Harold Budd

An American neo-classical composer who allied himself closely with the independent rock underground through his collaborations with Brian Eno, the Cocteau Twins' Robin Guthrie, Andy Partridge of XTC, and many others, Harold Budd grew into a major figure of what would come to be called ambient music. His music, fashioned from sparse and tonal washes of keyboard treatments, was inspired by a boyhood spent listening to the buzz of telephone wires near his home in the Mojave Desert town of Victorville, California (though he was born in nearby Los Angeles). Given his eagerness to w...