ILLBIENT

1994

The powerful idea of slowed down Breakbeat led to a range of similar experiments – first Trip Hop, and then Illbient as the most derivative example. The downtempo and innovative nature of Breakbeat synergises with that of Experimental, resulting in a highly fascinating electronic music genre. Ambient Breaks differs from Trip Hop as it is not Hip Hop music – it is the work of electronic music producers using various samples instead of a movement bridging remote subcultures into one. When Trip Hop arrived in the US (specifically New York), conceptual artists got inspired by the sound but worked the other way around – they laid multiple layers of echoing ambient sounds on top of each other (influenced by Dub) and then added a breakbeat. These soundscapes are often eclectic noisescapes – dark, downtempo and drawing from different genres to create some sort of deep mysterious force. Illbient (Ill Ambient, in its slang meaning – "this beat is ill") is not drug music as one might suspect, but an artsy, contemplative soundtrack for an unwritten creepy or deeply psychological film.

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