Headphone music

September 19, 2007 5:41 PM

Please help me find headphone-centric music

A current AV Club article about the wealth of good music from 1997 stated that one of the CD’s mentioned was a great headphone album. I thought that two of the CD’s, “Kid A” and “Ladies and Gentlemen, We A Floating in Space” fit in that category. The article prompted me to think about what makes a CD great for headphone listening and to start composing a list . Here is my woefully short list so far, in roughly chronological order:

Jefferson Starship – Blows Against the Empire(Amazon links – I am sure torrent links are not appropriate)
Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon
Radiohead – Kid A
Spiritualized – Ladies and Gentleman, We are Floating in Space
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Books – The Lemon of Pink
Animal Collective – Sung Tongs

Common characteristics of the above seem to be (a) they do not rely heavily on bass; (b) they tend to have fairly complex sound; (c) they are heavily produced; (c1) they tend to be complex, using staging and layering of sound (c2) they use volume and extended silence as an integral part of the music; and (d) they are all relatively electronic and “trippy.” All of them except the last make sense, bass doesn’t have much visceral effect from even the best headphones, and headphones’ “directly in you head” quality emphasizes the staging and other production values. The last, the trippiness of the music, is probably just a function of my own personal tastes. I am sure that fans of classical music would not include it as a criteria.

Can anyone suggest other great headphone-centric music? Since almost all of my listening is through an ipod, and I have hit a musical slump, I would sure appreciate any help.

posted by rtimmel to Media & Arts (37 answers total)

Go to Last.fm, make a profile, play these songs/some other songs you like to your profile (it's called "scrobbling" in Last.fm-ese) and listen to the Recommendations or Neighborhood station for your profile. (I suggest recommendations, as Neighborhood often just grabs whatever's popular at the moment if you have mainstream music.)

I could try and recommend things on my own, but I'd invariably run afoul of your tastes as mine are--well--inexplicable. I'll fire a shot over the brow anyway, though, and say that Imogen Heap's Hide And Seek is great for headphones (if a little mellow.)
posted by Phyltre at 5:57 PM on September 19, 2007

The Soft Bulletin by the Flaming Lips!
posted by Bookhouse at 6:01 PM on September 19, 2007

Deerhunter
Oval / So
Tape - Milieu
Espers
Secret Machines
Ivytree
Eluvium
The Wind-Up Bird
Fridge
Efterklang
Mandarin
Black Forest/Black Sea
Howard Hello
To name a few. All with mp3s at my blog that I keep for occasions such as this.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 6:04 PM on September 19, 2007

Not sure if you're into rap music at all, but most albums by:
De La Soul
Immortal Technique
Common
A Tribe Called Quest
and a few others...
tend to be lighter on bass and really great for headphones.
Especially good headphones.
posted by stvspl at 6:06 PM on September 19, 2007

Seconding Brian Eno. Also, his instrumental collaborations with Bowie on Low and Heroes fit the bill, too.
posted by scody at 6:07 PM on September 19, 2007

You want some binaural recordings. Pearl Jam included some of these on their same name album.
posted by caddis at 6:07 PM on September 19, 2007

Oh, and since Wilco's on your list, try Califone as well. Roomsound, Quicksand/Cradlesnakes, or Roots & Crowns are all perfectly splendid places to start.
posted by scody at 6:09 PM on September 19, 2007

Coil.
Specifically (in order of preference):
Time Machines
Musick to Play In the Dark Vol. 1 and 2
Any of the four season albums
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 6:15 PM on September 19, 2007

Cool. Thanks everyone (and please keep them coming). I had forgotten Brian Eno for my list. Here Come the Jets and My Lfe in the Bush of Ghosts are two of my all time favorites.
posted by rtimmel at 6:43 PM on September 19, 2007

Beastie Boys-Paul's Boutique
posted by neilkod at 6:52 PM on September 19, 2007

A Silver Mount Zion
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 7:06 PM on September 19, 2007

Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun
Murder By Death - Who Will Survive, and What Will Be Left of Them?
Neutral Milk Hotel - In An Aeroplane Over The Sea
posted by comiddle at 7:20 PM on September 19, 2007

The Glow, Pt. 2, by the Microphones.
posted by pullayup at 7:20 PM on September 19, 2007

Anything by the Necks. Hanging Gardens is a personal favourite.
posted by robotot at 7:29 PM on September 19, 2007

Kruder Dorfmeister--The K & D Sessions
Failure--Fantastic Planet
Pretty much anything by Nine Inch Nails
Peter Gabriel--Up
Marvin Gaye--Here, My Dear
Duran Duran--Pop Trash

And don't leave out classical music, of which there's too much "headphone music" to list.
posted by Prospero at 7:34 PM on September 19, 2007

Seconding Coil, my vote is for the Unnatural Histories.
Post rock stuff like Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, Mono.
Nurse with Wound "Rock and Roll Station" highly recommended
Ulrich Schnauss
Yppah
Artanker Convoy
Growing
Shogun Kunitoki
M83
Nathan Fake
Black Moth Super Rainbow
Caribou
A Sunny Day in Glasgow
Paavoharju
posted by spartacusroosevelt at 7:38 PM on September 19, 2007

Most audiophile magazines review at least a handful of non-classical recordings each month, with "headphonability" as much of a criteria as the actual quality of the music. Try flipping through some issues next time you're around a magazine display.


(Oh, and LOVELESS. Duh.)
posted by Ian A.T. at 7:47 PM on September 19, 2007

I find Loveless is actually really fatiguing on headphones sometimes; it's just so heavily compressed, fantastic as it is.

I love the first couple of Orb albums on headphones -- Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld and U.F. Orb are full of weird details and are just plain fun.
posted by xil at 7:53 PM on September 19, 2007

Amused to Death by Roger Waters is good, but perhaps an acquired taste. It plays around with a lot of sound effects and stereo separation.
posted by tomble at 7:54 PM on September 19, 2007

Tortoise - more postrock.
Junior Boys - Indie electronic, kind of spare, awesome.
Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped is freaking incredible on headphones!
posted by DarkoBeta at 7:59 PM on September 19, 2007

Seconding spartacusroosevelt's suggestions - many are on my site too (mono, glasgow, godspeed, ASMZ, growing), but I didn't want to spam the question with an even longer list of bands.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 8:03 PM on September 19, 2007

Most anything by:

Queen (esp. A Night at The Opera)
Kansas (esp. Leftoverture)
Electric Light Orchestra
posted by deCadmus at 8:15 PM on September 19, 2007

It just occurred to me that, in an album review, the word "headphone" would probably only come up as part of the phrase "headphone music," and that a search of your favorite site for the word might turn up some excellent suggestions.
posted by Ian A.T. at 8:17 PM on September 19, 2007

The Verve.
Talk Talk, after 1985.
posted by gnomeloaf at 9:54 PM on September 19, 2007

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is the best album ever made, but I don't think I'd say it's a headphone album in particular. Same with Loveless.

I recommend Pixel Revolt by John Vanderslice and Black Foliage Animation Music by Olivia Tremor Control.
posted by ludwig_van at 10:35 PM on September 19, 2007

squarepusher, autechre, aphex twin, the flashbulb. you can do no wrong with anything by any of these artists.
posted by knowles at 10:50 PM on September 19, 2007

Scott Hardkiss' Crucial Introspection pt 2 had all kinds of weird things in it I never heard without good (Shure E3c) headphones, I found out on the way in to work this morning. Especially note "Infinitely Gentle Blows."

I'd also tangent a bit and suggest the Flaming Lips' Yoshimi.. for 5.1 channel experience, such as DVD-Audio in a well-appointed car. There's all kinds of things that were recorded for 4/5 channel playback, in various manners - such as playing two albums at once on two stereo setups.
posted by kcm at 10:57 PM on September 19, 2007

Orbital's In Sides. Even if you only listen to the first and last tracks that's about 21 minutes of awesome, and I'm not really a dance/electronica person normally.

I'd extend the The The recommendation above to include Infected and Dusk, and +1 on Talk Talk's Colour of Spring.

And finally, crossing several acts on several labels, I think almost anything produced by Trevor Horn in the 80s qualifies as headphone music.
posted by genghis at 11:34 PM on September 19, 2007

Kid Koala always sounds great on headphones.
posted by comiddle at 12:15 AM on September 20, 2007

There's a thread about exactly this over at ILX.
posted by macdara at 3:47 AM on September 20, 2007

Check out the playlists from Echoes. It's pretty headphone-friendly stuff.
posted by ourobouros at 6:54 AM on September 20, 2007

u2 - achtung baby
air - moon safari
bjork - i'd start with post or debut, but all her albums would qualify
talking heads - remain in the light
the passengers - original soundtracks 1
posted by steinwald at 7:05 AM on September 20, 2007

So many albums can meet this criteria. Here are a few that I find enjoyable on headphones that I think might align with your stated tastes.

Built to Spill - Perfect from Now On
Liars - Drum's Not Dead
Pinebender - Things are about to get Weird
Swervedriver - Mezcal Head

Enjoy!
posted by safetyfork at 7:23 AM on September 20, 2007

The Cars' "Moving in Stereo" from The Cars moves in stereo. This is a gimmick in a Cars song.
posted by fidelity at 8:31 AM on September 20, 2007

2nding M83, especially the new album "Digital Shades vol.1".
posted by tehloki at 8:44 PM on September 20, 2007

I remember Bjork saying something about how Vespertine was designed to sound good through tinny little laptop speakers. Anyway, it's a great album, and fits your criteria, with a lot of detail and activity in the mid-to-treble register.

I also wouldn't totally dismiss classical music and would especially encourage you to look into more modern stuff influenced by electronics. For example, I'd recommend Gerard Grisey's Vortex Temporum and Denis Smalley's Base Metals as two seriously trippy pieces.
posted by speicus at 3:06 AM on September 21, 2007

Red House Painters, Songs for a Blue Guitar
posted by jenlyn1123 at 8:51 PM on March 3, 2008