Electronic

Autechre – Confield

Style: IDM, Glitch, Experimental Electronic, Generative

Vibes: Metallic, Wet, Mechanical, Cold, Woozy, Disorienting, Surreal, Abstract, Spectral, Complex, Futuristic, Hypnotic, Mysterious, Suspenseful, Monochromatic, Detached

Musical Qualities: Polyrhythmic, Glitchy, Digital, Percussive, Dissonant, Dense, Instrumental

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Off World – 2

featuring Sandro Perri, Eric Chenaux, Drew Brown, etc

Style: Alien Electronics, Tribal Ambient, Kosmische

Vibes: Spacey, Surreal, Imaginative, Exploratory, Impressionistic, Abstract, Cinematic, Meandering, Messy, Mysterious, Warm

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Autechre – Exai

Style: Glitch, IDM, Experimental Electronic

Moods: Futuristic, Mechanical, Cold, Urban, Hypnotic, Surreal, Anxious, Dystopian, Mysterious, Cinematic, Suspenseful

Musical Qualities: Digital, Generative Software, Percussive, Polyrhythmic, Glitchy, Repetitive, Dense, Complex, Sampling

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M. Sage – Paradise Crick

Style: Psychedelic Electronic, Ambient Americana

Vibes: Nature, Pastoral, Peaceful, Soothing, Hallucinogenic, Impressionistic, Light, Colorful, Forest

Instrumentation: Modular Synthesizer, Keyboards, Flute, Acoustic & Electric Guitars, Percussion, Violin, Autoharp, Harmonica, Penny Whistle, Vocals

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Nicholas Jaar – Sirens

Style: Ambient Pop, Progressive Electronic, Sound Sculpture, Downtempo

Moods: Urban, Surreal, Nocturnal, Cryptic, Mysterious, Retro-Futuristic, Hypnotic, Introspective, Motorik, Ethereal

Musical Qualities: Vocal Manipulation, Studio-as-an-Instrument. Rhythmic, Atmospheric, Lush, Sampling

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Tortoise – Rhythms, Resolutions & Clusters

Tracks from Tortoise’s debut LP remixed by Bundy K. Brown, John McEntire, Jim O’Rourke, Steve Albini, Mike Watt, Brad Wood, Rick Brown, Casey Rice

Styles: Ambient Dub, Electroacoustic, Electronic, Post-Rock

Moods: Deconstructed, Futuristic, Meditative, Mechanical, Cold, Open, Abstract, Airy, Eclectic, Mysterious, Peaceful, Spacey

Musical Qualities: Remix, Atmospheric, Sparse, Sampling, Loops, Instrumental, Electro-Acoustic

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Burial – Antidawn EP`

Style: Spectral Ambient Collage, Future Garage, lowercase

Moods: Longing, Nocturnal, Romantic, Lonely, Haunting, Foggy, Urban, Ethereal, Intimate, Rainy, Winter, Stark, Fragmented

Musical Qualities: Sampling, Soft, Atmospheric, Collage, Sparse, Reductionist

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Darkside – Spiral

Style: Neo-Psychedelia, Progressive Electronic, Art Pop

Vibe: Psychedelic, Groove, Cryptic, Mysterious, Surreal, Warm, Headphone Album

Musical Qualities: Melodic, Lush, Progressive, Studio-as-an-Instrument

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Holden – The Inheritors

Style: Progressive Electronic, IDM, Microhouse

Vibe: Ancient, Tribal, Ritualistic, Pagan, Brooding, Mythic, Cold, Visceral, Mechanical, Hypnotic, Driving, Epic, Focused, Mysterious, Mystical, Patient, Powerful, Suspenseful, Earthy

Musical Qualities: Repetitive, Distorted, Heavy, Rhythmic, Percussive, Loops, Dissonant, Dense, Instrumental, Pulse, Noisy, Progressive, Field Recordings, Sampling

Instrumentation: Bodhrán (Irish Frame Drum), Synthesizers, Drum Machine, Saxophone, Organ, Chanting, Melodeon (Pump Organ), Electric Guitar, Electric Bass, Xylophone, Live Electronics

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Cluster – Sowiesoso

Style: Progressive Electronic, Kosmische Musik

Vibe: Forest, Mysterious, Pastoral, Cosmic, Nature, Mellow, Contemplative, Focused, Motorik, Nocturnal

Musical Attributes: Instrumental, Repetition, Studio-as-an-Instrument

Instrumentation: Analogue Synthesizers, Drum Machine

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Botany – End the Summertime F(or)ever

While the luminescent drones and angelic simulacra of Deepak Verbera expanded out into the cosmos, Botany’s newest LP feels more rooted in the soil of our material reality. The bass heavy beats and impassioned vocal samples inspire movement and action rather than contemplation alone, not to say the results aren’t heady. Rich tapestries of resonant acoustic instruments (harps, flutes, percussion, strings), woozy synths, and warm tape hiss are as intricate as ever and easy to lose (or find?) yourself in.?Recommended to fans of Flying Lotus’ Until the Quiet Comes, Boards of Canada, and Alice Coltrane.?

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Arca – Arca

Released in 2017 on XL Recordings Format: LP Overview By introducing heartfelt vocals into her (often) harsh environments of contorted glitch-pop, Venezuelan producer Arca reaches near-claustrophobic levels of intimacy.

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The Books – The Way Out

The Books’ music is simultaneously funny, innovative, catchy and enlightening. They use found sound and spoken word mixed with innovative recording techniques and acoustic instruments to create beautiful sound-collages that somehow create unity between all these disparate sources, as if they were all meant to be together. Everything these guys do, solo or together, is absolute genius.

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Jon Hopkins – Singularity

Dynamic and uplifting house music characterized by filtered drums and enveloping synth textures. With its driving arpeggiations, danceable 4-on-the-floor grooves, hypnotic build-ups, and soothing ambient tracks, Singularity is extremely well-paced, and it’s most beautiful moments full of sublime wonder.

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Tonto’s Exploding Head Band – Zero Time

A psychedelic synth odyssey created with only an expanded Series III Moog by Robert Margouleff and synth-guru Malcolm Cecil (who programmer synths on legendary albums by Stevie Wonder and Gil-Scott Heron in addition to his ambient solo work). The intricately layered results here feel like a synthetic wilderness, with a wide variety of colors and textures that sound warm, organic, and natural despite their electronic origins.

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Tangerine Dream – Zeit

This is what I imagine a black hole might sound like. “Zeit” translates to “Time”, yet time feels completely suspended here, filled instead with vast negative space in which burbling VCS 3 synthesizers, suspenseful organs, and a droning quartet of cellos float in and out. These four sidelong pieces erase all traces of rock or any kind of beat from Tangerine Dream’s sound, leaving ominous space-ambient music in its purest form.

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Eno, Roedelius, Moebius – After the Heat

Brian Eno and German kosmiche duo Cluster collaborate on a spacey synthesizer album with diverse moods, including peaceful ambient swells, sinister sequencers, industrial drum machine grooves, and suspenseful piano motifs. The release is mostly instrumental but Eno songs sparingly on a couple tracks. The last track features Can’s Holger Czukay playing some pulsing, harmonic bass grooves

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Dead Recipe – Day of Mangoes [Review]

“Day of Mangoes” is overstimulation at it’s finest. Just imagine floating down a river through an unexplored tropical paradise where every corner brings a new array of colorful sounds. Warm synths gliding over clunking piano give way to chorus-drenched highlife guitars strumming over thick synth basslines. Manipulated vocal samples emerge from nowhere and then disappear into radio static just as quickly…RIYL: Animal Collective, King Sunny Ade, & Madlib

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