Dreamhouse by the Ocean: Best New Ambient Music
A collection of some of my favourite new ambient music!
Featuring Quelche, Eternal Meadows, Ｆｕｔｕｒｅ░Λｑｕａｒｉｕｍｓ░ＬＴＤ, Zerolex, Andreas Tilliander, Dreamfibre, Mindwarden, Dream Skills & Vijunns
This edition features: a piece that will make you aware of how alive and vibrant the whole ecosystem surrounding you is; a soundscape moves like subtle changes in the weather, the shimmering and glimmering textures recreating how the sun interacts with everything it touches; a song that sounds like a shimmering being hopping from leaf to leaf on the sparse plantlife growing in a cityscape; a paradise-like audiovisual experience; an album whose artwork made me think of the sort of living space a zany professor from one of my favourite childhood books would live in; a track with shimmering cerulean pads that pays homage to the 1990s, teeth and all; and more!
Dreamhouse by the Ocean: An Ambient Music Collection
Please consider giving the playlist a follow - it is updated regularly with the best ambient music!
Ｆｕｔｕｒｅ░Λｑｕａｒｉｕｍｓ░ＬＴＤ - beside still waters
Cover art by moderntowers
Retro computer graphics have recently become a fixation of mine. Especially dolphin and aquatic-themed computer graphics (I don’t think I am alone in this), as I associate them with fun evenings using the computer during childhood, when I didn’t associate using the internet with addictive hierarchical platforms that consumed all of my attention and served as a near constant reminder of all of my (perceived) failings.
‘Forgotten Oceans’ (released via music label Whitespace) has to be experienced as a whole to really get the most out of this oceanic world; so to get you started, I selected the opening track.
‘beside still waters’ sounds like the opening music to a simulated aquatic spa package for the PC; giving the sensation of sitting at the computer at nighttime sometime in the past, bathed in the azure blues of the relaxing world booting up on the screen in front of you.
Connect with Whitespace/Blankspace
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Zerolex - Lignes (single)
The arpeggiated melody in this sounds like a shimmering being hopping from leaf to leaf on the sparse plantlife growing in a cityscape, the precarious, all-encompassing quality of the heaving industrial backdrop of the city being portrayed by the darker electronic textures in this. There is something so magical and vivid about the soundscapes of Zerolex.
Connect with Zerolex
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Connect with Les Disques du Crochet
Website | Facebook | Instagram
Quelche - Deep Suspire
This is taken from the Italian composer's new EP ‘Whispers in the Quiet’. ‘Quelche’ sounds like the deep awe that accompanies witnessing the beauty of nature, when everything shimmers and vibrates slightly, and you become aware of how alive and vibrant the whole ecosystem surrounding you is. I would recommend listening to this any time you feel out of sorts or need to bring yourself back down to appreciating this wonderfully rich and biodiverse planet we are so lucky to exist on.
Connect with Quelche
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Connect with Ambient Soundscapes
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Eternal Meadows - A Day That Stayed Warm
This is the first track from the Ukrainian artist’s new EP ‘Notes from the Extended Summer.’ This sounds like a warm summer day with a rush of chilled air coming in, two states existing at once. This is the kind of song to listen to on a summer’s evening walk, where you allow your thoughts to wander. The soundscape moves like subtle changes in the weather, the shimmering and glimmering textures recreating how the sun interacts with everything it touches.
Connect with Eternal Meadows
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Pending Utopia | Frutiger Aero Ambience
I thoroughly enjoy the blue-skied immersive escapism of the audiovisual worlds that artist Dreamfibre creates.
The visuals for this were made using Unreal Engine 5 and Da Vinci Resolve ( I also recently started using Da Vinci Resolve, specifically for editing, as I found that trying to edit the complex collages I was making for music videos was pushing poor Canva to its absolute limit).
‘Pending Utopia’ is a fictional utopian community filled with natural light and plant life; a place existing in harmony with nature. This concept reminds me of Pura, a paradise-like city with its own climate from the fictional podcast ‘The Last City’ starring Rhea Seehorn, “which was a green, plant-filled paradise, where gentle birdsong surrounds you, and the warm, sun-soaked air is fresh and invigorating” (I was lucky enough to get to interview the sound designer Steve Bond).
I love the pillars filled with blue liquid that look like lava lamps scattered throughout; put your headphones on and act like this is a VR tour of a paradise-like facility you plan to have a holiday in.
Connect with Dreamfibre
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Dream Skills - Marathon Runner
This is the coolest album artwork I have seen in a long time. If I was walking past a record store and saw this in the window, I would walk in and blind buy it, no questions or research required.
The artwork makes me think of the sort of living space a zany professor from one of my favourite childhood books would live in. ‘Marathon Runner’ sounds like it occupies the space in the artwork, kind of having a musical retro scientific lab equipment vibe to it. There is something dreamy and reflective under the surface of the soundscape, rising and falling every so often - I found this to be hypnotic.
Connect with Dream Skills
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Andreas Tilliander - Elmselden
This is the opening piece to the album ‘Lava’ (out via UK label quiet details).
The first thing I thought of when I started listening to this was that it sounded like morning light, like waking up on the side of a mountain; the kaleidoscopic lights shimmering and dancing in your viewpoint as you slowly open your eyes; your senses becoming aware of your surroundings. It always bubbles with something else, something enchanting that I can’t quite put my finger on.
Connect with quiet details
Instagram | Bluesky | X
Mindwarden - Night Zero
Music label Cryo Chamber never misses when it comes to ambient releases.
‘Night Zero’ is the opening track of Mindwarden’s new album ‘Into the Core’, taking place in the concrete subterranean tunnels under a glowing silent city. In the description section for the album on Bandcamp, it says that “a small band of rebels moves through the underlevels with stolen data, burnt lungs, and the sound of boots closing in behind them” which made me think of the TV show ‘Silo’ (one of the best Apple TV shows ever), the silent, glittering city more ‘Blade Runner’ adjacent. There is an eerie calmness to the soundscape, something that communicates an artificial serenity and peace that exists at a surface level in the idyllic-looking city, underneath which brutalities that must be uncovered at any cost are taking place.
Connect with Cryo Chamber
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Vijunns - 1991
This is taken from the two-track release ‘1991’ from LA-based music producer and art director Jeremy Raskin.
This opens with a rather ominous beat, over which pads of shimmering cerulean beauty flow, with a synthesizer melody line that is reminiscent of some of the most breathtakingly beautiful electronic music from the 1990s. This track is infused with the quality of a memory from that time period, while also communicating that beneath the beauty of the 90s, something threatening lay underneath, something that would sink its teeth into you and tear you to pieces, while onlookers cheered it on.
Connect with Vijunns
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About Eimear O Sullivan
Eimear Ann O Sullivan is a multi-genre music producer, audio engineer and vocalist. After receiving a Masters in Music Technology from the CIT Cork School of Music, she went on to operate as a producer under the name Blakkheart. Her releases have received critical acclaim from Ireland's biggest music publications, such as District Magazine and Nialler9, alongside receiving heavy commercial radio airplay. She currently works in Cork recording studio Flashpoint CC. Previous clients of hers include the likes of Comedy Central’s Dragony Aunt star Candy Warhol, rapper Darce and Outsider YP. (Photo credit @Fabian Boros)
Contact Eimear O Sullivan at eimear.o.sullivan@musicngear.com
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