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'''Originating Location:''' UK
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{{Infobox music genre
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|
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|name = Ambient music
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|bgcolor = silver
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|color = black
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|stylistic_origins=[[Electronic music]], [[background music|background]], [[furniture music|furniture]], [[minimalist music|minimalist]], [[experimental music|experimental]], [[drone music|drone]],<ref name="drone-both-origin-and-subgenre">Though drone is now classified as a subgenre of ambient, early drone music influenced the origin of ambient:<!--it's not possible to re-use a ref inside another ref, so we have to refer to other notes by name--> see the other note from ''Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century Music'' (Cook & Pople 2004, p. 502), and the note from ''Four Musical Minimalists'' (Potter 2002, p. 91).</ref> [[Krautrock]], [[space rock]], [[psychedelic rock]], [[progressive rock]], [[dub music|dub]], [[jazz]]
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|cultural_origins = Early 1970s, [[United Kingdom]]
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|instruments = [[Electronic musical instrument]]s, [[electroacoustic music|electroacoustic music instruments]], and any other instruments or sounds (including [[folk instrument|world instruments]]) with electronic processing
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|popularity = Low. Some interest from general public in late 1990s and 2000s.
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|derivatives = [[Ambient house]], [[Chill out music|chillout]], [[downtempo]], [[trance]], [[Intelligent dance music]]
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|subgenres = [[Dark ambient]] – [[Drone music]]<ref name="drone-both-origin-and-subgenre"/> – [[Lowercase]] – [[Detroit techno]] – [[Shoegaze]]
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|subgenrelist =:Category:Ambient music
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|fusiongenres = [[Ambient dub]] – [[Illbient]] – [[Psybient]] – [[Dark ambient]] – [[Ambient house]] – [[Space music]] – [[Post-rock]]
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|regional_scenes =
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|other_topics = [[List of ambient artists|Ambient music artists]] – [[List of electronic music genres]] – [[Furniture music]]
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}}
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'''Originating Era:''' 1970s
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'''Ambient music''' is a genre of music and includes forms of music that put an emphasis on tone and atmosphere over traditional musical structure or rhythm. Ambient music is said to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual"<ref name="Prendergast, M. 2001">Prendergast, M. ''The Ambient Century''. 2001. Bloomsbury, USA</ref> or "unobtrusive" quality.<ref>http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ambient</ref> To quote one pioneer, [[Brian Eno]], "Ambient Music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting."<ref>{{cite web|last=Eno|first=Brian|title=Music for Airports|url=http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/MFA-txt.html|accessdate=8 July 2013}}</ref>
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==Key Artists==
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As a genre it originated in the United Kingdom at a time when new sound-making devices such as the [[synthesizer]], were being introduced to a wider market. Ambient developed in the 1970s from the [[experimental]] and [[synthesizer]]-oriented styles of the period. [[Mike Oldfield]], [[Jean Michel Jarre]] and [[Vangelis]] were all influences on the emergence of ambient. [[Robert Fripp]] [[Fripp & Eno|and]] Brian Eno popularized ambient music in 1972 while experimenting with tape loop techniques. [[The Orb]] and [[Aphex Twin]] gained commercial success with ambient tracks in the early 1990s. Ambient compositions are often quite lengthy, much longer than more popular, commercial forms of music. Some pieces can reach a half an hour or more in length.
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* [[Brian Eno]]
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* [[Harold Budd]]
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* [[The KLF]]
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==Key Albums==
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Ambient had a revival towards the late 1980s with the prominence of house and techno music. Eventually, ambient grew a cult following in the 1990s.<ref name="allmusic.com">http://www.allmusic.com/explore/style/ambient-d226</ref> By the early 1990s artists such as [[Aphex Twin]] were being called [[ambient house]], [[ambient techno]], [[Intelligent dance music|IDM]] or "ambient" by the media. Genre offshoots include [[dark ambient]], [[ambient house]], [[ambient industrial]], [[ambient dub]], [[psybient]] and ambient trance.
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* [[Brian Eno]] - [[Music For Airports:Brian Eno|Music For Airports]]
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* [[The KLF]] - [[Chill Out:The KLF|Chill Out]]
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==Genre Description==
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A genre of electronic music that is based at least partially on [[classical]] composer [[Erik Satie]]'s work about using music as a portion of the ambient sound -- where the listener actually isn't sure if they're listening to anything at all. It tends to be repetative though unobtrusive and often subtly shifting. There have been other forms of [[Ambient]] music as well; in the 1990s resurgence of the genre (spurred by [[The KLF]]'s ''[[Chill Out:The KLF|Chill Out]]'' album), a new form of [[Ambient]], [[Ambient House]] emerged, which used more in the way of found sound and was somewhat more intrusive. With [[Ambient House]], you can still get lost in the soundscapes of the music, but there's no longer any question that you're listening to music -- it no longer really blends in with its surroundings. [[Brian Eno]], though recording almost exclusively [[Ambient]] recordings for decades has recently said that he feels he's said all he can say with the genre, and has moved back into doing vocal records (though his recent ''[[Another Day On Earth:Brian Eno|Another Day On Earth]]'' is not a [[rock]] record like some was expecting -- though it's a vocal record that's based on using song structures instead of soundscapes as [[Ambient]] usually is, the record is very informed by [[Brian Eno]]'s work in this genre.
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== Artists in this genre ==
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== References ==
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* [[Character]]
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{{reflist|2}}
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* [[Fantômas]]
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* [[Groundtruther]]
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* [[Brian Eno]]
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* [[Aki Onda]]
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* [[KLF, The]]
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* [[Terre Thaemlitz]]
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* [[The Flying Lizards]]
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* [[Björk]]
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* [[Mark Mothersbaugh]]
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* [[oto]]
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* [[TEMPHUiBIS]]
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==Labels in this genre==
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== External links ==
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* [[Eastern Developments]]
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* [https://www.dmoz.org/Arts/Music/Styles/E/Experimental/Ambient/ Ambient music] at DMOZ
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* [[Morr Music]]
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* [http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1995_articles/mar95/ambienttechno.html Ambient Techno in ''Sound on Sound'']
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* [[Comatonse]]
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* [http://www.ambientmusicguide.com/ Ambient Music Guide – Comprehensive ambient music resource site]
[[pl:Ambient]]
[[pl:Ambient]]