And so it has come to pass, dear spacefans, that in the dark days of late autumn in the year 2021, we arrive at the 1300th transmission of the HEARTS of SPACE series. I'm STEPHEN HILL, and befitting the occasion, it's another of our centennial specials called A BRIEF HISTORY OF DARK AMBIENT.
The term "dark ambient" was coined in the early 1990s by ROGER KARMANIK, founder of the record label Cold Meat Industry, to describe the music of RAISON d'ETRE and similar artists. The style is a gene-splicing of the Industrial, Ambient, Drone, and Noise genres, including the experimental side of early 1970s German electronic music — fondly dubbed 'Krautrock' — and the Industrial Music of the late 1970s & early 80s, such as the band THROBBING GRISTLE.
During the 1980s, LUSTMORD, NOCTURNAL EMISSIONS & ZOVIET FRANCE were among the first to create consistently dark ambient music, featuring low drones and distressed chorales, liberally seasoned with industrial noise and electronic special effects. In the early 1990s RAISON D'ETRE augmented the industrial imagery with medieval iconography.
During the late 80s & early 90s, a slower, more ethereal side of Gothic art rock emerged, called "ethereal wave" or "dark wave," including many of the early artists on the Projekt label. And an even more austere sub-genre called "Isolationist Ambient" arrived quietly in the 1990s, including the music of THOMAS KÖNER from Germany and BIOSPHERE from Norway.
It's Program 1300 : A BRIEF HISTORY OF DARK AMBIENT, on this transmission...of Hearts of Space. Music is by RAISON D'ETRE, POPOL VUH, LIGHTWAVE, VOICE OF EYE + LIFE GARDEN, THOMAS KÖNER, BIOSPHERE, BLACK TAPE FOR A BLUE GIRL, ROBERT RICH + B.LUSTMORD, TROUM, PAUL SCHÜTZE, and RHYTHM & NOISE.
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