Title: Reich gave us mallets. Budd gave us stillness. Where’s everyone else?

I went looking for ambient music where the bells are the melody, and I found a lot of synth pads and a few sample packs.

Most ambient either skips percussion or tucks it under a pad as a quiet pulse. Steve Reich’s marimbas and vibes pulse. Harold Budd’s piano drifts. Laraaji’s hammered zither shimmers like a bell, and Lou Harrison and Harry Partch showed what tuned percussion can be. Each of them has part of what I’m after, but none has all of it.

I’m trying to work in the space between them. The bells, mallets, and gongs carry the harmony. A drone holds the floor. Unpitched percussion connects it all, and nobody plays the beat. Everyone is either telling the story or supporting it.

If you know anyone else living in that space, send them my way. Until then, I’m calling it percussion ambient.

Ancient rhythms. Future landscapes. One continuous journey.

— vgmrmojo, Old Drummer