Determinations
Field notes from searchers and operators
Brian Eno's concept of ambient music, articulated beginning with Discreet Music in 1975, drew on minimalist composition and the discovery that sound could be designed to be heard or ignored with equal profit. The genre has ramified in every direction since—from Harold Budd's neo-romantic piano pieces to the granular processing of Fennesz, from new age's commercial dilution to Stars of the Lid's dense orchestral drone. Ambient is now less a genre than a disposition toward sound.
ReadThe Sound of Thinking: A Guide to Ambient Music
words by
Ambient music, as both genre and philosophy, proposes that sound can exist alongside consciousness without demanding its full attention. Pioneered by Brian Eno, it has grown into one of music's most expansive and variously inhabited territories.
Strings Attached: The Ornate World of Baroque Pop
words by
Baroque pop fused the melodic ambition of 1960s pop songwriting with the harmonic language and orchestral colours of the Baroque era. Lush, intricate, and occasionally overwhelming, it produced some of the decade's most ambitious records.
Cardigan Weather: The Gentle Revolution of C86
words by
Named for a 1986 NME cassette compilation, C86 captured a moment of wilful innocence in British indie pop—jangly guitars, whispered vocals, and a studied amateurism that concealed real emotional intelligence. The template for twee ever since.
Wires and Shadows: The Enduring Power of Post-Punk
words by
Post-punk arose from punk's ashes in the late 1970s, replacing raw aggression with intellectual ambition. Angular guitars, dub-influenced rhythms, and cold electronic textures defined a movement that continues to shape guitar music today.