Best of 2017 - Top 6 Albums: Dark Ambience
2017 saw more of the same from a genre traditionally dominated by prolific sound artisans whose mastery in crafting monolithic evil soundscapes has often gone hand in hand with unprecedented prolific output.
As a genre with some of the lowest barriers to entry, every year brings new gems to the forefront, usually with little fanfare and no real way of knowing whether a shot in the dark or harbinger of greater things to come.
The search in the genre for these gems proves to be more of a satisfying one then in most genres, especially as the last few years continues to bring more and more varied influences to the songwriting on display.
So, without further ado, here are my selections for the best Dark Ambient releases of 2017:
6. Dale Cooper Quartet & the Dictaphones - Astrild Astrild (Denovali Records)
Starting a best of Dark Ambience list with a Noir Jazz release that harkens to the Noir film movement of the early and mid 90's is a bit of a strange start, but hear me out because this French Big Band approach to composition, often numbering over 10 members per track, creates full bodied music that is just as much equal parts Dark Ambience as it is Noir Jazz.
Maybe a bit too much Angelo Badalamenti worship for some, I've always found the Dale Cooper Quartet's suspenseful and purposeful sound one that would find a home in both the darkest of midnight dive bars in New York and as the soundtrack to a tragic tale of love lost.
When there is vocals on tracks, they never dominate and always try to lure the reader in as if building to a suspenseful climax, but with no relief. Astrild Astrild is the bullet shell that never fired, the lit match that went out when it fell, the murdered soul who sank and never rose back up to pin the killer.
5. Ancestral Voices - Divination (Horo)
A more traditional, drone focused Dark Ambient release, Manchester's Liam Blackburn builds on his debut, the Ambient Techno Night of Visions, with this monolithic masterpiece.
An album that seems to breathe with the night, and whose heart beats in time with long forgotten entities deep within the earth and residing in ourselves, Divination is sprawling in it's atmosphere and feels bigger than the sum of its parts.
4. Aaron Turner & Daniel Menche - Nox (SIGE Records)
One 32 minute track. That is 'Nox'.
The project is the brain child of Aaron Turner (best known as the sludge metal icon behind Old Man Gloom, Sumac, Isis and others) and prolific Dark Ambient / Drone composer, Daniel Menche.
'Nox' is an experience that will let your mind wander and drift through the abyss with textures and layers more vapid than the last, then reach out and forcefully pull you back into a reality that demands your attention. The strength of the record lies in the movements and the varied environments 'Nox' brings you to.
3. Atrium Carceri & Cities Last Broadcast - Black Corner Den (Cryo Chamber)
A collaboration from two mainstays, Simon Heath (aka Atrium Carceri) and Pär Boström (aka Cities Last Broadcast) form a Swedish power duo creating an experience that seems to perfectly bridge the gap between their perspective projects' traditional sounds.
Employing field recording techniques and drones to create the atmospheric backdrops Cities Last Broadcast is known for, while more dynamic secondary textures and occasional melodies reflect Atrium Carceri's now iconic approach to Dark Ambience, Black Corner Den feels like the album image, the sonic equivalence of moon lighting smoke in an otherwise lightless den.
2. Empusae - Lueur (ConSouling)
Somewhere between a bombastic ritualistic experience and a more primeval Industrial Darkwave, Nicolas Van Meirhaeghe, the mind behind this one man dark orchestra of composition, has built a varied listening experience that differentiates movements within his pieces with precision rarely encountered in the genre.
Colin H. Van Eeckhout (Amenra) adds harrowing emotional vocals to the album rounding out this seemingly conflicting sparse, yet at times visceral listening experience.
Van Meirhaeghe has deftly said of the sound of Empusae:
[Empusae] is music for the darkened souls, the lost ones. The style of music is like a journey from the postapocalyptic industrial and urban wastelands to the organic sounds of the wilderness in nature.
1. Prurient - Rainbow Mirror (Profound Lore)
Prolific harsh noise mainstay, Prurient (Dominick Fernow), released this 3-hour opus to commemorate his 20 years of creating music that has left his listeners sobbing uncontrollably in the corner of featureless rooms in its wake.
Influences include harsh noise and industrial, though this release is a bit less dense and more exploratory and atmospheric than much of Prurient's backlog. At three hours, you know that you are in for a slog, but the record wears its length well and no sections feel comparably weak.
Essentially, it's a field guide through layered dark ambient and noise soundscapes composed by the foremost expert of the subject who uses unique textures and sounds to continue to engage both the passive and active listeners.
While it's hard not to feel that Rainbow Mirror is one of Fernow's more self-indulgent releases, 20 years of consistent masterpieces might make this one of my favorite long-tail abyss explorations of all time.
what are your favorites Dark Ambient releases of 2017?
Any other music lists you'd like to see?
please let me know in the comments.
stay away from the light, my friends.
please follow me, @carmalain7, if you would like to see more best of music, genre exploration and new feature music release posts - at least one a week. and i always love to hear what jams are inspiring others, please feel free to message and leave links and talk music in the comments.
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puts on ear-phones
slaps hands together
Let's mess with my head!
Already on Astrild Astrild and I'm digging this very much. I'm an idiot when it comes to music. No talent for creating it whatsoever. I think that is partly responsible for how powerful it is in inspiring me for other forms of creativity. This is exactly the kind of stuff I go hunting for. Thanks @carmalain7.
so excited to hear that, mate!
It's a pretty varied list as far as a list built around a genre is concerned, so i hope it proves to be inspirational in a variety of ways to your creating.
thank you for the kind words, @cosimo, and definitely let me know how the other albums strike you when you get to them.
Hello there human.
This sort of music really pumps my pneumatics. My master, however, (@markangeltrueman) isn't really into it although he says that the quality of this post alone made him go and listen to some of the tracks to "see what all the fuss was about". Needless to say, he went back to listening to his 80's soft rock; that's where he feels most comfortable.
However, he was delighted that this post got the recognition it deserved and asked me to comment on his behalf, re-steem on the @steemsearch blog and give it the usual, cheesy, curator seal of approval.
Well done
thank you so much, mechfriend!
will have some posts in the future on some, shall we say, more easily listenable music, but elated you enjoyed this feature of a niche genre with a lot of hidden talent!
thank you for the read.
I think there's a lot of interesting music you got there. It would more convenient if you create Spotify playlist, so that we could listen it right away. How i love music, i listen to various genres. Though not these type, but i will surely try to stream it on Spotify. Is this genre similar to Metal Rock?
great