Illbient
Music genre
title: "Illbient" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["illbient", "ambient-music", "trip-hop"] description: "Music genre" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illbient" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Music genre ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox music genre"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Illbient |
| stylistic_origins | * Ambient music |
| cultural_origins | Early 1990s, New York City |
| other_topics | * Nu jazz |
| :: |
| name = Illbient | stylistic_origins = * Ambient music
- downtempo
- trip hop
- East Coast hip hop
- dub music
- jungle
- post-industrial
- avant-garde | cultural_origins = Early 1990s, New York City | other_topics = * Nu jazz
- IDM
- psybient
- hauntology
- dark ambient
- dubstep Illbient is a genre of electronic music and an art movement that originated among hip hop-influenced experimental musicians from New York City in the early 1990s.{{Cite web | url = http://www.allmusic.com/style/illbient-ma0000012348 | title = Electronic » Downtempo » Illbient | website = AllMusic | access-date = October 29, 2014 | quote = Centered in New York City (Brooklyn in particular), illbient is a distinctly and consciously urban form of electronic music, aiming to express both the cultural variety and grimy decay of its surroundings.
Though there are many individualistic variants of illbient, the music is characterized by dub- and industrial-influenced layering of beats and soundscapes,{{Cite book | last = Reynolds | first = Simon | title = Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture | year = 2013 | publisher = Soft Skull Press | quote = Unlike the UK's marijuana-infused ambient culture, New York's 'illbient' scene is less about wombing soundbaths and vegetative bliss, more about creating audio-sculptures and environmental soundscapes.
Besides DJ Olive and DJ Spooky, other notable names and acts that were part of the original illbient scene included Raz Mesinai, We™, Byzar, Spectre and the artists that were released on his WordSound label around that time. Subsequent illbient artists have included Techno Animal, Sixtoo and Odd Nosdam.
References
References
- Fintoni, Laurent. (2014). "Detuning the City: An Oral History of Illbient".
- Katz, Mark. (2012-04-01). "Groove Music: The Art and Culture of the Hip-Hop DJ". Oxford University Press.
- "How your favourite genre got its name".
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