Ólafur Arnalds - ...and they have escaped the weight of darkness

Born in 1987, Ólafur Arnalds hails from the suburban Icelandic town, Mosfellsbær, just a few kilometres outside of Reykjavík. He is an extremely talented artist, who explores the crossover from classical to pop by mixing chamber strings and piano with discreet electronics which makes him a perfect fit for cinematic pop label Erased Tapes. His is previous albums Eulogy for Evolution (already posted in this blog) and Found Songs (available for free here) are awesome. This is his latest album, which is - once again - excellent!

Artist: Ólafur Arnalds
Album: ...and they have escaped the weight of darkness
Year: 2010
Genre: neo-classical, ambient, piano

Tracks:
1. Þú Ert Sólin
2. Þú Ert Jörðin
3. Tunglið
4. Loftið Verður Skyndilega Kalt
5. Kjurrt
6. Gleypa Okkur
7. Hægt, Kemur Ljósið
8. Undan Hulu
9. Þau Hafa Sloppið Undan þunga Myrkursins

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

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As The Stars Fall - Tempus Fugit

As The Stars Fall is a French band that plays beautiful ambient/post-rock music with some electronica/trip-hop elements. This is their debut album, released earlier this year. Mesmerising!

Artist: As The Stars Fall
Album: Tempus Fugit
Year: 2010
Genre: ambient, post-rock, electronica

Tracks:
1. From Another Time
2. No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
3. A Dead Leaf Dance
4. Some Tears Can Never Dry
5. Frozen River
6. The Road
7. I Gave You a Choice
8. Revolt

Official Website (buy from here)
Last.fm
MySpace

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Subheim - Approach

Subheim is the personal project of electronic music composer and visual artist Kostas K., who is also the co-founder of Spectraliquid, an independent label active between 2007 and 2010. Subheim is a downtempo, experimental venture fusing IDM elements with rich ambiance and female vocals by Katja. Complex and uncompromising, Subheim’s debut album on Tympanik Audio is full of intricate rhythms, deep reverbs, and bitcrushed sounds, combined with pianos, cellos, and beautiful synthwork. Haunting melodies and distant voices meet complex beats and luring atmospheres to create a unique blend of dynamics and emotion. "Approach" flirts with post-rock and atmospheric downtempo styles, while still maintaining an original sound that is both captivating and inspirational. Outstanding!

Artist: Subheim
Album: Approach
Year: 2008
Genre: electronica, downtempo, ambient, idm

Tracks:
1. Hush
2. Ybe 76
3. One Step Before The Exit
4. Howl
5. Away
6. Hollow
7. Stranded
8. Intact
9. Voces Perdidas
10. Hollow (rmx by Mobthrow)
11. One Step Before The Exit (reconstructed by Flaque)

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

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RQTN - Monolithes En Mouvement

RQTN is the solo musical project of the young french producer Mathieu Artu. His music is a subtle mix between classical music and modern influences such as new-wave, post-rock and pop music. This is his first full-length album, released in 2009. Stunning piano-based neo-classical/ambient music. Highly recommended!

Artist: RQTN
Album: Monolithes En Mouvement
Year: 2009
Genre: neo-classical, ambient, piano, instrumental

Tracks:
1. Debout, Decharges Passives
2. Comme Suspendu a Regarder Passer, Sans Jamais Toucher
3. Le Point Culminant, le Reveil, les Mains Brumeuses
4. Effleurer du Doigt, Deplacer les Masses
5. Remuer les Pieds dans L’Eau, les Yeux Clairs
6. Aurore, Lettres Manuscrites (G. Hoepffner)
7. Departs et Decalages
8. Marcher a L’Envers et Detourner le Regard. Sur le Rebord
9. Photographies, Emulsion. Interpretations

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Download (direct link from archive.org)

port-royal - Dying in Time

port-royal is an Italian band formed in the summer of 2000 in Genoa. They play a dreamy, heady, melancholic, wide music on the border among electronica, ambient, shoegaze with some dance elements. "Dying in Time" was released in 2009 at n5MD. A brilliant album!

Artist: port-royal
Album: Dying in Time
Year: 2009
Genre: electronica, ambient, shoegaze

Tracks:
1. Hva (Failed Revolutions)
2. Nights in Kiev
3. Anna Ustinova
4. Exhausted Muse/Europe
5. I Used to Be Sad
6. Susy: Blue East Fading
7. The Photoshopped Prince
8. Balding Generation (Losing Hair as We Lose Hope)
9. Hermitage Pt. 1
10. Hermitage Pt. 2
11. Hermitage Pt. 3

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

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Beneva vs. Clark Nova - Sombunall

Beneva vs. Clark Nova consists of the Oslo-based duo Frank Benjamin Finger and Rudi Simmons. Their soundscapes are detailed and full of contradictions as they are concerned about melodies, but at the same time are fond of abstract sounds. The sound of the duo is richly detailed and filled with constrasts, tripping with ease from childish play to beat-intensive melodies, from ambient to industrial noise. This is their much celebrated debut album, released on Fenêtre Records in 2008, following the ambient gem Flotsam/Jetsam on 3” CD in 2007. Their latest album "Dramadadatic" was released in 2009 on How Is Annie Records/Fenetre Records. Awesome album! Highly recommended!

Artist: Beneva vs. Clark Nova
Album: Sombunall
Year: 2008
Genre: electronica, idm, ambient, downtempo

Tracks:
1. I'm Twins (The Babies Said)
2. 88 Kilos of Excrement
3. His Freefloating Affection (feat. Therese Aune)
4. Institute Benjamenta
5. Thora's Inferno
6. With Love, Etc. (feat. Therese Aune)
7. Suppose She Was Telepathic
8. Social Wrist-Twistings
9. Lazy, But Comfortable Size
10. Two Men Being Hospitalized When Only One Had to Be
11. Poligraph Polygraphikov
12. Nothing, Only Worthwhile

Last.fm
MySpace

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Melorman - Out in a Field

Melorman is the moniker of Antonis Haniotakis an electronic artist from Athens, Greece. His sound is based on melodic elements and coloured loop lines with a tone of melancholy. This is his latest work in Symbolic Interaction. Very nice electronica/ambient music. Recommended!

Artist: Melorman
Album: Out in a Field
Year: 2009
Genre: electronica, ambient, idm, downtempo

Tracks:
1. Apricot fields
2. 5 o’clock spring time
3. Hold us
4. Small arms to hold
5. Sunlight noise
6. Toy
7. Silent breath
8. Watercircle
9. Theros
10. Tell me more stories

Last.fm
MySpace

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Mono & World's End Girlfriend - Palmless Prayer/Mass Murder Refrain

A collaboration between two of the greatest bands around: post-rock band Mono and fellow Tokyo native and modern electronic composer World’s End Girlfriend. In 2005 they released "Palmless Prayer/Mass Murder Refrain", a five-part album of neo-classical/post-rock music. Dark, sad, moving and beautiful. Massive!

Artist: Mono & World's End Girlfriend
Album: Palmless Prayer/Mass Murder Refrain
Year: 2005
Genre: neo-classical, post-rock, instrumental, ambient

Tracks:
1. Trailer 1
2. Trailer 2
3. Trailer 3
4. Trailer 4
5. Trailer 5

Last.fm
Mono: Official Website
World's End Girlfriend: Official website, MySpace

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Millimetrik - Northwest Passage's New Era

Millimetrik, aka Canadian Pascal Asselin from Quebec, has been crafting honest, vivid musical landscapes taking sounds from hip-hop to classical music. His constantly evolving sound has a way of expressing his moods in exceptionally beautiful ways. At times melancholic, Millimetrik’s sounds will deeply brings you into an authentic journey. The music of this album, released in 2008, is a fantastic mix of electronica, idm and ambient. Recommended!

Artist: Millimetrik
Album: Northwest Passage's New Era
Year: 2008
Genre: electronica, idm, ambient

Tracks:
1. Sournoise supercherie
2. Reykjavik (Version)
3. Les artefacts du futur
4. Suicide bi-polaire
5. La sonate de l’homme bon
6. Le libraire obscur du Mont d’Iberville
7. En mémoire de Terror et Erebus
8. The owls are watching us
9. À travers le temps de retour
10. Courants intimistes
11. Pascaline Knight

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace (buy from here)

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Glass America - Redivivus

Glass America is an American four-piece ambient/instrumental post-rock band from Boston. Formed in 2008, they wanted to create an original sound that encapsulated the best of ambient, instrumental music without succumbing to its clichés or being limited by what has come to be expected. Redivivus is their debut, released in 2009. Beautiful!

Artist: Glass America
Album: Redivivus
Year: 2009
Genre: post-rock, instrumental, ambient

Tracks:
1. We Hung Our Harps
2. ...and then the sun
3. Harbinger (Sought After,
4. If I Forget You, O Jerusalem
5. Gomer (Returning Home)
6. A Voice From Behind
7. Sinai
8. The City No Longer Deserted)

Last.fm
MySpace

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Glass America
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Boy is Fiction - Broadcasts In Colour

Boy Is Fiction is a studio project by Melbourne producer Alex Gillett. His debut, self titled album was released in 2007. This is his second album released in earlier this year. His music “captures those quiet moments of introspection just before sleep”, a fusion of idm, ambient and electronica. Excellent album! Highly recommended!

Artist: Boy is Fiction
Album: Broadcasts In Colour
Year: 2010
Genre: idm, electronica, ambient, downtempo

Tracks:
1. In
2. As Far From Here As Possible
3. Feeling Lazy
4. Pinprick
5. Silo
6. Sand
7. Rat
8. I Close My Eyes
9. Either Way, I’m Dead
10. Your Name On My Skin
11. I Left You There
12. My Veins Are Blocked
13. Until Morning Comes
14. For My Friend

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

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No.9 - Usual Revolution and Nine

No.9 is the musical works of multi-instrumentalist "sound designer" Takayuki Joe. Growing up in Tokyo, Joe was interested in a wide range of music including Chicago blues, the jazz of Eric Dolphy and Thelonious Monk and the Japanese modern classical composer Toru Takemitsu. He also dug into Japanese Group Sounds, spy music, animation, funk and psychedelic rock, with one of his all-time favourite albums being the Beatles White Album (which includes the Beatles weirdest ever song “Revolution 9”, with the repeated refrain “No.9, No.9, No.9...”). He composes melodic instrumental music that has many influences, including jazz, ambient, electronica and pop. This is his fifth album, released in 2008. It was released in 2009 in a remix version, which featured work by I Am Robot and Proud, Aus, Kettel and miaou, among others. An outstanding album that brings to mind the likes of World's End Girlfriend and Kashiwa Daisuke. Brilliant!

Artist: No.9
Album: Usual Revolution and Nine
Year: 2008
Genre: electronica, ambient, experimental, instrumental, idm

Tracks:
1. Introduction
2. I Hope [Canon No.9 Remix]
3. Alive
4. Future Airport
5. Again and Again
6. Symmetry World
7. Meguru
8. Found it
9. Princess
10. Prays
11. Afterglow No.9 Remix
12. Clover Classic
13. Over There Empty
14. With Millions of Love - Fine -

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

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edPorth - Saying vamos and thinking let's go

edPorth (aka Patrizio Piastra from Italy) is an electronic and instrumental solo-project for post-rock followers, glitch maniacs, ambient dreamers and lap-pop fans. This is his debut album, availabl for free download. Very good!

Artist: edPorth
Album: Saying vamos and thinking let's go
Year: 2010
Genre: electronica, ambient, post-rock, instrumental

Tracks:
1. Eighteen Degrees Below The Horizon
2. Kreuzberg And The Sun
3. Saying Vamos And Thinking Let’s Go
4. Meeting At The Utility Pole
5. Kadievka
6. Your Sand
7. Long Exposure

Last.fm
MySpace

Download for free (or buy the physical CD)

Near the Parenthesis - Of Soft Construction

Near the Parenthesis is Tim Arndt, a San Francisco based electronic musician. While playing piano and guitar in several bands through the years, Tim has continually been grounded in electronic and experimental music. His current approach focuses on full compositions, gentle and restrained, yet deeply layered and evolving. Passages never stray too far major or minor, centering themselves in between, and grow unexpectedly from simple rhythms and chords to swirling combinations of sound intensified with dissonance before resolving itself and quietly exiting. This is his second album released in 2007. Recommended!

Artist: Near the Parenthesis
Album: Of Soft Construction
Year: 2007
Genre: electronica, ambient

Tracks:
1. It’s Not Even Midnight
2. Mare Nostrum
3. The Language Explosion
4. Litnum
5. The World Is Inside You Now
6. Open Sources
7. Trailing
8. A Little Damaged
9. Sitting in a Room
10. For, From
11. This Morning

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

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Kashiwa Daisuke - Program Music I

Born in Hiroshima, Kashiwa Daisuke (柏大輔) started off as the composer and guitarist of post-rock band yodaka in 2001. Being inspired by the band’s psychedelic sound due to a post-rock approach, and by Maurizio Bianchi, he started a solo project in 2004. As a solo artist his idea is to create not only acoustic, but also electronic filmy soundscapes and atmospheres, by melting together a variety of classic instruments, spoken word snippets and crisp beats. With a proper amount of ambient music, all of these form an exquisite sound experience. His first album - april.#02 - was released in 2006, followed by april.#07 - a remix album. Program Music I is his second album, released in 2007, which features only two tracks, whose runtime is still over an hour. It is a brilliant electronic album; particularly the first track, Stella, is out of this world. Highly recommended!

Artist: Kashiwa Daisuke
Album: Program Music I
Year: 2007
Genre: electronica, experimental, post-rock, ambient

Tracks:
1. Stella
2. Write Once, Run Melos

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from noble records.
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Jacaszek - Treny

Jacaszek aka Michał Jacaszek, born in 1972 in Poland, is a composer and producer of electroacoustic music, combinig electronically prepared sounds with acoustic instruments. Treny is an ambient masterpiece, his most mature record, released in 2008. Beautiful music that combines neo-classical music with ambient and electronica. Recommended!

Artist: Jacaszek
Album: Treny
Year: 2008
Genre: neo-classical, ambient, instrumental

Tracks:
1. Rytm to nieśmiertelność
2. Lament
3. Orszula
4. Żal
5. Powoli
6. Taniec
7. O ma żałości!
8. Tren IV
9. Walc
10. Martwa cisza
11. Rytm to nieśmiertelność II

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

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Anoice - Remmings

Anoice is a Tokyo based six-piece group that have been working together since 2004. One of their members is Takahiro Kido (I posted one of his albums here). They play dreamy post-rock music with neo-classical/ambient influences. This is their highly acclaimed 2006 debut. Excellent!

Artist: Anoice
Album: Remmings
Year: 2006
Genre: post-rock, instrumental, ambient, neo-classical

Tracks:
1. [Untitled]
2. Asprin Music
3. [Untitled]
4. Kyoto
5. [Untitled]
6. Liange
7. [Untitled]
8. The Three-Days Blow
9. [Untitled]

Official Website (buy from here)
Last.fm
MySpace

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The Abbasi Brothers - Something Like Nostalgia

The Abbasi Brothers is an experimental duo based in Manhattan, New York City, that consists of Yousuf and Amman Abbasi. This is their highly acclaimed debut album, released in 2008. In 2009, they scored two feature documantary films: The Wall and Warrior Champions. They blend brilliantly electronica with shoegaze. Really beautiful music! Highly recommended!

Artist: The Abbasi Brothers
Album: Something Like Nostalgia
Year: 2008
Genre: electronica, shoegaze, instrumental, ambient

Tracks:
1. Stacy's Day Parade
2. Kompa
3. Something like Nostalgia
4. Camera Flashes Blue
5. The Way of the Wanderer
6. Dreams of a Graffiti Artist
7. The Social Evening (in 1992)
8. Mr. Boe
9. A Long Weekend
10. In a Field
11. Playtime in Spacetime
12. Approaching the End
13. Fragments of Memories as a Child
14. Reprise
15. Clouds are Sleeping

Official Website
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Sven Weisemann - Xine

Sven Weisemann is a German artist who has been DJ’ing since 1997 and producing since 2001. Xine is his full-length debut. Playing with classical instruments such as piano, layers of violins mixed with mellow sounds, spaced reverbs. Sounds like a soundtrack of a movie with its fragile athmosphere. Beautiful! Highly recommended!

Artist: Sven Weisemann
Album: Xine
Year: 2009
Genre: neo-classical, ambient, electronica

Tracks:
1. Xine
2. Xine II
3. Xine III Aeron
4. Xine IV Lyra
5. Xine V Tearily
6. Xine VI Habor Lights
7. Xine VII Abroad
8. Xine VIII Life Cycle
9. Xine IX Suri
10. Xine X Awake
11. Xine XI The Swan Of Desire
12. Xine XII Ajna
13. Xine XIII Ray
14. Xine XIV Streams Of Living Water
15. Xine XV Suna¹s Flow
16. Xine XVI Avedon
17. Xine XVII Blandish
18. Xine XVIII Love In Vein
19. Xine XIX Swell
20. Xine XX Tyree's Meaningful Look

Last.fm
MySpace
YouTube channel

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Seven Saturdays - Seven Saturdays

Seven Saturdays started in 2009 by multi-instrumentalist Jonathan D. Haskell. His music brends ambient with minimalist electronica and the result is stunning! This is his debut EP, released earlier this year. Really good!

Artist: Seven Saturdays
Album: Seven Saturdays
Year: 2010
Genre: ambient, electronica, instrumental

Tracks:
1. The Shallow End
2. Secret Things
3. Good Morning, I Love You
4. Love In The Time of Anticipated Defeat
5. A Beautiful Day

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

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