Features – Page 36 – Electronic Sound

41 minute read

Ambient: From A To Zzzzz

byES Staff

A curated snapshot rather than a definitive list, welcome to our alphabetical deep dive into the atmospheric and immersive world of ambient music. From key artists to strange concepts and beyond, prepare to see ambient in a whole new light

LLong Reads

10 minute read

Ambient: An Introduction

byDavid Stubbs

From Debussy to Brian Eno, The Orb to Burial, the foundations of ambient are rooted in esoteric, unconventional and often surprising forms and sounds

LLong Reads

9 minute read

Ambient: Dream State

byVel Ilic

How do you define ambient music? What’s the role of ambient today? And how might it sound in the future? We put these questions and others to our esteemed panel of ambient artists

BBuried Treasure

2 minute read

Luc Van Acker ‘Taking Snapshots’ (Self-Released, 1982)

byRyan Walker

“These track names were created by the people who bought the album in 1982”

LLandmarks

5 minute read

Chris and Cosey ‘October (Love Song)’

byIan Berriman

Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti look back on ‘October (Love Song)’, a track they made in 1983 to document the dawn of their love affair

UUnder The Influence

5 minute read

Howard Jones

byBob Fischer

It’s 40 years since Howard Jones first crashed into the Top 10 with ‘New Song’. To mark the occasion, Cherry Red have issued a superb career retrospective, ‘Celebrate It Together’. And it all started with the coolest teacher in High Wycombe

TTime Machine

4 minute read

John Cage and Marcel Duchamp

byJeremy Allen

In 1968, John Cage and Marcel Duchamp played a game of chess involving pieces that generated electronic sounds and a very expensive bottle of wine. The details of what actually happened that night were pored over by historians for years after

LLong Reads

4 minute read

Aho Ssan: Root Cause

byClaire Francis

French producer Aho Ssan makes stunning experimental music, drawing a host of zeitgeisty contributors into his orbit. No wonder his new work ‘Rhizomes’ reads like a who’s who of contemporary underground electronica

LLong Reads

8 minute read

Elizabeth Parker: Singing In The Wires

byBob Fischer

Elizabeth Parker was a BBC Radiophonic Workshop mainstay and one of Britain’s most in-demand composers of TV and film soundtracks. A new compilation, ‘Future Perfect’, gathers together previously unheard pieces from her own private archive. Expect ghostly nuns and clunky scaffolding

LLong Reads

22 minute read

Soft Cell: Cell Shock

byNeil Kulkarni

With ‘Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret’, their hugely influential 1981 debut album, Soft Cell brought sleazy lyrics and shady but infectious synth anthems to the mainstream. Marc Almond and Dave Ball reflect on art-school aesthetics, punk electronics, and the controversies that fuelled their speedy rise