Isolationism is the name given in the early 1990s to a cold, withdrawn strain of ambient music that turned away from the soothing chill-out of the period. The term was put into circulation in 1993 by the musician and writer Kevin Martin, later known as The Bug, to describe artists such as Main, Thomas Köner, Lull and Scorn; Simon Reynolds, covering the same trend in Melody Maker that year, filed it under uneasy listening.
Martin then compiled Ambient 4: Isolationism, a double CD released by Virgin in 1994 and the first volume in its ambient series made entirely of new, exclusive material. It brought together Aphex Twin, AMM, Labradford, Seefeel, Zoviet France, Final, Paul Schütze and others. Its mix of dense drones, dub weight and frozen guitar textures mapped a territory that dark ambient, drone metal and much later experimental electronica would go on to explore.