OUGD505 - Studio Brief 1 - Micro Genres - Research

Research

Every Noise at Once the website

- the website uses an algorithm to generate a scatter graph of musical genres
- the data comes from 1539 genres of Spotify 
- down on the website is more organic, up is mechanical and electric
- left is denser and atmospheric and right is spikier and bouncier 
- clicking each of the names allows you to hear something from that genre

It is also possible to search by / find:

- cities of origin
- the most associated country with the music 
- genrecults
- demographic groups 
- cities a song is likely to be heard in 
- the listening of cities 
- genre described by words within song titles 
- using the scan function plays bit of different genres

Ambient Music Artists:

Brian Eno
Aphex Twin
Tangerine Dream
Bioshpere
The Orb
Boards of Canada
Steve Roach
Harold Budd
Robert Rich
Stars of the Lid
William Basinski
Lustmord
Moby
Robert Fripp
Tim Hecker
Cluster
Tetsu Inoue
Peter Namlook
Zoviet France

Everynoise.com lists a variety of further artists that have produced ambient music.

On everynoise.com it was found that the most common words within ambient music song titles were pulse, distant, passage, cloud, crossing, cave, ascension, spiral, October, drift, floating, infinite, ancient, within , gathering, passing, field, quiet, hidden, breathing

Definitions

Ambient
- Ambient sound or light is the sound or light which is all around you
of the surrounding area or environment
- completely surrounding; encompassing
pertaining to or noting sounds that create a peaceful and relaxed atmosphere
- relating to the immediate surroundings of something
- relating to ambient music
- (especially of environmental conditions) existing in the surrounding area - lighting, noise, temperature
- a type of atmospheric electronic music that ranges from calm, soothing, dark or psychadelic
- usually beatless, sometimes relaxed


Ambient music
- a style of gentle, largely electronic instrumental music with no persistent beat, used to create or enhance a mood or atmosphere
- also called ambient. a genre of instrumental music that focuses on sound patterns more than melodic form and is used to create a certain atmosphere or state of mind.
- a music genre that is mainly instrumental featuring electronics and inconsistent beat and intended to create a relaxing or peaceful atmosphere or mood

table music 
- music performed during a meal 
- part song music printed so that the performers sitting around a table can read their respective parts from the same page or sheet 


Ambient music is also known as:
ambiance, new age, experimental, chillout, mood music, world music

Variations of Ambient music include:
ambient techno, ambient trace, ambient idm, ambient psychill

Word origin
comes from latin and means 'going around'


Imagery for music videos

What is Ambient Music?

- the style of music evolved from 70s experimental electronic music and 80s techno dance movement
- it has no lyrics or composing
- it is an electronic music that uses sonic texture
- it is repetitive although their are difference between artists
- it was a popular cult music in the 90s
- focuses on the tone and atmosphere rather than rythme
- uses pad pounds and progressive modulation to create mood
- the melody is more important than the beat, creating texture and depth
- was developed in the 70s in the UK as instruments such as the synthesizer were being used
- Brain Eno's Ambient 1 album in 1978 made the genre of music popular
- Erik Satie created 'furniture music' which was an early ambient music made in the early 20th century
- the style has a focus on melody instead of beats
- uses fractal concepts instead of linear ones

Brian Eno showed the potential of ambient music 

- to some people the genre of music can be seen as boring
- the style doesn't have the structures and melodies of of popular music
- ambient music can help with concentration, eliminate distractions and help with anxiety
- ambient come from the 16th century french word ambiant . The latin ambien / ambire means 'to go around' and applys to surroundings e.g. sky and air
- the concept of ambiance is ancient within rituals, burials etc.
- Eno formalised the genre making it more popular
- there was criticism about his music. He was producing it as there was a rise in politically engaged punk. Rock critics suggested his music was 'retreating from the real world into an escapist land of anodyne soundscapes'
- Eno considered music to have a greater purpose than just enjoyment and that it could be 'spiritually functional'. He also thought that the music could 'deliberately and calculatingly engineer your environment in some way' 

Thoughts and comments from Brian Eno on Ambient Music

- in the 70s more people were changing how they listened to music.
- people made particular choices as to what they wanted to listen too at home and in the workplace and what mood they wanted to have within theses places
- thoughts about what people wanted from music were changing
- music was being used in a different way to form a continuous surrounding
- developments in recording technology were allowing for new compositional possibilities, the texture of sound was now considered and electronic equipment allowed for virtual acoustic spaces
- new products such as synthesizers were coming on to the market
- immersion within the music was considered the purpose of ambient music something to 'swim in, to float in, to get lost inside'
- Eno's accident in 1975 was a turning point in developing the music. His friend had brought a 17th century harp record which she put on for him. After she'd gone he realised the hi - fi was on too quiet and a speaker had broken. He could only just hear the music above the rain outside 'just the loudest notes, like little crystals, sonic icebergs rising out of the storm'. He now wanted music to be 'a place, a feeling, an all - around tint to my sonic environment'.
- painters and writers who listen to music while working for a productive environment were the first to be enthusiatic about the work
- considered how music would work in an airport . It would have to be intterutible for announcements, work outside frequencies that people speak, consider noises airport makes and has to consider why you are there.
- the concept of  music as a background feature to the environment was originally considered by Muzak Inc in the 50s
-'an ambience is defined as an atmosphere, or a surrounding influence; a tint'
- he wanted to create a variety of environmental music to suit different moods and atmospheres
- ambient music aims to allow calm and space to think
- 'Ambient Music must be able to accomodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting'
- he considers ambient music an ambiguous term with two meanings. 
- It allows you to listen to it in any position, it can be background or foreground music. The music also creates 'a sense of place that complements and alters your environment'. 
-You can pay attention to it or not be distracted by it.
- Ambient music can hold different levels of attention.

Comments on his 'On Land' record

- In 'Another Green World' he set each place in its own landscape to understand the types of activity that could occur
- his work was created in the studio and was the studio as music created within a recording studio could create a psychacoustic space
- he wanted to exaggerate an invent spaces instead of just trying to copy them
- within the record the landscape is not the background for other things to happen in front , it is the landscape with no difference between background and foreground
- landscape is used to talk about 'places, times,climates and the moods they evoke'
- elements for the music came from listening to the world. In Uganda he would sit on the patio with a microphone to catch sounds. The technology allowed him to capture all the sounds in one frame
- he wanted to create the impression of being in a 'large field of loosely - knit sound' and wanted the sound to be away from the listener
- the materials and methods he was using were changing
- synthesizers did not have an organic quality
- he began using non instruments like sticks and stones. A range of found sound was also used e.g. rooks , frogs and insects. Early works were reused in later works. 'The technique was like composting; converting what would otherwise have been waste into nourishment.'

Yes, but is it music? Brian Eno and the definition of ambient music by Mark Edward Achtermann

- Eno popularised ambient music which is said to describe expansive sonic constructions
- in his ambient series he created music that could be ignored and listened to
- the music blends with existing sounds in the environment to create new sonic environments
- the recording studio is used as a compositional tool to create sonic environments which sound as if they were recorded 'on location'
- Eno saw the potential of new and reinvented tools such as tape recording machines, synthesizers, equalisers and studio sound processing equipment 
- can be act as a barrier to environmental noise 
- 'perhaps the best use of the albums is as 'sonic incense''
- the album covers suggest the music is 'highbrow' art 
- it is shown in two ways , through the structure of the packaging and the substance of the liner notes. Through these there is an association with classical art.
- in the back of the Discreet music Jacket there is a discription of the tape look system and how the system was the object of interest and the recording just showed the posibilities of the system.
- his approach to music is said to be a form of visual art and has a painterly style
- Eric Tamm (1989) defined music as 'quiet, unobtrusive music' that can 'tint the atmosphere of the location where it was played. It was music that surrounded the listener with a sense of spaciousness and depth, encompassing one on all sides, instead of coming at the listener. It blended with the sounds of the environment, and seemed to invite one to listen musically to the environment itself'
- he would imitate / borrow sounds from existing locations and organised them in compositions to create new environments 
- tape loops of different lengths played together created random interactions in a similar way to how wildlife come together in nature
- ambient music is less suited to live performance creating an indirect relationship between musician and audience 
- 'it does not imitate specific sounds from an existing environment, but instead recreates the sense of some existing environment by imitating the processes and systems of the natural world' 
- he combines simple elements to create more complex structures
- ambient music has similarities with industrial,trance, techno and other forms of electronic dance movement 
- Ambient 1 uses electric piano, piano, tape loops , voice loops, synthesizers 

The discreet charm of ambient music

- Eric Satie's musique d'ameublement was one of the first ambient pieces of music. 
- 'Furniture music' was composed for parties around 1920. It was supposed to be background music and used traditional instruments to create a party vibe. It was performed live and at normal volumes.

How Brian Eno created a quiet revolution in music 

- Furniture music or Musique d'ameublement by Erik Satie and Darius Milhaud premiered in 1917.
- it was designed not to be listened to
- allegedly Satie ran around telling the audience at the first performance telling them not to listen

Ambient Music - Defined 

- George Philipp Telemann created Musique de Table or 'Table Music' which was for background music 
- There are different stories about how 'Furniture music' was coined. Satie may of overheard Henri Matisse say that he wanted an art form without any nagging subject matter, which he described as being similiar to an easy chair.
- 'You know, there’s a need to create furniture music, that is to say, music that would be part of the surrounding noises and that would take them into account. I see it as melodious, as masking the clatter of knives and forks without drowning it completely, without imposing itself. It would fill up and the awkward silences that occasionally descend on guests. It would spare them the usual banalities. Moreover, it would neutralize the street noises that indiscreetly force themselves into the picture (Gilmore 1988, p. 32)'.



Brian Eno : Oblique Music edited by Sean Albiez and David Pattie 
https://www.allmusic.com/subgenre/ambient-ma0000002424
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-is-ambient-music-what-does-it-sound-like.html
http://ciufo.org/classes/114_fl11/readings/Eno_ambient.pdf
https://inews.co.uk/culture/music/brian-eno-ambient-music-introduction/
http://www.indiana.edu/~audioweb/T369/eno-ambient.pdf
http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2009/09/17/brian-enos-thoughts-on-ambient-music/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/artists/how-brian-eno-created-a-quiet-revolution-in-music/
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-discreet-charm-of-ambient-music
https://ambientsoundbath.com/ambient-music-defined/