Dark ambient is a subgenre of ambient music which emerged in the 1980s and 1990s with the introduction of new synthesizer and sampling technology in the electronic music genre and other technical advances in music. Dark ambient is a very diverse genre; it is often closely linked with industrial music, noise, ethereal wave, and sometimes even black metal, yet can be free from any derivatives and connections to other genres or styles. The term is generally used as a catch-all for any form of ambient music that has dark, foreboding, ominous, or discordant overtones. Ambient industrial is a hybrid genre of ambient and industrial music; the term industrial being used in the original experimental sense, rather than in the sense of industrial metal or EBM. Ambient industrial makes use of Industrial principles such as use of anti-music, extra-musical elements and shock tactics... Ambient music is a musical genre that incorporates elements of a number of different styles - including jazz, electronic music, new age, modern classical music, traditional, world, and noise. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For the band, see 1990s (band). ... World map showing the location of Europe. ... A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. ... An electronic musical instrument is a musical instrument that produces its sounds using electronics. ... Field recording is the technique for capturing the audible illustration of an environment, produced outside of a recording studio. ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ... Ambient music is a musical genre that incorporates elements of a number of different styles - including jazz, electronic music, new age, modern classical music, traditional, world, and noise. ... Synthesizer as used in music, is a term derived from a Greek word syntithetai < synthesis (συντίθεται < σύνθεσις) and is used to describe a device capable of generating and/or manipulating electronic signals for use in music creation, recording and performance. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... It has been suggested that Chicago Industrial be merged into this article or section. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Ethereal Wave, also called Ethereal Darkwave [1], Etheric Wave [2] or Heavenly Voices in Europe and is simply called Ethereal in the United States, is a term that describes a subgenre of Darkwave music. ... Black metal is an extreme heavy metal subgenre. ...

Overview

The genre did not have a single pioneering musician or persons who invented the term or genre, it somewhat evolved on its own, similar to that of the IDM genre. The roots of dark ambient can be seen in several of Brian Eno's early collaborations that had a distinctly dark or discordant edge, notably "An Index of Metals" (from Evening Star (1975)), a collaboration with Robert Fripp that incorporated harsh guitar feedback, the ambient pieces on the second half of David Bowie's Low (1977), and Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics (1980), a collaboration with Jon Hassell. Intelligent dance music (commonly IDM) is a genre of electronic music derived from dance music of the 1980s and early 1990s which puts an emphasis on novel processing and sequencing. ... Brian Eno (pronounced ) (born Brian Peter George St. ... Evening Star (1975) is an album by the British ambient musicians Robert Fripp and Brian Eno. ... Robert Fripp (born May 16, 1946 in Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England) is a guitarist, record producer and a composer, perhaps best known for being the guitarist for, and only constant member of King Crimson. ... David Bowie (IPA: []) (born David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947) is an English singer, songwriter, actor, multi-instrumentalist, producer, arranger and audio engineer. ... Low is a 1977 album by David Bowie, widely regarded as one of his most influential releases. ... Not to be confused with The Libertiness bassist John Hassall Jon Hassell (born March 22, 1937, Memphis, Tennessee) is an American musician and trumpet player. ...

Ambient industrial projects like Coil, Lilith, Lustmord, Zoviet France, and Nocturnal Emissions evolved out of industrial music during the 1980s, and were some of the earliest artists to create consistently "dark" ambient music. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, an ethereal wave trend emerged within the dark wave movement, that tended toward moody atmospheric pieces rather than jangly minor-key rock. Ethereal wave was mainly associated with the Projekt record label, with bands like Black Tape for a Blue Girl doing music that ranged into moody ambient soundscapes. Ambient industrial is a hybrid genre of ambient and industrial music; the term industrial being used in the original experimental sense, rather than in the sense of industrial metal or EBM. Ambient industrial makes use of Industrial principles such as use of anti-music, extra-musical elements and shock tactics... Coil was an English cross-genre, experimental music group formed in 1982 by John Balance—later credited as Jhonn Balance—and his lover Peter Christopherson, aka Sleazy.[1] The duo worked together on a series of releases before Balance chose the name Coil, which he claimed to be inspired by... Lilith is a pioneer American Dark Ambient music group formed by Scott Gibbons in 1986. ... Brian Lustmord Williams is a musician credited with creating the dark ambient genre with the influential album, Heresy - a relentlessly dark work that sounds like a journey through Hell. ... Zoviet france (also known as Soviet France, and also written as :zoviet*france:) is a fairly prolific industrial music group from Newcastle upon Tyne in Northern England. ... Nocturnal Emissions is sound art project that has released numerous records and CDs in music styles ranging from electro-acoustic, musique concrete, hybridised beats, sound collage, post-industrial music and noise music. ... Ethereal Wave, also called Ethereal Darkwave [1], Etheric Wave [2] or Heavenly Voices in Europe and is simply called Ethereal in the United States, is a term that describes a subgenre of Darkwave music. ... The text below is generated by a template, which has been proposed for deletion. ... Ethereal Wave, also called Ethereal Darkwave [1], Etheric Wave [2] or Heavenly Voices in Europe and is simply called Ethereal in the United States, is a term that describes a subgenre of Darkwave music. ... projekt is a label for gothic music in the goth scene rivaled only by trent reznor and NIN (the second n is reversed on album art) ... black tape for a blue girl is an American gothic band formed in 1986. ...

By the mid-1990s, a large number of artists were working in ambient industrial, ambient noise, ethereal wave, illbient, isolationism, and other emerging "dark ambient" styles. Among these artists were Autopsia, Vidna Obmana, Daniel Menche, Lull, Raison d'etre, and Shinjuku Thief. In the same time dark ambient vibrated into contemporary classical music. Example of this can be project Aghiatrias or solo works of composer Vladimír Hirsch. This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ... Autopsia:Song Of The Night / Le Chant De La Nuit Autopsia is depersonalized art project dealing with music and visual production. ... Vidna Obmana is a pseudonym for Belgian composer and ambient music artist Dirk Serries. ... Daniel Menche is a US musician from Portland, Oregon, whose work could best be described as belonging to the noise genre, though some of his works touch on ritual ambient, dark ambient, and other related styles. ... Dark Ambient side-project of Mick Harris. ... ... Shinjuku Thief is an experimental recording project of Australian musician Darrin Verhagen, that could be described as dark ambient or gothic industrial. ... In the broadest sense, contemporary music is any music being written in the present day. ... AGHIATRIAS (Vladimír Hirsch and Tom Saivon Aghiatrias is Czech so called „integrated music“ ensemble from Prague of composer Vladimír Hirsch and sound-engineer Tom Saivon, started in 1999 as more abstract sprout of their sympho-industrial band Skrol, stressing the work with rich arsenal of sound structures. ... Vladimír Hirsch Vladimír Hirsch (born July 3, 1954 in BeneÅ¡ov, former Czechoslovakia, today Czech Republic) is a composer of new forms of contemporary classical music. ...

Generally the music tends to evoke a feeling of solitude, melancholy, confinement, and isolation. However, while the theme in the music tends to be "dark" in nature, some artists create organic soundscapes which don't prey on misanthropic tendencies. Examples of such productions are those of Oöphoi, Tau Ceti, and Klaus Wiese. Tau Ceti (Ï„ Cet / Ï„ Ceti) is a star commonly mentioned by science fiction authors since it is similar to the Sun in mass and spectral type in addition to being relatively close to us. ...

Related styles

Ambient industrial

Main article: Ambient industrial

While dark ambient is primarily a descendant of ambient music itself, it is closely related to industrial music. Dark ambient gets the term dark from the dark theme often portrayed in industrial. Feelings of an industrial nature are present. Old abandoned factories, primitive machines, and noise. The dark 'non musical' and realistic feel gives some dark ambient its feel of solitude and isolation. Ambient industrial is a hybrid genre of ambient and industrial music; the term industrial being used in the original experimental sense, rather than in the sense of industrial metal or EBM. Ambient industrial makes use of Industrial principles such as use of anti-music, extra-musical elements and shock tactics... Ambient music is a musical genre that incorporates elements of a number of different styles - including jazz, electronic music, new age, modern classical music, traditional, world, and noise. ...

Ambient noise

Main article: noise music

Noise music is often regarded as a 'relative' or 'sister' genre to dark ambient, or vice-versa. Noise is considered unpleasant and dark, as is dark ambient. Some noise artists create almost ambient soundscapes, such as Aube, Junkielover, MOZ, Daniel Menche, Kiyoshi Mizutani, Iszoloscope, and some Merzbow. Some, for example Iszoloscope, also compose ambient on the side, such as his Les Gorges Des Limbes album. While the two genres can't really compare sound wise, many labels, such as Ant-Zen, release both ambient and noise, as well as combinations of both, taking both avant-garde genres further. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Aube is the name used by Japanese musician Akifumi Nakajima (born) for his experimental noise records. ... Daniel Menche is a US musician from Portland, Oregon, whose work could best be described as belonging to the noise genre, though some of his works touch on ritual ambient, dark ambient, and other related styles. ... Yann Faussurier Iszoloscope is an industrial band from Ottawa, Canada, currently based in Ottawa. ... // Merzbow (Japanese; メルツバウ) is the name used by Japanese musician Masami Akita (秋田昌美 Akita Masami) for most of his experimental noise records, and is considered by many to be the earliest project among others in what has become known as the Japanese noise scene. He has released many CDs, LPs and cassettes... Yann Faussurier Iszoloscope is an industrial band from Ottawa, Canada, currently based in Ottawa. ... Ant-Zen Audio and Visual Arts is a German record label founded in 1994 by Stefan Alt (aka recording artist S.Alt), who serves as the art director. ... A work similar to Marcel Duchamps Fountain Avant garde (written avant-garde) is a French phrase, one of many French phrases used by English speakers. ...

Musique concrete

Main article: Musique concrete

Some consider dark ambient to be more related to musique concrete, in the sense that it frequently utilizes natural sounds gathered through field recordings. Musique concrète is the name given to a class of electronic music produced from editing together fragments of natural and industrial sounds. ... Field recording is the technique for capturing the audible illustration of an environment. ...

Black ambient

Main article: Black ambient

While black metal and ambient are nothing alike (other than utilizing minimalism to different extents), a lot of metal bands, specifically black metal, have side projects in which they produce dark ambient, noise, or other experimental types of music. Many bands mix ambient in their albums, creating something unique and original, similar to that of Ulver and other avant-garde metal acts. Some people have spawned a new subgenre, black ambient, in relation to black metal, as it is often related to the ideology in some black metal, as well as linked to various forms of satanism. Related to this style are artists such as: Darkspace, Paysage d'Hiver, Summoning, Blut Aus Nord, MZ. 412, Vestigial Aghast, Karna,WHEN, Wongraven, Abruptum, Neptune Towers, later Burzum, m² and Pazuzu. Black Ambient is a music manifestation starting in Europe, which has a wide range of artists, mainly influenced by black metal and ambient music. ... In popular music, a side-project is a project undertaken by one (or several) person already known for their involvement in another band. ... Ulver (Norwegian for Wolves) is an experimental musical ensemble from Norway that started out making folk-inspired black metal and neo-classical folk music. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For summoning magical creatures in the Final Fantasy series of RPGs, see Caller (character class). ... Blut Aus Nord is a black metal/post-black metal/industrial metal band from Mondeville in France. ... A vestigial organ is an organ whose original function has been lost during evolution. ... Karna (Sanskrit: कर्ण written Karṇa in IAST transliteration) is one of the central figures in Hindu epic Mahabharata. ... Satyr (born Sigurd Wongraven on November 28, 1975) is the vocalist, lead and rhythm guitarist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Norwegian black metal band Satyricon. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Fenriz Neptune Towers is a Avantgarde Astral Alien Synth side-project formed in 1993 by Fenriz of Darkthrone. ... Cover of Hvis Lyset Tar Oss (en:If the light takes us) Burzum began in 1991 as a prominent and influential Norwegian black metal solo project of Varg Vikernes (born Kristian Vikernes). ... An editor has expressed a concern that the subject of the article does not satisfy the notability guideline or one of the following guidelines for inclusion on Wikipedia: Biographies, Books, Companies, Fiction, Music, Neologisms, Numbers, Web content, or several proposals for new guidelines. ... Assyrian demon Pazuzu, 1st millenium BC, Louvre Museum. ...

See also

• List of dark ambient artists
• List of electronic music genres
• Dark psytrance

The following is a list of notable artists who compose, or have composed dark ambient music. ... This is a list of electronic music genres and sub-genres, though for the latter not all possess their own article (in which case, see the main genre article). ... Dark psytrance (often called dark psy or simply dark) is a darker and distorted form of psychedelic trance music that is made mostly in Russia, Germany, Papua New Guinea (predominantly acoustic dark psy) and more & more in other countries worldwide from last years. ...

External links

• Waerloga Records - Mailorder and Label for dark ambient music
• Heathen Harvest - Illuminating The Post-Industrial Underground
• Cold Meat Industry
• Vestigial
• Cyclic Law
• Far From Showbiz
• IRONFLAME.de
• La Main Gauche production
• Brokendolls
• Cold Warning
• New Risen Throne

Radiostations

• www.darkambientradio.de
• RADIO INFERNO