Rae Davis - "Positive Thinking!"

Rae Davis is one chilled out dude. This album is deeply mellow and organic, moving through an alternative jazz/electronic universe of sounds. Dude is nasty like that. Really relaxing listen, nice jazzy sounds. Check out "This I Dig of You" and "Shook"


"Positive Thinking!"

The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - "The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble"

Haha yeah, I know that image is nuts right? This band is pretty crazy, it's a bunch of German art students making avant-garde jazz music with electronic elements. It's definitely an interesting album, although perhaps not accessible to everyone or right away. It has moments where it sounds like trip hop, but also dark, ambient noise passages, tinged with electronic flourishes. I liked "Adaptation of the Koto Song", "Pearls for Swine", and "Lobby", check it out. Definitely an interesting listen.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2LI2C805
http://www.last.fm/music/The+Kilimanjaro+Darkjazz+Ensemble

Emancipator - soon it will be cold enough

I know it must seem like every artist I'm putting up here is amazing, which they are, but this dude definitely is one of the sickest and most talented producers I've heard in YEARS. Yeah man, this guy makes music that's just too damn good, it's one of my all time favorite albums. I actually paid to download this at his official website, but that's your call. It's got perfectly fitted, processed piano lines mixed with strings, acoustic guitar, warm synths, and hip hop beats, blending them together seamlessly into a dynamic, moving work of art. He's got a new album coming out in January 2010, the first track is up on his site - more goodness. If anything, buy the new album or go see him on tour if you live on the west coast - sadly doesn't seem like dude is doing more then one show out here on the east.

http://www.mediafire.com/?j5tnmmduizn

http://www.emancipatormusic.com/

Dextro - "Winded"

This is another album I find myself frequently playing and then having to tell people what it is. My one friend even played it for one of his students in home room before school and the kid was really diggin' it. Dextro is a dude from Scotland who makes really beautiful, ambient, vaguely trip hop sounds. I read a review of the album somewhere that likened the new album "Winded" to a Van Gogh painting, in that layers are revealed upon deeper appreciation and contemplation of the work. He heavily uses ambient noise textures, reverberated piano loops, and chilled out down tempo beats as well as acoustic guitars and vocal passages that culminate in a work that is profoundly relaxing and uplifting at the same time. The first track "Closer" I am so so on actually, a little too Boards of Canada for me, but the album quickly gets amazing. Sososo good, I can't recommend this one highly enough.

http://www.mediafire.com/?uz3xmjwymzk