How classical music invaded the chill-out zone… [July 1994]
What goes up, must come down, as the old expression goes.
Long before The Orb, Mixmaster Morris or Thievery Corporation were crafting the perfect soundtrack to the post-club chill, classical music composers were mastering ambient soundscapes without ever having reached for a single laser in their lives.
That’s according to this article from The Face, from July 1994, in which journalist Cliff Jones examines how ambient DJs were raiding the archives of Ralph Vaughan-Williams and co.
“Classical ambient is certainly a step in the right direction,” Moby says at one point. “Ambient has become too tasteful, too unchallenging and mundane.
“The Aphex Twin pushes it, but most of the stuff you hear is just post-industrial techno without the beats. Ambient has become a caricature of itself: whooshy digital synths, a few pastoral sounds, a waterfall or two.”
Is chill-out killing clubland? Or is classical music killing chillout? 24 years later, I guess we’ll never know…
[Article taken from The Face, July 1994]
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