He Needs More CDs!

April 3, 2008 3:44 PM

Any suggestions for music similar to what Audiobulb Records specializes in? (electronica, mainly?)

My dearest has become interested in what he calls "beep-boop" music - some of the bands he likes include Effacer, He Can Jog, and Autistici. All of these artists can be found on Audiobulb Records, among other places. He often sleeps while playing this type of music, so he's certainly not looking for dance club stuff - more like experimental, minimalist, offbeat...for example, he doesn't mind when there's a long silence, then a series of beeps.

He's having trouble seeking out similar artists, because even though something may be called electronica, it may actually be closer to trip-hop, house, techno, or something else.

So...any suggestions on other bands he might like, and if they're not available via Amazon/Half.com, where to buy their music?

posted by Liosliath to media & arts (14 answers total)

Maybe he'd enjoy some of the artists on 12k label? Autistici has, for instance, released an album there.
posted by soundofsuburbia at 4:33 PM on April 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

...och, and Boomkat is a great shop, they've got a lot of stuff and you can listen to and browse similiar artists there as well.
posted by soundofsuburbia at 4:36 PM on April 3, 2008

Genrewise, I think you may be looking for either IDM or ambient techno.
posted by flatluigi at 5:05 PM on April 3, 2008

IDM tag on last.fm.

Artistwise, you may want to look at The Future Sound of London, Squarepusher, or Monoq.
posted by flatluigi at 5:11 PM on April 3, 2008

My husband runs the netlabel Stasisfield. Self-linkish, but there are 50+ artists to explore, and the mp3s are free to download.
posted by limeswirltart at 7:14 PM on April 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

Hey, despite being quite the idm/techno/experimental nerd I only recently found out about Audiobulb and they are an interesting outfit indeed. If you want more stuff in a similar manner I would suggest ~Scape, Leaf, 12k, Kranky and Plug Research as good labels to investigate. These labels are all over the place, and that is increasingly hard to find these days! There are too many experimental(ish) labels that flog a specific sound and don't move outside that comfort zone.
posted by serial_consign at 7:27 PM on April 3, 2008

Have him head over to em411.com. All of the artists that you have mentioned are active members of that community.
posted by bigmusic at 8:21 PM on April 3, 2008

He completely wants to get into the netlabel scene. Stasisfield, definitely; con-v; autoplate (thinner, their sister label with a touch more techno, have temporarily disabled thier real website); hippocamp; stadtgrün; there are tons. Some labels have a bigger "comfort zone" than others, but there are so many it's not a problem - many artists have released on several labels so if you like somebody, try the other labels they've released on. The vast majority release their music for free download, but you can generally buy t-shirts or compilation DVDs. Browsing through netlabels is easily as fun as browsing through a record store, once you've got the hang of it, and it's all yours for the asking.
posted by doiheartwentyone at 6:32 AM on April 4, 2008

Seconding Boomkat. I used to spend many hours trawling through the bins in small boutique record shops searching out just the sort of obscure experimentalish electronica you are describing, and I might still do if I had the time, but meanwhile Boomkat deliver the exact same stuff (and recommendations) to my desktop and letter box. The stuff you are looking for is most likely to be found under their Home Listening, Laptop Folk/Americana, Clicks/Glitch & Electronica sections.

As well as the aforementioned 12k, ~scape etc labels, stuff from Type, City Center Offices, Raster Norton, Touch & Morr is worth checking out.

Mefi mail me if you want more specific I'm not near my music collection at the moment but will happily provide some pointers.
posted by tallus at 7:51 AM on April 4, 2008

For true minimalism I suggest Bernhard Günter's label Trente Oiseaux and Heribert Friedl's label nonvisualobjects. (Full disclosure: a friend and I have releases on these labels.)
posted by Dean King at 8:06 AM on April 4, 2008

Netlabels FTW. No one's mentioned archive.org, but they have a rich netlabels section with much free-to-download goodness. 12,321 tracks at the moment, much of it minimalist, ambient electronica, 8-bit bleepiness and the like. Go exploring!
posted by mumkin at 12:42 PM on April 4, 2008

Whoops. I meant to link "Go exploring!" to the riot of tags/keywords that have been applied to the tracks at archive.org. So, err, right... go exploring!
posted by mumkin at 12:48 PM on April 4, 2008

I think what your dearest needs is "Morr" CDs (heh). Morr Music is a fantastic label our of Germany that features groups like Lali Puna, Ms. John Soda, Herrmann & Kleine, Isan, B. Fleischmann, Icebreaker International and many other worthwhile artists.

Other non-Morr artists that I'm hot for: Múm, Ulrich Schnauss, Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto, Lexanculpt, Boards of Canada, Cex (Ryjan Kidwell), Manual, F.S. Blumm, Pascal Schäfer, Quiet Personal Electronics, Random Number, Ocosi, Static, Tied + Tickled Trio, and To Rococo Rot. Some of these can be found via Darla Records, Amoeba Records or Other Music.

Great thread. Lots of new stuff for me to check out!
posted by slogger at 1:19 PM on April 4, 2008

(Back with my music here is ten recomended albums)

Shuttle358, Frame, 12k: A classic album from pioneers of this sound recently reissused on 12k. It's a limited edition of 1000 so I'm not sure of the availability but 12k have been reissuing all their albums, try Chessa as an alternative.

Jan Jelinek, Loop Finding Jazz-records, ~scape: This has been around for a while now, it was issued in 2001 but a classic of its kind, like the name suggests its made from loops of old jazz records that somehow sound like they have been mired in dust and distorted out of all recognition. Still standing up 8 years later.

Fennesz, Endless Summer, Mego: Christian Fennesz is one of the finest laptop noise artists around and this album from 2001 is a good introduction, more recently he released a collaboration with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Cendre on Touch. More on the noise/experimental end of things Fennesz stands head and shoulders above many of the other people in this field.

SND, Tender Love, Mille Plateaux: Mille Plateaux, until they were forced into bankruptcy by the collapse of the main German independent distributor, were an influential German electronica label notable for their glitch and minimalist releases. This is a fine release from the Sheffield based minimalist electronica duo, showing the link between 90's techno and the sounds of today.

Alva Noto, Xerox Vol 1, Raster Norton: This 2007 release is a beautiful piece of work by German sound artist Carsten Nicolai aka Alva Noto. Noted for his attention to detail Nicolai creates a kind of microscopic view of sound. For this album, along with Christoph Brünggel, he created a 'sample transformer' to take sound fragments and manipulate them in a process akin to taking a fragment of a page and photocopying it over and over again, hence the name of this album. Built from such banal sources as advertising jingles and telephone hold music what comes out the other end is something unrecognisable: transformed into washes of sound that build and fall, drones and hums afloat in white noise and static that manage to posses a kind of organic quality despite their digital origins and the rigorous experimental methodology of their producer.

Biosphere, Dropsonde, Touch: Named after a weather recording instrument designed to be dropped form an aircraft into hurricanes, this 2006 release by Norwegian ambient pioneer Biosphere is noted for its jazz influences and is suffused with a warm, lush quality.

Jodi Cave, For Myria, 12k: Described on the artists website as " ... a most introspective music in blurred swatches of minimal color..." this recent release from 12k has its origins in field recordings and close mic'd found objects. It has a delicate, tactile field to it, full of miniature detail, quiet melody and finely treated texture pulled together into gentle collages.

Mountains, Sewn, Apestraartje: Apestraartje are a Brooklyn based label with similarities to 12k, though leaning more towards live instruments over a more purely electronic sound. Recorded using guitars, piano, accordion, bell and harmonica, alongside the use of electronics, computer and field recordings, this record is a fantastic example of the increasing practice of combining real instruments with computer treated sounds and field recordings, and is filled with beautiful melodic touches, subtly processed field recordings and shimmering, crackling textures.

Swod, Sekunded, City Centre Offices: A German duo who paly piano, drums, bass, guitar and electronics between them, Sekunden is a luscious cinematic, jazz influenced album, tinged with romanticism but still layered with subtle electronic treatments and and micro beats.

Deaf Centre, Pale Ravine, Type: Quite a way from purely electronic recordings this record by a Norwegian duo , this album blends piano, strings and electronically treated field recordings and found sounds into an evocative soundtrack that is at times warm and dusty and at others icily atmospheric.
posted by tallus at 1:44 PM on April 5, 2008