#400: Tangerine Dream - Phaedra (1974)

Zack: Tangerine Dream has released over 100 albums, so one was bound to make this list just by sheer chance. The one that did, Phaedra, is among the group’s first albums. I didn’t particularly like the album, but reading the Wikipedia page has given me some sort of appreciation for it. After I finished listening, I happened to note that the year on the album was maybe a decade or so earlier than I thought it would have been. And it turns out that this was not a typo in my iTunes but rather a symbol of how ahead of their time Tangerine Dream were. They were among the first to start playing around with synthetic instruments, and really seemed to be trying to push them as far as they can go. None of the cosmic nature of the sounds that are described on Wikipedia came through for me. But I can see how absolutely seminal this album is for so many electronic genres that have come since.

Favorite Tracks: Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares; Phaedra; Movements Of A Visionary

Emily: This album didn't really inspire anything in me. Granted, I was studying family law for the bar while I listened to it, but I think even if I had 100% laser focus on the music I still wouldn't have gotten much out of it. I tend to feel that way about a lot of electronic albums we listen to. When they're pleasant and ambient, the music tends to fade into the background, like waves crashing at the beach or the buzz of the city outside my window. It's nice to hear, but doesn't elicit much else from me. Phaedra fit right into that scheme of electronic music. I'll take it any day over something that's loud and screeching, but 400 albums definitely went out with a whimper.

Favorite Tracks: Phaedra; Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares; Movements Of A Visionary

#250: Bjork - Vespertine (2001)

Emily: My general impression of Bjork can be summed up by her infamous swan dress, which she actually wore around the same time Vespertine was released. She even had an egg-shaped purse! So avant garde! Or, more likely, batshit crazy. Luckily for us, there was a significant lack of swan involved in this album - as well as a significant lack of crazy reflected by said swans. What I expected would be filled with earsplitting experimentation was actually a beautiful collection of ambient music, punctuated by Bjork's ethereal singing. The album has a dreamlike quality that softens background noise into fantasy, fitting quite well with the Harry Potter book I've been re-reading. I imagine it would work well as an antidote to studying as well - perhaps I'll try it out in the coming semester. I guess Bjork really was going for avant garde with the swans after all.
Favorite Tracks: It's Not Up to You; Sun in My Mouth; Heirloom

Zack: Bjork is pretty much known for being Icelandic and a little crazy (I’m not sure if the two can be mutually exclusive, and I have no idea if that joke was funny), so I didn’t really know what to expect here. What she delivered was an album of lush soundscapes that envelop you. There’s almost a certain mystical quality to it. Like each song may have come from a really dynamic scene in Spirited Away. Her singing can be hard to understand some time, but it fits in with the music perfectly. Overall, Vespertine was a very unique album that seemed to whirl and whisk across the room while it was playing.

Favorite Tracks: Pagan Poetry; It’s Not Up to You; An Echo, a Stain

#207: Cocteau Twins - Treasure (1984)

Emily: This album really fit with the surroundings in which I listened to it, a phenomenon that doesn't always happen. I was on a bus driving down the PA Turnpike with its seemingly endless parade of trees. Treasure's calm ambiance fit the environment outside my windows quite nicely - and suitably drowned out the muted dubstep seeping out of my seatmate's headphones. At its best points, this album seemed like the music of a dark ballet. It's beautiful, but with some sinister undertones that set it apart. Each track is named after a person, which leads me to wonder if the sinisterness is directed at them. Alas, I had no Wikipedia on the bus, so I remained content with the black ballet of these lovers/friends/enemies/strangers dancing in my head.
Favorite Tracks: Beatrix; Persephone; Cicely

Zack: Seriously this is bullshit. Another album by a band known for their “signature ethereality,” but at least this time there was like 4 days in between when I made that playlist and when I listened to it. Anyway, this album is kind of hilariously dated. It may not have synths, but everything else about it is perfectly in line with 1984. The production values alone sound almost 30 years old, which isn’t always a bad thing but in this instance was pretty distracting. The music itself was alright. Pretty ambient, a hint of all those bands that we listen to that sound exactly the same but different enough that I didn’t really mind it. I’m even vaguely looking forward to listening to the next Cocteau Twins album.

Favorite Tracks: Persephone; Beatrix; Donimo

#205: Sigur Rós - Ágætis byrjun (1999)

Zack: I’m calling bullshit. For Christmas, I made a bunch of playlists for my brother and gave them to him on a flash drive (along with some other music). One of them was called “Ethereal Whinings.” One day after I make that playlist, boom, I’m listening to this. Literally the second sentence on their Wikipedia page says that they are “known for their ethereal sound.” One day. That’s how close I was to having rooted that playlist in the only thing it was missing: Icelandic post-rock. I knew all along that there was a problem but I didn’t know how oddly specific it was. Wyatt, if you’re reading, I have failed you. Anyway, this album is banging. It’s so lush and interesting. I can’t even understand any of the words and I could not manage to care any less. Everything about it is so vibrant but with a touch of spacey. I guess I would characterize it sort of as a cross between Air and Flaming Lips, but I’m not sure if that really does all the orchestration justice. Look, it’s an incredible album, one you should absolutely check out.

Favorite Tracks: Ágætis byrjun; Hjartað hamast (Bamm Bamm Bamm); Olsen Olsen

Emily: Unfortunately, by the time I finished this album it was around 1 AM and I was getting sleepy, so I don't feel that I fully experienced this album. I say experienced because that's what Sigur Ros truly does - they create a cohesive sonic/musical experience rather than just a collection of nice-sounding songs. Although subtle in its ambient qualities, Ágætis byrjun is beautifully done. The band combines different instruments with sound effects and distortion to create an enveloping sound that can seamlessly blend into the background one second and demand your attention the next. Never mind that it's all in Icelandic; the music is too pretty and unique for the lyrics to matter much. It's an album that I will definitely add to my homework/relaxing/general listening repetorie - and I'll re-listen at a time when I'm less sleepy.

Favorite Tracks: Ágætis byrjun; Hjartað hamast (Bamm Bamm Bamm); Staralfur

#132: Penguin Cafe Orchestra - Music from the Penguin Cafe (1976)

Zack: Listening to this album brought back horrible repressed memories from every time I've ever been put on hold ever in my life. Right there, I've probably successfully conveyed an exact description of the sound and feel to their music. And yet, I will continue to digress. We've talked plenty of times about music that seems to be designed for ambiance. That may mean a metal album that should be played whenever you're doing something intense and preferably violent or technoey stuff whenever you're flying through a virtual world or hacking or whatever it is you techie kids are doing nowadays. Music From the Penguin Cafe is, at its heart, an ambient album. It accepts that. It never tries to hide under a facade. And while its somewhat admirable that it embraces its identity, that doesn't mean it should be celebrated for anything other than mediocrity. It was adequate ambiance at best, at least compared to my all-time favorite ambient album, Moon Safari by Air. Although, the cover is pretty spiffy. It just kind of cruises along under the same pseudo folk-jazz appeal while the listener is forced to occasionally remember that there is music on. Finally, does anyone else find it weird that I've come so far as to be able to recognize the differences between good, middling, and bad ambiance? Because it's definitely weirding me out.
Favorite Tracks: The Sound of Someone You Love Going Away and It Doesn't Matter; Zopf; Chartered Flight

Emily: Just 2 albums after our last Brian Eno album, we come to yet another. Eno didn't play on the album himself, but he was the executive producer and released it on his experimental record label, Obscure. Now I know the label name has nothing to do with the content of the albums it releases, but obscure just sounds like a good way to describe Music from the Penguin Cafe. It's experimental ambient jazz folk, a mouthful of genres that blend together into 45 minutes and five instrumental songs. Nothing really stands out, but the music blended pleasantly into the background of our Saturday evening at home. Will I visit the Penguin Cafe again? Probably not, but it was a nice visit.
Favorite Tracks: Zopf; The Sound of Someone You Love Going Away and It Doesn't Matter; Chartered Flight

#118: Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92 (1992)

Zack: Remember a few reviews ago when I said Devendra Banhart left me with no strong inclination of what to write? So then I wrote a whole entry about how I didn’t know what to write? Wow, I wish I would have saved that card. What do you write about an album that you barely even noticed was on? It’s not even that I was doing other things and this just became background noise, because that would have been exactly what an ambient album should have done. I really wasn’t doing much at all, but I had no clue when I was listening to a different song. Sometimes I would click over to iTunes to learn that I had listened to four songs without noticing any difference. Other times I would click over to find out that the same song had been going on for the last 8 minutes. And all while I was minding my own business trying to enjoy this album. That’s the thing that kills me about this right here. I’m actually trying to learn to appreciate electronic music. I really am. But I just have no clue how to do it. The noises were pleasant enough. There was no random screeching like in the middle of that Daft Punk album. It was just friendly beeping all the way through. Like R2-D2 was humming or something. But I still just did not get it. Maybe it’s going over my head, but what is the intrinsic value to these sounds that I’m hearing? What’s the message? Even poppy music has some kind of message. Maybe it’s that California girls will melt your popsicle (the bullies) or that you don’t feel like doing anything although you then list all the things you plan on doing (I’m on to you and your irony, Bruno Mars). Sure, those aren’t necessarily revolutionary ballads, but there is some message there for the listener to gather together. But with this! There’s nothing but beeping. What could I possibly be expected to get out of that?

Favorite Tracks: Pulsewidth; Schottkey 7th Path; Actium

Emily: The title of this album says it all. It’s ambient music. Though it’s definitely a step up from elevator-style Muzak, ambiance doesn’t really signal anything all that exciting or innovative to me. Each song felt like an excruciatingly long intro to a much better song…but the better song never came. Then again, this is how I tend to feel about most electronic/ambient music. Critics have said that this album set the tone for the modern take on those genres – well, at least I’m consistent.

Favorite Tracks: Green Calx; We Are the Music Makers; Xtal