Looking For Mellow Music
I've always had a thing for sparse, mellow acoustic and studio music. My collection is running a little dry, so I thought a little inspiration might be in order.
For example, while watching an episode of Bones, I heard a tune that sounded pretty good. It was "Shipwrecked" by an independent named Shane Alexander. He teeters on the edge of being too dramatic, but it's the kind of stuff I'm looking for.
Some other examples:
Anthony & The Johnsons: Hope There's Someone
Ben Harper: The Drugs Don't Work
Carla Bruni
Eric Clapton Acoustic Stuff
Feist - Let It Die
Gillian Welch
Iron & Wine (awesome)
etc.
Keep in mind I didn't say "emo", so let's avoid anything that involves having hair in your eyes and crying about the pain in your soul.
Certis beat me to it. - Elysium
How about "Air"? They're pretty mellow, except for the Virgin Suicides thing.
Not so mellow but still sort of relaxed, BB King's older stuff. For instance "A mother's love" is beautiful and slow.
Uh... Ok I'm done. That's pretty much the only "mellow" stuff I have I think. Getting slow in our old age, aren't we
edit: Ah, I have some stuff here by a band called "Eels", album "Blinking lights", and it's pretty damn mellow, I may sleep. I haven't really listened to the lyrics, not sure if they're emo.
edit 2: Ah! Elliot Smith! He's awesome, but really emo. Leonard Cohen too, but he's also quite dramatic and more "Rock". If you like Jazz, Stan Getz is quite mellow usually.
edit 3: I also have something by "Uman" and it's sort of like Enigma but cooler. I think they made up their own language or something. Definitely check those out.
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Elliott Smith. Needle in the Hay is a good song to start on. You'll recognize it if you've ever seen The Royal Tennenbaums, or however the heck you spell it.
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If you can't find it, IM me. I will hook you up.
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OR! Anything by Low. The Curtain Hits The Cast and Trust are my favorites. Curtain is mellower.
"Even though that place should only be fifteen or twenty minutes away geographically, in actual practice - between the hours of four and seven - Redmond might as well orbit the Earth." - Tycho, Penny Arcade
Kicking it old school: Nick Drake. Time of No Reply is a posthumous collection that should please you.
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Certis, you didn't even list Gordon Lightfoot. For shame. I'm taking your Canadian card.
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Ummm... does Norah Jones count?
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I also dig Iron & Wine, so hopefully our tastes are aligned and this'll be fruitful (names clicky to last.fm for samples):
Richard Buckner: I especially like the albums "Bloomed", which is rather sparse, and "Impasse", which is a little meatier.
Jolie Holland: Sparse, lovely lyrics. "Escondida" has a very 20s feel to it.
Devendra Banhart: I only have the "Cripple Crow" album, but it is VERY laid-back, somewhat quirky, but simply awesome.
The Handsome Family: My absolute favorite. Slightly modernized folk. Later albums have a common theme to all the songs, but since you want sparse, aim for the older stuff. "Through the Trees" is probably the best, with "In the Air" just behind.
Arizona Amp and Alternator: Lyrics don't always have a logical progression, but a great album. Most of Howe Gelb's stuff is rather laid-back.
Cat Power, Jim White, and Massive Attack also come to mind, but I've been droning on long enough...
Have you heard that new Kenny Winker record?
Not much accoustic in my librarium, but I do have these...
At least try these:
Archers of Loaf - "White Trash Heroes" (Favorite song of all time)
Archers of Loaf - "Dead Red Eyes"
Crooked Fingers - "Wrecking Ball"
Crooked Fingers - "Weary Arms"
Buckethead - "Whitewash"
Quality Subrelated Miscellany
Cursive - "Staying Alive" - Demellows halfway though...
Sufjan Stevens - "John Wayne Gacy Jr."
The Rosebuds - "Big Heartbreak"
Murder by Death - "I'm Afraid of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf"
Guided by Voices - "Hold on Hope"
DeVotchka - "How it Ends"
David J. - "The Auteur"
Well, I don't like to toot my own horn, but I'm a pretty good amateur rectal photographer. Would you like to see my portfolio?
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What the... The Buckethead? Mellow? I got to find that...
I was also going to suggest Sufjan stevens but I find him to be really, really boring.
The man wears a bucket of KFC on his head. I wouldn't expect anything less. - Pred
Buckethead's Colma album was generally pretty mellow. I think he put it together for his mother while she was sick.
I concur. But I do like that song.
I'd also like to append: "You Must Build a Fire" - Crooked Fingers, as I just remembered it.
Well, I don't like to toot my own horn, but I'm a pretty good amateur rectal photographer. Would you like to see my portfolio?
Song of the Week: ...on Facebook...
How about something a little different, like Brian Eno's An Ending (Ascent)? No vocals, but it's a beautiful piece of mellow music nonetheless. If you like that, you'd probably enjoy the rest of the Apollo (Atmospheres & Soundtracks) album.
Something else maybe worth checking out would be Röyksopp's Poor Leno (great video at any rate). It's a bit more uptempo, but very smooth--anyone who's played SSX3 should spot it instantly! The album, Melody A.M., is great throughout too.
Oh, and my Never Fail Recommend album - to anyone - is Every Day by The Cinematic Orchestra. They're a British electric jazz group who've worked with some really big names--such as Fontella Bass, on the blissfully good All That You Give.
I only listen to Electronica with any sort of regularity (not because I'm some obnoxious musical facist, but because it's my most favourite of the several genres I like), so apologies is these bear no relevance whatsoever.
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Check out An Evening with John Petrucci & Jordan Rudess. It's fantastic chill-out music from two amazing players. Only guitar and keyboard through the whole thing, but sounds like an entire orchestra.
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How's 'bout:
Sufjan Steven (how can you not like an album who's full title is "Come On Feel the Illinoise?)
Damien Rice
Jose Gonzalez (his cover of "Heartbeats" by The Knife is gorgeous)
Text Adventure (a bit electronic-y and GWJ title appropriate!)
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Bela Fleck & the Flecktones?
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Yeah.. Definately.
You could try the Nick Cave solo album which is all ballads, Boatman's call. Best song on the album.
If you haven't aquired Eric Clapton's soundtrack to Edge of Darkness, oyu should do so, btw. It's pretty aces, although it might veer to far towards desolate and disturbing to be called mellow.
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Neko Case
Rachael Yamagata
Josh Rouse
Bill Deasy
Kathleen Edwards
Cat Power
Patty Griffin
Lucinda Williams
Okkervil River
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Beer For Ben
I would kill a man for Tom Petty's Wildflowers.
Also, do yourself a favor and check out any of the Bonnaroo collections. They make for some interesting new sounds, and really got me hooked on a few different people. It's like the chill appetizer plate.
Hippy capitalist link.
wordsmythe wrote:
Crouton wrote:
I just discovered Great Lake Swimmers. Beautiful, melancholy acoustic music in the vein of Iron & Wine. Canadian, too!
If you're feeling adventurous check out Joanna Newsom
Camera Obscura is a good, mellow pop band.
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I wish I could be more helpful other than to suggest "Manzanilla" by Vibrasphere (that specific track).
Also, if you don't mind trying non-guitar acoustics, check out Wu Man. She's one of the great contemporary masters of Asian acoustic music. Her music is beautiful and relaxing, though much of it is very Eastern.
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Not sure if you are into Jazz but I consider the Miles Davis album "Kind of Blue" to be one of the greatest "mellow music" albums, ever. It's entirely instrumental and acoustic, but the music itself is so rich in tone and style that I think I'll go listen to it right now...
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Witchlight Cycle: Sithis of the Thelis'Thale Clan, Dragonborn Paladin of Moradin
I know these are purely instrumental, but they're a couple of my favorites.
Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone
Alina by Arvo Part
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I have that album and I don't even really like Jazz.
You're right about it, very mellow.
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When I want to mellow out I listen to some Joshua Radin. It's all acoustic, not too dramatic or anything like that, just nice songs. My favourites are: 'Winter.' 'Star Mile.' 'The One You knew.' 'Closer.'
*Shrug*
I love that song so god damned much.
Last.fm
The new Elliott Smith is extremely good, especially taking into account its his second posthumous release.
Jack Johnson - Symbol In My Driveway : It has the tide in it which is probably about as mellow as you can get.
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I can not say enough wonderful things about Andrew Bird. All three of his solo albums are amazing.
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Second on The Handsome Family and Lucinda Williams, love them both.
Also check out Will Oldham, Palace Brothers, Palace Songs, Palace, and Palace Music. All part of the Oldham empire.
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