Ambient Survey 2008 - time to Vote!

[John Koch-Northrup]

It's time to vote!

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Background
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The Ambient Mailing list has been doing top ambient surveys at least since 1994 - and has every 2 to 3 years since. For the first few years surveys - check the Hyperreal page:

http://music.hyperreal.org/epsilon/info/

I've reposted most of the surveys since 1999 here (thanks to everyone that shared results!):

http://atmoworks.ning.com/profiles/blogs/2078313:BlogPost:10489

For this time around, I volunteered to compile the results and posted a few questions to the list during the last few weeks. I've tried to incorporate as many suggestions as possible (apologies if I forgot some!) - above all - I hope this is fun for everyone!

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2008 Survey Notes
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The "top 20 of all time" category is the main one and the one hopefully *everybody* will vote in. This is the survey that's been fairly consistent throughout the years on the list. I will do some comparisons of this years results to these earlier surveys as others have done in the past.

If you think the album is ambient by whatever definition *you* think of as ambient - then you should list your favorite albums here. There are several other 'fun' categories - your favorite albums may easily be in several lists. For example, one of your "top 20 of all time" albums may also be in the "...since 2000" and the "top 10 beatless" as well.

The "fun" top 10 categories are simply that - they're fun. If you don't want to vote in these, don't. Or maybe you love dark ambient, but don't listen to berlin school... vote in the categories you enjoy. Remember that one album could be in quite a few of your top lists... Don't think too hard about whether an album is this or that category - this isn't a test!

I didn't split into a bunch of sub-categories of beatless or beat sub-types (except for berlin school and dark ambient which seem to be larger sub-categories) as was suggested by a few list members. I thought it might be getting a little too long.

The "extra credit" section is totally and completely optional.

I'll also be posting this message to several other forums that have strong ambient communities:

http://www.atmoworks.com
http://www.hypnos.com
http://www.electro-music.com
http://www.emportal.info

Please let me know if there are other 'ambient' forums/lists that I should post to.

Also, several people suggested creating a webform to compile the results - I decided to keep it in email and manually plow through these as I thought some people may not want to 'join' a site like AtmoWorks to vote. My gut feeling is more people will participate if we keep it simple through email... Thanks!

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How to Vote!
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To vote - please email me off-list at [e-mail] with a subject of "Ambient Survey 2008".

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Voting Ends: 12/31/2008
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This gives everyone just over a month. I'll compile results and publish them hopefully by end of January.

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The Survey
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Copy/paste this section into an email to me at [e-mail] with the subject "Ambient Survey 2008"

Main Categories:

* Top 20 Ambient Albums of All Time (as far back as you want and including *today*)
* Top 20 Ambient Albums released on or since 2000

Fun Categories:

* Top 10 Beatless Ambient Albums (drone, drift, etc...)
* Top 10 Ambient with Beats Albums (chill, ambient techno, groove, tribal, etc...)
* Top 10 Sequencer / Berlin School Albums
* Top 10 Dark Ambient Albums
* Top 10 Ambient Labels (cd/cdr/download/netlabel/etc...)
* Top 10 Reviewers/Blogs/Sites (whether an individual blog, webzine, online magazine)

Extra-Credit:

Are you a:
a) releasing ambient musician
b) musician, but don't release ambient
c) not a musician - a very passionate listener
d) other

You primarily listen to music on (pick one):
a) stereo speakers at home
b) car speakers
c) portable radio
d) big over ear headphones
e) earbuds
f) other

Your age range:
a) less than 20 years old
b) 21 - 30
c) 31 - 40
d) 41 - 50
e) 51 - 60
f) 61 - 70
g) 71 - 80
h) 80+

What country are you voting from?

What area of that country? (city, region, etc...)



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Thank you!
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Thank you for voting in this years survey!


John K-N
Relaxed Machinery | Interstitial
AtmoWorks - http://www.atmoworks.com
[e-mail]

[SAVO]

If only I would of known...I wouldn't of put AFX's Selected Ambient Works II and Eno's stuff in my top 10s/20s which always takes the top spots, especially with all the 100s of great ambient artists out there nowadays that deserve to win the survey just as much!

to be fair, on that AFX twin album, i do like it but, its only Rhubarb and Lichen which really stand out for me. Surprisingly, I didn't have at least 20 "top/favourite" ambient albums at first... I managed to do it just about.

Dark Ambient category wasn't a problem! ;)

[John Koch-Northrup]

Reminder to vote! I'm extending the due date to 1/10 to catch anyone who was putting off voting until the last moment!