In a musical rut - your recommendations please
 

...looking for something fresh.

requirements
1. music only, no vocals
2. i need this for work & working out
3. no hardcore/grunge/metal/rap/country/classical/trance/d&b

thanks.

The only song I can think of that meets your criteria is Allman Brothers - Jessica. Everything else falls into one of the genres listed in #3.

Damn, the first thing that came to my mind was trance/DnB...maybe some world music? just drums or ethnic instrumentals?

Ok, I gota say your requests kinda contradict themselves and are very specific, I did my best :D

You can try Joe Satriani. He does rock, losts of guitar, some songs are fast paced such as "Summer Song". He is allot like Steve Vai if you heard of him. Which would be another one.

Jimi Hendrix - well u know him, songs without vocals "Little Wing" is one.

Ok, now u say no techno...hmm well Apollo 440 are DJ's but they use allot of real insturments and guitars. "Lost in Space Theme" was my favorite song to Kick Box too.

Then there is jazz. Benny Goodman - "Sing, Sing, Sing", "Puttin' on the Ritz" and "Tiger Rag".

Blue Man Group - rock music - "Piano Smasher", "Above" and "Exhibit 13".

Chemical Brothers are pretty cool for working out. Yes it's techno but they are allot more natural in the sounds they use and they love bass "Lost In The K-Hole" is my favorite good mood song. "Galaxy Bounce", "Got Glint" and "Replacement Killers" are other cool tracks.

DJ Shadow - yep another DJ this one take allot of blues and jazz samples. Very cool stuff. "What Does Your Soul Look Like" and "Dark Days" are some good songs there - might be too mellow for working out.

There is a guy named DJ Scientist aka Hopeton "Overton" Brown. He was making dubs back in the 70's. Takes Ragge songs and takes out the vocals. Very cool stuff. I like this one allot. Only problem is that it's hard to find both his CDs and the MP3s. "Dub In The Roots Tradition" is one of his good albums another great one is "Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires"

Thats about all I can think that comes close to your specification. Good luck.

so... you want like air or something?

Evelyn Glennie is an AWESOME percussionist, her cd's are definitely not boring. I guess you could also buy a whole bunch of karoake cds that have the vocals removed if you just want the beats :p .

Are jazz (r&b, funk, blues, motown, big band, rock-a-billy, etc.), pop (of the non-rap variety), ska, alternative, and soundtracks okay? I want to make sure to clarify before reccomending a lot of music.
Maybe you should tell us what you do listin to. That way we can have something to go on.

Nortec Collective - Tijuana Sessions
Check out some of the Acid Jazz Collections #50 and #52 are some of my favorites - kinda mellow though.
Bossa Tres Jazz
Snowboy
King Kooba
Bugz (might Bugs)
Francisco Aguabella

These are more along the lines of Jazz, some of them have words (Francisco and King), don't know what you prefer to listen to when working out, but I generally prefer something more upbeat. For work though, the above is great music!!

DnB, ehh, tried it...i don't know, maybe I haven't heard the right stuff. The only dNb song I like is squarepusher: squarepusher theme/feed me weird things. World music would be great, instrumentals great.

what little of dj shadow ive heard ive liked. ill check out more.
i like air's 'talisman' a lot. ambient-like but with some energy.
evelyn glennie: sounds nice, this would be for work and not the gym
hmm, jazz is tricky. thing is, i like jazz a lot but am tired of 'old style', 'classic' jazz, if that makes sense. something jazzy with a 'modern sound' would be great. is ska sleepy-ish?, that would not be good in this case, but if it isn't, sure. who?
upbeat = better. definitely. i will check that list out, ty.

let's see....ska is like rock steady--faster than reggae, but the same basic sound--the later waves of ska revival bands (mustard plug et al) are ska with a punk rhythm section for the most part. chipper stuff, soundwise. which is why it tends to get on my nerves after a while.

i would recommend badawi (kind of dubbed-out music with moroccan percussion)....soldiers of midian--muslimgauze more generally (it needs to be loud to work well, this music)....

anything by fela anikulapo kuti---there are vocals (i like em) but the instrumental sections are often extraordinary and the tempii are up. plus his stuff gives you a range of times to choose from within any given track, so you can focus on different elements as a way of adjusting your speed.

dunno---i stay away from gyms--prefer blasting around on my bicycle, which precludes listening to music (i am in a city)...so i havent got stuff i associate with the space. most of the "jazz" i know of is a bit too complex for soundtrack music--except (just through of this) stuff from the first electric period of miles davis's output: live/evil, live at the fillmore, on the corner, dark magus, maybe panagea....

there's so many different forms of DnB.. it depends on if you like "dirty" DnB or smoothed out DnB. Dirty is like DieselBoy and Dj Dara, Aphrodite (most popular in US) That's the kind I like.. heh

Phil Keaggy has a nice album called Acoustic Sketches featuring...you guessed it, acoustic guitar instrumentals. Try the first track, "Metamorphosis", or PM me if you have trouble finding it.

Sounds like you might dig these guys:

Soulive (great funk/jazz/groove trio from Boston): http://www.soulive.com/mx/


Also might want to give these groups a shot:

Vinyl: http://www.vinylgroove.com/
Bela Fleck and the Flecktones: http://www.flecktones.com/

Should be song samples on all of those sites.

You might also consider older instrumental stuff from back in the day:
The Ventures
Dick Dale
Duane Eddy
Booker T & the MG's

Well from what I am seeing the band that may fit your bill is....
"Kings of Hawaii"

They are an incredible fresh all accustic pshco surf band and also by the way throw a great live show.

I would suggest picking up an album from them.

Try Passion by Perter Gabriel. Excellent mood album with an Arabic flair. It's the soundtrack from Last Temptation of Christ.

Just about anything from the Greatful Dead. Long instramental jams are their mainstay. Do have words though, but they are few and far between.

Medesky Martin and Wood. Kinda strange, but no words.

Tangerine Dream (older stuff). They are somewhat techno, but much more organic than the current Dance type techno that is popular today. Good albums to check out would be Polond, Cyclone, Logos and Stratosphere.

Miles "The Man" Davis! The one and only. His albums Blue Note, Live at Montraux are both kick ass. Can't go wrong with Miles.

DB.

SURF MUSIC! Try Dick Dale, the Route 66 Killers or Los Straitjackets.

I'll second the recommendation for Miles Davis.

Also, check out some of the Cafe Del Mar compilations. Not entirely without vocals, but very tasty trip hop.

Aphex twin is also one of my favourites, and his stuff ranges from harsh, static fast tempo, to some really amazing down-tempo stuff. Check out Selected Ambient Works Volume 1 and 2.

And the prodigal ambient record, Brian Eno's Music for Airports.

I don't know if it's really workout music, but it has a lot of backbone and really holds it's own as far as I'm concerned. It may just be what you're looking for.

I'm a big fan of Kaki King. Instrumental guitar stuff. Not heavy but very stylish. You may also want to check out RjD2. That's pretty cool stuff that might fit your criteria.

RjD2 is fuckin great but he's pretty hip-hop. Try these

Pink Floyd - Terminal Frost
Traffic - Glad (I think thats the one where it's all instrumental but I don't know)
Mos Def - May-December (all instrumental again might be a little too hiphop)

Theres all instrumental bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Do Make Say Think, Explosions In The Sky, etc. But with yer criteria you don't really leave a lot of options open if any.

Asta!!

Ill put in a good word for RJD2 and DJ shadow

Man or Astroman? - its rockin good surf music from future-past and outer space.

Thanks a lot.
Now, to find some mp3's...

Yeah, Satriani would be a good bet, or you could try some Stevie Ray Vaughan instrumental tracks, or some Drum Core International recordings. DCI is an organization consisting of the world's greatest drum and bugle cores (like marching bands w/o any woodwinds). Some of the best cores are the Cavaliers and the Blue Devils. The music that is presented represents a wide range of emotions. I would definately reccomend any of their recordings (and if there's one in your area, the competitions) to any serious music afficiando. Check 'em out @ http://www.dci.org/

False! Most covers of Little Wing are instrumental (SRV's being the most famous), but Jimi's original has vocals:

Well she’s walking through the clouds
With a circus mind that’s running round
Butterflies and zebras
And moonbeams and fairy tales
That’s all she ever thinks about
Riding with the wind.

When I’m sad, she comes to me
With a thousand smiles, she gives to me free
It’s alright she says it’s alright
Take anything you want from me, anything
Anything.

Fly on little wing,
Yeah yeah, yeah, little wing


But I agree with you on Blue Man Group. Their whole first album is fantastic.

try tommy guerrero. ex pro skateboarder doin something different and very cool.

Thanks for the link & name...
Gonna go check it out.

still thinking (avoiding doing work)---


you might like supersilent.
they're on rune gramophone, i think.

boston sound collective---they have a cd out called "good" that i really like.

also aki onda's "cassette memories" esp. vol. 2

Not trance or d&b eh, well, I usually don't like techno or any of its relatives either but give a serious listen to some of Crystal Method's stuff. All three albums are easy to listen to, lack lyrics for the most part, and are pretty much as popular as techno gets. Moby aint bad either. Play and its B-sides are gorgeous albums.

The Mercury Program....awesome instrumental well rounded jazz....love their style

so this thread is pretty old but i've got a few more for you

along the lines of DJ Shadow and RJD2, check out Diplo or Kid Koala. if you can put up with more samples, check out the Verve Remixed vols 1 and 2.
since you like Air, perhaps you would like Bent, Bonobo, Zero 7, or Royksopp
Amon Tobin is my favorite chillout/electronica artist, although his early stuff was kind of dnb-ish. either way, he has an excellent sense of timing in his production.

Tortoise is a cool instrumental group with no singer. the style is kind of jazzy but varies quite a bit. i have the album TNT.

how about a throwback...Laurindo Almeida is a brazilian bandleader from the 60s with some funky sounding stuff.

you said you like Squarepusher, so I'll suggest the Aphex Twin "Windowlicker" album.. along with the title/singles track off of any of Squarepusher's other albums.

It might be a little soft, but to appeal to some newer jazz tastes, I'd also like to suggest FourTet (sometimes one word, sometimes two). He makes beautiful glitchy music with heavy jazz influences. any of the albums are great, but download at least two of them.

If you like these artists, send me a PM or find me on soulseek at pulpmind
happy listening!

Amon Tobin.