Here are the kinds of things that I'm primarily interested in. Weird tastes, I know.
- Film Music / Scores (such as The Fountain, Moon, Road to Perdition, Sunshine...)
- Video Game Music / Scores (such as Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, Chrono Cross, Heavy Rain, Final Fantasy, Shadow of the Colossus...)
- Electronic Music (such as Coyote Kisses from ETI, Blackmill, The Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk, Paul Oakenfield, anything with good melody and a lot of dirtyness)
- Classical / Professional / Choral / A Capella Music (such as Eric Whitacre, Maurice Ravel, The King's Singers, Samuel Barber, Gustav Holst, Arnold Schoenberg...)
- Post-rock (such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Balmorhea...)
- Symphonic Metal (such as Nightwish, Delain...)
- Piano Music (such as Maurice Ravel, Isaac Shepherd, Hiromi Uehara...)
The big connector between all of these categories is ATMOSPHERE. I like music that really draws emotion from you and paints a scene in your head, fast or slow, intense or serene. And I like epicness in all forms. It's why film music makes up most of my library. That said, I still have plenty of film scores I haven't downloaded and listened to.
Please suggest good stuff!!
-- Women come and go, but Metal Gear is forever. And, then there were 9 ... ~ Noble 9
since you already have symphonic metal (I like Nightwish myself as background music while I'm working, Epica too) here are some other metal samples that i associate with 'epic' and 'atmosphere' from doom and prog:
nothing else too obvious is coming to mind right now - i doubt i need to recommend any mainstream film scores like Inception and i don't have any lesser-known ones I'm attached to.
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Leafs / Raptors / Blue Jays / TFC / Argos / Tottenham Pokemon Black - 3782 8319 5346
DJ Shadow - Endtroducing . . . is warm and organic. you'll absolutely get a film noir feeling. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion is joyous but it also draws you in. The Weeknd - House of Balloons Talk Talk - Laughing Stock My Bloody Valentine - Loveless Ride - Nowhere Miles Davis - Kind of Blue, In a Silent Way, actually get everything of his John Coltrane - A Love Supreme, Blue Train, actually get everything of his too
I'll be listening to this all after this weekend. Going out of town camping in the Sequoias. I like most of what I've given a quick listen to thus far. =)
-- Women come and go, but Metal Gear is forever. And, then there were 9 ... ~ Noble 9
If you're into atmosphere and rock, I highly recommend The Dear Hunter. Their albums need a little explanation - Acts 1 through 3 are part of an overarching storyline, while The Color Spectrum is a standalone concept EP collection of songs about (surprise surprise) colors. If you get The Color Spectrum, make sure it's the complete collection - there's also an album version out that only has like 11 of the 36 songs, and some of the best aren't on the cut-down version.
Personally, I think Color Spectrum > Act 2 > Act 1 > Act 3, but they're all really really good and if you're going to listen to the Acts you should do them in order.
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Besides, marijuana is far more harmful than steroids. - BlitzBomb I headbang to Bruckner.
Neither really fits in any of the genres you mentioned, but they're what I thought of when you mentioned music being atmospheric and painting a scene in your head. Not necessarily lyrically, if I'm to go by your large collection of film scores and classical music, but aurally.
Wolf Like Me - TV on the Radio Night and Day - Chief
-- Ace Detective in Sir Chris' Police http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/8823/therearepartsofmethatar.jpg
For some reason, I thought of the Dune soundtrack.
These two songs in particular:
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"You dare not look at my explosion? Like some kind of hero?! I'LL KILL YOU!!! ~ Willydahivemind. http://gifninja.com/animatedgifs/120003/phoenixtrio.gif
Tycho... Adrift didn't do it much for me, but Coastal Break is pretty cool. I'm not interested enough to go listen to all the albums, but if there are any particular pieces you think are good, post 'em. I added Coastal Break to my library.
-- Women come and go, but Metal Gear is forever. And, then there were 9 ... ~ Noble 9
Nujabes - Aruarian Dance Not quite interesting enough for me, didn't really care for it.
Two Steps from Hell seems pretty interesting. Neither of those two warranted an add for me, BUT I like the sound so I'm going to check out more of their stuff.
I went ahead and tried a couple other Tycho stuff, and Adrift actually is growing on me, so I added it. From Home is pretty good as sex music (ha), so I added that, too. The Daydream was pretty at first, but it got boring fast for me. Same with The Disconnect. I think overall, I like Tycho's sound, but their stuff just is a little too repetitive and cyclic for me. I'll take requests from them out but no more searching on my own.
-- Women come and go, but Metal Gear is forever. And, then there were 9 ... ~ Noble 9
Kibago, your stuff was all pretty chill, but none of it really jumped out at me and made me want to add to my library. I liked the first two more than the second two, though.
Currently starting the Xenoblade soundtrack. I make life hell for me since I listen to every piece of an album and individually decide what I like rather than adding whole albums. Going through music is very stressful for me, lol.
-- Women come and go, but Metal Gear is forever. And, then there were 9 ... ~ Noble 9
Ludovico is a god. I have his new Islands collection. All a man could ever need <3
The links from SuperAngelo, I like them, and I actually have the Xenosaga one. The rest are good, too, but aside from the last one Dreamenddisomething, they felt confined to the video game rather than as a good listen on their own.
-- Women come and go, but Metal Gear is forever. And, then there were 9 ... ~ Noble 9