Jordan Rudess - Notes On A Dream

Jordan Rudess is a progressive rock keyboardist best known as a member of the metal band Dream Theater. He is also an exceptional piano player. This is an album of his own piano interpretations of Dream Theater songs. A pure masterpiece from a modern day genious! Get it!

Artist: Jordan Rudess
Album: Notes On A Dream
Year: 2009
Genre: piano, progressive, instrumental

Tracks:
1. Through Her Eyes
2. Lifting Shadows Off a Dream
3. Perpetuum Mobile
4. The Silent Man
5. Another Day
6. Hollow Years
7. The Grand Escapement
8. The Spirit Carries On
9. Speak To Me
10. The Answer Lies Within
11. Collision Point
12. Vacant

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from here or here
Check the comments to listen first.

Arctic Plateau - On A Sad Sunny Day

Arctic Plateau is the solo project by Gianluca Divirgilio from Rome, Italy. His music is a combination of post-rock and showgaze with some fantastic epic and dark parts. This is his debut album. Really good!

Artist: Arctic Plateau
Album: On A Sad Sunny Day
Year: 2009
Genre: post-rock, shoegaze, indie

Tracks:
1. Alive
2. On A Sunny Day
3. Lepanto
4. Ivory
5. In Epica Memories
6. Amethyst to #F
7. Iceberg Shoegaze
8. Coldream
9. Eight Years Old
10. Aurora in Rome
11. In Time

Last.fm
MySpace

Please support this artist. Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

Elling (2001)

Directed by Norwegian Petter Næss, Elling is a delightful, touching and heartwarming film that manages to avoid any cheap sentimentality. It is based on Ingvar Ambjørnsen's novel Brødre i blodet ("Blood brothers", 1996). Elling and Kjell Bjarne, who are mentally re-acclimating to society, live together and play off of each other's quirks evoking comedy and sympathy in a fine balance. The acting is suberb and the interaction between the characters is simply brilliant! A fantastic movie!

More info:
Wikipedia
IMDb

Trailer:

This Is You Captain Speaking - Eternal Return

This Is Your Captain Speaking are a post-rock instrumental group from Victoria, Australia. Their debut album, "Storyboard", was recorded live in a primary school library and was released independently in 2005. This is their second album, released in 2008. Post-rock music at its best; highly recommended!

Artist: This Is Your Captain Speaking
Album: Eternal Return
Year: 2008
Genre: post-rock, instrumental

Tracks:
1. Part 1
2. Incirculation
3. Part 3
4. Lullaby
5. Part 2

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Please support this band. Buy from here. Check their myspace for alternative buy options.
Check the comments to listen first.

The World on Higher Downs - Land Patterns

The World on Higher Downs is a four piece group from Wisconsin, USA. Their music is electroacoustic/ambient with some shoegaze influences, creating fantastic multilayered melodies and amazing atmospheres. Land Patterns is their debut album, released in 2007. Beautiful music, highly recommended!

Artist: The World on Higher Downs
Album: Land Patterns
Year: 2007
Genre: ambient, electronica, instrumental, shoegaze

Tracks:
1. Euclid
2. A Muted Street Song
3. Two Aged Windows
4. Ascension And
5. Her Static Will
6. Waterpath St
7. Alpine Low
8. Sun Court

Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from here or here.
Check the comments to listen first.

Blues Wire - Take My Hand to the Sky

The Blues Wire is the greatest and one of the very few blues bands in Greece. Their story began in 1983 when Sotiris Zisis and Elias Zaikos formed Blues Gang (who renamed themselves as Blues Wire in 1985), the very first blues band in Greece that tried to capture the original sounds of blues legends like Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf and T-Bone Walker. They recorded the first blues album ever to be made by Greek musicians, at a time when it was really difficult to play music without obvious roots in Greek culture, let alone get a record deal for it. Since then, they have become well-known in the blues community and they have played in many festivals across Europe. Blues Wire have provided the foundation of the Greek blues scene and the main inspiration for many younger musicians. This album, released in 2007, is a compilation of 14 songs spanning 20 years of recordings. A great introduction to Blues Wire's music. Get it!

Artist: Blues Wire
Album: Take My Hand to the Sky
Year: 2007
Genre: blues

Tracks:
1. Steady Gig
2. Because of you
3. Meanthing
4. Bulldog Boogie
5. Keep blues alive
6. Love me
7. There is love (Take my hand to the sky)
8. Circus of fools
9. Fat meet bones
10. Chicago blues
11. Blinded
12. Life on the road
13. Wishbone
14. Goodbye now blues

Official Website
Last.fm

Please support this band. Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

Collapse Under The Empire - Captured Moments

The first video from the upcoming album "Find a Place to be Safe", which will be released in autumn.
Check out their excellent debut here.

Belbury Poly - From an Ancient Star

Belbury Poly is Jim Jupp, who co-runs the Ghost Box (UK) record label with Julian House (The Focus Group). Belbury Poly’s music recalls the churning synth sounds and dreamy analog forays of the 60s vanguard. Similar in tone and texture to Raymond Scott and the whole of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop’s 60s-70s output, Belbury Poly offers off-key melodies, muted rhythms and sounds both hopeful and spooky. This is his third and most recent release. Great album!

Artist: Belbury Poly
Album: From an Ancient Star
Year: 2009
Genre: electronica, ambient, folk

Tracks:
1. Belbury Poly Logotone
2. The Hidden Door
3. From an Ancient Star
4. A Year and a Day
5. The all at Once Club
6. Time Scale
7. Adventures in a Miniature Landscape
8. Widdershins
9. A Great Day Out
10. Clockwork Horoscope
11. Remember Tomorrow
12. Model Country
13. Seed Ships

Official Website @GhostBox label
Last.fm
MySpace

Please support this artist and the GhostBox label in general. Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

Spin

A short film by Jamin Winans.

Official Website
Download

Magyar Posse - Random Avenger

Magyar Posse is a fantastic Finnish band. I 've already posted one of their albums here. This is their most recent album, released in 2006. Highly recommended!

Artist: Magyar Posse
Album: Random Avenger
Year: 2006
Genre: post-rock, cinematic, experimental

Tracks:
1. Whirlpool of Terror and Tension
2. Sudden Death
3. Black Procession
4. European Lover / Random Avenger
5. Intercontinental Hustle
6. One by One
7. Popzag

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

Last Harbour - Hold Fast, Pioneer

Last Harbour are a Manchester-based band playing rustic, cinematically atmospheric songs that rattle and loom, at once epic and intimate, harsh and beautiful. The seven-piece band operate as a collective of like-minded musicians, all of whom are involved in other artistic work including illustration, photography, writing, filmmaking and recording.

Artist: Last Harbour
Album: Hold Fast, Pioneer
Year: 2005
Genre: folk, melancholic, slowcore

Tracks:
1. China White
2. Circle
3. We Always Said
4. I Come For The Unsaved
5. Corrosives
6. His Cold Hand
7. Part II
8. Your Verses
9. Johnny Row
10. Serpents
11. Silver Leaves
12. The Ties That Bind
13. The Note

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Please support this band. Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

Braving the Glacier - Constellations I-VII

Braving the Glacier is a post-rock group from Stavanger, Norway. Their music is emotional and melodic but with some heavier parts as well. This is their first full-length release containing tracks from their previous recording. A great album, highly recommended to post-rock fans!

Artist: Braving the Glacier
Album: Constellations I-VII
Year: 2008
Genre: post-rock, instrumental

Tracks:
1. Diaphanous
2. Amaranthine
3. Mist of Andromeda
4. Orbiting
5. Sublimating
6. Pulsating Universe
7. Luminous with Seclusion

Official Website (buy from here)
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

Boozoo Bajou - Satta

Boozoo Bajou is a musical duo from Nuremberg, Germany. They are noted for their distinct blend of Cajun sounds with island rhythms; a blend of electronica, jazz, lounge. This is their debut album, released in 2001. Excellent!

Artist: Boozoo Bajou
Album: Satta
Year: 2001
Genre: electronica, lounge, downtempo

Tracks:
1. Yma
2. Camioux
3. Night Over Manaus
4. Divers
5. Bakar
6. Down And Out
7. Yoruba Road
8. Under My Sensi
9. Lava
10. Satta

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

The Hylozoists - La Fin du Monde

The Hylozoists formed by multi-instrumentalist Paul Aucoin, a member of the Sadies, in the fall of 2000 in Toronto, Canada. The name is derived from hylozoism, the belief that all matter holds life. Their music has been compared to that of Air, Stereolab, and Tortoise in terms of sound and tone. This is their second album, released in 2006. Fantastic!

Artist: The Hylozoists
Album: La Fin du Monde
Yeat: 2006
Genre: indie, post-rock, instrumental

Tracks:
1. The Fifty Minute Hour
2. Elementary Particles
3. Smiley Smiley
4. Strait Is The Gate
5. Hearts And Harps
6. Warninng Against Judging A Christian Brother
7. If Only Your Heart Was A Major Sixth
8. Man Who Almost Was
9. Love Becomes Lovers
10. Journey To The End Of The Night
11. La Fin Du Monde

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from Boompa records.

Check the comments to listen first.

Nils Petter Molvær - Khmer

Nils Petter Molvær is a Norwegian trumpet player, composer and producer, who connects multiple music styles - jazz, ambient, house, electronic and break beats, as well as elements from hip hop, rock and pop music - and melts them into convincing soundscapes of deep intensity. He is considered a pioneer in nu-jazz and especially the fusion of jazz and electronic music. Khmer is his debut album, released in 1997, an amazing blend of improvisation and hypnotically spinning beats. Get it now!

Artist: Nils Petter Molvær
Album: Khmer
Year: 1997
Genre: nu-jazz, jazz, electronica

Tracks:
1. Khmer
2. Tløn
3. Access/Song of Sand
4. On Stream
5. Platonic Years
6. Phum
7. Song of Sand II
8. Exit

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

Escape the Day - Ghostless

Escape The Day was a post-rock band from Berlin, Germany, formed in 2003, who took influence from acoustic and ambient music. Their unreleased album “Ghostless” (2005) was put on hold due to the suicide of band member Christoph Florian Rehse (1979-2005). After 2005 Escape The Day has stopped, and is forever dedicated to the love and memory of Florian. Their work was described as “Great music for lonely walks, hangovers or just falling asleep.”. Their music can sweep you into its arms of melancholy. Pure brilliance!

Artist: Escape the Day
Album: Ghostless
Year: 2005
Genre: post-rock, melancholic, downtempo, ambient

Tracks:
1. Hallways
2. Ghostless
3. Days
4. The Hour Undone
5. If I Told You
6. Still
7. This Wave's Length
8. Last Words

Fanpage
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen.

de la Mancha - Atlas

De la Mancha is a Swedish band formed in 2003. A shared admiration for groups like Red House Painters, Sigur Rós, Led Zeppelin and My Bloody Valentine set out a general direction for the band. Atlas is their debut full-length album, an outstanding piece of work! Highly recommended!

Artist: de la Mancha
Album: Atlas
Year: 2008
Genre: post-rock, indie, shoegaze

Tracks:
1. Newfoundland
2. Release all light
3. Lotus seven
4. And rainy days
5. The kimono
6. Superstoned
7. So let's blow up our heads and leave
8. Being a hero is easy
9. Sleep

Last.fm
MySpace (buy from here)

Check the comments to listen first.

Vozvrashcheniye - The Return (2003)

The Return (Vozvrashcheniye) is a 2003 Russian film, directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev, which tells the story of two teenage boys whose father returns home suddenly after a twelve year absence. He takes the boys on a holiday to a remote island on a lake that turns into a test of manhood of almost mythic proportions. It is Andrey Zvyagintsev's debut film, whose father disappeared from his life when he was 6. So I guess it's a very personal movie as well.

There are no words to describe the brilliance of this film: breathtaking, emotional and disturbing. The actors, particularly the two boys, are fantastic and the photography is brilliant. An outstanding movie about growing up that everyone must see!

More info:
Official Website
IMDb
Wikipedia

Trailer (the movie is in Russian, couldn't find a Russian trailer):

Perry Blake - Still Life

Perry Blake is an Irish singer and songwriter, known for the delicate, downtempo, melancholic style of his songs and his soft singing voice. His 1998 self-titled debut album was very successful in the UK and won critical praise. Perry Blake has gained a lot of popularity in France, where his music was used for the soundtracks of the films Presque rien (2000) and 3 petites filles (2004). His musical influences are Leonard Cohen, David Sylvian, Scott Walker, and Nick Drake. This is his second album released in 1999. Highly recommended!

Artist: Perry Blake
Album: Still Life
Year: 1999
Genre: indie, downtempo, melancholic

Tracks:
1. Sandriam
2. This time it's goodbye
3. Leave it all behind
4. No lullabies
5. If i let you in
6. Bury me with her
7. Still lives
8. Friend (you've been whispering again)
9. War in France
10. Stop breathing
11. Driftwood
12. Give me back my childhood
13. Wise man's blues

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace
YouTube channel

Buy from here.
Check the comments to listen first.

Geiom - Island Noise

Based in Nottingham, UK, Geiom is the solo project of Kamal Joory, a musician, DJ, and owner of the Berkane Sol label. He has released many singles and 12" since 1995. He creates brilliant dubstep, idm, electro music. Island Noise, released in 2007, is a great album, his most successful so far (I think...)! Those of you who like Burial, get this one!

Artist: Geiom
Album: Island Noise
Year: 2007
Genre: electronica, dubstep, idm

Tracks:
1. Island Noise
2. Canopy Desire
3. Hydropine
4. Six Times Seven
5. Everlasting
6. Futurerustic
7. Farski
8. Safety Patterns
9. Getaline
10. Cardoza
11. Inbuilt Chaos
12. Pheli Nazir

Official Website (Berkane Sol)
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy!

Sébastien Schuller - Happiness

Sébastien Schuller is a French artist, classically trained percussionist, who became an accomplished and eclectic multi-instrumentalist over the years, composing and interpreting his own work. He thrives on enhancing sounds of acoustic and natural resonance with touches of electronica. Happiness is his first full-length album released in 2005; he recently released his second album "Evenfall". Fantastic album! Highly recommended!

Artist: Sébastien Schuller
Album: Happiness
Year: 2005
Genre: electronica, post-rock, ambient, indie

Tracks:
1. 1978
2. Weeping Willow
3. Sleeping Song
4. Wolf
5. Ride Along The Cliff
6. Where We Had Never Gone
7. Tears Coming Home
8. Edward's Hand
9. Donkey Boy
10. Alone You Walk
11. Le Dernier Jour

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

iLiKETRAiNS - Elegies to Lessons Learnt

iLiKETRAiNS are a post-rock band which formed in Leeds, UK, in 2003. They weave brooding widescreen songs from sparse piano and guitar, baritone vocals, uplifting choral passages and reverberant orchestral crescendos. Their music is influenced by bands like Interpol, Sigur Ros and Nick Cave. They draw their inspiration from historical failings and a pessimistic world view and they work on concept albums which are also optically represented on stage, by means of video projections and the band’s actual image. This is their debut full-length album, released in 2007. A very successful album already, one of the best in the past few years in my opinion! As with their earlier EP, Progress Reform, many of the songs cover historical events; it's very interesting to read about them here. An absolute must!

Artist: iLiKETRAINS
Album: Elegies to Lessons Learnt
Year: 2007
Genre: post-rock, indie

Tracks:
1. We All Fall Down
2. Twenty Five Sins
3. The Deception
4. Voice of Reason
5. Death of an Idealist
6. Remnants of an Army
7. We Go Hunting
8. Come Over
9. Spencer Perceval
10. Epiphany
11. Death is the End

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy!

It May Never End - Such Is Life

It May Never End is a solo project by Neil Spicer from Lara, VIC, Australia. His music is clearly influenced by bands such as Explosions In The Sky, This Will Destroy You, Mono etc. This is his debut, which is available for free download at Burn the Nation. Awesome music! Highly recommended!

Artist: It May Never End
Album: Such Is Life
Year: 2009
Genre: post-rock, instrumental, ambient

Tracks:
1. Last Light
2. To Fall Without Landing
3. All Thate Remains Is Silence
4. They Would Never Be Forgotten
5. Sticks & Stones
6. For All Eternity
7. The Saddest Story Ever Told

Last.fm
MySpace

Download

Paradise Now (2005)

Directed by Hany Abu-Assad, Paradise Now is a film about two Palestinian men preparing for a suicide attack in Israel. "The film is an artistic point of view of that political issue," Abu-Assad said. "The politicians want to see it as black and white, good and evil, and art wants to see it as a human thing."

A powerful film. The director delivers a strong insight into a very difficult subject with brazen honesty and straight forwardness, while maintaining a tension and drama that makes it impossible not to be stirred by the film. Making this film without falling into the pitfalls of political correctness or propaganda is an achievement in itself.

Fantastic movie. A must see for everyone!

More info:
Official Website
IMDb
Wikipedia

Trailer:

French Teen Idol - El Siete Es La Luz

French Teen Idol is an instrumental solo-project by the Italian artist Andrea Di Carlo. Layers of strings, guitars, piano melodies and glitchy beats harmoniously blend, creating cinematic landscapes, dreamy atmospheres, and striking crescendos. Lovers of Sigur Ros, M83, God Is An Astronaut and The Album Leaf may be interested in FTI's musical proposal. French Teen Idol released his self-titled debut album in 2005 at the Canadian netlabel Nishi, which can be downloaded for free at archive.org. His second full length album, released in 2007 by the post-rock netlabel Lost Children, is also available for free download. This is his third release, slightly more guitar-oriented. Fantastic album! Highly recommended!

Artist: French Teen Idol
Album: El Siete Es La Luz
Year: 2009
Genre: post-rock, instrumental, electronica, ambient

Tracks:
1. Rome Shrugged
2. I Want George Soros
3. War Is Kind
4. Fragile Chords
5. The Constant
6. Last Train to Santiago
7. El siete es la luz
8. Prendre son temps

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

French Teen Idol's music is available for free streaming here.
Please support this artist! Buy from here.
Check the comments to download.

Ender - Ender

Ender is a band from New Zealand that describe their music as experimental drone rock - which means their palette is mainly comprised of layered slabs of overdriven guitar. They construct great caverns of noise and evoke mood and emotion with sustained tones in harmony and dissonance. This is their debut released in 2008. Excellent album!

Artist: Ender
Album: Ender
Year: 2008
Genre: post-rock, post-metal, experimental, ambient

Tracks:
1. Part 1
2. Part 2
3. Part 3
4. Part 4

Last.fm
MySpace

Follow the links at darkroom recording to buy.
Check the comments to listen first.

Lolek - Alone

Lolek is the solo project of Giannis Anagnostatos from Athens, Greece. Alone is his debut album released from the great Greek label Inner Ear records. It is an album full of melancholic melodies and nostalgic atmosphere. A fantastic debut! Highly recommended!

Artist: Lolek
Album: Alone
Year: 2009
Genre: indie, folk

Tracks:
1. Have You Noticed?
2. I Went to the Beach Alone
3. Since I Am a Soldier
4. These Guns
5. River of Diseases
6. A Valse of a True Romance
7. Now Cry!
8. Alone With Lucy
9. Oh Mama
10. Sand

Last.fm
MySpace

Please support this artist. Buy from CB Baby or PlayOurMusic.
Check the comments to listen first.

Vinterriket - Horizontmelancholie

Vinterriket is one of the three ambient projects of the German artist Christoph Ziegler (Nebelkorona, Nocternity, Atomtrakt, ex-Graven). This project is mostly used to output his cold and melancholic soul into music. In 2004, Vinterriket joined Nocternity (for whom he had already created two instrumental outro and intro tracks) as a permanent keyboard player. Vinterriket is Norwegian and Swedish for "The Winter Realm". Most of the work is dark ambient or ambient black metal. Not aggressive and very calming in both genres. This is his most recent album. Really good!

Artist: Vinterriket
Album: Horizontmelancholie
Year: 2009
Genre: ambient, dark, experimental

Tracks:
1. Schattengeraeusche
2. Durch die Weiten der Landschaft
3. Herbstreich
4. Irrlichterscheinung
5. Bergtal
6. Wogen des Firmamentes
7. Waldkult

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy!

Home (2009)

Home is a 2009 documentary by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. The film is almost entirely composed of aerial shots of various places on Earth. It shows the diversity of life on Earth and how humanity is threatening the ecological balance of the planet.

The aerial shots are really stunning and the music is simply brilliant! And, of course, the message is clear! Everyone must watch this documentary!

The film can be watched for free in its entirety on YouTube. It has no copyright; it can be downloaded, distributed, copied, uploaded without restrictions.
Watch

More Info:
Official Website
YouTube Channel
LegalTorrents download
Wikipedia
IMDb
GoodPlanet.org

Trailer: