Help expand my musical experience

[Cytota]

So, I've been really trying to expand the music that I listen to lately, but I've hit a brick wall in terms of exploring.

I've tried using pandora and ambient.us and I end up in one of two problems.

I'd really like to dig into ambient, atmospheric celtic and/or new age music, and it's hard to find anything, really.

Pandora thinks that ambient is supposed to be really-slow-trance, or it's new age selection is far too unfocused.

Being a musical community, I'd hope OCRemix could help me out in this matter.

Here's a list of soundtracks that really hit home in the styles of music I'm looking into getting into and exploring.

Chrono Cross

-Scars of Time

-Another World

-Arnie Village

-Radical Dreamers

I enjoy these as they're emotional and relaxing at the same time, I can feel the movements through the song and I just find it a pleasure to listen to the melodies.

Sonic 3D Blast (Sega Saturn)

-Rusty Ruin Zone (Act 1 & 2)

Beautiful, haunting, immersive, deep, surrounding, emotional... So many words to describe it, and yet I can find nothing remotely similar =/

Riven

-Catherine's Theme

-Whark Room

-Moiety Theme

The hardest to find anything remotely similar, the whole soundtrack has such an "deep" and "surrounding" feel to it. A few songs by Tangerine Dreams sound somewhat similar, but there's not much other than that.

ECCO The Dolphin

-any songs really

-SEGA CD versions

-Defender of the Future

A few random songs

-Prelude (Final Fantasy X)

-Mystic Ruin Theme (Sonic Adventure)

-EgM's Sol Sanctum Guitar

Any of Sonic CD's NA OST. The guitar work is a big part of it, but the entire work's sound is very entrancing.

I know some of these aren't really in the same style, but I'd really like to get into something similar. If anyone can help me find similar music to these, I'd greatly appreciate it!

[Meteo Xavier]

I'd be crazy not to plug my album like the bottom-feeding, one-legged, whore that I am.

[Schwaltzvald]

I'd really like to dig into ambient, atmospheric celtic and/or new age music, and it's hard to find anything, really.

No silent Hill tracks listed?

I am dissapoint

Gonna have to search through my collection for anything that would fit the bill later on; maybe I can set up a download link to it...

[Fishy]

I'd really like to dig into ambient, atmospheric celtic and/or new age music, and it's hard to find anything, really.

I highly recommend Jillian Aversa's (pixietricks) album Origins, which has pretty much all of that in it. Srsly, you won't regret it.

Check out the demo's here:

http://www.jillianaversa.com/

[OverCoat]

I write a lot of ambient/atmospheric stuff.

http://soundtempest.net/soc/album/HellveticaEP/

^here's a short EP I made of ambient drone

you can find a lot more great ambient at www.ansiform.afraid.org. I have a release there too but it is a sekrit :3

www.kahvi.org might have some stuff for you as well. They have a lot of releases by now and I haven't checked in years, but I recommend CDR#2 by Lackluster and any release by Workbench.

As far as new age/celtic stuff, I have only one lady to recommend. I wish she'd do some more vg arrangements and release them here again !

[Arcana]

You might enjoy some new-agey stuff like David Arkenstone, or modern Celtic stuff like Nightnoise or the Secret Garden.

[Petara]

I've heard drugs do funny things to your brain while you listen to music.

[Hy Bound]

Amon Tobin has some neat little ambient-ish tracks; kinda jazzy, but ambient none-the-less:

and

EDIT: this isnt quite as ambient, but the intro is really wonderful:

[The Vagrance]

If you haven't heard it, you MUST listen to Brian Eno's Ambient 1: Music for Airports album (I can't remember the specific name off the top of my head). Example track:

[Meteo Xavier]

No one's going to mention Yasunori Mitsuda's CREID, KIRITE or SAILING TO THE WORLD?

[EC2151]

Last.fm's radio has often exposed me to a lot of good music in genres I wanted to explore more fully.

If you want to get at the roots, I would first study up on the forerunners of ambient stuff, the early electronic/minimalistic music of the 20th century.

A personal favorite of mine in that regard is Morton Feldman:

Rothko Chapel

As well, some of the music of the 'composer' John Cage may also fit the bill:

Dream

In a Landscape

As it stands, I feel a lot of ambient music has its roots in the Eastern tradition of music, so if you want to look into that, I'd encourage you to do so. Where to start there? Well, that I'm not so sure.

New Age music? Hm... You'd have to really look into the more folkish-esque music that started cropping up during the 60s or so, which indirectly led to the creation of the new types of music courtesy Terry Riley and La Monte Young.

[Cytota]

...wow. This is so much to look into. I get off work, and all these options! I'm gonna research a few of these tonight and definitely tomorrow while I'm writing a philosophy paper (hah, of all things).

Thanks!

Also! Dunno how I forgot, but...

Sonic CD's soundtrack, the NA version. I love the whole album, I know its a little cheesy today, but I really do love the sound of the music, especially the guitar work.

[Bahamut]

Here's two songs.

Paul Schwartz - Secret Tear:

Paul Schwartz - Ave Maria:

Note: Paul Schwartz did not compose the originals of course, but he rearranged them into chillout songs.

[Cytota]

Also, I again forgot another hallmark of my favorite music,

Rusty Ruin Zone Acts 1 and 2 from the Sega Saturn port of Sonic 3D Blast. while the rest of the soundtrack is kind of hit or miss in some cases, Rusty Ruin and the Volcano Acts are beautiful.

[m68030]

I'll go into more detail when I'm not on my phone, but you might also venture into a genre called 'sacred minimalism '

Look up Arvo Pärt on last.FM and go from there.

[SLyGeN]

Karl Sanders.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpKFaN1wXFA

I also like one Vangelis track that you may also enjoy.

Vangelis is probably more in line with what you normally listen to. Karl Sanders is a little different, but you did say you were looking to expand your music, and not hear more of the same.

[Dhsu]

The thread title is kind of misleading...it sounds like you're not looking so much to expand your horizons as you are looking for stuff similar to what you've enjoyed so far. So to that end, I recommend

and E.S. Posthumus's Cartographer album (it even has a second CD with instrumental arrangements for people who don't like vocals).

[m68030]

To be fair he did say "experience" in the title. Listening to wide variety or deeply into a single variety could still be quantified as similar experience amounts, albeit different.

[Guy In Rubber Suit]

Karl Sanders.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpKFaN1wXFA

I also like one Vangelis track that you may also enjoy.

Vangelis is probably more in line with what you normally listen to. Karl Sanders is a little different, but you did say you were looking to expand your music, and not hear more of the same.

I second Karl Sanders! If you're feeling especially bold you might want to check out his main band, Egyptian influenced death metal band Nile. Be forewarned this is pretty fucking brutal metal although they do incorporate some of the ambient and atmosphere of Karl Sanders' in little interludes.

is another band I recommend. Specifically the White EP. It's kind of hard to find a physical copy as they were limited in production but you should have no problem finding it online. The rest of their stuff isn't exactly the same but they do have a lot of acoustic, clean guitars and heavy atmosphere. There is some harsh vocals but it's not overbearing and it doesn't go on for a long time.

is a fantastic jazz fusion guitarist. He can have some beautiful jazz and then just shred on the guitar. Additionally if you dig him definitely check out him, Paco De Lucia and John Mclaughlin together doing an amazing acoustic trio. The other guitarists are fantastic as well.

is a great composer. He did the soundtrack to the Fountain, Moon and Requiem For a Dream.

Ihsahn some more metal here but this is probably my favorite song from him and favorite album. This is Undercurrent from After. Just listen to it and tell me you don't get goosebumps, especially when the saxophone comes in.

classified as an atmospheric sludge metal band, they're pretty good with the drone-sludge riffs. Again some harsh vocals, but fantastic atmosphere (I'm really abusing this word).

Opeth of course I'm gonna plug this band! The song is the opening track, Coil, to their newest album, Watershed. Opeth is not all like this but they do incorporate a lot of clean singing and acoustic guitar work into their music. If you just like their clean stuff more then Damnation would be a good jumping point. Check them out. Now!

Pelican similar in style to Isis but instrumental.

Porcupine Tree a delightful British progressive rock band. They do get a little bit heavier but no need to worry about harsh vocals.

are a Mexican acoustic duo. Just simply fantastic.

That's about all I can think of off the top of my head that would meet what you're looking for. I hope you enjoy these bands/guitarists.

[suzumebachi]

I second OverCoat's kahvi suggestion. I specifically recommend Pece's 'The Riddle of the Universe'.

[Olarin]

Oh hey, am I too late to take the oppourtunity to shamelessly plug my own album in this thread? Might be interesting to you, based on some of the stuff you were referencing.