Best Ambient Music

Don't really get into this area, but I like Orbital's "middle of nowhere" which was released a couple years ago. Solid album from start to finish, no filler. Ambient and trance can overlap, I guess Orbital is in both catagories. Aphex Twin is the big player here but I don't care for his stuff.

Robert Rich and Steve Roach both have a lot of excellent stuff, I especially liked Robert Rich and Alio Die "Fissures" and Oyuki Conjugate "Equator"

Is "Ambient" a euphemism for "New Age"?

KK-well not really but the styles overlap and some artists are seen in both categories. Ambient as I would descrice is mainly electronic based instrumental stuff- more sonics than songwritng. New Age on the other hand can be like this but is more ethnic (various) based and includes more traditional instruments,chants and veers into modern classical at times also. I guess cynically ambient is seen as more contemporary and dance related and that New Age is more hippy trippy meditation music.Er I mean that with no offense I'm sure we'll get a "which speakers make whales sound more life-like" thread soon.:-)

Just about anything a record store can't classify goes into the NEW AGE bins. I guess Ambient would get thrown in there. Ambient was pretty big in late 70's. The big artists were Brian Eno and Klaus Schulze. It seemed to me it was mostly synthesizers in a repetetive action sending you into deep trancelike state. It was a good match with mind altering substances. Lots of new ambient music is on NPR's ECHOES