We’re going dark and gritty in this edition of Ambient Universe. Here’s three that may not trigger the most colourful mental images. But it’s like we say her at Beatradar: Real ambient lovers dream in monochrome.
Today Again (Sweden) – Bandhagen V1
Modular looping is the center of this creation, from my fellow Scandinavian Today Again.
Quite an experimental atmosphere, and with enough textural depth for our mind to wander between the loops of time fragments and observe them, like sculptures in a gallery.
Dionisaf (USA) – January
Field recordings. An underrated element for many ambient producers, in my opinion. It adds so much interesting texture and depth to the soundscape.
But here we have a track that really embrace the field recording aesthetics, and here even the instrumental parts have gotten added that rustic field recording treatment. Fitting.
The result is quite dark and gloomy as to be expected. But gorgeously so.
An abstract short film in grainy black and white. That’s my mental image of this track.
Oduum (SA) – Meteor Rain On Triton
And speaking of darkness, now we’re really getting dark.
I love soundscapes like this. It’s just so much to let our imagination loose in. I love the pictures it creates. Yes, I hold dark ambient above all other directions of our beloved genre.
And speaking of pictures, I just have to share an anecdote in the context of this track:
You know how all material has a certain frequency it physically reacts much stronger to than other frequencies? There’s even a myth that this can take down bridges, if hitting the right frequency.
Well, we have some framed paintings on the wall here in the Beatradar studios. And the brutal bass on this track apparently hit the “soft spot” of these frames perfectly, because they were shaking violently on the wall here.
Violently, I tell you. Like, if we put our hand onto the frame they vibrate underneath with an unreal power.
I guess they dig dark ambient too.
All three are added to our much loved Spotify playlist, “Ambient Universe”, where we collect only the finest new drone ambient as we discover them. And we’ve been doing that for years now, so this is one list that’s long proven the reliability as a source for new discoveries.