BotN #15 || Oval - 94 Diskont

Okay, so first post in my amazing "Best of the 90's"-series thingy (BotN = Best of the Nineties). It's taken a while to get going, I know; mostly because I've forgot, but frankly also because I am very lazy. As you might have noticed in the title, this is the album No. 15 out of 15 (meaning the least awesome of the 15).

Now that the boring informative stuff is out of the way, let us get to the actual music:

A groundbreaking album by a not-so-silly man with a silly name (but that's just my opinion), Markus Popp released this album with his group Oval in 1995 and in the process practically created a new sub-genre of electronic music in the process.

So called glitch music has since then grown pretty popular and terms such as IDM and glitch are thrown around whenever some dude on Warp releases a new single.

Most stuff that gets called glitch is in actuality not what I would call glitch. This, however, is undisputably delicious glitchy ambient.

The album is centered around the 24 minute masterpiece Do While, which was composed from short clips and sonic fragments from scratched and mutilated CDs, sampled and rhythmically organized into a single flowing, (surprisingly) organic and melodic drone. It's so watery and constantly mutating, hypnotizing and with subtle percussion it still manages to retain the true spirit of ambient as Eno meant it to be; background music.

Sure, the other songs are great too. But none are as mesmerizingly beautiful as Do While.

94 Diskont is one of those albums that has become so hugely influential, but was largely ignored at the time of its release, like Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music (practically single-handedly created noise music).

This might not be the best nineties album, but it sure is one of them.

7/10

DO NOT DOWNLOAD IF YOU HAVE SHIT ATTENTION SPAN

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Alva Noto - Xerrox Vol.1

What up peeps? (This is how cool people talk, right?) It's been a laawwwng time since I posted anything worthwhile now. So here it is; on the 1st of July, a new beginning (sorta).

The blog has been on a bit of an (is it 'an' or 'a'?) hiatus for a while now, mainly because I've been really, really busy doing nothing.

Okay! So, Alva Noto is this German (or something; look it up yourselves, jeez) dude who's real name is Carsten Nicolai, which actually sounds a whole lot cooler than Alva Noto in my opinion.

I found out about him by browsing through the artists last.fm deemed similar to Pan Sonic (Fun Fact: The spectrogram in the background is from an excerpt of their song Maa, off of A. Really great album, maybe I'll post it some time).

Considering how Pan Sonic's music sounds, I expected this to be minimalistic, experimental and atonal electronic music as well, but boy was I in for a treat! Sure, Alva Noto is pretty minimalistic and experimental too, but he sure as hell doesn't make atonal music. Xerrox Vol.1 features (to my great surprise) some of the most beatifully melodic ambient I've ever heard. It kind of sounds like Oval's legendary 94 Diskont meets 90's Autechre.

Either it was Oval and Autechre who was very avant-garde, or Alva Noto's music is just heavily influenced by 90's experimental electronic music (Xerrox Vol.1 was released in 2007).

What's important though is the music, and it is a-fuckin'-mazing. If glitchy, minimalistic ambient is your thing, that is.

TRANSFER ALBUM TO YOUR COMPUTER *BEEP-BOOP-BEEP*

ATTN: I seem to have accidentally written "Xerrrox Vol.1" to the ID3 tags instead of "Xerrox Vol.1", so it's mistagged. Just noticed it yesterday, not a big deal but you may want to fix that yourselves (especially if you scrobble to last.fm).

Existensminimum - OK Boys

What's up guys? Long time no post (funny, right?).
Yeah, so I've been real busy lately and haven't had the time to post anything, to be honest I haven't really felt like it either. But now I'm back, at least for this post. I just had to let you know about this awesome dude.

He's from the same country as me (Sweden), and he just makes amazing music. He seems to be pretty obscure (on last.fm at least, with less 3000 listeners).
OK Boys is his second album I believe and it was released last year. It's gotten lots of great reviews in Sweden, and I can really see why. His songs are melodic and catchy, yet complex and intricate. Like a mix between indie/dream pop and krautrock. And that's pretty much what it is. Lots of freaky synths, hard, driving rhythms, complex composition, psychedelic/progressive rock elements + melodic and upbeat catchiness of indie pop + a little bit of the ol' dream pop.
So that's why I thought krautpop would be an adequate name for this eclectic genre he plays.

This is the kind of album where every song is great. I love those kinds of albums.

I strongly recommend that you check this shit out, he deserves some more attention.
Premium super-awesome download below:

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If you wondered about the name, existensminimum is in Sweden, in layman's terms, the minimum amount of income a person should have to live a 'decent' life, so to speak.

Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma

Yup, Ol' Flylo is back with another album. It just got released today, you can buy (you know, with money) it on here on Bleep, I'm probably gonna get the double gatefold vinyl. But let's cut straight to the chase shall we? Yeah.

This one's a bit "crazier" - I would say - than his previous works, but it still has it's trippy, laidback hip-hop moments.

It sounds very, very chaotic at times, yet you always kind of have this feeling that he knows exactly what he's doing. Some of the songs are extremely inctricate, with what sounds like a billion tiny little sounds jumping all around your ears, quick to arrive and even quicker to leave.

He's madly mixing all kinds of genres; including funk, hip-hop, psychedelia, trip-hop, IDM, and whatnot. Some songs are just smooth, chilled-out trip-hop - you know, typical Flylo - and others are either batshit crazy or wildly experimental.

What's also nice about this album is that he's collaborated with a lot of other musicians for this album, including - but not limited to: Ravi Coltrane, Laura Darlington (with whom he's collaborated with on his previous albums) and Thom Yorke, of Radiohead.

However I feel that there is no better description than the one on Bleep's page for this release:

''In his second full length release for Warp, Flying Lotus has taken his craft to bold new levels, new conceptual depths spun together for a psychedelic, genre melting trip. Bringing together collaborators such as former Suicidal Tendencies bassist Stephen "Thundercat" Bruno, Rebekah Raff, Dorian Concept, Ravi Coltrane, Laura Darlington and most strikingly , Radiohead's Thom Yorke, Cosmogramma bristles with a maximal energy, crossbreed innovation and distorted beat-bass funktions. A beautiful fever-dream of an album that variously resonates with the ghosts of Dilla, Parliament, Hendrix, Sun Ra, Love plugged into the kind of next-level bass waves that are crashing across continents right now. Destined to be lauded as a future classic...''

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Gorillaz - Stylo (Single)

Pictured: Gorillaz during studio recording

Hey guys, too lazy to post an album today, so I'll just post the latest Gorillaz single.
It's really good, definitely check it out if you haven't heard already.
It's got a nice 80's feel to it, and it features both Bobby Womack and Mos Def laying down some awesome vocals.
So yeah, check it out while you're waiting for the album to be released (going to be awesome).
I'll probably post another album tomorrow, so stay tuned and peace out!

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Idiot Pilot - Strange We Should Meet Here

Hey there. So I've got a new album for ya, this time by a band called Idiot Pilot.
I don't really feel like typing out a long description, so I'll just write something short.
It's really hard to classify them as one genre, but I guess you could say that they are similar to The Sound Of Animals Fighting, basically really experimental rock, sort of neoproggy with a little post-hardcore here and there, and a little electronic influences.
Except that these guys are more post-hardcore and shoegaze mixed with electroclash/new rave.
This may sound like absolute shit, but it's actually very skillfully done, and has just the right amount of guitar, alternating between screaming/singing vocals and synths/electronic kick drums.
It's interesting for sure, so check it out - I, for one, really enjoyed this album.

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Aether - Artifacts

Hey there. Today I have some really awesome music for you, as always. Aether (real name is this dude who makes awesome trip-hop and this is probably his best work. There seems to be a large ambient influence as many of the songs are really calm and downtempo, like Selected Ambient Works 85-92, but with a hip-hop beat (might not be as good as Aphex Twin's masterpiece, but still). This guy is really talented and doesn't seem to get the attention he deserves, so give him a listen (also records under the moniker A.M Architect).All in all, Artifacts is a great collection of chilled-out, laid-back beats and with a distinct ambient sound, 38 minutes of pure trip-hop genius. So if you're in the mood for some really chill music that never gets boring (like some ambient), then this is your album.

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Major Lazer - Guns Don't Kill People...Lazers Do

Alright, let me just start this off by saying that this is probably the most awesome album art I've ever posted on this blog. I mean just look at those two rudeboys dancing in the background, the mummy, the bikini babe and of course Major Lazer himself with his badass shades and microphone ammo-belt.
Now to the music. This is quite unusual from what i normally post, but I recently found this awesome album and thought the blog could some more variety. This is, at its foundation, a dancehall album. But it takes inspiration from so many other genres, such as reggae, dub, electro and house. Major Lazer consist of the two producers Diplo and Switch, the dudes who produced M.I.A's "Paper Planes".
Basically all of the tracks make use of brilliant sampling and they've all got a bass-heavy beat. There is also at least one collaborator on each track, mostly various less known reggae, dub and dancehall artists (most notable in my opinion would be Santigold and Turbulence though).
Obviously this album was made to be played in clubs, but that doesn't change the fact that it's enjoyable to listen to at home as well.
Now, I'm not really a big fan of dancehall, but I find this album to be really great (except the 10th track which features horrible autotune with Nina Sky. Eww). If you don't believe me just check Pitchfork's review (not that they are respectable or even good critics, but still).
So if you like dancehall or other "dance-music" like house, techno or trance (or reggae/dub), then be sure to check this out.

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Black Moth Super Rainbow - Start A People

I'm back with another awesome (obviously) album for you. This one is called "Start A People" and it is in my opinion probably BMSR's best album. It's all very psychedelic and electronic mixed with some indie pop, plus subtle vocoder-vocals (you know those things that make sound like a robot?) in the background in just about every song. It sounds very experimental and it probably is; happy, trippy electronic pop with a chilled out hip-hop beat. I guess you could call it "psychedelic trip-hop"? Either way, this a great album filled with trippy awesomeness and you should probably (read: definitely) check this out.

DWONLAOD.

Circusbreaker - Objective Facts Concerning Destruction

Yes, yes. The album for today is a strange, yet awesome one. Circusbreaker seems to be a very obscure artist (only like 70 listeners on last.fm). This album sounds like something Merzbow and Sabrepulse would have done if they collaborated while tripping balls on acid. Sound awesome? It fucking is. This guy is just criminally underrated, and this album is insane. All fans of electronic music (especially the "extreme" stuff like breakcore/noise/glitch), should check this out. Incredible.

DÖWNLÖAD

Jazz Thieves - Pushin' Wax

Hello again. I wasn't going to post another album today, until i stumbled upon this little pearl. Best drum 'n' bass I've heard in a long while. It's some really awesome liquid funk d'n'b with nice funk and soul samples blended perfectly with the beat. Any d'n'b fan should really check this out ASAP. And it's only a two song EP or demo or whatever, so it'll be a fast download. But don't forget my other post!

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Teargas & Plateglass - Black Triage

What's up? Today I'm posting two albums, this will be the first one (obviously). Teargas & Plateglass' Black Triage is a pretty sad, depressing album but awesome nonetheless. It's sounds like, oh I don't know.....Industrial Trip-Hop perhaps? Either way it's really cool, nice hip-hop beats with a dark, industrial and scary soundscape. Kind of dark ambienty. Check it out, peace!

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Break - Return To The Temple EP

Shit yeah, time for some D'n'B! This here is the latest EP from Break, a great neurofunk/darkstep artist (I honestly haven't listened to his previous work, so I'm not entirely sure if he's done some darkstep other than a song or two on this EP). Anyway, this is pretty awesome and I strongly encourage you to check it out if you like Drum & Bass. I'm posting a split later today, since this is only an EP.

DOWNLOAD LINK WEBSHERIFF'D