ep: Myriad Luminescent
label: pale blue
release date: 2006
tags: shoegazer
heaven or las vegas
1. Myriad Luminescent (Platinum) / 2. Careless (Shields My Eyes) / 3. Snowflake Beach (Cosmic Version)
joi, 2 august 2012
Mayumi - Myriad Luminescent (2006)
ep: Myriad Luminescent
label: pale blue
release date: 2006
tags: shoegazer
heaven or las vegas
1. Myriad Luminescent (Platinum) / 2. Careless (Shields My Eyes) / 3. Snowflake Beach (Cosmic Version)
Alsace Lorraine - Through Small Windows (2001)
album: Through Small Windows
label: Darla
release date: 2001
tags: dream pop, indie pop
soft filter
1. You Are Like Charles Lindbergh to Me / 2. Monday Turns to Monday Night / 3. Back Roads Under a Giant Sky / 4. Alex Runs the World / 5. Name Etched in Home-Room Chair / 6. The Girl From Roanoke / 7. Swing Low, Constellation / 8. Once the Ocean Built a Ship / 9. Chalk Marks on the Ground / 10. Summer Days at Home / 11. Dreams I Can't Control / 12. A Bright Patch Near the Wall / 13. If This Were the Past / 14. Alsace-Lorraine / 15. Though I've Never Seen You / 16. The Labour Day Parade
Darla is an underappreciated label and this is just one of the reasons why their catalogue shines through to those willing to plunge into the obscure - delicious female fronted dream/indie pop with some really great beats that occasionally remind me of trip-hop, if trip-hop had more live-sounding drums. Highly recommended.
Hakobune / David Tagg - Untitled
album: Untitled [Split]
release date: 2008
label: install
tags: drone
warm space
1. Sothis (Hakobune) / 2. Stele (David Tagg)
miercuri, 1 august 2012
Fila Brazillia - Mess (1996)
album: Mess
release date: 1996
label: pork recordings
tags: downtempo
soothing rhombus
1. The Last of the Red Hot Brethren / 2. Big Saddle / 3. Space Hearse / 4. Half Man Half Granary Thorax / 5. But Momma / 6. Laying Down the Law on the Lard / 7. Wavy Gravy / 8. Soft Music Under Stars / 9. Hairy Insides / 10. Dp's r Us / 11. On Yer Haunches / 12. Howard Dan Ryan / 13. Blood / 14. Return of the Red Hot Brethren
Early downtempo artists are probably the most interesting for me - back then, they were looking for that sound and, once they found them, most of them got eventually trapped and stopped being interesting for critics who hate "muzak"-ish approaches... but the authenticity and the appetite for experimenting of the likes of Fila Brazillia should get a lot more credit. Sure, this album is not exactly as wild as the album before it, Maim That Tune, but it still has a few great songs, especially Soft Music Under Stars which actually leaves you gazing at the stars... Fila Brazillia have a sense of magic that is rarely found, and unfortunately most musicians who delved into downtempo never tried to experiment with the recipe for which some efforts were consumed - I mean, most of you laugh when you think of Cafe del Mar, but come to think the numerous abstract cuts that were on the first volume, and of all the names like Underworld, Leftfield and even Penguin Cafe Orchestra...
Monoton - Blau (Monotonprodukt 02 26y++)
album: Blau (Monotonprodukt 02 26y++)
label: oral
release date: 2006 (original issue: 1980)
tags: minimal synth, electronic
____----____
1. Ein Wort / 2. Dubwise / 3. Wirklichkeit / 4. Leben im Dchungel / 5. Teil 2 / 6. Teil 3 / 7. Dubwise 45 / 8. Minibeat / 9. Batacuda 79
Cold meanders.
duminică, 8 iulie 2012
Blue Tofu - Blue Tofu (2001)
album: Blue Tofu
release date: 2001
tags: trip-hop
wanted another bite
1. A Battle Between / 2. Limestone / 3. Chemical Cupcake / 4. Wild Blue / 5. Tricycle / 6. Straw Men / 7. Gabriel / 8. The Woman Singing / 9. Blue Ball Box / 10. Spiritual / 11. Playground
It is funny how this (yet another ephemera case) producer/vocalist duo managed to make something that echoes the sort of "vocal jazz/R&B/adult contemporary/sophisti-pop etc." culture, yet it sounds unique. There's a certain atmosphere that you won't hear elsewhere, a certain kind of sadness that can only eventually be described by a color: possibly blue. But this is no ordinary blues. Nobody can find a better name than Blue Tofu.
Dashes - Blades of Grass (2004)
album: Blades of Grass
release date: 2004
tags: trip-hop, idm, synth-pop
and I'll find my way
1. Thanx / 2. Changing Bodies / 3. Pencil / 4. Scratch-Screech / 5. Cloud / 6. Whales / 7. Scandinavia / 8. Run / 9. Step / 10. Brainfall / 11. Golden Lake
Another hidden treasure, another short-lived band, this time from Switzerland. A heavy dose of electronics and gorgeous songwriting make for a great couple.
Folk & Røvere - Kaustisksoda (1998)
album: Kaustisksoda
release date: 1998
tags: trip-hop
say something
1. Cowboy&Indianer / 2. Prozac / 3. Bris / 4. BaneMesterKhan / 5. FruHagen / 6. Sommer+Vinter / 7. Imorgen / 8. Kaustisksoda / 9. Splitterpine / 10. FotiHouse
More than decent trip-hop coming straight from Norway. Accessible and sort of poppy, but not inferior to other more experimental stuff (actually, the band itself has evolved on later albums). I'm not a big fan of nu-jazzy downtempo, but Bris is an excellent song, probably my favorite alongside "Splitterpine", a sample of "pure" trip-hop (if there's such a thing).
Slim - Slim 0097 (1997)
album: Slim [0097]
release date: 1997
tags: trip-hop, ambient techno
then I don't know what it is
1. What It Is / 2. Abducted / 3. Water / 4. Triple Threads / 5. Your Chair / 6. My Dangerous Life / 7. Idyll
Seriously stripped-down trip-hop released on a label known more for ambient techno stuff. Warning: not for those who get bored easily. Otherwise, you may actually find it rewarding, though probably not essential.
Lo-Fi - Nano
album: Nano
release date: 1998/2003
tags: trip-hop, ambient
red floatboat
1. Bad Taste / 2. Addict Blues / 3. Empty / 4. 1000 Years From Now / 5. Velvet / 6. The Way Home / 7. Meaning / 8. Time (Machine Mix) / 9. Death of a Nano / 10. Roads / 11. Remains
Those into prog rock might enjoy this one. As it was said before, it is a "concept album". I wouldn't judge it solely on that basis. You could say it's about "the life of a nanobot", but in the same time it is about our life, ourselves running past the river of life. Pretentious way of saying things, right? At least nobody should complain about the fact that, unlike others, this guy listened to more than just Massive Attack and Portishead. Therefore, a slightly different sound (not really that lo-fi, I must tell you though). In any case, a good, cohesive album. If only he would have released Nightsongs, that unreleased album would have certainly topped this.
Pomegranate - On Black Peak (2003)
album: On Black Peak
release date: 2003
label: Integral
tags: trip-hop, dream pop
it's now or never
1. On Black Peak / 2. The Prize / 3. LJL / 4. Candy Bliss / 5. So-Fi / 6. Half-Life / 7. Big Change / 8. Lonely River Ride / 9. Crazy the Teardrop / 10. o why cry? / 11. Heart Houdini / 12. Bluebird
One of the most cherished gems for the trip-hop connaisseurs, On Black Peak is an absolutely gorgeous album made by a group that knows what music means - OK, that's subjective, but, still, I think most of us can agree that music isn't meant to be a plain background that barely has an use, music is something that reaches something deep inside you. If it is necessary, Pomegranate can and will take advantage of the achievements of dream pop, ambient etc. to make something incredibly beautiful, maybe painfully beautiful for some (the melancholia of Candy Bliss can definitely provoke an allergy, if not addiction). And the best thing is that they sound like themselves, though you might be temped to think (due to songs like Big Change) that they sound a bit too British. Well, there's nothing here that feels out of place - and the album is one whole.
Lascelles - Rock Oil (1996)
album: Rock Oil
release date: 1996
label: orange egg
tags: trip-hop, experimental
boo
1. A Little Stranger / 2. One Two / 3. Alone / 4. Kill Me / 5. Original Static / 6. Faded / 7. The Control Centre / 8. Butterfly / 9. Vegas / 10. Got the Driver / 11. Do You Like My Buddha / 12. Backwards / 13. Soft Hallucination / 14. Ill World / 15. After the End / 16. In a Space / 17. The Air Is Shit / 18. Put Out / 19. Rock Oil / 20. Touched With Love
This very rare/obscure album, Rock Oil by Lascelles, is one of the most experimentalist I heard in trip-hop. It is very curious that it was released in 1996 - only 2 years after Portishead's Dummy and Massive Attack's Protection! You could describe it as "more historically important than pleasant to listen to" - however, unlike some 1998-1999 albums which manage to pull off a completely experimental trip-hop style, Lascelles just alternate between somewhat straightforward trip-hop and crazy melt moments.
Sin - Absinth (2005)
album: Absinth
release date: 2005
label: abuse industries
tags: trip-hop, darkwave, experimental
tears went dry
1. Love is Blue / 2. Sex is More / 3. Devildivine / 4. So Sad / 5. My Plants Are Enough / 6. Poem for Raphaelle / 7. Wishful Thinking / 8. Film Another Flower / 9. Der Rosmarienbaum / 10. Can't Help Falling in Love
+ CD of remixes
File under "acquired taste". Sin is a special band that few heard of and few can appreciate.
Krom - This (2000)
album: This
release date: 2000
label: primal
tags: trip-hop
don't let it fade away
1. Connection / 2. 5th Princess / 3. Watching Over You / 4. PMS / 5. Water Ego / 6. Nine / 7. Sugarfree / 8. Outside / 9. Scorpio / 10. Stay / 11. Beauty
Another ephemera of the trip-hop sphere, Krom managed to pull off an intense and more than interesting album while retaining a rather conventional trip-hop approach (with the exception of the intriguing upbeat sleeper hit Water Ego). Ever since Dummy and Mezzanine, trip-hop has often been linked with the pleasure of sex and this is one of the firmest evidence to come in the underground. It's like the vocalist really wants to get inside your skin. A spectacular, eargasmic debut that unfortunately proved to be a one-off.
Canidas - Golden
album: Golden
release date: 2001
tags: trip-hop, post-rock
desert fog
1. Tsunami Tears / 2. Asylum / 3. Soil / 4. Hold / 5. Opt / 6. Embrace / 7. Lastexit / 8. The Minutes That Passed / 9. P.M.W. / 10. Requiem/Caras Caladon
Golden is a strange album. "Trip-hop" and "post-rock" are both tag stretches - there's hardly any way to define this. Melancholic female vocals and steady drumming - that seems trip-hop. But we have a real drummer instead of the usual loops or drum machines, and there's also a prominent but subtle guitarist. Post-rock? Maybe, but doesn't really sound like any iconic post-rock band. All I could do is define it by feelings - Golden is an incredibly sad, low-key album. As somebody put it, this makes Portishead look like bubblegum pop. Not that much, really, since in the meantime Third was released - 11 years after this album was released and the band disappeared (like most appreciated obscure trip-hop bands, who like to vanish after the debut album or even before it), this album sounds as convincing as ever, if not even more. Sheer beauty that is bound to become the subject of a cult sooner or later.
sâmbătă, 7 iulie 2012
Velure - Care for Fading Embers (2005)
album: Care for Fading Embers
release date: 2005
label: shock
tags: trip-hop
close to you
1. Music from Outside / 2. Do You Suppose? / 3.Words to Speak / 4. Hide the Fool / 5. Down Again / 6. Define Love / 7. Beautiful / 8. Recall / 9. Vivid and Blue / 10. Music from Outside (A Reprise)
Probably known for remixing Gotye, Velure is quite likely THE Australian trip-hop band and Care for Fading Embers is their only album, but it is a great one. The fact that they bother to incorporate slight influences from stuff like glitch pop (but not in heavy dose, mind you) just spruce up the fact that they are good at making trip-hop. When listening to a song like "Vivid and Blue", you can hear everything that you can expect from a trip-hop band of the present day; however, you don't have to be a "geek" of the genre to appreciate the album, though you might have to be in order to have heard of it... In general, post-2000 trip-hop is a mixed landscape that is not entirely worth exploring, but this is one of the albums that stick out. And their only other release, Songbox EP, is great as well, though more aggressive and elaborate than Care for Fading Embers.
Market - Market
album: Market
release date: (2008)
tags: trip-hop
downtown
1. (Not) Necessarily So / 2. Safe / 3. Island / 4. M6 / 5. Trainbell / 6. 68 (Goneaway) / 7. Monster Sound / 8. Thursday / 9. Remain Normal / 10. Kawasaki / 11. Madstore / 12. Grand Prix 73 / 13. Shield / 14. Television
This album has a pretty funny history. After the major label Interscope Records released the M6 single, Market have disbanded before their debut album (finished in 1998) was officially released. Anyway, through some miracle, the tracks from the sessions have leaked in various versions onto Soulseek, where it remained an obscure treasure before and even after the former members of the band have decided in 2008 to open a MySpace profile and semi-officially release on CD the album for those who are interested...
More than a decade after it was made, this album sounds remarkably dated, bland and generic - if there's a trip-hop album that you'd expect to hear from a mainstream label, it sounds like this. But that also means that we have some actual "hits" - or so they could have been with a better fate - the "main candidate" being M6, easily their best song and, like I said, their only official single. Piano, scratching, metropolitan sound, female vocals - all checked.
Market are merely for trip-hop collectors, if you are in love with the Bristol sound in itself and don't care for over-the-top experiments or creative genre bending, I warmly recommend this "cookie cutter".
Antenne - #3 (2008)
album: #3
release date: 2008
label: helmet room recordings
tags: electronic, experimental, trip-hop, ambient
put your gloves on
1. Long to Kiss / 2. Gloves On / 3. Days Into Nights / 4. Ttreaa#7 / 5. Blue Light / 6. Ernst / 7. End / 8. All of Us
The long-awaited "#3" is another step forward and a refinement of the hallmark Antenne style from the previous albums. Just about everything you've heard before is also here, but in even better shape. It doesn't get more blissfully depressive than "Gloves On", "Long to Kiss" and "Blue Light". "#1" may have more nostalgic value to me, but it is "#3" that hits the creative peak. Stay tuned, the follow-up album, "#4", is "in progress" and might be released in... 2016!
Antenne - #2 (2002)
album: #2
label: korm plastics
release date: 2002
tags: electronic, experimental, idm, trip-hop, ambient
dream debris
1. Black Eyed Dog / 2. Not Sad / 3. Annex Aug / 4. Across the Way / 5. Dead Dreams / 6. Clearly Wrong / 7. Sunwalk
Purists could argue that, especially on this album, Antenne has retracted anything that could possibly recall trip-hop (probably with the exception of time signatures). And my argument is: why should we care as long as what we get is great? Plain '90s Bristolian beats wouldn't have managed to pull off the job of the day, as what we have here is a personal and strongly oneiric universe. Rhythms are more fragile than ever and the songs seem painfully abstract. But it is actually like an excellent abstract expressionist work of art that seems to make sense in spite of what it actually is. "Sunwalk" is a crowning achievement of this kind of approach - however, no need to worry as "Not Sad" and "Dead Dreams" come with the exact kind of expressive minimalism that is by now a staple of Antenne's style. Well done follow-up to the incredibly good "#1".
Antenne - #1 (2000)
album: #1
release date: 2000
label: korm plastics
tags: electronic, trip-hop, idm, experimental
quiet snow
1. Here to Go / 2. Like Rain / 3. Let Me Ride It / 4. Whispering / 5. PPG hold prg. 11 / 6. Moving Slow / 7. Something Not to Do / 8. Memo
If you have a genuine interest in what happened to trip-hop after Dummy and Mezzanine, then you have no reason whatsoever to miss out on Antenne's albums. If you think Dummy and Mezzanine aren't sophisticated enough, this might satisfy your appetite - the basic forms, conventions of trip-hop are bend into something else, a lot more electronic, quite minimalist, with poetic force first and foremost (just listen to the winter lullaby that is "Whispering" or the brooding "Like Rain", in which Marie Louise Munck's echoes actually fall like rain) and with a fair share of sparse instrumental moments ("Let Me Ride It", "PPG hold prg. 11") that all contribute to a certain charm. It is a cold, rather bleak record, but you can also detect a sense of humanity in all this.
Lost Balance - Bed (2003)
album: Bed
release date: 2003
tags: trip-hop
dig it
1. Solar Honey System / 2. Torero / 3. Changing Lifes / 4. Come As You Are / 5. Moving / 6. Borderline (3rd Person Mix) / 7. Frame of Mind (Chamomile Mix) / 8. Tunefull / 9. Firedaddy / 10. Stars Like Dust / 11. Girls Blue Tears / 12. Way of Tomorrow
I must say: Lost Balance remain one of my favorite trip-hop bands, though I've grown out of the genre myself. Even though they incorporate dream pop influences, LB remain pretty much engrained in the signature beats of trip-hop (and for the better or worse, there are a couple of their songs which are painfully obvious samples), but somehow they sound like nobody else. They have a distinctive sound that I couldn't describe as less than perfect, even if sometimes the lyrics seem to have less substance than the beats. I say this after several years in which I have listened to their albums countless times, and when I finally got my hands on Bed, I listened to it on repeat that whole day. And no matter what, at the end of the time I will still love them.
Dreamfield - Take Me With You (2000)
album: Take Me With You
release date: 2000
tags: dream pop, trip-hop
in your balloon
1. Marianne / 2. Walk With Me / 3. Sometime / 4. Christopher's Dream / 5. Take Me With You / 6. Easy / 7. Distant Skies / 8. Christopher's Dream (Dark Mix) / 9. Take Me With You (Shortwave Remix)
An album that leaked onto Soulseek after it never managed to be officially released, Take Me With You is one of those elusive but remarkable treasures that has been haunting the trip-hop underground, although it actually sounds more like dream pop. But the beats are so focused and the vocals so gorgeous that you should jump straight on it, though you may find the hazy sound a bit strange. (There is an official EP with this title and cover art, but it consists only of 1/3 of these tracks)
Coldfinger - Lefthand (2000)
album: Lefthand
release date: 2000
label: NorteSul
tags: trip-hop
gone away
1. Para um Poema / 2. Beauty of You / 3. CBlues / 4. D.Fuse Line / 5. Lucky Star / 6. Liquid / 7. Duke Interlude / 8. Mondo / 9. B.Com.I / 10. Shapeless / 11. Mood Turb / 12. Crimes / 13. Criminal Behaviour / 14. Trans Interlude / 15. The Tree and the Bird
The Portuguese band Coldfinger has come a long way, but I still wouldn't trade for any of their more recent albums this gem: for a band that pretty much sticks to the original Bristol sound and only sometimes allow for slight experimentation and rough edges (Liquid, Mood Turb), they are on their upmost shape on Lefthand. "Beauty of You" is exactly the trip-hop hit that never reached any charts (except maybe local ones) - what I like though is the fact that, even when they tend towards bright downtempo (CBlues), Coldfinger are full of inspiration. Not to mention the excellent vocalist that is Margarida Pinto. An often overlooked album that should be heard by more people who claim to like trip-hop.
Halou - We Only Love You (Edition Two) (2004)
album: We Only Love You
release date: 1998 (this reissue: 2004)
tags: drum'n'bass, trip-hop, dream pop
we do
1. Halfbreath / 2. Loop in Blue / 3. Ifish / 4. La Mer / 5. Clip / 6. Present Tense / 7. It Was Safer When You Were Near / 8. You Are One of Us / 9. Feeling This Is Like to Fall Awake / 10. I'll Carry You
This is an album that sounds really 1998ish. You can feel in the air that Halou were just one out of many who mixed together trip-hop, downtempo, d'n'b and big beat into a combination that, in many other cases, fails to deliver. But what Halou do on this record is magic. Rebecca Coseboom is one of my favorite vocalists and I love how she pours so much positive dream energy on I'll Carry You, on You Are One of Us, on Loop in Blue... and the rest of the band works just as gorgeous, allowing a whole deal of creativity only two years after they still worked as a shoegazer band. Without Guthrie's oceanic guitars and with lots and lots of drumming instead, it works just as well making a record that "feels like falling awake". In a way, this is the sound of the sea, "La Mer". Nothing in the Halou discography would come to sound just as full of energy as this one - though that doesn't make the rest of the albums any less beautiful - thank you, Halou, for all of them.
Sorem Sound System - Sorem Sound System
album: Sorem Sound System
tags: trip-hop, downtempo, experimental
feel it
A Piece of Dismind / Beautiful Spirit / Denon / Feeling It / Screaming Black (Heike Duh Vocal Mix) / Screaming Black / Short Touch / Staendchen (remix) / Symbol 49 / The Day Where
One of the most elusive bands in the history of the trip-hop underground, Sorem Sound System have no official record as I know of, this being a bootleg made up of every song that has circulated in the last few years over the Internet (minus two other songs that are only sampled on tripofagia, nowhere else to be found). It looks like the band has broken up a long time ago - which is sad. Initially a grunge rock band apparently, Sorem Sound System have suddenly grown a fascination for trip-hop and for the classy downtempo and nu-jazz of the likes of St. Germain and Peace Orchestra (Screaming Black is actually just a St. Germain song with vocals on top, but both the Tricky-esque rapper and the female vocalist Heike Duh do a pretty good job at it). However, some of these tracks are rougher than that - The Day Where or Short Touch are up there with the best things in dark experimental trip-hop this turn of the century. Not to mention the masterpiece that is Beautiful Spirit. If they were still around, Sorem Sound System would have come to making at least one great album.
joi, 5 iulie 2012
Curium - Nowever
album: Nowever
release date: 2006
label: dynamophone
tags: electronic, idm, ambient
sun moon stars
1. seeker of truth / 2. in spite of everything / 3. a great / 4. love is a place / 5. who are you, little i / 6. yes is a pleasant country: / 7. now air is air and thing is thing no bliss / 8. when god decided to invent / 9. mr youse needn't be so spry / 10. wild - at our first - beasts / 11. i will wade out / 12. may my heart always be open to little / 13. all ignorance toboggans into know / 14. i carry your heart with me / 15. o purple finch please tell me why / 16. now is a ship / 17. o by the by / 18. plant magic dust / 19. anyone lived in a pretty howtown / 20. i shall imagine life / 21. it may not be always so i say / 22. no time ago
Songs based on poems by e.e. cunnings. Don't expect anything too conventional... I warmly recommend checking this out AND other stuff from Curium and his label, Dynamophone Records.
Orange - Orange (1994)
album: Orange
release date: 1994
label: dewdrops records
tags: dream pop, shoegazer
still replaying those cocteau twins albums?
1. Seahorse / 2. Starwheel / 3. Hindenburg / 4. Feijoa / 5. Swim / 6. Heather / 7. Daisy / 8. Blue Budd / 9. Against Nature
Underappreciated and little-known dream pop/shoegazer outfit. Besides this album, I also have Demo 01 and Demo 02 (which contain most of the tracks on this album but also some unreleased tracks) as well as Auto de Fe - if anyone wants, I can upload them.
Celer - Continents (2006)
album: Continents
release date: 2006
label: unlabel
tags: drone
one plus one
1. La Oroya's Cantakerous Bells / 2. Bereft Oversight / 3. Slack Tree Diagrams / 4. Carpal Tunnels of Love / 5. The Ex Hypthesi Dreams of Populous Clouds / 6. Spring Shields / 7. Ceramic Foam Party / 8. Fast Fowarding Sleep / 9. Spluttering Lungs / End Organ
"I think we'll both be trees by some pond one day". Gosh, what gorgeous things Celer have done. I wish there was a better way of saying RIP Dani... Celer was a wonderful drone duo and I highly recommend tracking down more of their prolific discography - and possibly buy one of the new releases that Will keeps putting on, please support him.
VA - Pop Ambient 2012
title: Pop Ambient 2012
release date: 2012
label: kompakt
tags: ambient
stay cool
1. Mohn - Manifesto / 2. Superpitcher - Jackson / 3. Morek - Pan / 4. Magazine - The Visitors Bureau / 5. Triola - Richmodis / 6. Wolfgang Voigt - Ruckverzauberung 5 / 7. Bvdub - Your Loyalty Lies Long Forgotten / 8. Marsen Jules - Swans Reflecting Elephants / 9. Simon Scott - For Martha / 10. Loops of Your Heart - Riding the Bikes
Another great one in the Pop Ambient series.
Satoko Fujii Orchestra-East - Before The Dawn (2003)
album: Before The Dawn
release date: 2003
label: natsat
tags: free jazz
there are worlds they haven't told you about
1. Pakonya / 2. Joh-Ha-Cue / 3. Wakerasuka / 4. Before the Dawn / 5. Yattoko Mittoko
Peaking Lights - Clearvoiant (2008)
album: Clearvoiant
release date: 2008
label: night people
tags: drone, ambient, hypnagogic pop
let it bleed
I fondly remember the time when I got this one back on "deleted scenes forgotten dreams", RIP...
Sneakster - Pseudo-Nouveau / Fifty-Fifty
album: Pseudo-Nouveau / Fifty-Fifty
release date: 2000
label: shadow records
tags: trip-hop, idm, dream pop
hidden by the numbers
1. Whileaway / 2. Fireheart / 3. Splinters / 4. Full of Chaos / 5. Stolen Letter / 6. Trust & Blush / 7. Static / 8. Heavy Heat, Heavy Time / 9. Sweet Melody / 10. Fireheart (Robin Guthrie Remix) / 11. Stolen Letter (Robin Guthrie Remix) / 12. Kinda Blue (Robin Guthrie Remix)
Remember Seefeel? Well, this is one of Mark Clifford's many projects that manage to not make much out of his ideas. Let's not be harsh though: this sounds pretty good, and is definitely far above standard trip-hop albums of the time, leaning heavily towards IDM. Also, we got here two members of Cocteau Twins - Raymonde on bass in one of the main tracks and Guthrie with his signature guitar on his very own remixes.
Slowdive - 5 EP (1993)
ep: 5 EP
release date: 1993
label: creation
tags: dream pop, ambient techno
whatevergaze
1. In Mind / 2. Good Day Sunshine / 3. Missing You / 4. Country Rain
This little-known Slowdive release is one of the earliest attempts of making electronic dream pop/shoegaze, alongside Seefeel's works from the exact same period. This sounds a bit more dated than Seefeel and quite different, but still good in its own way.
Coppé - Nauru (2003)
album: Nauru
release date: 2003
label: mango + sweet rice
tags: trip-hop, idm, experimental, ambient
you pocket mermaid
1. Intro: Spunge Noho Nani / 2. Pakalolo / 3. Audiolly / 4. Blue (Remix by Plaid) / 5. Humu Humu Picasso Fish / 6. La Liquid Lizard / 7. Sin . Coppe . Ted . / 8. Ala Moana (Interlude) / 9. Paper Soap / 10. Wombat / 11. Durango / 12. Frozen Fog / 13. Blue (Remix by Dr. Jakobson) / 14. Flapper Girl / 15. Ala Moana
Bjork not experimental enough for you? Check out this sweet madness of an album.
ISAN - Plans Drawn in Pencil (2006)
album: Plans Drawn in Pencil
release date: june 2006
label: morr music
tags: idm, ambient
cakewalk easy
1. Look and Yes / 2. Cinnabar / 3. Yttrium / 4. Roadrunner / 5. Ship / 6. Immoral Architecture / 7. Amber Button / 8. Five to Four, Ten to Eleven / 9. Corundum / 10. Stickland / 11. Seven Mile Marker / 12. Working in Dust / 13. Ruined Feathers
Thorn Apple - Datura (2003)
album: Datura
release date: 2003
tags: darkwave, trip-hop, synth-pop, ambient
sent message
1. Before / 2. Datura / 3. Mirror / 4. Ice Blue Eyes / 5. Memory / 6. Message Received / 7. Metal / 8. Simplicity / 9. Fall to the Sky / 10. Ice / 11. Mezza Luna / 12. Whispers / 13. Ave Maria / 14. Quiet / 15. Exquisite Corpse / 16. Shattered
One of the elusive never-officially-released albums from the supergroup compromising members of bands such as Hungry Lucy and Axoe (Halou were only on "Crystalline").
Aki Tsuyuko - Hokane (2006)
album: hokane
label: thrill jockey
release date: march 2006
tags: electronic, ambient, japanese dream pop
sleeeeep
1. Como Suite / 2. Owlet Hymn / 3. Bud of a Song / 4. Dune and Clarinet / 5. Zou and Chou / 6. Aquilo / 7. Noel's Organ / 8. Rainbow Train / 9. Dance at Happy Night
duminică, 3 iunie 2012
R/R Coseboom - Moths + Butterflies EP (2005)
ep: Moths + Butterflies
release date: 2005
tags: idm, trip-hop, ambient
a flock of seagulls
1. Seabright / 2. Soft Breasts and Ice Cream / 3. Little Dust Wing / 4. Sevens and Fourteens
A sweet opener that would later get covered on the self-titled Halou album, two of the songs on Beneath Trembling Lanterns and a small ambient outro make for a nice little package. Get it, "Seabright" is as good as it can get (plus, this original version is better, I think).
duminică, 13 mai 2012
Bruno Nicolai / Alessandro Alessandroni / Rino de Filippi - Primavera
artists: Bruno Nicolai, Alessandro Alessandroni, Rino de Filippi
album: Primavera
release date: 197x
label: st. germain des près
tags: library music, easy listening, light music
pa pa ra pa pam pam
1. La Voix / 2. Theme Baroque / 3. Primavera / 4. Bossa Italienne / 5. Intime / 6. La Colline de l'Amour / 7. Jeune Flirt / 8. Eau Bleue / 9. Sur l'eau / 10. Cris en vacances / 11. Extase / 12. Bien Être / 13. Agriculture / 14. Jeunesse
Best vintage cheesy-easy-listening-with-mademoiselle-vocals that you can imagine listening to. This is one case of muzak that is actually beautiful, even without the help of an avant-garde sensibility (like in the case of Stereolab).
Dol-lop - Cryptic Audio Rag (1997)
artist: Dol-lop
album: Cryptic Audio Rag
release date: 1997
label: swim ~
tags: instrumental hip-hop, trip-hop
decrypt
1. Shadow / 2. Stem / 3. Qoke / 4. Phase / 5. Hybrid / 6. Doum / 7. Bluehouse / 8. Flow
Stereotypical description: atmospheres 'n dope beats. In this case it's true.
sâmbătă, 12 mai 2012
The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa - Sussurate (1992)
artist: the ecstasy of saint theresa
album: sussurate
release date: 1992
label: reflex
tags: shoegazer, noise pop
bring on the noise
1. Pistaccio Places / 2. Swoony / 3. To Alison / 4. Ice Cream Star / 5. Sweet Abyss / 6. Thorn In Y'r Grip / 7. Seven / 8. Absinth
noooooooooooooooooooooise
noooooooooooooooooooooise
vineri, 11 mai 2012
Milpatte / Serge Bulot - April Orchestra Vol. 47 (1982)
artists: Milpatte , Serge Bulot
album: April Orchestra Vol. 47
release date: 1982
label: april music
tags: library music, electronic, experimental, proto-idm, exotica, modern classical
seehear
Side A (Milpatte)
1. Tregao / 2. Mistira / 3. Cirka / 4. Spontz / 5. Cruzer / 6. Specif / 7. Lotor / 8. Sybir / 9. Carpal / 10. Livel
Side B (Serge Bulot)
1. Jungle's Orchestra / 2. Baroque Electrique / 3. Pipoune's Dance / 4. Suite Lydienne (part 1) / 5. Suite Lydienne (part 2) / 6. Chords Meeting / 7. Pluie Lunaire / 8. Miroirs du Crepuscule
Orange Cake Mix - Microcosmic Wonderland (1998)
artist: Orange Cake Mix
ep: Microcosmic Wonderland
release date: 1998
label: audioinformationphenomena
tags: lo-fi, downtempo, synth-pop, electronic
here here
1. Pacific Ocean Park / 2. King of Inertia / 3. I Just Can't Be Without You Again / 4. I Heard You Whisper / 5. Some Sweetness / 6. Wind Painting
In between Another Orange World and Silver Lining Underwater/Dream Window eras, this little EP is pretty well done and is among Rao's best attempts at harkening to the gems of space age pop and such (don't you just love how he wrote on the cover "Jim Rao and his Orange Cake Mix Orchestra"?!). Plus, on the last few tracks, he's flirting again with Frippertronics...
Susumu Yokota - Will (2001)
artist: Susumu Yokota
album: Will
release date: 2001
label: Skintone / Leaf
tags: downtempo, deep house, nu-jazz
bring it on
1. Level 21 / 2. Pegasus Man / 3. Alpine Nation / 4. Red Door / 5. Illusion River / 6. Blak Sea / 7. Pony Tail / 8. Rabbit Earring / 9. Flower and Butterfly
Yokota shinin' like usual. "Illusion River" is also on the anthology "Skintone selections". great stuff
welcome
here I will post some of the cool albums from my wide music collection, that spans a lot of genres (I will copypaste here my youtube description):
| electronic ambient art pop trip-hop jazz lo-fi chillwave idm glitch-hop wonky minimal ambient techno post-rock library music drone krautrock space age pop exotica shibuya-kei bossa nova |
and more than that. I will post mostly albums that are hardly available on the internet anymore, as I speak
| electronic ambient art pop trip-hop jazz lo-fi chillwave idm glitch-hop wonky minimal ambient techno post-rock library music drone krautrock space age pop exotica shibuya-kei bossa nova |
and more than that. I will post mostly albums that are hardly available on the internet anymore, as I speak
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