Here come the warm jets.

September 13, 2011 5:09 PM

Feed me machine-sounding music that makes a nice, warm, vibraty feeling go all through my guttiwuts. The exact qualities I'm looking for are rumbly, fuzzy, and enveloping. The piece should not be overtly morose or threatening. Think "listening to the hypnotic sound of warm clothes tumbling in the dryer late at night."

Some examples of what I'm looking for:

• Instrument 1 by Fennesz (from the noisy and repetitive end of my spectrum)
• The Belldog off Eno & Cluster's After the Heat (featuring that fuzzy middle-period Eno noise)
• Kohr-Ah theme from Star Control II (warning: gross blinking)

They are all quite different, but share the crucial quality I'm looking for.

What I am not looking for:

• please, no squelchy organic noises (e.g., Matmos's sounds of plastic surgery)
• hissing, staticky noises are close, but not quite it (e.g., Uranium off Kraftswerk's Radioactivity)
• not Detroit techno, unless I misunderstand the term
• not Einstürzende Neubauten, unless you can persuade me otherwise

I appreciate your suggestions.

posted by Nomyte to media & arts (48 answers total)

Hmm...you may enjoy the SOUNDsculptures youtube channel. It's a bunch of videos of a person doing things that make noise. There was one recently of a hairdryer that seems like it might be right up your alley. (In the warm machiney noise kind of way, not in the musical way.)

Your little vibraty feeling in your guttiwuts might be the ASMR thing. I don't get it myself, but apparently it's all the rage.
posted by phunniemee at 5:18 PM on September 13, 2011

The first thing that springs to my mind is the full length version OMD's old b-side 66 and Fading. Caveat: some people think this is sorrowful but I just find it kind of end-of-the-day relaxing/uplifting in exactly the way you describe, but I'm weird like that...
posted by Chairboy at 5:22 PM on September 13, 2011

Hard but good question.

Nobukazu Takemura - Icefall? (Great track whether it fits criteria or not!)

Maybe ... Casino vs Japan - Go Japan?
posted by krilli at 5:27 PM on September 13, 2011

I really like the Gas album Nah Und Fern. It's my backgrounder music when I need absolutely nothing but a slow rumble in the back. There are a bunch of cuts on YouTube, made somewhat confusing by the fact that every sing is called Untitled. Here are some: 1, 2 and this one from the album Pop.. I'll poke the friend who sent these to me to see if he has other suggestions.
posted by jessamyn at 5:27 PM on September 13, 2011 [2 favorites]

Ovalcommers
posted by ennui.bz at 5:28 PM on September 13, 2011

I think you might like Rod Modell.
posted by davebush at 5:30 PM on September 13, 2011

It might be a bit too close to the sound of Uranium for your liking, but William Basinski - The Disintegration Loops popped into my head as a possible example of something that makes that feeling.

Here's an excerpt from the first loop.

And how about some Vladislav Delay? Try Raamat.
posted by Magnakai at 5:31 PM on September 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

Some less noisy Oval...
posted by ennui.bz at 5:32 PM on September 13, 2011

Belong - October Language
Chihei Hatakeyama - Minima Moralia
Flying Saucer Attack - Distance
Greg Davis - Somnia
Keith Fullerton Whitman - Playthroughs
Loscil - Submers
Mirza - Anadromous
Windy & Carl - juuuust about everythiiiinnnng they've ever made
posted by aparrish at 5:32 PM on September 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

Something Ryoji Ikeda maybe?
posted by ouke at 5:34 PM on September 13, 2011

These may be a little too obvious or melodic but ... Aphex Twin - Prep Gwarlek 3b and Nine Inch Nails - about half the songs from Ghosts I-IV.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 5:36 PM on September 13, 2011

ISO50's sleepy Aarnio Mix has warm sounds and gently hypnotic beats.

You might also like The Black Dog's response to Brian Eno: Music For Real Airports. It fits the bill for the most part, though there are some sullen moments.
posted by quoz at 5:37 PM on September 13, 2011

You want Lovesliescrushing and Back to the Future the Ride. Both are free downloads.
posted by sleeping bear at 5:44 PM on September 13, 2011

Lee Ranaldo's solo albums are what you're looking for, I think.
posted by The World Famous at 5:55 PM on September 13, 2011

Yes!

Listen to Zoviet France. Specifically the album Monomishe (which is apparently available here). Even more specifically, the first track, which I can't seem to find anywhere online.

You'd also probably like other tracks in their catalog, as well as that of the spin-off Rapoon.

Lee Ranaldo's Slo Drone is probably right on as well. The original album was fantastic because it was a lock groove; the CD version sadly cuts off.

Finally, there's a chance that you might like Lustmord's Metastatic Resonance as well. More open and foreboding than your examples, but I think it has the same quality.
posted by googly at 6:02 PM on September 13, 2011

Do any of these fit the bill?

Spooky - Belong (Echospace Dub)
Mojave 3 - Blue Bird of Happiness (Uhlrich Schnauss remix)
Chris Coco - Drifting
Anything by Shuttle 358
Human Mesh Dance - TheSecretNumberTwelve
Evan Marc (aka bluetech) & Steve Hillage (System 7) - Dreamtime Submersible
Ruxpin
Yagya
Slim
posted by aubilenon at 6:39 PM on September 13, 2011

Muslimgauze? Here's "Azzazin", as an example. They don't all sound like this. I acknowledge that some may have cacophonous elements I'm not remembering right now.
posted by batmonkey at 6:51 PM on September 13, 2011

Excellent! Thanks everyone who contributed so far. I have my favorites among the various linked things, but I'll refrain from marking best answers yet in hopes that more people will suggest stuff.

To be honest, I didn't expect the thread to tip so far in the direction of glitch and noise, but I'm not unhappy that it did.
posted by Nomyte at 7:34 PM on September 13, 2011

Some of Chris Clark meets this criteria. On Empty The Bones Of You, take a listen to "Betty", "Tyre", "Slow Spines", and "Indigo Optimus".
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 7:43 PM on September 13, 2011

the field
ulf lohmann
dettinger

the kompakt pop ambient series is a good place to look for this sort of stuff.
posted by subtle-t at 7:51 PM on September 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

sorry, here is the dettinger link, and a bonus ulf lohmann.
posted by subtle-t at 7:53 PM on September 13, 2011

The first song I thought of was Umbrella, by Dntel, although I think of that whole album as a warm glitchy-ness... See also Tamborello's other project, Figurine, although that gets pretty twee.

Tujiko Noriko has some fuzzy glitch stuff, but I find her stuff more desolating than warm.

And thanks for the interesting question. I think of it as train music. And I love train music.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 7:54 PM on September 13, 2011

Boards Of Canada may be a bit obvious, but I'm still surprised they haven't been mentioned yet. They do some great warm enveloping fuzz. You wouldn't mistake any of it for Eno, but there's still a bit of a resemblance.
posted by nebulawindphone at 8:04 PM on September 13, 2011 [2 favorites]

your description of "a clothes dryer late at night" immediately brought Burial to mind.
posted by gnutron at 8:07 PM on September 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

Pole would also meet your criteria. I liked "Pole 3" the best. I can't find previews for you to listen to, but you might search around.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:11 PM on September 13, 2011

In case you didn't already know, basic channel.
posted by subtle-t at 8:17 PM on September 13, 2011

Sam Prekop - The Silhouettes - maybe too arpeggio-nated but has a nice fuzzy haze on the bleeps.
posted by drwelby at 8:46 PM on September 13, 2011

You could try Star's End on WXPN Sunday nights. Or Cryosleep.
posted by jet_silver at 9:08 PM on September 13, 2011

One song I love that really reminds me of what you're describing is "Shot in the Back of the Head" by Moby (it's especially good as the intensity and sound layering increase after the one-minute mark).
posted by datarose at 9:43 PM on September 13, 2011

Mago - this is one of my favourite albums. there are 2 excerpts to listen to at that link.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 12:56 AM on September 14, 2011

Harmonia
posted by dydecker at 3:09 AM on September 14, 2011

I feel the genre that most closely resembles what you are looking for is called "drone."

Emeralds, from last year's album "Does it Look Like I'm Here?"

Some similar artists you may want to consider:

Oneohtrix Point Never and Mark McGuire.
posted by the foreground at 4:44 AM on September 14, 2011

You'll probably like some of the gorgeous dub music that came out of Berlin in the '90s: Rhythm & Sound. Here's a track off an album they did with genius vocalist Tikiman: Never Tell You.
posted by krilli at 7:28 AM on September 14, 2011

Hm, tricky. I like how Radiohead manages to make their techy sound on Kid A warm and fuzzy, but it's so sad too, so I guess that's a nix. There's an album called by Goodnight Streetlight called Post-Meltdown Friend that might fit the bill in places ("Beauty Variables" and "Blue Lantern" maybe). Full disclosure: I've been Livejournal pals with the guy who is Goodnight Streetlight, and a bunch of the female guest vocalists he had sing on tha album, for years and years.
posted by ifjuly at 8:00 AM on September 14, 2011

There are loads of good suggestions for you here, particularly Zoviet France and Belong. I'll add The Fun Years 2010 album 'God was like, no'
posted by blaisedell at 8:01 AM on September 14, 2011

and maybe too glitchy, but the first couple breakthrough Notwist albums (stuff like Neon Golden) might work--there's a warm..."humanism" in both the lyrics and the feel of the music despite the mechanical rhythms and whatnot.
posted by ifjuly at 8:02 AM on September 14, 2011

loscil, yes...

especially First Narrows

my sweetie calls this album the "sound of benevolent machines at work"
posted by jammy at 8:09 AM on September 14, 2011

You might really like SomaFM's Drone Zone channel. The style of music on display is so muted that it occasionally sounds lazy, but overall it's 24/7 pleasant beatless audio, occasionally interspersed with actual melodies :)

Projekt Records in NYC has a reputation for goth music, but they've always had some interesting ambient/shoegaze/lo-fi world music artists on their roster. Their compilations are a great place to start - Project 100 has some great songs by loveliescrushing (mentioned above by sleeping bear), O Yuki Conjugate, and soulwhirlingsomewhere that have a kind of meditative, entranced quality to them without being boring.

Here are some other examples of the sound I'm describing. I'm a huge fan of O Yuki Conjugate, which is a neat blend of tribal percussion, tape loops, and rudimentary electronics.

loveliescrushing - babysbreath
O Yuki Conjugate - Snake Charm
O Yuki Conjugate - Sunchemical
soulwhirlingsomewhere - I Dream We Are Blind

Also (not on Projekt), you might like some of Dead Voices on Air's output. They're related to Zoviet France (mentioned above by googly), and play with a variety of styles, some more experimental and ambient than others. They have a double-CD entitled 'Piss Frond' that's a good introduction to their sound, but here are some samples:

DVOA - Swan Flax
DVOA - G'eong Guma

Good luck with your music search!
posted by gyges at 8:21 AM on September 14, 2011

I already enjoy the following things: Oval, Basic Channel/Maurizio, Rhythm & Sound, Muslimgauze, the Field, and Harmonia/Cluster/Neu!

The Nobukazu Takemura track is genius, and I'm not a fan of Neon Golden.
posted by Nomyte at 8:50 AM on September 14, 2011

Belong's October Language album is perfect for this.
posted by naju at 10:11 AM on September 14, 2011

Múm put out some lovely stuff that might fit your bill: here are "I'm 9 Today" and "Smell Memory".
posted by dilettanti at 10:17 AM on September 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

If you're digging Basic Channel/Maurizio/R&S, check out the answers to my previous question about finding stuff that sounds exactly like Maurizio.

And if you like Muslimgauze, then definitely check out Rapoon.
posted by googly at 10:40 AM on September 14, 2011

Well, you already have Fennesz...


Loscil
Yasume
Four Tet
Books
Octopus Project (some of it at any rate)
Bexar Bexar
posted by kaseijin at 11:42 AM on September 14, 2011

Make you own.
posted by hubs at 3:36 PM on September 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

gnutron: your description of "a clothes dryer late at night" immediately brought Burial to mind.

His self-titled debut album was more instrumental, more of that desolate urban feel, where the following material got more vocal additions.

Is early Boards of Canada out of the question? And in the same vein, Casino Versus Japan (sample upthread) and Christ. (the period is part of the name; sample 1, sample 2), and Ulrich Schnauss' solo work, though it might be to crisp for what you want.

Proem (Discogs) gets noisier, but still with that warmth. Bola (Discogs) also comes to mind. Browsing the Skam label, Gescom might also fit.
posted by filthy light thief at 5:15 PM on September 14, 2011

Deathprod's work would probably fit the bill. I'm partial to the album Morals and Dogma--the track "Cloudchamber" makes me think "warm clothes tumbling in the dryer" pretty much instantaneously.
posted by hototogisu at 10:49 PM on September 14, 2011

Boards of Canada and some of M83.
posted by talldean at 4:43 AM on September 15, 2011

Growing
posted by swift at 10:39 AM on September 19, 2011