Music lovers tend to cite their own passions in the artform as a kind of therapy. I’m certainly no exception. Ambient music has been a successful means of physical and mental therapy for me since my high school years. I would go as far as to argue that ambient music offers a more highly developed therapeutic quality than most other music. I suppose this doesn’t actually mean much, since I have a neighbor upstairs who tends to go to sleep to doom metal and early-nineties thunderdome. However, ambient music seems like it was invented specifically for its therapeutic quality, and that quality has been embraced and channeled by a varied hodgepodge of folks. These days, as demonstrated on this mixed set, ambient music is written and recorded by pop producers, techno producers, modern classical composers, indie bands, metal bands, synth miners, prog types, new age prigs, and on and on.

“Tummy Therapy” is something of a self-addressed, self-received “get well soon” card. You see, I recently got over a nine-day-strong stomach virus. Between partaking in the many unpleasant bustles involved with this particular illness, I compiled this mixed set. Perhaps it kept me sensible throughout the long stretch of the wretched ailment, as I was otherwise rendered useless.

If you ever see a stomach virus, stab it. Hard.

00:00: Biosphere – “Warmed by the Drift” (Touch, 2006)

Norwegian producer Geir Jenssen is one of ambient music’s new school high rollers. While he hasn’t been around quite long enough to achieve vet status, his albums have been often compared to those of the Enos and Tangerine Dreams on the circuit. Like Jenssen’s last four albums for the Touch label, the recently released Dropsonde offers deep and tactfully atmospheric ambient. It occasionally dips into jazz stylings and instrumentation but otherwise stays true to the aesthetic harnessed on those earlier releases. “Warmed by the Drift” is one of the less jazz-oriented tracks on Dropsonde and can be best compared to his work on 1997’s Substrata or 2002’s Shenzou.

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06:31: Harold Budd – “The Child With a Lion” (Opal, 1988)

Harold Budd had been on the neo-classical circuit for 10 years or so when he buddied up with Brian Eno and began releasing albums. He was in his late 40s when Ambient 2 was released. “The Child With a Lion” comes from a later album, The White Arcades, which was reissued this year on Eno’s All Saints label. Things come off a bit new agey on this piece, but Budd’s keyboard prowess shines through the hokiness.

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11:50: Vladislav Delay – “The Fourth Quarter” (Huume, 2005)

This Finnish producer has a knack for making percussion-heavy tracks that somehow seem devoid of rhythm. Hi-hats spatter; snares clap, but the listener neglects to register these happenings as percussive elements. Delay’s perky atmospherics, mellow pads and jerky sound effects make his sound a one-of-a-kind laptop feat. “The Fourth Quarter” combines a minimal techno aesthetic with more conventional ambient stylings and comes from The Four Seasons full length, released late last year on Delay’s own Huume imprint.

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16:46: Steve Hillage – “Garden of Paradise” (Virgin, 1979)

“Garden of Paradise” is culled from the 1979-released Rainbow Dome Musick LP. It’s perhaps unnecessarily lengthy, as the piece’s breakdown could easily be exercised in a mere five minutes or so. Nevertheless, I can assume ambient music is intended to be savored over longer-than-average lengths of time. “Garden of Paradise” starts out atmospheric with some tinkling keys for good measure. After a while, it evolves into a spacey opus with wandering synths and classic Hillage victory guitars.

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32:40: Sigur Rós – “Ba Ba” (Geffen, 2004)

Ba Ba Ti Ki Do Do was an odd release for Sigur Rós. The electronic EP seemed strangely patterned after a Selmasongs interlude. “Ba Ba” is the first of three tracks, and its bell choir orientation fits snugly into this ambient set, even though you might not otherwise identify it as an ambient track. Icelanders tend to know their way around melodics, and “Ba Ba” is perhaps a testament to that detail.

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37:00: Klaus Schulze – “Crystal Lake” (Island, 1977)

As if 15 minutes of Steve Hillage weren’t enough prog for you, fear not. Klaus Schulze has 20 minutes more of where that came from. “Crystal Lake” is a long trek of twinkling, foreboding bell pads and sustained minor chord progressions. It’s taken from the Tangerine Dream member’s ninth and arguably best solo record, Mirage, which got the reissue treatment this time last year on Inside Out.

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58:12: Markus Güntner & La Grande Illusio – “Baghira” (Kompakt, 2005)

Kompakt’s annually issued Pop Ambient series is seven volumes strong. Stylistically, it hasn’t budged since the first installment, but it’s still a unique embarkment into ambient territories, and it has yet to be convincingly duplicated. “Baghira” comes from Pop Ambient 2006, released this past October. The piece’s acoustic guitar and piano lead the series into an oddly non-digital realm.

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64:45: Jan Jelinek – “Morphing Leadgitarre Rückwärts” (~Scape, 2005)

Making up for any lagging “Baghira” had going on in the digital department, “Morphing Leadgitarre Rückwärts” is classic ~Scape, even though it sounds more fit for Kompakt. Digital imperfections tweet, hum and snarl along like vintage Oval. The façade may lean more towards microsound, but the underbelly is decidedly drone ambient.

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72:05: Boards of Canada – “Tears From the Compound Eye” (Warp, 2005)

The awkward trip-hop beats found in Boards of Canada’s music bring a trendy spin on an otherwise more traditional palette of hazy tones and blurred atmospherics. Every now and again, they’ll turn out an excellent beatless tune. (Let me clarify: I tend to use the words “beatless” and “percussionless” interchangeably.) Such as “Tears from the Compound Eye,” which luckily clocks in at around four minutes rather than being a short interlude.

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