Isolationism (album)
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| Ambient 4: Isolationism | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Various artists | ||||
| Released | 1994 | |||
| Genre | Dark ambient | |||
| Label | Virgin/EMI | |||
| Various artists chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
Ambient 4: Isolationism is a 1994 studio album of new material by various ambient artists released on the Virgin Records label, part of its Ambient series. The compilation was issued as a double CD, packaged in a slimline case. It was compiled and features liner notes by Kevin Martin. It was the first in the series to be composed entirely of new, exclusive material.
Background[edit]
The term "isolationism", in a musical context, was coined by British musician Kevin Martin and first appeared in print in a September 1993 issue of The Wire magazine.[2] He described it as a form of fractured, subdued music that "pushed away" listeners.[2]
James Plotkin identifies Brian Eno's ambient works as the greatest influence on the isolationist scene, along with American experimental music such as Illusion of Safety.[3]
As Plotkin says,
I really didn't know what was meant by Isolationism [...], because it encompassed this broad spectrum of music that ranged from Ambient to avant garde music to even something more aggressive – like the Japanese Noise scene. [...] Isolationism was a Virgin compilation and it needed a marketing angle. And [compiler] Kevin Martin was definitely responsible for exposing a really large amount of people to music that would otherwise have gone unnoticed, so I guess it's not all bad.[3]
Track listing[edit]
CD 1[edit]
- KK Null & Jim Plotkin: "Lost (Held Under)"
- Jim O'Rourke: "Flat Without A Back"
- Ice: "The Dredger"
- Raoul Björkenheim: "Strangers"
- Zoviet France: "Daisy Gun"
- Labradford: "Air Lubricated Free Axis Trainer"
- Techno Animal: "Self Strangulation"
- Paul Schütze: "Hallucinations (In Memory Of Reinaldo Arenas)"
- Scorn: "Silver Rain Fell (Deep Water Mix)"
- Disco Inferno: "Lost In Fog"
- Total: "Six"
- Nijiumu: "Once Again I Cast Myself Into The Flames Of Atonement"
CD 2[edit]
- Aphex Twin: "Aphex Airlines"
- AMM: "Vandoevre"
- Seefeel: "Lief"
- .O.rang: "Little Sister"
- E.A.R.: "Hydroponic"
- Sufi: "Desert Flower"
- David Toop & Max Eastley: "Burial Rites (Phosphorescent Mix)"
- Main: "Crater Scar (Adrenochrome)"
- Final: "Hide"
- Lull: "Thoughts"
- Thomas Köner: "Kanon (Part One: Brohuk)"
