You need to listen to Laurie Spiegel's masterpiece of early ambient music

"I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Laurie Spiegel for the site. As preparation for the interview, I spent a lot of time over the last couple of weeks revisiting Spiegel's records, most notably The Expanding Universe, her 1980 masterpiece that blends synth experimentalism with early examples of what would eventually be called ambient music, and algorithmic composition techniques. It's a marvel that sounds both nostalgic and cutting-edge at the same time."

"There are also slower forays into more typical ambient sounds like "Appalachian Grove II" or "The Unanswered Question," whose melodies move at such a glacial pace that they can feel almost completely random at times. Tracks like these and "Music for Dance II" wouldn't feel out of place on modern ambient Instagram or modular synth YouTube, scenes that obviously owe a lot to Spiegel's pioneering works."

"While the vast majority of the tracks completely lack percussion, there are a few exceptions, most obviously the fast-paced and polyrhythmic "Drums." But the standout to me is "Clockworks," which ventures into the sort of proto-industrial grime and rattle you'd find on a Throbbing Gristle record or even a modern Trent Reznor score. The fact that it doesn't appear to have been sampled (at least according to WhoSampled) and repurposed as the backbone of an underground hip-hop track is shocking to me."

The Expanding Universe (1980) blends synth experimentalism, early ambient textures, and algorithmic composition to create music that sounds both nostalgic and futuristic. Tracks such as "Patchwork" and "A Folk Study" use bouncy arpeggios recalling "Baba O'Riley," while "Old Wave" and "East River Dawn" evoke early M83 and Boards of Canada. The record's palette remains alive and rarely dates itself, unlike the later Unseen Worlds which sometimes leans on FM bell timbres. Slower pieces like "Appalachian Grove II" and "The Unanswered Question" move at glacial tempos. Most tracks lack percussion, with notable exceptions "Drums" and the industrial-tinged "Clockworks."

Read at The Verge