Which kind of bleep bloop do I like?

July 14, 2010 10:06 AM

Is there a name for the kind of upbeat-dreamy-electropop-remix-techno music made by Pogo/Fagotron and Susumu Hirasawa? And where can I find more of it?

Pogo is the Australian DJ who did the Alice song and the wonderful Pixar remix/mashups like "Upular". Susumu Hirasawa is responsible for the soundtracks for several Satoshi Kon films, this song from Paprika being a good example of the style.

So, what's this called? Where can I get more?

Music maps have been some help, yielding a connection to Teengirl Fantasy which is described there as "chillout house". But I don't necessarily want stuff that's super techno-y, which is what I'm afraid I'll get if I use that as my only search criteria...just stuff that's beautiful and dreamy.

Other tracks I've come across and liked: Aphex Twin's "Flim", several of the iamamiwhoami pieces, like "o". Also I like the Postal Service.

Thanks for helping steer me in the right direction.

posted by lhall to media & arts (17 answers total)

I too enjoy this type of music (thanks for the new bands btw).

I don't think thinks its really easy to define, but IDM might work. Anyway more bands you might wanna check out:

Wisp
Boards of Canada
The Polish Ambassador
Amon Tobin
Stuff from Warp Records

The a less extent Luke Vibert, Squarepusher (might be a little to Drum and Bassy)

I pretty much got into this stuff in a vacuum (no scene or friends that are into it), so what do I know.
posted by rickim at 10:34 AM on July 14, 2010

I don't think I would put any of your examples into the same bucket.

That Alice track sounds like it was inspired in part Detroit Beatdown.
posted by mkb at 10:36 AM on July 14, 2010

What do you mean by "super techno-y?"
posted by mkb at 10:37 AM on July 14, 2010

Thanks for the recs, rickim! I'll have a listen and post which I dig, in the hopes it can help me (and others) narrow down my taste.

mkb: I know they're pretty disparate. My description of "super techno-y" is hard to articulate, but I guess, less Tiesto, more Daft Punk? I'm not even that opposed to "beats" per se...I went through a big raves/electronic music phase in high school. But I'm trying to aim more for the beats from Air's "Moon Safari", I guess. Part of the problem, clearly, is that I'm not exactly sure how to describe what I'm looking for.
posted by lhall at 10:55 AM on July 14, 2010

I'm not very familiar with this type of music, but "dreamy electropop" leads me to believe you might enjoy Secret School.
posted by hungrybruno at 11:01 AM on July 14, 2010

You might want to try out Capsule then, as well as Pizzicato Five. Royksopp's Eple might qualify. Seconding Amon Tobin, some of his stuff is what you're looking for. Gui Boratto's Beautiful Life is also happy.

please forgive me if the links are screwy - can't actually watch youtube at work shh...
posted by lizbunny at 11:02 AM on July 14, 2010

I think maybe the problem is that you're describing the qualities of particular songs, not a whole cohesive genre.

For example, I think you'd really dig on the album "Resiliance" by Kid606, which is dreamy and pretty and happy and not too techno-y. However, I'm pretty sure if you put on one of his gabber-acid albums like Pretty Girls Make Raves your poor little head might explode.

One thing you might find as you get more into bleep-bloop is that your taste will expand and you'll see it's more about the particular talent of an artist that you're drawn to, not just genres. I hate house but I love High Contrast, I make fun of dub step but I like Burial.

Anyway, genre signifiers are of dubious significance, I would mostly focus on just getting artist recommendations. But hell, what do I know, I am notoriously bad at keeping track of electronica genres (brostep and uk funky, anyone?)

PS - I think "not super techno-y" translates into "I don't like trance and house"
posted by Juliet Banana at 11:06 AM on July 14, 2010

You might enjoy some of the recommendations in this older thread about music similar to the Katamari Damacy soundtracks.
posted by carsonb at 11:09 AM on July 14, 2010

Juliet Banana, I believe you are right! I kind of figured there wouldn't be an easy categorization, but all of the suggestions are helping me to narrow down my areas of interest.

And I'm more than happy to take artist/album/track recommendations. I'm at work but I'll queue up all the ones in the thread so far for some background listening.
posted by lhall at 11:22 AM on July 14, 2010

Haha, basically my music collection. :) I think Moon Safari Techno could be a good name. :P

I wish I knew the name of the genre/feel or whatever. Where I go to find more music like this are two sources:

Hype Machine - In case you're not familiar with it, it's a music blog aggregate. It basically functions as my radio. The Popular category usually has good remixes of popular songs, as well as some originals which could be considered Moon Safari Techno. The Latest category is obviously more random but I tend to find all the best gems there.

Psyradio - The Chillout channel often has dreamy techno, and is my other source for music.

Good luck!
posted by teSiren at 11:39 AM on July 14, 2010

Owl City seems to me to be the closest thing to the Postal Service, if you want something with lyrics.
posted by vytae at 11:41 AM on July 14, 2010

boards of canada!
posted by paradroid at 11:51 AM on July 14, 2010

I wholeheartedly agree that artist suggestions rather than genre definitions are the way to go, but synthpop is also an alternate one that you might keep your eye out for. I like the music blog Off The Radar myself, and keep an eye out for 'pop' in the tag. Can't help but keep on offering suggestions, here you go:

MSTRKRFT - Easy Love
Mint Royale - Singin' In The Rain
Empire of the Sun - Walking On A Dream
The Avalanches - Since I Left You (also give Frontier Psychiatrist a try, it's a favorite of mine but doesn't fit the bill of "happy" per se)
Caribou - Lalibela
Walter Meego - Forever
posted by lizbunny at 12:13 PM on July 14, 2010

Lali Puna
Pantha du Prince
Ulrich Schnauss
Hermann & Kleine
itsnotyouitsme
The Notwist (only their last two or three albums)
posted by slogger at 2:02 PM on July 14, 2010

Also, "Blip Hop" may describe the genre you're referring to, although I don't think it's a widely used term.
posted by slogger at 2:13 PM on July 14, 2010

It's very like "Trip Hop", which was a name for this sort of thing a while ago before that moniker got over-exposed. People also used to call it "Downtempo" before that term became used too broadly.

For something like this, I usually let some collaborative filtering rustle up names for me:

Pogo
Music Map
Last.FM Radio

Susumu Hirasawa
Music Map
Last.FM Radio
posted by meehawl at 3:09 PM on July 14, 2010

Geskia - Silent 77?
posted by juv3nal at 2:00 PM on July 15, 2010