Recommend some new age music

Letitroll98 · « **Reply #20 on:** 19 Jul 2010, 03:46 pm »

Wow, some great suggestions by folks who know something about New Age music. I don't have much New Age, but three albums from Shadowfax are favorites, "Too Far to Whisper", "Dreams of Children", and "Shadowfax", the first self titled album, are all outstanding, their later offerings are derivative to my ears. Dean Peer's "Urcross" is an album of all bass guitar played like you've never heard before. And last year for a lark I bought "He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms…" by Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, simply because of the title, and have come to really like it a lot.

Construct · « **Reply #21 on:** 19 Jul 2010, 03:46 pm »

Notes:
1. Soundstange was mentioned (Steve Roach), and that is one of the reasons I am branching out---sonics! More than one of my Enya tracks has great sonics, and some 1st octave bass energy to boot.

2. New age seems to have a few different eras. The Birth era: kind of dominated by pure synth and often minimalism second: And era of real growth and experimentation Third: The sellout that kind of makes it run of the mill.

3. It seems like other music, each artist has a phase that was most representative, and"the other stuff".

Other than new age, I have gotten some decent world music in the form of Strunz & Farah, and Trilok Gurturu.

FullRangeMan · « **Reply #22 on:** 19 Jul 2010, 03:48 pm »

ECM have great music in its catalogue, but only in low resolution rbCDs or noisy vinyl, they have released no one SACD til today, a shame, looks Mr.Manfred Eicher is not a Audiophile nor cares with the audiophile custumers.
Since 2003 I buy only SACDs, no more regular CDs;

ted_b · « **Reply #23 on:** 19 Jul 2010, 04:11 pm »

Quote from: FULLRANGEMAN on 19 Jul 2010, 03:48 pm

ECM have great music in its catalogue, but only in low resolution rbCDs or noisy vinyl, they have released no one SACD til today, a shame, looks Mr.Manfred Eicher is not a Audiophile nor cares with the audiophile custumers.
Since 2003 I buy only SACDs, no more regular CDs;

As creator and moderator of the HiREz Circle you know I am all about high resolution music.

However, the journey to hirez has allowed me to upgrade my system with hi-end DACs (Weiss DAC2, Metric Halo, etc), etc. To that end, the recording quality of such labels as ECM, Mapleshade and Todd Garfinkle's wonderful MA Recordings pushes the redbook envelope IMO. Although ECM is not in "use no compressors or limiters" recording league of MA, a vast majority of their stuff is top notch. I wouldn't blow it off as midfi at all!

FullRangeMan · « **Reply #24 on:** 19 Jul 2010, 04:25 pm »

Unfortunately for SACD Format there is various CD players on market with up-sampling that made a awful regular CD sound less low quality.

drphoto · « **Reply #25 on:** 19 Jul 2010, 04:58 pm »

Give "White Winds" by Andreas Vollenweider a try. Lovely music and a stellar recording.

Pianist George Winston, on the king of New Age labels, Windham Hill, has some really nice disk.

Construct · « **Reply #26 on:** 19 Jul 2010, 05:02 pm »

Quote from: drphoto on 19 Jul 2010, 04:58 pm

Give "White Winds" by Andreas Vollenweider a try. Lovely music and a stellar recording.

Pianist George Winston, on the king of New Age labels, Windham Hill, has some really nice disk.

I do have a bunch of Andreas Vollenwieder! There is one recording (forgot which tune) that has significant 23hz energy.

BobRex · « **Reply #27 on:** 19 Jul 2010, 05:05 pm »

Quote from: FULLRANGEMAN on 19 Jul 2010, 03:48 pm

ECM have great music in its catalogue, but only in low resolution rbCDs or noisy vinyl, they have released no one SACD til today, a shame, looks Mr.Manfred Eicher is not a Audiophile nor cares with the audiophile custumers.
Since 2003 I buy only SACDs, no more regular CDs;

ECM had some of the quietest vinyl made, and I've got over 100 ECM records to back that claim! Please stop the "noisy vinyl" BS. If you've got noise problems, blame your system, blame used pressings, but trust me, it's not inherent to the label or the technology!

Eicher is first and foremost as Jazz lover and producer, any "audiophile" proclivities are secondary and market driven. SACD is a dead issue, why should he invest in a technology that only a very small minority of users can enjoy? I think you'll find that LPs outsell SACDs and you don't see Eicher pressing vinyl anymore, so what's the impetus for SACD?

Construct · « **Reply #28 on:** 19 Jul 2010, 05:08 pm »

I usually fixed noisy vinyl by cleaning the stylus and putting the lp's in a vacuum LP cleaning machine.

1ZIP · « **Reply #29 on:** 19 Jul 2010, 05:29 pm »

There are many sub categories under the "New Age" banner. I'd try listening to some of the many compilations out there under the Windham Hill and Narada label. That should give you a broad spectrum of the genre.

You also could try the following web sites. They have been around for a long time.

http://www.echoes.org/

http://www.hos.com/

Barry_NJ · « **Reply #30 on:** 19 Jul 2010, 05:58 pm »

Elysium is good...

But be careful, there is a Metal band with the same name

FullRangeMan · « **Reply #31 on:** 19 Jul 2010, 06:47 pm »

Quote from: BobRex on 19 Jul 2010, 05:05 pm

ECM had some of the quietest vinyl made, and I've got over 100 ECM records to back that claim! Please stop the "noisy vinyl" BS. If you've got noise problems, blame your system, blame used pressings, but trust me, it's not inherent to the label or the technology!

Eicher is first and foremost as Jazz lover and producer, any "audiophile" proclivities are secondary and market driven. SACD is a dead issue, why should he invest in a technology that only a very small minority of users can enjoy? I think you'll find that LPs outsell SACDs and you don't see Eicher pressing vinyl anymore, so what's the impetus for SACD?

Nice read vinyl works for you. I have a little more demanding and can not accept the hiss or wear that all vinyl has, also I can not afford to wastebin a expensive vinyl disc after a dozens listen or so.
Of course the vinyl big cover is great.
Regards

BobM · « **Reply #32 on:** 19 Jul 2010, 07:10 pm »

Other than the ECM label, which is kind of a cross betwen new age and jazz - I like to think of many of their artists as "European Jazz. Meaning it's not so much blues based as "American Jazz".

I would suggest looking for albums from the Windham Hill label.

Vollenweider is a great suggestion, as is Oldfield. Jean Michael Jarr is another possibility as is Tangerine Dream or even Vangelis or Kitaro.

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #33 on:** 20 Jul 2010, 03:08 am »

Could be called New Age....or World....or Jazz.... I just call it a very good album....

Alex De Grassi and Quinque Cruz - "Tata Monk"

Phil A · « **Reply #34 on:** 20 Jul 2010, 03:14 am »

Quote from: drphoto on 19 Jul 2010, 04:58 pm

Give "White Winds" by Andreas Vollenweider a try. Lovely music and a stellar recording.

Pianist George Winston, on the king of New Age labels, Windham Hill, has some really nice disk.

I really like "White Winds." It is a nice album from start to finish

Construct · « **Reply #35 on:** 20 Jul 2010, 03:55 am »

New age can be beautiful, inventive and audiophile ear candy. I like branching out like this because it's far too overlooked. This is because some people view it as the minimal (zzzz) synth stuff or simple quietude type albums. New age runs the gamut, and there is some superior listening enjoyment to be had. Great suggestions folks!

RichardS · « **Reply #36 on:** 20 Jul 2010, 06:19 pm »

If you like Enya, I suspect you'd also like Loreena McKennett. Pretty similar sound, with a slightly more Celtic flavor.
I'd also recommend the following:
Vision—The Music of Hildegard von Bingen
Libera (Pick any one)
Dead Can Dance (Spirit Chaser)

And the following instrumentals:
Paul Horn (Traveler)
Ancient Future (Quite Fire)
Hearts of Space (sampler by TAS)
William Ackerman (Conferring with the Moon)
Bob Kindler (Waters of Life)

jqp · « **Reply #37 on:** 20 Jul 2010, 11:31 pm »

Believe it or not, Leo Kottke has been classified as new age. I recommend this one for some real intensity and lower Octave sounds.

flintstone · « **Reply #38 on:** 20 Jul 2010, 11:49 pm »

Try this....http://www.amazon.com/Earthtones-Archetribe/dp/B00005UCBK/ref=pd_sim_m_1

If you have good subwoofers all the better!

Dave

Construct · « **Reply #39 on:** 21 Jul 2010, 04:02 am »

Quote from: flintstone on 20 Jul 2010, 11:49 pm

Try this....http://www.amazon.com/Earthtones-Archetribe/dp/B00005UCBK/ref=pd_sim_m_1

If you have good subwoofers all the better!

Dave

Just the test for my VMPS new larger subwoofer. It seems to thrive in the 1st octave and subsonics.