Good, melodic indie-electronica

I listen to, in no particular order:

Boards of Canada
Apparat
Bonobo
Styrofoam
The Postal Service
Goldfrapp
Dntel
Chronomad
Four Tet
Air
Manitoba/Caribou
I Am Robot and Proud
Mouse on Mars
Lali Puna
Ms John Soda
Frost
Kraftwerk
Ellen Allien
The Notwist
Triosk
Skalpel
Isan
Portrait of David
Excepter
Múm
King of Woolworths
Boy in Static
Multi-Panel
Junior Boys
Fischerspooner
Kazumasa Hashimoto
Diefenbach
Myrakaru

You will notice a certain predilection for European, especially warm, glitchy indie-electronica. Some of these (MoM, Notwist, Apparat) often integrate acoustic instruments (or samples thereof) to achieve a wonderfully textured, organic sound that I like; Notwist’s use of wind instruments is wonderful.

Mouse on Mars is a particular favourite, as is The Notwist and its various offshoots and collaborators. Of late, Apparat’s Duplex, Ellen Allien’s Berlinette and Styrofoam’s Nothing’s Lost (which I highly recommend to any Postal Service fans out there) have impressed me the most.

On the other hand, I’m not into Allien’s DJ stuff, or DJ mixes in general, nor weirdo club techno like Miss Kittin which to me comes across as too harsh and crude. Fischerspooner is borderline. And while I enjoy ambient music, I usually need something more solid.

What is missing? Recommendations, anyone?

There’s plenty to check out over here. Of course, over there it’s called synthpop, but it’s more or less the same thing when you really look at it. I’d recommend Iris, The Echoing Green, Mesh, and Neuropa. Some of these bands may sound a little more polished than the more “indie” influenced sound and are often more upbeat, but hey, it’s worth a shot.

Sweet, I thought I was the only one. I might take some of those groups on your list as recommendation, since I do already listen to a handful of the groups listed.

Nothing to add though, your knowledge on the subject pretty much covers mine.

To me, synthpop is Pet Shop Boys, New Order, Duran Duran, Joy Division and so on. Slick, heavily synth-based pop music, danceable beats, traditional song structures, chart music material.

Indie electronica, while I dislike the name, is a different beast altogether. Even at their most melodic, Mouse on Mars is nothing like synthpop. Same goes for everything else I listed.

The Postal Service, on the other hand, is somewhere in between; it’s IDM with with unconventional structures and instrumentations.

Anyway, thanks; I will check out your recommendations.

If it’s Berlinette you like – in my opinion most of her other stuff is nowhere near as melodic – then I would highlight these recommendations (forgive me if you already know them):

Mouse on Mars – German genius duo. Heavily influenced by progressive rock, classical music and Kraftwerk. Specializes in an organic, finely textured, “dirty” electronic sound that often sounds like somebody (metaphorically) crumpled up the music and then unfolded it, alternating between atmospheric, wistful, symphonic passages and heavy beats and intense rhythms that ascend into heavenly cacophonies.

They have been gradually adding more vocals, even if they’re usually nonsensical, and on the latest record they even do full-blown pop songs. If I were to make any comparisons, it would be to Einstürzende Neubauten, and like Neubauten there’s something intellectual and poetic about Mouse’s music.

They have never made a bad record, but my favourites are Idiology, the softer Niun Niggung, and the latest, Radical Connector, where they combine their existing dirt-ronica with a more breezy Air/Röyksopp-like pop sound; a few missteps along the way, but in general, one of this year’s best albums.

Apparat – German IDM/glitch heavily influenced by Mouse on Mars; a little like MoM without the beats. Duplex is mostly instrumental, a warm, delicious wave of calm, intelligent electronic music.

Styrofoam – alias Arne Van Petegem from Belgium. His latest album, Nothing’s Lost, is a collaboration with Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie, Andrew Kenney of the American Analog Set, Markus Acher of The Notwist, and that girl in Lali Puna. Sweet stuff. (Arne himself sounds a lot like the main vocalist in Broken Social Scene.)

Dntel – alias Jimmy Tamborello. Glitchy, downtempo, mostly instrumental indie electronica.

Chronomad – one of the first artists to be signed to the Notwist’s new record album, Alien Transistor. A Turkish guy who incorporates Middle-Eastern influences into instrumental electronica.

Caribou (formerly Manitoba) – similar to Dntel, but a little more lively.

Lali Puna – similar to the Notwist, but without the baroque minimalism. Female singer, oddly affecting German accent. Several Notwist members contribute. Scary World Theory is the one to grab.

Ms John Soda – again a Notwist outgrowth, with a similarly minimalistic sound, but focusing on tight pop songs. No P. or D. is their only full-length album so far, and the only one worth listening to.

The Notwist – combine flutes, tubas, cellos, guitars and some synthesizers; influences from rock, jazz, techno, classical music; terse, abstract, intelligent lyrics; add a tall, lanky, geeky-looking singer with long hair and a German accent; and that’s one way to describe the Notwist. Its chamber music minimalism, spaceous sound and geekiness makes me think of them as the IKEA of electronica (stylistically, not in that mass-produced-in-Slovenia kind of way).

Boy in Static – another of Alien Transistor’s new artists, if I remember correctly. Sounds promising, if obviously Notwist-influenced.

I also remembered this band:

Tied and Tickled Trio – if you like jazz, this one is a winner. This is sax player Johannes Enders with most of the Notwist people, doing electronic jazz. Wonderful stuff.

As for the other stuff:

BoC you surely know.

Bonobo, I Am Robot and Proud and Four Tet are all vaguely similar – instrumental, not too overtly electronic electronica with good beats.

Goldfrapp, at least Felt Mountain is sultry vocal jazz done electronica style; Frost tries to do something similar.

Triosk is a more traditionally jazz-sounding outfit.

Isan is ambient, or at least pretty quiet.

Portrait of David is an interesting Norwegian guy who does quiet, somber songs with a lone synth and a lot of silence.

Múm, Icelandic fairy folk who record in lighthouses. Similar to Mouse in many ways, without the beats and plus a lot of chamber music influence.

King of Woolworths is a BoC clone, but a good one.

Multi-Panel, Kazumasa Hashimoto and Myrakaru are all pretty recent discoveries; until I know them better I would peg them as “stuff that’s low-key without being boring”. I like Myrakaru in particular; minimalistic, sweet and friendly, perfect work music for me.

Oh, and the album to get by the Notwist would be Neon Golden.

Mouse on Mars is one of my favorites too, though I like Glam and Instrumentals the most.

BoC and Lali Puna are also favorites from your list.
For recommendations… have you heard Zero 7’s Simple Things? That seems like it would belong on your list.

And Broadcast, both The Noise Made by People and Haha Sound.

Also, I’d recommend µ-Ziq, Tango N’ Vectif, to anyone who likes electronic music at all.

Amon Tobin - Permutation

Maybe Stereolab, Dots and Loops.

I second Zero 7 and (I can’t believe I’m the first to mention them) suggest Frou Frou as well. I found them both recently and love them dearly.

www.ampcast.com/tictok - Mostly tracks from Arecebo

gentle, have you heard Ampop? If not, you should check them out; they should be right up your alley, methinks.

I know it. Zero 7 is decent, though a little too slick and lounge-ish for my taste.

I love Broadcast. Good point. I tend to think of them as indie rock; while they’re mostly electronic in sound, they’re fundamentally a rock band, I think.

Anyone who likes Broadcast should check out Saturday Looks Good to Me, in particular All Your Summer Songs. While not really electronic, they are similarly influenced by 1960s rock’n’roll, folk and psychedelic rock.

Amon is pretty good, though I’m not a big fan of jungle/drum’n’bass and the cut-up triphop jazz thing he does.

I like Stereolab, too, but as with Broadcast, I’m not sure I would call their music electronica.

I am checking out the recommendations. Thanks.

Oh, and Zero 7 isn’t really the kind of electronica I’m looking for. I would not really call it electronica at all; it’s more like pop/smooth jazz with a breezy electronic sheen reminiscent of Air and Stereolab. (Both of which are closer to synthpop than indie electronica.)

Sorry, but misses the mark by quite a wide shot. This is pure synthpop, which nothing like the artists I mentioned as examples (with the possible exception of Air and certain Kraftwerk tracks; in retrospect, I really should have omitted Air from that list).

And they’re Icelandic! Looks promising. Thank you.

And they’re great! Thanks again.

Return recommendation: Check out Myrakaru’s Tammetoru and Kazumasa Hashimoto’s Epitaph. Both ought to appeal.

And of course, you probably know about Múm.

Have you heard The Magnetic Fields’ Holiday? It’s probably my favorite “production album.” Lots of synthesizers layered over brilliant indie-pop. Glitchy and European-ish.

Interesting. I only know MF from 69 Love Songs and i. Merritt writes witty lyrics and produces catchy melodies, but something prevents me from really loving his music; something in the glib, coldly sarcastic and polished delivery, I think. And 69 is simply too crammed with “perfect little gems” to make any impact at all; eventually it all blends together into so much gray country mush (with slide guitars). I much prefer, say, The Shins.

But I digress. I will check out this album.

Sorry, but this is just synthpop again.