"Ambient as interesting as it is interesting"

The term Power Ambient is yes, another attempt at putting a badge or genre to a wide-encompassing range of music stylistically, but it’s one that I have often gravitated towards amongst many others when describing a particular style of music we are dealing with here.

When it comes to a spectrum of Ambient music styles, I’m more often than not on the ‘lean in’ side of things, than the ‘lean back’. It’s easy to throw up Brian Eno’s definition of Ambient music “…as ignorable as it is interesting” to help elaborate on what I mean, as essentially within a Power Ambient context, we are removing the desire to ignore it.

To put it another way, Power Ambient is best suited to those who want to immerse themselves in the music; the wall of sound; big movements; rumbling bass; wide frequencies, and layers of dense drones. These are elements that envelope a space in richness; be it soft and all-encompassing like a heavy blanket, or more on the noise spectrum, making your body rattle and the hairs on your neck stand-up on end. But the common output is that you're better off taking note of what's happening, than sticking it on in the background and making a cup of tea.

It’s not a new descriptive term. A 2014 Fact magazine article captured a few artists that seemed to be prevailing in this style, alongside a mix that Chris SSG loosely described as including Power Ambient (now Chris references his style as Big Room Ambient) and more. recently a Bandcamp list (although not sure all that stuff aligns with my own vision for it). There is no doubt in my mind, however, that a powerful style of Ambient music has exploded in recent years (as has the creativity of Ambient music in general, really). Perhaps this style has been more embraced due to a couple of things.

In dark times comes inherent anger and expression, and it’s pretty grim out there right now. For any music culture, this can often send people into darker production spaces. Secondly, I can feel an emerging undercurrent of rebellion for what ‘Ambient’ can stand for nowadays. With a world of meditative apps and ‘Piano Chill’ playlists continuing to give Ambient music a certain reputation, (at least we have moved on from Spa music, right?), I have a feeling this stereotyping is pushing producers, and even listeners to explore new styles of Ambient music, and opening doors into more expressive forms of music that stand out against an all too frequent beige playlist.

Don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean that Power Ambient is just noise and complexity for the sake of it (it can be) but like all music, there's an art to getting the balance right. For me, Power Ambient can range from relatively quiet, intense soundscapes with a mysterious underpinning, to just short of full-on Merzbow wall-shaking. Call it a version of Noise, Drone, Experimental, whatever, but wrapped in a different guise, it’s still bearable as Ambient music but stops short of becoming too much.

I wanted to highlight just a few of my favorite artists whose broad strokes defined ‘Ambient’ music, has always made me sit up and listen. As with all Portals features, I try to focus on a mix to bring the idea to life and a jump-off/entry point for the artists included. This was harder to mix than a regular DJ set, because of the inherent energy of Power Ambient music. Used consistently in a mix, at some point you're going to get burnt out and it will start to fade into the background just like listening to white noise. In my experience, Ambient tracks with force or energy are best used interspersed in sets to make people lean in and grab their attention, or as part of other styles to continue a certain level of energy (I’ve heard this type of music as an interlude in more heavy beat-driven sets for example). It can also work great as a live show where the listener knows what they are getting into already, of course (earplugs at the ready).

As a 1hr+ mix, I, therefore, had to be considerate of the energy and flow and tried to create a few distinct chapters with peaks and troughs and an easy onramp at the beginning.

I encourage you to use the links below to jump off into each artist’s universe on Bandcamp. Despite it being a relatively well-known list of musicians when it comes to the Ambient enthusiasts, I’ve tried to give a good snapshot of artists that might push into this style within some of their works, especially if any of this music is new to you.

RIP to two influential producers included in this mix, Cesar (Mount Shrine) and one of the greatest noise/experimental artists of our time, Mika Vainio.

As with all past ‘Reflection’ year-end mixes, I start with a collection of albums I have enjoyed over the year. Through the process of compiling a mix that flows well, songs are whittled down and selected from this collection. This means many of my favorite tracks and albums are often omitted in the process, due to the need for them to fit in a mix that comes together as organically as possible. As I say every year, this isn’t a definitive ‘best-of’ list, but a selection of just some of my favorite music from the year in one easily listenable format. It’s the most enjoyable way for me to boil down the music I’ve loved from the year using these self-imposed restrictions, for you to then enjoy and discover more. I encourage you to use the mix to jump off and explore each artist, listen to the album in full and see what else is on the label (and check the Buy Music Club list). Of course, releases or aliases a part of our own label/s are not considered (head over here for our label-specific 2021 showcase).

Another crazy year in the books (or is this the new normal?). Looking back, it’s been a tough year personally and one that in theory should have left me with more time to listen and absorb music but somehow did the opposite. This mix, as it does every year, serves as a great way for me to dedicate time listening to albums again, and I’m realizing this has become a yearly sort of musical therapy for me. The fact that people actually listen and await the mix, is a lovely bonus.

It’s been interesting to see the pendulum of music move across various online listening platforms during strict lockdowns this past year, and what seemed like an onslaught of output as artists buckled down inside. At one point, I am sure we were all left feeling truly spoiled with music choices and online events, despite not being able to attend physical events until the past few months. I know from my own experience, that many artists have albums in the locker and the labels are now struggling to keep up with the present vinyl production bottle-neck.

On the ASIP label front, we finally managed to launch our 9128.live sister label, producing physical and digital editions from notable live performances, with many more planned for 2022. Despite ACL recently commenting that ASIP seemingly “so far has seemed immune to the vinyl shortage”, we have been massively impacted and have only been able to keep somewhat of a cadence this year because we had so much in the pipeline. Next year, we may see bigger gaps between releases and different formats as we look to work with new plants and basically turn our production flow on its head. Numerous times this year I have questioned whether to continue with our current approach, and I am sure many other labels have felt the same.

On the listening front, and upon reflection, I have definitely been drawn to the more electronic-driven side of ambient music this year. Slightly darker and edgier perhaps for obvious reasons, with less instrumental, gentle, or orchestral sounds in my library overall it seems. The Reflection mix, as it does every year, ends up moving through several different stages and captures many of the different styles of music that have been on high rotation.

This year’s mix, begins with some more tranquil pieces (Hopkins, KMRU, Arian Shafiee), then takes a dive into the deep, dynamic elements (ASC, Inhmost, Sciama, AES DANA, Ulla, Bana Haffar), to then slowly emerge into melody just before the hour with Christina Chatfield. Things become more storied, as pieces are overlapped and looped, presenting the powerful drones of Christina Giannone, and more fluid, energetic beat-driven pieces from Ground Tactics, Whylie, nthng and Skee Mask - most of which made me crave the (out of bounds) dance floor. Beats then become crunched, textured and irregular, with the likes of new discoveries in, Hoavi, Vivan Koch, and Amandra X Matthies. The mix then begins to draw in, as more melodic moments take over from some (old but new) music from Niko Tzoukmanis and CiM, before the final chapter draws in with more organic and spiritual elements from Saphileaum, Alex Albrecht, ending on a positive curtain closer from Wau Wau Collectif. Ending the mix on something more optimistic seems to be a requirement after the journey of this past year.

Thank you to everyone listening and supporting what we do, and I hope you can find a new artist or album to support on Bandcamp with this mix - all this year’s inclusions are below in the Buy Music Club list. For a more extensive list of what I have supported and listened to this year, head over to my Bandcamp collection.

Listen on Soundcloud, Mixcloud, or the ASIP Podcast.

Download

astrangelyisolatedplace · ASIP - Reflection on 2021

Tracklist:

000.00. Jon Hopkins - Tayos Caves, Ecuador I (Domino)
006.20. KMRU & Echium - Unending (Self-released)
009.10. Bolivian Fireships - Quiet Room, Locked Door (Hream)
012.50. Arian Shafiee - Wembley (Constellation Tatsu)
018.00. Ab uno - Adonai (Mahorka)
019.30. ASC & Inhmost - Sunrise on Titan (Auxiliary)
026.10. Sciama - Periphery (Auxiliary)
029.00. AES DANA - Foreword (Ultimae)
031.40. Ulla - Shelter (Motion Ward)
033.30. Bana Haffar - Totally Alive and Totally Invisible (Self-released)
039.50. Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement - Flying Fish Ambience (Hospital)
043.20. Nadia Struiwigh - Organic (Nous’klaer)
047.15. Op Zee - Muziekkamer (Stroom.tv)
050.00. Christina Chatfield - Concatenate II (Mysteries of the Deep)
057.10. Nigel Mullaney - The Well Of Sleeping (Behind The Sky Music)
059.00. Avsluta - Meditation 16 [Notes on Iridescence] (e2-e8)
1.00.30 Marine Eyes - On this Fresh Morning (Stereoscenic)
1.03.30. Christina Giannone - Realms II (Past Inside The Present)
1.09.00. Milieu - Terpentine Xylophone (Milieu Music)
1.10.05. Ground Tactics - New Earth (Self-released)
1.16.10. Whylie - JGL24-04 (Lith Dolina)
1.19.40. nthng - Energy Reloading (Lobster Sleep Sequence)
1.25.58. Skee Mask - LFO (Ilian Tape)
1.29.15. Ocoeur - Breaking The Circle (n5MD)
1.32.57. Hoavi - Tessera (Peak Oil)
1.36.17. Vivian Koch - Closed (AD93)
1.39.20. Amandra X Matthies - Cornemuse (Nous’klaer)
1.43.30. Warrington-Runcorn Newtown Development Plan - Part of the Union (CIS)
1.47.35. Akira Sileas - Cliff Cooling (Rusted Tone)
1.52.10. Niko Tzoukmanis - Raindrops (Libreville)
1.57.15. Uf0 - Yeh Premoh (Self-released)
1.59.50. CiM - Metric (Delsin)
2.02.10. Sofie Birch & Johan Carøe - Portal of (Stroom.tv)
2.03.10. Saphileaum - Savar (Good Morning Tapes)
2.07.50. Alex Albrecht - Forest from the Trees, w. Sean La’Brooy (Analogue Attic)
2.12.00. Wau Wau Collectif - Yaral Sal Doom (Sahel Sounds)