A friend of mine's who also happens to have made one of my favourite "ambient" records ever! Though i realise this is definitely not of most of your guys taste (lack of ribcage tearing b-lines), i think this should probably be of the taste of a few of you lot

Doll Imago
"Vasalisa" LP

You can find samples from (and buy if you guys dig) the record here: http://cdbaby.com/cd/dollimago

and here, quite a lot of demos and in-development tracks in her myspace player:
www.myspace.com/dollimago

"Doll Imago is comprised of one rogue artist dedicated to creating a unique atmosphere through digital soundscapes and melodic exploration. Inspired by her studies of classical composers, particularly the music of Chopin, Kabalevsky and Debussy, she has paved a way to decipher her own interior stirrings to compose. Currently her calling to classical music has lead her to study the music of Phillip Glass, Arvo Part and Michael Nyman. This has in turn opened the doors to the music of a pop/ambient/ethereal learning including Harold Budd, Brian Eno and early 4AD bands like the Cocteau Twins where the ethos of the music of these composers can already be heard in her original music. Although her composing style blossomed years before hearing these artists it is testimony to the fact that "it is in the air"-individuals with similar aims, in the case of beauty and simplicity will arrive at similar results.

Doll Imago uses drone to promote stillness, uses repetition to stabilize the attention and variation of melody to create drama, narrative and reflection. It does not pummel you with beats, catchiness and attitude but instead intimates it's purpose and furtively rewards the listener who is attuned to the subtlety of it's language; a language that pushes to and fro from wistful speculation to the point of discovery, an answer to the question that is sometimes discordant and earthbound and sometimes graceful and otherworldly. It seems the kind of music that can only come from a contemplative essence that is grounded in the world of the present while being steeped in the tradtions of the past. It is an intimate soundtrack to private moments, providing empathy to the solitary part of the individual.

This particular album is based on the story of Vasalisa inspired by the book Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes and on Bela Bartok's orchestral rendition of another fairy tale, Bluebeards Castle. Each song is a depiction of the psychological state the main character, Vasalisa, experiences as she goes through a growing process leaving a younger less experienced self behind and grows into a bigger sense of herself and her power in the world."

Unapologetic bit of quite deserved promotion!!!