OVAL

I think you're onto something with the image vs. notoriety. Also, Autechre backs up its talk about Schooly D by making music based on beats, albeit disintegrating, deconstructed beats. A lot of Popp's music has a pulse to it, but it doesn't have any of that abstract head-nodder appeal.

But I'm down with Systemisch . Beautiful record.

OVAL LUV 4-EVAH!!

(mothafuck Autechre and John Wayne)

I think they're one of the greatest 'groups' of the last 20 years.

Just an hour or two ago Fugazi's "Promises" was doing this awesome skipping where we'd get a few seconds of nondescript Oval-ish noise stuff, followed by this skip snare rush thing. My housemate jumped up to turn it off, viewing it simply as error and refusing to judge it on any kind of aesthetic level (but you know, he's kind of an idiot w/r/t music, so.)

The only pre-OVAL music that sounds like OVAL that I can think of off the top of my head is Terry Riley's In C--another personal favorite.

Keiko - "Runtime Engine" is Oval's contribution to the Microstoria remix album Reprovisors, which is excellent and worth getting in any case. My favorite Microstoria album and probably my favorite remix album.

Here's the interview:
http://www.meso.net/oschatz/oval/jeremyturner.html

See ya!

I've been interested in Microstoria though...do they have the beats?

94diskont is the only Oval thing I regularly listen to, but i like it a LOT.. Do While is probably one of my favorite pieces of music ever

Metzger also contributed several solo tracks to this compilation on Alku under the name Oval / Frank Metzger. Short, fragmented, instrumental, much closer to 'systemich'/'diskont94'.

More interviews with Sebastian Oschatz here, some good information about the software.

-- jason m.

Yes! I have that track, it's lovely. Was watching some crackling fireworks tonight & dearly wishing I could sample them, just to listen to.

Good Lord, who the hell mastered my copy of 94diskont?

I'm listening to DoWhile and it sounds awful. No amount of futzing with the equalizer is helping either. Is this the case with every copy?

does anyone have any info on the making of systemisch? the interview milton links to upthread is dead

i can definitely hear saw ii in "mediation"

How is systemich? I've generally passed on it alot but came really close to getting it sicne I saw it for really cheap. I love 94diskont (despite the fact I think I got a bunk pressing of it) and ovalprocess.

i found systemisch a little less interesting than diskont, but it's definitely worth hearing. or buying, especially if its cheap.

If I remember correctly, they drew on copies of the CD with markers and sampled the resulting skips, then arranged the sounds.

new album sounds interesting

http://www.thrilljockey.com/catalog/?id=104798

hey, cool! was wondering if this guy was ever going to put out anything else.

http://www.xlr8r.com/mp3/2010/05/ah

not sure about the drums

heh, this reminds me of ANIMALS ON WHEELS.

Free "outtakes" EP culled from the recordings of his upcoming double-LP:

http://bit.ly/afqNAA

Any thoughts on the new one? I'm midway through the first disc and enjoying it so far. My previous awareness of Oval begins and ends with his first record on Thrill Jockey many years ago.

ovalprocess

freeoval:

http://oval.bandcamp.com/

Anyone fucking with this yet?

http://ovaldna.com/

Basically just a loop player with a bunch of oval sounds but fun to mess with.

Cool. Will check that out.. Anyone else enjoy Calidostópia!? I thought some of the tracks really worked, and others not so much but good overall.

mmmmmm

i kinda fell off after "O", is the new stuff worth hearing?

do while is so beautiful

def... even the youtube stream of it permeates the room w/a unique balminess. favorite is still ovalprocess, especially the first track.. so warm and raw, sort of a hot gurgle. the album's got some nicely understated melancholy tracks too.

Microstoria is tops, though. i wore out 'init ding', it was actually one of my first p2p-sharing (Napster) scores, while at work (night audit at a small hotel). it was so exciting to read about this stuff online, and then hear it for the first time in the waning hours. consequently our computer privileges were lost because somebody changed the background/wallpaper. but 'model 3, step 2' sounds fresh as ever.. Lithops, save for the first album (reissued on Moikai), never really achieved the magic of Microstoria. i hear a lot of oval/microstoria influence in jim o'rourke's work.. of course they've collaborated etc.. but records like 'indeed' (2011) by o'rourke/ambarchi, it almost sound like an acoustic interpretation of Microstoria music. "pedal & pedal" (from "Old News #5"), which is comprised of modular? sounds, sounds like an homage to Microstoria. but it goes on for a bit, a little monotonous

https://youtu.be/JKiTY2muhl4

^^great post

I'm listening to an instrumental playlist which just transitioned from the first track on Ovalcommers to 'Theme From A Summer Place'. Possibly the most hysterical song transition ever.

never heard any Oval before but the sample track ("my") off his new album is so cool

https://oval.bandcamp.com/album/popp

kinda sounds like someone fast forwarding through a CD full of club hits

I'm pretty into his last few 'pretty' albums with vocals, glitched out guitar harmonics, and cut-up live drums.

Haven't listened to this guy in almost twenty (!) years, was a bit too academic for me. This new one though is (on first listen) some hot shit making me bounce.

https://oval.bandcamp.com/album/eksploio

man this is so far off the sound he's famous for, its like Mouse on Mars territory

You weren't kidding. I'm enjoying this though, thanks!

loving the new one on my first pass:
https://oval.bandcamp.com/album/scis

breakdown I'm hearing is something like 90s mouse on mars + katamari damacy soundtrack + maybe some oval, I guess?

The previous thread revive prompted me to start getting caught up, as I'd extensively marinated in the earlier Oval discography back in the day and for some reason just never got around to So or anything after. Boy, have I been an idiot.

yep, same here. haven't seriously listened to much besides "do while" for a really long time. feel a deep dive coming on...

here's the interview🕸 with Frank Metzger talking about his role in Oval before Popp appropriated the name for his solo projects. Confirms the use of 'Selected Ambient Works II' as the primary sample source for 'Systemich'. Metzger also contributed several solo tracks to this compilation🕸 on Alku under the name Oval / Frank Metzger. Short, fragmented, instrumental, much closer to 'systemich'/'diskont94'.More interviews with Sebastian Oschatz here🕸, some good information about the software.

dont forget the power of the wayback machine!

https://web.archive.org/web/20060106132426/http://www.meso.net/oschatz/oval/

beautiful glitch works, diskont & systemisch still sound fresh.. . surprised these were never on mego? maybe pre-mego?

A new album! Called Ovidono, over at Bandcamp. A So reunion of sorts - Eriko Toyoda and a new second vocalist. Both of them are (deliberately) riffing on ASMR, lol, and the music itself has, of all things, an ECM tinge?

I missed Romantiq from last year and ummmm it's totally beautiful?

This is excellent, thanks Tim.