you say lacking finesse in SQ - the following is from a CD I got from the library, and this was an example of compositions that require excellent resolution of the playback to engage one's full attention ... anything less than such, and the intense treble content "just doesn't work"; it just sounds like, 'orrible, pointless noise ...

 

 

[rando]

Peter, that was exactly the point.  Your enjoyment is based around sitting statically in a chair doing intricate knob twiddling.  Mine comes while performing intricate physical movements that often happen at odd angles.  I think we enjoy triggering different drugs the body naturally produces.  Clinging to a ceiling while doing a two finger pull up with your ankle behind your head matches incredibly well with the inner parts of that piece of music.  In all other regards it is as you described it.

 

Initially I thought this a very interesting subject.  Eventually it became clear I was going to struggle to fully appreciate the fine, or fragile, nuanced performance characteristics enough to make worthwhile suggestions.  Much like jabbr, I think it best if I watch from the sidelines despite wishing to participate.  

 

[Sorry if I used too many strange words, again.]

[shoom]

https://binged.it/2x7OsRQ

 

Found this on the music forum a while back.

 

Just love this track.

 

Great thread BTW