#ambient 2: the plateaux of mirror

[muhammadgiovanni]

Harold Budd & Brian Eno “An Arc of Doves” Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror, 1980.

[azelle-intermisson]

this song goes hard

[posttexasstressdisorder]

'Evenin', folks...Mr. Baggins back with you for what I've decided to call "Sunday Serenade": Music to soothe and make ears happy as we head into next week. So to launch this inaugural edition of the program, I didn't have to think too hard, I mean, what else could we begin with, not one but two serenades: the music of Antonin Dvorak, his Op. 22 (Serenade for Strings) & Op. 44 (Serenade for Winds). Both played quite handily by Neville Marriner and The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, on a Philips recording made in the early '80s. The sound is nothing less than sumptuous. Enjoy.

Shifting to more of an introspective vein, here is one of the most soothing albums I've ever owned: Harold Budd and Brian Eno's ground-breaking Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror, from 1980, followed by their later collaboration, The Pearl.

We continue now with the music of Sir Edward Elgar, his beautiful Serenade for Strings, performed here in a live recording by the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, earlier this year, in April 2024.

And I thought I would end tonight's Sunday Serenade with the music of Vaughan Williams, his "The Lark Ascending", once again, Sir Neville Marriner conducting the ASMF, with violinist Iona Brown.

Mr. Baggins signing off until tomorrow. Be kind, babies, be kind.

[jestergal]

fucking up on my first day at my new job of playing jock jams over the arena speaker system whenever anyone gets a goal by accidentally playing the entirety of Harold Budd and Brian Eno's 1980 album "Ambient 2: Plateaux of Mirror" instead of "Y'all Ready For This"

[bugmistake]

ohhh brian eno Ambient 1: Music for Airports and Ambient 2: The Plateaux Of Mirror take me away.....

[digitaldevilstorymegamitensei]

I was tagged by @umbralwraith to list four albums I’ve been listening to lately!

1) Brian Eno & Harold Budd - Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror.

Such a deeply calming album. It’s like sitting in a hot springs and completely letting go. The soft synth pads and delicate piano work create an incredibly misty, ethereal feeling. The sound of being at peace.

2) Grouper - Ruins

I think this might be the most lonely and longing album I’ve ever heard? I didn’t really *get* Ruins when I first heard it admittedly, I thought it was too melodic and not nearly as hazy or dreamlike as Grouper’s drone material, and I dismissed it as a weird experiment. Recently though I’ve revisited it and found an incredibly heartbreaking, lonesome album. The almost whispered vocals, the incredibly delicate performances across the entire record, the beautiful arrangements. It all comes together to create a uniquely beautiful and uniquely heart wrenching listening experience.

3) Pinkpanthress - to hell with it

Incredibly nostalgic production with two step, downtempo, and breakbeat driven beats create a perfect atmosphere for these incredibly sweet and fun bedroom pop and alternative R&B tracks. Between this and her collaborations with Ice Spice I really think Pinkpanthress is gonna be a name to look out for in coming years. This album is just so damn fun to listen to. I can’t listen to it without being in the absolute best mood.

4) Milo - So The Flies Don’t Come

I think this might be my favorite album ever? If not absolutely favorite it’s definitely in my top three. I’ve listened to this record bordering on religiously over the last four years. There is boundless depth in this record. Some of the best beats I’ve heard in my life, some of my favorite songwriting, and so many incredible lines. There are so many bars on this record that will climb their way into my head so consistently. The entire record is so rich with absolutely incredible lyricism. It’s a record that’s at times incredibly emotionally crushing, but just often extremely funny, and cryptic, disturbing, and deeply personal. It’s such a deeply human record. Literally perfect.

Uhh I think I wanna tag @nickshutter and @ultrarobomd

[thaumatological]

it’s just me and my jicama and my bluetooth speaker and my glass of water and my copy of the listening skin by glenis redmond and my bathtub and my oatmeal and honey bubble bath and ambient 2: the plateaux of mirror by harold budd and brian eno vs the world

[jasper-rolls]

Media Roundup (January 2024)

i started doing a thing on twitter in 2022 where i make a short review of the stuff i'm checking out. i've stopped doing it on twitter because twitter sucks, and started on bluesky instead, but i also realized i could translate it to tumblr, and why haven't i done that before because this is the OG, man, can't forget my roots.

so without further ado, STUFF I LOOKED AT THIS JANUARY!!

MARIO KART WII

I'm using tilt controls! The pain is neverending!

what an awful time. i really remembered enjoying this as a kid, but i'm baffled at how. no game in the series has been this bad in being a total crapshoot whether you win or not. even in 100cc, the game was absolutely exploding my fucking spot for the crime of being in like...5th place. the item balancing on this game is completely broken in the AI's favour, and combined with the wonkiness of the tilt controls, made for a genuinely miserable experience.

Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror - Harold Budd and Brian Eno

so, a bit more of the same as the first album of the series, but i'm happy to go along with a bit more of the same considering they were basically establishing the genre here. a relaxing soundscape you can chill out to

best tracks: "An Arc of Doves", "Among Fields of Crystal"

The Great Gatsby (2013)

i think i just stan for baz luhrmann. love too meld modern music with art deco aesthetics and depict the rise and fall of an era of glorious decadence. hey is it gay to be uncomfortably obsessed with a guy you knew for all of one summer

Ambient 3: Day of Radiance - Laraaji

i think maybe my favourite of the series thus far, taking ambient from a traditional instruments direction rather than the pillowy electronic notes of the other entries. it results in a unique soundscape that i don't think you get in a lot of other places - it feels like meditating in a temple.

best tracks: "The Dance #1", "Meditation #1"

Chapterhouse Dune - Frank Herbert

is it weird to say that i find this thematically a fine end to the series despite the cliffhanger? it feels like frank herbert managed to make a summation of the dune philosophy in this. also probably the best a book has ever passed the bechdel test. women do be politically manipulating

The Get Down

feels like an actual crime that this never ended up getting a season 2. so fantastically good with the soundtrack to end all soundtracks, and gave me an appreciation for hip-hop that i'd not really had prior to now. this show is amazing at getting you to understand the art, Capital A Art of mixing and scratching. the magic is real

Pokémon Emerald

there are some mild hitches in the user experience (please shed the fucking item limit, and also three water HMs is too fucking many) but overall i think this is where these games start to solidify into something truly great. the way the world design and main path encouraged backtracking to discover new stuff in old places was really nice compared to the previous gens where you just went to a place, did all the stuff and then left forever. additionally, there's some unique locales - water heavy it may be but you ain't getting a city in the trees in johto. along with a fairly involved story all things considered, and a difficulty curve that doesn't blow your dick off, its a great time

Elvis (2022)

i'll kind of never not love baz's OTT style and off the wall music choices, and austin butler is a fantastic elvis, but this fudges the details too much for me to truly jive with it i think

Scott Pilgrim - Bryan Lee O'Malley

really should have read this earlier than i did - almost my entire conception of this series was via the movie, and while i loved it at the time, it just ends up doing such an injustice to the original story. multiple times i found myself yelling "WHY WASN'T THIS IN THE MOVIE", ramona gets such a shaft in the film than how deeply she's developed here. what a fantastic series

Ambient 4: On Land - Brian Eno

a darker take on ambient. it's nice to know that even this early in the genre eno was exploring its boundaries. i think 3 remains the favourite, but this was an interesting experiment

best track: "The Lost Day"

Tales of Destiny

i think partly this is because i played the remake of phantasia which came out after this, but it feels stiff and awkward to play - not unbearable, but they're still working out the kinks. plot was interesting to start but ended up kinnnd of generic in the end. i would say it needed more time in the oven to take true advantage of its story, but it turns out the english PSX version cut out like...half the fucking content from the OG, so i guess i'll have to play the director's cut remake to find out whether this game truly shines

---------

and that's it for now. see you at the end of feb

[small-victory]

Cuál es tu top 15 de disco favoritos?

Ay, la aplicación no me avisó que tenía esta pregunta, la acabo de ver :(

Se me hace demasiado difícil responder! Creo que puedo darte mi top 15 de los que he escuchado el último año (la mayoría son viejos, solo que los descubrí ahora):

15. Cheat Codes - Black Thought, Danger Mouse

14. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill - Ms. Lauryn Hill

13. That! Feels Good! - Jessie Ware

12. The Moon and the Melodies - Harold Budd, Cocteau Twins

11. Green - Hiroshi Yoshimura

10. Enola Gay - Asia Menor

9. RENAISSANCE - Beyonce

8. Sometimes I Might Be Introvert - Little Simz

7. Desire, I Want To Turn Into You - Caroline Polacheck

6. Ambient 2: The Plateaux Of Mirror - Brian Eno, Harold Budd

5. SCARING THE HOES - Danny Brown, JPEGMAFIA

4. Ahora o Nunca - CandelaBRO

3. Treasure - Cocteau Twins

2. Esquemas Juveniles - Javiera Mena

1. Dead Magic - Anna von Hausswolff

[lichenmaps]

Ithildin / The Hidden Door to Dwarrowdelf

Judas Priest / Hell Bent for Leather

Brian Eno / Ambient 1: Music for Airports

Harold Budd & Brian Eno / Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror

Robert Wyatt / Rockbottom

Joni Mitchell / Hejira

James Brown / Super Bad

Stevie Wonder / Songs in the Key of Life

[cybershubunkin]

Harold Budd Brian Eno - Ambient 2 The Plateaux Of Mirror

[azelle-intermisson]

july topster

i listened to a lot of music on youtube again this month so not everything is on here so at the end of this post i'm going to put some cool music i found on youtube. also how is kemono ni naritai so high, i only started listening to it yesterday

oops i had a lot of things to say so the rest of my thoughts are below the cut

ambient 2: the plateaux of mirror is an incredible ambient album i love literally every single track off of it. i really need to listen to more harold budd bc he was also on the moon and the melodies with cocteau twins and i loved that album too.first light and among fields of crystals are my favs they make me feel very nostalgic.

listen to hive mind by the internet it is so good. i really love listening to it while i ride my bike. it can be good for listening in the background while you do other stuff but is also really good to just sit down and take in the music. la di da is my fav off the whole album steve lacy fucking killed it on this song i also really love stay the night and next time / humble pie. but if you are reading this please check out the whole album it is so good.

i was listening to a lot of fleetwood mac this month i never really got into them even tho one of my friends recommenced them to me a ton. i really love landslide it makes me cry a lot and rhiannon is a banger.

the persona 3/4 osts are really fucking good i've been playing through the games over the course of the summer and i've been really enjoying them. i've been listening to more of the persona 3 soundtrack bc that is the one i am currently playing through and every song has been a banger but burn my dread, mass destruction and want to be close are my absolute favs. i've already talked about the p4 soundtrack before so i won't go off about it but i really like pursuing my true self and your affection.

NEWW MITSKI WOOOO it's really good i'm so excited for the new album i really wasn't expecting to get anything so soon after laurel hell but i am not complaining.

youtube link time!!

i have listened to this performance a million times everything about it is so amazing. he plays like all of my fav songs from him and i think this is my favorite version of change but honestly every song he plays here is incredible.

katamari soundtrack good :)

this is the performance that got me into radiohead at the start of this year myxomatosis fucks hard

[vaguegrant]

Ambient Albums for Sleep & Relaxation

Just rejoined a Discord server for a creator I back on Patreon, and the very first thing I saw posted there was someone commenting about how much they like Brian Eno’s Ambient 1 and Ambient 2 albums for sleeping, especially when having “a Bees In My Fucking Head night” (and I relate.) As a longtime lover of ambient soundscapes (I was the weirdo who tuned in to NPR to listen to “Music from the Hearts of Space” on late-night drives) I figured I could offer them and anyone else who wants it a curated list of ambient albums I like and think are good. Plus, that gives you a list of artists to investigate further if you want more. We all need some mental health music, after all.

The “ambient” genre too often includes sappy new-age music, lo-fi chillout beats, and way too much EDM. Here I’m trying to focus on the core ambient experience—music that fades into the background and allows itself to be experienced almost subconsciously. If there’s a drumbeat in there somewhere, I probably screwed up.

I’ll be linking to YouTube, and when possible Bandcamp, rather than Spotify or other app-driven services. If you like something, find it in your preferred service—or better yet, buy it if you can and support artists who make weird, niche, excellent things. Artists are in no particular order, and I’m going to list collaborations by the first artist credited, wherever I pull that from. You’ll sort it out.

I won’t claim this list is complete—I’m an enjoyer, not an industry insider or whatever. But that just means you get to reblog this with your own additions and we all get to add stuff to our playlists and wishlists!

Brian Eno: Ambient 1: Music for Airports, Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror (with Harold Budd), Ambient 4: On Land, Discreet Music, Music for Films, Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks, January 07003: Bell Studies for the Clock of the Long Now (a personal favorite that I think is underrated!), Evening Star (with Robert Fripp)

Harold Budd: The Room, The Pearl (with Brian Eno), La Belle Vista, 

Stars of the Lid: The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid, Avec Laudenum, and their Refinement of the Decline

Eluvium: Talk Amongst the Trees

John Foxx: Nighthawks (with Ruben Garcia), Translucence and Drift Music (with Harold Budd), London Overgrown

odysmod: Back home

Steve Roach: Oh God there are so many albums to choose from here. Structures from Silence, As It Is, Slow Heat, The Dream Circle, look the list just goes on and they’re all pretty good

Deepspace: The Blue Dunes, Superradiance

Sync24: Comfortable Void, Source

Max Richter: Sleep, The Blue Notebooks (this one’s iffy but give it a try)

Gas: Pop

Geotic: Oxperls, To Not Now, Nor To Ever, Despair

Holland Patent Public Library: Songs to Fall Asleep at the Wheel To

Louigi Verona: Gas Giant, Journeys on Google Earth

andarctica: cyan nori (weirdly, in collaboration with a fragrance company? but it’s great), basal, waiting on the tides

Windy & Carl: Depths, Consciousness, The Dream House, Blues for a UFO

[reckonslepoisson]

Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror, Harold Budd and Brian Eno (1980)

Harold Budd and Brian Eno’s first full collaboration isn’t so much ambient music as it is something of a minimal, modern orchestral style. Broad in its collection of minimal styles, tracks like ‘Not Yet Remembered’ are poignant and more forceful than anything off of The Pearl or Eno’s Ambient 1, while ‘Wind in Lonely Fences’ could be reminiscent of more abrasive, glitch-based later ambient styles such as Tim Hecker; and much of the rest swings from spacey (‘The Plateaux of Mirror’) to atmospheric and world-influenced (like the East-Asian-tinged ‘Above Chiangmai’). The Plateaux of Mirror remains one of Eno’s most lasting works, propped up crucially by the improvisations of Budd and its sense of occasion as a result of its clear, wide-ranging over the genre to this day.

Pick: ‘Not Yet Remembered’

[ultracoolray]

Brian Eno

9 japanische Vinyl Lp und eine japanische CD