Ambient music... Might sound strange
or unusual, but I can guarantee that nearly everyone has heard some form
of it. It's just subtle instrumental music, used as background music
that can also be listened to- according to one of the main composers, a
key characteristic is that it's both interesting and ignorable.
Coincidentally,
this main composer is Brian Eno, someone I heard of only recently, but
who now manages to work his way into everything. Funny how that happens! Eno has produced quite a few soundtracks (or parts of soundtracks) so it's likely you will have heard him at some stage.
Fun facts about Brian Eno- he's worked with a range of artists over his
career, and his full name is Brian Peter George St.John le Baptiste de
la Salle Eno.
Another quite
intriguing composer associated with ambient music is John Cage, who
wrote 4'33". This piece reached fame due to- well, quite literally due
to nothing. It's four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence. This
has caused a lot of people to sniff at it, and regard it as being
useless, when really, it's got a lot of thought behind it. Cage's intent
was for people to use the track as an opportunity to listen to the
world around them- the ambient sounds that form a background to all that
we do.
Finally, Tangerine
Dream are seen as having helped produce psychedelic ambient music. At
first, what they did was seen as risky- they mainly used synthesisers,
which, at the time, were new pieces of technology. People often consider
their music to sound alien or other-worldly.
An Ending (Ascent)- Brian Eno
Stratosfear- Tangerine Dream
4'33"- John Cage