Ambient electronica

Ambient Electronica has its roots in Ambient Music, a genre largely founded by U2 producer Brian Eno. For a complete explanation of Ambient music, click on the link above.

Ambient Electronica was founded in the late 80s and early 90s by three of today's most prominent electronic artists, Aphex Twin, Moby, and The Orb. Mostly an underground movement, ambient Electronica continued to rise in popularity until its still relatively obscure status today.

I personally divide Ambient Electronica into three genres.

1. Conventional. This most closely reflects typical electronic music. This combines a conventional techno beat (trance, drum and bass, etc) with a soothing electronic sound. Voodoo Child's "The End of Everything" album is a good example of this.

2. Beatless. This is the second deepest category. This has no beat, but maintains rhythm through repetition of some sort of sound. Aphex Twin's "Selected Ambient Works Volume II" is a good example.

3. Unmeasured [soundscape]. This kind of ambient electronica is the most obscure, and the hardest to get used to. As far as I know, no one has made an entire album out of this, but a good examples of this is Radiohead's song "Treefingers."