albums of note that I'm hearing for the first time

chrondog wrote:I also suspect the economics of small labels that used to put out this kind of music aren't as viable in the digital age.

Initially it seemed like the digital age was given these artists even more visibility. Labels like Hyperdub, Tri Angle, Sandwell District, etc. really benefited from the Internet to generate an internal fanbase. Artists like Burial, who were influenced by drum and bass were able to really transcended those scenes because the Internet provided them with a platform to reach mass audiences who were not interested in rave culture. The early days of "idm" were really Internet-centric. But yeah, something has definitely changed more recently. It seems like the growth of streaming platforms has really changed the business of music to the detriment of more experimental sub-cultures.

This is all speculative. I really have no idea. I miss how immersive music listening used to be for me though. I've gotten back into some of this stuff because remote working is really conducive but it is a different experience than when I was first discovering this stuff in my early 20s.

I think IDM used to be owned by rich edgelords who had the money to buy expensive audio hardware and software. Now that stuff comes free on your iPhone making it easy to create a decent IDM beat (known as ‘study music’ now, (CANT FORGET UTILITY!)) for your tik tok video. I suppose it’s kinda like that with everything, you either have the money to ‘play’ with the latest technologies in a certain field or your stuck scraping by with what you can afford or are gifted.

wp64 I don't mean to be annoying or pedantic but in most parts of the world drum 'n' bass had a much wider audience than Burial and the internet may as well not have existed in the 'early days of IDM'

Yeah, I gotta agree with mr. Bootcut here, like I indicated above too, you might not have even owned a computer let alone have a good internet connection around 1995-2000. I think in a way you’re actually referring more to the era of grime, dubstep, and minimal techno, like 2000-2007. Whatever the case, there is no denying that the internet had a huge influence on music after Napster.

You are right. I am viewing all of this from a very narrow prism of my own experience of discovering this music. I remember reading a bunch of Burial interviews where he explained how he basically developed his sound through a remote attachment to British rave culture. If I remember correctly, he was too young to go to the clubs and parties but his older brother would give him mixtapes and CDs. Burial's whole project, from this perspective, was transforming the sonic palette of British ravers into something for melancholic loners. KLF probably offers something similar but I know less about them.

Anyways, you are are not being pedantic at all. My knowledge of all this stuff is super partial and often times just wrong and stupid.

WP64 wrote:But yeah, something has definitely changed more recently. It seems like the growth of streaming platforms has really changed the business of music to the detriment of more experimental sub-cultures.

I think this is mostly right. There's still a ton of people doing minimal electronica and ambient music on Soundcloud, Bandcamp, and other independent platforms, but how do they get discovered? How do they find a sustainable audience? What "label" has money to support their art without some level of commercial viability? Back in the early days it seems like there was more drive to discover the technology and push it to its limits in search of art. Now, basically anyone can create any kind of music they want. The lack of a cutting-edge vibe and a "scene" makes it hard.

Very generally, I think YouTube/streaming have sucked a ton of money out of the industry and homogenized what is "discoverable".

chrondog wrote:Textstar is cool:

I've got through this 3-4 times in the past day. I really recommend this to everyone, it's stellar.

More straightforward than Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records, Textstar is just some good ass bleeps and bloops.

WP64- I would just like to say here that I have really enjoyed watching your maturation and development as a human being and poster from across the internet divide.

+1 to Viv's sentiment.

Very nice of you to say, Vlv. I hope you and your family are doing well after the difficult episode you had last year.

This great. But if you recognize this cover then you probably already know that. But what you're probably wondering now (or not!) is how undo could go like 13 years (?) or whatever to hear this for the first time?

I love all the other Actress albums. When I was in college (2010-2015ish or something) I had headphones on in the library between classes, after school, sitting in the science building and just working/studying/doing nothing at those tables in the halls and in the atrium (every small-midsized college in the US has a building like this and they're super proud of it but at the end of the day it's still basic architecture that looks fancy but is also secretly cheap in some way they're able to paint over for the most part) and I was just listening to techno and ambient music constantly. Splazsh and RIP all the time, but I never thought Hazyville would be as good (!?!?!?) or something? I don't know, I mean when I wanted to listen to Actress I wanted to listen to those two albums and why wouldn't I?

The production on Hazyville is just as good and the ideas are as fully formed as they are on latter albums. Every track here bangs and also smokes. Will report back later.

Swell Maps - A Trip to Marineville

If you like a blend of post-punk, noise rock, a little bit of experimental and found sounds thrown in with some sneering, snotty British punk vocals then give this a spin.

yeah! Jane from Occupied Europe too

did you check it out because of the Quietus interview w/ the less important members who just happen to still be alive?

Gene Bootcut wrote:yeah! Jane from Occupied Europe too

did you check it out because of the Quietus interview w/ the less important members who just happen to still be alive?

I have Jane From Occupied Europe queued up next. And yes, it was The Quietus interview that turned me onto them!

First thoughts just over 33% through 69 Love Songs:

1. I guess it's my fault for assuming the title was not literal.

2. The title of this record could very much stand to have a way smaller number in it.

Big Bud - Infinity + Infinity


Excellent, classic DnB album. Smooth, atmospheric stuff.

I have never listened to FKA Twigs before and only had the vaguest sort of expectations of what I was getting into. I assumed there would be vocals, the music itself would be some hybrid of electronic music and unconventional pop with lots of "glitchy" production. This was basically what I got.

I did not care for this. Perhaps I have never felt so completely annoyed and irritated by an album in my entire life? In fact, I hated almost every second of this. I really try not to make such absolute and hyperbolic statements but I was actually surprised and a little frightened by how much this was getting under my skin. Was I predisposed to approaching this with a hyperskeptical mindset that I only bring to highly-hyped albums/artists of the past decade? Was I just having a bad day yesterday? I know I can just ignore this and I don't have to listen to it at all. But so much of this is adjacent, either in concept or execution, to LOTS of other music I really love. Why not finally check it out? I have no duty to "keep up with music" (as if listening to an album that's seven years old now even accomplishes that!) but I'd like to remain open to and excited by where electronic and pop music goes in the future. I don't want my tastes to completely freeze in time or to stop feeling open to where music is going, because that means I'm going to miss out on so much amazing stuff that I would never be able to imagine, art that's going to leave me feeling engaged with the world instead of cloistered off into my own little cocoon of familiar favorites. So idk, maybe committing to that means I'll inevitably have these kind of experiences.

It is ridiculous to assume that this was some kind of super-calculated project created to specifically to bank on the critical zeitgeist of the mid-2010s, that post-Grimes world of Important Feminist Albums and "experimental" pop and the poptimist reappraisal of 90s R&B, etc. But this ticks all the boxes of what tastemakers wanted or considered important at at the time (I'm not sure they've really moved on except that they now get most of this via mainstream pop now). But this is not fun, it is not "exciting," there are no "hooks," I could understand about 5% of what she was singing, the rest of the vocals just sounded like this to me. The effects applied to her voice strike me as neither purposeful or "organic." I really should revisit this to specifically cite the moments that left me with this impression but I really don't want to! I'm having a nice, stress-free morning. Writing this is a little cathartic and I'm really not getting as fired up about this as I probably sound like I am.

The hard work that primed an audience for this was already put in by other artists who took artistic risks when it mattered and wasn't a telegraphed strategy that fit really nicely into the middlebrow, Extremely Online conception of what "experimental" music is (a completely meaningless term that is regularly applied to pop music on a regular basis now) or how that could cross over into a lucrative, accessible career. There is nothing innovative here at all that hasn't already been done! And that's fine but this was really built up as something daring and uncompromising... maybe it's a failure on my part as a listener that I cannot separate hype from my own personal experience of listening to music? Obviously, I have an axe to grind when it comes to stuff like this. It's really sad!

If you like this, that's fine and good, I hope we can still be friends.

That actually makes me feel better. I listened to this album for the first time a couple years ago. I actually gave it quite a few spins while walking around Bologna. It just didn't connect with me at all. "Two Weeks," which is the main single iirc, is fine. Nothing special though. I remember being really disappointed and thinking that this kind of music was probably just moving in a direction that no longer resonated for me, which might still be the case.

Probably one of the last albums you'd think I'd post itt but what can I say.

I was going to listen to all of their albums for in order but that never really happened so why not just listen to this already?

Boy, this really hits that spot. You know the one!

More 2 come!

undo wrote:

Probably one of the last albums you'd think I'd post itt but what can I say.

I was going to listen to all of their albums for in order but that never really happened so why not just listen to this already?

Boy, this really hits that spot. You know the one!

More 2 come!

I had the same experience a year ago! Listened to this before all their other albums and it took a while for me to want to explore anything else because it’s just so goddamn excellent.

Anyway, FKA Twigs creates music that makes me sleepy.

Chair Beside a Window seems to be the best-known and best-regarded album by the once-elusive singer-songwriter Jandek, so maybe it would be the obvious place to get into his music? Maybe there's an interesting journey that got us to this point but that's gonna have to be the road not taken for me. I had never heard a note of any of his songs before this. I suppose I knew this was going to be lo-fi and somewhat "dissonant" but I didn't really understand the depths of how deeply it would embody those adjectives.

This might be one of those albums that's so influential that years and years of hearing people trying to "do" it has kind of robbed most of the impact that this might have had on me. If I had heard this when I was 16 it probably would have blown my mind. But years of listening to stuff like The Dead C, Harshest Realm, Sonic Youth, Twin Infinitives, etc. has kind of blunted my ability to feel a whole lot of anything when it comes to this. There was probably a time when it would have felt completely shocking to hear something like this, but those days are long gone. Not at all suggesting that this album is all "mystery" and no substance or anything like that. I just didn't come away from this with a strong desire to hear it again or any expectations that a second listen would be a richer listening experience or anything.

If you have the keys to this album, please share them!

Nick wrote:Listened to this before all their other albums and it took a while for me to want to explore anything else because it’s just so goddamn excellent.

I really like this one too:

I remember only liking a handful of songs on the FKA Twigs album. Surprised to see any strong reaction to it at all, honestly.

I saw Brian Eno’s Ambient 4: On Land at disc replay in Highland, IN recently and decided to pick it up. It’s the remastered version that was done at Abbey Roads a few years ago. Apparently it’s mastered at half speed so you must play it at 45 to hear it as intended. From what they say it’s supposed to make the mids and highs sound clearer. Having never heard it before I can’t speak to that aspect but I will say that it sounds incredible. Anyway, I had listened to 1 and 3 and enjoyed them a little in my twenties but didn’t really appreciate them until recently. So with my new found appreciation for those records I figured buying this one without hearing it would be fine.

This record is a journey. I’d probably put it in the dark ambient category, so don’t approach this thing expecting the angelic voices of An Ending (ascent). Rather, it feels closer a well produced No Neck Blues Band or Jackie-O Motherfucker during their quieter, ambient passages. The playing is Slow, very deliberate, and patient with a mixture of darker and lighter tones, but overall, the vibe is mysterious. Also, it’s short, only a little over 40 minutes which allows it to fit into most mundane tasks. Highly recommended if you have not heard this one or like ambient.

I really enjoyed this.