Phthalocyanine - Navy Warship; (1997)

Here's a fucking weird noisy abstract techno-ish album for you to have an existential crisis to.

Track listing:

1. Jax 57 Or Jist BGIU

2. Navy; 3

3. 1.7

4. Eliditt

5. --> ...

6. Block

7. Fer U 2

8. Com.2

9. Liph; 39

10. West After

Living with lightning in your body

If you like this, listen to:

Philip Jeck - Loopholes (1995)

Black Faction - Internal Dissident Part I (1999)

Sean Deason - Allegory & Metaphor (2000)

Detroit ambient techno bliss. I got a bunch of shit done earlier, had a workout, then met my buddy for a couple beers, and now I am laying on my couch, petting my cat, and listening to this record. At some point, this became my idea of a perfect Saturday.

Track listing:

1. Creation

2. Phunk

3. Allegory & Metaphor

4. 2030 AD

5. Ambience

6. Interlude

7. Zig

8. Psybadek One

9. My World

10. Hiphoptrak

11. Another Interlude

12. Allegory & Metaphor (Revisited)

Every now and then there comes a time you must defend

Your right to die and live again

Also listen to:

Ro70 - Ro70 (1995)

Miss Dinky - Melodìas Venenosas (2001) 

Aquila - Observations on the Loss of Culture (1996)

Techno/trance/abstract electronic with a dark, heady vibe from Australian producer Matthew Thomas. Great headphone listening. 

Track listing:

1. Culture

2. Museum

3. Identity

4. Knowledge

5. The Impossibility of Isolation

6. Ritual

7. Progress

Spacial interaction

You should also listen to:

Floatpoint - Beam Error (1995)

Jetone - Autumnmonia (2000)

Titonton Duvanté - Voyeurism (1999)

A bit of funky, acid-warped bedroom techno from producer/DJ Titonton Duvanté. Great mix of punchy, 808-driven, low-key bangers and downtempo cool-downs. In making this post, I discovered that he's doing a set tomorrow in Portland, but if you think I'm going to a DJ set that starts at 10 (at night?!), at which I am meant to dance, you're out your gotdamn mind. You kids have fun.

[This is the 2002 CD reissue with additional tracks and reworked sequencing.]

Track listing:

1. Foreplay

2. Taste Test

3. Bedpost

4. Favorite Position

5. Innuendo

6. Double Entendre

7. Remember

8. When We Used To.....

9. Boudoir

10. Novice with No Vices

11. Rugburn

12. Afterglow

I wanna say all those things

That would be better unsaid

You should also listen to:

Mr. Oizo - Analogue Worms Attack (2000)

Luke Vibert - Lover's Acid (2005)

Matthew Johnson - Ghosts in the AI (2009)

Tech-house with eerie, horror-steeped synths. I'm currently buried alive in school work -- y'all don't even know I'm in fucking 5 classes this term, and they're all hard -- but if I die down here, trust that I will come back and haunt the shit out of the two classmates who skipped our last meeting knowing that we'd still put their names on our document.

Track listing:

1. Ghosts in the AI

2. Technology

3. The Alchemist

4. Technology (Edit)

Cut out windows and doors

It is the empty space which makes the room useful

Also listen to:

Horror Inc. - Horrorama EP (2003) + I Plead Guilty (2004)

Padded Cell - Night Must Fall (2008)

Soultek - Dreaming Under a Starlit Sky (2009)

Related:

Intrusion - The Seduction of Silence (2009)

More immersive dub techno from another one of Chicago producer Steven Hitchell's many aliases. A hypnotic trip through a nocturnal world of echoing, soft-focus synths and pulsing, punchy beats. Once in a while, a harsher element might attempt to break through, but it quickly disperses like rain on a window.

Track listing:

1. Dreaming Under a Starlit Sky

2. Forever Feeling

3. Elektricity

4. Lighter Path

5. Clouds Overhead

6. Lost in Love

7. World of Dreams

8. Glacial Blue

Soul twist

Also listen to:

Ro70 - Ro70 (1995)

Onur Özer ‎- Kaşmir (2007)

A Vision of Love - Lessons in Hate (Part One) + Lessons in Hate (Part Two) (2013)

Two EPs of anxious, repetitive, industrial-edged techno from this alias of James Shaw, who's best known for his other project, Sigha. Distorted beats up front, reverberating industrial emptiness lurking in the corners. Late-night, void-embracing vibes.

Track listing:

 Part One

1. Hate (2/6)

2. Black & Blue (For You)

 Part Two

1. A Modern Romance

2. Our Education

She kills in ecstasy

Also listen to:

Ancient Methods - First Method (2007) + Second Method (2008)

Container - LP (2011)

Polmo Polpo - Like Hearts Swelling (2003)

Glorious sounds merging Gas-like ambient and woozy, abstract post-rock from Ontarian artist Sandro Perri. Layered towers of drone, guitar, strings, loops, and more build and recede, anchored by muffled pulses and angelic slide guitar. I found Polmo Polpo through the laid-back, zen-like indie/folk rock that Perri puts out under his given name, and that's definitely worth checking out, too.

Track listing:

1. Romeo Heart

2. Requiem for a Fox

3. Farewell

4. Sky Histoire

5. Like Hearts Swelling

Move most mysteriously in dreams

If you like this, check out:

Ulrich Schnauss - Far Away Trains Passing By (2001)

bvdub - Strength in Solitude LP (2007)

Jeff Mills - The Occurrence (2010)

Jeff Mills has been making strange, cosmic techno since the early 90s, and he shows no sign of stopping; if anything, he's gained momentum over the past decade. Thus, he's built up a pretty extensive discography, which can make things difficult for a prospective fan, so I'm just going with the album that was my entry point into his beautiful cosmos. What is it about Detroit that makes for such amazing house and techno?

Track listing:

1. Indications

2. Spacewalk (The Storm)

3. Abnormal Feeling

4. Inception

5. Hallucinations

6. Something Is Happening

7. Protons

8. Opening the Passageways

9. Infected

10. Eve

11. Satellite Retrieval

12. The Occurrence

13. A Newfound Sense of Being

14. Damaged Tether

15. From Beyond the Star

16. Reviewing the Incident

17. Transmitting Data to Mission Control

18. Re-Establishing Connection

19. Spiral Galaxy

20. New Measurements

21. Peaceful Encounter

22. Determination

23. Off-Line

One man spaceship

More Detroit magic:

The Martian – LBH-6251876 (A Red Planet Compilation) (1999)

Andrés - Andrés (2003)

Deadbeat - Primordia (2001)

Engrossing, narcotized dub techno from French-Canadian producer Scott Monteith. Grainy, echoing atmospherics, minimal melodic loops, and dark, subterranean pulses.

[EDIT: I just realized that I made the framework for this post before blogger updated and made it impossible (as far as my skills are concerned anyway) to imbed and align images as they are below. Look how much better that looks! Sad.]

Track listing:
1. Public Inspiration
2. Jaffa Dub (Queen B)
3. Peripheral Artifacts
4. Elder Drum
5. Minus Forty Madness
6. As We Conquer
7. Sunday Morning

Let it rain

More along these lines:

The Sight Below -
Glider (2008)

Donato Dozzy -
K (2010)

Carsten Jost - You Don't Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows (2001)

Noisy tech-house from German producer Carsten Jost. A bit of glitch here, a bit of ominous synth there, and across-the-board topnotch production.

Track listing:

1. Make Pigs Pay

2. New Morning / Changing Weather

3. Described as White

4. Juliane

5. Hermès

6. W.U.O.

7. Krokus

8. Youth Brigade

9. Elmenreich

10. 7To5Factory

These bodies are starting to reek

If you like this, listen to:

Ricardo Villalobos - Alcachofa (2003)

Abudallah Rashim - Unanimity (2014)

Alec Empire - Generation Star Wars (1994)

Debut solo album from German digital hardcore pioneer Alec Empire, perhaps best known as an OG member of Atari Teenage Riot. Here, there's a greater deal of nuance than the work he became known for, as his signature bludgeoning, distorted beats are balanced by lush, at times melancholic synths and strings.

Track listing:

1. Lash the 90ties

2. Stahl & Blausäure

3. 13465

4. Maschinenvolk

5. Sonyprostitutes

6. Blutrote Nacht Über Berlin

7. Pussy Heroin

8. New Acid

9. Smack

10. N.Y.-Summer

11. Konsumfreiheit

12. Microchipkinder

13. Sieg Über Die Mayday-HJ

My body cannot die

You might also enjoy:

Philip Jeck -
Loopholes (1995)

The Third Eye Foundation -
Semtex (1996)

Ro70 - Ro70 (1995)

Atmospheric IDM that generally lands somewhere within the realm of dub-techno, from German producer Roman Flügel. Jittery rhythms, echoing synths, and uneasy drones.

Track listing:
1. Einklang
2. Gog
3. Alma
4. Room 385
5. Visible Speech
6. Magog
7. FM Rhythms
8. Balloon Above Java
9. 10 to 10
10. Künstlicher Ausklang

4-door body cell

If you like this, try:

Black Faction -
Internal Dissident Part I (1999)

Claro Intelecto -
Neurofibro (2004)

Voodoo Child - The End of Everything (1996)

First full-length by this project of Richard Melville Hall, aka Moby. It's soothing, ambient electro/techno with a beautifully gentle sense of forward movement. Easily one of the best albums he ever put out. Also, while I have your attention, I'd just like to say that, "Bodyrock" aside, Play is a fucking masterpiece, and no amount of selling out or mediocrity that has transpired since its release will change that.

Track listing:
1. Patient Love
2. Great Lake
3. Gentle Love
4. Honest Love
5. Slow Motion Suicide
6. Dog Heaven
7. Reject

The rain pushes the buildings aside
The sky turns black
The sky

You might also enjoy:

Ambient Temple of Imagination -
Mystery School (1994)

Château Flight -
Puzzle (2000)

Ancient Methods - First Method (2007) + Second Method (2008)

Two EPs of anxious, dense techno. Foreboding drones, swaths of glitchy industrial noise, and distorted rhythms.

Each record contains four tracks, all untitled.

Steel on the skyline
Sky made of glass
Made for a real world
All things must pass

You should also listen to:

Container -
LP (2011)

Acronym -
Dimensional Exploration 001 (2012) +
Dimensional Exploration 002 (2013)

Hammer Bros. - Police Story (1997)

Japanese hardcore techno/gabber. Hyperspeed kick-drum beats, distorted claps, fucking laser noises, and short dialogue snippets repeated over and over 'til they're tattooed on your eardrums. You might find yourself wondering, "Why does music like this even exist?" Well, you see, before there was molly, there was ecstasy, which was laced with amphetamines.

Track listing:
1. Untitled
2. Captain Takahashi (Mouri vs. Takahashi)
3. Izumi Fucking (Fuck on 300)
4. Fuck DJ Mutha Fucker (Remix)
5. Undercover Klara Cops
6. Untitled

Party's over

You might also wanna check out:

Xylocaine -
Experiment in Fear (1997)

Proyecto Mirage -
Two Tons of Rubble (2001)

Scanner - Mass Observation (1994)

Unsettling collages of hissing radio feedback and distorted voices -- often of real, private conversations captured via radio scanner -- set to ambient drones, warbling synths, and minimal beats. Feelings of paranoia, voyeurism, and modern malaise abound.

Four untitled tracks

Can you see me?
We are watching
You are fading in the daylight

You may also enjoy:

blackhumour -
It Was Inappropriate (1989)

Stephan Mathieu -
Wurmloch Variationen (2000)

Wata Igarashi - Mood of the Machines (2016)

A four-song EP of abstract techno from a phenomenal Japanese producer. Pulsing synths, dissonant, layered waves of drone, and simple, punchy rhythms.

Tracks titled "Mood of the Machines Part I" through "Mood of the Machines Part IV"

Fast echoes

You should also hear:

Voices from the Lake -
Voices from the Lake (2012)

Acronym -
Dimensional Exploration 001 (2012) +
Dimensional Exploration 002 (2013)

Horror Inc. - Horrorama EP (2003) + I Plead Guilty (2004)

Two 12"s of phenomenal minimal tech-house from Canadian producer Marc Leclair, best known for his work as Akufen. Mesmerizing, late-night sounds, with just a hint of tastefully spooky vibes.

Track listing:
  -Horrorama EP-
1. The Sentinel
2. Siamese Twins
  -I Plead Guilty-
1. In My Garden
2. The Vanishing

Dans la nuit



You'd also enjoy:

Onur Özer ‎-
Kaşmir (2007)

Varg -
Misantropen (2013)

Onur Özer ‎- Kaşmir (2007)

Impeccably produced, nocturnal Turkish tech-house, with a tasty backdrop of cinematic dark jazz.

Track listing:
1. Eclipse
2. Innervoice
3. Terpsichorean Echoes
4. Sahara
5. Traumbone
6. Astronomy Glance
7. Seraglio
8. Aica

Nomad

For more along these lines, try:

Jacek Sienkiewicz -
Téchnè (2002)

Cosmin TRG -
Simulat (2011)