YouTube rabbit holes can take you to some pretty weird places, and for me, one of those weird places has been the darker side of ambient noise. What set me on this path was my endless pursuit of good background music to play while working. Finding something that fits the bill can often be difficult because, in general, I can’t really play anything too engaging, or it will distract me. However, ambient noise — which is non-verbal and dwells in heavy, hypnotic vibes — can be just the ticket to keep me focus on a particular story or project.
As I’ve learned, however, ambience comes in all shapes and sizes, and YouTube’s algorithm has attempted to show me all of them. In particular, the weirder, darker side of ambient noise has been revealed to me in all its bizarre, upsetting glory. If you, dear web user, also wish to hear some truly unusual atmospherics as you go about your day, read on.
Cryo Chamber
One of the weirdest ambient music channels I’ve stumbled across, Cryo Chamber, describes itself as a “Dark Ambient Music label” that is focused on creating “dark atmospheric music with a cinematic edge.” It’s certainly achieved that: a lot of the tracks sound like a cross between the Blade Runner soundtrack and the auditory weirdness of a David Lynch film. These tracks conjure fantastical, faraway places: outer space dystopias, H.P. Lovecraft-inspired fantasy realms, and other fictional locales with hallucinatory atmospherics (see something called “Sacral Dark Jazz,” if you really want to trip balls). You can also check out their website and Bandcamp, if you want to know more.
Prometheus Studio
Prometheus Studio is another YouTube channel dedicated to moody ambient sounds that’ll make you feel like you’re living in another time and place. The channel’s page says it is dedicated to creating “all kinds of atmospheric” music, including “(prehistoric, nordic, ritual, dark ambient), industrial, dungeon synth, dark metal and other.” So, imagine gothic monks chanting maniacally on an alien planet to an extraterrestrial god…ok, yeah, admittedly pretty weird, but it still sounds cool.
Nobody
Feel like chilling out to the sounds of nuclear winter? As the above track demonstrates, “Nobody” is not for the faint of heart. But for those web users seeking truly bizarre vibes, this YouTube channel really does deliver. Nobody’s playlists are unhappy pastiches of musical ephemera that suggest isolation, silence, and faraway places. To get a sense of this, just look at the titles: “the pain of recalling an empty life,” “what it feels like to be awake at 4 a.m.,” and “lost forever in abandoned places without a soul around.” Pretty bleak! Personally, though, I think this shit rocks.
Hexen
If you’ve ever wanted to ensconce yourself in the creepy atmospherics of a Victorian ghost story (“Turn of the Screw,” anyone?), Hexen might be the YouTube channel for you. This channel, which mostly produces moody piano ballads, seeks to put you in the headspace of long, lonely nights in unsettling locales: You’ve got stuff like “you’re studying in a haunted library with ghosts ” and “dancing with your lover in the halls of an old haunted castle.” It’s less the high-octane weirdness of Cryo Chamber or Nobody and more the sleepy, ghostly aesthetic of an Edgar Allen Poe story.
VISUALDON
Ever wanted to feel like you’re alone and lost in space? No? Well, then VISUALDON might not be for you. This page, which produces eerie atmospherics, also features beautiful, high-resolution visuals (some in 4k, others in 8k) — many of which look like digitally rendered works of art. That makes sense, since VISUALDON was actually created by a visual artist, Don Mupasi, who makes 3-D animations and renderings and sells some of them as NFTs. I could do without the web3 stuff, but Mupasi’s hallucinogenic trance videos are top notch, in my opinion.
White Bat Studio
Like a lot of people, I have a healthy amount of ‘80s nostalgia. The 80s aren’t just an eclectic assortment of campy movies, bad music, and weird clothing; they’re also a vibe. White Bat Studio, which produces royalty-free 80s-themed soundtracks, gets that vibe exactly right. Its tracks, which sound like they are straight out of Miami Vice or a John Carpenter movie, pulse with the cheesy synth and keyboard arrangements that make for a classic 80s sound. White Bat specialises in something called “darksynth,” which blends the thrilling tempo of that decade with a darker, menacing vibe. I’d recommend checking it out.
Vox Potentiae
This might be my favourite thing I’ve discovered while perusing the depths of dark ambient noisemakers. V0Xx is an experimental music creator from Canada. This album, which is one of several released on VoXx’s YouTube page, basically sounds like an extended trip to the underworld. The music is dreamy, unsettling, and just plain bizarre. If you’re interested in hearing more, you can check out their other tracks on Soundcloud.
Cosy Rain
Of all the ambient noises, rain is the best. I often have trouble sleeping, but throwing on some good old fashioned rain sounds is one surefire way to get my eyelids drooping. If you’re into this sort of thing, you know there are a lot of rain “settings” to choose from: you can pretend you’re in a treehouse during a storm, for instance. Or, maybe you’re lying in a camper van on a rainy night. Or maybe you’re in a classy flat in Victorian England and it’s pouring. Wherever you want to be, you can typically find a YouTube channel to help you out. Cosy Rain, which has over half a million subscribers, is one such provider of auditory comforts and has a wide variety of “settings” to choose from — like this one, set in a pumpkin-strewn Halloween-themed village.
This Three Hour Loop of the 1984 Dune Soundtrack
David Lynch is one of the progenitors of bad vibes onscreen, which is why it makes sense that this three-hour loop of a track from his 1984 Dune adaptation is so demonically captivating.
Nemo’s Dreamscapes
If you haven’t listened to Nemo’s Dreamscapes, I truly don’t know what you’ve been doing with your life. Falling on the lighter end of the spectrum, Nemo surreally blends comforting noises, nostalgic music, and dreamy, romantic settings to create unique ambient tracks. He always sets the scene pretty nicely: tracks like, “It’s summer night 1946, you’re at a Drive-In Theatre (w/oldies playing in the car, crickets),” “Oldies playing on the train,” or “Oldies music playing in a coffee shop and its raining,” really put you in a different headspace. That’s probably why Nemo’s channel has upwards of 700k subscribers. Dreamy, ambient, and nostalgic — it’s got everything you need if you want to zone out or go to sleep.