By instrumental, I mean anything from GY!BE to Brian Eno. If there's already a post about it, this one can be deleted.

GY!BE - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
Do Make Say Think - Winter Hymn Country Hymn
K.C. Accidental - Anthems for the Could've Been Pills
K.C. Accidental - Captured Anthems for an Empty Bathtub
Marc Leclair - Musique Pour 3 Femmes Enceintes
Brian Eno - Ambient 1/Music for Airports

This message has been edited. Last edited by: modestaretaloger,

The Future Kings of England - The Fate of Old Mother Orvis

Mostly instrumental. There's one song with some lyrics but for the most part instrumental.

Most Eno and Fripp (together, seperate, collabs with others, etc.. they're too brilliant)

Nurse With Wound- Homotopy to Marie (Classic)

Battles- Mirrored (I love this album)

Eluvium- Talk Amongst the Trees (and I believe I have Mark to thank for my love for this album)

There are others that I can't think of right now, hmm.. I'll have to get back to this.

EDIT: Not my favorites, but those KC Accidental albums are great.

Gotta put a shout out for Lightning Bolt.

quote:

Originally posted by ezkcdude:
Gotta put a shout out for Lightning Bolt.

Shit, good call. they do have some badass albums.

When's the new one comin out guys? Jeez.

Appleseed Cast - Low Level Owl Vol 1 & 2

And of course Explosions in the Sky need at least a tip of the hat.

just about any james blackshaw album.

Happy the Man's Crafty Hands.

My fave prog album, and one of my fave albums, period. Beautiful melodies intercut with intense instrumentation and yearning. Yeah, the mellowest pieces are some of the most intense. There is one song (out of eight) with vocals.

quote:

Originally posted by mark f:
Happy the Man's Crafty Hands.

My fave prog album, and one of my fave albums, period. Beautiful melodies intercut with intense instrumentation and yearning. Yeah, the mellowest pieces are some of the most intense. There is one song (out of eight) with vocals.

And I am grabbing this as we speak.. thank you for the recommendation, kind sir.

EDIT: Or maybe not.. I can't find anything by this band. Hmph. Must not have any rereleased on CD yet?

I recently got turned on by my roommate to the artist-collective called Rachel's. I picked up their album "Systems / Layers" and its definitely one of the more nuanced and beautifully effecting instrumental works I've heard this year.

Additionally:
Mogwai - Young Team (I realize there are some vocals...)
Mountains - Sewn
Fennesz - Endless Summer
Black Dice - Beaches & Canyons
Supersilent - 4
Vibracathedral Orchestra - Double LP
Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson - Children Of Nature
Out Hud - S.T.R.E.E.T D.A.D
Basinski - Garden Of Brokenness
I'm a huge fan of Eno and Reich as well.
I also share Jackson's undying affection for Talk Amongst The Trees.

quote:

Originally posted by Jglass:

quote:

Originally posted by mark f:
Happy the Man's Crafty Hands.

My fave prog album, and one of my fave albums, period. Beautiful melodies intercut with intense instrumentation and yearning. Yeah, the mellowest pieces are some of the most intense. There is one song (out of eight) with vocals.

And I am grabbing this as we speak.. thank you for the recommendation, kind sir.

EDIT: Or maybe not.. I can't find anything by this band. Hmph. Must not have any rereleased on CD yet?

Sure they have. Check amazon & half.com, and not all are pricey imports.

My favorite instrumental albums are surf.

Oh oh oh, and Glenn Branca!

And can I include Philip Glass' Einstein On the Beach? The singing is really more of an instrument than actual singing!

I know there are so many but I can't think of any right now.

The odd thing is that six months ago I had such terrible musical ADD and my focus wasn't on the music so I didn't enjoy much music that was sprawling and instrumental (I think the only exception was "Joseph Merrick," Mastodon's short instrumental on Leviathan)

Aforementioned Lift Yr. Skinny Fists...

Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Live Forever (technically it's got like a minute long spoken word weirdness in the middle, but eh)/The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place - both by Explosions In The Sky

The Koyaanisqatsi soundtrack, handled by Philip Glass (the only thing I've really heard by him) is pretty awesome, if not lacking a lot without the visuals

quote:

Originally posted by Nhazghaal:
The Koyaanisqatsi soundtrack, handled by Philip Glass (the only thing I've really heard by him) is pretty awesome, if not lacking a lot without the visuals

I was going to quote JGlass on the subject of PGlass, but I like your comment just as much. Anything by Philip Glass is amazing. It's a little more orchestral than the others though. And I agree that it is much more powerful in the context of the film (if you have not seen it Do It Now).

So anyway, if we are including Classical/Opera/Choir music, let's just go crazy and include everything Aphex Twin has ever touched. Techno is "instrumental" right? Because when there are vocals it's called "Hip-Hop".

quote:

Originally posted by Shadrach:
So anyway, if we are including Classical/Opera/Choir music, let's just go crazy and include everything Aphex Twin has ever touched. Techno is "instrumental" right? Because when there are vocals it's called "Hip-Hop".

Aren't Aphex Twins IDM? Sorry, semantics?

If we're going that route, then Orchestra of Bubbles deserves a mention from me.

quote:

Originally posted by Jglass:

quote:

Originally posted by Shadrach:
So anyway, if we are including Classical/Opera/Choir music, let's just go crazy and include everything Aphex Twin has ever touched. Techno is "instrumental" right? Because when there are vocals it's called "Hip-Hop".

Aren't Aphex Twins IDM? Sorry, semantics?

If we're going that route, then Orchestra of Bubbles deserves a mention from me.

The man pretty much invented Techno, in my eyes. He dabbled in a lot of different aspects of the main genre though. He has some amazing ambient stuff (Selected Ambient Works), and some stuff that is very IDM (Hangable Auto Bulb). A lot of his more common album tracks are still very abrasive though. His songs often sound like a beautiful machine that is being ripped to pieces and sucked into a portal to Hell. But this is all balanced by some of the most gorgeous and living sounds that have ever come out of a computer.

I was a bit of an Aphex Twin fanatic back in the day. Place a little connect the dots and find Philip Glass' orchestral version of the Twin's "Icct Hedral".

I'm going to enjoy looking up all of this Instrumental stuff. I really appreciate it when a group can convey real emotion and melody without hideing behind lyrics to do the job for them.

quote:

Originally posted by CouldBAnyone:
I recently got turned on by my roommate to the artist-collective called Rachel's. I picked up their album "Systems / Layers" and its definitely one of the more nuanced and beautifully effecting instrumental works I've heard this year.

Coincidentally enough, one of my favorite torrent sites just saw Rachel's "Music For Egon Schiele" uploaded!

Oh sweet. I missed the comment about the Rachels. Systems/Layers is awesome. I love it. Very ambient and jazzy. but it's a great headphones album to change your perspective.

quote:

Originally posted by Shadrach:
Appleseed Cast - Low Level Owl Vol 1 & 2

Wait, those aren't instrumental. I mean, there are quite a few vocals, right? Been a while since I listened to them.

quote:

Originally posted by CouldBAnyone:
Out Hud - S.T.R.E.E.T D.A.D

This would be on my list as well along with everything by Explosions in the Sky.

There's also a band called The Rock of Travolta that made an exceptional instrumental album called Uluru.