why is good (dark) ambient so impactful?

artists like Oneohtrix Point Never, Biosphere, Coil, Tim Hecker, amongst others. there's something about their ability to construct sound which seems to resonate something ridiculously strongly within me and the experience of listening to some pieces is quite significant.

 

i've never been able to articulate exactly why this is the case. i'm sure it's something to do with the ambiguity of familiar sounds causing associative memories/emotions to be triggered, but that's about as close as i get without starting to yammer off into nonsensical trife. anybody got any theories on this?

Edited July 1, 2015 by xf

Ambient can be very intense. It makes the air thick with feeling.

maybe they all paulstretched farts in different pitches and your subconscious mind recognized the unprocessed sound

cuz feels

I'm going to guess the selection of chords and textures.

 

And a shitload of delay and reverb.

Edited July 1, 2015 by mokz

my guess is that it makes you relax. calm brings happiness.

It's reminicent of the sounds you heard inside the womb as you were being formed in the mothership, before being ejected through space.

Edited July 2, 2015 by Gocab

whoa

to original poster: gotta listen to zoviet france Shouting at the Ground stat dawg

(1988) Edited July 2, 2015 by John Ehrlichman

nice sounds sound nice bro.

tim hecker is not that good

  On 7/2/2015 at 11:53 PM, dr lopez said:

tim hecker is not that good

  On 7/2/2015 at 11:53 PM, dr lopez said:

tim hecker is not that good

 

ah i think tim hecker's great, ravedeath especially is just stunning from start to finish

^ That's the first one I bothered to listen to. Turned it off halfway through.

 

  On 7/3/2015 at 12:57 AM, hello spiral said:

^ That's the first one I bothered to listen to. Turned it off halfway through.

 

 

:( but it sounds like the end of the world

 

  On 7/2/2015 at 11:18 PM, John Ehrlichman said:

to original poster: gotta listen to zoviet france Shouting at the Ground stat dawg

 

(1988)

 

I really like this and i've never really listened to zoviet france before, where should i start?

  On 7/2/2015 at 11:02 PM, Gocab said:

It's reminicent of the sounds you heard inside the womb as you were being formed in the mothership, before being ejected through space.

 

epic lol at this.

 

dunno, but it must be something related to an actual physiological thing in our brains. I mean, even if you don't "like" or "know" ambient music, people tend so feel relaxed when hearing that kind of shit.

 

that's why i believe ambient music is the purest form of music.

its about Lacan, the structures underpinning the subconscious & the potency of transcendental art

 

try reading The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious..... lots of Freudian pilfering but it doesnt take a genius to expand this scheme into certain realms of sound & music, in the same way a film-maker like David Lynch can illustrate these moods with cinema that has the magic to seep deeply into your being

 

and listen to everything by Coil, Zoviet France, the darker works of Richard H Kirk, Andrew Liles pretty much nails these realms with a huge body of work, plus Steven Stapleton's NWW defies description and Julian Cope did some incredible music (the Odin lp and Eisteddfod 69 with Thighpaulsandra)...... too many to list individually

 

the more you hunt the further down the rabbit hole you'll descend

Edited July 3, 2015 by cwmbrancity

  On 7/3/2015 at 12:56 AM, misc said:

 

  On 7/2/2015 at 11:53 PM, dr lopez said:

tim hecker is not that good

 

ah i think tim hecker's great, ravedeath especially is just stunning from start to finish

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rilnnPrwsTo

Edited July 3, 2015 by qnio

  On 7/3/2015 at 5:07 AM, qnio said:

 

  On 7/3/2015 at 12:56 AM, misc said:

 

  On 7/2/2015 at 11:53 PM, dr lopez said:

tim hecker is not that good

 

ah i think tim hecker's great, ravedeath especially is just stunning from start to finish

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rilnnPrwsTo

 

i prefered Virgins a lot more then ravedeath, it's just brutal and beautifull musick

you gotta play it on the highest volume possible and the album will reveil itself

I dunno, I'm not in your brain to figure out why it's so impactful for you :-I

I think there is something about appreciating negativity, such as dark music, that is very gratifying for the mind, probably because it is a state of total acceptance, or summink

  On 7/3/2015 at 4:33 AM, cwmbrancity said:

and listen to everything by Coil, Zoviet France, the darker works of Richard H Kirk, Andrew Liles pretty much nails these realms with a huge body of work, plus Steven Stapleton's NWW defies description and Julian Cope did some incredible music (the Odin lp and Eisteddfod 69 with Thighpaulsandra)...... too many to list individually

 

the more you hunt the further down the rabbit hole you'll descend

Good to know there's another RHK fan on this forum, I strongly recommend Muslimgauze, Throbbing Gristle, SPK/industrial music in general

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6y35O_YNzo

I'm not sure it has much to do with memory for me. I know that I enjoy being hypnotized by the dubby elements used with the dark and dirty aesthetics.

 

  On 7/3/2015 at 1:10 AM, misc said:

 

I really like this and i've never really listened to zoviet france before, where should i start?

 

Shadow, Thief of the Sun is one of my favorite albums. Absolutely try that one. Also related to ZF:
Rapoon - Fires of the Borderlands
Dead Voices on Air - Shap; From Labrador to Madagascar

Some of these aren't strictly ambient, and don't focus necessarily on texture, etc. but are impactful to me:
Coil - The Remote Viewer
Labradford - A Stable Reference
Delerium - Spiritual Archives
SPK - Zamia Lehmanni
Fantomas - Delirium Cordia (this is really a metal album, but there are some ambient moments that draw me in for the same reasons as these others I'm listing)
Test Dept - Materia Prima (maybe about half of the tracks here)

Some other artists that I haven't listened to enough of to recommend, but might interest some, and maybe someone can expand on these: Lull, Main, Fossil Aerosol Mining Project

  On 7/3/2015 at 1:43 AM, logakght said:

 

  On 7/2/2015 at 11:02 PM, Gocab said:

It's reminicent of the sounds you heard inside the womb as you were being formed in the mothership, before being ejected through space.

 

epic lol at this.

 

dunno, but it must be something related to an actual physiological thing in our brains. I mean, even if you don't "like" or "know" ambient music, people tend so feel relaxed when hearing that kind of shit.

 

that's why i believe ambient music is the purest form of music.

 

What does this even mean?

  On 7/3/2015 at 6:27 AM, Danny O Flannagin said:

 

  On 7/3/2015 at 1:43 AM, logakght said:

 

  On 7/2/2015 at 11:02 PM, Gocab said:

It's reminicent of the sounds you heard inside the womb as you were being formed in the mothership, before being ejected through space.

 

epic lol at this.

 

dunno, but it must be something related to an actual physiological thing in our brains. I mean, even if you don't "like" or "know" ambient music, people tend so feel relaxed when hearing that kind of shit.

 

that's why i believe ambient music is the purest form of music.

 

What does this even mean?

 

 

that it is universally good.

 

Some people like metal music, some not. Some people like the IDMz, other people not. Some people like Mozart and similar stuff, some people not. Some people like rap, other not... But, ambient music, when done okai, will please absolutely any brain out there. I didn't meant that its like the only music out there, but its the most likable, independently of culture or education.

 

pd: fuck my english writing/talking skill is going to shit. gotta get some courses quick.

Edited July 3, 2015 by logakght

  On 7/3/2015 at 6:53 AM, logakght said:

 

  On 7/3/2015 at 6:27 AM, Danny O Flannagin said:

 

  On 7/3/2015 at 1:43 AM, logakght said:

 

  On 7/2/2015 at 11:02 PM, Gocab said:

It's reminicent of the sounds you heard inside the womb as you were being formed in the mothership, before being ejected through space.

 

epic lol at this.

 

dunno, but it must be something related to an actual physiological thing in our brains. I mean, even if you don't "like" or "know" ambient music, people tend so feel relaxed when hearing that kind of shit.

 

that's why i believe ambient music is the purest form of music.

 

What does this even mean?

 

 

that it is universally good.

 

Some people like metal music, some not. Some people like the IDMz, other people not. Some people like Mozart and similar stuff, some people not. Some people like rap, other not... But, ambient music, when done okai, will please absolutely any brain out there. I didn't meant that its like the only music out there, but its the most likable, independently of culture or education.

 

pd: fuck my english writing/talking skill is going to shit. gotta get some courses quick.