so what happened to 'electronica'?

Post by **mudd** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 10:56 pm

i'm listening to colleen right now, and enjoying it a lot. an album of music-box delicacy spread out over 14 tracks, calming and just a little bit too charming.

and i'm enjoying it. but didn't there used to be a whole genre of music that would at least have shared some border with this album. where did it go?

i know there's new tim hecker (have heard, have not loved) and i know that dubstep came out of somewhere and happened all over the place. but is that it for electronica?

help me out here.

m

vegetable mind · Post by **vegetable mind** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 11:07 pm

if you want to shoot for that cute and charming angle, you could try lullatone(namely computer recital for heavier "electronica", although sometimes it can be oversaturated with cute, other times it really shines.

i enjoy susanne brokesch a fair amount...some(not much) susuma yokota...tape might fall into this genre?...tomas jirku...xela...yasume...

dunno, try any of those out which you havent heard and see if they fit your fancy

scumtron · Post by **scumtron** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 11:57 pm

It seems these days three labels are releasing the bulk of the good electronic music I've heard: Kranky, Type, and Audio Dregs. Lullatone just released a new album on Audio Dregs, Plays Pajama Pop Pour Vous, which certainly has a lovely, delicate sound. Helios' album Eingya (which was released on Type) was really great ambient pop. I'd say artists like Semuin and Yuichiro Fujimoto have been the closest to Colleen in sound of what's come out in the past little while.

When I try and find good, new music outside of these three labels, it gets a little more difficult. Maybe I should finally subscribe to the online version of Grooves, which is/was the best magazine in covering electronic music.

Post by **mudd** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:04 am

i've been considering grooves myself, maybe i should look into that finally. stupid work might stymie, though. the man behind the mag hasn't shown up on the check in thread, but maybe we'll see him in the thread?

i know kranky, of course, and am familiar with audio dregs though i didn't know they were still putting out much stuff. where's type based? what have they been up to? does leaf still do much?

m

edit: and veg, thanks for the names. i know tape, but haven't heard anything in a while. of course, they're supposed to be mostly acoustic, but i know what you mean. the other names are new to me.

scumtron · Post by **scumtron** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 1:03 am

For some info on Type: http://www.typerecords.com/

The label's from the UK, and it's grown a great deal in the past couple years since it was founded. They're branching out more into folk and post-rock now, but they are still pretty committed to releasing electronic stuff, considering most of the UK's electronic labels seem to be dying out. The sound of the label reminds me of Berlin's City Centre Offices http://www.city-centre-offices.de/cco/ (another old electronic label that's still hanging in there), so generally quiet, melodic electronic music with a little post-rock thrown in for variety. I really like the Helios, Goldmund, Ryan Teague, Khonnor, and Julien Neto albums on Type.

As for Leaf. I honestly haven't heard too much from them lately besides that Colleen Et Les Boites A Musique album, which is very similar to her album The Golden Morning Breaks. According to their site (http://www.theleaflabel.com/basic/index.php) they haven't released too much by artists that I know besides that new Triosk album (which I haven't heard) and the volcano! album, which I recall being okay...

I hope this helps a little...

mshiflet · Post by **mshiflet** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 2:10 am

pretty sure grooves is free now. my understanding is they played with the digital subscription approach and didn't work out as they planned, so they went the free web-based route.

sound plague · Post by **sound plague** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 2:32 am

I've been rather enjoying James Holden's "the idiots are winning" a fair bit lately.

user_3348 · Post by **user_3348** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 4:47 am

mudd wrote: edit: and veg, thanks for the names. i know tape, but haven't heard anything in a while. of course, they're supposed to be mostly acoustic, but i know what you mean. the other names are new to me.

Colleen is "mostly acoustic", I think, in as much as the sounds are from acoustic instruments. I am always a bit surprised to see her in the electronica sections of magazines or wherever. But perhaps it fits in better there than anywhere else. Either way, I love her stuff.

As for other things, I agree about Kranky: lots of good stuff from there.

user_1082 · Post by **user_1082** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 11:00 am

I was a fan of Aphex Twin and Autechre (and some later Squarepusher) for quite some time. and though I still enjoy Selected Ambient Works, Vol. II, the only "electronic" music I listen to these days is Rowe, Sachiko, Toshimaru, Filip, GOD, Lescalleet, English and Deathprod.

Isn't Four Tet (Kieran Hebden) recording with an older free jazz drummer?

user_1082 · Post by **user_1082** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 4:10 pm

Regarding the Leaf label, I think Icarus made the most interesting "electronica" that I remember. I believe they processed Evan Parker samples on the album, I Tweet the Birdy Electric.

user_285 · Post by **user_285** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 5:50 pm

here i be! sir shiflet is right. we aren't doing the digital magazine anymore, mostly because i don't have huge blocks of time to create whole issues with the day job and three young kids and all.

so all new content is free on our web site. we put up an interview with tim hecker (speaking of kranky) recently and we add new record reviews nearly every day.

cheers, sean
groovesmag.com

Post by **mudd** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 6:23 pm

you should make that link in your sig active, so i can be laaaazzzzy.

but that's cool, i'm glad you guys are still around. pity about the time, but i'm glad the zine is still going.

m

sound plague · Post by **sound plague** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 7:01 pm

ghost trance wrote:Isn't Four Tet (Kieran Hebden) recording with an older free jazz drummer?

Steve Reid

user_285 · Post by **user_285** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 10:16 pm

ok, here it is.

http://www.groovesmag.com

cleanzero · Post by **cleanzero** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 1:17 pm

scumtron wrote:For some info on Type: http://www.typerecords.com/

The label's from the UK, and it's grown a great deal in the past couple years since it was founded. They're branching out more into folk and post-rock now, but they are still pretty committed to releasing electronic stuff, considering most of the UK's electronic labels seem to be dying out.

I have only listenede to two releases from Type which I was given for reviewing (in italian). Not really my stuff, but nice if you are into it. Melodic and a bit poppy electronic music for Midaircondo (with very sexy voices ...) and instrumental slowly evolving cinematic stuff for Deaf Center. My favourite electronic label is still 12K/Line: the latest releases from Alva Noto and Taylor Deupree were really good i think.

http://www.kathodik.it/modules.php?name ... nt&id=2101

http://www.kathodik.it/modules.php?name ... nt&id=2335

bombinthebeehive · Post by **bombinthebeehive** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 5:43 am

i dont know about electronica, but electronic dance music is at an all time high point in its existence. justice/erolalkan/devro et al.

Drinky · Post by **Drinky** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:11 am

Stuff like Helios is really nice, but there seems to be a lot of that pretty, new agey electronic music around lately. I can't really get too excited about it.

I like the recent Tim Hecker, but it occupies pretty familiar territory as does Belong's October Language (that Fennesz sort of droney feedbacky ambiance) which I also like.

I used to be a big fan of Aphex Twin, Autechre, Squarepusher, and some others, but I haven't heard anything much come along since then that is as fun and exciting as that was to me at the time.

edit: But I should get that Colleen album. I liked the older one, but haven't really listened to it enough.

Post by **mudd** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:35 am

rlch wrote:i dont know about electronica, but electronic dance music is at an all time high point in its existence. justice/erolalkan/devro et al.

you're gonna have to say more about this, dude. cuz i don't have a clue what you're talking about.

and drinky, i found the new hecker to be a step back on his own material. nothing gravelly, nothing gaspy, just pretty pretty. but maybe i'm being harsh.

m

Drinky · Post by **Drinky** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 12:33 pm

I don't have any older Tim Hecker so that may very well be.

Although I'd say there's a lot more to this one than "prettiness". Or at least it's the kind of prettiness I can stomach.

scumtron · Post by **scumtron** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 7:08 pm

Mudd, about the electronic dance stuff:

All the French House stuff is huge again: Daft Punk, Mr. Oizo, Cassius, Fred Falke & Alan Braxe, etc. and there is a label out of Paris (I believe) called Ed Banger Records who are putting out a lot of stuff that is (apparently) lighting up dancefloors. It's kind of odd though, because most of the stuff is either pretty harsh sounding (Justice, Sebastian) or has some really odd time signatures (meaning not a straight-up 4/4 beat like most house). I'm not 100% sold on the stuff, but it is growing on me, the Uffie single "Pop the Glock" is pretty catchy, as is Sebastian's Ross Ross EP and DJ Mehdi's track "Lucky Boy".

Other dancy stuff that's pretty big now includes: Lindstrom (sounds kinda like Italo-disco), Hot Chip (they are hyped up a ton, but hey, they are catchy), and Booka Shade (reminds me of Kompakt German house stuff with more hooks).