See 3 more photos
Harold Budd
584,163 plays (54,139 listeners)
ambient, minimal, atmospheric, minimalism, electronica… see all
Harold Budd (born May 24, 1936) is an American ambient/avant-garde composer. Born in Los Angeles, California, he was raised in the Mojave Desert, and was inspired at an early age by the humming tone caused by wind blown across telephone wires.
His career as a composer began in 1962. In the following years he gained a notable reputation in the local avant-garde community. In 1966 he graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in musical composition.
As his career progressed, his compositions became increasingly minimal. Among his more experimental works were two drone pieces, “Coeur d’Orr” and “The Oak of the Golden Dreams”. “The Oak of the Golden Dreams” was based on the Balinese “Slendro” scale. After composing a long-form gong solo titled “Lirio”, he felt he had reached the limits of his experiments in minimalism and the avant-garde. He retired temporally from composition in 1970 and began a teaching career at the California Institute of the Arts.
Two years later, while still retaining his teaching career, he resurfaced as a composer. Spanning from 1972-1975 he created four individual works under the collective title The Pavilion of Dreams. The style of these works was an unusual blend of popular jazz and the avant-garde. In 1976 he resigned from the institute and began recording his new compositions, produced by British ambient pioneer Brian Eno. Two years later Harold Budd’s debut album The Pavilion of Dreams was released.
His career as a composer began in 1962. In the following years he gained a notable reputation in the local avant-garde community. In 1966 he graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in musical composition.
As his career progressed, his compositions became increasingly minimal. Among his more experimental works were two drone pieces, “Coeur d’Orr” and “The Oak of the Golden Dreams”. “The Oak of the Golden Dreams” was based on the Balinese “Slendro” scale. After composing a long-form gong solo titled “Lirio”, he felt he had reached the limits of his experiments in minimalism and the avant-garde. He retired temporally from composition in 1970 and began a teaching career at the California Institute of the Arts.
Two years later, while still retaining his teaching career, he resurfaced as a composer. Spanning from 1972-1975 he created four individual works under the collective title The Pavilion of Dreams. The style of these works was an unusual blend of popular jazz and the avant-garde. In 1976 he resigned from the institute and began recording his new compositions, produced by British ambient pioneer Brian Eno. Two years later Harold Budd’s debut album The Pavilion of Dreams was released.
Videos
Top Albums
Top Tracks
| 1 |
 |
|||
| 2 |
|
Arabesque 3
full track
|
||
| 3 |
|
|||
| 4 |
|
|||
| 5 |
|
|||
| 6 |
|
L'Enfant Perdu
full track
|
||
| 7 |
|
|||
| 7 |
|
|||
| 9 |
|
|||
| 10 |
|
|||
| 11 |
|
|||
| 12 |
|
|||
| 13 |
|
|||
| 14 |
|
|||
| 15 |
|
Shoutbox
-
silentgarden wrote:
Deep Space
-
mojofilta wrote:
Lyrant, check La Bella Vista, it's pure Budd on a grand piano playing for a bunch of guests at a party at Daniel Lanois' house. Harold wasn't aware he was being recorded on some tracks. (check liner notes online if you get the mp3s)
-
Lyrant wrote:
Which albums which are more piano orientated?
-
seeeds wrote:
brilliant.
-
rigoisphat wrote:
la bella vista <3
-
Omega_Switch22B wrote:
After all this time, I still find The White Arcades to be one of the purest manifestations of bliss in sound ever recorded. Such a tranquil and atmospheric record, even more so than his collaborations with Eno. The Room and Lovely Thunder come close, but they can't reach the greatness of The White Arcades.
-
shinoque wrote:
New album on its way! Yay! http://www.amazon.com/Song-Lost-Blossoms-Harold-Budd/dp/B0016MJ2J6/ref=pd_bbs_4?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1215730232&sr=8-4
-
looptits wrote:
Gypsy Violin . Xanax,stolichnaya and high powered cannabis.
-
kingofgrief wrote:
Is Harold Budd New Age? Not necessarily. Would I recommend him to a fan of, say, David Lanz or Suzanne Ciani? Profusely.
-
Phil-between wrote:
Gosh, i don´t like very much Harold Budd,but that music and "A Walk in the Park with Nancy" are formidable music.
-
thelonging wrote:
Hi, if you like harold budd, please check out felixdroid's new release 'The Longing' www.felixdroid.co.uk/longing full streaming audio :)
-
HeikkiS wrote:
Hoping I could afford one of his recordings now. Harold Budd/Brian Eno's Ambient 2 is so good... :)
-
Ambomaster wrote:
Before the rest there was Harold! glad he hasn't retired yet. pavilion of dreams is all time classic. This and the Walking the Waves album by Irish composer Francis Xavier ( http://www.francisxavier.net ) have to be my fave chill out food right now.
-
8m2stereo wrote:
.. new age is for simplistic kitschy retroromantic elevator musics that never hurt at all ..
-
Omega_Switch22B wrote:
Most people who tag music as new age have absolutely no idea what they're talking about. And no, Harold Budd is definitely NOT new age.
-
Phil-between wrote:
New Age? I don't think so.
-
PopplagiWest wrote:
http://dancingafterhours.blogspot.com/2008/03/harold-budd-la-bella-vista.html
-
satskone wrote:
http://remitur.wordpress.com/2008/02/29/the-room-harold-budd-2000/
-
luga-music wrote:
dude.
-
Gansflim wrote:
The White Arcades is just timeless.
Listeners
-
depechezvous
Listening now
to The Room -
EdwardPretorius
Listening now
to The Gunfighter -
HowlingMask
Listening now
to Saint's Name Spoken -
greyvision
Top Listener
-
dv5ife
Top Listener
-
futureless
Top Listener
Recent Activity
- arcisdrubale, iceman1265, boomeditions and 1 other person added Harold Budd to their libraries. 3 hours ago
- discordia23 tagged Harold Budd with ‘fila brazillia’. Sunday evening
- makotoakii added Harold Budd to makotoakii’s library. Sunday morning
- CharlieRa tagged Harold Budd with ‘oh my god’, ‘cool’, ‘genious’ and ‘powerful’. Sunday morning
- chriS2491 tagged Harold Budd with ‘electronic’. Saturday evening
- nitroxer, pigeonprojects, romiq and 8 other people added Harold Budd to their libraries. Saturday evening
- m3LL3 tagged Harold Budd with ‘minimal’ and ‘atmospheric’. last week
- fmancia, windjah and Jnanaraksita added Harold Budd to their libraries. last week
- Toshera tagged Harold Budd with ‘ambient’. last week
- etfreeman, sharedarchitect, lavender77777 and 1 other person added Harold Budd to their libraries. last week
Related Journals
-
Rotations (August 1st)
by liftmuziek |
1 Aug 2008 | 
7 comments
-
Vryashn - New Album Out Now on Gears of Sand
by jbjh |
15 Jul 2008 | Add comment
-
New Releases
by DASBWA |
10 Jul 2008 | Add comment
Groups (47)
-
Cryo Space Lounge
269 members
-
Brian Eno
707 members
-
Music Advice Center
4,118 members
-
Ambient music fans
2,403 members
-
New Age and Ambient
1,560 members
