Ambient favorites

thank you all for your thoughtful recommendations!

Robert

Using the term "ambient" broadly and not narrowing it down to various sub-genres, here are some of my favorite ambient artists (in alphabetical order):

Antonymes
A Winged Victory For The Sullen
Olafur Arnalds
Bersarin Quartett
Black Swan
Will Bolton
Michael Brook
Harold Budd
bvdub
Celer
Dakota Suite
Brian Eno
Emanuele Errante
Ex Confusion
Nils Frahm
Robin Guthrie
Robert Haigh
Greg Haines
Chihei Hatakeyama
Johann Johannsson
Marsen Jules
Keith Kenniff
Leyland Kirby
Saito Koji
Clem Leek
Loscil
Marconi Union
Brian McBride
Alva Noto
Dustin O'Halloran
Olan Mill
Yui Onodera
Fabio Orsi
M. Ostermeier
Pjusk
Ramses II
Stars Of The Lid
Strom Noir
Nicholas Szczepanik
Ryan Teague
The Dead Texan

Fluid Radio - Channel 1 has a nice streaming selection of music in the Ambient/Electroacoustic/Experimental/Drone genres. Check it out.

The new John Hopkins album is fabulous.

How is it I don't see William Basinski on any of the lists? An excellent addition to any collection of ambient!
Labradford comes to mind, too. Same label as Stars of the Lid if memory serves me correctly.

Not sure what counts as ambient and what doesn't, but here are some suggestions for "music that is there, but not getting in the way of reading, talking etc. ..."

Steve Roach, particularly his CD Structures from Silence (once you hear it, you'll know how perfect the name is)
Music of Alan Hovhaness, especially the selections featuring harp
Bill Laswell, Ambient Compendium

Just about any good solo acoustic guitar recording. Several of the guitar and lute recordings on MA Recordings are favorites of mine for this type of listening.