【コラム】 アンビエント：「聴く音楽」から「感じる音楽」へII

From “music to listen to” to “music to feel” II

Text: mmr｜Theme: Ambient, environmental music, electronic music culture theory

Ambient is a genre of music that is not intended to be “actively listened to” by listeners, but rather to “exist in a space.” He eliminates clear melodies and rhythms and instead uses sustained sounds (drones), environmental sounds (field recordings), and acoustic processing to construct auditory landscapes.

This genre is extremely philosophical music that stands on the border between music and art, sound and space, perception and consciousness.

■ Before the 1960s: Ambient music as an idea

Social background

After World War II, with the acceleration of urbanization and industrialization, people’s living environments became acutely aware of the contrast between “noise” and “silence.”Artists and composers began trying to rethink music as an “environment” rather than “entertainment.”

Representative trends

• Erik Satie: “Musique d’ameublement” positioned music not as something to be actively listened to, but as a “function” that constitutes a space.
• John Cage《4’33”》(1952): A radical experiment in which the performer does not make any sound and uses the ambient sounds floating in the venue as music.
• Musique Concrète: Pierre Schaeffer and others attempted to reconstruct sound by making full use of recording and editing techniques.

Equipment/Technology

• Editing with tape recorder (cut up, reverse rotation, speed change)
• Field recording (city crowd, natural sounds)
• It was a conceptual precedent and later became the philosophical foundation of ambient music.

■ 1970s: Establishment of ambient music

Social background

The feeling of emptiness after the Vietnam War, the oil crisis, and the infiltration of 1970s New Age ideology.While commercial music has become more pop-oriented, there has also been a growing trend towards silence,''meditation,’’ and ``innerity.’’

Masterpiece

• Brian Eno “Discreet Music” (1975)
• Brian Eno “Ambient 1: Music for Airports” (1978)
• Cluster & Eno “Cluster & Eno” (1977)

Equipment/Technology

• Modular synths such as EMS VCS3 and ARP 2600
• Sustained sound generation using tape loop echo
• Emphasis on processing and chance

Features

During this period, the word “ambient” took root, and the role of music as urban spatial art was established.It has attracted attention as music that can be adapted to airports, hospitals, and public spaces.

■ 1980s: Fusion with electronic music

Social background

The music is driven by the tension of the Cold War structure and at the same time by optimism towards technology.With the spread of home synthesizers, ambient music has shifted from being music for a minority of listeners to music that is part of everyday life.

Masterpiece

• Harold Budd & Brian Eno “The Plateaux of Mirror” (1980)
• Tangerine Dream “Exit” (1981)
• Brian Eno “Thursday Afternoon” (1985)

Equipment/Technology

• Yamaha DX7 (Clear tone of FM sound source)
• Roland Juno-60 (Rich pad sound)
• Ambient sound processing using early samplers such as Fairlight CMI

Features

It intersected with new age music and became commercially popular in the context of healing and meditation.Ambient music has expanded from “museum music” to “everyday relaxation.”

■ 1990s: Encounter with club culture

Social background

Globalization and the explosion of techno/rave culture after the end of the Cold War.A ``chill-out space’’ was needed in between the mass-consuming four-on-the-floor beats.

Masterpiece

• The Orb “Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld” (1991)
• Aphex Twin “Selected Ambient Works 85-92” (1992)
• Biosphere “Substrata” (1997)
• Global Communication “76:14” (1994)

Equipment/Technology

• Sampler such as Akai S1000
• Ambient application of Roland TB-303, TR-808
• Live recording with DAT tape

Features

The rise of ambient house and ambient techno.It functions as music that supports the “behind the scenes” of club culture.The area where environmental sounds and beats intersect is explored.

■ 2000s: Digital age and cinematic expansion

Social background

The unstable world situation after 9/11.Amid the stress of urbanization, themes such as meditation'' andhealing’’ are sought after.Digitalization has dramatically expanded sonic expression.

Masterpiece

• Fennesz “Endless Summer” (2001)
• William Basinski “The Disintegration Loops” (2002)
• Stars of the Lid “And Their Refinement of the Decline” (2007)

Equipment/Technology

• Popularization of DAW (Ableton Live, Pro Tools)
• Real-time processing with Max/MSP
• Drone with electric guitar + effect pedal

Features

Forays into art, film music, and installation.Ambient music has moved from “listening” to “experiencing”.

■ 2010s-present: Post-Ambient

Social background

Streaming culture has become established, and Lo-fi Hip Hop and Chill-style BGM have become explosively popular.Directly connected to meditation, yoga, and mindfulness, ambient is redefined as “the music of life.”

Masterpiece

• Tim Hecker “Virgins” (2013)
• Oneohtrix Point Never “Replica” (2011)
• Hiroshi Yoshimura “Green” (1986 → Reissued and brought back international attention)

Equipment/Technology

• Soft synth (Omnisphere, Kontakt)
• High performance field recorder (Zoom, Tascam)
• Audio integration with VR/AR

Features

“Infinite loop BGM” culture on YouTube and Twitch.Ambient has become established as the “environmental sound of the internet space” beyond the listening target.

List of 10 representative songs from each generation

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s~

■ Equipment timeline: Technology that supported ambient music

■ Examples of ambient use in movies and museums

Movie

• “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968, Stanley Kubrick)
• The atonal music of Ligeti and Penderecki played a de facto ambient role.
• “Blade Runner” (1982, Vangelis)
• Sustained synth sounds and futuristic city sounds become the archetypal ambient film music.
• “Solaris” (1972, Tarkovsky / Music: Eduard Artemyev)
• Electro-acoustic cosmic ambience.Maximize the psychological effect of silence.
• “Lost in Translation” (2003, Sofia Coppola / Music: Kevin Shields, Air)
• Surrounding the loneliness of the city with ambient sounds.

Museum/Installation

• Brian Eno “77 Million Paintings” (2006~)
• A generative installation that combines video and sound.
• Ryoji Ikeda “datamatics” (2006~)
• Convert data to audio and video.Create a minimal and ambient immersive space.
• Ryuichi Sakamoto “async – Installation” (2017, Watari Museum of Art, etc.)
• Ambient art that explores the view of life and death and memory, combining environmental sounds and electronic sounds.
• Olafur Eliasson “The Weather Project” (2003, Tate Modern)
• Presents an ambient immersive space as an integrated visual and audio experience.

Ambient and architecture/urban planning

Ambient has the aspect of ``acoustic architecture.’’

• Airports (Eno’s Music for Airports): Resonance of architectural space and sound.
• Urban Soundscape Studies (R. Murray Schafer): Ambient sounds define the urban experience.
• In modern architecture, it has been introduced as an “acoustic design” that goes beyond background music, contributing to the psychological comfort of cities.

Ambient and therapy (sound therapy)

• Use in medical settings (relaxation before and after surgery, improving concentration).
• Essential music for meditation and yoga.
• Research reports that ``binaural beats’’ using natural sounds and low frequencies have a stress-reducing effect.
• By merging with psychotherapy and music therapy, ambient music has been established as “therapeutic music.”

Special feature on Japanese ambient artists

Hiroshi Yoshimura

• Representative works “Music for Nine Post Cards” (1982), “Green” (1986)
• With its simple melody and clear sound, it has been reevaluated overseas in recent years.

Yuji Takahashi

• Interacted with avant-garde composers such as John Cage and helped establish experimental music in Japan.

Ryuichi Sakamoto

• ‘async’ (2017) combines environmental sounds and acoustic art.Ambient elements have been deployed throughout his career.

Kenji Kawai

• Expressing an ambient space with anime music such as [``Ghost in the Shell’’] (https://amzn.to/3VwvujB).

others

• Yasuhiro Yoshigaki, ACO, CHIhei Hatakeyama, etc.
• Japan’s unique “ma” and “wabi-sabi” create a texture different from that of overseas ambient music.

Conclusion

Ambient is a ``spatial art’’ that goes beyond the realm of music, and has evolved through connections with architecture, cities, psychotherapy, and technology. It’s not just a genre, it’s “sound design for humans to live in harmony with the environment.”

In the future, ambient will become even more essential as ``environmental infrastructure’’ in the metaverse and urban design.

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