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- Date Released: August 17, 1993
- Genre: Electronic
- Style: Techno, Electronic Ambient
- Label: Instinct Records / Virtual
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We Say...
After Aphex Twin's texture-rich meanderings, the term "ambient" has often, in techno circles, been as much a flag for the culture surrounding the music as the music itself. But, as with most of Moby's output, the focus of Ambient is less on impressionistic aural haze than on the lulling, padding, wistful tunes themselves. "My Beautiful Blue Sky" evokes early Tangerine Dream or late '70s Eno at their most synthesized and serene; "Heaven," which is heavily indebted to Chicago softcore-house producer Larry Heard, bounces like a glittering beach ball, while a bleeping analogue synth melody patters beneath. "J Breas" twines simple, repetitive melodic shapes with an emotive chord pattern; the self-explanatory "Piano and String" places a similar melodic fragment over a low-key synth-string hum. The naive feel of Moby's melodies and the penitent calm of his production won't surround you — it's not that kind of ambience. But it'll relax you for sure.
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They Say...
Like so much of Moby's earliest work, this isn't so much an album as a compilation via his original label, Instinct. Ambient influences in techno were all the rage in 1993 in terms of press and coverage (though jungle would swiftly eclipse both it and the progressive house genre), so it's no surprise Instinct wanted some of that action, right down to the says-it-all title. Motivations aside, Ambient is an enjoyable collection of experiments; if Aphex Twin's monumental Selected Ambient Works releases eclipse it in terms of both quality and sheer inventiveness, Moby's own efforts in the field are often quite pleasing. Those familiar with such later efforts as "God Moving Over the Face of the Waters" and "The Rain Falls and rhe Sky Shudders" can find their partial roots here, though the compositions are generally more formal and less-immediately noteworthy than what came next. Songs like the piano/string synth "J Breas" and the even more self-descriptive "Piano & String" are agreeably moody and pretty, but not particularly noteworthy beyond that. More entrancing efforts can be found with "Myopia" and its bubbling swells of liquid bass, the quietly threatening drones and flanged rhythms on "Bad Days," and the high-pitched squeaks and tones that make up the rising-and-falling loops on the brief, barely minute-long "Sound." "My Beautiful Blue Sky" starts the collection on the best note possible, a haunting cascade of orchestration leading into a non-4/4 tribal beat that could easily rank with prime Future Sound of London. More than a few cuts use beats in a more immediate if still understated way, though instead of progressive house's often bathetic shrugs, the likes of "Heaven" and the extremely low-key groove "House of Blue Leaves" sparkle with a crisp, bright energy, making for a useful contrast to the gentler washes.
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| 01. |  |
My Beautiful Blue Sky |
5:19 |
|
| 02. | |
Heaven |
8:16 |
|
| 03. | |
Tongues |
5:37 |
|
| 04. | |
J Breas |
2:47 |
|
| 05. | |
Myopia |
4:46 |
|
| 06. | |
House Of Blue Leaves |
6:20 |
|
| 07. | |
Bad Days |
2:27 |
|
| 08. | |
Piano & String |
1:35 |
|
| 09. | |
Sound |
1:11 |
|
| 10. | |
Dog |
7:35 |
|
| 11. | |
80 |
2:06 |
|
| 12. | |
Lean On Me |
3:51 |
|
12 Total Tracks, 51:50 Total Length
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