Radiohead - In Rainbows Special Edition + Bonus Disc (2007)

 

After a mediocre live album and the rather weak "Hail To The Thief", Radiohead came back with a blast in 2007. "In Rainbows"  is their most songwriting-oriented album since "The Bends" and makes less use of electronic gimmicks than its predecessors, resulting in a very warm and organic sound. Radiohead's main achievement on "In Rainbows" is consistency; where some of their recent efforts lack substance or sound lost, there is great cohesion in these songs. Altogether this might be the most underrated Radiohead album, featuring some great b-sides on the bonus disc, most of all the mindblowing  Down Is the New Up.

1.) 15 Step

2.) Body Snatchers

3.) Nude

4.) Weird Fishes/Arpeggi

5.) All I Need

6.) Faust Arp

7.) Reckoner

8.) House of Cards

9.) Jigsaw Falling Into Place

10.) Videotape

+  8 Bonus Tracks on Disc 2

                                                                                                                                 

Ratatat - LP4 (2010)

New York-based experimental duo Ratatat probably makes the weirdest music I have ever heard. Their instrumentals resemble sound mosaics, recorded and arranged beyond any musical style or convention. On LP4 they mix such contradictive genres as French house with cheesy 80's metal guitars and classical string orchestra arrangements with afro funk breaks. Ratatat tear pop music as we know it into shreds, just to put the pieces back together and finally turn its dynamics upside down again. Brilliant!

1.) Bilar

2.) Drugs

3.) Neckbrace

4.) We Can't Be Stopped

5.) Bob Gandhi

6.) Mandy

7.) Mahalo

8.) Party With Children

9.) Sunblock

10.) Bare Feast

11.) Grape Juice City

12.) Alps

Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma (2010)

The first thing to be said about Cosmogramma is that it is, in any aspect, an album which is way ahead of its time. In fact, it is probably the most futuristic record I have heard since Radiohead's Kid A (no surprise Thom Yorke contributed a vocal track on this one). Flying Lotus' genius Steve Allison blends all kinds of musical genres into a complex, multilayered masterpiece: Hip Hop, House and Free Jazz just to name some of them. The result sounds strangely accessible and organic, considering such an insane effort. In a recent interview the artist himself described his work as an experimental space opera, which pretty much sums up what the album sounds like: Pop music for the 23rd century.

1.) Clock Catcher

2.) Pickled!

3.) Nose Art

4.) Intro/A Cosmic Drama

5.) Zodiac Shift

6.) Computer Face/Pure Being

7.) ...And the World Laughs With You

8.) Arkestry

9.) Mmmhmm

10.) Do the Astral Plane

11.) Satelllliiiiteee

12.) German Haircut

13.) Recoiled

14.) Dance of the Pseudo Nymph

15.) Drips/Auntie's Harp

16.) Table Tennis

17.) Galaxy in Janaki

Mouse on Mars - Autoditacker (1997)

Formed in Düsseldorf as early as 1993, electro-duo Mouse on Mars has been around for almost two decades now. By fusing a huge variety of electronica with a touch of ambient they soon became firmly established in the experimental house scence. The most exciting thing about their music is the fact that, in spite of its experimental nature - being typical headphones music (full of ambient soundscapes, spacy crackles as well as general weirdness) - it turned out quite danceable and did surprisingly well in the clubs. In this spirit,  Autoditacker is a gold mine for electro-aficionados.

1.) Sui Shop

2.) Juju

3.) Twift Shoeblade

4.) Tamagnocchi

5.) Dark FX

6.) Scat

7.) Tux & Damask

8.) Sehnsud

9.) X-Files

10.) Schnick-Schnack Meltmade

11.) Rondio

12.) Maggots Hell Wigs

Tortoise - TNT (1998)

Formed in Chicago in 1990 by Doug McCombs and John Herndon, Tortoise have been expanding their constantly changing line up ever since. They play cinematic instrumental jams influenced by Krautrock, Postrock and avant-garde Jazz music. This 1998 masterpiece is their most vivid and playful record, yet. Regardless of uniting a large variety of styles, TNT manages to be a surprisingly catchy and accessible work of genius.

1.) TNT

2.) Swung From the Gutters

3.) Ten-Day Interval

4.) I Set My Face to the Hillside

5.) The Equator

6.) A Simple Way to Go Faster Than Light That Does Not Work

7.) The Suspension Bridge at Iguazú Falls

8.) Four-Day Interval

9.) In Sarah, Mencken, Christ and Beethoven There Were Women and Men

10.) Almost Always is Nearly Enough

11.) Jetty

12.) Everglade

Pole - 3 (2000)

German producer Stefan Betke ,who named himself after the Waldorf 4 Pole-Filter, has made some of the most interesting ambient records of the past two decades. On his third album he coats minimalist dub hooks  with dozens of layers of tape hiss, reverb and crackles. Due to the analog recording process the sound is incredibly warm and organic. Pole's dreamy at times hypnotic soundscapes best unfold, when listened with headphones.

1.) Silberfisch

2.) Taxi

3.) Karussell

4.) Überfahrt

5.) Rondell 2

7.) Klettern

8.) Strand

9.) Fohlenfurz

Tabla Beat Science - Tala Matrix (2000)

The tabla is a North Indian hand drum invented in the 13th century and is traditionally used to accompany sitar and vocals. Tabla Beat Science, an international all-star ensemble of five virtuoso tabla players and producer Bill Laswell breathe new life into this ancient instrument on their debut Tala Matrix. An amazing fusion between electronica and tradition, the album sounds surprisingly organic, as multiple layers of ruminant drumming unfold  in combination with Laswells narcotic synthie effects. 

1.) Secret Channel

2.) Magnetic

3.) Audiomaze

4.) Don't Worry

5.) Palmistry

6.) Devotional

7.) Big Brother

8.) Triangular Objects

9.) Biotech

10.) Alla

Venetian Snares - Rossz Scillag Allat Szuletett (2005)

Canadian electro wizard Aaron Funk aka Venetian Snares got the inspiration for his 2005 album during a trip to Hungary. Therefore most of the samples used on the record belong to classical Hungarian compositions. Funk drowns walls of paranoid string arrangements (he learned to play the violin for this) in shitstorms of  hurricane breakbeats and his trademark hardcore drumpatterns. Though almost inacessible at times, the result is an evil, dark as fuck electronic masterpiece.

1.) Sikertelenség

2.) Szerencsétlen

3.) Öngyilkos Vasárnap

4.) Felbomlasztott Mentökosci

5.) Hajnal

6.) Galamb Egyedül

7.) Második Galamb

8.) Szamár Madár

9.) Hiszékeny

10.) Kétsarkú Mozgalom

11.) Senki Dala

Boards of Canada - Music has the Right to Children (1998)

Listening to this record will instantly make you feel like an explorer, as BoC take you on a voyage through dreamy ambient soundscapes and hypnotizing rhythms.The Scottish electro duo's debut album is arguably their best record to date and one of Warp Records' all time classics. 

1.) Wildlife Analysis

2.) An Eagle in Your Mind

3.) The Color of the Fire

4.) Telephasic Workshop

5.) Triangles and Rhombuses

6.) Sixtyten

7.) Turquoise Hexagon Sun

8.) Kaini Industries

9.) Bocuma

10.) Roygbiv

11.) Rue the Whirl

12.) Aquarius

13.) Olson

14.) Pete Standing Alone

15.) Smokes Quantity

16.) Open the Light

17.) One Very Important Thought

Soul Coughing - Ruby Vroom (1994)

In 1994 New York born poet Mike Doughty released his debut Ruby Vroom; at a time when grunge drew its last breath and the gangsta rap hype had just ignited he recorded an experimental spoken word album that would become one of the most influential records of the 1990's. On Ruby Vroom Doughty spits his laconic poetry over odd jazz samples and pulsating drumbeats and deliveres a record that - even by todays' standards -  is way ahead of its time. 

1.) Is Chicago, is not Chicago

2.) Sugar Free Jazz

3.) Casiotone Nation

4.) Blueeyed Devil

5.) Bus to Beelzebub

6.) True Dreams of Witchita

7.) Screenwriters Blues

8.) Moonsammy

9.) Supra Genius

10.) City of Motors

11.) Uh, Zoom Zip

12.) Down to This

13.) Mr. Bitterness

14.) Janine