[elipsis]

Acoustic Electronic?

How is that possible?

 

[scrypt]

You, there, mrselfdestruct: While I'm not a true fan of Lustmord (too close to the early electronic/late classical/medieval music I love: early Penderecki, Okeghem, Gesualdo, Stockhausen, Henze, etc.), I do appreciate his sound collages, slow reverb decays and use of difficult-to-find instruments. Pity there's no space for a gong in a New York apartment.

You're reminding me to mention the cold meat label and the related albums one finds there by sutcliffe jugend, brighter death now, &tc: not exactly KLF chill-room soundtracks but definitely wallpaper of an abrasive kind. The afore-hinted-at might be too harsh for most, but people here might actually like raison d'etre, which is softer and, again, too neo-medieval for me (even Arvo Part seems too neo). Maybe someone here will like raison d'etre's soundworld, which is not devoid of beauty in the heavenly sense. I suppose it can be heard as a soundtrack to the paintings of Ernst Fuchs.

And speaking of paintings: You might want to gaze at the works of Remedios Varo while listening to some of the music mentioned in this thread.

 

[mrselfdestruct]

hey, its funny you mention raison d'etre, cause just today i was thinking i had to reburn that cd since the mp3's i had off it were lost when my powerbook crashed. yeh, theyre incredible and very similar to that lustmord sdtk. as for the other names on that label, i havent heard any of them, but will defnitely give them a listen, thanks for the tip. i am interested in some of those composers you mentioned, the only two i kno are stockhausen and penderecki, you wanna enlighten me on a few and wats worth checking out by them?

 

[AtEase]

The Flaming Lips are a great band to listen to on headphones,
I just picked up "The Soft Bulletin" and the produuction is really wonderful. There is tons of vocal, guitar, and piano/keyboard layering, and lots of trippy stereo panning effects... definitely a good headphone album.

I also second the bladerunner soundtrack, it's great stuff.

 

[Wazoo]

If you want to try "spacy" the jazz/rock fusion period will get you there:early Return To Forever and Herby Hancock is a good starting point!

 

[scrypt]

Quote:

Originally posted by mrselfdestruct as for the other names on that label [cold meat], i havent heard any of them, but will defnitely give them a listen, thanks for the tip. i am interested in some of those composers you mentioned, the only two i kno are stockhausen and penderecki, you wanna enlighten me on a few and wats worth checking out by them?

Keep in mind that the other names I mentioned on that label are not necessarily in the correct frequency range for harmless headphone listening, particularly not Brighter Death Now's Necrose Evangelicum (the first album I ever heard on the cold meat label). Keep in mind as well that, in listening to such consciously leaden music, you are leaving the unpretentious terrain of casino vs. japan and Boards of Canada.

As for the composers: for abrasive head music, try Penderecki's Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima; Stockhausen's most famous electronic work is probably Gesang der Junglinge (Song of the Youths), which was on an album my parents owned and, after Peter and the Wolf, was the first music I ever heard in my life. Ockeghem is the ultimate inspiration for dark medieval music, but his significance (as the contrapuntal virtuoso of the medieval period) is far greater than that: try listening to his Requiem Mass (for five unusually low voices) while walking in the snow. For me, the experience of listening doesn't get better -- it's like living inside your own private citadel.

Henze's music is a bit out of place on this thread, I think, but I'll still tell you he's my favorite living composer. The most discorporate (read: headiest) music he ever wrote was his cantata on Rimbaud's "Being Beauteous," which is scored for soprano, harp and four celli (which are tilted into the stratosphere and mostly play harmonics). Edda Moser is brilliant on the Deutsche Grammophon recording and her pitch is dog-range accurate and mostly vibrato-free. Still, I must warn everyone here that opera-style vocals occur on the recording, which many people hate. Henze's Double Concerto for Oboe and Harp doesn't have that feature, though notes get bent in rather jazzy ways. (People who like that music are referred to the piano music of Toru Takemitsu, who just recently died.) The most experimental piece he ever wrote was probably The Tedious Way to the Place of Natascha Ungerheuer, which I just bought on vinyl used at Other Music.

If you like Stockhausen and Nordheim, then don't forget about Pierre Henry, a box set of whose French electronic music appeared recently for about fifty and change.

Something I bought today that lovers of raison d'etre, boards of canada and Arne Nordheim might like: Shenzhou, by Biosphere. He's playing with dark ambient textures and classical music together, but in a refreshingly non-ponderous way. Michael Mayer tries the same thing in a techno format on the Kompakt release of Immer, but the result, while well-produced, is incredibly literal-minded. If you don't believe it, listen for the annoying version of a movement from Mahler's 5th. Mayer's a good DJ and the engineers who worked on the album are good as well, but it isn't difficult to hear that techno has grown tired and dance-floor minimalism is played for now.

I agree with Wazoo that Herbie Hancock is great to listen to (though only the experimental _Crossings_ qualifies in my mind as headphone music). I could certainly recommend _Empyrean Isles_ to the few on earth who love the Miles Davis Quintet but hadn't heard of it; _Headhunters_ should be heard in entirety simply because it and _Bitches' Brew_ are among the most sampled albums in the world. Still, I can't agree with you about Return to Forever. Chick Corea can be a fine pianist when he's not chasing money, but he has no taste in synthesizer sound. His solos sound like they're being played by a castrated elf.

 

[penvzila]

Worship the Glitch by Elph vs Coil (really just coil)

Scope by Nobukazu Takemura

SAWII by Richard D James aka Aphex Twin

Orb - Orbvs Terrarvm

Mouse on Marse - Vulvaland

Oval - Szernariodisk

Nine Inch Nails - Still

Smashing Pumpkins - Adore

Autechre - Basscad,ep

 

[penvzila]

Spacetime Continuum - Sea Biscuiit

Tangerine Dream - The Private Music of Tangerine Dream

Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen we are floating in space

Coil - Love's Secret Domain, Scatology

Autechre - PEel Sessions

 

[hawk]

try the new porcupine tree cd called in absentia it's good headphone music

 

[Tom M]

My vote goes to pink floyd and Led zeppelin.

 

[Nightfall]

Some ambient music that I find of wondrous quality:


Eno - Music For Films

Eno - Music For Airports

Harold Budd/Brian Eno - The Pearl

Ray Lynch - Deep Breakfast

Ray Lynch - Sky Of Mind

Mychael Danna - Sirens

Mychael Danna - Skies

Wim Mertens - Whisper Me

Constance Demby - Novus Magnificat - Through the Stargates - perhaps the masterpiece of all ambient music

 

[ArChaos]

I fully agree on Tangerine Dream- never thought they were so well known...

Tangerine Dream - Phaedera, Stratosfear, Rubycon (and Force Majeure-less)
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells-very good (and Ommadawn-less)
King Crimson-some of their songs "fill the bill" of this thread especially on their first two albums-In the Court and In the Wake of Poseidon, and then Islands, Starless... and Lark's Tongues...
Jean Michel Jarre - Oxygen and Equinoxe (I don't know about other of his albums, but these two are very good especially the first...)
Vangelis - Heaven and Hell, China and Opera Sauvage
Tomita - Snowflakes are Dancing and Pictures at an Exhibition
Ammon Duul - Tanz Der Lemminge and Yeti
Gong-Gazeuze, Shamal and Angel's Egg

Most of the groups mentioned here would fit under the prog.rock/art rock, proggresive electronic, Kraut rock, psychadelic, experimental rock and space rock definitions - as much as I hate definitions - just to give a direction for people interested ...

 

[balcar]

Reading this thread from the beginning, I was surprised to get almost to the end before coming across Brian Eno. His ambient works are excellent.

Also, add to the recommendations already made:

Bill Laswell
Pete Namlook
Arvo Part
Farfield
Chloe Goodchild

 

[Andrew LB]

For spacing out, definately "Chicane- Far From Maddening Crowds".

 

[fyrfytrhoges]

sigur ros last album agaetus byrnum is a classic chillin album to me and I only discovered them recently on this board....

porcupine tree's new album is not what I would call chillout music, I am a fan of their 90's stuff, very prog/psych stuff, but the new one is much harder rock type stuff.... btw I will be seeing them live on november 18th in milwaukee.....