ambient techno

Ambient techno is a subgenre of techno that incorporates the atmospheric textures of ambient music with the rhythmic elements and production of techno. It was pioneered by 1990s electronic artists such as Aphex Twin, Carl Craig, The Orb, The Future Sound of London, the Black Dog, Pete Namlook and Biosphere. Characteristics and influences AllMusic states that ambient techno, building off the ambient house scene, blended the "soaring, layered, aquatic atmospheres of beatless and experimental ambient" with techno's "well-produced, thin-sounding electronics." Artists fused the "environmentalist" work of Brian Eno, Jon Hassell, and Wendy Carlos with the rhythms of urban dance styles such as techno and acid house. Ambient techno artists returned to the instruments of the Detroit techno and Chicago house scenes, including analogue synthesizers, the Roland TB-303 bass machine, and the TR-909 drum machine. Common elements included heavily reverbed string pads and subtle drum programming that moved beyond the simple patterns of 4/4 techno and house, while artists typically de-emphasized sampling. One principal influence on the genre was the 1984 album E2-E4 by German musician Manuel Göttsching. The Orb's 1991 album Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld would inspire dub-influenced ambient techno. Artforum noted the genre's similarities with new age: "swaddling the listener in a womblike sound bath, it means retreat from the environment, relief from the stresses of urban existence." Critic Simon Reynolds characterized the style as a "post-rave genre" meant "for immobile contemplation," comparing it to "the aqua-mysticism and forest idylls of Claude Debussy." The style would be associated with labels such as Warp, Apollo, GPR, and Beyond, with releases focusing more on albums than 12-inch singles.