Ambient - The Megathread

I think most of the non-Fax ambient albums I'm aware of that I'd rate highly have already been mentioned, but for what it's worth, these are all great:

• Soothing Sounds for Baby (OK, maybe it's not great, but Lullaby sounds like it inspired Fingerbib in terms of the lead sound. Then again, maybe I'm just imagining things.)
  
• I'm undecided about Mother Mallard. Probably not.
  
• Phaedra (which surely inspired most of Pete Namlook's career)
  
• Discreet Music (compare to [Lichen]...)
  
• Ambient 1, 2 and 4
  
• Apollo
  
• The Pearl, Lovely Thunder (probably The White Arcades too but I haven't managed to find it yet)
  
• The Blade Runner soundtrack
  
• Watermark and MCMXC a.D. if new age count
  
• Microgravity if ambient techno counts
  
• Selected Ambient Works 85-92 (ditto), On, Selected Ambient Works Volume II and Analogue Bubblebath 5 (and most of the Artificial Intelligence series if ambient techno counts). Kissing a Robot Goodbye might just about nudge its way into your definition of ambient too.
  
• Excursions in Ambience: The Third Dimension (it's a compliation, but you'll need it for a digital copy of [stone in Focus])
  
• Lifeforms, plus the singles Cascade and Lifeforms
  
• 76:14
  
• Point 3 - Water (Fire is better, but not really so ambient)
  
• 1194 or Woob 1194 or whatever it's called
  
• The Quake soundtrack
  
• Substrata
  
• The Riven soundtrack
  
• Do Music Has the Right to Children, Soup, Stay Down or Geogaddi count? Probably not...
  
• What are Consumed and Closer, minimalist techno or something? Never mind...
  
• Opalescent and Rumpistol almost definitely don't count, but get a bonus mention for being so awesome and fun respectively.
  
• RH-8SB and The End of Tel Aviv
  
• Hydroponic Garden
  
• My own Hello Calm! :D
  

Hmm, I guess I must have stopped listening to other people's music after that or something... Anyway, in short, there's a lot of good music out there, and most of the good stuff is pretty hard to classify. Most of the albums listed above are good for listening to while you work, have a bath or drift off to sleep. Enjoy! ^.^

To clarify, 2350 is impressive considering it was apparently performed in real time, but I don't see much point in releasing a recording unless you take advantage of the fact it is a recording and layer it in the studio... So yes, it's nice enough, but I find myself listening to other Fax releases such as From Within much more often. Maybe I'm being stubborn, judging whether I should have something based on whether I'll get use out of it, rather than appreciating the context in which it was made. :)

Title says it all - I'm looking for the prettiest ambient songs. Songs that evoke beautiful memories or images for you.

No youtube necessary - just list them.

I'll start

bvdub - lest you forget

harold budd

jochem paap

For my dollar the coda at the end of Ulrich Schnauss' A Strangely Isolated Place (6:55) is both ambient and pretty

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJGy0mZnxtU

to bad that image is rather rubbish and does a disservice to the track, please ignore

well, ive listened to a lot of ambient in such a little amount of time so ill just hit up my faves.

Solar Fields is by far my favorite ambient artist of all. he packs a lot of feeling in his music. heres a great song from him

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNiD9M59FQE

However my favorite ambient album of all is Aphex twin's SAW vol. 2 (no need to post vid. lol) i find that pretty though some might not.

then heres another guy that i love that does ambient music for games, Alexei Zakharov. hes mostly recogninzed from his work from the space series "X". but he does more than space music. my favorite song of his.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtSn9LqlXJI

then theres kettel. can't forget him!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry6td-o-ZP4&feature=related

then theres this local guy i found from Hamilton Ontario. His name is Renard. and comes up with some amazing stuff. he does one of those multiple aliases things.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RewRT9urD6k

theres others but these guys are the top of my list.

Usagi thanks for the reminder on the tekkonkinkreet ost. I dig that one for sure.

that eluvium track is lovely as well, hadn't heard that one before.

My favorite off Plateaux of Mirrors is probably Above Chiangmai

logakht - songs please, not just artists with huge discographies.

Bob - yes that is lovely - haven't listened to that in a while

SAW II - i find half of it maybe to be pretty.

Sorry I should be more specific - beatless ambient please. Thanks for all the recommendations so far!!!

Rhubarb by Aphex Twin, i get nostalgic to the point of crying, lol.

Marsen Jules

Chihei Hatakeyama

Markus Guentner

Manual

Pausal

Taylor Deupree

Tomasz Bednarczyk

Ulf Lohmann

Celer

Relmic Statute

Illuha

In general, pretty much any Pop Ambient or 12k artist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PE50PZG5aw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1mVSTnzxBs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOnMoZ57M9I

one of my favorite pieces of music:

jim cole and the spectral voices - all within your heart and mind

sorry...

Harold Bud: Translucence/Drift Musicn (album)

36: Reunion/Deluge, Memories in Widescreen (albums)

Jochem Paap: Dx-Snth

Steve Roach: Gone from Here

Stars of the Lid: Piano Aquieu

Susumu Yokota: Blue Sky and Yellow Sunflower

Gas: Untitled (the one from the album Gas, that sounds like a dream)

Tim Hecker: Sea of Pulses, Rainbow Blood

Fennesz+Sakamoto: Haru

OPN: Ouroboros

oh yea plaid's Safety in Solitude makes me cry all the time

B. Eno: Real, Water on Water (or well that album with Fripp)

Hikikomori: 1 (album)

Bipshere: People are friends

Bass Communion: Drugged

Akira Yamaoka: Day of Night, World of Madness, Forest

Jacaszek: Windhover

Leyland Kirby: Sadly the Future... (most of them, yeah)

Origami Galaktica: Flukt

Seefeel: Signals

Tetsuo Inoue: Low of Vibration

[youtubehd]8HK11_pnkio[/youtubehd]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ7CU9QIHAA

Click image for download

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ7CU9QIHAA

That's what I'm talking bout willis!

Thanks guys - and yes the cubus stuff is great, I have it all :) (or at least I think I do - at least everything that's been made available)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjCupxS-kSE

(the live version is mindblowing)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR-EH_6MT58

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXHhHhgM72g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Brm1u3UR3x8

Afx's Rhubarb is the single most beautiful track ever made.

Most of William Basinski's stuff is up there too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz9z8rqsYEs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg9PDJh1OCc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXrfWN1ggcc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIRp8sp7IKE

aphex twin - stone in focus, lichen

broken social scene - guilty cubicles

the dead texan - chronicles of early failures pt 2

lusine - caught in the middle

tim hecker - ghost writing pt. 1

the wind up bird - simulacrumbs licking the future

Aside from the obvious (Rhubarb), I do have to put in a second vote for Cubus - AU

http://buy.ilovecubus.co.uk/track/au

And also, there's a Gridlock track called Under that I really love and can't find on Youtube...

Excellent tracks, Npoess!

Lusine Icl - Without Standing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXBZecnr3sc

Solar Fields - Magnetic Air

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OFqgBkXkO4

Susumu Yokota - Azukiiro No Kaori

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO7DrURCaXA