Ambient Music on Vinyl : 12 of the Best Starter Albums
Interest in ambient music has grown since the Covid lockdowns and continues to grow, with people seeking refuge from our current stressful times by tuning into the expanses of calm space on offer via playlists, ambient radio stations, streaming services etc.
David Toop’s Ocean of Sound is a book highly recommended for anyone interested in discovering more about the origins of this fascinating musical genre.
At Flying Nun we are big fans of ambient and consider the ultimate way to experience music is via those fascinating spinning circles of vinyl, so we are always seeking out represses and new releases. Here are some titles, each exploring a different facet of the seemingly infinite ocean of sound, recommended for those keen to further explore the depths.
Mary Lattimore - Silver Ladders (2020 - Ghostly International)
Mary Lattimore’s primary instrument is the harp, which she gently processes to create gentle soundscapes that can only be described as simply beautiful. She is classically trained, however her music carries none of the formality that could be expected, instead, she applies her obvious mastery of her instrument to a free flowing expressionism, processing the sound through a loop pedal and adding electronic flourishes. Silver Ladders is an outlier in her discography, a collaboration with Neal Halstead, better known as the guitarist of Slowdive, who adds a deeply immersive element to Mary’s sound with his reverb soaked guitar textures. This is calm reflective music, music to dream to, that carries an uncanny feeling of nostalgia and can feel oddly familiar, even though one may be hearing it for the first time.
Cluster & Eno - Cluster & Eno (1977 Sky/Bureau B)
1977 is widely recognised as the year that the cultural grenade called Punk Rock exploded and it is curious how the genesis of a musical genre so totally opposite was bubbling under at precisely the same time. While the shock waves of Punk achieved their purpose within a couple of years, Ambient would go on to eventually become as culturally significant and widely recognised – it would just take 50 years to get there! Brian Eno had given birth to the term ‘ambient’ on the liner notes for his 1975 release, Discreet Music, ‘music that was as ignorable as it was interesting’. At the time that record’s three long form compositions, that appeared to simply mark time in a space of their own, were seen as a radical and intriguing curiosity. In 1977 he travelled to Germany to hang out at with Cluster - Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius – who were creating their electronic cosmic music.
Cluster - Cluster ‘71
Cluster had been key in the establishing of Krautrock in Berlin six years earlier with their first album, Cluster ‘71 on which they created a sprawling, tangled, free form electronic sound, quite unlike music ever heard before, which was like a soundtrack for the formation of galaxies – true kosmische muzik! By 1977, six years and four albums later, their sound had quietened down considerably and taken a pastoral turn, nestling up nicely alongside the sounds Eno had recently made on Music For Films and Another Green World. Cluster & Eno is the result of that collaboration, now recognised as an ambient milestone, that also contained the seeds that Eno would soon plant in David Bowie’s famous Berlin trilogy of Low, Heroes and Lodger.
Marconi Union - Weightless (Ambient Transmissions Vol. 2)
Marconi Union's Weightless (Ambient Transmissions Vol. 2) is very true to the original definition of ambient, and it got that way by following science! The original 8-minute piece was composed in collaboration with the British Academy of Sound Therapy and accomplished the feat of a 65% reduction in overall anxiety in test subjects, thus earning the group a slot in Time magazine's 2011 list of Inventors Of The Year. The original 8 min. track, here extended into 6 movements, was so popular that it collected 12 million views of the various videos and racked up 55,000 downloads on iTunes alone. It starts with a tempo of 60 beats per minute (BPM), mirroring the average resting heart rate of an adult and over its duration the speed gradually moves to 50 BPM to guide the listener’s heart rate into a slower, more mellow state. Pianos, guitars, and chimes intermingle with chants to create a melody that is both ethereal and grounding and researchers believe careful use of these concepts activate the brain’s reward system, releasing dopamine and inducing a sense of well-being. The track incorporates an environmental aspect as well. Samples of natural sounds like trickling water and bird calls aim to trigger a biophilic response, an innate human attraction to living things and a sense of oneness with nature. So, as a listener, you are being programmed – and doesn’t it feel good!
Hiroshi Yoshimura - Green (1986, Light in the Attic)
Of cult interest for many years, Japanese ambient music is currently undergoing a wave of popularity. In 1980s Japan, Hiroshi Yoshimura and his peers, including Midori Takada, were crafting minimal landmarks that are only now gaining wider appreciation. While Ryuichi Sakamoto and Haruomi Hosono of Yellow Magic Orchestra found a degree of success outside of Japan, these artists didn’t, and their work only gained a small but dedicated following during the ‘80s and ‘90s.
Midori Takada - Through The Looking Glass (1983, RCA/WRWTFWW)
Hiroshi Yoshimura identified his work as “kankyo ongaku,” or “environment music,” the Japanese translation of “ambient”, and given his preoccupation with the environment, Yoshimura is often indexed as a New Age musician, but this obscures the complexity of his soundscapes. New Age music’s emotional register was decidedly tranquil, loving and optimistic, while Yoshimura, wasn’t afraid of a little dissonance. Green, released in 1986, sits at the center of both ’80s Japanese ambient music and its recent resurgence. Like Midori Takada’s Through The Looking Glass, Green has undergone a resurgence in popularity thanks to a CD rip version hosted on YouTube.
Jon Hopkins - Music For Psychedelic Therapy (2021, Warp)
Its probably not mere co-incidence that the rise of interest in ambient music has occurred alongside the psychedelic revival, as what they have in common is inroads into space – and when combined....well the sky is the limit (literally)! So Jon Hopkins’ 2021 release, Music For Psychedelic Therapy, isn’t a trend hopping title – he really means it – with the tracks of the double vinyl sequenced over the four sides for an optimum life enhancing experience. The project grew from a trip (!) he took into Tayos Caves in Ecuador and the album expands upon the field recordings made during his journey. Jon Hopkins has a great resume in ambience, releasing three lovely albums before working alongside the master of ambience himself, Brian Eno, on their 2010 collaboration, Small Craft On A Milk Sea, Eno’s first release on Warp Records. Music For Psychedelic Therapy is an incredibly gentle record, with delicate sounds embracing the listener and welcoming them deeper and deeper into realms of calmness and tranquility. The journey ends with ‘Sit Around The Fire’ which features spoken word samples from the now deceased spiritual leader, Ram Dass. What could have been a cheesy finale turns out to be quite the opposite, as Jon Hopkins has arranged and produced these tracks with such finesse that the whole project works brilliantly, with Ram Dass’ words of wisdom sounding cool and wise and rounding off the journey really nicely.
Mort Garson - Mother Earth’s Plantasia
Buy a plant, go home with a free record—that was the deal in 1976 at Mother Earth Plant Boutique on Los Angeles' Melrose Avenue. "It has been written music soothes the savage breast. It also helps gentle little plants grow" shop owners Lynn and Joel Rapp wrote in Mother Earth's Hassle-Free Indoor Plant Book. So Mother Earth’s Plantasia was used as free promotional device. However, with no scientific basis for how its songs could aid plant growth, it is probably best thought of as an imaginative exercise and an ambient cult classic that showed the Moog's early potential. Through torrents and YouTube rips in the early 2000s, Mort Garson's gospel spread online, the warm complexity of his synth lines striking a chord with listeners worldwide, some believing the cheerful tunes really could make plants grow, others simply struck by its easygoing ambience.
Composer and jingle writer Mort Garson had made his name writing the music that soundtracked the Apollo 11 moon landing, in 1969 and was one of the first people on the West Coast to own a Moog synthesizer. He keeps listeners engaged by using the Moog's wide-spanning ability - playing with pitches, sprinkling in misfit melodies and manipulating synth tones to portray different plants. While maintaining a constantly chill mood, Mother Earth's Plantasia is intricate enough to establish itself as more than just background music. The record emits an enriching glow, so much so that it doesn't feel like a stretch to picture a plant unfurling its leaves to these melodies.
Sarah Davachi - Two Sisters (Chamber Music For Consorts in Yellow, Green & Bronze)
Beginning with the sound of a tolling bell, Sarah Davachi’s Two Sisters (Chamber Music For Consorts in Yellow, Green & Bronze) is probably not a record to be played at your average dinner party. The LA based sound artist inhabits an area at the opposite end of the ambient spectrum to lighter, more frivolous records such as Mother Earth's Plantasia. Sarah Davachi’s long immersive pieces explore drones and harmonics, and over the nine tracks on this double LP she applies her compositional skills to the carillon, voices, pipe organs, a string quartet, trombones and woodwind. Sarah Davachi is what may be called a ‘serious’ artist – not that most artists aren’t serious about their work – but because the music she creates is deep and solemn with a Gothic baroque air that some would describe as neo-classical. These pieces are like incantations that draw the adventurous listener in. What may initially sound dull and boring, on deeper listen reveals a micro world of harmonics, overtones and subharmonic undertones that create a remarkable sonic universe. She employs techniques that have been around for hundreds of years, yet her ingenuity makes her music modern and adventurous. The music on Two Sisters is unusual in that, while containing music that references Gregorian chant, it could still fit comfortably on the bill at a cutting-edge contemporary sound festival. Davachi is a trained academic with a master's degree in electronic music, and the 20 page booklet that comes with this record explains in detail, for those who understand music theory, the non-equal tuning systems used for each of her compositions. Touches like this illustrate how her music can appeal to fans of theory, minimalism and ambient music all in equal measure.
Ryuichi Sakamoto - Vrioon
Vrioon is the first of the ‘Virus’ series of collaboration albums by Japanese electronic artist Ryuichi Sakamoto and the German electronic producer Carsten Nicolai aka Alva Noto, label head of the Raster-Noton label. Released in 2002 this is the first album in the Virus Series followed by four other records: Insen (2005), Revep (2006), utp_ (2008), and Summvs (2011). The initial letters of the five albums together form the word "Virus". Named album of the year by The Wire magazine, Vrioon explores yet another area of ambient - minimalist, and characterized by an unusual sound - driven by piano and distorted, clipped samples, all done, as far as can be discerned, on a piano and a Mac. Sakamoto’s lovely gentle piano notes hang in space, not unlike Harold Budd, and are delicately treated by Carsten Nicolai, who’s icy asceticism provides a surprising counterpoint. It shouldn’t really work, but it does - brilliantly.
Brian Eno - No Pussyfooting
In 1973 Brian Eno left Roxy Music and released his first solo album Here Come the Warm Jets. It was also the year that No Pussyfooting, the first of three collaborations with King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp was released. Eno had been experimenting with a tape-delay feedback system that Fripp played guitar over while Eno selectively looped or recorded the sounds. The result is a dense, multi- layered piece of early ambient music which later came to be known as "Frippertronics". Of itself this wasn't entirely new (a decade before Steve Reich had used synchronised tapes) but the sounds achieved were very different. This was music which owed nothing to rock culture and not even much to so-called avant-garde electronic music coming out of Germany from groups such as Can, Neu!, Popul Vuh and other sonic pioneers. No Pussyfooting - which consisted of two side-long tracks - The Heavenly Music Corporation and Swastika Girls - was out there on its own: this was beatless instrumental music; had nothing approaching recognisable elements such as verses or a chorus; was all of a sustained mood; and relied on repetition for its effect. It was pure sound. This was music which referred to nothing outside of itself. Critics didn't quite know what to think of it - there were no real reference points after all, certainly not in the pages of Melody Maker or NME - and when John Peel was provided with a tape he accidentally played it on his programme backwards. They released a follow up - the sublime Evening Star in 1975 and reconvened 30 years later for The Equatorial Stars.
Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra - Promises
Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders and The London Symphony Orchestra - what an unlikely collaboration. UK electronic producer Sam Shepherd aka Floating Points, 80 year old jazz giant Pharoah Sanders, who had helped establish spiritual jazz alongside John Coltrane in the ‘60’s, and The LSO. Released in 2021, Promises was the first major new album by Sanders in almost a decade, and turned out to be his last, as he died just over a year after its release in September 2022. This is an ambient album - minimal and dreamlike. It consists of a single musical motif, written by Shepherd, divided into nine movements. The motif is repeated throughout the piece in variations and compounded with a sparse synth arrangements and Sanders's atmospheric tenor saxophone passages. The LSO string arrangements appear on side two. Understated, hushed and supremely elegant, Promises is an unlikely swansong for a jazz great, with Pitchfork declaring it "a clear late-career masterpiece".
