Electronic
Noah’s Barks pages relating to the electronic music genre. Combine with other tags for subgenres, e.g. “electronic+indie.”
-
Sweet Trip – “Velocity : Design : Comfort” (2003)
Velocity : Design : Comfort is quality, spacey, happy, dreamy IDM with a lot of sudden glitch beats. Pleasant female vocals for about half of the album that sound exactly like Mary Hansen of Stereolab, both in voice and inflection. Despite what the genre tags may say, this is absolutely not shoegaze. Don’t go in expecting… (read more)
-
The Knife – “Shaking the Habitual”
All over the place. Can’t decide how much of it wants to be tribal industrial or electronic dance and when or where. There’s no pattern here and it isn’t schizophrenic in a way that’s interesting because it never goes beyond those industrial and electro traits for anything new to reveal itself during the course of… (read more)
-
Wax Poetic – “Nublu Sessions” (2003)
Nublu Sessions brings a breath of fresh air that trip hop really needed, but unfortunately long after the scene had died. Still, great music exists out of time. Norah Jones sings on two sublime, more traditional, soothing trip hop tracks. The rest of the album is a bit more adventurous, diving into some African influences.… (read more)
-
Pet Shop Boys – “Elysium”
Is Elysium the Pet Shop Boys’ worst? No, that doesn’t sound right. After such a long career, it’s nice to see Pet Shop Boys taking a new direction, which in this case is that of the ambient pop variety. They do an acceptable job at it, not a great one. Elysium is excellently produced, as… (read more)
-
Massive Attack – “100th Window” (2003)
Both 100th Window and Heligoland have been growing on me lately. They’re more lowkey than their predecessors and definitely slow burns. Where earlier albums like Mezzanine crushed the listener with the oppressive power of its heavy bass and toyed with them using its twisted dark soundscapes and distorted guitars, an album like 100th Window is much more gentle. The dark tone… (read more)
-
Broadcast – “The Book Lovers EP”
Pretty wonderful, even if the songs on ‘The Book Lovers EP’ are fairly interchangeable. Broadcast would develop more of their own style over time. (read more)
-
The Future Sound of London – “Lifeforms”
The first disc of Lifeforms is some truly great stuff. But it all falls apart fast as soon as you hit the second disc, which feels like a collection of ideas in the same style but not up to the same quality as the first disc. Stuff any other artist would have thought was not… (read more)
-
Manuel Göttsching – “E2-E4”
Manuel Göttsching may not have been the first artist to make electronic music, but he was certainly the first artist to make good electronic music, as far as these ears are concerned and as E2-E4 demonstrates. E2-E4 is yet another excellent release by Göttsching, the man who discovered how to make electronic music feel as alive and… (read more)
-
Klaus Schulze – “X” (1978)
The classical string arrangements of “X” add a warmness and humanity that Klaus Schulze’s cold, bleak, now-vintage synthesizers couldn’t have hoped to achieve before. It’s just a shame they aren’t featured more often. Also: two hours? An ambient album is meant to be taken in one sitting, and the lack of gaps between tracks here… (read more)
-
Primal Scream – “Vanishing Point” (1997)
Vanishing Point is an album I’ve always wanted to like more, and that sentiment applies to Primal Scream in general. The album is so clearly cool. But the textures just aren’t to my preference. I like “Get Duffy” for its crystalline melody, but the vast majority of this album is rhythmically acidic. Just ain’t my… (read more)