I have been looking for over a year for some electronica music that suits my taste. I am not quite an accomplished enough musician to come up with my own genre–I need to listen and learn.
The local Borders Music has just put in computers terminals where you can screen virtually any CD that they have in stock, so if I can get some suggestions from everybody out there, I can see if I like that particular CD, as long as it isn’t too obscure. Please keep your selections relatively current…
I just can’t quite find what I am looking for, and have purchased tons of
CD’s on recommendation from others, to only have them end up as coasters.
I am looking for kind of a combination of German Method, New Age, Bluesey Beat stuff–instrumental, not vocal backed. Does that make sense? I like the lush pads and orchestration of New Age, but don’t want to be lulled to sleep. I like the sequencer driven electronica of German Method, but it does get kind of boring after a while. I want a good drum beat, but don’t want the droning 140bpm of techno. I like the sounds of ambient, but I want the music to go somewhere
Interesting, good beat, “big”, and electronic. Does that make sense?
I actually found one on the Borders terminal last night, but the terminal went on the fritz suddenly, and when I went to another station, I could not find the CD again. DAMN!!
If you can’t find something on these sites you don’t want electronic music. Spend time listening to samples because EVERY artist has a different sound- each song by an artist may be completely different also.
amazing bass player, drummer, programmer, etc. Man of all occasions. Dont like Squarepusher because he makes good “electronic” music, like him becase he makes amazing music.
Aphex Twin
-the man that started a million clones. One of the few true musical geniuses out there.
Prefuse 73
-crazy, cut up beats. I know that he uses a MMV and a MuRF.
Boards of Canada
-Ambient textures and good beats, yet still keep it interesting.
Spend about 1 1/2 hours at Borders review terminal last night trying to find that one CD that I liked, but to no avail. No idea why I can’t find it now–very frustrating.
Of the suggestions so far, I have liked Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, and Autechre the most. Still not quite what I am looking for. Squarepusher is more jazzy than I am looking for, and Prefuse 73 is more rap… Most of the stuff that I pulled up at borders last night is labeled Dance/Trance…again, not what I am looking for.
I suppose that I am looking for something more “Bluesy”. The little musical segues on the TV show Boston Legal have more of the feel that I am looking for–they just are lacking the synth.
My subject heading is probably worded too strongly. It is not that I don’t like these other artists, or the other styles of electronic music. It is just that I am presently looking for a particular style (that evidently is not widely being done right now) that I can hear in my head but can’t quite get it out on my keyboards at present. I was hoping that there was something out there that I could pattern after. Unfortunatly, the only CD that I found that hit the mark was lost due to a malfunctioning terminal and a bad memory.
Maybe this frustration will bring out the Blues in me…
I was a DJ from 89-97 in the New Orleans area…exlusively techno. Now I make my own tracks. There’s not a lot of blues type electronica available although there is some sprinkled around out there (Moby for sure).
I know a lot of techno tracks and one of the albums that still reigns as one of the best, if not the best is DELUXE: LET THE MAGIC FLOW. There is one used copy for sale on Amazon right now:
Waag, it’s rare that I fall in love with a genre or an artists upon first listen - I’d think it’d be especially hard in an environment like Borders. I’ll have some music by a group around for a while before it hits me that I’m completely taken by it. So you might want to pick up some of the suggested material here and let it soak in for a while.
It hit me on the way home. I knew there was a group I wasn’t thinking of that did some bluesy tracks. PEPE DELUXE is a very good electronica group from Finland. Their first album, SUPER SOUND, has the type of track you’re looking for:
Track 5: “EVERYBODY PASS ME BY” is the one I think you’ll like. If you click the link, there are sound clips of their tracks on the bottom of the page. PEPE DELUXE is an exceptionally good group. They are diverse and one of the members is James Spectrum.
Here’s part of his bio:
" Easily bridging the gap, each week he packs students into his producing workshops, researches mathematical structures used in music at the University of Helsinki and acts as a consultant for two major telecommunications companies…"
PEPE DELUXE’s new album, BEATITUDE, is also very good and DADDY’S BLAZIN’ BBQ is a good track.
Great, I’m glad I was able to help. They use a lot of excellent synth work and their beats rock like no other. If I come up with some more like that, I will let you know. If you want more from PEPE DELUXE that isn’t on their albums, there is STRAIGHT OUT THE CAT LITTER 3 from Catskills records. Catskills (Emperor Norton in the US) and Tunes are labels that should have a motherload of killer tracks that you’d like. HARDKANDY is one group that I can think of off the top of my head. Here a link to Tunes:
I just noticed something. I never pay much attention to track names, but track 13 on Pepe Deluxe: Super Sound is titled “Moogjam At Cafe Liberte.” Pretty cool.
