Ambient 4: Isolationism is a 1994 studio album of new material by various ambient artists released on the Virgin Records label, part of its Ambient series. The compilation was issued as a double CD, packaged in a slimline case. It was compiled by and features liner notes by Kevin Martin. It was the first in the series to be composed entirely of new, exclusive material.
![]() | This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2021) |
Ambient 4: Isolationism | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | ||||
Studio album by Various artists | ||||
Released | 1994 | |||
Genre | Dark ambient | |||
Label | Virgin | |||
Various artists chronology | ||||
|
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The term "isolationism" was coined by British musician Kevin Martin and first appeared in print in a September 1993 issue of The Wire magazine.[2] He described it as a form of fractured, subdued music that "pushed away" listeners.[2]
James Plotkin identifies Brian Eno's ambient works as the greatest influence on the isolationist scene, along with American experimental music such as Illusion of Safety.[3]
As Plotkin says,
I really didn't know what was meant by Isolationism [...], because it encompassed this broad spectrum of music that ranged from Ambient to avant garde music to even something more aggressive – like the Japanese Noise scene. [...] Isolationism was a Virgin compilation and it needed a marketing angle. And [compiler] Kevin Martin was definitely responsible for exposing a really large amount of people to music that would otherwise have gone unnoticed, so I guess it's not all bad.[3]
Authority control ![]() |
|
---|
![]() | This 1990s electronic music album-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |