Oval - O

“O”, Oval’s striking new 70-track double-CD (and double-LP) is the follow up to the "Oh" EP by electronic pioneer, Markus Popp.

Popp, who lives and works in Berlin, took some time between his last release under the moniker SO and the "Oh" EP because he wanted the new material to be a radical departure from his old concepts and methods, on all levels. For "O" Popp's creative process shares nothing with his creative process for prior Oval albums. Previously, Popp focused on the creation of the programs that would process sound and effectively create the music. As a musician, Popp's process was more theoretical in nature. Creating the platform and knowing what that platform could and should do to the sound sources. He selected the sound sources and then turned it over to the platform. For ”O”, Popp uses an instrument that is very common, a stock PC outfitted with stock sounds and plugins. He no longer uses or creates a custom platform, but instead utilizes a readily available instrument. What he has done with this instrument highlights Popp's, perhaps for the first time, musicianship. Popp spent years woodshedding with his instrument and worked diligently to push the instrument beyond its normal sonic boundaries.

What is striking to note is that while the sound sources, and the process versus musician aspect of the music could not be more different, the resulting music shares qualities with the music that came before. It can be heard in the tempo and in the timbre. While the musician in Oval was formerly secondary to the process, now it is the primary creative element and his evolution as a musician can be clearly followed. Popp is often credited with creating the clicks and cuts genre of electronic music. Now this genre defining artist is putting forth the musician that was hiding behind the technician.

The result is a celebration in delicacy and detail: handcrafted polyrhythmic phrases, riffs and structures, bristling with tiny resonances. Popp is celebrating rhythms, scales and harmonies on a small and large scale, instead of reveling in theory and meta-discourse. The performances on this record represent a high level of skill on his instrument, while the resulting music is striking, compelling, and ultimately rewarding. "O", named for a new beginning, (ground zero if you will) is just that, fresh and new. (The EP title was a playful word game based around the album title.) The album, made after years of practice, is for Popp about the music. It is not about the impetus to start playing or some theoretical exercise in “programmed vs. played” or “new Oval vs. old Oval”. These comparisons, for him, are meaningless.

On Disc 1, the ten longer pieces range from delicate, sophisticated pop to brutally torn, electro-acoustic riffing full of angular, colliding guitar sounds. All of the songs are peppered with expressive and open drumming. Interestingly the tracks were not built around a rhythm. The drum playing was an organic part of the song evolutions, being written at various points during each individual song's recordings.

Disc 2 features no less than 50 concise, highly detailed pieces that are a conscious nod to the culture of instant gratification. Attentions spans are noticeably changed and the culture of organic discovery is gone from the mainstream and replaced by a hunger for the new. Consumption and criticism at warp speed. Portability dominates the art form to an extent never before seen. These tracks represent Popp’s personal challenge to create pieces within a constrained framework that addresses this aspect of music culture. Popp has even referred to these pieces as ringtones. These one-minute tracks have a melodic finesse and associative power that are unexpected under such constraints. The tracks have already inspired a project with a collection of film and video artists who will use these tracks to challenge themselves to create one minute films.

“O” is Markus Popp’s long-overdue and deeply personal love letter to music. It’s for the listener a new chapter in a fascinating, ongoing critical dialog with music by one of the true innovators of contemporary audio.

The CD and LP covers will come in four different editions. Popp will be playing select performances in support of "O" in Europe, Japan, and North America.

Tracklist:

http://www.thrilljockey.com/catalog/index.html?id=104841

I hope distribution of this goes a bit better.

  Quote

Unfortunately there has been a delay in obtaining one or more of the items you have ordered and this is holding up your order.

 

The item(s) we have not yet been able to obtain are shown below:

 

Oval, Oh, 8.99, 1

Still haven't got it...

  On 6/22/2010 at 9:48 PM, Ego said:

I hope distribution of this goes a bit better.

  Quote

Unfortunately there has been a delay in obtaining one or more of the items you have ordered and this is holding up your order.

 

The item(s) we have not yet been able to obtain are shown below:

 

Oval, Oh, 8.99, 1

Still haven't got it...

hmm where did you order it?

I got mine 11 days ago, and I got it from boomkat.

Recordstore.co.uk, first store I found that sold it and accepted paypal. Guess they won't be seeing me again.

"but you can't quite tell how much is performed in real-time and how much is an electronic treatment - or for that matter what that electronic treatment might be"

im really surprised that the people at boomkat would say this, i guess it's good that physical modelling is still kind of a 'secret'

that's a lot of goddamned music!

  On 8/26/2010 at 9:42 PM, Awepittance said:

i guess it's good that physical modelling is still kind of a 'secret'

lol - you and your physical modelling synthesis awepittance - i'm not making fun - i just think it's cute that you like it so much ..

never heard ovals stuff before, where should i start?

apparently so does Markus Popp, which is really cool but every write up i've seen omits that the entire album sounds like it was made using a karplus strong or other kind of physical modeling synthesis. To me it sounds like 'Tension' in ableton live. I'd like opinions of some people who enjoy this album and who've also used that Ableton instrument.

  On 8/26/2010 at 11:17 PM, Awepittance said:

apparently so does Markus Popp, which is really cool but every write up i've seen omits that the entire album sounds like it was made using a karplus strong or other kind of physical modeling synthesis. To me it sounds like 'Tension' in ableton live. I'd like opinions of some people who enjoy this album and who've also used that Ableton instrument.

it does very much sound like tension

the Guitar and Plucked/Ethncic-Harmonic Metal preset for instance

I'm confused; there's a release "Oh" and one called "O" with 60-odd tracks. Any relation between the two?

  On 8/26/2010 at 11:17 PM, tompty said:

never heard ovals stuff before, where should i start?

Start with "Systemisch" and "94 Diskont". These are the two outstanding works in Oval's catalogue.

"94 Diskont is undoubtedly a standout in the field of electronically advanced, glitch-heavy music", says Allmusic.com and awards the album 5 stars.

Pitchfork Media placed "94 Diskont" at #47 on its top-100 albums of the nineties.

  On 8/27/2010 at 10:11 PM, ventolin68 said:

Start with "Systemisch"

Just listening to this. I prefer older oval. But I think this was genius of him, because think about how it will sound to people 10, 20 years from now.

yeah me too. i liked the new EP but i'm a huge fan of his glitched/chaotic sound of 98/2001. anyway, congrats to him for trying something new.

when is he going to reissue the old albums with all his secret bonus tracks?

New video for Ah!

o my goodness ..

[vimeo]14431677[/vimeo]

Reminds me of

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPAffE1_GJ4

if anybody has this yet please PM me

interview

http://redbullmusicacademyradio.com/shows/3148

I have just acquired this object and disc 2 will not read in my computer (aluminum iMac). Mysterious errors abound. Did I get a bad copy?

EDIT: On second try, seems like iTunes doesn't mind it but Max and XLD are the ones freaking out. But I don't want to rip with iTunes… wah

anyone know why amazon.com is offering the digital version of this album for free? not that i'm complaining... but check it out

http://www.amazon.com/O/dp/B0041A6VTY/ref=dm_cd_album_lnk?ie=UTF8&qid=1283882526&sr=8-1

there's a lot to take in. 1 listen is not enough, but i really enjoy it. the more pretty melodic stuff actually reminds me of toumani diabate haha