Ambient house

Infobox Music genre|
name = Ambient House
bgcolor = silver
color = black
stylistic_origins= Ambient music, House music
cultural_origins = Late 1980s, United Kingdom
instruments = Electronic musical instruments, some ambient artists use traditional instrumentation of almost any variety
popularity = Low
derivatives =
subgenrelist = List of electronic music genres
subgenres =
fusiongenres =
regional_scenes =
other_topics = Ambient music artists

Ambient house, a music genre that first emerged in the late 1980s, is a sub-genre of house music, combining elements of acid house and ambient music. Tracks in the ambient house genre typically feature four-on-the-floor beats, synth pads, and vocal samples integrated in an atmospheric style."Ambient House", "Allmusic" (Retrieved October 4, 2006).] Ambient house tracks generally lack a diatonic center and feature much atonality along with synthesized chords.

Birth of Ambient House

In 1989, Paul Oakenfold ran the Acid house night at Heaven, and Dr. Alex Paterson ran a chill-out counterpart in the White Room. There, Paterson (soon to be front man in The Orb) spun Brian Eno, Pink Floyd, and 10CC songs at low volume and accompanied them with multiscreen video projections. Around the same time, in the East End of London, so-called Spacetime parties were held at Cable Street. These parties, organized by Jonah Sharp, were designed to encourage conversation rather than dance, and featured Mixmaster Morris.Reynolds, Simon. "Generation ecstasy: into the world of techno and rave culture". New York: Routledge, 1999.]

The ambient house movement began in the late 1980s largely due to the demand for post-rave "come-down" music. It was founded mainly by The Orb members Alex Paterson and Jimmy Cauty. They drew from many influences including Steve Reich, Brian Eno, reggae music, and 1970s psychedelic rock, including Pink Floyd. Inspired by the house music played by DJs such as Larry "Mr. Fingers" Heard, Paterson and Cauty began DJ-ing and composing experimental music. The Orb established the genre in 1989 as DJs at The Land of Oz, based at Heaven. After a recording session with John Peel later that year, The Orb released the twenty-minute "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Ultraworld", which featured "bright, translucent sounds" and "tinkl [ing] " keyboards, as well as heavily sampling Minnie Riperton's "Lovin' You".Prendergast, Mark. "The Ambient Century: From Mahler to Moby-The Evolution of Sound in the Electronic Age". London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2003.] Out of Paterson and Cauty's sessions at Trancentral studio, came Cauty and Bill Drummond's KLF album "Chill Out" (which featured no credit to Paterson). As possibly the first ambient house album, "The Grove Dictionary of Music" describes it as "a 1980s pop culture version of musique concrète".GroveOnline|Ambient house|Fulford-Jones, Will|4 October|2006] After splitting from The Orb, Cauty finished work on his own album "Space", and Paterson's Orb went on to create the single "Little Fluffy Clouds" – both important works of ambient house. In 1991, The Orb released the album "The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld", featuring both of their previous singles. Combining Moog synthesizers with religious chorales and audio clips of the Apollo 11 rocket launch, The Orb popularized the "spacy" sound of ambient house.

While The KLF retired in 1992, The Orb released their most successful ambient house single "Blue Room", which peaked at #8 on the UK singles chart. At forty minutes, it was the longest single to reach the UK charts. An edited form of it appeared on The Orb album "U.F.Orb" later that year. "U.F.Orb" brought in dub influences as well into ambient house. In the years after the release of their live album, "Live 93", The Orb largely abandoned the ambient house sound in favor of more "metallic" music.

Ambient house was taken up in large part by artists such as Juno Reactor, Pete Namlook, and Tetsu Inoue.

Major Ambient House Artists

* The Orb
* Tetsu Inoue
* The KLF
* Juno Reactor
* Global Communication
* Biosphere
* System 7

Key albums

* The Orb - "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Ultraworld" (1989/1990)
* Jimmy Cauty - "Space" (1990)
* The KLF - "Chill Out" (1990)
* Biosphere - "Microgravity" (1991)
* The Orb - "Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld" (1991)
* The Orb - "U.F.Orb" (1992)
* The Irresistible Force - "Flying High" (1992)
* Pete Namlook - "Air" (1993)
* Tetsu Inoue - "Ambiant Otaku" (1994)

References

See also

*List of electronic music genres