Ambient and Drone.
 

anyone into these genres? they are two of the most difficult to listen to genres IMO, needing complete concentration to get into the music and enjoy the notes which have dragged out far beyond the point of structure.

however, in the right mood this music becomes my favourite.. two of the only styles which can infact wipe all thoughts from my mind and help me relax.

bands to check out..

Ambient
Eluvium
Biosphere
Triosk
Bohren and Der Club of Gore
Stars of the Lid
Helios
Death Ambient
Midoryama

Drone:
Sunn O)))
5ive's Continuum Research project
The Theory of Abstract Light
Darsombra
ASVA

i find the above bands to be lacking direction... great for background but not much more... But I'm very partial to more normal song structures I must admit.

In the Drone Pop field I like a lot of bands though:
American Analong Set
Khonnor
Low
Electrelane
Stereolab

Detuning to Drop A and hitting a random chord every 15 minutes isn't exactly creating 'music', in my opinion.

Not all of those bands are like that. In fact the only one I know of that is is sunn0))). Bohren und der club of gore is like....kinda slow ambient jazz.

indeed.. theres a difference between ambient and drone (triosk are also ambient jazz), i just put them in a topic together as theyre often similar in structure.

Sunn O))) do more than that, though thats the initial sound there are many layers and modulations. anyway... music can be anything you enjoy listening too IMO.


Drone pop is an interesting concept! i'll check those bands out, cheers!

I like Eno and Erik Satie, and some of the other old stuff.

New genre alert, never heard of drone pop. :-/

American Analong Set have been called drone pop for a few years now... best starting place is their stuff. It's also VERY good so that helps :)

By ambient, do mean setting up a microphone in the middle of the forest and calling it an album?

I always thought of Red Sparowes as being somewhat ambient. Really the only band like that I listen to. Well them and Sunn O)))

Red sparowes are awesome.. but more post-rock than ambient, ambient music is more minimalistic. i suppose a forest could easily be an ambient album :P

Eno's 80s and 90s output qualifies as ambient... Though i prefer his 70s work above anything else (two words, Robert Fripp).... Another Green World has some ambient elements in it and that's my favorite Eno album.

As for drone, well that's an incredibly vague term, anyone who makes drone sounds with drone instruments can qualify as such, which means the term could be used to discribe anything from Indian Raga to Aboriginal Folk Music to Inuit Throat Singing.

I think My Bloody Valentine qualify as a drone band.

Sonic youth have some drone stuff like woah.

I'd be careful when saying red sparrows or MBV are drone... as they do often have a noise throughout the song, but that's simply the feedback (with direct correlation to the guitar(s)). Drone is often a single note and seperate from another instrument. I'll find a couple examples when I can and share them up :)

upload some sunn O))) - white2 preferably. :D

but yeah, drone music is pretty much nothing but feedback or other deep noises... unless its white noise, or pink noise (according to my noise-fan mate) then its noise music :P

A lot of times Shields IS playing a long continious note while everything else makes the basis for melody... And the purpose of the feedback itself is for the drone effect... Though this isn't as present on Isn't Anything as it is on Loveless.

Soma has a drone station (the Drone Zone) http://www.somafm.com/ FYI

BUMP

Glad I found this thread. I've been looking into Drone Music a lot recently. I started out with La Monte Young and the Theater Of Eternal Music, in particular Day of Niagara: Inside the Dream Syndicate, Vol. I - it's ok but it doesnt go on long enough in order for me to go beyond boredom and experience the 'revelation' (I hope you know what I mean?). I've checked out Conrad's work with faust - v. good. Being hugely into Krautrock I'm already acquainted with Schulze's Irrlicht, early Tangerine Dream, Mittelwinternacht etc etc. I've also listened to Steve Roach.

Basically, who can point me in the direction of some proper drone similiar to the above?? I dont want Drone-Pop, Indiedrone blah blah - I want real Mind numbing Drone.

iLiKETRAiNS has always had a very drone/post-rock sound. The singer's baritone voice pulls it all together too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFJd9n8X9DI

i don't think any of these would every be considered indie anything and most certainly not pop.....but mind blowing and long and defiantly drone....a little mix....many of these example are excerpts.....most of these bands don't make tracks shorter than 20 minutes....but i figured i'd spoiler some examples for you....if you like tham but cannot find them just let me know....and i'll get a copy to you :)

enjoy

Pelt....was a band from the late 90's through most of the 2000's...basically it's cerebral drone music created by tradition bluegrass musicians....one of which passed a couple of years back....i strongly suggest the albums Empty Bell Ringing In The Sky, Alyahuasca and Técheöd

Dead Voices On Air is a electronic drone/ambient act which consists sole of Mark Spyby, who has also performed under that name as well as Propeller, and has many collaborations with big names such as Mick Harris and cEvin Key's Download....his tracks can create pictures of nightmarish landscapes while at the same time blanketing you and making you feel safe....check out New Words Machine, Haufted Maul, and How Hollow Heart...

Zoviet France has well over 20 albums under their belts...but i think the best thing they ever did was 1983s Mohnomishe....the album consists of 8 untitled and interweaving and quite maddening at times tracks ranging form 4 to 14 minutes in length.....great for dark nights in dark rooms....very revolving in the sound

All Hail The Transcending Ghost is a collaboration between the sole member of Swedish power electronic pioneers Folkstorm and the drummer from the doom/sludge metal troop Switchblade....this is much less harsh than the ear piercing sounds of Folkstorm and often underneath the despondent drone and whispering there is a an urgent drum beat....they've released only one self titled album....and this is some very dark stuff....but well worth checking out

Nadja hails from Toronto, Canada and is a two piece drone/doom metal band.....their music in my opinion is liquid and amazing.....great for when you lie down for bed....although it is very powerful it is also very soothing and very very mind melting.....it's also nice that they add a sort of "shoegaze"
warmth to their sound....another great thing about them is they seem to be releasing up to three albums a year :)....check out Radiance Of Shadows, Under The Jaguar Sun, and Autopergamene

Boris & Merzbow is a match made in heaven.....combining beautiful ambient rock with the structured noise of Merzbow....at time this can be a bit jarring....but very much in a good way....check out Rock Dream (Especially the opening 32 minute epic Feedbacker)

Corrupted is an amazing funeral doom/drone band from Japan....much more on the "metal" side of things but very much still drone...this paticual track weighs in at about 41 minutes and is simply unrelenting slow guitar soaked drone....check out Paso inferior

Wicked King Wicker is more on the "wall of noise" side of drone...but i actually feel that they produce really good noise music.....it's not quite as jarring as bands like Sutcliffe Jügend or Whitehouse....but after about 20 minutes your chest will start to tighten and your breathing may get shallow.....very good stuff but i think you defiantly have to be in that mood....check out 2009s God Is Busy.....Save Yourself


MZ.412 is a little hard to really but a label on....there are so many different influence here....everything from power electronics to black metal can somewhat be felt in their music....."mind numbing" will defiantly come to mind as well as hypnotic....very dark ambient and yet pleasurable....look into Infernal Affairs, Burning The Temple Of God and Nordic Battle Signs

Coil...i could go on for days about how great Coil is....they were all over the place....but in particular to what it sounds l;ike you want you must hear the album Time Machines....it consists of four songs each around 15 minutes and each named for the chemical properties of various hard psychedelics (my example is DMT).....their idea was to create drone sounds which would trick the brain into thinking that these chemicals were present....i'm sure these chemicals were involved in the creation of the music



sorry for the long post

^^ Pelt is awesome, as are the other things on there that I know of. Ayahuasca is a massive album. I'll have to check out some of the other things you've suggested there.

Pauline Oliveros, one of the pioneers of electronic music, tape experimentation and hypnotic drones, probably one of the influences on Tangerine Dream, Claus Schulze etc. Here's an early piece of droning electronic music:
YouTube - Pauline Oliveros - Bye Bye Butterfly (1965)

Phill Niblock, composer and filmmaker, interested especially in textures of sound and density. He collaborated with many composers and musicians among which are also Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore.
YouTube - Phill Niblock - Tow By Tom (live, Hamburg, 17.04.2009)

Glenn Branca - You probably know him; dense guitar symphonies, noise and drone
YouTube - Glenn Branca: The Ascension

Windy & Carl - Not really pop or indie drone, but more like drone-like ambient/cosmic/post-rock
YouTube - Windy and Carl - 03 - Elevation

Also, I second bob's suggestion of Zoviet France and Coil, but I have to check out some of the stuff he posted too :)

This is great, cheers dude. I know Coil quite well, but I'm familiar only with their first 3 albums. I'll definitely be checking out Time Machines. I love Boris but really dislike Merzbow... so that'll be an interesting listen. Havent heard of the other rec's so will be checking those out earnestly.

I like what I've heard from Rafael Toral.

Here's a list of his stuff from the Forced Exposure website

https://www.forcedexposure.com/artis...al.rafael.html

Thanks man, yeah I know Glenn Branca, I've only got The Ascension though - pretty stunning album. Been meaning to look into Niblock.

BTW, check out Charlemagne Palestine's Schlingen-Blängen if you havent already. It's an hour-long piece based upon one single Organ note. If you can sit through the whole thing it's better than drugs.

^^^one hour piece/one organ note?....i'm one it :)

speaking off...a while back a few of us attempted a blog and James submitted an album by Alvin Lucier called "I Am Sitting In A Room"....find it and listen to it....it starts off a bit slow....as it is just him repeating that sentence over and over ad nausum.....but what happens is beyond words

i feel so lucky to have run into this band....just by chance and speaking with a record store owner about Mike Pattons solo work....and he handed me 'Empty Bell Ringing In The Sky" and told me if i hated it he would refund me 100%....it was amazing....their music...for me at least....creates instant astral projection

wow i really enjoyed all of those....for some reason i've never actually listened to Glen Branca's orchestral work....it was wonderful

i have to say though the first 9Pauline Oliveros) and last (Windy and Carl) on your list were truly mind numbing.....i'm looking for them now

this was the perfect mix to listen to while finishing my paperwork :)

Time Machines is unlike anything else they ever recorded....very stripped down and yet full

i actually do very much like Merzbow....although i must say i do not listen to harsh noise/power electronic like i use to.....i actually think you'll really enjoy the Boris/Merzbow stuff....they blend and accent each other very well

I have a few ambient bands I enjoy, but some might not call them ambient? Anyway, here's a few of my favorites.

Easily Embarrassed - My favorite of the type. Songs like "Time Holes", "Little Trees and Mysteries", and "Final Hope, pt. 2" really must be heard. These tracks, at least, really carry me away.



Solar Fields
Bluetech
Empusae (I became a fan when I heard Big Lebowski samples in a few tracks haha)

I guess they're "electronic ambient" or "Chillout" (meh)?

I don't really care too much for Altus, but it's certainly up someone's alley. Lot's of free material on their website.

Noob question here but what exactly is the difference in Drone and Ambient? Just more repetition in drone?

Drone: "a continuous low tone produced by the bass pipes or bass strings of musical instruments."

A 'drone' is a piece that has a note/chord/etc that carries throughout the entire piece. It may become warped (Terry Riley's "Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band" is a good example of that, even though it's more of a minimalist piece of music) but it generally resolves to the same note as before. It sort of acts as a platform for other things to happen on top of.

Ambiance is generally meant to be music of the surroundings. It is very minimal and develops slowly like drone, but it doesn't necessarily have any 'drones' in it. Most drone music is in some way ambient, but not all ambient has to be drone:

Ambient:



Ambient drone:



I'd say they're both repetitious to an equal degree, but they repeat very different things, if you will.

Cool beans, thanks for the explanation! I do like Eno I have listened to him a fair amount actually.

@clutnuckle - That was a perfect explanation of differences between ambient and drone. I'd like to add that ambient, like clutnuckle pointed out, is a music that gives the illusion of occupying and filling out space, since it doesn't really evolve through time, being repetitive or changing really slowly. But I always felt that real, pure drone music is timeless and spaceless (kind of out of this world).

Thanks for the recommendation, I haven't yet listened to any of his music and what you described certainly sounds like a challenge.

Speaking of Glenn Branca, I forgot to mention another composer also known for guitar symphonies and is one of many influenced by La Monte Young, Rhys Chatham. He's probably best known for his Guitar Trio and like Glenn Branca, he was really into the New York punk and No Wave scene having worked with the members of Band of Susans especially (and Branca with Sonic Youth members, we all know that). From what I've heard I think A Crimson Grail might be what you want. I have a version for 400 guitars and it has three pieces from 16 to 20 min long with very long drones, but also has some trembling quality that I find especially appealing. I found this 200 guitar version on youtube (excerpts actually, but you'll get the idea if you haven't heard it):
YouTube - Rhys Chatham: "A Crimson Grail (Version for 200 Guitars)" (Excerpts)

Speaking of this trembling quality as I called it (maybe clumsily but I can't think of a better word for now...maybe flickering or a tremor, vibrating)...where was I, yeah, I want to suggest a composer that especially made that quality his ultimate expression, György Ligeti. Now, I don't know much about music theory, but from what I understood he worked with tone clusters and was especially interested in color and texture of sound. The end result is in parts actually similar to drone: YouTube - Atmospheres-Gyorgy Ligeti (One of his several compositions Kubrick used in 2001: A Space Odyssey)

I'm glad you liked it. Glenn Branca's work is simply wonderful imo. From what I've heard (4 'albums') my favorites are The Ascension and Symphony No. 6 (Devil Choirs at the Gates of Heaven)

http://communedisc.bandcamp.com/albu...se-bargain-tee

https://img.discogs.com/cMSwHDTQ7Gb4...34272.jpeg.jpg


Yukiga Futte Uresii

Recommended 2017 drone release

New Kyle Bobby Dunn

From Here to Eternity (4xLP, 3xCD, Digital 2019, Past Inside the Present)

https://pitp.bandcamp.com/album/from...-eternity?t=13

Just under 3 hours

Time is an ethereal concept with drone but at this length it’s probably not going back on rotation except shuffle hits on my sleep playlist

The two latest 36 releases The Lower Lights and Beneath the Lower Lights are wonderful

http://pitp.bandcamp.com/album/beneath-the-lower-lights

If you’re into stuff like Klaus Schulze you owe it to yourself to check it out

Been listening to Thomas Köner a lot in the past days after having neglected him a bit in the past few years.
Majestic.

Native Tongue
by Aliyah Hussain


https://bloxhamtapes.bandcamp.com/album/native-tongue

Released just a couple days ago

Self-described as ambient electronic

Mostly ambient/drone but based in 1960’s sci-fi sound effects

It’s a good listen

some top cuts forever from the more ambient side of ambient

Sleep Research Facility - Deep Frieze
Biosphere - Substrata
Biosphere - Shenzhou
Thomas Köner - Nuuk
Woob - Woob 1194
Woob - Woob² 4495
Stars of the Lid - The Tired Sounds Of
Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline
A Winged Victory for the Sullen - A Winged Victory for the Sullen
A Winged Victory for the Sullen - Atomos
Gas - literally every album
Paysage d'Hiver - Einsamkeit
Paysage d'Hiver - Die Festung

but it really gets interesting within the realm of psybient/ambient dub/techno/etc

Shpongle - Are You Shpongled?
The Mystery of the Yeti - The Mystery of the Yeti
Carbon Based Lifeforms - World of Sleepers
Raime - Quarter Turns Over a Living Line
Entheogenic - Spontaneous Illumination
The Orb - The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld
Ott - Skylon
Phutureprimitive - Sub Conscious
The Higher Intelligence Agency - Freefloater

plus more but I love these

This is probably the most weak sauce musical opinion I’ve ever seen on MB. It actually makes me think less of you as a person.