You Must Hear 7

illbient

Last updated: Mon Oct 20 2025 09:40:00 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

Description

Illbient emerged from 1990s New York as a darker, more experimental take on ambient music, blending hip-hop beats with industrial noise, dub basslines, and unsettling atmospheres. The sound embraces lo-fi production, dissonance, and urban decay, creating moody soundscapes that feel both introspective and confrontational. It thrives in the spaces between genres, favoring texture and mood over conventional song structure.

100 chronological releases

Place	Cover	Date	Artist	Album	Tags	Other places
49		1981	Modus	Modus	alternative alternative dance ambient ambient electronica ambient techno ambient trance celtic chillout classical dance dark ambient disco downtempo easy listening electro electronic electronica ethnic ethnic fusion eurodance fusion goa hip-hop idm illbient lounge meditation minimal techno new age pop psychill soundtrack spiritual techno trance trip-hop world world fusion	ambient trance # 67 ethnic fusion # 73 ambient electronica # 88
74		1992	Astralasia	The Politics of Ecstasy	chillout electronic illbient psychill psytrance
84		1992-09-29	Meat Beat Manifesto	Satyricon	big beat electronic industrial	big beat # 36
65		1993	Scorn	White Irises Blind	ambient dub electronic illbient
45		1994	Pan Sonic	Panasonic EP	illbient
34		1994-05-09	Wagon Christ	Sunset Boulevard EP	idm illbient
63		1994-06-06	Black Lung	Silent Weapons for Silent Wars	illbient
97		1994-07-01	Scorn	Evanescence	illbient
16		1995	Techno Animal	Re-Entry	ambient	ambient dub # 16
1		1995	Alec Empire	Low on Ice (The Iceland Sessions)	ambient ambient techno dub
52		1995	Spectre	The Illness	illbient
94		1995-11-01	Ken Ishii	Jelly Tones	techno	european # 20 francais # 88
6		1996	Bomb 20	Pigtronics	breakbeat breakcore illbient industrial techno rhythmic noise schranz technoid	technoid # 61 schranz # 83
3		1996	Prince Charming	Psychotropical Heatwave	illbient
86		1996	Scorn	Logghi Barogghi	ambient illbient
53		1996-01-01	Alec Empire	Hypermodern Jazz 2000.5	acid jazz nu jazz
26		1996-01-25	Dubadelic	2000: A Bass Odyssey	illbient
79		1996-02-19	The Third Eye Foundation	Semtex	illbient
95		1996-04-02	DJ Spooky	Songs of a Dead Dreamer	illbient
77		1996-09	DJ Vadim	USSR Repertoire - The Theory Of Verticality	illbient
90		1996-11-12	Bowery Electric	Beat	shoegaze	shoegaze # 14 space rock revival # 30
22		1997	Spectre	The Second Coming	dub illbient
31		1997	Sub Dub	Dancehall Malfunction	illbient
68		1997	Scorn	Anamnesis	illbient
89		1997	The Bug	Tapping The Conversation	dub dubstep electronic illbient
44		1997-01	Christoph De Babalon	If You're Into It, I'm Out Of It
7		1997-03-11	We™	As Is.	illbient
91		1997-09	Christoph De Babalon	If You're Into It I'm Out of It	breakcore dark ambient jungle	breakcore # 41 jungle # 53 darkstep # 93
99		1997-12-01	Björk	Bachelorette	avant-pop breakbeat hardcore breakcore digital hardcore drill n bass glitch pop illbient industrial rhythmic noise techno-industrial technoid trip-hop	breakbeat hardcore # 5 breakcore # 53 glitch pop # 73 digital hardcore # 86 avant-pop # 98 rhythmic noise # 98 drill n bass # 99 technoid # 100 techno-industrial # 100
75		1998	Carl Crack	Black Ark	ambient noise breakbeat dub dub techno hip-hop illbient lo-fi noise trip-hop underground hip-hop	dub techno # 17 ambient noise # 91
78		1998	Richard Devine	Richard Coleman Devine EP	acid techno alternative ambient american atlanta blues breakcore detroit downtempo drill and bass drill n bass drum and bass dub electro electronic electronica emo experimental electronic experimental techno folk glitch hardcore hip-hop idm illbient indie rock industrial instrumental japanese jazz punk rock reggae rock roots reggae ska techno trip-hop	acid techno # 42 experimental electronic # 78 atlanta # 78 drill and bass # 81 experimental techno # 81 drill n bass # 92
88		1998	Carl Crack	Black Arc	ambient noise breakbeat dub dub techno hip-hop illbient lo-fi noise trip-hop underground hip-hop	dub techno # 46 ambient noise # 97
43		1998	The Weakener	What Do You Know About It	dub illbient
80		1998	Dolphin	Серый Альбом	illbient noise pop noise rock post-industrial trip-hop
24		1998-03-30	Techno Animal	Techno Animal Versus Reality	illbient
14		1998-06-09	The Curse Of The Golden Vampire	The Curse Of The Golden Vampire	illbient industrial rhythmic noise techno-industrial technoid trip-hop	techno-industrial # 43 technoid # 65
66		1998-08-05	Muslimgauze	Uzi Mahmood	dub illbient tribal ambient	tribal ambient # 74
93		1998-09-21	DJ Spooky	Riddim Warfare	illbient
15		1999	Spectre	The End	illbient
55		1999	DJ Spooky vs. Scanner	The Quick and the Dead	breaks electronic hip-hop illbient
46		2000-01	Mick Harris	Having It	illbient
13		2001	Alec Empire & El-P	Shards Of Pol Pottery	broken beat hip-hop illbient rhythmic noise techno-industrial underground hip-hop	techno-industrial # 42
10		2001	Fidel Villeneuve	Kill Life!!!	breakcore breaks digital hardcore grime illbient jungle speedcore
35		2001	Monolith	Labyrinth	dub techno illbient
50		2001-05-01	cLOUDDEAD	cLOUDDEAD	hip-hop
25		2003	Spectre	Psychic Wars	illbient
59		2003	Bones Domingo	Bones Domingo	glitch illbient
20		2004-04	Gultskra Artikler	Golova	ambient ambient electronica chillout drone electronic electronica glitch idm illbient	ambient electronica # 81
30		2005	Cardopusher	Fire Kola Nut	australian breakcore illbient jungle
71		2006	Filastine	Burn It	beat broken beat illbient jazz protest	broken beat # 47 beat # 66 protest # 87
42		2006-05-18	Takeshi Nakamura	Easy Listening	ambient downtempo electronic glitch illbient
27		2007	The Great Mundane	When Falls Arrive	acid jazz ambient big beat breakbeat breaks broken beat chillout downtempo dub dub techno electro electronic electronica glitch idm illbient new beat techno trip-hop	new beat # 56
51		2007-03-08	Ten and Tracer	Baker's Blood	electronic glitch idm illbient
38		2007-11-28	Porcelain in the Backpack	Sand and Loam	electronic glitch illbient
60		2008-05-09	Timonkey	Cerulea	acid jazz ambient breakbeat deep house downtempo dub dub techno glitch house illbient
23		2009	Brokenkites	The Envious Dead	ambient chillout dark ambient downtempo electronic electronica illbient indietronica science fiction soundscape soundtrack	science fiction # 81
17		2009	Chaos Royale	Lowrider EP	gangsta rap hip-hop illbient
41		2009-01	The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble	Mutations EP	dark jazz	dark jazz # 91
92		2009-05-25	Worriedaboutsatan	Arrivals	ambient dub ambient techno deep techno dub techno illbient noise post-rock soundscape	ambient techno # 52 dub techno # 61 deep techno # 86 ambient dub # 89 soundscape # 93
73		2009-06-01	Desiderii Marginis	Years Lend a Golden Charm	illbient new age ritual ambient	ritual ambient # 55
57		2009-10-06	DJ Spooky	The Secret Song	alternative ambient broken beat downtempo easy listening electronic funk hip-hop illbient jazz soul tribal	broken beat # 37
37		2009-11-14	Marc Broude	Medicine	america american american underground chicago dark ambient illbient jazz oregon portland spoken word usa	america # 22 portland # 55 american underground # 55 oregon # 85
81		2009-11	The Silk Demise	Music For A Film	ambient techno illbient industrial rock instrumental post-rock progressive breaks	ambient techno # 12 progressive breaks # 82
47		2010-01-14	Akira Kiteshi	Cheyne Stokes	illbient trip-hop
67		2010-02-23	Dem Hunger	Caveman Smack	illbient neo-psychedelia plunderphonics trip-hop	plunderphonics # 20
9		2010-08-17	Aetherius	FallPast EP	8-bit alternative dance ambient ambient pop ambient techno bitpop breakbeat canada chillout dance dark ambient darkwave downtempo dream pop drone easy listening ebm electro electronic electronica electropop ethereal glitch idm illbient indie electronic indietronica industrial instrumental new age noise piano post-rock psychill shoegaze soundtrack strings synthpop toronto trip-hop	strings # 5 toronto # 32
96		2010-11-08	The Third Eye Foundation	The Dark	atmospheric drum and bass classical dance drill and bass drum and bass edm electronic electronica idm illbient	atmospheric drum and bass # 56 drill and bass # 92
62		2011-04-20	Party Trash	ALONE	dark ambient darkwave illbient
76		2011-08-25	Supreme Cuts	Trouble	dubstep illbient
29		2012	4 Позиции Бруно	Шестая Позиция. Дедовы Транки	illbient
83		2012-04-03	Filastine	LOOT	breakcore broken beat dub dubstep illbient jungle	broken beat # 70
58		2012-04-12	Larvae	Exit Strategy	ambient idm illbient post-rock
18		2013-04-23	Fausten	Fausten	illbient
69		2014	Oake	Auferstehung	dark ambient drone electro-industrial illbient industrial post-industrial technoid	technoid # 93
64		2014-01-04	DJ Rozwell	What Happens After the Death Is Recorded	electronic illbient plunderphonics	plunderphonics # 19
82		2014-06-21	In Slaughter Natives	Cannula Coma Legio	dark ambient illbient martial industrial tribal industrial	martial industrial # 74 tribal industrial # 91
19		2014-08-14	DJ Rozwell	Sludge Dredd	ambient hip-hop illbient noise
72		2015-04-29	Lil Ugly Mane	THIRD SIDE OF TAPE	experimental hip hop noise	sound collage # 13 industrial hip hop # 15 plunderphonics # 21 minimal wave # 24 memphis rap # 30 black ambient # 86
12		2016-01-25	Norwell	Appendix	electronic house illbient techno
48		2016-07-27	Hype Williams	10 / 10	illbient trap
85		2018	sewerslvt	Starving Slvts Always Get Their Fix	death industrial illbient power noise	power noise # 79 death industrial # 80
36		2018-09-28	Blackfilm	Zero One Seven	illbient
11		2018-11	Best Available Technology	Enginetics & Plasmalterations	dub techno illbient rhythmic noise
40		2019-08-12	Ken Ishii	Möbius Strip	electronic illbient techno
33		2019-09	Zoviet France	Gris	ambient drone electronic illbient industrial minimalism
4		2020-07-27	Kisewa	BULLET BALLET	dark ambient illbient post-industrial rhythmic noise
87		2021-05-07	DJ Rozwell	NONE OF THIS IS REAL	dungeon synth experimental hip hop plunderphonics	plunderphonics # 69 dungeon synth # 95
100		2021-06-02	Billie Eilish	bury a friend	alternative alternative hip hop dark ambient drone female vocalists hip-hop horrorcore illbient noise pop post-industrial rap teen pop	hip-hop # 59 alternative # 60 rap # 63 female vocalists # 85 teen pop # 97 alternative hip hop # 99 dark ambient # 100 post-industrial # 100 noise # 100 horrorcore # 100 drone # 100
61		2021-06-16	Scorn	The Only Place	dub illbient industrial
21		2022-04-14	Various Artists	Zhark Compilation	breakbeat dark ambient illbient techno-industrial technoid	techno-industrial # 51 technoid # 67
8		2023	Various Artists	Electric Ladyland IV	illbient	technoid # 34
98		2023	Bedwetter	Vol. 1: Flick Your Tongue Against Your Teeth and Describe the Present	ambient cloud rap experimental hip hop	experimental hip hop # 20 abstract hip hop # 43
32		2023-01-11	CrimeBoys	very dark past	ambient dub downtempo illbient	ambient dub # 23
2		2023-05-23	Hajj	No Soul, No God, No Devil, No Existence
54		2024-01-24	Armand Hammer	BLK LBL	abstract hip hop boom bap conscious hip hop east coast hip hop experimental hip hop hardcore hip hop illbient industrial hip hop
39		2024-11	Painkiller	Samsara	illbient industrial techno
56			maybe I'd be happier if I stabbed myself in the brain with a fork. James Call	Hubris: the lost sequences...	ambient breaks dance disco downtempo electro idm illbient new wave rap trip	trip # 94
70			The Missing Teens	Music for Young Adults...	alternative american anti-folk bass beat crunk dance disco downtempo electroclash electronic funk german idm illbient musical rap soul synthesizer techno trance	crunk # 15 beat # 63 anti-folk # 66 synthesizer # 81
28			kk25	dao of robot	illbient
5			Adlib, the Rabid Child	super pain machine

Related genres

• ambient
• industrial
• electronic
• dark ambient
• idm
• electronica
• downtempo
• noise
• trip-hop
• dub