Globular - Lemon

Globular - Lemon

Lemon is the first track on the year-end 2013 album, Sorbet for the Soul, a collaboration between Globular and Radioactive Sandwich. There's a lot of depth to this track in the unusual way Globular creates the strong beats that are layered with eccentric and indescribable elements. This track strikes a great balance between downtempo tracks that are too boring and psychedelic tracks that are too trippy.

Globular's music is a bubbling mass of virtual sounds designed to stimulate the ears, tickle the brain and move the body. Deep dubbed-out bass lines provide the bedrock for the harmonic intricacies and grooving melodies that typify this sound.

Globular takes listeners on a journey of their own choosing, encouraging all who enter to create their own stories and to dance their own dance. This is a good way to conceptualize how you might listen to most songs we post on this blog.

The tracks on this album are widely available for free download. An interesting tidbit that illustrates the skill of Globular and Radioactive Sandwich is that the collaboration is extremely unique in this way: "Each artist started with the same set of samples and built their tracks around those sounds. Globular cooked up Lemon while Radioactive Sandwich provided the tasty Mango. They then traded tracks and reinterpreted each others original track; Globular created Mamon from Mango and Radioactive Sandwich created Lengo from Lemon. The end result is a four track release that flows and blends seamlessly, every track containing flavors from the others, much like a tasty summer frozen treat." Amazing! Epic!

I'll post the second Globular track, Mamon, for fun.

Conjure One - Pandora

Conjure One - Pandora

This track is the ninth track on the 2002 self-titled album, Conjure One. It has a lot more non-traditional instrumentals and non-electronic elements, like piano, than many songs posted in the past, but the unique sounds and beats delivered to your headphones will put a chill up your spine. Conjure One specializes in bringing sounds that appear to be from the middle of nowhere with very native “tribal nomadic” vocals. It takes you to a chill place 3 hours away from the nearest city.

Conjure One – Nomadic Code

Conjure One – Nomadic Code

This enthralling track is the 5th track on the 2010 Conjure One album, Exilarch. It is really nomadic and described as “ethnic electronica” with chants and indecipherable words starting with focus and then swirling in circles around the beats. Another way you might look at it is that strong beats emerge from a nomadic chant that has unusual percussion elements throughout. This stuff is great because the track takes turns around the nomadic center to reveal a unique full-body work of art that keeps me focused on my work while relaxing me without putting me to sleep.

Caia - Heavy Weather

Caia - Heavy Weather

This track is off the obscure 2003 album, titled The Magic Dragon. I'm not a fan of primarily chillout tracks but this one has a bit more and is upbeat in a sunny sort of way. "It's downtempo meets new age meets electronica meets acid jazz. But more than anything, it's music that meets the soul and decides to become best friends." - review.

Blondes - Wine

Blondes - Wine

This track is from Disc 1 of the 2012 self-titled album, Blondes. This track has a fair amount of chill house vibes working through the body of the track, ending with melodic electronic noises. It has four-on-the-floor danceable beats, and the use of modal harmonies. It seems like this album would be great to listen to straight-through. 

J-Walk - French Letter

J-Walk - French Letter

This is the 11th track off the 2002 Manchester-based J-Walk album, A Night On The Rocks. It has a vintage late 60s psychedelic feeling mixed with headnodic beats, unsyncopated ensemble rhythms, and straight drum beats components. It's basically strings vibe & harpsichord with a hip hop beat. 

Dolle Jolle - Balearic Incarnation

Dolle Jolle - Balearic Incarnation

This is more house oriented than our usual posts but it has a very chill and ambient nature to it. The artist doesn't seem to be very well known for much outside this one track, but the track itself is fantastic. It has good house roots, four-on-the-floor beats, electronica influences, and could even be danced to.

One other common remix as "Todd Terje's Extra Doll Mix."

Teddybears - Alma

Teddybears - Alma

This is the last track on the 2007 compilation album Soft Machine. It's spastic beats can as some have said, "feed your ADHD." Others describe it saying, "This is a timeless piece for our electronica generation..." It's different in a good way.

Genome describes it as extensive vamping, major key tonality, and synthetic sonority. It's not the public's favorite track on the album, but I think it's mine.

Ulrich Schnauss - ...Passing By

Ulrich Schnauss - ...Passing By

This is the third track is off the first disc of Far Away Trains Passing By, the first album by Ulrich Schnauss, released in 2001. 

One of my biggest objectives in writing this blog is an effort to show EDM-heads that great electronic music existed before the advent of North American popularity for David Guetta, Skrillex, and Avicii. This song does it in spades. From 2001, you can hear nothing but the freshest sounds as if it were produced by a 2014 "underground" DJ.

It's important to take the time to let a track build and develop it's own character. A 3-4 minute track is just a radio hit. Songs with true character are typically at least double that in length; I prefer a full album length. This song builds slower than some, but the reward is there for those with patience and quality headphones.

Genome tells us that you will hear are unsyncopated ensemble rhythms, subtle buildup/breakdown, and use of modal harmonies. 

I would be remiss if I didn't post this second song, the first song on the album. "Knuddelmaus". Enjoy being so chill. 

Ten Walls - Walking with Elephants (Original Mix)

Ten Walls - Walking with Elephants (Original Mix)

This track seems to be a newer release and the artist is less established. The track has a definite deep house feel but steps outside the ordinary by blending in some serious low-pitched brass that gives the Elephant feel to the song.

Minotaur Shock - The Broads

Minotaur Shock - The Broads

Minotaur Shock is a lesser-known artist, one that I haven't come across much. The Broads is the 10th track on the 2005 album, Maritime.

The sound is rich in a way that I feel like I'm listening to beats in a heavy tropical rainforest. What makes it unique is the diversity of sounds and the use of stereophonic spectrum to give the track depth.

WhoMadeWho- Heads Above

WhoMadeWho- Heads Above



Heads Above is the 6th song on WhoMadeWho's 2014 album Dreams.

This rich song features a deep driving bass and engaging vocals. It has a retro feel to it; at the same time there exists an epic sadness. The organ, synth, and guitars blend harmoniously with the vocals to create a pure realness of sounds. It is a contemporary masterpiece.

Real Sound of the Day: Max Cooper- Woven Ancestry (Lusine Remix)

Max Cooper- Woven Ancestry (Lusine Remix)

 

This song is a remix by Lusine of Max Cooper's Woven Ancestry off the album Human.

 

Woven Ancestry (Lusine Remix) is a deep and eclectic song. The Tribal beats are constant and steady, while the harmonious sounds of the wind instruments and strings weave a journey throughout. You get lost in the moment and your mind drifts into a far off place. It is beautiful.



Little People - Start Shootin'

"Start Shootin'" is the 13th track on Little People's 2006 album Mickey Mouse Operation.

I selected this track because I don't typically hear a good bass and cello in an trip hop track.

As usual, I like to select a review from online:

"Let's get one thing straight, Mickey Mouse Operations is a very chill album. Little People create an excellent blend of original sounds with steady beats that grow on you as you listen. Little People have an excellent style of music which seems to blossom from minimalism in the sense that everything you hear is what you want to hear without any filler." - Review

Lusine- Two Dots

Lusine- Two Dots

This song is the 2nd track on the 2009 album, A Certain Distance.

Such a gem of a song, this downtempo tune truly eases your mind. The ethereal vocal hooks pull you in and create a fun, laidback vibe. But this catchy song is intelligent and organically builds to a unique, techno ambience. It is quite exhilarating.  

Real Sound of the Day: Boards of Canada- Dayvan Cowboy

Boards of Canada- Dayvan Cowboy

 

 

This is the 5th track from the 2005 album, The Campfire Headphase.

 

This timeless song probably sounds familiar because it was recently featured on the 2014 Nissan Altima Commercial. Dayvan Cowboy opens up with chill guitar harmonics which drift along like a light and steady wind.  Eventually, a rhythmic guitar and percussive beat  blend together with a smooth violin and distant bells to create pure harmony. This dream-like song is a true and monumental masterpiece.

 





 2014 Nissan Altima- Zero Gravity Commercial



Telefon Tel Aviv - John Thomas On The Inside is Nothing But Foam

Telefon Tel Aviv - John Thomas On The Inside is Nothing But Foam

This is the 4th track from the 2001 album, Fahrenheit Fair Enough, considered by some to be a masterpiece.

This chill glitch track creates a feeling of trippy pseudo-industrial organic beat with a standard percussion and guitar to keep it all together. The album is the masterpiece and this track is a pinnacle.

I like what others have to say about it:
"I'm not sure how to say this, but this is music you LISTEN to. This is audiophile music--you know, people who can justify buying speakers for $2000 apiece, and don't use them to watch movies. In fact, this album kind of only works on good stereos. If you try to play it in a boombox, or with pc speakers, or in most cars, you'll just hear the dot matrix printer/jar full of marbles sounds, and you'll miss the whole song underneath. These are complex arrangements, and they deserve to be reproduced on equipment that really lets each sound breathe and be appreciated." - Reviewer

Another says this:
"The sound flows and builds on itself through out the whole album, as if one is traveling a round trip. I've found I can put this album on repeat while working and not get tired or hearing the cd play over. This album is not background noise however, it is very well engineered beats that define a new step in electronic music." - Reviewer

Song of the Day: Planet of Sound- We are Together

Planet of Sound- We are Together

 

Officially released last week by Armin Van Burren's label Armada, "We are Together" is enchanting. The whistle and piano combined with that majestic female voice creates a surreal ambience. These chill and laidback vibes take you to a musical realm that is uplifting. This will be the refreshing sound of the summer.

Metaform - Heaven Can Wait

Metaform - Heaven Can Wait

This is the sixth track on the 2008 album Standing on Shoulders of Giants. This album is a work of art with 19 tracks completely sampled from old vinyl of classic hip hop style mixtapes. 
Jive magazine reviewed this album saying:

"Layering his compositions with samples from multiple genres, Metaform takes the listener on audible journey that few other producers are capable. What distinguishes him and this project from so many others that are similar is that Metaform maintains the soul of all his samples in his incorporation of them, so he isn't just using a loop for nostalgia or create an effect a familiarity but is building upon the groundwork of these giants to create something new and exciting that will be remembered on its own merit."

I picked this song because I was attracted to the classic breaks style of this track. It has an oldschool feeling without feeling like a boring hip-hop track waiting for rap vocals.

Throwback Thursday Song of the Day: Plaid- Rakimou

Plaid- Rakimou (feat. Mara Carlyle & Benet Walsh)

This song is the 10th song on the album "Not for Threes" released by Plaid in 1997.

The ethereal vocals are a driving force for setting the ambience of this down-tempo hymn. I love how this song progresses and the strings and light percussion build to an impactful moment when the rhythmic kicks drop in . The textured pads and vocals then all come together in perfect harmony. It is simply timeless.

Milosh - Run Away

Milosh - Run Away

This song is the 10th track on the 2008 album, Meme. A departure from typical drum and bass, it sets a different tone that drew me in immediately.

It's impressive how articulate Amazon reviewers are. I agree with how this album generates a relaxed feeling providing lush rich sounds. The songs on the album are very textured but I do not find them to be overproduced.

"Whispering electronics like feathers made out of electricity, kissing my skin, milosh's voice like warm dust blown along by wind, in the summer everyone's at the seaside, alone in the city, a duster singing, a sweet soft duster singing of love and regret and tears imprisoned in sidewalk paintings, like staring at a tiny speck until it becomes a world of it's own to stay in for a while, where secrets live freely. Married women becoming girls, married women becoming people, sleeping on the asphalt, forever falling inward backward, into self, like stepping off a ledge. It's strange how middle of summer can feel like autumn. Oh milosh." - Amazon Review.

Peace Orchestra - Who am I

Peace Orchestra - Who am I

This song is from the 1999 self-titled album, Peace Orchestra.

Many great artists are prolific. Others are one-hit wonders. One wonder is how such a talented artist as Peter Kruder produced this album solo and has not produced more than this album.

In any case, this classic track maintains a truly fresh feeling years later. In 1999, thirteen years before popular YouTube channels like "TheSoundYouNeed" drove dubstep-frenzied audiences into more nuanced electronica vibes, Peace Orchestra was setting the bar for all beats to come.

It's recommended to listen to the whole album, but this single track adds a touch of complex sound that might remind you of Acid Jazz or Trip Hop without being overbearing. The vocals add a distinct meditative mood while each sound layers on and off as to mold the shape of the mood. This album on repeat will reveal the richness of this captivating, textured work of art.

REAL SOUND OF THE DAY:

 

Tycho- Awake



 

This song is the opening and title song on the album "Awake."

 

Awake opens up with soothing guitar harmonics. Soon after the drums kick in and you become awake to this journey. The uplifting guitar melodies coupled with the soft synths cause your mind to wander off with the music. It is true electronic chill out music that elicits emotion. Simple, yet effective, it is realness of sounds. 

 

How does "Awake" make you feel?  

Bonobo - Recurring

Bonobo - Recurring

For today's post, I'll post a song of the day and work to describe the sound.

This song is the last track, 11, on the album "Days to Come".


I like the mixture of strings with the Drum and Bass style feel / electronic trip hop. 

For me, a good song has good basic elements of structure that I look for in electronic music. The build is simple and grows in the first 30 seconds, adding violin strings in the second 30 seconds. It builds straight through the breakdown.

A strong violin component seals this track for me. The other components give it an earthy feel to my non-musically inclined ear.

Pete is quoted thusly:

"I respect the rawness of the sounds and the music. It sounds more vintage but a good blend of tranquility--very original and timeless though. I like that it is a step away from electronic music and more towards realness of sounds."

"Q: What is recurring? A: Everything! The perfect end to a perfect day, progressively building upon itself to create an undeniable sense of movement, this piece is overflowing with nostalgia and the promise of, what else, Days to Come." - Review