Rolling techno* albums thread for people who are clearly doing it wrong

Not being someone who ever goes out dancing I don't really want to gum up the bobbins thread with this stuff, but basically this is a thread for discussion and recommendation of new techno* records for home-listening.

*techno and related electronic music

Really enjoying the Richard Tobar and Akkord albums but realised I had no place to share this scintillating tidbit.

ha wait: Richard Ricardo

off to a grand start already

(I am sad to see the death of the phrase "bobbins" because of long conversations with Anna (who coined its usage on ILM) about why she used "bobbins" and what it meant, and what it was trying to avoid. Sigh.)

"bobbins" has died?

i thought that was why you were using techno* instead of "bobbins"?

(I have no idea. I'm sorry. I'll go away now.)

Oh this is totally meant to be separate thing. I'm definitely an albums person in my listening habits and also more of a generalist too, so this thread is intended as a non-dance-focussed and non-expert thing, probably featuring a lot of ineptitude on my part that I would be too embarrassed and self-conscious about elsewhere.

And techno* cos I have no idea about terminology, but was hoping to bring in ambient stuff as well as post-dubstep records too.

oh here we go again: non-dance-focussed non-dancing-focussed

someone edit this already to make me look less like an imbecile

Right, so would the East India Youth album fit in here for discussion?

It's not really new, but I got the Stellar Om Source album from last year, and I'm really enjoying it... Reminds of me of the more technoish Warp records from the early 90s (LFO, Mike Ink, etc) in that it's both danceable and good for home-listening. It's total nostalgia stuff, sounds like it could've actually been made 20 years ago, but for a guy like me who often feels nostalgic for that era, it's hitting all the sweet spots.

xp not heard it at all, so you tell me! thread police free zone here though so i say go for it

On the other hand, I can't understand the love for the new Donato Dozzy album, seems like it placed quite high in the 2013 albums poll... To me it sounds like very standard droney ambient, like a B-list Fax album or something, I don't see why people find it so exceptional. Especially considering that Voices from the Lake and K really were exceptional and very good; this one feels much more meh to me.

i need to spend more time w/ stellar om source. always enjoyed her stuff in the past though but that was more kind of free-floating astral dolphin music xps

doesn't "bobbins" just mean "rolling thread"

I've never come across with anything by her before this; the earlier stuff seems pretty hard to find? Joy One Mile is not dolphin music though, it's quite kicking actually.

(xpost)

http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/serezniy/serezniy1010/serezniy101000161/7964041-coloured-bobbins-of-thread-isolated-on-white.jpg

i think the dozzy record gets better the more attention you pay to it or else it tends to evaporate before you've taken it in, whereas VFTL sounded great even just as a background thing. didn't vote for dozzy though, wasn't even the best thing on that label last year (cos that was the quicksails record)

(though i think this is a potentially useful distinction anyway, home-listening and album-focused electronic music rather than club-focused; the EOY polls always demonstrate there's interest in this)

doesn't "bobbins" just mean "rolling thread"

you're probably better asking a person who knows what they're talking about tbh

that was directed at branwell - I didn't think it actually "meant" anything in the way implied.

bobbins ain't dead anyway house and techno bobbins 2014

Nope, and it was actually Anna F that coined the term "bobbins" because she was at that time writing for (big name UK based dance music magazine) and there were BLOOD ON THE DANCE FLOOR feuds between staff members about what was "Techno" and what was "House" and the differences between tiny micro-genres. And it was a running joke in her house that to avoid the death-match-feuds, to just call it all "dance... bobbins".

I cannot believe that I know stuff about the deep history of obscure ILM terms, but I guess this was just stuff we talked about while DJing.

I, too, would be happy to have an albums-based electronic bobbins thread, because I am LOL old and haven't danced in years.

Two recent albums I've been enjoying that might fit into this thread:

Steve Moore: Pangea Ultima
Ukkonen: The Ancient Tonalities of...

yeah this is my kind of rolling thread, good call Nick

I get a lot of opportunity to check out new electronic releases but nowhere near enough to go raving or generally do much more than sort of mooch at the edge of the attendant culture

Not a big fan of dividing "home" listening from "club" listening, as the delineation is fluid and arbitrary, but this is also only a personal take...but then similiarly I'm not a fan of microgenre naming either

but heres something which might fit,

https://soundcloud.com/richardzepezauer/bulldozers-from-nsyde-part-2

Also, e/tape https://soundcloud.com/etape/t-12 though its maybe too sleepy even for this thread

Hello. I'll be lurking in your thread. I may even post if I feel moved to listen to any music which is not either a year old and already discussed on ILX or 30 years old.

(like BB, also LOL too old to dance now and regretting that I spent my dancing-age years feeling that clubs were not welcoming spaces for me, lol indie kids, lol ugly women, etc)

down with this thread (I am, that is)

Just been listening to Mika Vainio's new Konstellaatio album in his more ambient/less abrasive zero guise and it is very beautiful electronic head music, if that is what you are angling at in this thread.

Yeah 99% of the dance music I hear now is "home listening" even it's totally banging and dancefloor-centric (and there are whole albums of that sort of stuff as well).

Bobbins will never die.

Was just listening to Konstalaatio today - very nice.

New NHK'Koyxen album is out at last, which I've been looking forward to for a while. It's on Pan again, which is maybe better known for electronic art music, but the last one was great hall-of-mirrors machine music with subtlety mind-disordering rhythmic effects and a lot of people's favourite on that label along with the Lee Gamble one.

http://d1wtzzt4oxg683.cloudfront.net/images/covers/160/144660.jpg

^ so pretty!

Steve Moore: Pangea Ultima

dunno if it's just me but i find this his weakest release thus far. still good, but a bit watertready

yeah I didn't find much call to give it a second listen

really loving this new hauschka album - http://www.cityslang.com/releases/64220/abandoned-city/ - fans of nils frahm would be into it i think

i'm really into pangaea ultima

i keep being impressed / doing double takes whenever tracks from peter van hoesen's live performance come up on shuffle. it's still p microproduced but has a looser vibe i seem to be keying in on.

i feel like i sample from a lot of recent techno that just doesn't grab me, maybe i'm only paying half attention, seems like the production is samey in an immaculate way but there isn't any fire and it's all airless and boring. one example is the conforce album, just zzzzz imo

oops i think it's life performance

also want to rep for anthony parasole's label the corner out of new york, last two releases are awesome (parasole and phil moffa - pressure and tom diccico - no sympathy)

though those aren't albums, ayy

i don't post to ilm about a big chunk of the new music i listen to, because it falls between the cracks of the rap/techno/etc threads. lots of pretty post-beat scene electronic music that sounds best on headphones but could work in a club in the right context, maybe.

Have enjoyed Hauschka in the past Lex (think it was Foreign Landscapes that I got into, that was very much modern chamber ensemble classical stuff though). Bit of a wait till mere mortals get to hear the new one - not out until mid-March by the looks of it.

Was giving the Mika Vainio a whirl a bit earlier. Sounds really well done but it was all a bit too austere for me. Have never quite got to grips with Pansonic either tbh so it probably wasn't meant to be.

vainio never clicked with me though on paper it sounds like exactly the kind of thing i'd dig.

I noticed that a third volume of Thomas P. Heckmann's (aka Age, Drax, Skydiver, etc) The Lost Tales was recently released, you can play the whole album via the link. (It's not on Fax like the previous two, but on some new American label, which was apparently set up as a legacy label to Fax, since it folded with Pete Namlook's death.) Anyway, like the previous two, it collects previously unreleased material by Heckmann, some of which dates back to to the early 90s, so there's loads of trancey analogue sounds and cosmic techno goodness... And more synth solos than on his previous albums! Obviously this is very old school stuff, but since cosmic beats and Fax have always been my thing, I love it! "Berlin to Dawn" and "Ode to a Friend" especially are awesome synth freakouts.

this is the perfect thread to post about:

severence - hidden ceilings
sven weisemann - inner motions
and
the smoke clears - listen

each of which were on my eoy ballot, and i associate them with each other. haven't really seen anyone discuss them anywhere, probably b/c they're very humble albums, but they linger in that edge of sleep space which i really love. i don't think listening to a single track really does any of them justice because they all take time to pull you in, but all three are pretty much perfect.

Fuck me, that Weisemann album is a lot better than I remembered it as this year.

does any remember a techno album or ep that heavily sampled or edited the akira soundtrack, i believe the producer's name started with a B. not blawan, but that's the name that pops in my head when i try to think of it. came out several years ago, maybe even almost ten years ago?

https://otakuusamagazine.com/akira-soundtrack-gets-edm-remix/

???

Bwana!

yes! that's it, bwana! thanks

I loved that. Put it on this mix:

https://soundcloud.com/newyorkendless/definition-of-a-plan

Tracklist on first comment.

nice

doing it very wrong imo

https://pacificrhythm.bandcamp.com/album/other-phases-of-sleep

Not sure if this is the right thread for it, but this Binkbeats album (remember his viral '10s videos performing classic beats live) is really hypnotic listening. Also performed live apparently.

https://binkbeats.bandcamp.com/album/ohm

(LIYL Dawn of Midi etc)

wow, I love this. thanks!

https://wajang.bandcamp.com/album/spiritual-ambush

Maara & Amor Satyr

but i especially love this Deathbrain album

https://deathbrain.bandcamp.com/album/a-slice-of-life

Priori - Wake (from the new album)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN797cSCS3E

I want whatever this is but I don't think they've released anything yet

watching Chicago’s finest, easygoingtech, play live music tonight :)

— Good Willsmith (@GoodWillsmith) June 9, 2024

oops

sixteen speaker spatialized set, everything panning around the room thru a program that Anais created. legends pic.twitter.com/LdJV71H7TK

— Good Willsmith (@GoodWillsmith) June 10, 2024

this is pretty sweet too

Sepehr - Genesis Domain EP

https://sepehr.bandcamp.com/album/genesis-domain

this new one from romanian idm guy hexalyn is heavy stuff

https://evel.bandcamp.com/album/scillocsenports-48khz-24bits

New Monolake album

https://roberthenke.bandcamp.com/album/studio

listened to most of it the other day. Henke's a great sound designer and arranger but I feel like he still really needs a collaborator/editor. his solo stuff is pleasant but... boring?

last saw a live audio/visual show of his in 2019 and the consensus among friends was that it was cool but probably should have been about 20 minutes shorter

Massive album of cosmic techno sounds by Oscar Mulero

https://oscarmulero-oficial.bandcamp.com/album/viaje-interior-lp-wu100

Al Wootton has been on a streak (a percussive dub techno streak)

https://alwootton.bandcamp.com/album/calvinist-hospitality

One of the masters of detroit techno and techno in genral mr. Jay Denham aka Vice. His record from 2008, The Truth, is essential.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T5nFCJzCpw

Can't stop listening to the new Barker album.

Ooooh

Fantastic RA podcast last week, too https://ra.co/podcast/982

Been meaning to listen. Not streaming, correct?

it's on Spotify

and Apple Music

Ah ok, I found it on Qobuz now. I know a lot of his records aren't streaming so I just assumed when it didn't pop up at first glance.

It's on Tidal, they just screwed up and created a second artist entry, as opposed to cramming several artists with the same name into one entry, which also happens.

It's terrific.

agreed!

I started putting Barker's previous album into my rotation in early 2020 after I'd gone to a Telefon Tel Aviv/Steve Hauschildt show and they were playing one of his tracks over the PA before the show started on a nice sound system. Instantly shazamed it

barker album is so good

I...wish I liked it more than I do? It's nice but not blowing me away like most of his previous work. I normally love a 'rhythmic ambient' album but some of it is neither here nor there (I'm into the surprisingly jazzy tracks with drums near the end though). Maybe it needs to be played loud.

yeah I want a full album like the last few tracks

I think I feel like the Debiasing EP was the peak (so far), but I've only gotten to listen to the new one once so far. Utility was great but didn't leave the impression a track like "Look How Hard I've Tried" did when I first heard it

The Objekt RA podcast Phil Sherburne linked to in his recent Barker review is excellent if you're in the mood for this stuff, dunno how I missed that the first time around

Barker's one of those dudes who seemingly doesn't release a bad track. Love this guy. If you haven't heard his 2023 EP Unfixed, that's also incredible (and has far more percussion than his two full lengths)

btw my favorite techno album of the year for people who are doing it wrong so far is love in the age of adaptive feedback by unspecified enemies. not even sure i can describe why it feels special, but i've been playing it all month and can't seem to get tired of it https://nmbrs.bandcamp.com/album/romance-in-the-age-of-adaptive-feedback

oof sorry romance in the age of adaptive feedback is the name of that album

I'm enjoying the jaziness of the Barker album. Not what I was expecting, but it works!

Yeah, it’s good as hell. One of the best things I’ve heard this year.

finally checking it out - wow! so much articulation and a surprising amount of heart. reminds me of what beatrice dillon was doing on her last album, reminds me of oval, of the spirit of eno at his best. wasn't expecting a relatively straightforward ambient piece ("the remembering self").

i haven't had what's essentially dub techno make me feel this blissful in a minute

maybe since his last ep!

I think Nørbak is one of the most creative producers coming up right now

https://hayescollective.bandcamp.com/album/casa

https://ground-dj.bandcamp.com/album/yaoyorozoo

seriously warped hallucinatory stuff

Think I pimped this on a FSOL thread but it deserves mention here. First time in a while I've thought "I need to play that again to understand the drum programming" (more hip-hop than drill n bass.) Plus top tier sound design obv. There's some piano I could do without

https://fsol.bandcamp.com/album/multiple-angled-distortions

I think Nørbak is one of the most creative producers coming up right now

https://hayescollective.bandcamp.com/album/casa

― whimsical skeedaddler (Moodles), Thursday, May 8, 2025 11:40 AM (two weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

this knocks

new Anthony Naples is solid. lotta good stuff this year.

Looks like Client_03 is releasing a 3LP album (!) 🫣

https://www.juno.co.uk/products/client-03-testbed-assembly-vinyl/1095092-01/