The 35 Greatest Ambient and Downtempo Electronic Artists of All Time

Ambient and downtempo electronic music creates soundscapes rather than dancefloors — it is music for the mind and the senses. These are the artists who have mastered the form.

1. 1
   Aphex Twin

   British producer whose 'Selected Ambient Works Volume II' is a landmark of abstract, atmospheric electronic music.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Brian Eno

   British producer who invented ambient music with 'Ambient 1: Music for Airports' in 1978, influencing generations.
   983pts
3. 3
   Harold Budd

   American composer of soft-pedal piano ambience, famed for The Plateaux of Mirror with Brian Eno and his work with Cocteau Twins.
   624pts
4. 4
   Loscil

   Vancouver producer Scott Morgan, whose subtle, aquatic ambient albums on Kranky have built a devoted following since 2001.
   624pts
5. 5
   Emancipator

   Portland producer Doug Appling, whose 2006 debut Soon It Will Be Cold Enough became a cult downtempo favourite.
   624pts
6. 6
   DJ Shadow

   Californian producer whose 1996 album Endtroducing....., built entirely from samples, became a landmark of instrumental downtempo.
   576pts
7. 7
   Laraaji

   American zither player discovered busking by Brian Eno, who produced his 1980 album Ambient 3: Day of Radiance.
   576pts
8. 8
   Morcheeba

   Trip-hop band built around Skye Edwards' voice and the Godfrey brothers, best known for the laid-back 1998 album Big Calm.
   523pts
9. 9
   Tangerine Dream

   Berlin group founded by Edgar Froese in 1967 whose sequencer-driven 1974 album Phaedra helped invent cosmic and ambient electronic music.
   523pts
10. 10
    Future Sound of London

    British duo who pioneered abstract, psychedelic electronic music with their landmark album 'Lifeforms.'
    523pts
11. 11
    Massive Attack

    Bristol collective who helped create trip-hop and downtempo with atmospheric, cinematic albums like 'Mezzanine.'
    461pts
12. 12
    Jon Hopkins

    British producer known for emotionally powerful ambient and electronic music including the acclaimed album 'Immunity.'
    461pts
13. 13
    Ulrich Schnauss

    German producer of shimmering electronic dream pop, known for A Strangely Isolated Place and for joining Tangerine Dream in 2014.
    461pts
14. 14
    Kiasmos

    Duo of Icelander Ólafur Arnalds and Faroese producer Janus Rasmussen, blending minimal electronica with ambient strings and piano.
    461pts
15. 15
    The Orb

    British electronic duo known for expansive, psychedelic ambient house music including the epic 'Blue Room.'
    461pts
16. 16
    Moby

    American artist who crossed ambient and electronica into mainstream pop with the massively successful album 'Play.'
    461pts
17. 17
    Four Tet

    British producer Kieran Hebden known for folk-influenced, warm electronic music blending acoustic and electronic textures.
    461pts
18. 18
    Global Communication

    Tom Middleton and Mark Pritchard, whose 1994 album 76:14 remains a touchstone of 1990s ambient techno.
    390pts
19. 19
    Röyksopp

    Bergen duo Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge, whose 2001 debut Melody A.M. with Eple and Poor Leno became a chill-out classic.
    390pts
20. 20
    Kruder & Dorfmeister

    Viennese duo known for downbeat, dub-influenced remixes that defined the European chill-out sound of the late 1990s.
    390pts
21. 21
    Zero 7

    London duo Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker whose Mercury-nominated 2001 debut Simple Things, featuring Sia, defined chill-out downtempo.
    390pts
22. 22
    Tycho

    American artist Scott Hansen known for warm, melodic ambient music combining electronic production with live instruments.
    307pts
23. 23
    Bonobo

    British artist Simon Green known for organic, jazz-influenced downtempo that bridges chill-out and live dance music.
    307pts
24. 24
    Biosphere

    Norwegian producer Geir Jenssen, whose glacial 1997 album Substrata is regarded as one of the greatest ambient records ever made.
    307pts
25. 25
    Amon Tobin

    Brazilian-British producer known for complex, cinematic compositions using sampled jazz and orchestral sounds.
    307pts
26. 26
    Thievery Corporation

    Washington, D.C. duo Rob Garza and Eric Hilton, who blended dub, bossa nova and lounge into globe-trotting downtempo from 1995.
    307pts
27. 27
    Portishead

    Bristol group known for a dark, cinematic blend of hip-hop, soul and electronica that defined trip-hop.
    210pts
28. 28
    Nightmares on Wax

    George Evelyn's long-running Warp Records project, whose 1995 album Smokers Delight helped pioneer downtempo electronica.
    210pts
29. 29
    William Basinski

    American composer whose The Disintegration Loops, made from slowly decaying tape loops, became one of ambient music's most celebrated works.
    210pts
30. 30
    Tim Hecker

    Canadian sound artist whose dense, distorted ambient albums such as Ravedeath, 1972 made him a leading figure of modern drone.
    210pts
31. 31
    Boards of Canada

    Scottish duo known for hazy, nostalgic and deeply emotional electronic music influenced by nature and childhood.
    210pts
32. 32
    Tricky

    Bristol trip-hop pioneer and early Massive Attack collaborator whose dark, claustrophobic 1995 debut Maxinquaye was hailed as a masterpiece.
    210pts
33. 33
    Jean-Michel Jarre

    French synth pioneer whose atmospheric 1976 album Oxygène became one of the best-selling instrumental electronic records of all time.
    210pts
34. 34
    Air

    French duo Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel known for lush, cinematic French downtempo.
    0pts
35. 35
    Deep Forest

    French project led by Eric Mouquet that wrapped world music samples in ambient electronica, scoring a hit with Sweet Lullaby and a Grammy for Boheme.
    0pts

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