Yeah, when I saw that you had replied again I thought 'maybe he scanned through this edition and suddenly had a dramatic reversal of opinion?' I appreciate you spending valuable sandwich time dredging that up.
As for chillout compilations in general, I recall in the early oughts, at least here in the States, that the 'electronica' section in record stores were overflowing with double disc Sofa Beach Bar Silk Lounge (Del Mar) compilations, but Pop Ambient certainly stood apart from all those bikini covers in that it made no attempt to sound like the lobby at the Maui Marriot. I'm not sure if those are the soulless, computer beats he's referring to, but I'd be hard pressed to even classify PA as chillout, at least back then, when the word was largely linked with the above description.
The series in general definitely isn't and really hasn't been for everyone. It's barely even for me at this point, and this isn't my first Pop Ambient thread. I recall some of the earlier editions included material with some discernible structure to all that haze (Frieden and Deutz Air come to mind), but these days for me, combing through an annual Pop Ambient release is basically just swimming in an ocean of drone until I come across some in a key that I like (I usually average two per year).
I don't know who, if anyone, gets particularly excited about these releases, or if it's anticipated by even the hardcore ambient enthusiasts, but like I said, I'm glad it's something that continues to happen. I'm only speculating, but I imagine it's something they could have easily stopped years ago without much disappointment, and maybe Fehlmann and Guentner and crew all just do it as part an annual tradition, but I appreciate how it continues to be one.
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He traded sands for skins, skins for gold, gold for life. In the end, he traded life for sand. Afari, Tales
Last edited by Paradox Lost on Dec-07-2019 at 00:49
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