From: ryder@cichlid.metaphor.com (Rick Ryder)
Newsgroups: rec.music.newage
Subject: Re: Where can I find good atmospheric (background) music?
Date: 15 Apr 92 03:44:14 GMT
Organization: Metaphor Computer Systems, Mountain View, CA

>In article <1992Apr10.101157.7649@news.Hawaii.Edu> kevinh@pulua.hcc.hawaii.edu (Kevin 'Kev' Hughes) writes:
>        The header says it all. I'm looking for long, instrumental pieces
>with a lot of mood, something I can relax, meditate, or fall asleep to.

Okay!

If anyone out there has additional ideas, I'd like to hear them! (email would
be terrific - my news feed is somewhat erratic.)

I submit the following:

Aeoliah			90 Love in the Wind		Helios Enterprises
	He has others of a similar vein, however I recommend starting here.
	Very easy floating harmonic synth - targeted to new earther types.
Anugama			89 Environment 1 - Ocean/Tambura Higher Octave Music
			89 Environment 2 - River/Bells
			90 Spiritual Env. - Tantra
			90 Spiritual Env. - Shamanic Dream
			90 Spiritual Env. - Healing
	Very easy to listen to - he has others with more energy in them which
	I also recommend for other purposes. I'd buy any by him on sight.
Ashra			77 New Age of Earth		Virgin
	A classic. There are others with more verve. From the German school of
	electronic music.
Budd, Harold		78 Pavilion of Dreams		Editions EG
	A great album in the style of Brian Eno. (they've worked together!)
Crutcher, Rusty		89 Machu Picchu Impressions	Emerald Green
	Very interesting exploration with natural sound interludes. The last
	piece is terrific, and not properly noted on the CD - it's an extra cut.
Danna, Mychael		91 Sirens			Hearts of Space
	A great opening. I definitely recommend this one.
Ernst, Herb		86 Dreamflight			Mystic Visions
	This, I believe, will fulfill your needs for blanketed drifting.
Iasos			78 Angelic Music		Inter-Dimensional
	Actually, rather unusual. Definitely mellow enough.
Lorentzen, Frank	86 Hands			Fonix Music
			89 Centering
			90 Summer Vision <-- DON'T GET (too predictably boring)
	These two are terrific mind soothers. I think sleep was intended here.
	Summer Vision, unfortunately, went mainstream and blah. Disappointing.
Mark, Jon		88 The Standing Stones ...	Celestial Harmonies
	Haunting gaelic style sound. Great album.
Parsons, David		80 Tibetan Plateau/Mothership	Fortuna Records
			89 Himalaya
			90 Yatra
	Powerful. Great stuff - I'd buy anything by him in a second. Yatra has
	a few cuts with more drive, but plenty of ~20 minute killers (2 CDs).
Raphael			88 Music to Disappear In	Hearts of Space
	He actually has a second one, but I don't find it quite as appealing.
	Very heartfelt mood oriented.
Roach, Steve		84 Structures from Silence	Fortuna Records
			86 Empetus - UH, THIS WILL WAKE YOU UP - HIGH ENERGY
			88 Quiet Music
			88 Dreamtime Return
			89 Desert Solitaire	(Braheny, Stearns)
			89 Western Spaces	(Braheny, Burmer)
			90 Strata		(Rich)
			92 World's Edge
	Similar in vein to Parsons. Roach deals with the outback of Australia,
	whereas Parsons is hanging out in the Himalayas and Tibet. By the way,
	Stearns (below) is somewhere out in space. Buy on sight.
Serrie, Jonn		87 And the Stars Go With You	Miramar
			89 Flightpath
			90 Tingri
	Great stuff. There is a piece called Muroc on Flightpath that is 
	absolutely killer. Tingri (and for that matter, Flightpath) start
	off a bit more mainstream, but then mellow down to his signature style.
	Buy on sight.
Stearns, Michael	84 M'Ocean			Sonic Atmospheres
			85 Jewel
			85 Chronos
			85 Planetary Unfolding
			86 Plunge
			87 Floating Whispers
			88 Encounter			Hearts of Space
	Careful with M'Ocean and Plunge - these have more action to them. This
	is another guy whose stuff I'll buy on sight.
Sutin, Paul		86 Serendipity			Real Music
			88 Seraphim	(Howe)
	Very light, plucky soft (piano) emotive music. Yup, that's Steve Howe
	of Yes fame doing the guitar work on Seraphim. Someone about a month
	ago canned this album - I BEG TO DIFFER! :) If you like the general
	style presented throughout this list, it will fit in with your
	collection.

Much of the music above challenges the listener to really run with the mood.
For those who are new to this type of stuff, give it time to sink in and let
yourself flow with it; the results are amazing.

Enjoy!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rick Ryder                                      ryder@metaphor.com
Metaphor Computer Systems                       Phone: (415) 961-3620 x447
1965 Charleston Rd.                             FAX:   (415) 966-1637
Mountain View, CA  94043-1293
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