I'll get the ball rolling with one of my favorite albums "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank" by Modest Mouse.

I picked this album for this list specifically because I think this album shows a wide range of the sounds the band is capable of. There are other albums they have that are a bit more on the morose/twangy sounding spectrum that I enjoy more; but intermingled in each of those albums is a variety of songs that seem more like experimental tracks rather than part of the collective piece of work. This album of theirs, I think, represents their best mosaic where every track still fits snugly together and doesn't fight for control. It's a pretty safe album for me in terms of "I need music just pick something already!" So I hope you enjoy!

No. Title
1. "March into the Sea"
2. "Dashboard"

3. "Fire It Up"
4. "Florida"
5. "Parting of the Sensory"
6. "Missed the Boat"

7. "We've Got Everything"
8. "Fly Trapped in a Jar"
9. "Education"

10. "Little Motel"
11. "Steam Engenius"
12. "Spitting Venom"
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13. "People as Places as People"
14. "Invisible"

Ulrich Schnauss's first album - "Far away trains passing by". An album that well and truly got me hooked on electronica. So soothing, so relaxing, each track an individual journey. Press play, sit back and enjoy...

1. Knuddelmaus


2. Between us and them


3. Passing by


4. Blumenwiese neben autobahn


5. Nobody's home


6. Molfsee


Would totally recommend his later albums - "A strangely isolated place" and "Goodbye" too.

Eternal Nightcap by The Whitlams. Just a defining album from 1997. I hadn't really heard of them at all... then I saw them play at my university, and was blown away. Usually I find it a little hard to get into a live act if I've never heard the music before. But they were just awesome. I got hold of the album and played it constantly... know most of the words to the entire album I would think.


The big track off it, in Australia was No Aphrodisiac, an absolute classic:
Track 1: No Aphrodisiac


Followed by one of the three 'Charlie' songs from the album... just beautiful:
Track 2: Buy now Pay Later (Charlie No. 2)


Track 4 is one of the singles they released, a real energy packed song... great stuff:

Track 4: You sound like Louis Burdett


The whole album is one to listen to from beginning to end, it's well and truly engrained in so many Australian's minds, and evokes that year and surrounding ones with such clarity.

Awesome album

I recently fell in love with Andrew Bird's 2001 'The Swimming Hour'. It is an eclectic blend of musical traditions, but put together in a way that feels special. It is intimate, passionate, dynamic and features some great playing. I think they recorded the performances live because you can feel the musicians vibing off of each other, (and also because there is one rhythmic flub in the second tune that suggests they tuned weren't tracked with a click). I also love that it is an 'album' and not just a collection of songs. There is flow and purpose from start to finish. The instrumentation is also very eclectic. It reminds me a bit of 'Poses' by Rufus Wainwright. Here are a couple tracks....

Two Way Action:


How Indiscreet:

http://www.amazon.com/Swimming-Hour-Andrew-Bird/dp/B00005ARFB

Also, if you haven't checked out Girl Talk's "All Day", it is one long brilliantly conceived album length mashup. Not super deep, but it goes down easy and can keep your spirits up while stuck in traffic. It's also a great party album.

Track 1:


Track 2:

@Hybrid - I have "A Strangely Isolated Place" by US and love the heck out of that album. It's one of my top ten ambient albums, along with Boards of Canada's 'Music Has the Right to Children', 'Geogadi', Aphex Twin's "Ambient Works - II" "Drukgs" and Brian Eno's "Ambient 1, Ambient 4" and "Apollo".

What other ambient stuff do you listen to?

My browser is in no way happy with this page.

One album I can listen to all the way through is Anberlin's album "Cities". It has a good mix of harder (for this kind of alternative rock) and softer songs, the instrumentation is interesting and the lyrics are pretty mature.

Alexithymia is my favorite song, but they are all good.


No. Title
1. "(Début)"
2. "Godspeed"

3. "Adelaide"
4. "A Whisper & a Clamor"
5. "The Unwinding Cable Car"

6. "There Is No Mathematics to Love and Loss"
7. "Hello Alone"
8. "Alexithymia"

9. "Reclusion"
10. "Inevitable"
11. "Dismantle.Repair."
12. "(*Fin)"

I'll dig out some more when I'm at home. For now, give Port-Royal a shot: http://port-royal.bandcamp.com/ It's not all ambient though.

Track 6, Karola Bloch on the Flares album may be my favourite electronica track of all time. It's a 12 minute epic of electronic excellence.
>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

@Hybrid - I have "A Strangely Isolated Place" by US and love the heck out of that album. It's one of my top ten ambient albums, along with Boards of Canada's 'Music Has the Right to Children', 'Geogadi', Aphex Twin's "Ambient Works - II" "Drukgs" and Brian Eno's "Ambient 1, Ambient 4" and "Apollo".
What other ambient stuff do you listen to?

I really dig andrew jackson jihad. they're kind of lo-fi anti folk diy 2 man out of pheonix. but they're not assholes. they've got easy beats and clever lyrics. sometimes their songs remind me of like... really dark metal songs, slowed down and folked up. like most diy outfits, they have a shit ton of random albums, i'll link you some songs from their split with ghost mice because i think it has the most complex, darkest shit on it. and on that album ghost mice covers their song "survival" which makes me really really happy. but i honestly have no idea how to embed just audio here....... pm and give me instructions and i'll change it.

1. little prince
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYm2H7kK8uo

i like these next 2 songs, because a. they're fucked up and b. they're one song split in half
6. all the dead kids
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5LHm8mky4E&feature=related

7. unicorn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ddX36PAG1Q

and just because i really really really love it, here's their song "survival"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fkKlr6pCSM

Mark of the Beast, by Manilla Road. Early, experimental, album shelved for twenty years because the band themselves thought it was shit, finally released because a fifteen year old fan heard a bootleg copy and grew up to run a record label. Possibly not the most convincing start to a recommendation. Well, he loved it, and I love it too. Retro even when it was recorded, very 70s, lots of dreamy prog numbers and the occasional blast of heaviness. Complexity, sincerity, wailing guitar solos everywhere, Mark Shelton's incredible love-it-or-hate-it voice, wow, I don't know why I'm not listening to it right now.

1. Mark of the Beast
2. Court of Avalon

3. Avatar
4. Dream Sequence
5. Time Trap
6. Black Lotus

7. Teacher
8. Aftershock
9. Venusian Sea

10. Triumvirate

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

The Whitlams are playing a free concert here in Canberra on New Year's Eve. We'll be there.>> ^spoco2:

Eternal Nightcap by The Whitlams. Just a defining album from 1997. I hadn't really heard of them at all... then I saw them play at my university, and was blown away. Usually I find it a little hard to get into a live act if I've never heard the music before. But they were just awesome. I got hold of the album and played it constantly... know most of the words to the entire album I would think.

The big track off it, in Australia was No Aphrodisiac, an absolute classic:
Track 1: No Aphrodisiac

Followed by one of the three 'Charlie' songs from the album... just beautiful:
Track 2: Buy now Pay Later (Charlie No. 2)

Track 4 is one of the singles they released, a real energy packed song... great stuff:
Track 4: You sound like Louis Burdett

The whole album is one to listen to from beginning to end, it's well and truly engrained in so many Australian's minds, and evokes that year and surrounding ones with such clarity.
Awesome album

@dag, hah, I guess Tim Freedman's recent solo excursion didn't go so well for him

Ray Soto - Songs from the Row

http://youtu.be/WbCK3afoJ24

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Donald Fagen's Morph the Cat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morph_the_Cat

Love this idea. I'll add something a little different...

You really ought to check out some Devin Townsend if you're into some really unique sounds.. The guy has an incredible range but dedicates his base music to "metal." Though the genre is closest to metal most of the time, he also has some really outside music as well with a recent example being the paired 2 disc project of deconstruction and ghost, 2 wildly different albums. One of my favorite projects by Townsend, however, is an album called Synchestra, which when played as intended is a seamless blend of an entire album. There are no gaps between most of the songs making it very easy to listen to the whole album. It's also got cameo artists like Steve Vai and Deborah Tyzio in some tracks.

On a side note I he's incredible live. Seen him twice, once headlining. Amazing. He talks to the crowd the entire time and got down in the crowd to play a few times. Wonderful energy, great personality and really intelligent.

I'll stick a few links from synchestra in here though it's better to go start to finish and enjoy the rollercoaster

All from Synchestra:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc2dsNQX4Tw - Triumph. Metal + banjo? why not...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XERqZRMG5Cg - vampolka. Directly precedes vampira, which can be found on the sift.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzewVfIX9_w - Gaia. awesome tune. A "sprinting" song for me when running..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ0T7_3YD6o - Pixillate, follows Gaia. awesome vocals once it gets going. goosebumps.

Early Learning by Ochre.

Big Gigantic's album, A Place Behind the Moon
available for free download here: http://biggigantic.net/apbtm/

Looking Back

Sky High

Lucid Dreams

Limelight

Solitude

Step Up

Driftin

High and Rising

Shine

Cloud Nine

Breaking Point

A Place Behind the Moon

Either you're tired of Richard D James, or you've never heard of him:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_D._James_Album

Either way, it amazes me that even now I hear brand new music that copies his sound.

Marvin Gaye "What's Going On?" You can find your own tracks.

It's Smokey Robinson's favorite album as well, that should be reccommendation enough for anyone.

*quality

Awarding JiggaJonson with one star point for this contribution to VideoSift - declared quality by UsesProzac.