Ambient
Noah’s Barks pages relating to the ambient music genre.
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Saint Etienne – “Asleep at the Wheels of Steel” (2002)
‘Asleep at the Wheels of Steel’ features more soundtrack work by Saint Etienne. Is anything on this compilation worthwhile? (read more)
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Boards of Canada – “In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country”
In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country sums up Boards of Canada in an easy 24 minutes. Like their albums, half of this is pretty solid, while the other half consists of pieces that sound like unrealized sketches a better artist wouldn’t have thought fit to release, or at least to drag out for… (read more)
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Boards of Canada – “The Campfire Headphase”
A Boards of Canada album I actually like? ‘The Campfire Headphase’ is the duo’s only album to sound like a complete, unified work. (read more)
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Lovesliescrushing – “Bloweyelashwish” (1993)
Bloweyelashwish is completely lacking structure or cohesion. All over the place with no reason to be because it has no good original ideas sonically. Basic, fuzzy shoegaze that uses a bunch of short noisy forgettable drone interludes to try and set itself apart from its contemporaries. Amateurish and jagged, a shot in the dark where… (read more)
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Massive Attack – “100th Window” (2003)
Both 100th Window and Heligoland have been growing on me lately. They’re more lowkey than their predecessors and definitely slow burns. Where earlier albums like Mezzanine crushed the listener with the oppressive power of its heavy bass and toyed with them using its twisted dark soundscapes and distorted guitars, an album like 100th Window is much more gentle. The dark tone… (read more)
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Pet Shop Boys – “Elysium”
Is Elysium the Pet Shop Boys’ worst? No, that doesn’t sound right. After such a long career, it’s nice to see Pet Shop Boys taking a new direction, which in this case is that of the ambient pop variety. They do an acceptable job at it, not a great one. Elysium is excellently produced, as… (read more)
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Klaus Schulze – “X” (1978)
The classical string arrangements of “X” add a warmness and humanity that Klaus Schulze’s cold, bleak, now-vintage synthesizers couldn’t have hoped to achieve before. It’s just a shame they aren’t featured more often. Also: two hours? An ambient album is meant to be taken in one sitting, and the lack of gaps between tracks here… (read more)
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The Future Sound of London – “Lifeforms”
The first disc of Lifeforms is some truly great stuff. But it all falls apart fast as soon as you hit the second disc, which feels like a collection of ideas in the same style but not up to the same quality as the first disc. Stuff any other artist would have thought was not… (read more)
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Bark Psychosis – “Hex”
Hex is early morning introspection when your eyes are heavy. The cheapest bottle of alcohol is clutched in your hand as you regret the choices you’ve made with past lovers and miss old friends. Yikes, that was dangerously pretentious, and I should include something more objective as well. Though labeled one of the earliest post-rock… (read more)
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Aphex Twin – “Selected Ambient Works Volume II”
The first disc of Selected Ambient Works Volume II is fantastic, but after that, it loses consistency, and it becomes clear that Aphex Twin bit off more than he could chew. There’s just not enough variety to keep this interesting, and at nearly three hours, it could have set the same moods just as well… (read more)