Audion - Suckfish

2005; 11 tracks

Audion is Matthew Dear, a minimalistic techno musician from Detroit. Suckfish is his first and only full-length. The music of Audion is slightly on the abrasive side, but I like it a lot.

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Ensemble Pittoresque - For This is Past

1983; 10 tracks

Ensemble Pittoresque was a minimal/synthpop band that formed in 1977, a time when bands like Faust and Can bombarded the mainstream with completely entrancing electronic music. Ensemble Pittoresque's sound is utterly weird, full of strange samples and varying atmospheres, but the effect is the same - we are captivated by the inventiveness of this group. Sometimes we are in the world of Doctor Who, visiting the hauntology/library music of Belbury Poly, and others we glide into This Heat-era experimentalism. When the vocals appear, things become slightly more human (they sound a lot like David Bowie), but altogether this album puts forth track after track of brilliant synthpop.

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Keith Fullerton Whitman - Playthroughs

2002; 5 tracks

This is for you, Phonsie :3 I want to share this album with you so bad, I know you would love it so much. I only wish I could have shown it to you sooner.

Playthroughs is the first full-length album by ambient/electronic musician Keith Fullerton Whitman. He had already been well known as idm/breakcore artist Hrvatski, but he must have decided to show off his more expressive, or ambient side. These 5 tracks contain some of the most blissful electronic music you will ever hear, and an unparalleled sense of both structure and freedom. The scientific pulsations, the ebbs and flows of the rhythms - it all conjures up images of fractals, ever building upon each other. It is the sound of cells forming and bonding, of DNA and the very basest of life's composition. Nothing could ever compare to this monolith of a first album.

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Hauschka - Ferndorf

2008; 12 tracks

"hauschka aka volker bertelmann weaves together an ethereal soundscape homage to his childhood in ferndorf, a provincial german mountain town. hauschka explores the notion of ‘prepared piano’ where he utilizes varied impedimenta, like bits of leather and metal placed in between the strings and on its dampers and hammers to achieve a tinkering, clicking, glitchy texture beneath the beautiful harmonies and arching strings. glassian, repetitive, electronic-tinged, minimalism appears to be the trend in postmodern classical. in line with this sound spectrum, haushka succeeds in streamlining his composition to its essence which affects and intrigues, both remembering fondly and looking forward."

ferndorf is one of the most serene illustrations of modern classical beauty. it's so so gorgeous, like a sunny day by the beach. think red balloons, bicycles, the inside of a clock... ou les nuages. that's one of my favorite french words, nuages... clouds. i also love aussi, monde, autre, pomme, pamplemousse, and... souvenir. i'm really attracted to the charm of some words :'3

also, prepared piano is a really interesting thing to explore. if you have a piano (preferably a grand, of any size), try it! but be careful... don't use tiny pieces, like coins or buttons, as they can fall under and then you'll never see them again. i like placing paper on the strings and sometimes even chains, and then playing random notes and bits of pieces. the piano is more dynamic than you think.


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