Caity's Electronic & Ambient Links
My "desert island" ten best electronic & ambient albums, in no particular order:
This page somewhat overlaps with the Krautrock and Avant-Garde lists, since there have been so many great German artists who have shifted from a really avant-garde or experimental sound into electronic, ambient, or even new age music. While I do like a lot of acoustic music, some of my favorite stuff is the electronic, sythesized "space" music. Also, when I talk about ambient music, I mean quiet music., not techno or house. My definition pretty closely matches Brian Eno's on the Discreet Music liner notes. It's great background music, but the best of it also stands up to active listening and more volume.
The official Tangerine Dream website. I love their early works, up until 1977 or so. After that, it's hit or miss through the '80s. I find there recent work to be commercial, boring, electronic pop. My current ambient/electronic favorites of theirs are Ricochet, Rubycon, Zeit, and Phaedra.
Welcome to the Dream Gallery. Another great Tangerine Dream website by Paul Fellows, with links to yet more of them. Lots of info and pictures that just aren't on the official site.
Eberhard Schoner (releases on Celestial Harmonies). Composer, conducter, and an incredible keyboardist, who did everything from rock (with members of The Police) to ambient space, to avant garde, Eberhard Schoener has to be the most overlooked musician I know of. He mixed in Gregorain chant in 1975, way before it was trendy, on Trance-Formation, one of his best. Also check out: Meditation, and The Book.
Steve Roach. Probably my favorite American electronic musician. He has a variety of styles, from the upbeat Now , Traveler,. and Empetus, to the ultra quiet ambient sounds of Structures Rrom Silence and Quiet Music, all of which are excellent.
Hans-Joachim Roedelius. Roedelius was brilliant with Cluster, doing everything from a really industrial sound to beautiful ambient music. Ambient solo works I also love include Lustwandel, Wenn Der Sudwind Weht, and Cuando... Adonde....
enoweb. Sometime in the mid '70s Brian Eno began to shift from progressive rock to truly ambient music. Especially good are Discreet Music, his collaboration with Cluster simply titled Cluster & Eno, and Ambient 1: Music for Airports.
Michael Rother. What can I say? Michael Rother is perhaps the only artist I can think of who has yet to put out an album I don't like since going solo. They are all brilliant. Check out Esperanza, Flammende Herzen, and Katzenmusic especially.
Neuronium. Originally a Barcelona, Spain based duo of electronic musicians Michel Huygen and Carlos Guirao, often joined my Santi Pico on guitar. Today Neuronium is synonymous with Michel Huygen. I think I liked the early, collarborative works better. The New Digital Dream has to be my favorite of theirs, with Oniria the best of the recent works.
Klaus Schulze: The Official Website. A founding member of Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel, and Richard Wahnfried, and a former member of Go, and producer of the Far East Family Band's two best albums, Klaus Shulze's credits seem endless. He's part of the newly reformed Ash Ra Tempel as well, and has dozens of solo albums. Mirage tops my list.
Mychael Danna. Although some of his solo work is very good, I really like the collaborations between Mychael Danna and Tim Clement best, especially Summerland and Another Sun.
Ashra: The Official Website. Ash Ra Tempel and the succeeding band Ashra have done progressive rock as well as some incredible ambient music. Check out New Age of Earth, Le Berceau de Crystal, and even the second sides of two early progressive albums Schwingungen and Join Inn for their softwer, spacier sound.
Stomu Yamashta Home Page. In addition to his work in the progressive group Go, Stomu Yamashta has done many solo albums and collaborations in a variety of styles. My favorites: the Iroha series of three albums.
Jean-Michel Jarre Official Website. The French synthesist is best know for his bouncy electronic music. I used to accuse him of selling out and being commerical in the '80s, until En Attendant Cousteau was released. The title track (all 46 minutes of it) is incredible and creative. Also check out early releases like Oxygene and Equinoxe.
A Conversation With Michael Hoenig. Here's an interview with the former Agitation Free member, who also occasionally does some incredible solo albums. I really love Departure From The Northern Wasteland, and also like his more frenetic Xcept One.
Tim Story. A favorite artist of mine for mellow sort of new age music that isn't saccharine. His mixture of piano and genle synth work on his album Untitled is great to relax to.
Edgar Froese. Here are some pages dedicated to the Tangerine Dream founder and sole surviving original member. Like the group work, his early electronic titles were brilliant while the later ones are, well... pop. My favorites have to be Epsilon in Malaysian Pale, Macula Trasfer, and Aqua.
Roger Eno. He's the brother of Brian Eno, and his 1999 collaboration with Lol Hammond, called Damage, is one of the better recent ambient albums, at least to my ears.
Kraftwerk. Unfortunately, their site concentrates on the dance and techno music they've done since the mid '70s. I still love Autobahn, as commercial as the first side is. Their earlier, more avant-garde releases are by far the best.
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