A few albums recently listened.

derek bailey - ballads

bit more accessible than most of his work. some of the standards actually sound like songs. i'm not sure if i like it as much as aida, which i consider his masterpiece. probably a good starting point for a newcomer to his music but lacking in the excitement that his really free form work can instill in the listener.

suicide - suicide

this album is so fucking ahead of its time. might be my favorite album of the seventies.

grimes - visions

sounds like t.a.t.u. mixed with aphex at his most whimsical, which sounds promising on paper. turns out it's shit.

  On 1/16/2013 at 4:47 AM, zaphod said:

derek bailey - ballads

bit more accessible than most of his work. some of the standards actually sound like songs. i'm not sure if i like it as much as aida, which i consider his masterpiece. probably a good starting point for a newcomer to his music but lacking in the excitement that his really free form work can instill in the listener.

 

suicide - suicide

this album is so fucking ahead of its time. might be my favorite album of the seventies.

 

grimes - visions

sounds like t.a.t.u. mixed with aphex at his most whimsical, which sounds promising on paper. turns out it's shit.

may i present to you the best video of the 70s then

yes

Sleater-Kinney - Call the Doctor: Listened to this 3 times now, and I've also gotten my girlfriend heavily into it, which is always a plus. The lead singer's voice is fantastic and very tuneful, which is apparently a rarity in a female-fronted punk band (if you know any others tell me). I'll have to check out more of their albums, hopefully one of them is a bit more up-beat (tempo-wise). 9/10

Pete Rock - Petestrumentals: Smooth jazz-inspired instrumental hip-hop. Great album.

Kid Koala - 12 bit Blues: Been listening to this a lot lately. A very under-rated album in my opinion. It's Kid Koala + Blues; what's not to love?

I'm The Manager - The Manager's Files: Locust Toybox's/David Firth's past electric guitar solo project (he's now Stegasaurus Trap). Does a bit of layering of nice simple melodies like usual. Firth released it for free (like all of his music) so go get it: http://www.mediafire.com/?c628vscc3qqp9ui

Deerhoof - Breakup Song: Better than the 2 past albums I've been listening to (Apple O', Friend Opportunity) and I like those albums so that's saying something.

Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma & Los Angeles: Both are really good. I personally think Los Angeles is his best album (haven't listened to the newest or the recent EP yet though).

Vaervaf - Eyepox: It's uh... interesting and unique. I don't think I can describe it, but It's minimal (usually), and full of odd drones and vocal effects. I really enjoyed the track "Maybess", and "First Throat/Stergujm" makes a good finale. It's free, so you might as well download it if you have nothing better to listen to: http://vaervaf.bandcamp.com/

  On 1/14/2013 at 11:03 PM, nowyouknow said:

Stars Of The Lid Tired Sounds Of... i'll keep it, it's definitlely becoming my bath album but a bit boring otherwise

The idea of a "Bath Album" is awesome, and makes me wish I had a bathtub.

I generally listen to that album before bed while my Benadryl kicks in (which by the way makes most music amazing).

Avee Libretto - Symbolon, 7/10 'post IDM' crunch in vein of Mr. Devine and Ae, something to keep you until exai ---->http://schematicmusiccompany.bandcamp.com/album/symbolon

popular electronics: early dutch electronic music from philips research laboratories (1956-1963): four (4) cds of early dutch electronics. i'm not certain why it's vogue to reissue early electronics in massive sets and even though this is nowhere as massive as the 12 cd pauline oliveros treatment, it's still a pretty challenging compilation to get through.

i've heard a few of these songs in other places (probably film or advertisements) but a larger portion was my first time hearing it- and whilst i enjoyed it, the quality (in terms of sound and songwriting) varies- which then makes a lot of sense why these things are packing more than 2 cds per release.

pye corner audio - the ever-present hum: the hum in the title should be taken literarily. these are basically exercises in ambience, just a quarter of a minute shy of 15minutes each, of the quietest moments from the black mill tapes (only done with a different set up)- but does that really matter?

goat - world music: in theory this sounds fantastic; a swedish band that plays psychedelic influenced world music injecting their own unique twist into it (read as: mixing polyrhythms so you get things like afro-beat influenced krautrock= afrokraut?). the end product doesn't really work out though, with only a few moments of "hey that was cool. do that again"

Ethernet - Opus 2. More quality pulsing Ambient for right brain drifting. Always knocks me right out though.

Petar Dundov - Ideas from the Pond. Tangerine Dream go Techno/Trance. Really good stuff.

Beefcake - Coincidentia Oppositorum & Drei. Excellent eclectic Electronic/IDM. As good as the big boys. Get their whole discography for free/donation as well.

Second Culture - Flying Potion. Chilled out Psychedelic Electronic album, 90`s style. Enjoyable.

I decided to give Frank Ocean's Channel Orange a listen after "Thinking About You" got stuck in my head. It's not my usual style of music, and I was skeptical about all the hype it's received... But I gotta say, I've warmed up to it pretty damn quickly. It's smooth and funky, and very well produced. The guy can sing pretty well and his lyrics are interesting. I think I just became a fan.

  On 1/29/2013 at 1:18 AM, Nebraska said:

popular electronics: early dutch electronic music from philips research laboratories (1956-1963): four (4) cds of early dutch electronics. i'm not certain why it's vogue to reissue early electronics in massive sets and even though this is nowhere as massive as the 12 cd pauline oliveros treatment, it's still a pretty challenging compilation to get through.

i got this a while back, it actually pre-dated most of the current trend of re-issuing old electronic music in massive box sets (which is why it caught my attention when i saw it in a store). Came out at least 5 years ago if im not mistaken

I'll pump some life into this thread in the form fragmented sentences.

Kaoru Tadoroki - Uncle Calvin's Private Life: Created by one half of Picky Picnic (who I adore), this album accompanies a short comic. It can all be found here: http://freett.com/ciphervox/uncle/index.html

The album itself is cool, it's a lot more accessible than Picky Picnic, but still contains a lot of ecstatic children's (falsetto) choir moments. There's also a lot of funky bass.

cLOUDDEAD - cLOUDDEAD: This album really is perfect. Older-style Odd Nosdam beats, but with superb drones. Both sides of "Clouddead #5" are probably some of his best drones. Why? and Doseone's lyrics/rapping is great too of course.

+Alpha - +Alpha: I'm going into another 80's Japanese No-Wave phase. This was one of the better bands I listened to, funky bass, strained vocals, I dunno really how to describe it. Some sort of post-punk. If you're interested in weird 80's Japanese music go to this blog: http://stalkingduppi.blogspot.com/

Saskrotch - Nintendo Breaks Vol. 1: This is an album of harsh Breakbeats put to Nintendo songs. It's great. The seven second Excite Bike noise barrage always cracks me up.

Silver Apples - Contact: A record from 1969, it was (probably) the first use of electronic instruments in a rock setting. The band consists of a guy on drums, and the lead vocalist on a ton of Oscillators. The music is very psychedelic, but still accessible. When I was listening to it I thought that I hadn't heard anything like it besides the song "We Carry On" by Portishead, and then when I wiki'd the Silver Apples I learned that "We Carry On" was a homage to them. They nailed their sound.

The Caretaker - Patience (After Sebald): It's too bad this didn't get more recognition in our WATMM poll. This is probably the best Caretaker album to date. Extremely gloomy, yet beautiful songs. I listened to it before/during/after my boring night class while it was snowing and it was a nice experience.

Various Artists - Green Tape: This EP sucked. A bunch of Japanese "Experimental, which was an excuse to not know how to keep time or make any decent music. Deleted all of the tracks except for like, 2 or something.

Various Artists - Soft Selection 84: This album, on the other hand, was fantastic. More Japanese No-Wave, but most of it was really enjoyable. Picky Picnic made 2 tracks on it too, so that got me excited.

And then I listened to a bunch Battles, Fiery Furnaces, Vaervaf, David Bowie, Sleater-Kinney, Rarney Bubble, M.I.A., Cream, Gang of Four, Boards of Canada, Slick Rick, Wagon Christ, Tame Impala, Last Step, Eels, The Horrors, Tatsuhiko Asano, and Aphex Twin. In conclusion, here's my track of the month.

cherrystones - red nails: this sounds a lot like something the gaslamp killer would make (especially queen bee) except this has more of an electronic pedigree behind some of the song influences (molecular battler for example is basically early analog power electronics and the title track slightly resembles early non or einsturzende neubauten on a more hiphop tip). definitely a banger

Today I thought I'd give Exai a rest, so have listened to (so far):

Autechre: Anti ep & Garbage.

Zoviet France: Garista.

Matt Carlson: Gecko Dream Levels.

AMM: Generative Themes.

Sensational: Meets Kouhei II & Loaded With Power.

She-Haw: Splinter

Xenakis: Electronic Music

Then I put on the Atoms For Peace album and then turned it off after 30 seconds (turns out I really wasn't in the mood for that kind of thing) and instead put on:

Reverend Bizarre: In The Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend (DOOOOOOOOM!)

Next up, a load of Dillinger Escape Plan albums and Hecker: Chimerization.

change the beat: the celluloid records story 1980-1987: a massive compilation of the french early hiphop/new wave/boogie label celluloid, run as a vanity project by the guy in charge of BYG and bill laswell.

what we have here is a mixture of old school breaks, funk, synth wave and electronic disco jam rap with people like fab five freddy, grandmixer d st, bongostars and manu di bango making an appearance (albiet most of these tracks are remixes or b-sides of some kind from rare 45s).

if you're into this sort of thing, you'll get A LOT of entertainment out of this. also comes packed with all the information about this scene that one can possibly hope to have without "having been there"

GAS - Nah und Fern: This is the apex of, at least, electronic music for me.

  On 2/23/2013 at 1:12 AM, logakght said:

GAS - Nah und Fern: This is the apex of, at least, electronic music for me.

Bold statement, but I agree. This music changed my life (seriously, it did)

  On 2/23/2013 at 12:50 AM, Nebraska said:

change the beat: the celluloid records story 1980-1987

Well this sounds cool. Hopefully I can get ahold of a copy one of these days.

Evolution Control Committee - Gunderphonic: It's sound-collage, and about half of it isn't musical. There are two tracks of rearranged George H W Bush speeches that crack me up. And the two tracks mixing Public Enemy with Herb Alpert are pretty funny as well. None of it compares to their later hit "Rocked By Rape" though.

Devo - Q. Are We Not Men? A. We are Devo!: Such a great album. Nothing else I've heard by them, other than a couple of random tracks, are nearly as good as anything on this album. For those who don't know, this album is waaaay less synth-poppy than their other output. I'd personally call it post-punk with synths and the occasional 7/4 time signature. Gut Feeling, Space Junk, and Jocko Homo are fantastic.

And then I listened to a bunch of Japanese New Wave and Vaervaf.

LEGOWELT - The Paranormal Soul

DREXCIYA - JOTDSD III

RADIOACTIVE MAN - Waits & measures

The Orb - Orbus Terrarum. 18 years later and this is still one of the most fascinating albums I`ve heard. Layered and dense, trippy as fuck, and just in a world of it`s own.

Exai. I`m finding myself a bit addicted to this, I definately think it`s up there with their best albums, and it seems shorter than 2 hrs to me.

Went back and revisited Nirvana's In Utero earlier today... it really is a great album and I might say I enjoy it a bit more than Nevermind. Upon reflection a thought occured to me. I think had Kurt Cobain stuck around longer and Nirvana stayed together they probably would have evolved into more of a post-hardcore/noise rock band. There was a lot of evidence Kurt was headed that way musically.

Take this song for example:

Autechre-Exai - great release from these guys.

Bvdub-Serenity - all albums I have by bvdub are good, but this stands out a little. Ambient with a very modern sound, sometimes with beats.

Shpongle-are you shpongled? - trying to get in to this album but it takes time.

Autechre - Exai: I think we're all under the general consensus this album is amazing, I could easily see this becoming one of my favs in their catalog

Atoms For Peace - Amok;Good stuff, kinda does sound like The Eraser 2, but that's not necessarily bad, I wish Flea's presence stood out a little more. Great stuff though

Darkstar - News From Nowhere: Interesting album, takes kinda a more indie route than that first one, almost reminds me of Seefeel a bit in parts

Aesop Rock - Bazooka Tooth: One of his earlier albums, probably one of his more abstract releases

Kylesa - Spiral Shadow: Psychedliec sludgey goodness, gotta love the double drummer thing they got going

big apple rappin': the early days of hip-hop culture in new york city 1979-1982: a banging two disc compilation of golden era raps (read as: rapping over disco-electro breaks and jams). it's interesting to hear how the sound of hiphop has changed over the years from introspective fun fueled jams to naive mocks and braggadocio- this contains the former with people i'd never heard of before like t ski valley, super 3 and universal 2 -who have possibly my favorite track on the set as well as general echo rapping dub style (that's the name of the track which is also the name of the style).

crazy good and a priceless piece of rap history (although i got mine for the bargin steal price of $15)

^^that sounds like a badass comp. I'll have to track that one down. Any idea what it's priced at normally?

it was retailing for 20 bucks (cd) and 30 bucks (vinyl) when it came out 7 years ago. it currently says it's out of stock so anything even remotely close to that price range is a steal (imo)