Chris A Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 An article that I originally pulled off the fledgling WWW using NCSA Mosiac in April 1993 from my Mac while on a lunch break at the Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory (SSCL): What is New Age Music? As you can see the article was actually written in 1988 but it still seems to be informative today, albeit the mentioned discs were dated to then but are still good recommendations. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schu Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Lounge or two channel topic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Naseum Posted September 21, 2015 Author Share Posted September 21, 2015 Well, I specifically listen in two channel only, and part of the wonder of this music is how well much of it is recorded for two channel. The Lounge is more about food, drink and cigars, I thought? Sent from my SM-T330NU using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tromprof Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Erik Wollo http://www.wollo.com/home.htm Biomusik https://soundcloud.com/biomusik Tom Middleton https://soundcloud.com/tommiddleton 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Naseum Posted September 21, 2015 Author Share Posted September 21, 2015 Good article Mr. Chris man. New age eventually got polluted with medicine men and hyped up healing music. I avoided the term for awhile. Actually, there are so many categories under the contemporary banner that it's hard to know just what fits what name. But the principles he describes seen apropos to all contemporary alternate music. So much to hear, so little time! Sent from my SM-T330NU using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 (edited) Actually, there are so many categories under the contemporary banner that it's hard to know just what fits what name. That is the reason why I posted the link to that article. "New Age" was the term used in the late 80s and early 90s for the kind of music that you've identified. This from the WIkipedia article: There is a significant overlap of sectors of new-age music, ambient music, classical music, jazz, electronica, world music, chillout, space music and others. The two definitions typically associated with the new-age genre are: New-age music with an ambient sound that has the explicit purpose of aiding meditation and relaxation, or aiding and enabling various alternative spiritual practices, such as alternative healing, yoga practice, guided meditation, chakra auditing, and so on. The proponents of this definition are almost always musicians who create their music expressly for these purposes.[11] Prominent artists who create new-age music expressly for healing and/or meditation include Paul Horn, Deuter, Steven Halpern, Dean Evenson who in 1979 was one of the first to combine his peaceful flute music with the sounds of nature, Lawrence Ball, and Karunesh.Music which is found in the new-age sections of record stores.[11] This is largely a definition of practicality, given the breadth of music that is classified as "new age" by retailers who are often less interested in finely-grained distinctions between musical styles than are fans of those styles. Music which falls into this definition is usually music which cannot be easily classified into other, more common definitions, but often includes well-defined music such as worldbeat and Flamenco guitar. It also includes expressly spiritual new-age music as a subset. There are retail outlets, that specify subcategories such as "nature sounds", "healing", "piano", "chants", and so on. Amazon includes also "Celtic", "meditation", "world-dance", and "relaxation", and iTunes Store includes "nature", "environmental", "healing", and "travel", besides other subgenres. The German new-age site Silenzio lists almost 70 subgenres I never connected with the religious/ avant-garde spiritual weirdness topics--just the music. Chris Edited September 21, 2015 by Chris A 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schu Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 (edited) The wonderful Lou Harrison's Reel (Homage to Henry Cowell) Composed sometime aroundthe 1940's Magnificent piece. Edited September 21, 2015 by Schu 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 I had all that loaded on an iPod So you have never experienced playing Eno's music for airports on vinyl played at the lowest speed your turn table would play. That was how we did it for ultimate relaxation. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Naseum Posted September 21, 2015 Author Share Posted September 21, 2015 John Cage https://youtu.be/Yybn6iKmYdQ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Naseum Posted September 21, 2015 Author Share Posted September 21, 2015 And this excellent video https://youtu.be/h0NwiTHIhGM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schu Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 (edited) Love John Cage Edited September 22, 2015 by Schu 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 I love South Park's parody of John Cage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvu80 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 (edited) Harold Budd: Thanks for the vid, it will take me 45 min to get through it to comment. Same with Laurie Anderson. Hard to keep up, but I love the vids. I'm always open to new music, heck, I just discovered the Dixie Chicks! Anyone but me ever heard of them? The Harold Budd stuff was OK, but reminded me of the PINEAL GLAND Activation Frequency 936Hz: BINAURAL BEATS Meditation, that sort of thing. I didn't care much for Laurie Anderson, she sounded too much like "different just to be different" music. I loved the sax player, though. She lost me when she decided pounding her head and clicking her teeth was a great way to start a concert. +++ From Chris A: I've known the Vivaldi's Four Seasons for quite some time, good stuff. I didn't know it was ambient music. As for Erik Satie -- one of the impressionists that defined "ambient." I liked him, this music seems strongly linked to the Dada movement of the 1920's. I've heard some of his music before. Debussy - I haven't gone through all his stuff, although I know the name. I just couldn't tell you any of his works off the top of my head. (Edit: Of course, Clair De Lune, one of the all-time great pieces, duh.) George Winston - December I've loved George Winston since the late 70's. I didn't know his music was ambient music, though. Phillip Glass - very Avant Garde, his works are hard to get to like. A couple of his works have been played on the marching field by my favorite genre, drum and bugle corps. Carolina Crown won the DCI World Championships in 2013 with Einstein on the Beach. You'll enjoy this short clip of their closer if you are a fan of triple-tonguing (with a little Thus Spake Zarathustra to go with it). Edited September 22, 2015 by wvu80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 From Chris A: I've known the Vivaldi's Four Seasons for quite some time, good stuff. I didn't know it was ambient music. As for Erik Satie -- one of the impressionists that defined "ambient." I liked him, this music seems strongly linked to the Dada movement of the 1920's. I've heard some of his music before. Debussy - I haven't gone through all his stuff, although I know the name. I just couldn't tell you any of his works off the top of my head. (Edit: Of course, Clair De Lune, one of the all-time great pieces, duh.) Chris A, on 21 Sept 2015 - 06:47 AM, said: George Winston - December I've loved George Winston since the late 70's. I didn't know his music was ambient music, though. Phillip Glass - very avant-garde, his works are hard to get to like. Anytime I hear music being used in background to set a mood, the music is or has become ambient music. It used to be that ski resorts all played Vivaldi's Four Seasons (Le Quattro Stagioni) wherever I went, playing in background. My wife and I played G. Winston's December over and over in background for putting our kids to sleep in the evenings (even today when I hear the opening track, I get sleepy). Erik Satie played fill music for pubs (among other venue types and music forms). Satie knew both Debussy and Ravel - the great composers of the Impressionist music period centered in France. With the invention of the modern component electronic synthesizers in the early 1960s (Bob Moog's synths had traditional piano-type keyboards, and Don Buchla's didn't), new forms of electronic music began to make gains - notably the Switched-On Bach and Ambient (Sonic Seasonings) of Wendy Carlos, and Minimalist (Steve Reich, Philip Glass, et al.). All those composers and instrumentation dramatically influenced Eno and many others. Philip Glass's music can be found in movies, including the Ron Fricke "Qatsi" trilogy of time-lapse photography using 65-mm film cameras (e.g., Todd AO, Panavision, etc.). Glass is prolific composing for film including Kundun, The Truman Show, Secret Window, The Illusionist, No Reservations, etc. and has written music for many different purposes. I find his music very easy to listen to, including Aguas Da Amazonia, found above. I actually find myself preferring his music. Chris 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schu Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 (edited) I think many anti-Glass protagonists complain that his music is SO REPETITIVE... if one actually listens very carefully, his music never actually repeats. His music is compounded upon itself and is constantly changing and evolving amalgam of timing and layers of tonal complexities. -------------- Edited September 22, 2015 by Schu 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvu80 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 (edited) Here is my ultimate idea of "ambient sound." If you've ever been to Disney World's Epcot Center, you see it from a distance before you get to it, and there is just a little hint of far away sound. Then as you get closer, the music slowly rises, but the sound is all around you, no matter where you walk. You don't see speakers nor can you pinpoint where the music is coming from. It turns out the speakers are in the gardens, the fake rocks, the street lamps, it's everywhere, but it's nowhere to be found. The music is passed seamlessly from point to point, always guiding you by the progressively louder sound to Epcot Center. It totally involves your senses of sight and sound. It envelopes and includes you in the environmental experience, you are part of the music. You can't just listen to the music, it must be experienced live to truly grasp the complete flavor of the experience. I'm guessing a large group of people spent a LOT of time developing this has-to-be-experienced live concept and execution of music. It's the quintessential Disneyesque. Edited September 22, 2015 by wvu80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Naseum Posted September 22, 2015 Author Share Posted September 22, 2015 (edited) I'd like to get some Steve Reich, after hearing him talk on the film. Does anyone here have specific LP/CD recommendations that represent his ideas well? Sent from my SM-T330NU using Tapatalk Edited September 22, 2015 by jo56steph74 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schu Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 (edited) Music for 18 Musicians quite stunning.... Also, Sextet (from the Lp Another Look At the Counterpoint) is extremely good. His music is made for high efficiency speakers with great detail... it is quite easy to get lost in his compositions late at night. very hypnotic. Edited September 22, 2015 by Schu 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twk123 Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 I focus more on the EDM side of things for ambient but here are some of my favorites: For strolling down the sidewalk on a summer day: Very melodic and interesting mood, awesome live show: Classic trained electronic composer- great on High Efficiency Klipsch speakers: Ni12 is a DJ that does amazing chillstep mixes that you can put on for hours: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schu Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 (edited) I am also a big fan of the "Nu Romantic" (or New Romanticism) movement... folks like Adam Ant and even more importantly Japan (with David Sylvian and Mic Karn), which leads us into bands like "Dalis Car"... a Superb Album. Mic Karns fretless bass work on this LP is extraordinary. Edited September 22, 2015 by Schu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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