Best Ambient Albums of 2024

 

20 Ulla & Ultrafog, It Means A lot  (Los Angeles, CA) Motion Ward
Glitch drenched guitar melodies, sparse bass resolves, mysterious vocal snippets, environmental samples in the distance, fragmented piano flourishes. All drenched in cavernous reverb. Almost as if an alien language were spoken through song. 

19 Loscil, Umbel  (Vancouver, BC) Frond
There is a gorgeous sense of isolation to this album. Umbel is part of an ongoing series of releases that match photography with ambient compositions. The photobook is limited to the physical release so I will continue to picture glaciers in my head as I listen to this.

18 Grand River & Abul Mogard, In Uno Spazio Immenso  (Italy/Berlin) Light Years
Grand River and Abul Mogard have, individually, been consistently blowing me away with top notch music since I discovered each of them a couple years ago. This collaboration is a particularly fruitful one. There is a rhythmic pulse that moves these compositions forward without betraying the sun drenched static and almost cinematic compositions it is integrated with.

17 Akira Kosemura & Lawrence English, Selene (Tokyo, Jpn, Brisbane, Aus) Temporary Residence Limited
Lawrence English consistently releases some of my favorite music every year and is one of the more prolific collaborators in the ambient space. Check out his striking remix of Yuko Araki from this year. Akira Kosemura is as prolific with his piano composition. This album has such a delicate elegance as patient, restrained piano melodies echo through immense halls of ambience. As the album progresses, the trickle leads to a gentle cascade and eventually settles into a soft ripple on a tranquil sea. 

16 Uniform, Nightmare City (NYC) Sacred Bones
At first I thought Uniform might be giving us their version of the Neurosis/Tribes of Neurot's Times of Grace/Grace when they first dropped this companion album to their full length American Standard. What we have instead are alternate mixes of the tracks from American Standard delivered in pretty much unrecognizable form - transforming their trademark industrial pummel into glistening pastoral soundscapes. 

15 Black Decelerant, Contour, & Omari Jazz, Reflections Vol. 2: Black Decelerant (Charleston, SC) RVNG
Reflections Vol. 2 is my introduction to Black Decelerant - but from what I can tell, there us no Vol. 1. The duo of Contour & Omari Jazz create a type of improvisational ambient jazz that has an air of continuance. Digital elements and samples add a lot of depth to traditional jazz instrumentation creating something that stands out as incredibly original and honest. 

 

14 More Eaze, Pardo, & Glass, paris paris, texas texas (Brooklyn, NYC) OOH-sounds
It's hard to pick a favorite from the three excellent albums that More Eaze released this year but this collaboration with Pardo and Glass is the one I've found myself returning to the most. The digital elements on display here do a great job of painting a narrative structure. The more traditional instrumentation is presented in a way where every string sound and articulation, even those that may be accidental are given space to shine and add meaning. The pitch-shifted vocals are a unique addition to ambient music that add a slightly more conventional sense of song to these compositions. 

13 Final, What We Don't See (UK) Room40
Justin Broadrick is not wasting anytime. In a year that saw him remixing Lamb of God, releasing an album full of other artists remixing his JK Flesh project, quietly putting forth a full length under his relatively new Bodybuilder project, and continuing his tradition of releasing dub versions of past albums, he somehow also found time to release an album from his long standing dark ambient project Final. These tracks feel like a love letter to liminal spaces by channeling a cavernous sense of blissful isolation. 

12 Alison Cotton, Engelchen (UK) Rocket Recordings
The album title translates into "Beautiful Angels" and is inspired by the true story of two women who used their lifelong passion and support of music to travel Europe during the 1930s, helping Jewish people during the nazi-occupation of Germany in the 1930s. It's probably better to read the official press statement to do justice to the story. It is clear that this inspiration hit Alison Cotton in a significant way as Engelchen is a master class on creating meaningful ambient music that oozes with purpose and deep care. 

11 Staś Czekalski, Przygody (Warwaw, Pol) Mondoj
Przygody is about as playful as ambient music gets and that is a breath of fresh air. In a genre that normally conjures up words like "ethereal", "cinematic", "pastoral", "glacial", etc - the adjectives on display here are something more along the lines of "whimsical", "intimate", "upbeat", and maybe even "funny" at times. The cover art does a great job of capturing the feeling and musicality of this album. 

10 Umberto, Black Bile/Black: Bile Variations (Los Angeles, CA) Thrill Jockey
I was immediately drawn to the title Black Bile for the dark images that it evokes. The color palate of the cover also reminds me of 90s 4AD releases. All positive associations. The music held within does not disappoint in any way though I can't say that my aesthetic associates were valid. Black Bile and it's companion, Bile Variations, do have a pitch black sensibility but without the grime that would be assumed of Bile. These compositions feel clean and beautifully produced - meditative journeys that find a little bit of light in the darkness.  

9 Abul Mogard & Rafael Anton Irisarri, Impossibly distant, impossibly close (Italy/NYC) Black Knoll Editions
Abul already appeared earlier on this list for his incredible collaboration with Grand River and Rafael is also having a hell of a year with his excellent Façadisms full length as well as an album from his Orcas project, in addition to this album. Impossibly distant, impossibly close features two longform pieces, each falling just short of 20 minutes, along with a shorter "AM Radio Edit" of each track as well. Maybe it's just because I enjoy remixes, reworks, and interpretations so much but I love this idea. While I find myself more drawn to the longer versions - there is something beyond novelty to the AM Radio Edits. Seeing each piece paired down to it's essential moments provides an interesting context for re-listening to the longer pieces, providing more context to the artist's vision and, perhaps, an easier entry point for new listeners. 

8 Ezra Feinberg, Soft Power (Brooklyn, NY) Tonal Union
Ezra Feinberg has made a wonderful musical statement with Soft Power. Perhaps calling this album ambient is unfair as these incorporate lush instrumentation and a folk vibe that feels much more like Nick Drake than Brian Eno. That makes a lot of sense considering that Ezra did time in psychedelic freak-folk band Citay. He makes a point in his bio to state that he is a psychoanalyst and even lists that above "composer" and that tracks because this is music for healing, for positive feelings, for enjoyment, and companionship. It's worth noting that the album features an incredible list of collaborators, such as  Jefre-Cantu Ledesma, David Moore, Mary Lattimore, and others. Feel good album of the year. 

7 Austyn Wohlers, Bodymelt in the Garden of Death (Brooklyn, NY) Geographic North
I checked out this album purely based off of cover art and album title and I am glad I did (who says you can't judge a book by it's cover?). In the garden there are a lot of insects calling to the night, communing with the sprinklers and the humming of lightbulbs. The fountain is an ocean of time. The path is iridescent and leads only to itself. It is not dangerous but is not entirely safe. It is beautiful but you must remain alert if you wish to melt into the manicured fabric of it's flora.  

6 Kelly Moran, Moves in the Field (New York, NY) Warp Records
With a diverse list of credits and collaborations with artists like Yves Tumor, FKA Twigs, Oneohtrix Point Never, Bibio, Prurient, Helado Negro, etc., it's no surprise that pianist and composer Kelly Moran's solo work is just as impressive. Known for her prepared piano work and more experimental take on minimalism/new music, on Moves in the Field she allows the unadorned instrument shine through. Short snippets of repetition are consistently transformed by complex and shifting overlaid melodies that keep each composition consistently engaging. Despite her experimental leanings, this album is incredibly accessible and infinitely listenable. The kind of album that makes people perk up and ask "who is this?" Also check out Loraine James' remix of the track Superhuman.

5 Léo Dupleix, Resonant Trees (Paris, France) Black Truffle
Léo Dupleix's music is largely improvised and uses a variety of sonic elements including motor-produced vibrations, sine tones, white noises, feedbacks and field recordings (I stole that from discogs). The first track is based around a single repeating phrase with lots of space to breathe - as the track progresses through it's 15 minute run time, different elements are added into that space to give new context and character to the phrase but never out shining it's grounding presence. The 2nd track is less based upon repetition but uses many of the same tones and instrumentation as the first - allowing us to experience two different shades of songwriting that feel sonically and thematically unified. 

6 KMRU, Natur (Berlin, Ger) Touch Music
I saw KMRU perform in a massive church in the middle of Manhattan as an opener for Fennesz and I haven't stopped listening ever since. Previously basing his music around field recordings from the countryside of Nairobi, where he is from - he has more recently located to Berlin, Germany and it's easy to see how it has affected his sonic palate while giving a fresh burst of inspiration. This album has more of an electric hum, and industrial throb, an asphalt ambience. 

4 Alessandro Cortini, NATI INFINITI (Portugal) Mute
Alessandro Cortini is known as being one of the longer running and still current members of Nine Inch Nails. However, he has been pumping out incredible music through his own name and monikers like modwheelmood, Blindoldfreak, Sonoio, and a collaboration album with the venerable Daniel Avery. NATI INFINITI feels like an artist at full maturity. Are these tracks an exercise in minimalism or maximalism? It's hard to tell. The tracks here sound both restrained in their songwriting but also like they are about to overload the circuit breaker. One of those albums that unfolds more and more on repeat listens. 

3 KMRU & Kevin Richard Martin, Disconnect/Otherness (Berlin/UK) Phantom Limb
Dude. What the hell? This album is so fucking good and sounds so fucking cool. Kevin Richard Martin, aka The Bug, also released the album Machine (as well as a companion Machines I-V) that makes me fee like I'm a Terminator walking around the streets of NYC, impervious to harm. Well this collab with KMRU (who is featured at the #5 spot as well) is the aftermath of the Terminator uprising. Now we are just patrolling the wasteland, observing the bones of civilization, and watching the nuclear sun rise. 

2 Suss, Birds & Beasts (New York, NY) Northern Spy Records
This is an album I can put on anytime. Any mood. This is southwestern/country influenced ambient that can almost simulate the feeling of a soft breeze through my hair, the way the air feels at the break of dusk, endless evenings with nothing to do but enjoy the soft song of the rolling hills. I believe that in 2025 we will also be seeing a collaboration between Suss and Colin Newman's (of Wire) Immersion 

1 Cowboy Sadness, Selected Jambient Works, Vol. 1 (Kingston, NY) Self-Released
I never thought I would be raving about a drummer of an ambient band but here we are. The drums on Selected Jambient Works, Vol. 1 (great title) are the definition of restrained yet add such depth and character to these compositions. The rest of the band, featuring members of Bing & Ruth and The Antlers ain't too shabby either. I saw them perform recently at Pioneer Works in Red Hook, NYC and the drums seemed to feature even more prominently. They gave a really heartfelt and emotional performance and also had one of the best merch items of 2024. I hope we see a lot more activity from Cowboy Sadness in the years to come.