Looking for some calm/relaxing albums

Been giving Devin's Ghost a few spins recently. Really refreshing and exactly the type of music I need in my life right now (especially after my recent metal bender.....it just gets draining after a while :P).
 
I'm keen to find more relaxing/calm (maybe even ambient?) albums. Any suggestions?
 
To clarify, i'm not really looking for stuff like Opeth's Damnation. I love that album, but I kinda need the calm without the melancholy at the moment.

Have you listened to (Kevin Moore's) Chroma Key's Graveyard Mountain Home? Damn, I love that album. It's very calm, ambient and pleasant. 

If you are into Classic Rock, give Wishbone Ash a listen: Blowin' Free, Throw Down The Sword, Persephone - all great songs. Just try the Argus album.
Plus the double guitar parts are simply amazing!

Sigur Rós "Ágætis byrjun" is my top choice.
Also Brian Eno's "Ambient 1", Eno/Budd "Ambient 2" and "The Pearl", Fripp/Eno "Evening Star".
Oh, and http://www.echoes.org/Beyond-Ambient25.html - this list is very much whan you need.

Anathema's album from last year, "Falling Deeper", is really worth checking out.
The new one from Steve Hogarth and Richard Barbieri ("Not The Weapon But The Hand") is also fantastic.
Moby's 2009 album "Wait For Me" is pretty mellow and nice. A little depressing but quite beautiful.

I just have to comment that the combination of your username and the thread title made me laugh.

I just have to comment that the combination of your username and the thread title made me laugh.

 
I guess I'd have to start a thread "Looking for some loud albums" 

The virgin suicides OST by Air has some very calming moments.
the 'selected ambient works' compilations by aphex twin are amazing too
I second Crystal Silence. Sigur Ros' Ágætis byrjun is amazing

Don't know if it's exactly what you want, but I love the album Scenes from Marty Friedman & Kitaro.

Any Explosions In The Sky album will do you wonders...  I personally recommend The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place.

pmiguel


Don't know if it's exactly what you want, but I love the album Scenes from Marty Friedman & Kitaro.

+1 - that is a beautiful, relaxing album.  

+1 Firewings with any Explosions in the Sky, especially the album he recommended. And +1 to the Sigur Ros suggestions.
 
I'd also definitely recommend Bon Iver's first album For Emma, Forever Ago, which has a very chilled out stripped down acoustic vibe. Maybe a little melancholy at times but mostly just really vibey. Devin mentioned loving this album, if that helps at all :P.
 
Brian Eno's work is about as ambient and calm as can get sometimes. I'd recommend The Pearl for some nice calm ambient piano music.
 
 

Sigur Ros "()" is fantastic
Iron and Wine's "The Shepherd's Dog" is really nice and relaxing, along with the earlier acoustic albums
 

Kitaro!! Cirque Ingenieux is b-e-a-utiful.

Camel - Music from the Snow Goose
 
David Gilmour - On An Island

Never liked this particular Camel album (in comparison with the previous three)... But it is relaxing, I'll give him that.

Faunts - Feel.Love.Thinking.Of

I second the Gilmour recommendation, and raise you his first solo album as well.  I find the second Seal album to be relaxing, as well as (don't laugh!!) almost anything by Vince Guaraldi.  Tony Banks' Seven, Sting's Ten Summoner's Tales, Steely Dan's Aja, Plan't The Principle of Moments...  but I don't know if this is where you were heading. 

George Winston - Autumn.
 
You and calm will become one.

Gilmour's On an Island is great, and I really like his Live in Gdansk, too.  Pink Floyd is generally mellow, but his band's renditions on the live album are really stretched out, and really nice - esp. "Shine on You Crazy Diamond."
 
I'll also second the Kitaro recommendations, and add Dream, the one featuring Jon Anderson.

Sky Moves Sideways-
Signify-
Metanoia- by Porcupine Tree
 
Islands-
Discipline(that Sheltering Sky is amazing)- By King Crimson
 
Ummagumma- by Pink Floyd
 
That's all I can think of right now. I'll update if I'm not too lazy later.
 
 

Bails


Gilmour's On an Island is great, and I really like his Live in Gdansk, too.  Pink Floyd is generally mellow, but his band's renditions on the live album are really stretched out, and really nice - esp. "Shine on You Crazy Diamond."

I'll also second the Kitaro recommendations, and add Dream, the one featuring Jon Anderson.

Speaking of Gilmour, I find the CD "Metallic Spheres" from The Orb that he contributed some guitar work to to be a very relaxing album as well...

Bersarin Quartett - II

Check out Eluvium.  His (it's just one person) music is heavily based on ambient (with some classical), but he has increasingly added structure to his songs and, on the last album, vocals.  Really excellent stuff; my personal favorite is Copia.  Check out the songs New Animals From The Air (less structure), Prelude For Time Feelers (more structure), and The Motion Makes Me Last (vocals) to get a feel for his work.
 
EDIT: There's an official video for The Motion Makes Me Last here.

I've been getting back into my jam band mode lately...
check out gov't mule "Live with a little help from our friends"
Great live album...lots of long and chilled jams on there...
 
Im actually listening to afro-blue right now, which is a 30 minute jam with some nice sax on it...

Hooray for Icelandic bands!
 
Múm - Finally We Are No One (+ all of their albums)
Amiina - Kurr
 
And...
Pat Metheny Group - Imaginary Day
Paatos - Timeloss

I should also add that on a quiet evening, with a glass of red wine and a log-fire nearby, Kate Bush's new album '50 Words For Snow' is about as relaxed as a person can get without starting to actually decompose. 

rain for a day - elemental
http://www.rainforaday.de/home.html

Anything by Patrick O'Hearn (former Zappa bassist). His solo albums are great!

Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
The Dear Hunter - Yellow, Blue, Green & White EP's off the Color Spectrum.
The River Empires - Epilogue
Thrice - The Alchemy Index, Water & Earth EP's.
 
Just off the top of my head. Perhaps some of these are already mentioned.

Nick Drake's Pink Moon.

A couple of albums have been named already but honestly... Buy ALL the Sigur Ros!  Their debut, "Von" is easily one of my favorite albums, and one of the most relaxing.
 
Also, Opeth's "Damnation" is relaxing, but in kind of a brooding way.
 
My favorite album to sleep to is actually Porcupine Tree's compilation "Stars Die" on really low volume, but I dunno, I feel like it might just be me specifically who finds it relaxing. 

Daan


Nick Drake's Pink Moon.

Agreed. Very beautiful and relaxing singer-songwriter stuff. This album was also most definitely an inspiration for Graveyard Mountain Home, which I suggested.

Not sure if this would be good but Avalon from Sully Erna from Godsmack.

Sade - Lover's Rock

David Sylvian - Secrets of the Beehive

I find Marillion's Happiness Is the Road - Essence to be very relaxing and emotional.
 
Also, Camel's Harbour of Tears and Dust and Dreams are very calming.  Andy Latimer might be the most under-rated musician in prog.

If you're looking for something purely for relaxation without any stimulating effects whatsoever, this cd is a gem:
 
 


 

Frunobulax


Also, Opeth's "Damnation" is relaxing, but in kind of a brooding way.

 
I'll second this recommendation.  If you want some good r&r, it should really hit the spot.