If I'm listening to say, a Mozart sonata, it's really hard for me to not sit down and listen. I've tried a few ambient albums and really like having them on when I'm doing the dishes, etc. Here's a few of my fav's: Music for Airports and Lux - Brian Eno From Sleep - Max Richter The Ultimate Nap - Jeffrey Thompson (found on Amazon) Any recommendations for similar titles?
Bonobo (for me at least... I know a lot will disagree... caveat: I haven't heard his most recent album "Migration")
I recently picked up the collaboration albums between Harold Budd and John Foxx and I'd say they fall into the general area you're talking about. Translucence and Drift Music are the two I've heard. There's a third that I haven't laid ears on yet.
Check out this thread: Top Five Ambient: Your Choices? If you want lighter-flavored Eno, try the Pearl w/Harold Budd and Thursday Afternoon. Phillip Wilkerson is a newer artist that does a lot of that floaty, borderline ethereal ambient. I thought his album Sojourner was very good. Might be up your alley. You could also check my blog and IG page for some suggestions.
Great album, might be too dark and minimal for some. I also love his album Sheer Hellish Miasma, but that is not really ambient at all.
I can't say that I'm well versed in this genre of music, so correct me if this album doesn't fall in the category. Ben Frost - Aurora
Eventually, most of Brian Eno's music will be posted in this thread... Evening Star by Eno/Fripp It's Ambient, But listening to it while falling asleep evokes feelings of floating in the air or drifting on water, as the waves ebb and flow gently....
Mentioned it in the best of 2016 thread recently, but if you like a little psych with your ambient, I've been listening a lot to the latest from Surya Kris Peters called The Hermit, really nice album, highly recommended. This is the solo project of Christian Peters, who is also the main man in psych band Samsara Blues Experiment. It's got a middle eastern sound with elements of kosmische, electronic drones, some early Oldfield and Jarre, some classical influence, really pretty amazing. It's his first full length, actually I think it's a collection of previous download only releases, so not completely connected in a traditional sense, but it still all works together beautifully. He's also got a new one called Holy Holy Holy coming soon. Some good times for ambient psych music now.
Eno's Thursday Afternoon. I remember I bought it used and thought "what is this crap?" Then, I stopped listening and went about doing other things, and by the time it was over, I understood what "ambient" meant.
Kompakt's Pop Ambient series is top notch. Any volume will do the trick, 2002 & 2006 being my personal favorites. Really any ambient album on Kompakt is great, Ulf Lohmann, Markus Guentner... Pop by Gas is a must have, and it's the most beatless compared to his other albums. Rainbow Dome Musick by Steve Hillage is another go to for me. The Orb's new one, Chill Out World/COW is fantastic too.
Definitely Harold Budd/Brian Eno "The Pearl". Also Brian Eno "Thursday Afternoon", and "The Plateaux of Mirrors". Check out "The White Arcades" and "The Room" both by Harold Budd. Heck... just listen to anything with either of their names on it, basically.