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Oneohtrix Point Never - Jon Hopkins - Tim Hecker - Forest Swords - Arca - etc.

I've been really getting into the types of music produced by the artists listed above, as well as others.

Might even almost lump in Aphex Twin and more recently Parkside into this category/genre.

Not sure how to categorize or which genre these really are. Often they don't sound "musical" or melodic at all. More like strange soundscape compositions that evoke incredible trippy alien/organic/psychowarp imagery.

I wasn't born with a musical ear. Can't play the guitar, piano, or even tap out anything listenable form a synth board. I can fake it with a harmonica for a few minutes, but that's about it.

However, I think I could eventually find myself making sound compositions vaguely similar to some of the artists/producers listed.

What kind of music is this? And, what kind of software, iOS apps, hardware, etc. should I be focussed more on if that's the direction I'd like to eventually go? Most of what I've played with seems geared towards musicians, but some of it wanders off into more experimental territory. How do you recommend tailoring your app pursuits if the sort of sound arrangements I've cited are what really "totes your goat" as the kidz say? ;)

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Comments

  • Both of these sites:
    maniacsonly.com
    noiseguide.com
    should provide lots of helpful information.

  • edited February 2016

    The answers would be different for each artist.

    Like for OPN, I'd say get a bunch of synth apps which emulate classics and arpeggiators for his early sound, Roland Sound Canvas or Vogel CMI Pro for the R Plus 7 stuff (he sourced just General MIDI sounds for that record), and God knows what for his recent material.

    Tim Hecker, hell I've asked myself the same question! His sound is totally unique, imo. The "Virgins" record is one of the most incredible bits of sound design I've ever heard.

    Jon Hopkins, he has a very nice studio: https://www.xlr8r.com/gear/2013/06/in-the-studio-jon-hopkins/

    Never checked for Forest Swords and don't like Arca.

    edit: And really, all those artists have belonged to the "IDM" tree in some way/shape/form over the last 15-20 years. So yeah, checking for some of the old and better IDM labels (old Warp/Schematic/Merck/old Planet Mu/Skam/Mego is where Hecker came from/etc.)

  • @CalCutta said:
    The answers would be different for each artist.

    Like for OPN, I'd say get a bunch of synth apps which emulate classics and arpeggiators for his early sound, Roland Sound Canvas or Vogel CMI Pro for the R Plus 7 stuff (he sourced just General MIDI sounds for that record), and God knows what for his recent material.

    Tim Hecker, hell I've asked myself the same question! His sound is totally unique, imo. The "Virgins" record is one of the most incredible bits of sound design I've ever heard.

    Jon Hopkins, he has a very nice studio: https://www.xlr8r.com/gear/2013/06/in-the-studio-jon-hopkins/

    Never checked for Forest Swords and don't like Arca.

    edit: And really, all those artists have belonged to the "IDM" tree in some way/shape/form over the last 15-20 years. So yeah, checking for some of the old and better IDM labels (old Warp/Schematic/Merck/old Planet Mu/Skam/Mego is where Hecker came from/etc.)

    Yeah, I hesitated adding Arca into that group. First few listens were interesting, but found my inner voice asking me to please turn it off now. ;)

  • edited February 2016

    @CalCutta said:
    The answers would be different for each artist.

    Like for OPN, I'd say get a bunch of synth apps which emulate classics and arpeggiators for his early sound, Roland Sound Canvas or Vogel CMI Pro for the R Plus 7 stuff (he sourced just General MIDI sounds for that record), and God knows what for his recent material.

    actually, i believe opn used omnisphere quite a bit on r+7. his old stuff is definitely synth-heavy (mainly a roland juno-60), but consider his material as chuck person, which is just looped segments of pop songs, yet still very effective. for his recent material, it is hard to say but i believe i saw a video of him using a max4live version of apesoft's idensity, which does have an ios port. idensity is a fantastic granular sampler and when i listen to r+7 i definitely find some of the sounds on it to be reminiscent of what you can get in idensity.

    i recommend samplr in pretty much every post i make, but i will do so again here. i've made like 70 songs with it and it's fantastic for noise/non-linear music. for more in-depth granularization there's idensity.

    if you are interested in more experimental music, you might try listening to

    james ferraro - it's hard to know where to start with him. he's done a LOT of stuff over so many genres. marble surf, on air, edward flex presents: do you believe in hawaii? or far side virtual are good starting points, although they are all very different in how they sound. the dude is kind of insane.

    jefre cantu-ledesma - love is a stream. blissful, shoegazing guitar drones.

    zoviet france - shadow, thief of the sun or eostre

    graham lambkin and jason lescalleet - the breadwinner or photographs

    heroin party - summer made me blue, summer gave me sky

    ricardo donoso - sarava exu

    bee mask, more nervous synth stuff

    inca ore - silver sea surfer school, her eerie voice in low fidelity on top of key/guitar drones. harsher than, say, grouper, altho she did a split with grouper.

    haxan cloak for spooky string work

    rashad becker, his album is alien and strange enough that i kinda actually feel a bit uncomfortable while listening to it

    rene hell / secret abuse - these are both the same dude (jeff witscher). secret abuse is some despairing yet approachable guitar work, rene hell is some more outlandish sound design stuff. he collaborated with opn a bit.

    if you haven't heard autechre's confield, that would fit as well

    some dudes i sorta know through forums: there's ecto mist, who does very ambient fucked-up weirdness, and percival pembroke, who does sort-of themed synth motifs, like soundtracks to cold war stories that don't exist, or odes to 80s-90s computing technology.

    i find tim hecker to actually be a bit samey, but haunt me haunt me do it again has some incredible moments on it

    prurient, rainforest spiritual enslavement, vatican shadow - all of these are dominick fernow. prurient is harsh power electronics, RSE is very environmental rainforest noise, vatican shadow is paranoid, anxious techno.

    rameses iii - i could not love you more. this is a drone record that has some tear-jerkingly beautiful moments on it. the title track is incredible.

    stephen mathieu and ekkehard ehlers - heroin. wistful, nostalgic noise.

    ron morelli - a gathering together

    shuttle358 - pretty much anything by him

    opitope - physis. beautiful, organic shit by two japanese dudes.

    this will destroy you - tunnel blanket. their previous albums were "post-rock," with optimistic buildups and crescendos, but this one takes a different tack: it's complete crushing fucking doom. it's smothering, overwhelming hopelessness, and it's rly cool.

    and of course there's old-school shit like john cage's indeterminacy

    hmm, that's all i can think of at the moment... i sort of got distracted from the original alien sounds you were mentioning in the op and just ended up making a list of cool ambient/drone/noise music... oh well. sorry.

  • @blanksmaiden No. That's great, thanks! I'm a longtime Autechre fan and listened to Haxan Cloak about a year ago. Wasn't sure what I was listening to and didn't end up buying. Now I love the stuff and his last one is only available as an import now. Still on the wish list.

    I'm going to go through all your other recommendations too. Already have Samplr and need to learn how to use is more effectively. Love it though. Going to grab Fieldscraper too. You're the third person who's recommended James Ferraro, but I've never heard of him.

    I used to be very much into electronic music several years ago, but gravitated away at some point when it was getting too DJ dancey. I've only just started getting turned on by it again over the last few months with Jon Hopkins, Tim Hecker, and most recently Oneohtrix Never Point's "R Plus 7" + "Replica" and Forest Swords "Engravings". I've listened to the new OPN and love it too but haven't bought it yet.

  • edited February 2016

    @skiphunt said:
    @blanksmaiden No. That's great, thanks! I'm a longtime Autechre fan and listened to Haxan Cloak about a year ago. Wasn't sure what I was listening to and didn't end up buying. Now I love the stuff and his last one is only available as an import now. Still on the wish list.

    I'm going to go through all your other recommendations too. Already have Samplr and need to learn how to use is more effectively. Love it though. Going to grab Fieldscraper too. You're the third person who's recommended James Ferraro, but I've never heard of him.

    I used to be very much into electronic music several years ago, but gravitated away at some point when it was getting too DJ dancey. I've only just started getting turned on by it again over the last few months with Jon Hopkins, Tim Hecker, and most recently Oneohtrix Never Point's "R Plus 7" + "Replica" and Forest Swords "Engravings". I've listened to the new OPN and love it too but haven't bought it yet.

    there's actually a fair amount of "deconstructionist" club music going on right now. some examples include rabit - communion or perhaps bloom - cold grip. lorenzo senni does exactly this sort of thing with trance buildups, divorcing them from their original structure

    also forgot to mention dean blunt. ferraro, lopatin, and blunt kinda make up the face of contemporary experimental music. check dean blunt - the narcissist ii, or the redeemer. he also has releases with inga copeland under the name hype williams.

    here's a good example of ferraro's stufF: a collection of ringtones he made that is an exhibit for the museum of modern art

    http://momaps1.org/interactive/james_ferraro/

    also if you haven't listened to chuck person's eccojams it's 0PN under a pseudonym

  • @blanksmaiden I'm going to check ALL of this stuff out. Anything else you think of is much welcome as well. :)

  • That new Rabit album is great. You'd probably also like M.E.S.H.

  • @CalCutta said:
    That new Rabit album is great. You'd probably also like M.E.S.H.

    @blanksmaiden

    Where's a good place to check many of these out? Some mentioned appear to be obscure enough that there's no listing or not much listed on the mainstream streaming sites. Several on Spotify but no full albums. A few on Soundcloud but minimal single tracks. Is there a known hub to at least preview many of the artists listed?

    thx for the suggestions! :)

  • both the Rabit and M.E.S.H. albums are on Spotify actually, past that, youtube

  • @CalCutta said:
    both the Rabit and M.E.S.H. albums are on Spotify actually, past that, youtube

    Just found some M.E.S.H. and started listening on Spotify... but have to wait until the wifey is gone because she's not diggin' this stuff as much as I am. ;)

  • if you are interested in more experimental music, you might try listening to

    james ferraro - it's hard to know where to start with him. he's done a LOT of stuff over so many genres. marble surf, on air, edward flex presents: do you believe in hawaii? or far side virtual are good starting points, although they are all very different in how they sound. the dude is kind of insane.

    jefre cantu-ledesma - love is a stream. blissful, shoegazing guitar drones.

    zoviet france - shadow, thief of the sun or eostre

    graham lambkin and jason lescalleet - the breadwinner or photographs

    heroin party - summer made me blue, summer gave me sky

    ricardo donoso - sarava exu

    bee mask, more nervous synth stuff

    inca ore - silver sea surfer school, her eerie voice in low fidelity on top of key/guitar drones. harsher than, say, grouper, altho she did a split with grouper.

    haxan cloak for spooky string work

    rashad becker, his album is alien and strange enough that i kinda actually feel a bit uncomfortable while listening to it

    rene hell / secret abuse - these are both the same dude (jeff witscher). secret abuse is some despairing yet approachable guitar work, rene hell is some more outlandish sound design stuff. he collaborated with opn a bit.

    if you haven't heard autechre's confield, that would fit as well

    some dudes i sorta know through forums: there's ecto mist, who does very ambient fucked-up weirdness, and percival pembroke, who does sort-of themed synth motifs, like soundtracks to cold war stories that don't exist, or odes to 80s-90s computing technology.

    i find tim hecker to actually be a bit samey, but haunt me haunt me do it again has some incredible moments on it

    prurient, rainforest spiritual enslavement, vatican shadow - all of these are dominick fernow. prurient is harsh power electronics, RSE is very environmental rainforest noise, vatican shadow is paranoid, anxious techno.

    rameses iii - i could not love you more. this is a drone record that has some tear-jerkingly beautiful moments on it. the title track is incredible.

    stephen mathieu and ekkehard ehlers - heroin. wistful, nostalgic noise.

    ron morelli - a gathering together

    shuttle358 - pretty much anything by him

    opitope - physis. beautiful, organic shit by two japanese dudes.

    this will destroy you - tunnel blanket. their previous albums were "post-rock," with optimistic buildups and crescendos, but this one takes a different tack: it's complete crushing fucking doom. it's smothering, overwhelming hopelessness, and it's rly cool.

    and of course there's old-school shit like john cage's indeterminacy

    hmm, that's all i can think of at the moment... i sort of got distracted from the original alien sounds you were mentioning in the op and just ended up making a list of cool ambient/drone/noise music... oh well. sorry.

    Brilliant list -- really enjoying checking these out.

    Thanks a lot!

  • @richiehoop I know. Way more than I was hoping to get out of my OP. Was just after some suggestions of apps to play with that might be used in this particular genre. :)

  • @blanksmaiden + @CalCutta not that it really matters... but is this "deconstructionist" stuff considered now passe'? The DJ mix stuff I used to listen to could still be relevant I think, but most of this newer stuff sound like a logical evolution from about 4 different genres.

  • I'm enjoying this thread. Although not familiar with many of the artists mentioned (have checked out a few).

    Apps wise, I guess you could make interesting stuff out of any apps - but ones that spring to mind for kind of texture/warped sounds/fine control over the fabric of you sound might be:

    • iDensity (as mentioned)
    • Borderlands
    • Elastic drums (huge range of synthesis in there and makes it easy to come up with rhymical and warped phrases)
    • Perhaps Poisdon now you can import your own samples?
    • Animoog
    • Audiostretch
    • Dedalus
    • Defribulator
    • Nils (maybe)
    • the deeper, darker corners of Gadget and M1?
  • edited February 2016

    @Matt_Fletcher_2000 said:
    I'm enjoying this thread. Although not familiar with many of the artists mentioned (have checked out a few).

    Apps wise, I guess you could make interesting stuff out of any apps - but ones that spring to mind for kind of texture/warped sounds/fine control over the fabric of you sound might be:

    • iDensity (as mentioned)
    • Borderlands
    • Elastic drums (huge range of synthesis in there and makes it easy to come up with rhymical and warped phrases)
    • Perhaps Poisdon now you can import your own samples?
    • Animoog
    • Audiostretch
    • Dedalus
    • Defribulator
    • Nils (maybe)
    • the deeper, darker corners of Gadget and M1?

    I'm going through the list of the recommended artists right now. Found almost on via Spotify and will take me a joyous week at least exploring all of these. I knew of some of them already, but this stuff is definitely right up my alley.

    Honestly, as others have suggested... I should probably just explore the depths of what I already have. I'm very interested in AUM though, primarily because I'm getting tired of crashing my iPad Air 2 and my fingers are crossed that AUM will be a rock-solid hub while I'm experimenting. I've already got Animoog from the list and Dedalus is on my short list... but I think I'll add Elastic Drums.. that one looks fun. Trying to stick with only universal apps at the moment.

    Even though I likely shouldn't bother with buying anything else at this point... I've got a few apps on the short list that I might pull the trigger on anyway.

    1. Mitosynth or Korg IDS-10? 2. I've got iDensity on the list, but also Fieldscraper. Thinking those two are a bit redundant so might go for Fieldscraper 3. Dedalus Delay + apeFilter (but I should likely explore the DFX MultiFX I already have beforehand)

    I don't have deep pockets, so I'm going to have to narrow it down for now. As mentioned.... I could likely do just about everything I'd care to at the moment using nothing but Samplr from what I've seen.

  • @skiphunt said:
    @blanksmaiden + @CalCutta not that it really matters... but is this "deconstructionist" stuff considered now passe'? The DJ mix stuff I used to listen to could still be relevant I think, but most of this newer stuff sound like a logical evolution from about 4 different genres.

    Nope, if anything, it's a very popular sound (there's a very popular crew in London called Boxes which is leading the charge). The Rabit album is more onnthe noisier/dissonant side, there's other producers like Logos and Mumdance who have a more sparse take.

    Ironically, I go for a bit more beat-heavy stuff in the music I mix. I'll spam a mix I did last night: https://m.mixcloud.com/26thPsalmBranch/taupe-beats-2-20-16-goofoff-mix/

  • @CalCutta said:

    @skiphunt said:
    @blanksmaiden + @CalCutta not that it really matters... but is this "deconstructionist" stuff considered now passe'? The DJ mix stuff I used to listen to could still be relevant I think, but most of this newer stuff sound like a logical evolution from about 4 different genres.

    Nope, if anything, it's a very popular sound (there's a very popular crew in London called Boxes which is leading the charge). The Rabit album is more onnthe noisier/dissonant side, there's other producers like Logos and Mumdance who have a more sparse take.

    Ironically, I go for a bit more beat-heavy stuff in the music I mix. I'll spam a mix I did last night: https://m.mixcloud.com/26thPsalmBranch/taupe-beats-2-20-16-goofoff-mix/

    Quick sample of your stuff. Nice! I like how it seems to wander from ambient to beat-driven and back. Only skimmed it but will likely playback in the background tomorrow. thx!

  • thought of a few more:

    wanda group / dem hunger - this is a guy doing field recording stuff as the former and very strange wonky hiphop as the latter. great song/album titles (i.e., "piss fell out like sunlight")

    diamond black hearted boy / chino amobi - not really sure how to describe him, https://soundcloud.com/chinoamobi

    amnesia scanner - "the ocean is grey. arab money in ciphered currencies. free wi-fi provided by drones. google krishna."

    the goslings - grandeur of hair. imagine pop songs, but played shoegaze/drone slow and with tons and tons of distortion. it's like sludge pop.

    elysia crampton - i'm only familiar with her work in passing, but it is certainly strange. here's her remixing dbhb:

    oren ambarchi - grapes from the estate. this is very, very calm sine wave + guitar drone. very very peaceful.

    2814 - 新しい日の誕生 . a vaporwave release by a duo that refused to sample other works, which makes it quite unique as far as vaporwave goes.

  • @skiphunt said:

    @CalCutta said:

    @skiphunt said:
    @blanksmaiden + @CalCutta not that it really matters... but is this "deconstructionist" stuff considered now passe'? The DJ mix stuff I used to listen to could still be relevant I think, but most of this newer stuff sound like a logical evolution from about 4 different genres.

    Nope, if anything, it's a very popular sound (there's a very popular crew in London called Boxes which is leading the charge). The Rabit album is more onnthe noisier/dissonant side, there's other producers like Logos and Mumdance who have a more sparse take.

    Ironically, I go for a bit more beat-heavy stuff in the music I mix. I'll spam a mix I did last night: https://m.mixcloud.com/26thPsalmBranch/taupe-beats-2-20-16-goofoff-mix/

    Quick sample of your stuff. Nice! I like how it seems to wander from ambient to beat-driven and back. Only skimmed it but will likely playback in the background tomorrow. thx!

    Thanks!!

    @blanksmaiden You've got a lot of great suggestions! Have you ever checked Keith Fullerton Whitman's album "Playthroughs"? The Oren Ambarchi suggestion reminds me of that. Also, if you haven't checked them before, you'd probably like Raime.

  • @CalCutta said:

    @skiphunt said:

    @CalCutta said:

    @skiphunt said:
    @blanksmaiden + @CalCutta not that it really matters... but is this "deconstructionist" stuff considered now passe'? The DJ mix stuff I used to listen to could still be relevant I think, but most of this newer stuff sound like a logical evolution from about 4 different genres.

    Nope, if anything, it's a very popular sound (there's a very popular crew in London called Boxes which is leading the charge). The Rabit album is more onnthe noisier/dissonant side, there's other producers like Logos and Mumdance who have a more sparse take.

    Ironically, I go for a bit more beat-heavy stuff in the music I mix. I'll spam a mix I did last night: https://m.mixcloud.com/26thPsalmBranch/taupe-beats-2-20-16-goofoff-mix/

    Quick sample of your stuff. Nice! I like how it seems to wander from ambient to beat-driven and back. Only skimmed it but will likely playback in the background tomorrow. thx!

    Thanks!!

    @blanksmaiden You've got a lot of great suggestions! Have you ever checked Keith Fullerton Whitman's album "Playthroughs"? The Oren Ambarchi suggestion reminds me of that. Also, if you haven't checked them before, you'd probably like Raime.

    lol i was actually going to mention raime but i was like "nah, they've probably heard of that"

  • LOVE Raime! :smiley:

    The influx of 1st-wave Industrial influence over a lot of current electronic music is wonderful.

  • @blanksmaiden + @CalCutta I'm loving pretty much ALL of this stuff! Hadn't heard of Raime. I'm added everything either of you list as my only albums in spotify. Really opening up my head and inspiring. Thanks!

    Mostly adding whatever is the latest of each, but didn't much care for the latest Dean Blunt stuff... listening to his older album "Narcissist II"... better but I guess I'm not wild about his singing voice.

  • Ironically, this thread has caused me to dedicate my morning to listening to old Swans records.

  • @CalCutta said:
    Ironically, this thread has caused me to dedicate my morning to listening to old Swans records.

    Dear god! I haven't listened to them in ages.

    That reminds me... some of this "new" stuff is really similar to obscure stuff I used to listen to back in the mid-90's.

    It's strange how disposable people treat music, ie. it's not "relevant" unless it's brand new. But, if you have a large enough library, it's easy to find stuff repeating itself. Sometimes I'll dig deep into my older stuff and find plenty that could stand up easily today.

  • @blanksmaiden @CalCutta I've been through about all the suggestions made via Spotify and of course like some better than others. Any more to add to the list?

    Also, what music review/blog/sites do you recommend for this sort of music? I see some of these on Resident Advisor. Sometimes I catch the odd review of some of these on Consequence of Sound and Pitchfork, but it doesn't appear to be a genre any of those sites focuses on much. Which others would you recommend to keep up with what's new, etc?

  • @skiphunt said:
    @blanksmaiden @CalCutta I've been through about all the suggestions made via Spotify and of course like some better than others. Any more to add to the list?

    Also, what music review/blog/sites do you recommend for this sort of music? I see some of these on Resident Advisor. Sometimes I catch the odd review of some of these on Consequence of Sound and Pitchfork, but it doesn't appear to be a genre any of those sites focuses on much. Which others would you recommend to keep up with what's new, etc?

    The Quietus is what you are looking for

  • @JeffChasteen said:

    @skiphunt said:
    @blanksmaiden @CalCutta I've been through about all the suggestions made via Spotify and of course like some better than others. Any more to add to the list?

    Also, what music review/blog/sites do you recommend for this sort of music? I see some of these on Resident Advisor. Sometimes I catch the odd review of some of these on Consequence of Sound and Pitchfork, but it doesn't appear to be a genre any of those sites focuses on much. Which others would you recommend to keep up with what's new, etc?

    The Quietus is what you are looking for

    coolness. thx!

  • edited March 2016

    @skiphunt said:

    @JeffChasteen said:

    @skiphunt said:
    @blanksmaiden @CalCutta I've been through about all the suggestions made via Spotify and of course like some better than others. Any more to add to the list?

    Also, what music review/blog/sites do you recommend for this sort of music? I see some of these on Resident Advisor. Sometimes I catch the odd review of some of these on Consequence of Sound and Pitchfork, but it doesn't appear to be a genre any of those sites focuses on much. Which others would you recommend to keep up with what's new, etc?

    The Quietus is what you are looking for

    coolness. thx!

    hang out on sketchy internet forums half-populated by ppl who make this sort of thing themselves, snorting ketamine and messing with shortwave radios

    "fuck compose. fuck melody. dedicated to noone. thanks to noone. art is over."

  • also keep an eye on labels. orange milk is one... opal tapes is another... there are more probably

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