Korean Raws: "Cosplay Deka"


Description:
Ritsuka is a cop who is accused of a cosplay scandal. Later, they find a girl, Takao, raped by an unknown man in the men's restroom, so parent announcement crime until the victim accuses as for investigation the high house of the criminal section that it is impossible.

Title: Cosplay Deka
Associated Names:
コスプレ刑事
COSPLAY女警
코스프레 형사
Story & Art: DOUMOTO Nao
Genre: Comedy | Shoujo | Smut
Status: 6 Volumes (Complete)
Year: 2009

Download
Vol. 1
Vol. 2
Vol. 3
Vol. 4

Korean Raws: "Ryuu no Hanawazurai"


Description:
Teenage Shakuya, the next head of the Dragon Clan, suddenly finds herself with two fiancés! The first vanished years ago but has now mysteriously returned. But betrothed number two is not about to just step aside. What's a girl to do? Her mother decides that at the end of a year, Shakuya will marry the man she has the strongest feelings for. How that will be determined is by "magic tattoos" on both of Shakuya's hands, each representing one of her suitors. As her love grows, so do the tattoos! And complicating all of this is that fact that whenever Shakuya gets upset, she turns into a fearsome dragon!

Title: Ryuu no Hanawazurai
Associated Names:
龍の花わずらい
龍族花印記
龙族花印记
Dragon's Fiance
Gia tộc rồng
Ryuu no Hana wa Zurai
Ryuu no Hana Wazurai
Two Flowers for the Dragon
Story & Art: KUSAKAWA Nari
Genre: Fantasy | Romance | Shoujo
Status: 7 Volumes (Complete)
Year: 2006

Download
Vol. 1~5
Vol. 6
Vol. 7 (End)

Love Sick


Description:
From Houkago Scanlations:

Shiki threw everything away for the sake of revenge. But at the new school where she disguises herself as a male, she meets 4 popular rich guys... Haru (spring) the prince, Natsu (summer) the bishounen, Aki (autumn) the womanizer, and Fuyu (winter) the cold-hearted genius.

What awaits Shiki? And will she get her revenge...?

Title: Love Sick
Associated Names:
ラブシック.
LOVESICK
Story & Art: MORIE Satoshi
Genre: Gender Bender | Romance | School Life | Shoujo
Status: 3 Volumes (Complete)
Year: 2008

Download RAWs
[Lang: Korean]
Vol. 1-2 - FileSonic - Hotfile
Vol. 3 (End) - FileSonic

CY-Believers

Description:
Transferring to a new school is never easy. Still, Rui has a plan to make new friends -- after school clubs! Unfortunately, they're not that easy to find. The clubs are being closed down one by one, and further investigation reveals the culprit to be Natori, a fellow student -- and the guy Rui's father just betrothed her to! It's hard to make friends when your fiancé is the school bully, but Rui's not giving up. With the help of two cute boys, Rui forms a club that refuses to be shut down without a fight. As the Cy-Believers spread their message online, they're out of Natori's jurisdiction -- and Ctrl+Alt+Deleting all the rules!

Title: CY-Believers
Associated Names:
电脑恋爱同盟会
電脳ビリーバーズ
電腦戀愛同盟會
Dennou Believers
Story&Art: MIZUKI Shioko
Genre: Comedy | Harem | Romance | School Life | Shoujo
Status: 4 Volumes (Complete)
Year: 2008
Licensed by Go! Comi (4 Volumes - Complete)

[RAW-Chinese] CY-Believers volume 3 | Download
[RAW-Chinese] CY-Believers volume 4 end | Download

MiLK


Description:
좋아하는 사람이 딴 여자와 사랑의 도피를 한다면 어떻게 할 것인가?

…당연히 뒤쫓을 수밖에 없겠죠! 도착한 곳은 변두리 느낌 만점인 온천. 거기서 일어난 초낭만적인 드라마를 감상하세요! 단편 「반짝반짝」도 동시 수록★

Title: MiLK
Associated Names:
ミルク
밀크
Milk
MILK
Story&Art: SATO Zakuri
Genre: School Life | Shoujo
Status: 1 Volume (Complete)
Year: 2006

[RAW-Korean] MiLK volume 1 end | Download | Mirror 1 | Mirror 2

I.N.V.U.

Description:
From Tokyopop:
One morning, 16-year-old Sey's world is turned upside down when her mother announces she's moving to Italy to finish her novel. She's made arrangements for Sey to live with her friend, Meja, and Meja's creepy daughter, Terry. Not exactly Sey's ideal living situation, but she has no other choice. Sey has a killer crush on a teacher named Mr. Cho, and she's beyond shocked when she learns that Terry knows him well ... VERY well.
And so begins I.N.V.U. (I Envy You) - a hip, moving, topsy-turvy look at the lives and loves, trials and travails of 4 teenage girls.

Title: I.N.V.U.
Associated Names:
'Innocent' 'Nice' 'Vivid' 'Unique'
I Envy You
Impressive Neat Versatile Undaunted
INVU
Story&Art: KIM Kang Won
Genre: Drama | Gender Bender | Romance | Shoujo
Status: 8 Volumes (Ongoing)
Year: 2000
Licensed by Tokyopop (5 Volumes - Ongoing)

[RAW-Korean] I.N.V.U. volume 1-5 | Download | Mirror 1 | Mirror 2

Ambient Dub Mix - PsyAmb 38


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ambient dub mix

Another lush ambient dub download mix this week. Quite enjoy this one. It's very smooth and laid back. Perfect for an hour's relaxation. This psydub mix begins with a tune from the group "Outernational Spacelords" off the compilation "Ambient Dub" released in 2000. Very tasty compilation it is too. Not all tracks are winners but there are a few there that really shine.

Next up is "Orbit Service" with a tunes from Waveform record's 2005 compilation "Chillicious". Orbit service is the musical project of producer/engineer Randall Frazier, currently with help from Kim Hansen (antenne), Dennis Swanson (day dissolved dream), and Kirill Nikolai (still light). They list The Cure, Pink Floyd and Syd Barret as influences which seems mighty nice to me.

Our next bit of ambient dub comes from "Experimental Sound Project" with their tune " Chacruna Dub Mama Aya's Mix". You can find this dub on the promo psytrance album "Initiate Sequence" from "Dream Creation" magazine. Dream Creation magazine is based in London and the promo CDs aim to highlight fresh psychedelic talent from the internationally mixed underground UK scene.

gus till dub shadows - ambient psydub mix downloadFollowing on we have I would have to say one of my all time top 10 dub tunes ever. This track by "Gus Till" sent shivers down my spine the first time I heard it. Get in the right "setting" for this song and you'll see what I mean. Absolute classic. "Monkey in the Black Sky" can be found on his album "Dub Shadows" released through Psy-Harmonics offshoot ambient label "Cyan".

The might Infinity Project give us the next ambient dub tune in the form of "Noises From the Darkness" off the classic album "Feeling Weird" way back in 1995 ! I have mates who still listen to this album religiously like it is some alien artifact sent to earth to teach us all how to have a good time.

Trance DJ/producer DJ Zen was born in France and has been living in Quebec since 1996. Founder of "Tribal Trance Force" with his brother Emmanuel (DJ Isocele) with whom he was resident at Cyberclub in Quebec and with whom he has organized an annual party, "Natura". DJ Zen is also an airbrush painter and 3D digital graphic designer. Since 1996, under the name "Digitalys productions"/"City of Angels", he has airbrushed live at several parties, and for private collectors, painting on huge canvases as well as T-Shirts. In 2002, he switched to 3D digital design with 3DS Max, Vue Infinite and Poser computer programs. Check out his 3D works here. His tune in this mix comes from his album "DJ Zen In Dub" on "Altar Records".

kokpelli - conscious dreamsNext "Samorost" give us the tune "You" from the compilation "Kokopelli by "Conscious Dreams". As far as I know the label only released this one CD. The CD was intended as a promotional device for the Conscious Dream "coffee" shop in Amsterdam.

"Xerxes" is an artist I'd like to hear more from. I feautured a Xerxes tune way back on the fourth PsyAmb podcast in 2009. This tune is also an excellent chilled out serving of ambient dub. It can be found on Ajana Record's massive double CD compilation "Materia Musica" released in 2008. Easily one of the top CD of that year with the likes of Capsula, Kick Bong and Khooman present.

After another tune from the "Conscious Dreams" compilation we flow into a track by "Sounds From The Ground". SFTG have been around for ages now and I've enjoyed following their path from the very beginning. Their latest CD "The Maze" is their most mature work to date and certainly the most appreciated by modern ambient dub lovers.

Finally, for a chilled out landing, we have Brian Eno mixed with Biosphere to bring us all back down to earth safe and sound.


Track / Artist

  • 01. Cape East - Outernational Spacelords
  • 02. Asphyxia - Orbit Service [ Dark Ambient Mix ]
  • 03. Chacruna Dub Mama Aya's Mix - Experimental Sound Project
  • 04. Monkey in the Black Sky - Gus Till
  • 05. Noises From the Darkness - The Infinity Project
  • 06. I Believe [ 2009 Remaster ] - DJ Zen
  • 07. You - Samorost
  • 08. One-Oh-Three [ Edit ] - Xerxes
  • 09. Hangar - Siebzehn
  • 10. Afterglow - Sounds from the Ground
  • 11. The Chill Air - Brian Eno & Harold Budd
  • 12. Visit - Biosphere

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Korean Raws: "Kirara no Hoshi"

Description:
The story centers around a quiet high school girl who ends up inheriting a minor entertainment talent agency. To pay off her newly obtained debts, she sets out to discover new talent and stars on the rise.

Title: Kirara no Hoshi
Associated Names:
キララの星
閃亮新星
闪亮亮之星
키라라의별
Kirara's Star
Author & Artist: MORINAGA Ai
Genre: Comedy | Romance | School Life | Shoujo
Status: 4 Volumes (Ongoing)
Year: 2010

Download
Vol. 1
Vol. 2
Vol. 3 - Mirror
Vol. 4 - Mirror

Hakuji

Description:
From Intercross:

The beautiful, white skin of high school student Ichijou Seika stole the heart of the young genius painter Manabe Akiharu. However, in order for him to paint, Akiharu must touch that "something" or else his image won't expand. While desiring to touch her, he worries that his thoughts will dirty her...?!

Contains the oneshot Shoujo Kansen Ritsu

Title: Hakuji
Associated Names:
白磁
백자
Story&Art: MORIE Satoshi
Genre: Psychological | Romance | Shoujo | Tragedy
Status: 2 Volumes (Complete)
Year: 2008

[RAW-Korean] Hakuji volume 1 | Download | Mirror
[RAW-Korean] Hakuji volume 2 end | Download | Mirror

Hannune Banhada! Season 2

Description:
From JanimeS:

Kang Han-Se and Ban Ha-Da have known each other ever since childhood. They are close enough to sleep in the same room together at their current age.

"Three men for you," Kang Han-Se's mother tells Ban Ha-Da, on the day of graduation. As soon as Ban Ha-Da's life as a high school student starts, her love life begins as well.

Title: Hannune Banhada! Season 2
Related Series: Hannune Banhada! Season 1 (Prequel)
Associated Names:
한눈에 반하다! season2
Love @ First Sight Season 2
Love at First Sight Season 2
Love at First Sight! Season 2
Story & Art: LEE Si Young
Genre: Comedy | Drama | Romance | School Life | Shoujo | Supernatural
Status: 9 Volumes (Ongoing)
Year: 2007

Download
[Lang: Korean]
Vol. 7 -> FileSonic || Hotfile || Uploading
Vol. 8 -> FileSonic || Hotfile || Uploading
Vol. 9 -> Uploaded.to || Uploadstation || FileSonic

Easy!

Description:
독립을 결심한 동기는 지극히 단순하게도 첫 남친 미츠오와 24시간을 함께하고파 단지 그것 하나 뿐이었다. 상상대로라면 누구에게도 방해받지 않는 달콤하고 자유로운 생활을 시작할 터였다. 그러나 현실은 그리 만만히 않은 법. '내 행복은 대체 어디 있는 거야∼!'

Title: Easy!
Associated Names:
イージー!
Easy!
EASY。簡單
Story/Art: IKEZAWA Satomi
Genre: Shoujo
Status: 2 Volumes (Complete)
Year: 2006

[Raw-Korean] Easy! volume 1 | Download | Mirror 1 | Mirror 2
[Raw-Korean] Easy! volume 2 end | Download | Mirror 1 | Mirror 2

Younger Brother - Storm Thorgerson - Video


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Younger Brother members Simon Posford and Benji Vaughan in the studio once again as they work on an uptempo remix of their single "Night Lead Me Astray". They also give a brief chat about what their favorite bits of equipment are.




Following that we have a video of Younger Brother's CD cover artist Storm Thorgerson.


He was a core member of the British graphic art group Hipgnosis, and came up with the designs for many of their most famous singles and album covers. Currently, he runs a design studio called StormStudios - a loose collection of very talented designers.


Storm Thorgerson's most popular designs are those for Pink Floyd. His design for "The Dark Side of the Moon" has been voted one of the greatest album covers of all time. (Designed by Thorgerson, the cover itself was the drawn by Hipgnosis designer George Hardie). Many of his creations are known for their surreal elements.

He often places objects out of their traditional settings, especially with vast spaces around them, to give them an odd appearance while highlighting their beauty. To quote Thorgerson, "I like photography because it is a reality medium, unlike drawing which is unreal. I like to mess with reality...to bend reality. Some of my works beg the question of is it real or not?"

A number of books have been devoted to surveying Storm Thorgerson's work which spans more than three decades.
I've love what he has done for Younger Brother so far so I hope the partnership continues.

View : Psychedelic | Ambient | Trance | Chill Out | Psybient | Psychill




You may also like : Younger Brother Vaccine


Ano Ko to Issho

Description:
Kanori makes a new friend on her first day at a new school, Kazumi, and she decides to participate in a group date with her new best friend. Each leaves the place with a partner. But while Kazumi is head over heels with her new boyfriend, Kanori isn’t feeling anything as special…

Title: Ano Ko to Issho
Associated Names:
あのコと一緒
그 애와 함께
Comme elles (French)
I'm with Her
Author/Artist: FUJISUE Sakura
Genre: Drama | Mature | Romance | Shoujo | Slice of Life
Status: 13 Volumes (Complete)
Year: 2003

[Raw-Korean] Ano Ko to Issho volume 1 | Download | Mirror
[Raw-Korean] Ano Ko to Issho volume 2 | Download | Mirror
[Raw-Korean] Ano Ko to Issho volume 3 | Download | Mirror
[Raw-Korean] Ano Ko to Issho volume 4 | Download | Mirror
[Raw-Korean] Ano Ko to Issho volume 5 | Download | Mirror
[Raw-Korean] Ano Ko to Issho volume 6 | Download | Mirror
[Raw-Korean] Ano Ko to Issho volume 7 | Download | Mirror
[Raw-Korean] Ano Ko to Issho volume 8 | Download | Mirror
[Raw-Korean] Ano Ko to Issho volume 9 | Download | Mirror
[Raw-Korean] Ano Ko to Issho volume 10 | Download | Mirror
[Raw-Korean] Ano Ko to Issho volume 11 | Download | Mirror
[Raw-Korean] Ano Ko to Issho volume 12 | Download | Mirror
[Raw-Korean] Ano Ko to Issho volume 13 end | Download | Mirror

Neko Mata

Description:
「항상 쇼에이를 생각하면서 혼자 하고 있잖아!」
둔감한 우등생 노에루가 주운 건 무척이나 거만한 괴물 고양이 쿠로!
쿠로의 야한 강제마법으로 밝히는 아이가 되어버린 노에루는
교실에서 쿨하고 멋있는 동경의 대상 쇼에이에게 ♥♥♥해버리고?!!
우등생에서 음란한 아이로 대변신☆ 에로틱하면서 순수한 트러블 하이스쿨~♥♥♥

Title: Neko Mata
Associated Names:
ネコ★また
고양이 유혹술
Author/Artist: KAMON Saeko
Genre: Fantasy | Yaoi
Status: 1 Volume (Complete)
Year: 2009

[Raw-Korean] Neko Mata volume 1 end | Download | Mirror 1 | Mirror 2

Korean Raws: "Uchi no Pochi no Iu Koto ni wa"


Description: N/A

Title: Uchi no Pochi no Iu Koto ni wa
Associated Names:
うちのポチの言うことには
我家波奇这么说
Uchi no Pochi no Iu Koto ni ha
Uchi no Pochi no Iu Koto niwa
Uchi no Pochi no IuKoto ni ha
Uchi no Pochi no IuKoto ni wa
Author & Artist: TACHIBANA Yutaka
Genre: Romance | Shoujo
Status: 3 Volumes (Ongoing)
Year: 2009

Download
Vol. 1 - Mirror
Vol. 2 - Mirror
Vol. 3 - Mirror

Korean Raws: "S.L.H"

Description:
On the eve of her sixteenth birthday, Kozue Hiyoki is visited in her dreams by a man who steals her heart- literally! Determined to find him and retrieve her stolen heart, Hiyoki, with the color of the man's hair and the tattoo on his chest as her only leads, enrolls in the S-Hall dormitories of St. Nazareth Academy, but quickly realizes that its residents are not at all like she expected... For starters, they're all guys! There, Hiyoki soon discovers that she has the ability to look inside her dorm-mates' dreams, which may be the key to uncovering the identity of the thief who stole her heart.... But perhaps her biggest challenge is that most of the guys won't let Hiyoki into their rooms, much less their hearts!

Title: S.L.H
Associated Names:
S・L・H ストレイ・ラブ・ハーツ!
S・L・H ~ストレイ・ラブ・ハーツ~
스트레이 러브 하츠
S.L.H - Stray Love Hearts!
SLH
Stray Love Hearts!
Author & Artist: SHOUOTO Aya
Genre: Comedy | Harem | Romance | School Life | Shoujo | Supernatural
Status: 5 Volumes (Complete)
Year: 2006

Download
Vol. 1
Vol. 2
Vol. 3
Vol. 4
Vol. 5end

Princess White Stone and the Coxcomb Prince

Description:
우리가 알고 있는 <백설공주> 동화는 백설공주와 왕자가 결혼해서 행복하게 살았다는 것으로 끝맺는다. “그 뒤에 둘은 행복하게 살았답니다”로 끝나는 모든 동화의 마무리를 좀더 이어간다면 어찌 될까. 이 작품은 백설공주가 결혼한 뒤의 이야기를 다루고 있다.

Title: 백석공주와 비실왕자
Associated Name:
Princess Baekseok And The Coxcomb Prince
Author/Artist: KIM Ji-Young
Genre: Comedy | Fantasy | Romance | Shoujo
Status: 2 Volumes (Complete)
Year: 2001

[Raw-Korean] Princess Baekseok And The Coxcomb Prince volume 1 | Download | Mirror
[Raw-Korean] Princess Baekseok And The Coxcomb Prince volume 2 end | Download | Mirror

Card no Ousama


Description:
From CMX:
"Chaos" is a trading card game that is very popular at Manami's school. Trying to learn more about it herself, she purchases a beginner's set, only to discover that it contains "Sahgan, The Mighty Sorcerer," the rarest card in the game. Now every other player is out to win the card from her. But Sahgan himself begins to visit Manami in her dreams, offering her advice on how to win.

Title: Card no Ousama
Associated Names:
カードの王様
카드의 여왕
King of Cards
Vua Bài
Author/Artist: TATENO Makoto
Genre: Action | Fantasy | Shoujo
Status: 9 Volumes (Complete)
Year: 1998

[Raw-Korean] Card no Ousama volume 1 | Download | Mirror
[Raw-Korean] Card no Ousama volume 2 | Download | Mirror
[Raw-Korean] Card no Ousama volume 3 | Download | Mirror
[Raw-Korean] Card no Ousama volume 4 | Download | Mirror
[Raw-Korean] Card no Ousama volume 5 | Download | Mirror
[Raw-Korean] Card no Ousama volume 6 | Download | Mirror
[Raw-Korean] Card no Ousama volume 7 | Download | Mirror
[Raw-Korean] Card no Ousama volume 8 | Download | Mirror
[Raw-Korean] Card no Ousama volume 9 end | Download | Mirror

Looking for the Princess

Description:
The one "who operated a Hong Sin Seo for 10 years", who shudders at the monthly rent, Na Baek Su, dives a 1 million dollar project, The Search for a Princess!

For money she'll do anything! She who says that money, money and more money is the best, Suh Jan Di. To help her uncle, Na Baek Su, she joined the Search for a Princess...

Her princess candidates list shows a couple of people...

Cold, charismatic, the one who'll go down in the history of the fashion world, Yu Jin.
The one who'd even sell the Sameun group for the money crazed girl, Eun Hyuk.
A wingless angel's infinite love, our eternal goddess, fashion model Eh Eun.

A love story that outrageously intertwines the princess candidates and Suh Jan Di, with lots of trouble and excitement!


Title: I'm Looking for the Princess
Associated Names:
공주님을 찾습니다
I'm Looking For A Princess
Looking For The Princess
Thuyền viễn xứ
Author/Artist: HAN Yu-Rang
Genre: Comedy | Romance | Shoujo
Status: 10 Volumes (Complete)
Year: 2008

[Raw-Korean] I'm Looking for the Princess volume 1 | Download
[Raw-Korean] I'm Looking for the Princess volume 2 | Download
[Raw-Korean] I'm Looking for the Princess volume 3 | Download
[Raw-Korean] I'm Looking for the Princess volume 4 | Download
[Raw-Korean] I'm Looking for the Princess volume 5 | Download
[Raw-Korean] I'm Looking for the Princess volume 6 | Download
[Raw-Korean] I'm Looking for the Princess volume 7 | Download
[Raw-Korean] I'm Looking for the Princess volume 8 | Download
[Raw-Korean] I'm Looking for the Princess volume 9 | Download
[Raw-Korean] I'm Looking for the Princess volume 10 end | Download

Akuma no Ororon

Description:
A lonely yet caring 15-year-old Chiaki, the half-angel daughter of the Archangel Michael and a human woman, welcomes into her home a dejected devil Ororon who pledges to stay at her side forever.
Both of them have been ostracized from their respective celestial realms--Chiaki because her origins are impure and Ororon because he is the youngest son of the Lord Devil and therefore a threat to his older brothers for leadership of the underworld.
As various agents of heaven come by to destroy the angel Chiaki, she learns that having the incredibly powerful Ororon by her side is useful. And as assassin after assassin comes to eliminate Ororon, he learns that Chiaki can teach him a valuable lesson about the sanctity of life.

Title: Akuma no Ororon
Related Series: Mayonaka no Teikoku (Sequel)
Associated Names:
悪魔のオロロン
악마오로론
Ororon The Devil
The Demon Ororon
The Devil Ororon
Author/Artist: HAKASE Mizuki
Genre: Fantasy | Romance | Shoujo | Supernatural | Tragedy
Status: 4 Volumes (Complete)
Year: 1999

[Raw-Korean] Akuma no Ororon volume 4 end (fixed)| Download | Mirror
[Raw-Korean] Mayonaka no Teikoku (Sequel) | Download | Mirror

Saver

Description:
From NOIR:
Lena Ha is a beautiful and tough girl who is the captain of the kendo team. She meets Hye-Min Kang, the son of the president of a big company in Korea, and the two seem to feel love at first sight. But when Lena learns that she and Hye-Min are half-siblings, she runs away and falls into a strange body of water. When Lena wakes up, she finds herself in a strange kingdom...and learns that she may be its only hope. Now Lena, disguised as Ley, is ready for many adventures.

Title: Saver
Associated Names:
天女流星
세이버
Vị Cứu Tinh
Author/Artist: LEE Eun Young
Genre: Action | Adventure | Drama | Fantasy | Gender Bender | Historical | Romance | Shoujo | Tragedy
Status: 17 Volumes (Complete)
Year: 2002

[Raw-Korean] Saver volume 17 end | Download | Mirror 1 | Mirror 2

Best Ambient Music Of All Time ( Top 25 )



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Best ambient music of all time lists are quite popular on the internet. While waiting for some mixes to render I came across this list by "Darktremor" over at "listology". Here he lists his "Top Ambient Music Of All Time." I found it closely resembles my own section of best ambient music in the minimal ambient sounds sense. So, I thought I'd share with readers here and see what you think. Read on for some tasty ambient music recommendations and great ambient music artists from Mr Darktremor but bear in mind this list was created in 2005 !


1. Biosphere - Substrata (album) [1998]

Biosphere Substrata AmbientI almost unarguably call this the best ambient album of all time. It sounds at turns like floating through space, sitting on an iceberg traveling down a frozen river, wandering across an alien beach at night, walking around a tiny fog-enshrouded rocky lighthouse island, and traveling through the arctic on a dogsled.

It is truly a work of art that can be listened to (or rather, slept to) again and again: it almost never grows tiring, because it takes you to so many places. It manages to be dark without falling victim to Halloween cheesiness (Lustmord): its menace is hinted at, not told. There is no evil in Substrata: the worst you'll find is a beautiful emptiness. A true masterpiece and crowns the list of best ambient music.


2. The Orb - A Huge Evergrowing Pulsating Brain that Rule From the Centre of the Ultraworld [1990]

The Orb BrainI've always felt like this sounded like a world created within a song. It doesn't "microvary" as much as traditional ambient - it creates little scenes within itself through faster shifts and bizarre samples. Really interesting, but like I said, don't get any version but the complete one, at 18 minutes. The shorter one is basically a bad ambient remix of an old 80's song (which was one small part of the full version, but in the full context, it's actually excellent). One of the best ambient music trips ever.




3. Tim Hecker - Radio Amor (album) [2002]

This is a pretty experimental work, but still fantastic. Its sound is difficult to describe, but it always conjures for me the image of a deserted island on an alien world, with a small sentient transmitting device trapped in the centre, calling out it's lonely song to any who will listen, wanting nothing more than an end to it's solitude. Yet, on your discovery of the box, you are taken away, hypnotically entranced into the device's mind.

tim heckler radioYou find yourself flying above the earth's atmosphere on a sound wave, through space, underwater, to unimaginable, beautiful, and warm tropical places, before finally finding yourself away from the island, sailing home on a ghost ship, called by the transmitter. At least, that's what it conjures up for me. But still, even if you don't listen to music like that (then why are you listening to ambient? Or electronic music, for that matter?), it's a beautiful album and deserves to be on every best ambient music list.



4. Aglaia - Three Organic Experiences (album) [2003]

You're going to have trouble tracking this one down. You'll need Soulseek, and even then it'll be difficult. But it's worth it. I might post one of the 3 tracks (think: Three Organic Experiences: Three tracks. AHA!).

Aglalia Organic ExperiencesReminds me of...I'm not going to go into explicit detail like I did with the previous one, but it's a very mystical atmosphere.
I think the best comparison, is all the beauty of the game "Myst", without the psychotically hard puzzles (which I actually didn't think were that bad, but all my friends complained, and I heard it gets insane by the time you play "Riven"). Exploring a lost ancient civilization and it's wondrous remains, yet...a mysterious emptiness.

Oddly though, this world changes with each listen. At first it was this Myst-like abandoned ancient civilization, now it looks like the Earth before humanity turned it into it's own personal toxic waste plant...with a touch of the ethereal and mystical. As for the sound itself, it's stuffed with real instruments: flutes, strings, unheard of wind instruments, synthesized but organic drones, ethereal choruses singing in forgotten tongues; all played underwater. At least, that's the first track.

The second features them played in the trees of a (yet unnamed) China over a bamboo-bride crossed waterfall: where those monkeys live in eccentric little treehouses, all connected by rickety, yet mostly indestructible bridges. The third features them played on a melting glacier.


5. Monolake - Hongkong

This is an excellent album: perfectly representative of the deep/ambient techno sound. I begin my journey in this musical world inside a huge biodome containing the last animal life remaining on the planet - no humans reside here, so it is overgrown with jungle to all corners.

Monolake Hong KongOnly the occasional gardening machine makes its way past to keep the ecosystem in check. On finding my way out (hiding with a group of robots who make their way into an airlock), I wander into a barren field populated only by strange technology, robots, and the remains of human manufacturing plants. As I wander through this world, I find myself on a gray shore, looking out to an island across a small passage.


On it is a robotic factory of some sort, automated past any need for humanity. Crickets chirp around me, but on closer inspection, I find they are tiny robots, subsisting in an ecosystem made up of only of technology. As I continue my wander through this deserted world, I find a radio tower still standing, starkly silhouetted against a barren backdrop.

On entering, I discover it still transmits - the room is filled with screens broadcasting all kinds of historical recordings. I find a door to a basement of some sort, which appears to be an abandoned subway station. This is confirmed when I hear the sound of an approaching train. I board when it arrives. As it travels through the darkness and out of the tunnel onto a bridge high above the barren world, I realize I'm not really alone here. I'm being taken back to humanity.


6. Tetsu Inoue - Ambiant Otaku

This is a beautiful album. To me, it sounds like walking through the clouds during a thunderstorm. I feel completely safe there, as I'm carrying a massive Chinese umbrella that protects me from the lightning as I hop from thunderhead to thunderhead. I'm surrounded by a faint red glow. Electrical rays shoot into the star, nebula, and galaxy-filled night sky above. Classic in the genre and is often found on best ambient music lists such as this one.


7. Future Sound of London - Lifeforms (album)

Truly beautiful, incredibly organic. It's really evocative, and all of the images it brings are very alive, very primordial. There isn't a machine to be found anywhere in the world of Lifeforms: nothing but life, evolving rapidly from humble cellular beginnings. It's an alien world, passing through the stages of it's evolution stylized and sped up for our viewing.

Entirely different organisms from those on earth develop, now no longer for our viewing, but simply because time is perceived at a different rate in this universe: our laws of physics don't apply. Then, when the end of this process comes, the lifeforms you see standing before you...are yourself. Thousands of versions of you, crowding around you. Your presence created these beings.

But...they aren't you. But they don't want you alive: they attack and destroy you, believing death to be the greatest gift any being can be given. Maybe it is (we don't know).


8. Global Communication - 76:14

If you look at any best ambient music list one CD that is always to be found is 76:14 by Global Communication. Check it out , its fabulous.

9. Mille Platueau - Clicks & Cuts 2 (collection) [2001]

This isn't ambient per se either - it's IDM/glitch/REALLY microhouse/minimal techno. However, coincidentally, combining those genres together winds up creating the exact sound of ambient, and therefore deserves a place on the list. This is also a collection of tracks (unavailable elsewhere), not an album, with pretty much the entire Mille Plateau glitch backcatalogue from that period. For those who know Mille Plateau, that's a good thing. A VERY good thing.

Same label that put out Tim Hecker, in fact (as well as classics by Oval that would probably make the list if I managed to get a hold of them anywhere, and I can't - not even Soulseek has hints of their existence, despite their fame as being all time classics). Anyway, this collection is full of glitchy textures, and scratchy, nostalgic sounds, along with tiny, pretty melodies, all ever-changing as only ambient can be.

Each track has it's own (very fascinating) imagery, but they all work together to paint a sparse, tiny, and futuristic, yet beautiful world. It can be best compared to a science-fiction short stories collection, all wrapped around a single (brilliant) theme. Being trapped inside tiny machines, Nanobots travelling through the bloodstream of an alien creature, a human mind stored in a tiny clock, an insect-like nanodevice in a life-destroying rain, unable to contact it's creators in a now-annihilated world...well, that's my take on it, anyway. Point being: it's worth getting. (It has 60 tracks too! Although CD 1 and the first few tracks of the 2nd are the real gems here).


10. The Orb - Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld

The album containing "Huge Evergrowing pulsating..."
Lush ambient soundscapes, an ether of music, out of which surreal noise and samples float, bubble and intertwine. Absurdly humorous: nothing here makes real sense, but somehow you are relaxed in the nonsense anyway. Perhaps it's better described as the "Monty Python" of ambient music. Evokes all sorts of images, some blatantly obvious (Little Fluffy Clouds...da da...), others more introverted...personal.

Fast, yet slow at all at once: one moment you float through space, the next in a tropical rain-forest but never once are you jarred: Ultraworld lulls you through the universe at a relaxing yet breakneck pace. The final track is a separate but complimentary entity that can't be fairly compared to the rest: it's the crown jewel of a true classic - it stands head and shoulders above what is already a masterpiece. As as psychedelic chillout goes this is one of the best ambient music journeys you can partake of. Prepare for liftoff.


11. Helios - Eingya (album) [2006]

A musical definition of the experience of relaxation, through sweeping, orchestral soundscapes. Eingya cradles you in its warmth and sublime beauty, without succumbing to new age yoga mat pandering. I've always believed that the best ambient contains a hint of darkness, but this sonic journey is challenging that perception.


12. Echospace - The Coldest Season (album) [2007]

Traversing the ocean floor in an impenetrable submarine.


13. Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92 (album) [1993]

Just fantastic, that's all there is to it. I'm not going to go off into another long pseudo-poetic rant about imagery, I'll just tell you that this album has it. In celebration of Easter (which is today), it'll be like a little treasure hunt (only instead of finding chocolate eggs, you have to find ambient imagery).


14. Steve Roach - Dreamtime Return [album]

Steve Roach is one of the most respected and admired of all producers. At it's release, Dreamtime represented the best of Steve's work and is loved by ambient music fans worldwide, appearing on a plethora of best ambient music lists for the year.

15. Boards of Canada - Music has the Right to Children (album) [1998]

It sounds like a memory of distant childhood, but not as we're meant to remember it, the way it really is. When we remember childhood, for most of us, it often feels like remembering another life: like the memories are barely ours. And what we remember is a confusing, and often dark place, not the wonderful, carefree existence we're meant to have had.

Music has the Right to Children captures this feeling of disquieting nostalgia perfectly.


16. Chicane - Offshore (original ambient mix) [1996]

(track - make sure you get the 1996 ambient version with no lyrics and no simplification - AKA don't get the almost unrelated radio edit)

The shortest ambient track I'm posting. At only six minutes, this isn't a journey, so much as a snapshot.

However, it's image is so tranquil, so beautiful, that I still keep coming back to it, after knowing it for so many years. Nothing captures the sound of a Mediterranean Sunset on a deserted island like "Offshore." This was one of ambient musics few radio hits.


17. Sasha & Digweed - Northern Exposure volume 1, CD 1 (DJ mix) [1995]

This is, in fact, an ambient trance mix. However, that's entirely alright, when the mix is this perfect. I'm not going to bother describing it - I've done that too much already. It's just good.


18. Brian Eno - 1-1 (From "Ambient Music for Airports") (track) [1978]

This is a real classic. One of the first tracks ever to fully gain the title "ambient," (only predated by Eno's earlier "Discreet music" compilation), and for good reason. A zen garden of sound, a meditative journey to nowhere at all. The others on the album were a little disappointing, I thought - lonely without being. However, this track still remains one of my all time favorites. It still doesn't sound dated, even though it was created in the 1978. This is by far the oldest album on the list.


19. Klaus Schulze - Irrlicht


20. Biosphere - Shenzou [2002]

Another from Biosphere? Well, it's no coincidence that Biosphere is considered by many (including me) to be one of the greatest ambient artists (not technical wizard - Brian Eno wins that one) of all time. This has more of a primordial feel to it, like earth before life came into existence, or maybe as life began to form.

Biosphere's home probably has something to do with his talent - northernmost Scandinavia is a very peaceful location, atmosphere wise. Rather than trying to escape their ever-accelerating world, like most other ambient artists, Biosphere bottles the tranquility around him into a musical form, as a sort of gift to those forced to live in our maddeningly paced society. Point being: It's awesome.


21. Autechre - Amber [1994] (album)

I'll add a description later, but for now, we'll just say it's good. Very futuristic ambient. Almost IDM, but not quite.


22. Mute - The Sea Horse Limbo [2006] (album)


23. Steve Roach & Kevin Braheny & Michael Stearns - Desert Solitaire [1989]

The title explains it all. It sounds like a desert. I could go on and on about imagery, etc., but just discover it yourself. It's good and is has a deserved position here in the best ambient music list


24.Vir Unis & Saul Stokes - Thermal Transfer (album) [2002]

Another primordial journey...only this time, it's through the vast, deadly jungles of a last hidden pocket of the dinosaur age. I would go on with all the images and stories (including the footprint-shaped volcano as the centrepiece of this surreal world, slowly erupting in the end, wiping out all traces of a once beautiful land), but there are quite a few, and I've skipped a large number on all of them anyway.

Moving on, Thermal Transfer employs the Vir Unis trademark: what he calls the "fractal beat" - a truly tribal sound, more so than any other tribal beat - it's very "unsynthetic," highly organic. This is likely the primary influence on the mental world described above, it's a truly fantastic sound...


25. Nathan Fake - Peary Land (track) [2004]

What a great little tune: it's so beautiful. And oddly enough, it evokes images exactly like it's title suggests. The track conjures a view of an endless gray landscape completely covered in oddly-shaped (gray) pears as far as the eye can see: a canopy over the unseen ground (which all signs suggests is a giant gray pear).

The sky is gray, at least in the beginning, but as the track progresses, the sky opens up into a beautiful blue vista, and color comes into the gray world, envelops everything, and you drift peacefully in a sea of colors and oddly-shaped pears. It sounds nothing like any of Nathan Fake's other work: this is pure ambient here, and it's great. It's also entirely ignored. Except by you. Who will now download it. So ha!


Well lets make it one more for good measure ... a top 26 !!

26. Gas - Pop [1999]

It's hard to describe, but there is one thing I can say with absolute certainly: this is not pop music. Not that that needed to be said...

Anyways, it's a tranquil piece (it's an ambient piece...), evoking images of floating high above lush landscapes (or soundscapes, perhaps), wandering through places of ancient ruin before they were ancient ruin, wandering among darkly majestic rolling hills. There's an overwhelming feeling of peace, and perhaps mysticism; with something sinister lurking just below the surface...

So there we have it, a great little best ambient music list. Follow up these artists , all are sure to please. If you like minimal ambient music check out the ambient music download mixes at the archive page for a couple of free ambient music downloads.

> You might also like this ambient mix


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