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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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)

Saddleback - Night Maps

Saddleback is the work of acclaimed Australian producer, arranger and composer Tony Dupé, who plays piano, pump organ, guitar, drums and clarinets; constructing loops from small musical sounds. Saddleback has released two albums "Everything's A Love Letter" and "Night Maps". Tony has moved to Berlin to make a third album and to pursue arrangement and production work. This is a stunning album, influenced by jazz, electronica and neo-classical music. Highly recommended!

Artist: Saddleback
Albums: Night Maps
Year: 2007
Genre: electronica, instrumental, jazz, neo-classical

Tracks:
1. Pushing Upstream
2. Hanging at Picnic Rock
3. Rain in Sea
4. Dance Card
5. For Crying out Loud
6. So Low Now
7. Shot Through
8. Singing Scribbles

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

Buy from Temporary Residence
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Jóhann Jóhannsson - Fordlândia

Jóhann Jóhannsson is an Icelandic multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer. He is one of the most compelling composers working today. His stately, slow-building and hauntingly melodic music frequently combines electronics with classical orchestrations. Fordlândia, his most recent album, combines a darkly romantic minimalism and baroque counterpoint with kraut-rock, post-rock, glitch electronics and melodies inspired by North European folk music. The album is thematically influenced by the failure of Henry Ford's Brazilian rubber plant Fordlândia. As stated in his official website:

One of the two main threads running through it is this idea of failed utopia, as represented by the "Fordlândia" title - the story of the rubber plantation Henry Ford established in the Amazon in the 1920’s, and his dreams of creating an idealized American town in the middle of the jungle complete with white picket fences, hamburgers and alcohol prohibition. The project – started because of the high price Ford had to pay for the rubber necessary for his cars’ tyres – failed, of course, as the indigenous workers soon rioted against the alien conditions. It reminded me of Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo, this doomed attempt at taming the heart of darkness. The remains of the town are still there today. The image of the Amazon forest slowly and surely reclaiming the ruins of Fordlândia is the one that gave spark to this album.

A classical masterpiece! Get it now!

Artist: Jóhann Jóhannsson
Album: Fordlândia
Year: 2008
Genre: neo-classical, minimalist

Tracks:
1. Fordlândia
2. melodia (i)
3. The Rocket Builder (Lo Pan!)
4. melodia (ii)
5. Fordlândia – Aerial View
6. melodia (iii)
7. Chimaerica
8. melodia (iv)
9. The Great God Pan Is Dead
10. Melodia (Guidelines for a Space Propulsion Device Based on Heim's Quantum Theory)
11. How We Left Fordlândia

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

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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

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

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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Slow Six - Tomorrow Becomes You

Slow Six is an instrumental band from Brooklyn, New York. Broad genre descriptors do little to describe their striking compositions. Post-rock, experimental neo-classical, minimalism and ambient are among their influences. This is their third full-length album, released earlier this year. Outstanding!

Artist: Slow Six
Album: Tomorrow Becomes You
Year: 2010
Genre: neo-classical, instrumental, post-rock, experimental

Tracks:
1. The Night You Left New York
2. Cloud Cover Part 1
3. Cloud Cover Part 2
4. Because Together We Resonate
5. Sympathetic Response System Part 1
6. Sympathetic Response System Part 2
7. These Rivers Between Us

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from Western Vinyl.
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Sunwrae - Autumn Never Fall

The exquisite Sunwrae Ensemble was founded during 2001 in Melbourne, Australia. Showcasing some of Australia's finest versatile musicians, the unique and flexible line-up includes piano, vibraphone, string quartet, harp, clarinets, alto flute, lap-steel guitar, double bass, drum-set and percussion. Dynamic, engaging and visually stimulating, Sunwrae stylishly captivate audiences, performing instrumental music by Artistic Director Rae Howell, textured with persuasive rhythms and spectacular improvisation! Performing a lush blend of melodic phrases and interweaving rhythms, Howell's compositions are a rare treat, crossing the boundaries of classical and jazz music, with the passages of improvisation giving their performances an immediacy and vibrancy rarely experienced in a classical recital. This is their latest album, released in 2009. Awesome!

Artist: Sunwrae
Album: Autumn Never Fall
Year: 2009
Genre: neo-classical, instrumental, jazz

Tracks:
1. Autumn Never Fall
2. Chinook Winds
3. Poly
4. The Machine
5. Soluble Sun II
6. Disappointing
7. Drawn Down

Official Website (buy from here)
Rae Howell's blog
Last.fm
MySpace
YouTube channel

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

Bosques de mi Mente - Lo-Fi

Bosques de mi Mente (Spanish for Forests of my Mind) is an independent project started in 2007 in Spain. The music is melancholic, piano-based ambient/neo-classical. All the albums are available for free download from the artist's website. Recommended!

Artist: Bosques de mi Mente
Album: Lo-Fi
Year: 2007
Genre: ambient, neo-classical, piano, melancholic

Tracks:
1. Paseo 1, primavera 5:17
2. Los titánicos esfuerzos de una bicicleta oxidada por avanzar
3. Un niño que ya no existe jugando con el viejo piano
4. Paseo 2, verano (la niña de Hiroshima)
5. Tormenta de verano
6. El amanecer reflejado en tus ojos, parte 1
7. Paseo 3, otoño
8. El mensaje de las ballenas
9. El amanecer reflejado en tus ojos, parte 2
10. Paseo 4, invierno (el largo y tedioso camino a casa)
11. Cuando se hayan ido todos, tan solo quedará el crujir de sus columpios al viento

Official Website (free albums here!)
Last.fm
MySpace

Download

Kaada - Junkyard Nostalgias

John Erik Kaada is a musical artist and composer from Stavanger, Norway. He has been working as a composer of film music and as a extensive touring solo artist. This is his most recent album, released in 2009. It's not easy to put his music in one genre. I'd say that combines neo-classical with electronica and experimental music. In any case, excellent album; highly recommended!

Artist: Kaada
Album: Junkyard Nostalgias
Year: 2009
Genre: neo-classical, electronica, experimental, instrumental

Tracks:
1. A day and a night and a day
2. Truth serum
3. Ode to the old flesh
4. Hammering down the nails
5. Dragging an ox
6. Marja Dalia, The Polska Bogini
7. Broken Horse Restaurant
8. Late bloOmer Gipsiara
9. The Hermetic Bird
10. All the things that grow old and pass away
11. We salute you, polish working man

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

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Heinali - Film Music (El Mar)

Oleg "Heinali" Shpudeiko is a minimalist composer, music producer from Kiev, Ukraine. Never took music lessons, self-taught, his sound evolved with time. Experimenting and trying to find his sound, he produced a wide variety of tracks in almost every music genre and style, from noise and ambient to jazz and guitar industrial. In late 2007, he started playing live and mixing hip hop, acid jazz beats with old jazz, soul vocals, dark drum’n’bass basses.  The first single “Ghost of s Chance” was released on Don’t Panic Records in 2008. In 2009, he’s moving away from electronic music and, as the part of Soloma art group, is composing music for art installations and performances. Current sound flows from minimalist, contemporary classical to electronic avant-garde. The music in this album, which (I think) combines the tracks from the EP "In to the Sea" with some additional tracks, is a brilliant blend of ambient and neo-classical. A good one!

Artist: Heinali
Album: Film Music (El Mar)
Year: 2009
Genre: ambient, neo-classical, piano, instrumental

Tracks:
1. Into the Sea
2. Elegy
3. Into the Sea part II
4. A Short Day
5. Million Light Yearning
6. To Live (with Maria Navrotskaya)
7. The Fall of Autumn
8. Icarus
9. Hollow Path
10. Troubled Waters
11. Tu Fantasma

Bandcamp site
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen.

James Blackshaw - The Glass Bead Game

James Blackshaw is a London-based guitarist and pianist, born in 1981. He primarily plays an acoustic 12 string guitar and has been compared to Bert Jansch, Robbie Basho, John Fahey, Jack Rose, and Leo Kottke. His music is dreamy instrumental that combines neo-classical with folk and post-rock music. He has released many albums in the last five years. This is his seventh and most recent one, released by Young God records. Absolutely brilliant! Highly recommended!

Artist: James Blackshaw
Album: The Glass Bead Game
Year: 2009
Genre: instrumental, neo-classical, folk, post-rock

Tracks:
1. Cross
2. Bled
3. Fix
4. Key
5. Arc

Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from Young God records.
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Tired Tape Machine - Somewhere Safe

Tired Tape Machine is Petter Lindhagen’s one man band from Sweden. Somewhere Safe is his debut, a beautiful ambient/neo-classical album, which Petter Lindhagen has single handedly written, produced and played all the instruments. It is self-released, digitally and – as the name might suggest– on cassette! Recommended!

Artist: Tired Tape Machine
Album: Somewhere Safe
Year: 2009
Genre: ambient, neo-classical, instrumental, post-rock

Tracks:
1. Somewhere Safe
2. On a Train
3. This Winter
4. Like Glass
5. Life is a Joke
6. From a Great Distance
7. The Tired Tape Machine Waltz
8. Ghosts in the Machine

Last.fm
MySpace

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Défilé des Âmes – Lust ‘n’ Stone

Défilé des Âmes is a Greek band from Athens. Their music is a fusion of dark folk, avant-garde, neo-classical and metal. Really unique sound! "Lust ‘n’ Stone" is their debut album, released in May 2008 on Ahnstern. Very good; check it out!

Artist: Défilé des Âmes
Album: Lust ‘n’ Stone
Year: 2008
Genre: folk, dark, neo-classical, neo-folk

Tracks:
1. Doors to Undefeated Violence
2. Carnal Desire
3. Mushrooms
4. My Middle Name
5. Welcome
6. Eosforou Fos
7. Liar...!
8. Eilem A Est Morte
9. Under the Spell
10. The Wind Fairy (Is Dead)
11. August

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

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Rodrigo Leão - Cinema

Rodrigo Leão is a Portuguese musician and composer from Lisbon. He became known for his musical compositions and participation in Portuguese bands such as Madredeus and Sétima Legião. He co-founded the band Sétima Legião in 1982 and Madredeus in 1985. As his solo career began to take shape, he chose to suspend his participation with the respective bands in 1993 and 1994. His solo work explores a combination of modern-classic compositions with more traditional song format and instrumentation. Several artists have participated in both his records and tours, such as Lula Pena or Adriana Calcanhotto in Alma Mater and Beth Gibbons and Ryuichi Sakamoto in the album I post today. Cinema is his most successful album, released in 2004. Really great!

Artist: Rodrigo Leão
Album: Cinema
Year: 2004
Genre: folk, neo-classical, downtempo, world

Tracks:
1. Cinema
2. Rosa
3. Lonely Carousel (feat. Beth Gibbons)
4. A Comédia de Deus
5. Jeux D’amour
6. Memórias
7. A Cidade Queimada
8. Deep Blue
9. Uma História Simples
10. Happiness
11. O Último Adeus
12. La Fête
13. A Estrada
14. L’Inspecteur
15. António

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy.

Rachel Grimes – Book of Leaves

Rachel Grimes is a core member and pianist for Rachel’s, a fantastic neo-classical/post-rock group (check this post). This is her first solo album, a neo-classical, piano-based album that everyone must listen. Flawless!!

Artist: Rachel Grimes
Album: Book of Leaves
Year: 2009
Genre: neo-classical, ambient, piano

Tracks:
1. Long Before Us
2. Every Morning
3. The Corner Room
4. She Was Here
5. On The Morrow
6. My Dear Companion
7. Far Light
8. Mossgrove
9. Bloodroot
10. At The Pond
11. Starwhite
12. The Side View
13. Every Morning, Birds
14. A Bed of Moss

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

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Balmorhea - Rivers Arms

Balmorhea are Rob Lowe and Michael Muller from Austin, Texas. They list some of their influences as Ludovico Einaudi, Six Parts Seven, Claude Debussy, Ludwig van Beethoven, Rachel’s, Gillian Welch, Max Richter, Arvo Pärt and John Cage. This is their second album released in 2008. Beautiful ambient/neo-classical instrumental music!

Artist: Balmorhea
Album: Rivers Arms
Year: 2008
Genre: neo-classical, instrumental, ambient, post-rock

Tracks:
1. San Solomon
2. Lament
3. The Winter
4. The Summer
5. Greyish Tapering Ash
6. Baleen Morning
7. Barefoot Pilgrims
8. Context
9. Process
10. Divisadero
11. Limmat
12. Theme No. 1
13. Windan Sea
14. San Solomon (reprise)

Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace

Buy from Western Vinyl.
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Takahiro Kido - Fleursy Music

Takahiro Kido is a composer residing in Tokyo, Japan, also member of the post-rock band Anoice. His music is a blissful combination of various classical instruments - piano, violin, viola, organ and guitars with a little electronics. Fleursy Music was released in 2008 on PLOP records. Beautiful music!

Artist: Takahiro Kido
Album: Fleursy Music
Year: 2008
Genre: neo-classical, piano, ambient, electronica, instrumental

Tracks:
1. Y
2. Smile-Spotter Chronicle
3. Poco!
4. Milk Tea
5. You Lost What?
6. Landscape with Snow
7. Gentle Afternoon
8. Christmas Song
9. Izze
10. Good-Bye...

Official Website (buy from here)
Last.fm
MySpace

Check the comments to listen before you buy.