Ambient Essentials
The definition of ambient music is as amorphous as the sounds the genre encompasses. It can mean Biosphere's murky field recordings or Aphex Twin's ethereal melancholia; it also can take the form of Laraaji's new age shimmer or Stars of the Lid's string-infused reveries. At its best, the genre's immersive atmospheres invite meditative states and clear-headed bliss.