Various Artists – Pop Ambient 2014 (Kompakt)

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Pop Ambient 2014

One suspects the ‘pop’ in the title means accessible rather than popular on some ambient charts, if there are charts for this genre almost singlehandedly created by Brian Eno in the late “70s. When thinking ambient music he remains a looming figure. Aphex Twin gave the genre a substantial push 20 years ago with his Selected Ambient Works II and, as it’s taken off in recent years like a response to the increasing in-your-face-ness of other electronic music genres, the use of field recordings has added new soundscape dimensions to many ambient productions.

This collection from Kompakt has nice background tracks but it’s not all suited to being played as muzak in some New Age crystal and health food store. As it progresses the material becomes dark and brooding. It could provide interesting stimulus for sensory deprivation. So, to spare you a blindfold, let me outline what I saw while listening.

“Sicht’s by Ulf Lohmann opens like dawn on a spring day with synthesiser pads buzzing in the air and a slightly melancholy short refrain that reminds me of a magpie.

“Treatment’s by Thomas Fehlmann has more of a Brian Eno ambience at first, watery with a heavily echoed piano chiming. The echoes develop a grainy texture, as though the track is being played on a dusty record. These pops rise to a soft hiss like bubbles in a slow-motion video of a glass of soft drink going flat.

“Patience’ by Mikkel Metal has a darker sound that is a bit metallic. Opens with plate-style reverb zaps, before a short melodic riff on a guitar that wouldn’ be out of place in a metal ballad. Electric-like fizzles join in, with increasing echo and a soft kick drum and high-hat.

“The Philosophers Trap’ by Marsen Jules starts with a sound like icicles disappearing as the warm breeze of slightly discordant synthesisers rise. The icicles ease with deep movements, a soundtrack to glaciers vibrating to approaching machinery. Then they rattle again.

“Moorpark’ by Cologne Tape is a contrast as someone plonks on a toy piano along with the sound of a distant dulcimer, deep in the vaults.

“Fur Betty’ by Simon Scott has a short loop of voices singing in choir, increasing with a fuzzy texture like someone opening the door to a scratched record and being blinded by the lights a TV crew from A Current Affair.  They try to run but their legs won’ move quick enough and a deep bass riff suggests they won’ get away before being chewed up by the daily news cycle.

“Aquamarine’ by The Bionaut has big shifting synthesiser sounds, like one of those Reaktor patches which evoke an entire soundscape at the press of one key. Surprisingly they shift to a second key, then back to the first. These seems the first track to change chords, then a guitar arpeggio fades and vocals. It’s a bit dark, with reversed-sounds like a Lynchian dream sequence but actually does sound a bit like one might expect of a pop ambient track. Then it fades with a slow filter sweep that made my ears pop.

“Ruckverzauberung’ by Wolfgang Voigt provides swirling sounds, like flies around a corpse. A short snippet like a bowed string follows and outlines a harmonic progression, that could accompany time-lapsed footage of corporeal disintegration.

“Cupid’ Head (Gas Ambient mix)’ by The Field fades in with varying loops of pad sounds and a sense of the pace increasing, like leaves floating downstream as waters deepen and quicken. The river winds and widens, the pace slows and the waters fade into the distance.

“PCC’ by Ulf Lohmann  feels like the soundtrack for a resolution near the end of a film.

The contrast in moods and approaches is interesting on this album, which captures Eno’ idea that ambient music be part of the background. The tracks are in effect sonic wallpaper of varying shades and textures.

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Living in regional Australia led Jason Richardson to sample landscapes instead of records.

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