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ambient vs. new age
 

offline Zeus from San Francisco (United States) on 2002-10-12 00:24 [#00401085]
Points: 14042 Status: Lurker



im still trying to figure out what the god damn difference
is.

anyone?


 

offline Toejam from Perth (Australia) on 2002-10-12 00:26 [#00401086]
Points: 3077 Status: Regular



New age is sort of more...spiritual maybe?

I really am not sure.


 

offline Zeus from San Francisco (United States) on 2002-10-12 00:34 [#00401089]
Points: 14042 Status: Lurker



i looked on allmusic.com, and it said ambient music is a
subgenre of new age

they listened aphex twin as one of the key artists

i refuse to accept this.


 

offline titsworth from Washington, DC (United States) on 2002-10-12 00:37 [#00401090]
Points: 14550 Status: Lurker



history repeats itself


 

offline Zeus from San Francisco (United States) on 2002-10-12 00:42 [#00401091]
Points: 14042 Status: Lurker



hence the word "still" in my first post.

those replys are all speculation

im looking for real definitions



 

offline titsworth from Washington, DC (United States) on 2002-10-12 00:53 [#00401092]
Points: 14550 Status: Lurker



face it, the music "we" listen to is only a step away from
"faggot shit"


 

offline aron from saskatoon (Canada) on 2002-10-12 00:55 [#00401093]
Points: 3756 Status: Lurker



ha`


 

offline uviol from United States on 2002-10-12 01:21 [#00401100]
Points: 2496 Status: Lurker



when i think ambient, i think: aphex, orb, spacetime
continuum, biosphere, higher intelligence agency, FSOL, KLF,
human mesh dance, etc.

new age, i think: enya, kenny g, clannad, late tangerine
dream.

i think they have decidedly different aims, but i'd be hard
pressed toi define it. i think of examples as the best way
to tell them apart. these are my opinions, though


 

offline princo from Shitty City (Geelong) (Australia) on 2002-10-12 01:36 [#00401104]
Points: 13411 Status: Lurker | Followup to uviol: #00401100



I like enya's sound!
its really lush


 

offline REFLEX from Edmonton, Alberta (Canada) on 2002-10-12 01:37 [#00401105]
Points: 8864 Status: Regular



what was new age 10 years ago, might not be today.


 

offline titsworth from Washington, DC (United States) on 2002-10-12 01:40 [#00401108]
Points: 14550 Status: Lurker | Followup to uviol: #00401100



kenny g is smooth jazz.. i haven't heard late T.G. but their
best known music is really great early electronica, they
must have really changed a lot to be fit into that new age
category.


 

offline titsworth from Washington, DC (United States) on 2002-10-12 01:41 [#00401110]
Points: 14550 Status: Lurker



i think the only true differences for us is new age tends to
have more vocals and is a phrase we throw around with a lot
of contempt, whereas ambient is somehow better because it
lacks vocals and isn't popular with housewives (so we like
to believe, though this is in fact another instance of
ignorance being bliss.. you'd be surprised who listens to
your precious ambient, idm, and electronica).


 

offline Zeus from San Francisco (United States) on 2002-10-12 01:55 [#00401115]
Points: 14042 Status: Lurker



i dont think vocals has anything to do with it

there is ALOT of instrumental new age. just soundscapes and
stuff.

and i dont care who listens to it. its just that i woulnt
not put aphex twin in the same catagory as the
aforementioned... and im trying to understand the reasoning
behind it.


 

offline uviol from United States on 2002-10-12 01:57 [#00401116]
Points: 2496 Status: Lurker



haha well put, and yes i suppose i was a little off with
kenny g, guess i was just associating audiences. late TD is
total crap in comparison with their groundbreaking 70s/80s
synthsizer work. they stopped doing incredible, innovative
stuff around the late eighties and gave way to a sound
that's more like weather channel music than anything. what
I have heard is pleasant but very forgettable, simply in
comparison with their prior grandeur. i don't mind weather
channel music or muzak per se when that's what it is, but
when a formerly fantastic synth band turns into that, well
it doesn't work too well.


 

offline jand from Braintree (United Kingdom) on 2002-10-12 02:01 [#00401119]
Points: 5975 Status: Moderator | Show recordbag



They've got similar roots in some respects but pretty
distinct audiences...

New Age is aimed at your Yoga instructor crowd...the
meditation crew..

whereas Ambient is just a bit more narcotic...

Just say NO to over-reverbed Pan Pipes...and don't buy music
from hippy newage shops/Oxfam...


 

offline jand from Braintree (United Kingdom) on 2002-10-12 02:02 [#00401120]
Points: 5975 Status: Moderator | Show recordbag



oh yeah, you easily identifiy newage music from the
cover...if it got a seagulls, a unicorn, rainbows or
breaking waves then steer clear...

that shit is toxic...


 

offline tolstoyed from the ocean on 2002-10-12 03:42 [#00401139]
Points: 50073 Status: Moderator



big difference imo
i love ambient and i can't listen to new age
i think ambient is much more electronic sounding (not always
though)-speaking for me ambient takes me to another level,
while new age makes me nervous :)


 

offline uzim on 2002-10-12 05:57 [#00401168]
Points: 17716 Status: Lurker



well,
"selected new age works, volume II"
would have sounded cheesy, wouldn't it? ' _ '


 

offline Laserbeak from Netherlands, The on 2002-10-12 07:10 [#00401178]
Points: 2670 Status: Lurker



(Cut'n'Pasted)

New Age:

Of or relating to a complex of spiritual and
consciousness-raising movements originating in the 1980s and
covering a range of themes from a belief in spiritualism and
reincarnation to advocacy of holistic approaches to health
and ecology.
Of, relating to, or resembling New Age music.

n.
A style of modern music characterized by a relaxing or
dreamy texture derived from quiet harmonies and drones,
often incorporating synthesizers and acoustic and ethnic
instrumentation.

Ambient music:
Ambient Music must be able to accomodate many levels of
listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it
must be as ignorable as it is interesting.


 

offline Ubik from United States on 2002-10-12 08:51 [#00401204]
Points: 662 Status: Lurker



Zeus, they are oversimplified labels and stereotypes people
use for convience in understanding the world, they are
SUBJECTIVE, they are not OBJECTIVE. is track 3 from SAW2
ambient or new age? ... it's both or neither! ten years ago
people would give you a different answer, ten years from now
people will give a different answer... these are labels
people stick onto things to simplifiy and partition our
lives, this is normal part of human existence, get used to
it...why do you take these things so seriously?!?!

and I can't belive you call yourself "IDM", that is one of
the silliest labels of all


 

offline fleetmouse from Horny for Truth on 2002-10-12 09:01 [#00401206]
Points: 18042 Status: Lurker



I was playing LP5 for my aunt and she thought corc sounded
like new age music. She also thought vose in sounded like
something that'd be playing in one of thouse mall boutiques
she avoids.

I'd say a good rule of thumb is: new age music makes people
who aren't completely braindead want to smash kill destroy.

jand ".if it got a seagulls, a unicorn, rainbows or breaking
waves then steer clear... "

LOL fuck yes, sometimes you can judge a book by its cover.



 

offline Nathan Jones on 2002-10-12 09:04 [#00401208]
Points: 125 Status: Addict



New Age = Brian Eno crud
Ambient = see webster's


 

offline Zeus from San Francisco (United States) on 2002-10-12 10:02 [#00401244]
Points: 14042 Status: Lurker



Ubik: i call my self IDM on there, cause although its a shit
term, its a widely used term that people will understand
when they read it.


 

offline marlowe from Antarctica on 2002-10-12 10:04 [#00401246]
Points: 24593 Status: Regular | Followup to Nathan Jones: #00401208



I would call "music for airports" ambient, not new age,
nathan.

(Jand - loved your depiction of new age)


 

offline Zeus from San Francisco (United States) on 2002-10-12 10:12 [#00401249]
Points: 14042 Status: Lurker



yes... didnt brian eno come up with the term ambient music?



 

offline raimons from Stockholm (Sweden) on 2002-10-12 10:46 [#00401276]
Points: 4266 Status: Lurker



I really think genres in genaral are pretty blur.
You cant really say that this is ambient and that is that.
Har to categorize.



 

offline Nathan Jones on 2002-10-12 11:51 [#00401312]
Points: 125 Status: Addict



Eno may have coined the phrase, but it's not synonomous with
new age. New age has the more peaceful Enya wankery style
thing going against it. Ambient is quite a good word for a
style of music, it's a ambience! I say new age is more a
branch of ambience than the other way around.


 

offline titsworth from Washington, DC (United States) on 2002-10-12 12:22 [#00401328]
Points: 14550 Status: Lurker | Followup to Zeus: #00401115



zeus i don't think anyone on this board is too dumb to
realize that you're going out of your way to disagree w/
everything i say and agree w/ anyone who disagrees with me,
so if you think your act is fooling anyone think again...

but pretending to take your response seriously, 1. i only
said new age tends to have more vocals, i didn't say "it has
vocals" 2. how are soundscapes not ambient?


 

offline titsworth from Washington, DC (United States) on 2002-10-12 12:25 [#00401330]
Points: 14550 Status: Lurker | Followup to Nathan Jones: #00401208



New Age = Brian Eno crud
Ambient = see webster's


you DO realize brian eno coined the term ambient right?!
maybe someone's already shut you down on this thread, i
haven't gotten that far yet..


 

offline titsworth from Washington, DC (United States) on 2002-10-12 12:26 [#00401333]
Points: 14550 Status: Lurker | Followup to Zeus: #00401249



ah zeus got to it first.. yep. you can't brand eno "new age"
when he invented the genre of ambient, i mean damn.


 

offline Amonbrune from Vancouver (Canada) on 2002-10-12 12:33 [#00401336]
Points: 7327 Status: Addict



Aphex is ambient? hardly. sure he came out wit SAW I and
II but that does not make him ambient. I would call him
strickly electronica or IDM sure...


 

offline titsworth from Washington, DC (United States) on 2002-10-12 12:35 [#00401338]
Points: 14550 Status: Lurker | Followup to Amonbrune: #00401336



oh, right... he called his music ambient but he's wrong and
you're right. gotcha! hehe


 

offline Zeus from San Francisco (United States) on 2002-10-12 14:23 [#00401397]
Points: 14042 Status: Lurker



um

ok

my post was serious dude.

you said new age tends to have more vocals. well, i
disagree. almost all of the new age music ive heard had no
vocals. the only one i can think of off the top of my head
that uses vocals, would be enya.

and yes, soundscapes ARE ambient... which is why im trying
to figure out the difference... cause they are basically the
same thing, but are called different things.

im not goin out of my way to disagree with you. you are the
one who seems to be goin out of their way, in spite. posting
that this topic has been done before. then you mock me by
saying my "precious ambient idm and electronica"

please, lets not make this into another fight thread, based
on something small and stupid. ive had enough of it.


 

offline Phobiazero from the next Xltronic (Sweden) on 2002-10-12 14:25 [#00401399]
Points: 10507 Status: Webmaster | Followup to Zeus: #00401397 | Show recordbag



"people are really unfriendly here"


 

offline Zeus from San Francisco (United States) on 2002-10-12 14:26 [#00401400]
Points: 14042 Status: Lurker



ok


 

offline marlowe from Antarctica on 2002-10-12 15:00 [#00401427]
Points: 24593 Status: Regular | Followup to Amonbrune: #00401336



aphex is a lot of things, Amon - that's why he has so many
fans I imagine -- there's something for "everyone" :)


 

offline Nathan Jones on 2002-10-12 15:03 [#00401429]
Points: 125 Status: Addict



Eno coined the term ambience, he didn't invent it people!


 

offline Sido Dyas from a computer on 2002-10-12 15:04 [#00401433]
Points: 8876 Status: Lurker



its like milk vs strawberry milk.


 

offline marlowe from Antarctica on 2002-10-12 15:05 [#00401434]
Points: 24593 Status: Regular | Followup to Sido Dyas: #00401433



hehe -- I choose Banana Milkshake! :D


 

offline Sido Dyas from a computer on 2002-10-12 15:11 [#00401437]
Points: 8876 Status: Lurker | Followup to marlowe: #00401434



Yeah thats the best kind =)



 

offline mylittlesister from ...wherever (United Kingdom) on 2002-10-12 15:15 [#00401441]
Points: 8472 Status: Regular



new ag,e to me, is a shitty sound on my sound card!


 

offline Zeus from San Francisco (United States) on 2002-10-12 15:15 [#00401443]
Points: 14042 Status: Lurker



hahahahahahahah


 

offline Zeus from San Francisco (United States) on 2002-10-12 15:17 [#00401445]
Points: 14042 Status: Lurker



its kinda true...the sounds used on new age that ive heard
is all pretty, whats the word... cheap?

its like cheesy, and not well produced imo.

like you said, it sounds like it could be made using the
general midi from your soundcard...

hmmm


 


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