Belong - October Language

Genre: Ambient, Electronic, Shoegaze

Sounds like: Infinite Body, Mountains

I felt extremely isolated in my small studio apartment when I moved to the Bay Area a few years ago. Though the loneliness typically didn’t bother me, I found a lot of comfort in desolate sounding music that other people created in their bedrooms. I assumed the people creating this music were also lonely, and I found solidarity in that assumption. So anyway, be prepared to read about a lot of introverted bedroom music!

I’m not sure whether Belong recorded October Language in a bedroom, and come to think of it, they must not be very lonely since they are a duo. Regardless, this album is absolutely gorgeous. Much of this album contains thoughtfully orchestrated music buried beneath layers upon layers of rubble. Recorded in New Orleans just before Hurricane Katrina, I can’t help but think that the apocalyptic soundscapes on this album were an omen that should have been listened to more carefully. Put on some headphones and give this album an attentive listen and you might be surprised by what you hear.

Download

NOTE: I will generally not post albums that are still in print for download, but this one has been out for about five years and I just can’t help it.

Konono No. 1 - Congotronics 1

Genre: Congolese, World Music, Electronic

Sounds like: Kasai All Stars

Website

Although well known amongst the yuppie NPR set, I was totally surprised when I found this somewhere cause it's not like anything I've ever really heard. Apparently this band has been around quite awhile but it took until 2004 for this to get an official release. They're a gigantic band out of Kinshasha, Congo/DRC that uses traditional instruments haphazardly wired to car batteries and old megaphones for amplification. Basically this band uses trash as instruments. Their songs get into total jungle grooves that border on trance while maintaining their awesome African rhythms and it's really easy to just get lost in the hugeness of their sound. Their label, Crammed Discs, focuses on releasing interesting music from all over the world and have an impressive, challenging discography that I've been too scared to try to go deep into. The fact that they recently release a "best-of" album that takes ubiquitous artists like Andrew Bird and Animal Collective and has them do covers of their roster probably suggests that they've officially entered into the mainstream indie consciousness. Whatever, I'm getting off point. Check out the video below

Download

Raleigh Moncrief - Watered Lawn

Genre: Electronic

Sounds like: I dunno

My knowledge of electronic music is very weak and I don't possess a particularly good vocabulary to describe it. This album, however, is very good. I would classify Raleigh Moncrief as being somewhat experimental compared to a lot of the electronic music I hear. It's not particularly dance oriented but the songs do have strong beats and some really gross bass. Acoustic guitars play lazy lines while washes of synths fade in and out. Beach Boys-esque harmonies drive whole songs and lend the album a singer-songwriter quality. Plus you have to respect a DJ that remixes and samples Tera Melos songs.

The User - Symphony #2 For Dot Matrix Printers

Genre: Electronic

Sounds like: your printer

Artist's Website

It's very early in the morning. You put off your research paper / lab report / essay off for way longer than you should have, and you suffered a long night for it. You finish up, say "no" to proofreading it, and click on the "save" button at least eight times. You print this beast of a paper. What luck! Your printer is full of ink and paper. You feel warm with relief of finishing on time, and you sit in your chair, listening to the creaking of your printer's startup procedure, anticipating the sounds it makes that you know too well. Once it finally starts putting ink to the paper, you find yourself moving to the rhythms of your printer in a semi-delirious way.

This is that album.

Literally, it's the sound of printers. Supposedly this album took a few years of programming, and it shows. There are moments of a kind of satisfied calm (with your printer), and then there are moments of built up dread (from your printer). Don't think of it as a gimmick; it's a great listening experience.

Download

Ssaliva - Thought Has Wings

Genre: Electronic, Ambient, Chill Beats

Sounds like: Aphex Twin's mellow stuff

Listen

I totally understand why a lot of blog writers hate filling out the "genre" and "sounds like" parts because for the most part I'm just guessing on this one. I found Ssaliva cause I follow John Campbell's webcomic pretty regularly and saw that he's been making some seriously weird videos lately. One of them was a short little music video for this band (linked below). I can't really find out anything about them but they've got some mellow tunes with good beats, nice textures and even a little bit of ambient noise thrown in. If you liked the Monster Rally link you'll like this.

Download

I was going to put the John Campbell music video here but couldn't figure out how to embed Vimeo links so just click here if you're interested.