Introduction

One post, one country, one artist

Let me introduce you to my blog which will focus on independent and emerging electronic music. The first objective of this blog is to showcase recent artists living around the world. They will be selected among the most influential in electronic music production.

 My analysis of this art will include three main themes:

☀ The convergence of electronic music and other arts (photography, video, multimedia, design, …).
☀ Electronic music can sometimes convey a political message.
☀ The technology evolution effects the instruments (hardware and software) and allows producers to make their sounds evolve quickly, making it the most diverse and original genre of music.

Do not hesitate to share your feedbacks on the tunes, I hope this website will help you to love the proper electronic music. Close your eyes and enjoy!

About me

Jean, 23 years old, studying electronic engineering in paris, interested in experimental and underground electronic music (electronica, synth-wave, house, french touch, minimal, techno, drum & bass, dubstep), rock music (psychedelic, punk, new-wave) and hip-hop (old-school, alternative).

Amon Tobin (Brazil)

Amon Tobin is a good example to illustrate the fact that the electronic music is a center of attraction for other art forms, and the technology opens up a range of new artistic possibilities.

Firstly, let me introduce Amon Tobin. I can objectively say that he is one of the most influential artists for every genre of music. Acclaimed by the audience and the press like nobody since 1997 (I already said that 97′ was a very successful year for electronic music in a previous post!), his work is inspired by jazz, blues, hip-hop and underground genres, the whole forming de-structured, complex, cerebral, hypnotic and organic sounds which often remind us of nature.

Listen to this following music, a great example of perfect composition:

Amon Tobin – Bloodstone
Album: Bloodstone (2007)

Amon is considered as a “virtuoso sound designer”, because he is always looking for new sound textures, like a scientist is researching on new technologies. While he plays the synthesizer, guitar, bass guitar, drums, saxophone, theremin, chapman stick, drum machine and sampler, he also develops his own sound algorithms on specialized softwares to produce very original noises, as shown in this video:

His albums often go with dedicated artworks (covers, artbooks) made by renowned artists, like in the album “ISAM” (2011) for which Tessa Farmer created impressive pictures of insects to highlight the organic sounds of the musician:

Finally, and maybe the most spectacular thing, his live shows. In 2011, Amon Tobin asked to multimedia artists and engineers to build an audio/visual performance for his live representations. The result is a cube-organized structure animated with light effects… You must see this short video to understand the outstanding rendering…

More information about “how do they do this?” here

I hope this post helped you to understand a little more what is electronic music and the possibilities it offers… To top it off, you can listen to the Amon Tobin’s last album with this player, I personnaly advise to listen to it before sleeping!

Amon Tobin
Album: ISAM (2011)

Atari Teenage Riot (Germany)

Germany is well reputed for the minimal techno genre with artists like Stephan Bodzin, Marc Romboy  and Paul Kalkbrenner.

But today I will talk about a very interresting movement born in this country in 1995: the digital hardcore. Atari Teenage Riot is the representative of this wave, which can be assimilated to the punk-rock movement in the 70’s in the UK.

Politically commited, main themes of the movement are anti-nazi, anti-fascism and anarchism, but also reflections about technology: Do machines control us? How powerful will be the Internet?

The first single you can listen to is the track “Speed” (1993), a music about drugs and ‘no future’. Sorry for the poor quality video but this is a part of the hardcore music athmosphere… Oldschool techno, drum & bass beats and punk vocals:

“News, Drug abuse to the future and the hippocrytes cry: Who dies next?
And I tell you a story from the underground nothing funny about, 
Get down to get hyped! Kill me and no one’s gonna miss me… 
Feel the heat of the highway! To the car to the key of reality!…”

In 2001, the band split after the death of a member. But since 2010 the band has reformed for a new album. Today Atari Teenage Riot is more and more popular because its members are envolved in the Anonymous and the Wikileaks movement. They especially denounce corruption in some States and defend the Internet freedom.

For example, they made several video clips for their songs, as you can see in the last track “Black Flags”:

If you are an Anonymous activist, you can even download a special track to edit your promotion clips !

First major artists in electronic music, from 1920 to 1990

1920: LEV TERMEN The musician and electrical engineer designed the Theremin, the first electronic musical instrument and therefore invented the notion of electronic music. Moreover, modern synthesizers are largely inspired from the Theremin architecture. You can see how it works here. An interesting video of Lev Termen (Leon Theremin) playing his own instrument: video.

Listen “Psyché Rock”

1950: PIERRE HENRY The french compositor Pierre Henry participated in the creation of electronic musics by using a lot of samples in his songs.

Listen “The Robots”

1970: KRAFTWERK The german band was very influential by using only electronic sounds, and invented techno with repetitive, advanced and minimalistic harmonies. The band is still active nowadays.

Listen “Equinoxe Part. 4”

1976: JEAN MICHEL JARRE In contrast with Kraftwerk, JMJ produced a deeper electro music with complex synthlines approaching classical music. It was also one of the first to design his electronic instruments to create his own atmosphere (for example the Laser Harp, video here).

Listen “Blue Monday”

1980: NEW ORDER The new-wave movement was born in the U.K. and sign the beginning of mixing popular rock music with electronic sounds. New Order, ex-Joy Division, is one of the notorious band of new-wave.

Listen “Planet Rock”

1983: AFRIKA BAMBAATAA Afrika Bambaataa, from New York, was very active in Hip-Hop music by mixing rap culture and electronic beats and vocals. He is also sometimes recognized as the first DJ of the world.

Listen “Can U Feel It”

1985: MR FINGERS Mr Fingers and his friends from Chicago invented in the early 80s the “House Music”. My grandfather used to say that it’s because these precursors organized parties in their own houses. This is one of the first electronic musical genre made to dance in clubs (also called “Dance Music). The music Can U Feel It is the anthem of this genre.

Listen “Go”

1990: MOBY After playing punk music, Moby introduced in 1992 an album which can symbolize the beginning of techno underground music, associated with drugs.

Listen “La femme d’argent”

1997: AIR 97′ is maybe the greatest year in electronic music, because of the birth of two musical genre: the “Big Beat” in U.K. (for example the Prodigy, the Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim) and the “French Touch” (Air, Daft Punk, Cassius, Laurent Garnier). For me, Air is one the greatest band in the world, inspired by rock, psychedelic, pop and jazz music. Enjoy playing this deep track from 1997…

Mr. Oizo (France)

Mr. Oizo can represent the electronic frenchy style. The volition to create musics inspired from different countries and to mix a lot of genres. He produces his musics by using a lot of strange samples and powerful synthesizers.

Unstructured and disorganized tunes result in feeling that many different songs are alternated in one music. The first music that I present is a happy, motivating and catchy music:

Mr. Oizo – Cut Dick
Album: Lambs Anger (2008)

This second track could be a french-like love song, with an inimitable groove:

Mr. Oizo – Jo
Album: Lambs Anger (2008)

But Mr. Oizo is also know for his famous experimental musics, like this one on his recently released album (I think our kids will listen to this genre of tunes, perhaps you are not mentally prepared) :

Mr. Oizo – Camelfuck
Album: Stade 2 (2011)

Ok… For movie-lovers maybe you know Mr. Oizo under his real name: Quentin Dupieux? With the money he earns with his albums, he produces his own scenarios. The result is aesthetic and completely absurd films, like his songs… And of course, he performs the original movie soundtrack! You can find below the trailer of Rubber (2010), the story is about a serial killer tire, I invite you to discover the full-length movie!

Funny isn’t it?

Abstract: “Electronic guide” of techno.org

It is often said that, in electronic music, there are as many genres as bands. To understand where musical trends come over time and places, the website techno.org hosts a cultural tool allowing us to move through space-time of music.

The site categorizes seven major genres of electro music (House, Trance, Techno, Breakbeat, Jungle, Hardcore, Downtempo) and each of these parts are then divided into dozens of sub-genre.

A screenshot of this interactive website, graphics are awesome!

We can for example discover the “Musique Concrete” of the 50’s, the “French Touch” trend, the “Experimental Industrial Music”, but also less glorious genres as “Epic Trance” or “Happy Gaber”… Each sub-genre includes a summary and a player to easily listen to the great classics.

Even if some genres are anecdotal, and archiving stopped in 2000, you can have fun for a long time on this site to discover new eccentric tunes.

Do not waste your time and visit techno.org now !

What is your favorite genre ?

Lone (U.K.)

Nottingham producer Matt Cutler, known as “Lone”, seems to be the new promising talent of underground house music. His productions are inspired by the roots of 90s dance music. This track is my favorite one, constructed with spatialized and deep synthesizers sounds, the result is a kaleidoscopic effect in your mind :

Lone – Cloud 909
Album: Emerald Fantasy Tracks (2011)

It’s the kind of sound you can listen alone during the sunrise or in a crowded nighclub: dirty beats and colourful dance energy make you dance, while sentimental and complex melodies excite your imagination, leaving you in your dreams.

What is very interesting is that, while his musics are produced with a lot of direct inspirations, Lone invented a new genre of emotions in his sounds. Warm arpeggios, vocal samples, humid beats and fantastical melodies provoke synaesthetic reactions. Sometimes you feel tunes coming from Hawaiian saltwater, sometimes from the North Pole icy air…

This track, constructed with classic synthesized chords, looks like an exotic music with a bit of sadness:

Lone – Re-Schooling
Album: Emerald Fantasy Tracks (2011)

Another eccentricity, Lone is using digital instruments, like musical softwares on a laptop, which create a kind of  “low-quality” sound, quantized and distorted. That shows that, when digital synthetized sounds are well used and well mastered, it creates a particular atmosphere that can’t be created with analog instruments. I hope you enjoyed Lone tunes, to conclude, another daydream music:

Lone – Approaching Rainbow
Album: Echolocations (2011)

Com Truise (USA)

Com Truise last album atwork, inspirated from Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures:

Com Truise, from New Jersey, is quickly becoming the international ambassador of Synth-wave, 80s inspired musical genre with analog heavy synthesizers and detuned retro-futuristic melodies.

Com Truise – Cathode Girls
Album: Galactic Melt (2011)
 

At listening, a unknown nostalgia feeling caused by great tunes and sound texture researches, similar to Vangelis sci-fi works in Blade Runner movie. Main particularity of Com Truise, some experimental destructuring of the beat, that makes you head banging randomly.

Com Truise – Fairlight
Album: Fairlight EP (2011)

Com Truise – Space Dust
Album: Cyanide Sisters EP (2011)

More and more american artists are experimenting further with analog synthesizers, whereas previous years were marked by digital sounds creations. Analog synthesizers are often wholly electronic and generate “physical sounds”, while digital synthesizers produces sound thanks to programmed algorithms. There are two schools in electronic music.

Visit Com Truise website to see more!