Music Genre

There isn't really a decent 'handle' for it but the nearest, and maybe most likely to be generally accepted is 'progressive electronic'. I'll scan my extensive collection for some recommendations and post in a bit..

Try some Brian Eno if you haven't yet. 

I have a chunk of music that I call ambient / electronica when I tag it. One of my very favourites is A Winged Victory For The Sullen, who have released a couple of albums in the Erased Tapes label. 

Agitation Free - 2nd
Boards Of Canada - Music Has The Right To Children
Hans Zimmer - Inception (ost)
Irene Papas / Vangelis - Rhapsodies
Klaus Schulze - Audentity
Nick Franks - Malabar Coast
Popol Vuh - Das Hohelied Salomos
Steve Roach - Artifacts
Tangerine Dream - Underwater Sunlight

Two great musicians you got there so selecting something with the style of a Vangelis or Oldfield is tricky. The 70s Popol Vuh is the only music I have heard that reminded me strongly of Oldfield, thanks largely to the guitarwork of Daniel Fichelscher (ex Amon Duul). The above selections are based on the way they make me 'feel' when listening to your selections.

Hungryhalibut posted:

I have a chunk of music that I call ambient / electronica when I tag it. One of my very favourites is A Winged Victory For The Sullen, who have released a couple of albums in the Erased Tapes label. 

Yes I really like them, more modern classical, minimal style. If he likes AWVFTS I'd have said look to Pjusk, Ingram Marshall, Fennesz/Sakamoto, Kiasmos next...

Songs of Distant Earth is an old favourite of mine. Can your system do justice to the sub-bassline about 50 seconds into track 12? Great fun.

A few of the suggestions above are veering towards the 'drone' genre and might be a little lacking in melody compared to the OP's two examples. Here are my suggestions, for what they may be worth:

• Mike Oldfield's Tres Lunas (2003) is the most similar album of his to Songs of Distant Earth.
• Following the Vangelis trail, try China, or perhaps Direct for something similar to what you're looking for.
• Pete Bardens did some good work combining electronics with a  prog aesthetic in a vaguely similar way to Mike Oldfield. Try Seen One Earth (1986) or Speed of Light (1988). They're tricky to find on CD, but YouTube will give you a feel.
• Totally agree with the suggestion of Underwater Sunlight by Tangerine Dream. I would add Le Parc (1985) as well, and possibly Optical Race (1989) and Lily on the Beach (1990) as well.
• Enya isn't everyone's cup of tea, but try Watermark (1988) to see if it does it for you.

Mark

Thanks guys, enough there to keep me searching and going for some time.  Progressive Electronic....I like the sound of that.

Just purchased Mike Oldfields "Voyager"  if its anything like his "Songs of Distant Earth" I will be happy.   I am now about to check out some of the other artists mentioned by members on this thread.

Tony2011 posted:

Try some Brian Eno if you haven't yet. 

Just bought Lux 

Along with "See One Earth" by Pete Bardens.

Would Jean Michel Jarre fall into that category? 

Hungryhalibut posted:

I have a chunk of music that I call ambient / electronica when I tag it. One of my very favourites is A Winged Victory For The Sullen, who have released a couple of albums in the Erased Tapes label. 

+1

Give Tales of Ephindrina by Amorphous Androgynous (aka Future Sound of London) a try.

Couple of thoughts here - if you enjoy the more modern classical end of things then Johann Johannsson is worth checking out, try his latest - 'Orphee'. Pretty much anything from Nils Frahm or Olafur Arnalds, is worth a listen or Slow Meadow who releases a couple of tracks every month or so at the moment and did a great album a while ago. Also on the modern classical try Federico Albanese either 'The Blue Hour' or 'The Houseboat and the the Moon'. If you like A Winged Victory for the Sullen, then try Stars of the Lid (one of the AWVFTS duo was in Stars) they are one of my favourite groups, great starting point here is their 'And Their Refinement of the Decline". Others to try are Nest - 'Retold' and Brambles - 'Charcoal, both on the Serein label which has a good roster of talent. Toward the more ambient / drone end of things then an artist called Celer is stunningly prolific, but 'Tempelhof' or 'Two Days and One Night' are good starting points. Other ones to try are Locsil - 'Endless Falls', Anthene - 'Permanence',  Secret Pyramid - 'Movements of Night'. Have fun

Olafur Arnalds was going to be my suggestion, also Eluvium, and maybe Bing + Ruth 'Tomorrow Was the Golden Age' although that is more modern classical/minimalism.

How about Brian Eno? His catalogue is pretty diverse but some might fit the bill. Again more at the ambient/electronic end of things although 'Another Green World' is more 'conventional' and I could see some similarities between that and Mike Oldfield..

Bruce

PS Thanks for that list above charviljohn, you've given me some tips as I love AWVFTS

dayjay posted:

Would Jean Michel Jarre fall into that category? 

I agree with dayjay.

I think you would probably like any of his albums, but I would check out 'Oxygene' or 'Rendezvous' first. I find his music can be quite hypnotic when I'm in the mood for it.  I see you don't appear to use a streamer, so this won't be of use to you, but there are some pretty good hi-res versions of most of his albums available for download from a number of sources as well. However, the standard CDs sound pretty good as well. 

Ebor posted:

Songs of Distant Earth is an old favourite of mine. Can your system do justice to the sub-bassline about 50 seconds into track 12? Great fun.

Yep, just about.  LOL   It should sound better when the Supernait2 arrives.

 

Mark

I tried a disc from Stuart McCallum "City"  but not quite as good as Vangelis.   Thanks for all information I now have quite a few artists to look into.

The Cinematic Orchestra ' are worth looking for if you want to jazz it up a bit.    Vangelis himself has a very large body of work to explore.

Wow. Very glad I stumbled on this thread, downloaded a few of the recommended albums from Tidal to listen on the plane!

i enjoy the Music-Map.com site, which gives a graphical spider web view of artists similar to someone you search for; Vangelis and Oldfield are close together, Baumann and Tangerine Dream also close by....but the specialized knowledge on this forum turned up more names and indicated "more classical", "more jazz", "more ambient" or "more drone". Good one lads. 

I'm reminded of seeing Brian Eno as a student in Toronto, partly giving a lecture on his approach to sound, instrumental skill, and music  - then building a seeeping, swooping, crashing loop for us (and donating his fee to charity since he performed on Easter Sunday). Amazing and memorable - now more than 30 years ago...

Regards alan

You may like to check Craig Armstrong and Ludovico Einaudi..

Here's another sub genre of the genre that nobody knows what to call..

 https://www.theguardian.com/mu...-california-new-york

I checked that out Tobyjug and some of the music is sublime.  Sadly I dont stream and their were no CD's  available.  I will check the Apple site and see if they have anything available.  I think the genre is now being called     Progressive  Electronica.    I nearly floated to the ceiling listening to Lasos.

Hal posted:

You may like to check Craig Armstrong and Ludovico Einaudi..

Just bought on Amazon two Craig Anderson cd's    really lovely music.

More sublime music "Lanterns of the Lake".