Album: Celestial Aeon Project: The Fall of Ragnaros

Fall of Ragnaros cover art

Celestial Aeon Project is one of several musical projects to come from electronic and ambient wunderkind, Matti Paalanen. He's made several nods to the massively multiplayer online game (MMO), World of Warcraft, in a number of his albums, but recently, he produced an entire album about the game's "Cataclysm" expansion storyline, entitled The Fall of Ragnaros. Fall is a thematic soundtrack album, which has been used in a number of excellent World of Warcraft videos including the world first heroic-mode kill of the final boss, Ragnaros, of the expansion (for which at least one of the tracks was created).

Video games aside, Fall is a sweeping, grandiose soundtrack that would fit well into any number of films. As background music it is great for work, though it's a bit too driven for relaxing at home (see Celestial Aeon Project's other albums for that). I highly recommend checking it out if you find yourself enjoying Danny Elfman's Music for a Darkened Theater or the like.

Album: Not Alone in Kyoto by Project Divinity

One of my favorite ambient/electronic bands, Project Divinity, has 6 free albums released on Jamendo of which my favorite is still the early, Divinity. Their recent release of Not Alone In Kyoto in August brings a calming, background-music-for-travel themed selection of three new songs to your collection.

The artist responsible for Project Divinity is also behind two other excellent electronic efforts. Finnish Matti Paalanen is the motive force behind Project Divinity, Celestial Aeon Project (now probably best known for the soundtrack to the world-first "heroic" mode kill video for World of Warcraft boss, Ragnaros) and Frozen Silence which Matti describes as "neo-folk, neo-classical instrumental".

Getting back to Not Alone in Kyoto, the songs average about 4 minutes each and the album only lasts around 12 minutes total, but it's well worth those 12 minutes if you enjoy resting, thinking, reading or doing work with soothing music.

If I had a complaint, it would be that the percussion on all three songs occasionally becomes distracting from the general atmosphere of detachment that the pieces otherwise maintain.