PinholeStar
Bluelighter
Just posted this in the non-electronic music forum in response to someone who was looking for ambient/chillout music recommendations, but thought it would probably find a better audience & be better suited to in here.
Feel free to add your own suggestions.......
OK, most of the ambient/chillout music that I listen to is on the psychedelic side of things. Many,many people aren't aware of the absolute treasure trove of artists, labels & just downright stunning & inventive music that exists in this area, because in many cases the only exposure that you're likely to get to it is as a counterbalance to psytrance. "Urrgghh, electronic music", some might say - well, more fool them. I've introduced this side of ambient instrumental music to many people (including some who listen exclusively to guitar-driven music) & have yet to discover a dissatisfied customer -hopefully you'll be one more.....
Anyway here goes:
Your best bet is probably to start out with some compilations. Some of my favourites are:
The Fahrenheit Project series on Ultimae Records. They're up to Part 5 now, but all of them are very good, in particular pts. 3-5.
Mountain High on Candyflip Records. Very similar to the Fahrenheit Projects, lots of the same artists, basically if you like them, you'll like this.
Floating Point (Vols. 1 & 2) on Iboga Records. A bit more upbeat than the above, with a few vocal tracks as well.
Wider Horizons on Dragonfly Records. Not as good as the ones above imo, but still worth checking out.
Liquid Sound Design (the chill/dubby part of Dragonfly Records) has pretty much cornered the market in dubby-with-eastern/weird-stuff going over it, so if that's you're bag, or if you're willing to expand your musical horizons, it's a good place to start.
There's some superb ambient dub out there, notably two releases by a guy called Ott : Blumenkraft & Hallucinogen In Dub (which is an album of dub remixes of Hallucinogen tunes).
Artist-wise you could try :
Bass, Sweat & Tears by Gaudi. Lots of world-music influences in there - not to everyone's taste, but some people swear by it.
Ditto for In Search Of A Meaningful Moment by Shulman.
Then there's a whole host of artist albums that you find on the abovementioned Fahrenheit Projects :
Acoustic Plantation Releases by Aural Planet. Superb.
Lightflow also by Aural Planet, also superb.
Hydroponic Garden by Carbon Based Lifeforms.
Distances by H.U.V.A. Network.
and of course........Shpongle!! Highly revered in many corners, they've released 2 albums so far : Are You Shpongled? & Tales Of The Inexpressible, with a 3rd album coming out very soon. Highly inventive, interesting music that's quite unique in many regards.
Mid-90's trip-hoppy stuff is also worth checking out. Portishead & Massive Attack in particular, & Future Sound Of London's Lifeforms album is a masterpiece.
OK, I'll stop there, because I could go on for ages, but hopefully there's something in there that you'll like. Be warned though, some of is seriously chilled - I use a lot of it for aiding with meditation & such-like.
Feel free to add your own suggestions.......
OK, most of the ambient/chillout music that I listen to is on the psychedelic side of things. Many,many people aren't aware of the absolute treasure trove of artists, labels & just downright stunning & inventive music that exists in this area, because in many cases the only exposure that you're likely to get to it is as a counterbalance to psytrance. "Urrgghh, electronic music", some might say - well, more fool them. I've introduced this side of ambient instrumental music to many people (including some who listen exclusively to guitar-driven music) & have yet to discover a dissatisfied customer -hopefully you'll be one more.....
Anyway here goes:
Your best bet is probably to start out with some compilations. Some of my favourites are:
The Fahrenheit Project series on Ultimae Records. They're up to Part 5 now, but all of them are very good, in particular pts. 3-5.
Mountain High on Candyflip Records. Very similar to the Fahrenheit Projects, lots of the same artists, basically if you like them, you'll like this.
Floating Point (Vols. 1 & 2) on Iboga Records. A bit more upbeat than the above, with a few vocal tracks as well.
Wider Horizons on Dragonfly Records. Not as good as the ones above imo, but still worth checking out.
Liquid Sound Design (the chill/dubby part of Dragonfly Records) has pretty much cornered the market in dubby-with-eastern/weird-stuff going over it, so if that's you're bag, or if you're willing to expand your musical horizons, it's a good place to start.
There's some superb ambient dub out there, notably two releases by a guy called Ott : Blumenkraft & Hallucinogen In Dub (which is an album of dub remixes of Hallucinogen tunes).
Artist-wise you could try :
Bass, Sweat & Tears by Gaudi. Lots of world-music influences in there - not to everyone's taste, but some people swear by it.
Ditto for In Search Of A Meaningful Moment by Shulman.
Then there's a whole host of artist albums that you find on the abovementioned Fahrenheit Projects :
Acoustic Plantation Releases by Aural Planet. Superb.
Lightflow also by Aural Planet, also superb.
Hydroponic Garden by Carbon Based Lifeforms.
Distances by H.U.V.A. Network.
and of course........Shpongle!! Highly revered in many corners, they've released 2 albums so far : Are You Shpongled? & Tales Of The Inexpressible, with a 3rd album coming out very soon. Highly inventive, interesting music that's quite unique in many regards.
Mid-90's trip-hoppy stuff is also worth checking out. Portishead & Massive Attack in particular, & Future Sound Of London's Lifeforms album is a masterpiece.
OK, I'll stop there, because I could go on for ages, but hopefully there's something in there that you'll like. Be warned though, some of is seriously chilled - I use a lot of it for aiding with meditation & such-like.
