AsleepInTheBack
Ben
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Last Active 01-01-70 12:00 am
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04.05.24 sleeplog24(4)03.19.24 Headphones? Headphones!!! ♦
03.03.24 sleeplog24(3)02.01.24 sleeplog24(2)
01.18.24 Rating Art Is Dumb01.14.24 Good Music Books?
01.02.24 sleeplog24(1)12.30.23 a sleepy 2023 ♦
11.26.23 rec me: YOU!!! (December 2023: Final Ch ♦10.31.23 REC ME: pOst-hardcOre (November 2023: C ♦
10.01.23 REC ME: WEED đŸ„Š (October 2023: Chapte ♦09.09.23 CUM on REC me NOISE (September 2023: Ch ♦
07.30.23 REC ME: experiMENTAL (August 2023: Chap ♦07.02.23 FUNK ME: rec (July 2023: Chapter 7) ♦
06.01.23 REC ME: FOLK (June 2023: Chapter 6) ♦05.01.23 JohnnyoftheWell recs me (May 2023: Chap ♦
03.31.23 REC ME: BLACK METAL † (April 2023: Ch ♦02.28.23 REC ME: [H I P H O P] (March 2023 -:- C ♦
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REC ME: electronic (Jan 2023, Chapter 1)

Hi. My name is Ben. I know nothing about electronic music. To educate me, pls rec albums. I will listen to 1 album a day in January 2023. I will then describe the album that I have heard in this list. Kind regards, Ben --[[PSA]]-- I ran out of days to add stuff to the list to listen to but please continue to rec stuff m'kay x --[[PSA]]--
1Burial
Untrue

[EXAMPLE//://EXAMPLE] 1st Jan 2023: I heard this like 5 years ago and thought it was a snooze and then heard it yesterday whilst walking to the shops to do groceries in the cold and the wind and it blew my little brains out. Soulful. [4]
2Amon Tobin
Supermodified

[JOTW] -:- 2nd Jan 2023 -:- Bollocks, I love everything about this damn I AM basic BiTcH. Lovely tasty percussive noms for starter, main course of tense terse spook(p)y vibes and a liquid dessert of bliss ("Natureland" fucks). "Golfer versus Boxer" into "Deo" is an easy highlight (textural curveballs for days), as is "Slowly" into "Marine Machines" (smooooooth), as is "Chocolate Lovely" (also velvety). "Precursor" and "Rhino Jockey" confuse me, not pleasant, probably not meant to be(?). Still overall very very good for me thanks jon. [4]
3Hallucinogen
Twisted

[JOTW] ((( 3rd Jan 2023 ))) As an infrequent Shpongle-r and a man(child) partial to Infected Mushroom, this slots quite nicely into my pre-existing, limited understanding of trippy trance. Certainly grooves in that Meshuggah-ish 'ima focus on that one consistent thing and let the world cave in around me' kinda way, but with extra shrooms and without all the timesignature fuckery and, erm, riffs. V easy listening, fuzzy and visceral for sure, gr8 with dece headphones, captivating defo, got layers innit, i probs need more drugs. -0.3 for having the sheer bloody cheek to do that sneaky hidden track thing on the closer that really should just be its own track now that streaming is a thing sue me idk it's annoying i have OCD and a platform. [3.7]

Update (02.04.23): [4] shrrooooooooms.
4Cybotron
Enter

[Cimnele] ::: 4th Jan 2023 ::: Phew whoa etc. what a weird intersection of things. I love the interweaving of funk / electronic / low key hip hop shenanigans on "Enter" and "Industrial Lines" v cool yes sir; similar shit on "The Line" but with more m/ and "R-9" but with nightmare fuel too. "Clear" is also very clean classy BOOGIE yes! The rest is either yuck hard pass ("Cosmic Cars" I will see you in hell) or kinda like eh ("Alleys Of Your Mind" / "Cosmic Raindance" / "El Salvador"). Feels q/ proto-, and a bit dated ig, vox/lyrics in particular are v. hit/miss, generally not a fan of the afro-futurist / space-funk vibes. Probs won't return to as a whole album experience, but I will re-jam "Industrial Lines" forever. [2.5]
5A Guy Called Gerald
Black Secret Technology

[Cimnele] >>> 5th Jan 2023 >>> This is/was soundtracking my feverdreams GOD I'M (still) ILL. Having heard no DNB / jungle / whateverthefuck this is before, I felt a bit out of my depth and reference-point-less, so tried Wormhole by Ed Rush/Optical as some guy on reddit said it was a good gateway for metalheads and now my head hurts (tho v. enjoyable yes BASS will return to Mr Ed later). This album, though: first impressions: erm, it's okay(!). Enjoyed the dreamy hazy vibes, giddy expressive percussive things + crisp samples. "Silent Cry" and second half of "Dreaming Of You" (when the sexy noises finally stopped) were easy highlights; the rest I'm less clear on - it's dizzying and alien and foggy and I'm not sure I [get it]. Like, there's loads of individual moments (like the reversed drums on "Survival") that make me go "oh shii that's v. cool" but as a whole album experience it's a bit much for me. Will return once I have more albums under my belt + more bass-y kit + no headache. [3]
6Elsiane
Hybrid

[bgillesp] ))) 6th Jan 2023 ((( Good news! I love the vox. Perfect for the string-forward soundscapes + I heart the flourishes of keys and acoustic guitar as well. Faultlessly relaxing and cosy. Only downside, unexpectedly, is that I kinda wanted it to be weirder / more. Drum-person: do a thing! [after hearing 5, you do be playing kicks kinda weak sauce]. While you're at it, whack in some rogue vocal/string harmonies! Pull the bass forward in the mix and go nuts! Do the stuff!! Like, the end of "Final Escape" or "Paranoia" I feel are just screaming out for a third act with something funky and cool and dramatic. I digress, cause it's still a gorgeous LP, and more shenanigans may ruin the chill vibes, so still BIG pos. The book ends are world class. [3.5]
7Venetian Snares
Rossz Csillag Allat Szuletett

[bgillesp] =-= 7th Jan 2023 =-= Literally one of the best albums I've heard in the best part of a year and, in turn, my new favourite "electronic" record. High energy, full of character, headspiningly percussive, ingenious marriage of genres, brilliant compositions, absolutely yum, slaps slaps slaps. I love this give me more. [4.3]
8The Prodigy
Experience

[protokute] ,,, 8th Jan 2023 ''' It's great, but I've got fuck all to say about it. It just goes (with a capital "g" and a lowercase "o", "e" and "s" and probably an exclamation mark). Very easy to listen / boogie along to. Kinda hypnotic. The fact that the live closer sounds like a Death Grips song to me rn is wild. [3.7]
9Aphex Twin
Selected Ambient Works 85-92

[protokute] ''' 9th Jan 2023 ,,, Ambient music that you can dance to? Noice. I went into this - an album that, admittedly, I have heard before w/ headphones whilst shopping one time, but which apparently didn't impact my memory vestibules in any way shape or form - with confused expectations as to what it was trying to be; like I thought this'd be Eno-y or Stars Of The Lid - y or some other obvious ambient artist - y, but it is just so damn danceable in a way those albums aren't. It was perfectly pleasant as background music whilst I was tippy tapping away at work today, but really opened up once I took it home and played it on speakers whilst cooking. "Ptolemy" is so much funkier, "Xtal" even richer and gorgeous-er, "We Are The Music Makers" so much more rhythmically depth as the bass and tippy taps boogie around one another. I am, it seems, a fan. [4]
10Nasenbluten
100% No Soul Guaranteed

[a Sloth] ^!^ 10th Jan 2023 (aka the day sput died) ^!^ Well seeing as Sput has apparently gone to shit I guess there's nothing left to do but keep calm and carry on. Sloth my MAN this is the dumbest fucking thing I've heard in my entire life (and I love it). Australian hardcore techno gabber nonsense right here yes I'd like to order a half a dozen. Blasts my fucking brains out / nuts off. Cathartic / therapeutic / puts a big fuck off smile on your face when shit's heading t/wards fan. [3.7]
11Sewerslvt
we had good times together, don't forget that

[another Sloth] *!* 11th Jan 2023 *!* I feel like this lives and dies with its -v-i-b-e-. Like if you dig the ~v~i~b~e~ then you're in business and if you meh on the :v:i:b:e: then it's kinda meh. I'm the latter. Did enjoy the smothered fuzzy splice-y rainbow under a murk blanket melodies on the first few tracks and then it all blended into one. Nothing objectionable about it, but nothing that REALLY gripped me either. That being said, this is aprx. 90 minutes of music and I've only had an afternoon with it, so suspect there is more for me to unpack. for now ::: officially-MID. [3.3].
12Four Tet
There is Love in You

[granite] ~~~ 12th Jan 2023 ~~~ It's a slam dunk, ladies and gentlemen, a slam dunk. The most indiscriminately lovely record I have heard in YONKS. Everything feels tuned [just so] to give your mind a massage of un-gosh-ly proportions. The opener is gorgeous, hypnotising drum loop on "Love Cry", "Circling" is lush as fuck, everything else goes in HARD brother, closing seconds of "Plastic People" are adorbs. Love how warm and thick and real and viscous and organic the samples are on this. Tasty tasty future 5 maybe. [4.5]
13Autechre
LP5

[Hyperion] +=+ 13th Jan 2023 +=+ Good lordy, well that's certainly a thing, in't it? I appreciate this in the sense that it's large and meticulous and impenetrable and vaguely "beyond me" in all that it is. Uber percussive and textural and rich, but also cold and mechanical, idk. Like, it's oddly satisfying to be entirely out of your depth and mesmerised by a genuinely new thing, like reading a textbook or paper on a topic you know nothing about and not truly understanding what you're reading but getting all excited and giddy and intrigued by the depth of this new area of creative/artistic stuff that you had no idea existed. I'd be a disingenuous leap to say that I enjoy this in the same visceral emotive way as (say) 12 above, but this has only engrossed me more and more the more I've listened to it. Much better than my experience of trying Confield around 5 years ago and hurting my head in the process. initial impression [3.7] with space to bloom
14Basic Channel
BCD

[Hyperion] =+= 14th Jan 2023 =+= I have not had much time to dedicate to this today (life, ey?) BUT what I have heard is very cool. The slowly shifting sands approach to song composition is delightfully hypnotic + the way they kick one element of the minimalist soundscape out of sync and then back in again and then out and then in and then out and then in is mesmerising (my closest guitar-music reference point would be something like Horse Lords). Almost meditative. I feel I've a lot more I've still to extract from this, despite how absurdly minimalistic this is (it makes 9 feel like a rave by comparison). similar to 13, loads of room to grow, but currently [3.7]
15Proem
Negativ

[WRYN] @=@ 15th Jan 2023 @=@ Possibly the most indifferent I've felt to anything on this list so far, despite still actively enjoying almost everything this record does. After having such stark/contrasting commitments to various visceral (wonderful) visions in 6 to 14, this feels a bit diluted and impersonal by comparison. It does a little of this and a little of that and is all rather cool and neato and [hollow], lacking character or identity or something. Amorphous cute beep-boops contrasted with the sinister atmospheric things and the tappy percussive things and the low-key living-room bop vibes. Good tho. I suspect she's a grower, not a shower, too. [3.3] fwiw the closer is sublime and, at this stage in the list, i feel like my longer term appreciation of 'electronic' music has cemented, which is GOOD(!) and was the plan all along
16Lusine
The Waiting Room

[WRYN] ^%^ 16th Jan 2023 ^%^ Eminently danceable and accessible and, in that sense, a interesting counterpoint to a lot of the recs here. No nonsense, streamlined, hypnotic beats w/ a lovely organic injection of colour via the vox scattered across the runtime. Deliberately digestible and unalienating. Has none of the depth and (I suspect) staying power of my favourite recs here, but it wasn't (I suspect) striving for that. A very tidy/friendly listen, this. [3.5]
17The Knife
Shaking the Habitual

[Demon] ]]] 17th Jan 2023 [[[ Oh boy. Ima need a sec. I don't really know what to do with this. Easy initial highlights are "Full of Fire" and "Without You..."; the rest I'm v torn on. V intimidating(?) slash imposing(!) music. I adore the atmosphere and how hypnotic and alive it feels with all the real analogue not digital touches and how little they appear to give a fuck about literally anything except their creative vision with this very admirable mmm'kay. Still very quote unquote challenging tho (like wtf is "Old Dreams...", which I low key also love but damn that's a long and kinda momentum breaking side tangent). [i like it but ima need a few more listens to actually rate this but currently feeling a strong 3.5 to a light 4 TRAN--SITION:::::::]
18Yellow Magic Orchestra
Yellow Magic Orchestra

[Demon] [[[ 18th Jan 2023 ]]] MOOOOMMMMMMM somebody put some classical in my gameboy!!!!?! Very cute proto-videogame-y muzak. Not too much more to say at this stage except that this is a very very happy collective of sounds and i will be returning to it when i want to be happy and i am not happy. [3.5]
19Lapalux
Nostalchic

[brainmelter] $_$ 19th Jan 2023 $_$ Very boogie woogie-y. Some of the tracks near the end are fantastic. Sexy sexy times; makes the walls feel velvet and spicyyy. Otherwise, a lil homogenous and """vague""". I strongly suspect its a symptom of me listening to so much new music in one go, including some apparent genre classics, and getting a bit frazzled in the discovery process and unfairly dismissing some of the less obviously "out there" listens. Will return to this when I'm feeling kinder. Excellent living room and chill vibes though. [3.3]
20Culprate
Deliverance

[MoM] ÂŁ_ÂŁ 20th Jan 2023 ÂŁ_ÂŁ What an :f-u-c-k-i-n-g: VIBE, yooo00O0oo! Love the strings love the brass love the guitar love the BASS love it all. slaps in entirely the opposite way that the album art suggested that it would to me. This isn't raving ripcord big boy booming bonkersness; this is the soul and the heart and the bliss and the escape. Graceful and gorgeous and gorgeous and gorgeous and lovely. Immaculate songwriting; organic produce; big hugs. [4]
21Steve Roach
Structures from Silence

[Kompys] ;_; 21st Jan 2023 ;_; Everything is going to be okay. [4.3]
22Source Direct
Secret Liaison/Complexities

[Kompys] -_- 22nd Jan 2023 -_- Welp, "Secret Liaison" is a 5. Mind warpingly percussive w/ so much soul and mmmm good feelings in the melodies that they weave between them. Has that 'something' about it. "Complexities", by contrast, isn't a 5 ... but still quite nice. As a 2 song package, pretty hard to top. I feel like I need to hear more Source Direct singles and/or records to get a sense of where this slots within their sound (16 mins of music isn't much to go off to understand what they are all about); colour me intrigued. [4]
23Leon Vynehall
Rojus

[Relinquished] %_% 23rd Jan 2023 %_% Very unobjectionable and inoffensive, so much so that I have absolutely nothing interesting to say about it whatsoever (positive or negative). I did, however, enjoy boogieing to this in my kitchen. [3.3]
24Octo Octa
Resonant Body

[Relinquished] O.O 24th Jan 2023 O.O Another boogie anthem from Relinquished who, henceforth, shall now be known as the boogie master a.k.a. king boogie a.k.a. this kind friendo has a PHD in boogie. Very kitchen dance like (no)(every)(one) is watching vibes; reminds me of the types of tune playing at da clubs when I went out at university b a c k i n t h e d a y. I adore the closer - immaculate sampling choices. The rest doth require that I shaketh my hips and that I be pleased about it. Still not getting much quote unquote depth/substance/JUICE out of this lane of the genre - there's nothing here that my ill-equipped brain latches on to and goes 'oh wow that's clever/cool/different' - but (a) I'm not sure what this is for anyway and (b) it has hella fun time replay value so far as I can tell. [3]
25The Field
From Here We Go Sublime

[markjamie] o.o 25th Jan 2023 o.o This tugs at my soul in a way i wasn't expecting fuck. Actual normal human brain solidified thoughts/opinions/etc to follow in due course...

Due course: I am having a secret disco in the basement of my brain and this is the soundtrack. Rich and velveteen and sumptuous and kind. Lovely looping beep boops that I hope never end. What a joy. Excuse me what genre is this someone explain I am in love. [4.3]
26Biosphere
Substrata

[Sharenge] *o* 26th Jan 2023 *o* ig in a day/age/place/time where i constantly find myself and my attention and my anxious mind drawn in 100 fucking directions that i don't want to be drawn in --[insert social media / my phone / my oh so complex middle class life / my addictive tendencies, as may be the cause at any given moment]-- in this state i find myself becoming more and more interested in music that can break that maddening mind loop fuckery, draw me in, sit me down, grind to a halt the raging wheels in my noggin, NOT send me to sleep, but just hold me there, peaceful, content. this list has been a fucking goldmine for that minty goodness and this album is no exception. i fuck with the field samples i fuck with the mysterious fuck off vibe i fuck with "Pos Alpina" and fucking "Kobresia" and fucking "Sphere of No Form" especially fuck. it fucks. [4]

honestly this list has been a saving grace and one of the most satisfying and broadening and helpful musical experiences, ty x
27Boards of Canada
Geogaddi

[Sharenge] o*o 27th Jan 2023 o*o An album so good it made me revisit Music Has The Right To Children, which I had listened to (and unfairly written off) around 5 years ago. This list has helped me reconsider how I ought to listen to a given piece of music w/r/t how closely I pay attention (which paid dividends with this album). Listen too closely, try too hard to figure it out and "get" what the fuss is all about, and this fills me with anxiety and confusion; approach too inattentively/passively, and it passes right through me. That sweet spot between, however, of letting it wash through me, set the tone, and become the audial environment - this shift being, ig, the difference between the process of trying to understand why art works vs. living with and enjoying said art - is bliss. Semi-dissociative vibes; daydreaming but awake and in colour; what I imagine having synesthesia feels like; like visiting a place you've never been before and yet swear you actually have. Very cool. [4]
28Tangerine Dream
Phaedra

[combustion] _-_ 28th Jan 2023 _-_ Also very cool. Captivating atmospherics, when listened to at the right measure of attentive inattention. The t/t is obviously the SAUCE here - love the way the synths and the bass kinda do a lil tango together around 5 mins in, switching in and out of focus, w/ lovely injections of vox and other organic things - but tracks 2 through 4 all have something about each of them. Track 2 is immediately lovely, a lot easier to hop right into, than the 17 min long boi it follows, and the funeral-march-esque closer is just a bit haunting. The tonal shift from the scatty jittery opening moments of "Movements..." to the rest of it is also a brilliant exercise in compare/contrast dynamic-y goodness. Also a fan of this. [4]
29Justice
†

[combustion] ††† 29th Jan 2023 ††† Chunky crunchy, shaggy scooby and the gang, big french funk boogie bops. Music you can eat with a spoon aka damn boi he THICK. Very enjoyable low carb bangers. Will return to this frequently and with a smile. [3.5]

Update (02.04.23): [3.7] bump
30James Ferraro
Live at Primavera Sound 2012

[dedex] .oO 30th Jan 2023 Oo. Listened to this walking through a graveyard at night on my walk home from work and my goodness is this a soulful spiritual boi. "Organic" may be the most overused word of this list but fuck it, it's apt and I'm using it again. The flute(?) melodies on this are just ridiculous and blimming brilliant as they hand their sonic baton to the synths and back again. The field recordings that it opens with and sneaks in throughout are also brilliant. It feels (and I hate myself for being uninformed enough to have to be this vague) inspired by traditional African music (idk there's something very communal and vibrant and green here). One of the most joyous 24 minutes of existence I've had in a solid, erm, minute. [4.3]
31Vladislav Delay
Anima

[Sniff] Oo. 31st Jan 2023 .oO And now for something completely different. Grips me by the lungs and the heart and the spirt in a totally different way to 30, but is equally brilliant. That this plays so seamlessly and emotively and eclectically off of (if we're being generous) 2 (two!) musical notes for the entire 1 hour (one hour!) run-time is bonkers. The short book-end samples do a lot of heavy lifting, tbf, as does the immaculate production throughout. Hyper textural, organic (fuck off), human, breathing, alive. [4] A worthy concluding record to this list - if you'd made me listen to this on 1st January 2023 I would have hated it and hated you, but hey there what's that no way its PERSONAL growth. Way to go me, and way to go you all good people. Thanks for the recs. Cheers.
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