Indie New Age Music

This is some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard. I love to play it as background music when I am practicing yoga, or working on the computer. I feel that it has very positive energy, and if you choose to turn up the volume and just listen, it will fully engage you.

It can be difficult to find music that can be played over and over as soft or loud as you like, but this cd is exceptional. I am anxious to try more of B Tribe's music. I forgot to mention that I discovered this cd while at a yoga studio where the instructor was playing it, but it is much more than just music for yoga. It is actually in a category of its own. Anyone who is looking for music that is unusual yet absolutely wonderful to listen to, will love Spiritual, Spiritual.

Perfect - Just as expected. All that was necessary was to clean up the CD jewel case of all the sticky labels that were adhering to it. An application of solvent (WD-40) and elbow grease did the job!

Since opening the CD about eight hours ago, I have been playing it nonstop, bumping up the volume about every hour or so. So what if I can't concentrate on my work and keep getting distracted by the Spanish guitar, easy rhythms and haunting vocals? This is perfect background music, if you can resist the temptation to put the music forward. Except for the ones I absolutely love, I like every single track on this disc. Purchase and B-happy.

This is mood altering music in the best way. Touches of Classical, Flamenco, Jazz, Renaissance, Pink Floyd and Moby. One of the most beautiful CDs I own. Truly inspired, deeply moving musical journeys. They were in a great place when they made this, and it shows. My favorite of the B-Tribe albums, Spiritual Spiritual lives up to it's name. Superbly recorded. Highest rating and recommendation.

I play this in my massage practice. This CD is amazing and transports you where your mind takes you. People LOVE this CD and I get many requests for where to buy it, what the name of it is, etc. This is definitely a favorite and is highly recommended.

This really sounds like thunderstorms. I bought it to de-sensatize my dog to the sounds. It hasn't worked yet, but I'm still trying.

This is more a CD for a Sound Library - if you look for sound effects this might be a good choice but it's not a CD you want to listen to. The pieces are short and don't flow with eachother very well...
I would recommend other "Thunderstorm" CDs that are more for audio listening pleasure. For example: Sounds of Nature - Thunderstorm (Thunderstorm & Rain)

Bought this CD to help desensitize our older Labrador, who has suddenly decided that he hates thunder! Play this VERY low several times a day, and it seems to be helping him get over some of his fear.

After much consternation over the plethora of recordings available of thunderstorms, I chose this one because of the name. I had read that the Atmosphere Collection was the successor in quality to the marvelous Environments recordings of the 1980's which are unfortunately not available on the CD format. This CD begins auspiciously enough with some rain and nice rumbling in the background. Later, I realized I no longer heard the rain but the thunder only. There is no music and there are no sounds of animals that I was aware of. For some time, I was undecided whether I liked animal sounds on these recordings or not. But this Cd has decided me in favor of animal sounds. They lend a sense of place which aids you in really escaping your current surroundings and finding yourself transported to the environment you are listening to. Most of the tracks on this CD are without even rain. The last few tracks are silence interspersed with thunder claps. This concatenation of thunder claps, because of their regularity and because of the lack of surrounding sounds, makes it seem artificial as if the producers had just re-recorded the claps over and over. It lacks the wonderful randomness of nature. Also, because of the peaks and valleys of sound, if you play it at a high volume, the thunder claps will startle you but if you lower the volume, you won't be able to hear the rain in the first few tracks. I tried to listen to it as I was going to sleep, but my slumber was continually interrupted by these wretched claps - they really are loud. So! If you want a cozy storm to relax, read or doze by, this is not the CD for you. However, if you simply love the sound of thunder claps - by all means, get this. Caveat emptor.

Este cd es muy bueno para aquellos que disfrutan una noche de lluvias y truenos, es muy bueno para relajarse, para desestrezar y olvidar todo problemas lo recomiendo !!!

Finally, after all these years I have Aerial Boundaries again! What an amazing work of art. I first discover Michael shortly after the release of this album. I had a cassette copy that I lost right after I got married 15 yrs ago and never got around looking it up again until MP3s. Last night was that first time I found out that he had passed away. What a terrible thing to find out years after the fact.

Hedges, forget the new age connotation that sadly might come with him, Hedges was a watershed moment player for guitar, period. I've played guitar for over 30 years, and dig most any good guitar player from Django Reinhard to Hendrix. Hedges is right up there. If you don't get that, well...you don't get it. Period. Nuff said.

Michael Hedges was truly an amazing guitar player. His approach and skill easily places him among the best there has been.

"Aerial Boundries" is one of his defining moments, from the instant his guitar starts with the title track his songs and skill take you to another place.

It does seem that some of the sound is a bit compressed because I recall hearing dynamics before on some of these songs (though granted I used to listen to this a friend's system, which was a pretty good one compared to what I have now), but there is still alot to listen to hear. If you have heard of Hedges before you may notice, if not, even if somethings are missing, it will not detract from your enjoyment of the record.

I discovered Michael Hedges 'accidentally' by a reference made about him from Gregg Braden. Although I don't play guitar myself, both my sons and two of my grandchildren do and I appreciate a good guitarist. I pulled up some videos of Michael Hedges on YouTube and was transported by the unusual sounds he was able to finesse from an ordinary instrument. I was saddened to learn that he is no longer with us. If you want to have a listening experience like no other you will want to do the same as I and purchase the CD's of Michael Hedges.

Michael Hedges was a truly extraordinary player. He also personified New Age-y-ness in a good, real, and human way. If you put aside the stereotype, he was really working to live a good life in the way that he wanted to. I saw him play several times in Nashville and then in California, in the early 1990s. When he came to Stanford and played with Michael Manring, it was one of the best concerts of my life. He was in a great mood, energized, and absolutely blew the crowd away. Then there were quieter moments; for example he recited the Jabberwocky whilst walking, hunched down, with his elbows wrapped behind his knees and his hands also on the floor (playing a borogove?--see the cover of Road to Return). His covers, like Drive Me Crazy by Fine Young Cannibals, or Lucky Star by Madonna started out like a bit of tongue in cheek, but they became rocking, gleeful, pyrotechnic liberation.

Aerial Boundaries is wonderful. Other albums are definitely worthwhile, or if you want to get a couple of mp3's where he's doing great guitar, try Silent Anticipations (off of Breakfast in the Field or Live on the Double Planet) or The Rootwitch (off Taproot), or Jitterboogie (off Oracle, and not avail. as mp3 on Amazon I think).

I was really bummed when Michael Hedges died in a car wreck, tumbling alone off of California's coastal Highway 1. I think I had this album on CD along time ago, or cassette, but it's lost. I'm finally coming back to buy it again today.

Jim Brickman does it again with this CD. He is especially good at soulful melodies and pieces. I love this CD . I couldn't wait to listen to the next song. I hope that you will enjoy this CD as much as I have!!

It's an awesome cd. Saw him in concert here in Houston Feb. 13 '07
His magical fingers played blissfully on the piano. This cd is as always, beautiful romantic music. You won't be dissapointed!

SJE

I love this CD! Relaxed and beautiful, his playing can take you to dream land. The background music doesn't take away from his beautiful piano playing, it enhances it. I love listening to this CD when I want to unwind. It is so beautiful that when I heard it on the radio, I just had to buy the CD.

This is the best Jim Brickman's work I think. Vocals are at a minimum. Just his playing which is all I want. Highly recommended.

This CD has the depth to keep you refreshed and feeling romantic each time you listen to it. Following the quick-capturing first track, "Angel Eyes," Jim Brickman goes on making each track a beautiful melody to surround you with comfortable and intimate feelings.

My own favorite pieces in this CD include "Looking Back" which is in a calm retrospective sentiment, "If you believe" which I found uplifting, and "All I ever wanted" which is very soothing. The sixth track, "Little Star" is actually another version of the children song "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," which Jim Brickman has made it so serenading.

The title track, "By Heart," which Jim Brickman put it the last, is special with the female vocal, Laura Creamer, that is very energetic in delivering emotions.

Beautiful, soothing Native American drum songs. The more I listen, the more I like it!

Did you know that listening to drums boosts your immunity? (Scientifically Proven) I bought this CD wanting to listen to some drums. Here the drums are in the background keeping beat, are drowned out by a multitude of other instruments and sounds, or they are competing with a flute. It sounds like there's even a keyboard and an electric guitar.

You may want to keep in mind that I wanted to hear drums and would have been completely satisfied if there were no other instruments at all.

The tracks feel chaotic and noisey. The best way to desribe it is this: In Beethoven's 5th (da da da DA) there are a multitude of instruments working together to say the same thing, or take you to the same place, throughout the masterpeice. On this CD the instruments are each saying something different. To explain further I'll use an example everyone can understand. In the high school gym the teens are gathering all chattering saying their own thing (not something you'd pay to hear). When the football team enters they all rise and cheer together which is pleasing and uplifting. One is noise, the other uplifting.

In my opinion instruments have their own unique voice. If different instruments work together to take you to the same place, say the same thing, you have a masterpiece. If they each say something different simultaneously it becomes noise. This is not peaceful. The musicians on this CD got together and each played what they were feeling simultaneously.

Bottom line: the DRUMS are in the background. When you do notice their presence there's a flute competing with them. The music is NOT peaceful. The music is also NOT authentic/traditional. It is very contemporary/new age.

I trusted the 25 great reviews of this CD, but after listening to it I returned it very disappointed.

I love this, I used it everyday during pregnancy to relax and meditate. It takes you on a wonderful meditative spirutal journey if you let it.

Awesome world fusion music, this entire album is amazing. Putting it on creates a sense of instant peace and makes me feel strong and moving forward. Love Love Love *Power Animals ~ It's a real beauty. I am also in love with Drum Medicine.

The Gordon brothers do an amazing job bringing together the sounds of Native America and Mother Earth. This album will nourish the soul. I love to put this album in my CD player after a long day at work and drift away. Highly recommended.

Over a background of sonic loops by Eno and gently pulsating percussives, the wailing, harmonized flugelhorn of Jon Hassel brings to mind some kind of animal transforming into a human. The effect produced by this semi-ambient collection of instrumentals may seem strange and alien to western ears at first, but upon repeated listenings becomes sensually soothing, and works both in a capacity of background or meditation music to get lost in. Hassel's unique style emphasizes both the importance of notes and breath sounds, and truly gives his instrument a life of its own.

Fourth World Vol 1 (where are the others???) treads a line between jazz, ambent and eastern devotional music, finding its own niche in the course of listening. Of special note is the final track, "Charm (over Burundi Cloud)", clocking in at 21:29 and could have been longer if not for the limitations of vinyl production at the time of the original's release. One wonders if the original sessions of Possible Musics could be made available ...... my only criticism of this package being that it seems like more of a sampler, a teasing taste, of all that it could be.

* solo *

The best of the Jon Hassell I've heard, and among the best Eno as well - this disc hasn't dated one bit; if anything it was way, way ahead of it's time.

Sparse (as is typical) ambient instrumentation, which in earlier incarnations of ambient music was less techno-oriented, and more drawn from world, jazz and experimental/classical sources; here the prophet synth, Hassell's flugelhorn, Eno's loops and textures and the layered rhythms (somewhat processed and submerged into the mix) are the attractions.

About the only comparison I could make, aside from their own work, would be certain bits of early 1970s Miles Davis, where some similar electronic processing of trumpets (over multi-layered percussion) was happening.

In any case, this is a very unique and extraordinary disc.

-David Alston

I bought this as an LP just on a lark back in the middle '80s, I knew nothing about the musicians at the time -- but one listen to that LP blew me away, I had never heard anything like that before, it was truly the first of its kind in terms of ambient sound and musical sophistication and imagination. Hassell and Eno became two big discoveries for me thanks to this "Possible Musics" album (I was drawn by the title, that's what made me pick it up).

It's unusual and it won't appeal to everyone (check descriptions below). I just want to add that if you appreciate the sounds on this album, you will also enjoy "Aka/Darbari/Java" and "Power Spot" - similar mood and instrumentation.

This is one of the more enjoyable Eno collaborations from the late sventies / early eighties period, and I think the reason is that the focus isn't on Eno, it's on Hassel. A lot of Eno's coauthored albums sound like Eno with guest musicians, but this one is different. Hassel is a great trance composer; he would have been a good DJ nowadays.

This record features a bizarre (yet pleasant) combination of styles: there are of course the indian influences, but there are also traces of Terry Rily (in the looped keyboards) and Brian's contemporary work with David Byrne. The instrumentation is sparse: Two Congas, Trumpet, Prophet V synthesizer, and Bass Guitar, but these colors are blended superbly to form some great sound paintings. I wish there were more records that use the Prophet V like this one does.

And the drumming - I have never heard such exquisite Conga work anywhere.

One warning: Hassel's style might grate on some people's ears, as it does with mine, but it can be handled in small doses. But the 22-minute-long song at the end of the record can get annoying in some places. If you have heard Hassel before and like it, you'll like this record, but if you're not sure, well, you were forewarned.

Liquid Mind VI: Spirit is like going on a mind-cruise, sliding along, with no effort, relaxing, dream-like state. Perfect for massaging, or meditating, or biofeedback, bringing oneself to a state of near nirvana. See in your mind's eye what your brain feels like in alpha state.

Liquid Mind VI has a wonderful flow to the music for meditation, reading, prayer, and work. The harmonies melt into each other as the music progresses with strong bass line patterns and good resolutions to the harmonic suspensions. There is also the musical tensions and releases that keep your attention and support a variety of emotive feelings. I use this CD in the spiritual formation chapel where I work as well as in my office. I am looking forward to investing in the other Liquid Mind CDs.

Being a mystical student, I found Liquid Mind to be one of the best musical pieces I have ever experienced for use in meditation sessions or for putting one to sleep without having to resort to medication of some sort. It has a very engaging, soaring and spiritual quality about it. Good as background music while reading or writing too. Have not ever heard such exquisite blending of sounds before.

If you're looking for music with melody, drumbeats and singing this is not the record for you. If you're looking for a healing, relaxing and spiritual sound with the same vibe as your own body and heart buy Liquid Mind's Spirit. This is a record that fills your entire body with relaxation and harmony. Turned up on a high or sometimes low volume it works as a stress healer and turns your body into a peaceful and harmonic state that makes it easier to meet your everyday life with a new and refreshing energy.

I think a lot of people over exaggerated when they said how absolutely wonderful this CD--mind you, it's NOT BAD, in fact it's pretty good, but I heard some very rare CDs much better than this. I would say it's good massage music, but it doesn't put me in a trance state. The BEST one that has done that to me is MAYA by Paul Avgerinos. And another music album which is out of print "New Beginnings". In fact I only seen that one on tape. It's so old I was afraid of losing it so I digitalized it so I it will be preserved and it's on CD. I still have THAT tape, but I'm afraid to play it for fear of ruining it. So I ONLY play my CD backup--now THAT music has put me in some very very deep trances. TOO BAD THAT ONE IS OUT OF PRINT-you have no idea what you are missing.

Sorry Liquid Mind VI is not very good trance music. It's good massage music-but not that deep trance stuff. If you want to go deep, get MAYA. I've had even astral projections from that. Most profound ones. NEVER with this Liquid Mind CD though.

Typical G. Winston. Great background music for reading and relaxing. Though, I like Autumn and Spring better.

I am very suprised at some of the criticisms here of this CD.....but I can certainly understand that some people somehow just don't "dig" this type of new age piano playing.

In any case, this is absolutely one of Winston's best recordings, with all his classic trademark characteristics such as the wonderfully executed blurred progressions via continuous pedal. The entire CD evokes a strongly reminiscent mood. The first two tracks in particular are certainly the most New Age/minimalist of them all, but they are still wonderfully effective, if not experimental. The three arrangements of music from Howard Blake's "The Snowman" are particularly intimate and effective.

Forest, by brilliant solo pianist George Winston, is another sold entry in a brilliant musical catalogue. Though I intially found the first song rather off-putting, this CD has become more and more enjoyable with subsequent listenings. Taken as a whole, the CD is a solid 4 star experience.

I have all of George Winston's solo albums (right up to the recent Montana disc) and of them all, this is probably my favorite, with "Linus and Lucy" the other candidate. The pieces are beautiful and haunting--especially the suite of pieces from the animated short "The Snowman." This disc is worth the price for those few tracks alone. Sometims I just put on "Walking in the Air" and set the CD player to repeat the track three or four times in a row. I don't consider myself a "new-age" music fan; a lot of it just sounds too corny to me--as if it's trying to be more profound than it is. Somehow, George Winston manages to escape the new-age clichés; his style has more than a hint of jazz (surely the result of his Fats Waller and stride influences) and I get something out of his performances that I don't with most other Windham Hill or Narada artists. When I bought this CD nearly ten years ago, I played it frequently for many months. Long after most other discs go to my shelf, in all likelihood never to be heard again, I still pull "Forest" out several times a year--on a snowy night with a mug of hot chocolate, a cool afernoon while studying, or even just doing work around the house. It's a beautiful CD, and my favorite among George Winston's many fine recordings. Highly recommended!

George Winston is one of the most sensitive and feeling pianists in modern piano music, and nowhere is it more evident than in Forest. I have had this CD since its original release in 1994, and 10 years later I still listen to it probably once every 2-3 weeks. His interperetations and his originals transcend any words. The music is magical, and is very, very relaxing.
In short-BUY THIS CD!!!

Love it, love it, love it - the cd. The service was AMAZING. Fast delivery.

I love the music of this CD. It's very soulful and it gives me a lot of peace when I listen to it.

Amazing world fusion music with a Native twist. This and Sacred Earth Drums are my current drumming favorites. I love the blends of instruments from around the world mixed in with Native American rhythms. It creates a whole new kind of music that in my opinion anyone interested in peace around the world should really dig!

I am amazed at the mix of emotion re: this title! It is an amazing work of art! The drumming is amazing and the BLEND of Native American sounds along with African, Incan +++ are beautiful and soulful. I don't think this is supposed to be a purly Native American album. I mean there is mandolin and lots and lots of other non-Native instruments. Personally I think it is a brilliant example of World Fusion music. Check it out for yourself and listen to the first of these two, Sacred Earth Drums while you are at it...

I am a huge fan of the Gordon brother's drumming albums. I love the collaboration of Native flutes and world rhythms. The natural world is another great addition to the entrancing sounds you will hear on this album. A must buy!

this music is relaxing and peaceful.I enjoy just listening or practicing my tai chi while it's playing.

I found this cd playing in a southwestern shop here in the 'burg' several years ago and had to have it. It has become my favorite native american cd, along with my meditation and yoga cd. Experience this cd. It is to be enjoyed and I am sure you will enjoy it. This artist seems to speak to everyone, bringing us closer to the life of the native american, the first american.

This CD may be perfect for a slooow meditation, however I enjoy his other CD's more that have some life to them.

If I could only have 1 cd this would be it. Now if I could have 2 cds this one and Santana Shaman would take care of all my needs. I have felt that way for years. I finally had to get a new one, as it was worn out. IF you use music to create holy time, and love piano, cello or native american flute. This will probably rock your boat. These gentleman have in my opinion connected with that holy energy of life. What a gift. I want to say thank you to them.

I wasn't even on the Amazon.com website tonight, but after listening to this CD for about the 500th time in the last 5 years (sometimes I play it all day long in my massage therapy room) I was moved to get on this site and rate this CD. This, as well as "Through Windows and Walls" are my all time favorite CD's. That says a lot as I have literally 1000's of CD's. Nothing can touch my soul and put me in a serene place like these two CD's. 9 out of 10 clients have asked me the name of these 2 CD's and have gone out and purchased them themselves. It's the musical version of what profound beauty looks like. I can't decide which of the two I like better. Buy both. You won't be sorry. Unless of course you're looking to rock out. Then forget it.