Fennesz - Venice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWAghDS6s4Q&list=PLKtI6DyKnY...
And while we're at it, just a few of my favorites:
Greg Haines - Slumber Tides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmMDkZhl_R4
Nest - Retold: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r69TiaIE4uo&list=PLaAArUShcY...
Murcof - (Ulysses, Martes, Remembranza - all great): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMPaSdC1ncw&list=PLhoTtA1a63...
Iso 68 - Zwei Engel Korrigiert : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NvkPmMHGBI
Edit: And thank you for the Headphone Commute link - it looks like a great source!
ISIS — Celestial (2000) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8XN-3YZL5Y
I've also listened to Isis quite a lot, mostly "Oceanic", which is great. There is a pretty good remix album of "Oceanic" that opens with a remix by Fennesz.
Let me just throw a few more out there:
Antenne (two albums, just called #1 and #2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xel8T2A_pKk
Jóhann Jóhannsson - Englabörn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StuK0Bxoe2g&list=PL0dYx2N3BT...
The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - Here Be Dragons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyORieDhpkg
Kreng - Grimoire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU12fCP5AqY
La Grande Bellezza - Original Sound Track (sans disco tracks): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO8DqDWBzLI&list=PLf8QJjyzKL...
ISIS — Oceanic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2C8Z1Keluk
ISIS — Panopticon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA2AJIiw0p8
ISIS — In The Absence of Truth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atCKkDusJkc
The latter being a more accessible, earthlier sound (with no growling); yet the former two being the greater works.
Additionally, some classic post-rock masterpieces by GY!BE:
Godspeed You! Black Emperor — F# A# ∞ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy4IsC5eb7o
Godspeed You! Black Emperor — Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZwQeZh6rP0
As a track is named, the former is bleak, uncertain, beautiful; both melancholic and uplifting with despairing wails and wavering cries of tears and joy. The second is the more known GY!BE album, which is just as good.
Nowadays, I just listen to whatever strikes my mood (I can tune most stuff out), but the ones I listed above were particularly good for focusing during essay writing.
If anyone is into similar stuff I recommend Meshuggah - Catch Thirty Three -> it keeps me programming for hours at a time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mfMC2DIA1A&list=PLe8GYqVK4w...
Sakamoto Ryuichi / Alvo noto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8miUl08uog
William Basinski - Disintegration Loop series
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYOr8TlnqsY
Ben Frost - by the throat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rjcipcBibc
Keith Fullerton Whitman - Playthroughs
Stars of the Lid makes some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard. It's ambient, made with strings and heavily processed guitar. The songs develop into these breathing like rhythms that just push some sort of button in me.
I can listen to it while working, or just on its own really loud to make the details come out.
Stars Of The Lid and Their Refinement of the Decline https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=et_lDyRymrw
The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaSi7Gut7xM
While we're listing things, and on a quite different note (much more "pop" - perhaps too distracting given the context of this post), I'd add the Fez OST (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYL-5N08JtA)... it's like chiptune Vangelis, and lovely for working and/or on a plane.
(also, Vangelis).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKsLvEkefTc
This album breathes warmth into my soul. So hauntingly beautiful that I think about these soundscapes on a daily basis.
Perhaps under that alias. His minimal acid techno is also unparalleled.
Mike Ink - Playtex (Dadajack): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O30AGIUofRw
Mike Ink & Andreas Dorau - Das Telefon Sagt Acid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPFZ-JxQdtc
(He (Wolfgang Voigt) goes by Mike Ink, Gas, M:I:5, Studio 1, Wassermann, et al.)
[1] http://lightintheattic.net/releases/943-i-am-the-center-priv...
Solar Fields - Sol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNiD9M59FQE
Solar Fields - Discovering https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoYkxKWNzoo
Jerome Isma ae - Underwater Love https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TINBQPpVi0
Bedroom Lullaby - Kisses In the Rain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOZGKjLoo64
Royksopp - Royksopp Forever https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM_txL43iFM
Shpongle - Around the World in a Tea Daze https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHlidfF7nK8
Hol Baumann - Benares (Varanaci Edit) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAKATOLXFOw
H.U.V.A. Network - Something Heavens https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxI7x5G4nJk
Delerium - Tectonic Shift https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JStpiAOLLKQ
Delerium - Terra Firma https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKUxE8UE7S0
Angel Tears - Ishka https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmwiYy1caxA
Tempted by Collide (Conjure One Mix) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8llGPB8sAM
Trafik - Hard to Resist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DmSeClpuAM
Joey Fehrenbach - Behold https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzZckyU9ylw
Rob Dougan - Nothing At All (instrumental) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxofkW5iPpI
Jens Gad - Glass Palace https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF4H0n-dMyg
I usually use http://www.jango.com which allows me to create my own radio station by specifying a few artist names, and it will play tracks similar in taste to those artists. I know there are other sites like that, but I'm not sure if spotify has a similar feature. The thing is I don't like playing a fixed playlist over and over, I prefer things being a bit more random, although following the same taste.
- Harold Budd - Jane 1-11 / Jane 12-21 / Avalon Sutra (I really think Jane 1-11 is the gold standard for ambient music.)
- Porya Hatami - The Garden: https://dronarivm.bandcamp.com/album/the-garden
- Hotel Neon - Hotel Neon: https://hotelneon.bandcamp.com/
- Pausal - Sky Margin: https://ownrecords.bandcamp.com/album/sky-margin
- Jared Smith - Fjall: https://ownrecords.bandcamp.com/album/fjall
- Gigi Masin - Talk To The Sea: https://music-from-memory.bandcamp.com/album/talk-to-the-sea
- Gigi Masin - Wind: https://music-from-memory.bandcamp.com/album/wind-3
- Gaussian Curve - Clouds: https://music-from-memory.bandcamp.com/album/clouds
- Takeshi Nishimoto - Lavandula: http://www.sonicpieces.com/sonicpieces018.html
- Bing & Ruth - Tomorrow Was The Golden Age: https://bingruth.bandcamp.com/album/tomorrow-was-the-golden-...
- Nuojuva - Valot Kaukaa: http://www.preservation.com.au/product/nuojuva-valot-kaukaa
- Imprints - Data Trails: https://sereinlabel.bandcamp.com/album/data-trails
---
In case anyone is interested in this kind of music, there's a very related Spotify Playlist I maintain and very carefully curate: https://open.spotify.com/user/michaelfeihstel/playlist/10IcC...
Gas (Wolfgang Voigt) - Pop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s--IkNqI9og
Brian Eno - Discreet Music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE6nQ0lkLdY
Willits + Sakamoto - Reticent Reminiscence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdJdDwi1RS4&list=RDdskvPFt7w...
Aphex Twin - Stone in Focus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG16BTj5qT4
Bvdub - A Moment's Peace https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exr3IAMaLPM
cv313 - Beyond The Clouds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqrRIDd5pSk
If you enjoy this type of music I thoroughly recommend the Headphone Commute blog. Apologies if a bit off topic.