Welcome to the New Electric Church

Welcome to the New Electric Church. For the uninitiated, the original Electric Church was a quasi-spiritual belief that electric music brings out emotions , feelings, and creative ideas in people, and encourages spiritual maturity. Popularized in the 1960s during the Psychedelic era, primarily by artists & musicians, maybe its original ideology still has some relevance today (Uh, forget what is called the "Electric Church" today and preaching from the web).

Consider all the Electronic music that emerged since John Cage, Pierre Schaeffer, Karlheiz Stockhausen, Terry Riley and Edgar Varese began dabbling and experimenting in the 1930s and 1940s - the 1960s oscillating & synthesized sounds of The Silver Apples, Martin Denny, Wendy Carlos, & The Wozard Of Iz, the 1970s Electronic Ambient music of Brian Eno, Harold Budd, Jean Michel Jarre, and all of the surreal Electronic music since the 1970s from the likes of Kraftwerk, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Tangerine Dream, Cluster and Klaus Schulze. Consider, even the pop-tinged 1990s Electronica of The Chemical Brothers, The Orb, Aphex Twin or the modern Electronic sounds of The Boards Of Canada. It all emanates from the same "wavelength" - man's fascination with new sounds and man's relentless pursuit to uncover newer sounds.

As much as I like to "Rock out" or groove to R&B, Funk & Soul, nothing gives me a more pleasing (quasi-spiritual) experience than the near "out-of-body" feeling I get when I listen to Electronic music (Kraftwerk live was almost a religious experience). Besides, nothing comforts me better when I sleep that the barely audible ambient/electronic music playing in the background while I nod off (My favorite music to achieve this ecstasy is Brian Eno & Daniel Lanois' Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks)

I am aware that Electronic music and Ambient music have grown in popularity over the decades. One of my students, last week, told me that he was really digging Eno's Ambient 1: Music For Airports, as he had never heard it before. Immediately, I was compelled to direct him to a multitude of other albums, but I know it might have been a turn off at that point. Let him discover more himself, I told myself.

So, I turn to this trusty blog to help me mention a few other Electronic/Ambient albums that I think others will find interesting and, possibly, enjoy...

Brian Eno - Discreet Music, Music For Films, Neroli, Lightness: Music For The Marble Palace

Robert Fripp & Brian Eno - No Pussyfooting, Evening Star, Equatorial Stars

Jean Michel Jarre - Oxygene & Equinoxe

Ryuichi Sakamoto - Comica (Brilliant Ambient Album!)

Tangerine Dream (Early Years) - Atem, Zeit, Green Desert

Tangerine Dream (Virgin Years) - Phaedra, Stratosphear, Ricochet, Encore

Roedelius & Morgan Fisher - Neverless

Klaus Schulze - Moonwind, Irrlicht, Cyborg, Dune

George Harrison - Electronic Sound

David Bowie - Low (Side 2)

The Future Sound Of London - ISDN, Dead Cities, Amorphous Androgynous

Air - Premieres Symptomes

Boards Of Canada - Music Has The Right To Children, Trans Canada Highway

Bill Laswell - Axiom Ambient

Kraftwerk - Kraftwerk I, Kraftwerk II, Autobahn, Trans Europe Express, Radioactivity

Buckethead - Colma

Cluster & Eno - Cluster & Eno

The Fireman (Paul McCartney) - Strawberries Oceans Ships Forests

Flying Saucer Attack - Rural Psychedelia

Harmonia - Musik Von Harmonia

John Cage - Nova Musicha .1 (Compilation)

Luke Vibert & BJ Cole - Stop The Panic

M Frog - M Frog

Moebius & Plank - Rastakrautpasta

Moebius, Plank & Neumeier - Zero Set

Neu! - Neu!, Neu 75

Nik Tuner's Sphyinx - Xitintoday

Peter Namlook & Klaus Schulze - Dark Side Of The Moog (Series)

Popol Vuh - Einsjäger & Siebenjäger, Future Sound Experience

Silver Apples - Silver Apples

Lou Reed - Metal Machine Music

For anyone with an escalating interest in Ambient and/or Electronic music, check out any of the above albums and you will not be disappointed. If you can think of any I might be interested in then please email me or post it in your comment. Thanks! Oscillate onwards!