Need suggestions on quality New Age

[Demetrio]

Hi all,

With the help of many of you guys, I have discovered, over the past years, some very awesome stuff such as October Project, Maire Brennan, Hector Zazou, Cusco, Bartz, Michael Shrieve, Michael Brook, U.Srinivas, Nils Petter Molvaer and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and I have to thank you for turning me on to this great stuff.

Some other great names I knew by myself, such as Clannad, XII Alfonso, Jade Warrior, Luar Na Lubre, Iona, Nightnoise, Bill Douglas, Ray Lynch, Paul Speer, Tangerine Dream, Cipher, Mysia, The Enid, Rasa, Al Gromer Khan, Gandalf, Lanvall, Deuter.

Now I am looking for more quality stuff in the same vein, so please let me know what I am missing in this genre.

Thanks in advance,
Demetrio.

[Davey]

New age...what a silly name for music, huh?. Some of it is made to be so bland that it doesn't even intrude into your listening space (or your mind). I like a little intrusion though, so this might be a little outside the lines of new age, but I think some that you list are as well (even though I don't know most of them), so.....

Harold Budd and Brian Eno did one together that I've talked about before and really like a lot. It's called The Pearl. Daniel Lanois is on board as well. 1984 is when it came out but I didn't get it until much later as I was kind of played out on the Eno ambient sound collages at the time. But the hints of electronic tapestry that he weaves around Budd's piano is just beautiful. I guess one could almost call it new age, but the beauty and artistry and even craftsmanship in this recording really makes most new age music sound pretty insubstantial in comparison.

<img src=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drc500/c560/c560146q8io.jpg>

If you're a fan of Harold Budd and that ambient piano sound he is so good at, last year he decided to call it quits after so many years of making beautiful music so put together a final album with tributes to the people he's worked with over the years sprinkled throughout. It's called Avalon Sutra and comes with a second disc with only one song, the 60-minute "As Long As I Can Hold My Breath". I only got it recently but it is really a beautiful album.

<img src=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drg500/g585/g58576b4cv8.jpg>

[Dusty Chalk]

Yeah, I got nothing that you haven't probably already heard of. Some classics that oftentimes fall into this category are: Mike Oldfield, Vangelis, Klaus Schulze, Bo Hansson, Synergy, Jean-Michel Jarre, and George Winston -- with the latter, especially the albums December, Winter Into Spring and Autumn (he's gone off into a variety of directions since then). Though I'm sure you already either own these, have investigated them, or they're in the wrong direction from what you're talking about.

I kind of 've gotten over Eno's ambient material, so I won't speak to that.

I listen to a lot of ambient material -- Pan Sonic's Quiet City and Labradford's fixed::context are two recent favourites. I don't know if this is what you're looking for.

A lot of what we used to call new age has been relabelled (finally), usually with the words "contemporary" and/or "adult" somewhere in the name.

Have you heard Qntal? Govinda? Vas?

[nobody]

Don't know if I've heard it called New Age or not, but you may wanna check out Jean Michel Jarre's Oxygene.

I'd also second the Brian Eno recommendations. Any from his Ambient series would be nice.

I also vaguely remember hearting something from Kitaro that I liked at the time, but I haven't heard anything since and can't really speak to what state I was in when I heard it. I may have to find something from him myself, so if anyone has suggestions there, feel free.

Oh yeah, if you're interested in any more modern ambient stuff, the heavily synthasized ISAN's Lucky Cat is great, atmospheric synths all around.

[Javier]

Hi all,

With the help of many of you guys, I have discovered, over the past years, some very awesome stuff such as October Project, Maire Brennan, Hector Zazou, Cusco, Bartz, Michael Shrieve, Michael Brook, U.Srinivas, Nils Petter Molvaer and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and I have to thank you for turning me on to this great stuff.

Some other great names I knew by myself, such as Clannad, XII Alfonso, Jade Warrior, Luar Na Lubre, Iona, Nightnoise, Bill Douglas, Ray Lynch, Paul Speer, Tangerine Dream, Cipher, Mysia, The Enid, Rasa, Al Gromer Khan, Gandalf, Lanvall, Deuter.

Now I am looking for more quality stuff in the same vein, so please let me know what I am missing in this genre.

Thanks in advance,
Demetrio.
The only one i dig is Andreas Vollenveider up into his 5th album i realy like a lot from is music, the other are already mentioned elsewhere in the thread.

[PPG]

Demetrio, if you like your New Age really spacey/otherworldly, I highly recommend Phil Thornton "Alien Encounter". Great stuff.

[paper warrior]

Has anybody heard Moodswings organized by the drummer from the Pretenders? The album I heard was "Psychedelicatessen" very lush electronica especially the medley of guest artist Tanita Tikaram vocalizing on Redemption Song interspersed with the "Oh HappyDay" chorusline though there other albums have good reviews on amazon too.

[dean_martin]

Here's a link to playlists for a nightly radio program called Radio Avalon. The program features Jazz, New Age and World Beat. I have this going somewhere in the house almost every weeknight but I don't keep up with the artists or who's playing what. Some of it, e.g., jazz, is obviously outside your genre and occasionally the music is bland as pointed out by Davey, but most of the New Age/World Beat stuff in the rotation is engrossing. If you have the time to peruse the playlist calendar (and then do a little research of your own) you might find something.

http://plus.calendars.net/radioavalon

In addition, you can pick the host's brain and get the newsletter here:

http://www.radioavalon.com/contacts.html

Heck, maybe you can put him onto some new artists!

[Rael Imperial Aerosol Kid]

Demetrio,

i'm new here and saw your post. I recommend these:

Michael Hedges: incredibly gifted acoustic/harp guitarist. died tragically...rip
Friedemann: highly recommend his lp "Indian Summer"
Pete Bardens: you may have heard some Camel (?); this guy used to be the keyboard player.
Jan Akkermann: ex of Focus
Alesini & Andreoni: check out "Marco Polo"
baG: French band...pretty cool stuff
Tomas Bodin: This guy is an awesome keyboard player; I think he teaches and writes movie scores. Also plays with a great band called "The Flower Kings".
Jean Pascal Boffo
Djam Karet: maybe not "new age" but great instrumental music
Ozric Tentacles: ditto
David Sylvian
Tangerine Dream
Kit Watkins

later,
Jon

[Dusty Chalk]

Has anybody heard Moodswings organized by the drummer from the Pretenders? The album I heard was "Psychedelicatessen" very lush electronica especially the medley of guest artist Tanita Tikaram vocalizing on Redemption Song interspersed with the "Oh HappyDay" chorusline though there other albums have good reviews on amazon too.Yeah! Forgot that one. Horizontal is really good, too. I got Moodfood somewhere, too, should dig it out.

[richmon]

I've gotten tired of so much of the New age I've bought over the years, it doesn't seem to hold my interest after 10+ listens.

Thought about this last night, and here's a couple that still sound great, and stood the test of time.

Jon Jenkins 'Flow' - songs about water ..
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004Y2DV/qid=1106752745/sr=2-1/
ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/103-9985162-4814261

Zen Garden -has a zen like quality, great for relaxing.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000DC1T/qid=1106752812/sr=2-1/
ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/103-9985162-4814261

And of course, you're probally already familiar with Steve Roach's stuff.