Ambient Celtic Music – And a Discussion on The Need For Emotive Music

I don’t post playlists very much on this blog, but I was blown away by this particular playlist. The music itself is very haunting and mentally jarring. I’ll let the original poster do the rest of the talking here, since their explanation of the playlist was brilliant:

“Celtic Ambient/Folk music, unlike other forms of “background music”, is intended to enhance acoustic and atmospheric idiosyncracies in the sound environment. Whereas conventional background music is produced by stripping away all sense of doubt and uncertainty from the music, Ambient Music retains these qualities. And whereas their intention is to “brighten” the environment by adding stimulus to it (thus supposedly alleviating the tedium of routine tasks and leveling out the natural ups and downs of the body rhythms) Ambient Music is intended to induce calm and a space to think.”

Perhaps this is why I love ambient music – especially ambient black metal. Too much music today is too “prettied up” or “over-polished.” Now, I certainly do like to be able to hear and understand the music I’m listening to. I’m not exactly a fan of the early black metal days when people would scream into a four track tape recorder or a half-broken headset. But I think Nergal of Behemoth made a good point when he stated that a lot of Technical Death Metal these days is almost too polished.

“The majority of Death Metal bands from the U.S.A are so generic, they all sound perfect. It is fast and technical but there is no substance. Bands forget about emotion when they strive for perfection. You should be driven by your intuition and not just be concerned with shredding on your guitar. Perfection is boring and uninspiring. ~ Nergal (Metal Injection)

In my opinion, the best music is the kind that moves you at an emotional level. It’s the song you cry to after a break up, or blast when you are angry enough to punch a few holes through the wall. These are the songs that you remember, not necessarily the song that has four different tempos or blast beats faster than the speed of light.

Of course production value is important, but there needs to be a balance of soul and sound. Good music is the kind of music that can punch you in the gut and make an impression.