"tragedy & geometry" was very much the jam and i hope someday to see this artist's work in person
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Nlr4QGUmL.jpg
― the late great, Thursday, 1 October 2015 06:26 (eight years ago) link
it's not techno
and it's more subdued even than earlier stuff but somehow that makes it seem more listenable (even though what i really yearn for is more hyperdriven woodoowoodoowoodoowoodoo synth arpeggiation)
― j., Tuesday, 6 October 2015 19:36 (eight years ago) link
THE HELENA HAUFF ALBUM
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 6 October 2015 20:48 (eight years ago) link
yes, it's quite good
― the late great, Tuesday, 6 October 2015 22:08 (eight years ago) link
iirc you compared it to miss kittin
― the late great, Tuesday, 6 October 2015 22:09 (eight years ago) link
The Helena Hauff album is incredible.
― Non-Stop Erotic Calculus (bmus), Tuesday, 6 October 2015 22:38 (eight years ago) link
Hauff album is great though i think i like a tape just as much.
― Tim F, Tuesday, 6 October 2015 22:39 (eight years ago) link
Has some of the same lost in the woods on a cold planet vibe I get from Charles Cohen's Brother, I Prove You Wrong.
not an album, but beatrice dillon's latest 12" on where to now? is nothing short of amazing.
from the hauff album, 'l'homme mort' is the only keeper imho. can't get into the whole goth/minimal wave/witchy vibe of the rest.
― rusty_allen, Friday, 30 October 2015 13:09 (eight years ago) link
discovered this dude after seeing an upcoming album on Apothecary Compositions, and fell in love with his previous one:
https://kazukikoga.bandcamp.com/album/alleingehen20
lots of repurposed metal drum solos, it sounds like. :)
― expertly crafted referential display name (Jordan), Wednesday, 11 November 2015 16:22 (eight years ago) link
really enjoying the Regis album, even if parts feel a little like a post-punk/goth pastiche
― 0 / 0 (lukas), Friday, 20 November 2015 01:55 (eight years ago) link
still been digging this gunnar haslam from last year all year long
http://www.discogs.com/Gunnar-Haslam-Mirrors-And-Copulation/master/760421
good lively early-winter mood-changer
― j., Wednesday, 9 December 2015 22:04 (eight years ago) link
Yes
― the late great, Wednesday, 9 December 2015 22:04 (eight years ago) link
I like the Lauer album a lot and see any mention of it here. kinda cheerfull synth pop x house vibes. quality
― dsb, Monday, 14 December 2015 23:12 (eight years ago) link
hieroglyphic being album on soul jazz is great, how it compares to the other 544 hieroglyphic being albums i know not
that nidia minaj one is a good listen too imo
― seb mooczag (NickB), Monday, 14 December 2015 23:19 (eight years ago) link
I would love to see some year-end top 10's in this vein.
― Nico, Tuesday, 15 December 2015 13:43 (eight years ago) link
if i was doing a dance-only list it'd go
1. levon vincent - levon vincent2. helena hauff - discreet desires3. nozinja - nozinja lodge4. holly herndon - platform5. jam city - dream a garden6. flava d - more love7. jlin - dark energy8. dj richard - grind9. vakula - a voyage to arcturus10. nidia minaj - danger11. fatima yamaha - imaginary lines12. floating points - elaenia13. hunee - hunch music14. romare - projections14. heavy-k - respect the drumboss 201515. anna caragnano & donato dozzy - sintetizzatrice16. blondes - rein17. darkstar - foam island
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Tuesday, 15 December 2015 13:54 (eight years ago) link
I love the Jam City and Caragnano/Dozzy but I can't imagine thinking of them as dance music, really.
― boxedjoy, Tuesday, 15 December 2015 15:16 (eight years ago) link
yeah the jam city was excellent
― the late great, Tuesday, 15 December 2015 20:19 (eight years ago) link
The new Donato Dozzy album (Loud Silence) is pretty disappointing. It's like he takes the same concept as Aphex Twin did 25 years ago with "Didgeridoo" - the similarity between acoustic instruments and oscillating electronic sounds - except he's using mouth harp instead of didgeridoo, and stretches it over several tracks. It's not a an unworthy idea, but who needs a full album of that? Sintetizzatrice I found to be a bit more interesting, but I think it suffered from the same flaw of spreading a simple idea too thin. I wish DD would stop releasing these concept albums (this is the third in row!) and go back to proper techno, like K and Voices from the Lake.
― Tuomas, Tuesday, 15 December 2015 20:48 (eight years ago) link
Anyway, my top 7 electronic albums from this year would be like this:
1. Raw C + Pharmakustik – Anamorph Specimens (excellent, droney and acid-tinged long-form techno)
2. Holly Herndon – Platform (a clear improvement over her previous album, this is how glitch should sound like, fun and inviting; if it wasn't for the silly ASMR track, this would be almost perfect)
3. Thomas P. Heckmann – Ghosts (this album looks and sounds like a soundtrack to some imaginary science horror film, some cold and harsh dark ambient with occasional beats)
4. Omni Vu Deity - Vuunayatu (this pretty much the opposite of "Ghosts", light and colourful and breezy ambient; this is supposedly inspirede by Polynesian music, but I'm not sure if I hear it, except for the gentle percussive pulse that permeates the music)
5. Lorenzò Montana - Vari Chromo (this sounds like old-fashioned "home listening techno" with its syncopated beats and moody synth melodies, but boy is this guy great at producing it)
6. Material Object + Ishq – Invisible Light (these two acts from the opposite ends of ambient music, with Ishq specializing in soothing cosmic sounds, and Material Object in metallic drones; as expected, the result of their collaboration is somewhere in between, but it works)
7. Moufang / Czamanski – Live In Seattle (unlike the Reagenz album of last year, this recording of a David Moufang & partner live techno gig actually sounds live, with plenty of fun improvisation)
I wish I could add the new Pole album to the list, but like Donato Dozzy it was kind of disappointment; cold and abstract, but not in an interesting way, like his previous LP was.
― Tuomas, Wednesday, 16 December 2015 09:33 (eight years ago) link
i only listened to the Jam C
― lute bro (brimstead), Thursday, 17 December 2015 01:41 (eight years ago) link
oops
i only listened to the Jam City once but was really disappointed. Loved classical curves a ton, did not care to hear dude start singing
― lute bro (brimstead), Thursday, 17 December 2015 01:42 (eight years ago) link
― lex pretend, Tuesday, October 6, 2015 1:48 PM (2 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
this is fucking rad, tho
― lute bro (brimstead), Thursday, 17 December 2015 01:43 (eight years ago) link
my year, no particular order:
acronym - junehelena hauffhuneejonas munk - absorb/fabric/cascadelaurel halo - in situmesh - piteous gatenick hoppner - folkeverything reckonwrong released, thanks ilx for the tipregis - manbaittom ellard - rhine
― 0 / 0 (lukas), Thursday, 17 December 2015 02:51 (eight years ago) link
Material Object + Ishq – Invisible Ligh
haha interchill 2015 to infinity! downloading now.
― 0 / 0 (lukas), Thursday, 17 December 2015 02:53 (eight years ago) link
Just discovered that Acronym album yesterday, it's excellent.
― ewar woowar (or something), Thursday, 17 December 2015 11:14 (eight years ago) link
A lot of these albums don't feel especially concerned with dancing at all, a lot of ambient/drone/glitch/sunset beach bar vibes/industrial/stealth indie which is all well and good but nine times out of ten they don't really excite me. I want more artists to make albums that feel more like great DJ sets, Levon definitely wins in this regard.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 17 December 2015 12:46 (eight years ago) link
Maybe I could start a separate rolling thread for ambient/chill/weeded electronic music? I'm getting old, so this kind of sofa music appears to me more these days than hardcore bangers, but I agree that they don't really belong to this thread...
― Tuomas, Thursday, 17 December 2015 12:58 (eight years ago) link
Rolling ambient/chill out/drone/moodz thread: from 2010s 'til infinity!
― Tuomas, Thursday, 17 December 2015 13:04 (eight years ago) link
that boof album is really good imo. i enjoy the hunee but his mixes are better, like 5/6 this year i'd rather listen to.
― japanese mage (LocalGarda), Thursday, 17 December 2015 13:17 (eight years ago) link
dance artists making home listening albums that aren't focused on the dancefloor is a pretty long-standing thing and a reason it's not really an ~albums genre tho
vincent, hauff, nozinja, nidia minaj, dj richard albums are all refreshing in that context, they're all pretty banging, and if i heard the right bits of the herndon and jlin albums they'd work too
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Thursday, 17 December 2015 14:11 (eight years ago) link
the hunee album is a bit like last year's leon vynehall album to me, really talented producers making always-pleasurable sounds but they have less of an impact in the album format than as a single or in a mix. i mean, it's worth hearing if they're your thing
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Thursday, 17 December 2015 14:12 (eight years ago) link
hunee's mixes are legit so much better than his own stuff tho imo, not that his album is bad or anything, just a little boring comparing to his selections
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Thursday, 17 December 2015 18:49 (eight years ago) link
i think the boof album is pretty much doing it right, comparable to levon vincent's lp with the variations in style and ratio of dancefloor to couch
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Thursday, 17 December 2015 18:51 (eight years ago) link
I wasn't feeling the Boof at all when I listened earlier in the year but may give it another go.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 17 December 2015 19:08 (eight years ago) link
yeah hunee is an incredible dj, haven't heard the album yet lol.
how do y'all feel about the dj richard album? i thought it was good w/ some misses. i liked the flow and general vibe.
― gareth "gaz" coombes (mattresslessness), Thursday, 17 December 2015 19:16 (eight years ago) link
as this thread title kinda implies, most dance albums are p sterile - the buzz of a great mix is so much better. if i listen to electronic albums it's p unlikely they'll be house and techno.
it's a no brainer - all the music ever made v one artist's music.
i mean of course, some albums are good and there are great electronic albums, but even at a time when i'm less purist about electronic music than ever, this all still feels quite true for me, not least because i don't think it's ever been possible to get such a glut of mixes from clever selectors.
this idea of a dance album replicating a dj set is like someone telling me a jacket made out of shoes is a good substitute for a pair of shoes
― japanese mage (LocalGarda), Thursday, 17 December 2015 20:46 (eight years ago) link
i don't think the aim of most dance albums is to replicate a dj set and most of the best dance albums don't have the same appeal as a mix at all. i guess a lot of the time it's a producer finding or honing a very distinct style or sonic palette that works really well together rather than joined up with other artists' styles (which is true of the vincent, hauff and nozinja albums, the three on my list that i'd really really rep hard for as albums qua albums and which are also dancefloor-oriented)
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Thursday, 17 December 2015 23:47 (eight years ago) link
Yeah it's not literally wanting a mix of an artist's own stuff (although I did feel that about the DJ Q album from last year) it's more just a sense of narrative or flow or whatever, some sense of energy rather than bloodlesness.
So many techno albums in particular just feel like an arbitrary selection of discrete tracks, with the sense that the artist didn't consider them good enough to release as singles. And who wants to listen to individual techno tracks anyway? Like, the records are explicitly designed to be heard in the context of one another.
― Matt DC, Friday, 18 December 2015 00:01 (eight years ago) link
that is a bit of an old saw around here and it isn't completely true imo, i mean it depends on the artist. i want to listen to individual techno tracks when they're good as tracks and would much rather hear those in a dj set anyway. if it's boring to listen to start to finish it's boring in a set imo. i can enjoy an album full of good house / techno on its own even when it's relatively 'mixable' as long as it has some character.
― COOMBES (mattresslessness), Friday, 18 December 2015 00:08 (eight years ago) link
i like the album format for certain artists because it lets you dive a little bit more into what makes them tick. examples coming to mind are the pearson sound or anthony naples albums from this year, which like don't grab me by the lapels but are rich as collections i think.
― COOMBES (mattresslessness), Friday, 18 December 2015 00:11 (eight years ago) link
i guess a lot of the time it's a producer finding or honing a very distinct style or sonic palette that works really well together rather than joined up with other artists' styles
for sure - i guess that sentence describes any good album, to a point - i just think it's p rare for this to be done in a brilliant way in dance music - you need a real auteur.
i want to listen to individual techno tracks when they're good as tracks and would much rather hear those in a dj set anyway. if it's boring to listen to start to finish it's boring in a set imo.
yeah i mean i have always liked listening to individual techno or house tracks. thing is, there's kind of a long-standing prob with dance albums whereby the tracks are just not as good as the producer's best recent 12 or remix. of course it's not a cast iron universal truth but i always feel like 12s or singles are just worth more. a really brilliant two-track 12 feels like it gives more joy than an album, or a really brilliant track. a mix full of these components the same.
it's not even purism - it just feels kind of essentially true to me, like a characteristic of what dance music is, though obv ymmv.
in any case i think this year is a p good example of this - i liked the hunee record on first listen but after a few plays it's p much done. the breadth of his selections on nts have me going back for more constantly. the power of these amazing cratediggers on tap on soundcloud is serious.
― japanese mage (LocalGarda), Friday, 18 December 2015 00:25 (eight years ago) link
yeah i have to say i mostly prefer the 12" to the album anyway, more bang for my buck!
― COOMBES (mattresslessness), Friday, 18 December 2015 00:28 (eight years ago) link
i've really enjoyed this album, vaguely drexciyan italo jams
http://eodtracks.bandcamp.com/album/the-derelict
― the late great, Friday, 18 December 2015 08:01 (eight years ago) link
Yeah I guess the issue is more often than not with producers just not bringing their A game to an album, or trying something new that they just aren't as good at.
I think I'm really talking about techno albums here - there are loads of great house albums, especially at the vocal end of the spectrum. But it's also structural - techno is so much about momentum and build that it's frustrating to hear producers abandon that by including half a dozen inessential tracks, or veering off into ambient just as they've got something building.
Going right back to a record like Landcruising, or the Brown Album, and you think these guys just nailed how to make techno work in the album format. The Levon album has that whole properly structured flow, the Nick Hoppner album as well, in a gentler way. But it's also significant that the best Omar-S album is a mix of his own stuff, the best Matthew Jonson album is basically a live set etc.
"if it's boring to listen to start to finish it's boring in a set imo"
Thing is I've heard so many unexceptional records come to life in the hands of a really skilled producer. Plenty of records are just components, a cool noise to be thrown in at the right time, and that's fine, they're basically made with that in mind.
― Matt DC, Friday, 18 December 2015 08:49 (eight years ago) link
I mean a really skilled DJ, not producer.
― Matt DC, Friday, 18 December 2015 09:05 (eight years ago) link
trying to think of other electronic albums that work as mixes in their own right- there is obviously the Villalobos Fabric mix of his own material, as well as Omar-S. The (excellent, under-rated) i:Cube album M:Megamix record springs to mind as well.
― The Male Gaz Coombes (Neil S), Friday, 18 December 2015 09:06 (eight years ago) link
confessions on a dance floor is basically a continuous mix
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Friday, 18 December 2015 09:10 (eight years ago) link
unexpectedly i enjoyed the helena hauff album much more than her previous 12s