UKC

What would you suggest to help switch the brain off with?

Cheers muchly

In reply to The Lemming:

Some of my favourites:

http://www.discogs.com/Marsen-Jules-Herbstlaub/master/37458

http://www.discogs.com/Biosphere-Substrata%C2%B2/master/23402

http://www.discogs.com/Brian-Eno-Ambient-1-Music-For-Airports/master/6265

Probably not technically ambient, but i also enjoy this to relax to:

http://www.discogs.com/Future-Sound-Of-London-Lifeforms/master/6526

In reply to The Norris:

Music for Airports - good call, as is Biosphere. Mr Lemming could also try Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works 85-92 and (in particular) Selected Ambient Works Vol 2. I've some Pete Namlook kicking around somewhere that might fit the bill too.

In reply to The Norris: Sone nice suggestions there!

I'd recommend Ulrich Schnausse 'Strangely Isolated Place' and the Orb's 'Adventures in the Underworld'.

In reply to The Lemming: I usually stick a Nigel Stately mix on after a heavy night shift to help me chill. One of his best below:

youtube.com/watch?v=S_ZAEzurJOE&

In reply to The Lemming:
Some of DJ River's mixes may fit the bill
http://www.djriver.com/comp_menu_.htm

In reply to Philo22:

Very impressed sir.

In fact I like everything suggested so far.

Thanks muchly.

In reply to Philo22:

This is going to hurt me saying this, but I am going to part with some cold hard cash to get some.

Where's the best place online to get this from?

Bit of a technophobe when it comes to online music.

In reply to The Lemming: Have a look for Crustation, although you might have trouble finding them.
Also, if you've not already heard of them, Morcheeba.

In reply to Philo22:

I'm a bad bad rodent

http://www45.zippyshare.com/v/10745277/file.html

In reply to The Lemming:

You can probably find a lot of these albums as whole album uploads on youtube, failing that, i buy a lot of cd's and vinyl from the discogs market place that i posted earlier, or you can buy mp3s from Boomkat.com, Amazon, Itunes, Beatport etc. And there's always pirate bay proxies if you're into that sort of thing.

In reply to The Lemming: Been loving this lately

youtube.com/watch?v=9wPtHy7EP0g&

In reply to crustypunkuk:

World lookin in - morcheeba

Great tune .

In reply to The Lemming:

Mattias IA Eklundh - The Woman in Seat 27a

youtube.com/watch?v=34HKClfont8&

although it does get a bit rocky 3 quarters of the way through

In reply to The Lemming:

Moist moss by locust is awesome

In reply to The Lemming: Look for some of Marconi Union's stuff, it's very good indeed. Beautifully Falling Apart is perhaps a good spot to start (they recently released an album with Jah Wobble too which is very good, but perhaps not what you're after).

For a sampler of a range of artists from the excellent Just Music label, try Just Music Cafe volume 4: the ambient zone.

For some more brooding soundscapes, Loscil's Coast/Range/Arc is good.

T.

In reply to The Lemming: Hammock, Peter Broderick, Soley, Sigur Ros, Massive Attack, Brian Eno - music for airports.... etc.

In reply to The Lemming:


The first album by the band "seefeel", which is called "quique", is lovely for this sort of thing.

Someone mentioned Eno. I am a big fan of the album Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks by Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois and Roger Eno. It is mesmerising.

Good call on FSOL's Lifeforms IF it's the 7-track EP.

In reply to Blue Straggler:


I bought it on your recommendation. I'd agree.

The full length version of Cascade is a particularly lovely thing.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Disclaimer, I have not heard the Lifeforms full album but a few reviews at the time stated that the 7-track EP flowed better and you felt the "evolution" of the life forms across its 40 minutes. I have that and I like it. I have not earned an opinion on the long player. I saw Garry Cobain of FSOL on telly once and he came across as a total arse.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Yep, definitely this. It's wonderful.

Or how about something beautiful but a little less modern, from the second century?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gregorian-Chant-Requiem-Mass/dp/B005A0WWUG/ref=sr_1...

In reply to Tony Naylor:

Second century? Really?

In reply to Tony Naylor:

I do have quite a bit of Gregorian. I'll check this out too.

Cheers

In reply to Tony Naylor:

That's better

But I still can't get away from the suspicion that most ambient music is just an absence of invention really..

In reply to The Lemming:

Schpongle. A bit more up beat but a good vibe and intelligent.

In reply to The Lemming: Stimmung by Stockhausen started this ball rolling in 1968.

youtube.com/watch?v=3hPkJW95jsw&

In reply to The Lemming:

Miles davis, in a silent way. Another early incarnation thats a remarkable recording.

The residents Eskimo is also good, tho it borders in not being music.

Brian eno, music for airports.

In reply to Rob Davies:

I can't figure out if this is the work of the clangers or the mice in Pipkins.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Yep, according the sleeve notes on my copy: "The origins of this liturgical office go back as far as the second century AD. The service originally had the character of an annual commemoration of the deceased; among the fathers of the church, the first witnesses to fact this were Tertullian (d. after 220) and Cyprian (d. 258)"

This recording wasn't done in the second century, though. They waited until 1954, so they could use microphones and stuff. Canny lads, them monks

Joking aside, it really is the most wonderful stuff. I find it calms and clears my head like nothing else can. I've heard and enjoyed a fair bit of Gregorian chant, but for me nothing gets close to this performance.

In reply to ice.solo:

I like Miles Davis, but haven't heard that one. A quick listen on Amazon and it sounds good. Might be buying that.


Lemming said he wanted to switch his brain off, not travel to the farther shores of lunacy!


Lovely stuff, spacious, civilized, and serene. Eno's "Discreet Music" is great, too, if a bit on the heavy side.

In a slightly different vein, Bach's cello suites are complex and absorbing. They demand your attention, so not really the best for switching your brain off, but they stop you thinking about other things - which is a different way of switching off.

In reply to Rob Davies:

Wow, sounds like someone treading on cats. But if it works for you... I find everything I've heard by Stockhausen to be like this - edgy, unsettling, nervous. The blighter must have been doing it on purpose.

In reply to Tony Naylor:

in a silent way ive heard described as 'the only album you need, the rest are merely wants'. whilst thats debatable, its remarkable stuff and part of the transition that evolved davis (and therefore intelligent pop music) from kind of blue to bitches brew. no doubt acid had a bit to do with it, but its an evolutionary step caught on vinyl. incredible line up doing new things. you have many great hours ahead delving into it. whole new realms at every level of volume, even different machines and different rooms.

yeah, eskimo is pretty out there, but for immersion into another world its good stuff. that residents bass lulls the brain to some weird depths.
not that unlike bach; it wont turn the brain off, instead to the lower wavelengths where profound things go in usually unnoticed.

murcof is a semi-obscure electro composer who does very intelligent stuff between glitch and ambient. great soundtrack for float tank journeys.

In reply to The Lemming:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=G7QrUahO0bE

In reply to The Lemming:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CvXZUPqSTws

In reply to The Lemming:
Try somafm.com - both the groove salad and space station channels are great for a bit of background beats/ noise. It's good for an internet radio station and doesn't have ads which is a bonus.
There's also an app for it too which I sometimes set the sleep timer on if I'm struggling to get to sleep.

In reply to The Lemming: Stars of the Lid.

In reply to Tony Naylor:

Thanks Tony! I mistakenly thought that no melodies or arrangements that we know today, go back as far as that. I think I fell for a load of Hildegard von Bingen propaganda!

In reply to Tony Naylor: Stimmung is by far Stockhausen's most listener-friendly piece! There's very little of his music I can stand: Mantra, for example, uses sophisticated electronics (well, sophisticated for the 1960s) to distort the sound of two pianos. To my ears the result sounds just like a couple of really badly out-of-tune pub upright pianos.

In C by Terry Riley was the first (1964, amazingly) important piece of minimalist music but it's not so much "chill-out", as requested by the OP, more "obsessional and will rapidly drive you nuts".

youtube.com/watch?v=OjR4QYsa9nE&

In reply to The Lemming: If it's the Clangers you want, try this bit of Ligeti's Violin Concerto: first of all the solo violin plays a wonderful old-fashioned tune, but then at 2'45" the ocarinas take it over... Ligeti did have a very odd sense of humour, and - for all I know - he might have been a fan of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.

In reply to Rob Davies: Forgot the link

youtube.com/watch?v=fV3lIMpsOww&

In reply to Tony Naylor: The "liturgical office" may go back this far but I think the music might be only a thousand years old!

In reply to The Lemming: Try this,

Orlande de Lassus - Missa pro defunctis a 4: IV. Tractus

youtube.com/watch?v=48ahYfJXtY4&

In reply to Tony Naylor:

That would be my choice, although I like a touch of the gregorian as well.

In reply to The Lemming:

La Monte Young: 2nd dream of the high tension line step down transformer youtube.com/watch?v=yfZzz58VUaw&

Terry Riley Poppy No Good and the Phantom Band
youtube.com/watch?v=FRwPPIoAgqY&



Though I don't really hold with the brain off thing.

In reply to Rob Davies:

It's an interesting point - when does a vocal recitation become music? I suspect the line between the two is wide and grey and affected by all sorts of things, including the intent of the performers and the listeners.

In reply to Tony Naylor:

It becomes music when you have 'notes/tones' that that are organised to relate/interact with each other in a harmonic way that's governed by laws of physics. Sounds at different frequencies, may or may not be musical according to how they relate to each other. (I suppose some very basic 'music' can occur naturally, by chance, but that would be very limited.)

In reply to The Lemming:
Affy good.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6ih1aKeETk&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DZ6i...

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

What's the excuse for Trad Jazz then?

In reply to The Lemming:

Why should it need an excuse. Trad jazz is very near the apex of musical creativity.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Like this?

youtube.com/watch?v=UnwOE_44D9M&

In reply to The Lemming:

Zero7 pretty much have ambient locked down. Bonobo is also worth a listen.

For me, airport music is a Fat Jon album on repeat. Bit of a tradition, only play it waiting for a plane, my body then knows an adventure is brewing

In reply to ice.solo:

Just had another listen to the Amazon sample and realised that this is where Fripp and Eno were coming from with things like "No Pussyfooting" and "Evening Star" - Fripp in particular. Bought it. Thanks for the tip, I'm going to enjoy this.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

I'm musically pretty ignorant, so thank you for that. And no, I'm not being sarcastic - it makes sense and I appreciate the education.

In reply to The Lemming: If you haven't already,check out Boards Of Canada,especially their first full album "Music Has The Right To Children".In a smilar vein,Plaid and the associated Black Dog and Balil are excellent.On a more conventionally ambient vibe,William Orbit's "Strange Cargo" albums are well worth a listen.

In reply to CBA:

Good call on Boards of Canada - I find Music Has The Right To Children a lot easier to listen to than Geogaddi.

In reply to ice.solo:

It's great, but stuff like Silent Way is anything but ambient chillout - stuff like Silent Way is all about focus and intensity, just in a slow and meditative way rather than a fast and energetic way.

In reply to The Lemming:
This is my favourite type of music, I've now moved on to ambient trance and its awesome.
check out ultimae records, their stars djs are:
carbon based lifeforms
asura
solar fields (the album movements is a must for long journeys)
Koan
lemonchill
H.U.V.A network
hol baumann.......theres loads

for something a bit more up beat try vibrasphere

how about some ambient dub:
OTT
slackbabba (more psychadelic dub)
bluetech.....
To check out stuff for free ektoplasm is definitely worth knowing about. Plenty to be getting on with there, I hope you guys have a listen and enjoy...

In reply to Tall Clare:

The new one, Tomorrow's Harvest, is good too.

For my money, Geogaddi crossed over a bit from being nostalgic in a slightly ambiguous and spooky way to being nostalgic in a straight muzak-y way.

In reply to The Lemming:

Thank you everybody. I've now got some excellent stuff to slow my brain down.

In reply to The Lemming:

If you want chillout music then classical guitar music does it for me.

Alirio Diaz especially.

On the other hand , if you want to really switch the brain off, I will send her indoors around to you when she is in one of her bloody talkative moods..

Brain into hibernate mode!!

In reply to The Lemming:
+1 to Bonobo and Boards of Canada
If you looking for some thing a bit electronic I would recommend
Caribou, Trentmoller, Nightmares on Wax, Burial, Four Tet, Air
Now time to look up some of the the other recommendations

In reply to dapoy:

+ 1 for caribou. remarkable stuff.

In reply to ice.solo:


I'll check some out later this evening.

I was surprised that I had quite a bit of what people suggested, which makes me feel sort of hip and down with the yoof.

In reply to The Lemming:
Albatross Fleetwood Mac does it for me

In reply to CBA: good call. I ways go back to The Campfire Headphase.

Also KLF Chill Out, Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld and U.F.Orb.

In reply to dapoy: +1 for Burial and Nightmares on Wax, Rae and Christian also good (similar to Now and Air)

In reply to dapoy: +1 for Burial and Nightmares on Wax, Rae and Christian also good (similar to Now and Air)

In reply to The Lemming: Also Thievery corporation and 'Dzihan and Kamian'

In reply to The Lemming: Vondelpark, a Spotify recommendation for me this week which I have been enjoying at work.

In reply to The Lemming: As I've been finding this afternoon, though Santana's Caravanserai isn't ambient by genre, in practice it's very good music to chill out to.

You can also, should you wish, turn the volume up and shake your progressive latin jazz-rock thing should the mood be upon you. Perhaps thankfully, it hasn't been upon me.

T.

In reply to The Lemming:

There's a pretty good ambient collection series of Virgin: "A Brief History of Ambient" Vols 1-3. Many of the usual suspects featured here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Brief_History_of_Ambient

The Selected Ambient Works Vol II by Aphex Twin earlier is good; his other work is less restful.

Here are a few that haven't been mentioned (I think), just scanning through the CD list. Looks like my ambient-buying days were some time ago, and my recent resurgence in CD buying by trawling charity shops and Poundland yields mostly rock-ish...

System 7
Brand X - A Longer April
A Mission Into Drums (compilation), which leads us to Oliver Lieb, Stevie be Zet and Ralph Hildenbeutel, then to Recycle Or Die/Eye-Q Records, and thus Baked Beans... oh, and #9 Dream
Angelo Badalamenti (he of Twin Peaks & David Lynch association)
Amorphous Androgynous
Channel Light Vessel
MLO
Sven Vath
CJ Bolland


Whilst not strictly ambient or trance...
Dead Can Dance
Drum Club
Allegri - Miserere, Mei Deus (caught it live recently, performed beautifully by the Surrey Youth Choir in Guildford. Nearly had me in tears)

In reply to captain paranoia:


So I shall have to check out some of the recommendations, too...

In reply to Philo22: Thanks for that - you led me to this youtube.com/watch?v=rKZcOel9k8s& ... just getting going and it's superb!

In reply to markk:

So far I have vols 1 through 8. Still hunting for more.