Ambient favorites

Patrick O'Hearn ("Trust") was the artist I listened to the first time I auditioned an excellent hi-end system and was floored. I'll never forget that day. It was magic and changed my life. I bought that cd the same day.

Patrick O'Hearn "Panning The Sands" is really great.

Glad you liked Asche & Spencer.

Great stuff gets missed skipping through, I slowed down and realized I own half your list.

Another older favorite is "Blade Runner"

Thanks for noticing and thanks for the sample! Awesome.

The Glacial Movements label is putting out some of the best stuff these past few years. Bvdub, Rapoon, Lull, Oophoi, Loscil, Celer,Aidan Baker,Marsen Jules, etc.I haven't heard a bad note from anything on this label.

Nice list Bohicaman.

Here's one of my favorites, the soundtrack is excellent.

Although listeners may claim falling asleep, any Liquid Mind CD is about as landscape ambient as you can get. I also like

Amethystium
Any Hearts of Space
Cusco
David Whaler "Antiquus"
Deuter
Fredrik Karlsson
Giles Reaves "Sea of Glass"
Jim Chappel
Karl Maddison
Karunesh
Kitaro
Ludovico Einuadi
Mark Isham
Michael Brant DeMaria
Michael Dulin
Michael Gettel
Michael Whalen
Any Narada artist
Patrick O'Hearn
Ryuichi Sakamoto
Takashi Suzuki
Thierry David
Tron Syversen
Vangelis
Zeus Faber

OK - some may think all here NOT ambient but it's what I think. Just a sampling from my library. Keep listening!

Not sure what counts as ambient and what doesn't, but here are some suggestions for "music that is there, but not getting in the way of reading, talking etc. ..."

Steve Roach, particularly his CD Structures from Silence (once you hear it, you'll know how perfect the name is)
Music of Alan Hovhaness, especially the selections featuring harp
Bill Laswell, Ambient Compendium

Just about any good solo acoustic guitar recording. Several of the guitar and lute recordings on MA Recordings are favorites of mine for this type of listening.

Labradford comes to mind, too. Same label as Stars of the Lid if memory serves me correctly.

Yep - Kranky and they just re-issued and remastered Prazision last year.

How is it I don't see William Basinski on any of the lists? An excellent addition to any collection of ambient!
Labradford comes to mind, too. Same label as Stars of the Lid if memory serves me correctly.

The new John Hopkins album is fabulous.

Using the term "ambient" broadly and not narrowing it down to various sub-genres, here are some of my favorite ambient artists (in alphabetical order):

Antonymes
A Winged Victory For The Sullen
Olafur Arnalds
Bersarin Quartett
Black Swan
Will Bolton
Michael Brook
Harold Budd
bvdub
Celer
Dakota Suite
Brian Eno
Emanuele Errante
Ex Confusion
Nils Frahm
Robin Guthrie
Robert Haigh
Greg Haines
Chihei Hatakeyama
Johann Johannsson
Marsen Jules
Keith Kenniff
Leyland Kirby
Saito Koji
Clem Leek
Loscil
Marconi Union
Brian McBride
Alva Noto
Dustin O'Halloran
Olan Mill
Yui Onodera
Fabio Orsi
M. Ostermeier
Pjusk
Ramses II
Stars Of The Lid
Strom Noir
Nicholas Szczepanik
Ryan Teague
The Dead Texan

Fluid Radio - Channel 1 has a nice streaming selection of music in the Ambient/Electroacoustic/Experimental/Drone genres. Check it out.

thank you all for your thoughtful recommendations!

Robert

Check out the site "MixCloud". a TON of ambient there. See mixes by LowLight Mixes and also Chronaut. To add a little to Bdgregory's reply...give a listen to the "Mysterious Skin" movie soundtrack collaboration between Guthrie and Budd. Can be found on YouTube.

Others to try: Loscil, Helios, Jasper TX, & Tycho.

If you haven't heard them yet, you might enjoy STARS OF THE LID very much.

Brian Eno remains continues to be active in this area. Search him on YouTube and you are sure to find something more you will enjoy. Thursday Afternoon comes to mind.

Here are some mixes I have on 8tracks.com:

Introduction to Pete Namlook & Fax Records
http://8tracks.com/synthfreek/synthfreek-s-introduction-to-fax-records-pete-namlook

ECM Records Mix for fans of electronic/ambient music
http://8tracks.com/synthfreek/synthfreek-s-intro-to-ecm-records-mix-for-electronic-music-listeners

Deep Ambient Pt. 1
http://8tracks.com/synthfreek/synthfreek-s-deeper-than-deep-ambient-mix-part-1

Deep Ambient Pt. 2
http://8tracks.com/synthfreek/synthfreek-s-deeper-than-deep-ambient-mix-part-2

Ambient Dub Techno
http://8tracks.com/synthfreek/synthfreek-s-ambient-dub-techno-mix

Some Mid-90s Chilout
http://8tracks.com/synthfreek/some-mid90s-chillout-classics

I've always been an Eno fan, but in the past 2 years have really expanded my Ambient catalog. Some of my favorite artists:

Eno - he has a lot out - everything in his catalog is worth having and most is even better than "Music for Airports"

Harold Budd - like everything I have by him
Frip and Eno - especially "Evening Star"
Michael Brook
John Foxx
Robin Guthrie - not totally ambient - some is a little more lively.
Klaus Schulze - more electronic, but ambient
Tangerine Dream - really more electronic, less ambient

Also - some Jazz "ambient" I like a lot:

Tord Gustavsen Trio - all of their catalog
Bobo Stenson Trio - Cantando, War Orphans
Ralph Towner and Gay Burton - "Matchbook"

Boards of Canada "Music Has a Right to Children" & "Geogaddi"
Aphex Twin "Selected Ambient Works 85-92" & "Selected Ambient Works Vol. II"
Future Sound of London "Lifeform"
Nicolas Jaar "Space is Only Noise"

Check out http://www.ambientmusicgude.com for more suggestions.