Ambient House "Mixing moody atmospheric sounds of new age and ambient music with pulsating house beats." - Record Mirror (4/90) 1990 * Ambient house comes in like flavor of the month in the UK...but proves to have incredible growth potential. Italy's Sueno Latino with "Sueno Latino" is the immediate song of note. * In the UK, guitarist Steve Hillage, Alex Paterson (The Orb), and DJ Paul Oakenfold are centrally associated with the unfolding ambient scene. * The KLF release Chill Out, the first entire LP of atmospheric "ambient house". (S'Express' "Coma II", from 1989's Original Soundtrack LP, is sometimes cited as the first ambient house track actually released.) * Enigma cross over an ambient house track onto the international pop charts in a big way with "Sadeness Part 1". 1991 The Orb achieves huge commercial success with Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld double LP, defining the standard for ambient house. 1992 Future Sound Of London release their critically acclaimed techno/ambient LP Accelerator. * The Orb follows up with LP No. 2, U.F.Orb, to great acclaim. * The UK Rock Music Press takes ambient to its heart as the music moves further away from dance music into the giant formless sea of ambient/experimental/New Age. 1993 The British media coins another phrase, INTELLIGENT TECHNO, aka ELECTRONIC LISTENING MUSIC (ELM), described in SS#65 as "a combination of textured, atmospheric sounds, spaced-out ambient mind music, Detroit techno rhythms and a hell of a lot more". Aphex Twin, Mixmaster Morris, Ultramarine, B12, Black Dog, The Grid, Orbital and Pete Namlook and labels like Warp and Rising High are all variously associated this "movement". * Meanwhile, as the year progresses, "ambient house" becomes indistinguishable from other forms of ambient music. As a distinct musical genre, it's dead. |