I need your help.  I am a long-time late-blooming prog fan (Steven Wilson, Floyd, Lunatic Soul, Anathema, etc), even though its been a lifetime in the making.

I desperately need help with finding ambient / drone music to help me write.  Most stuff out their is either dark (Lustmord / Kammarheit) or light (Steve Roach / Altus / Brian Eno).  A lot of it is quite inert and unfocussed.  I am looking for something that can help me write tense, brooding, defiant, stirring passages of writing.  I prefer percussion-less ambient drone, or very minimalist electronic soundtrack.  Things that I have that work are: Bass Communion, Trent Reznor / Atticus Ross soundtracks / No Mans Sky soundtrack / Lustmord / Kammarheit / Sleepover Series (by post-roc / indie band Hammock) and a lot of stuff by an independent artist called Altus.

Given how knowledgeable prog fans are, I was hoping you guys could help me find some stuff.  I may already know of it, but everything helps.

Thanks in advance

Have you tried Berlin School? I'm not sure how sedate you want to get. Berlin School is more eventful, but its hypnotic nature tends to be conducive to creative processes for certain individuals. 

I don't mind the kraut-rock / 70's electronic style, but it normally dips a little too much into the psychedelic for me.

I own Phaedra, but haven't heard the other two.  I will give them a listen.

Thanks again.

Steve Roach has some dark stuff as well, check out Invisible and the Bloodmoon Rising series.

Lightwave is great too, it's dark, ambient but it's more electro-acoustic.

Terry Riley has that one album that is a full performance of his composition Poppy Nogood & the Phantom Band. I think you might like it, given you like minimalistic stuff. 

Some more older ambient Oneohtrix Point Never albums like Returnal might also be to your liking, I think. It starts with a very abrasive noise track, but after that it's full-on digital-age ambient.

Some other artists I would definitely recommend checking out are William Basinski, Gas (his more ambient albums like Pop), obviously Brian Eno (Discreet Music), and Takehisa Kosugi (Catch Wave). 

Will check back later if anything more comes to my mind. 

HolyMoly wrote: One of the finest ambient albums I have is actually by a band not known for their ambient work (more known as an instrumental guitar-based prog band). Djam Karet did an album called Suspension and Displacement that has become a favorite of mine of the genre.

 

Absolutely. The Djam Karet fanboy in me is embarrassed for not bringing this up in my initial reply!

Thanks!  Just listened to the Sea Swells a Bit.  It's good, particularly the lead track.  It falls more into the category (my categories at least) in-between full on ambient / drone and conventional music.

But it would still be great to write to, so this will definitely go on the list.

Thanks again.

Thanks HolyMoly, Dark Clouds & No Rain is excellent and right on the money.

I will dig further into their work and this album in particular.

Thanks Guldbamsen.  Some excellent suggestions there.  I'm loving the Steve Moore album, and also Hubris.

Thanks ALotOfBottle.

The Tim Hecker Ravedeath album is just the right kind of genre I was looking for.  I wasn't so keen on Terry Riley as it was a bit abrasive and avent-gard, but Returnal is good and has a lot of ambient passages.

Thanks again.

But, again, I appreciate the response.