Various Artists: The Myndstream Collection Vol 1 (digital outlets)

At Elsewhere we make the distinction between New Age music and ambient, although we're prepared to acknowledge the border between is pretty porous.

However this collection of ambient and meditative sounds recommends itself if for no other reason than the name players involved: by my count between them these people have had more than 30 Grammy nominations, more than half a dozen Oscar nominations and . . .

So who are these people?

Familiar names include Daniel Lanois (with the lovely opener Blue Steel coloured by that lovely pedal steel sound), Mark Isham on synths for the restful Song of the Firefly Harmonium (we make no comment on some of the titles!), Kathryn Bostic (spacious solo piano on Sierra Dreamscape), Michael Brook (another Eno collaborator like Lanois, here with a quietly quizzical Garish), Lisa Bella Donna (current artist in residence at Moog Music Inc with a an astral landscape of discreet synths), Yes-man Rick Wakeman (synth and piano on holy-sounding The Sunflower Ghost) . . .

Perhaps most surprising for those who remember his ear-abusing avant-guitar sound, David Torn with the delicate note-bending And There Were No Words as well as former Red Hot Chili Pepper's drummer and film composer Cliff Martinez with the simply entitled Ambient 2.

And others.

So there you go, the rowdies have turned things down low and this kind of music is a meeting ground on which jazz, classical, rock and other composers can take their rest . . . and take you with them.

.

A useful sampler from the myndstream ambient/New Age label, for more go here.