Instrumental, atmospheric and/or relaxing music?

Flay

I'm looking for some music that I can relax to. I like music with a lot of mood - often sombre but not exclusively. Here are some examples of what I'm looking for; unfortunately most of them seem to be from vidogames. :?

Moonlight Sonata

Braid

Beyond Good and Evil

Darwinia (composed by Trash80)

Twelve Kingdoms

I'd generally prefer something instrumental, but vocals are okay if you think they're appropriate. For example...

Kothbiro

Tav

Check out some post-rock like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Explosions in the Sky, God is an Astronaut and Mono.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89zzHCfZ_zs&feature=fvst

Flay

Good stuff. :^:

Teslan26

I have nothing to add at the moment - just wanted to say thanks for showing me some lovely tracks!

ProPatriaMori

Sigur Ros - () - Track 3

I heartily recommend Sigur Ros in general but most of it has Icelandic or pseudo-Icelandic vocals and is disqualified here.

EDIT:
And that reminds me of what got me into imeem in the first place:
Global Communication's 76:14

Vegemyte

You could try Brian Eno's work and find something.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd8-W0af4PY

Or perhaps Eluvium. Lambent Material is a wonderful album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbAPSaRePuQ&feature=fvsr

And I fully agree with GY!BE and Sigur Ros.

Ioga

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtFPdBUl7XQ

Olafur Arnalds is generally great for that kinda stuff.

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

And the Braid soundtrack still has a little bit more to offer:

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

and some of E.S. Posthumus' stuff is very relaxing, but all very good instrumentals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j56L2zbmFf4

Kazhiim

I'll second Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Very good music to relax (and fall asleep) to.

I'll suggest Waiting To Catch a Bullet by Valley of the Giants. Not on youtube, but everything's easy to find at Grooveshark: http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/Waiting_To_Catch_A_Bullet/4546566

Tam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a50UTofaz4w

to dust off an old classic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dlr90NLDp-0

Seattle Thread

If you go with Sigur Ros, stick with Agaetis Byrjun and ( ) at first, Takk... and Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust get a little less atmospheric at times.

Qliphoth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV83U4CDAx4

ignore the intro bit thats not actually part of the song


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR2uFr-8GY0

some lyrics but only probably 5mins of the 30minute song has singing, this is just 'part 1'.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGS-OQQHF0Y


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6byhkpCFvfs

Chanus

DJ Shadow (specifically his album Entroducing)
Air
Massive Attack
Portishead

Enc

For what you are looking for, a great place to sample music is Itunes radio. I usually listen to "New Age Nuance" and "Groove Salad" under the ambient tab. Both offer a pretty nice range of smooth, relaxing ambient artists, and if you like what you hear you can just track down the artist and buy/download his work.

Flay

Some great recommendations here, keep it up.

Improvolone

With awesome suggestions like that, I would let www.LastFM.com do some work for you

BrotherVoodoo

DJ Shadows Entroducing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojsb7MAnLmE

Brightblack Morning Light (they're like soul music + a gallon of cough syrup)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGJBXc5o-YU

Tommy Guerrero
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3njbM8Po9wk

Calexico
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGCX--zomnk

Sheep

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vlZvBYW7ns

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

Visti

Portishead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg1jyL3cr60&feature=related

mere_immortal

Some of the Final Fantasy piano collections are pretty nice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FiH5NxeObQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cfyFMjtNCI

Hermus

GRAILS

RenegadeSilence

Off the top of my head.

Kaki King
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsRpHKJnTGI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI9ke2Ju7XY

Explosions in the sky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P57uOGxKtcU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTw-CwypKdk

God is an Astronaut
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34C41eEpM48&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZltd_nz2ag

Mogwai
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC_3alnTE9g

Ed alleyne johnson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUO6kYLb6As

If you want acoustic guitarists check out
Antoine Dufour
Andy Mckee
Don Ross

VeritasVR

This:

Flay wrote: »

Twelve Kingdoms

and this:

Heroes of Might and Magic IV - Water Theme

are the same theme. I wonder why that is.

The music for HoMM4 was the only redeeming part of the game (aside from the vocal tracks, ugh). I believe the overworld music was done by Red Delicious while the combat music was done by Paul Anthony Romero, and it's all really really good. I remember it being on one of my burned CDs like 6 years ago and it still occupies a place on my MP3 player.

Nappuccino

Murder by Death has some fantastic instrumental works on their first album

http://www.last.fm/music/Murder+by+Death/_/Those+Who+Stayed?autostart

http://www.last.fm/music/Murder+by+Death/_/Those+Who+Left?autostart

They apparently play them back to back and seemless live... but I don't know which one comes first.

Also, Iron and Wine is great for relaxing music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYUFcxBq1y4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhmH_itX59A&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEID8ynap8w&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzRRVOFNiZ0

SkutSkut

Not a fan of the show but I like this song. Quite relaxing and mellow.

L's Theme