ok, so, some of these may not be "off the beaten path" for alot of you, but then again it may...i tried to pick albums that always get good responses when i play them, and puzzled looks as well, as people try to figure out who or even what i might be treating them to. Alot of these are just, a pick one situation from an artist who i happen to love all the works of, so if you find anything you like here, be sure to check out other works by the same artists, here goes...
1.)
The Orb - The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld - Incredibly difficult to choose just a single Orb album, all of them are great, this is their first, and a landmark album for all electronic music. If you dig this, check out their other stuff as well, especially UFOrb, Orbus Terrarum, Orblivion, and Cydonia
2.)
Infected Mushroom - Classical Mushroom All I can say about this is, it's absolutely sick. A classically trained pianist and ex-punk rocker team up to make the craziest, funkiest psy-trance in the world. Impossible to truly describe, just make sure you have good bass, and warm mids, this is a sonic experience not to be missed
3.)
Hallucinogen - Twisted Well, the name says it all here. Trippy, twisted, and quite musical to boot. Simon Posford is a one man show under a quite appropriate moniker. This product is not reccommended for pregnant women, children under the age of 10, epileptics, or people prone to seizures
4.)
Hooverphonic - Blue Wonder Power Milk follow up album to their New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular album, deviates a bit from the straightforward trip-hop roots of the aforementioned debut, w/a new singer to boot. The first step in the band's evolution of sound, as heard by listening to all of their albums
5.)
Mandalay - Empathy/Instinct Ok, so its too albums, but, these guys are really really good...downtempo, trip-hop style beats and rhythms, with a strong sweeping symphonic effect added in, and hauntingly deep vocals, beautifully sung over it all
6.)
Bjork - Vespertine - the calmer, happier, more mellow side of Bjork. Not as ecclectic and diverse musically as her previous albums, but still a fine sampling of this Icelander's amazing talent
7.)
Thiervery Coorporation - The Mirror Conspiracy One of the best non-mix albums from the DC Duo. Plenty of samples, beats and loops, all nicely arranged, trip-hop fassion. a good "chill" album
8.)
System 7 - Power of 7 System has covered the whole range of electronic "styles" over the years, and this album gives a good sort of, evolution of the music feel to it. With lots of production help from plenty of industry greats, this album definitely merits a listen
9.)
Autechre - Amber umm, yah, so, it's in the name again...Autechre,a word made up by the band members to describe their music, is an asymmetrical, ambient/techno hodge-podge of gooey goodness...a bit, odd at times, it does grow on you...one of those, gotta listen to understand type of things...this is the most, umm, normal/sane of their albums i know, if you want to get way out there check out there other stuff
10.)
Hybrid - Wide Angel Though Lee Mullins has left the group, these 2 DJ's really know how to throw down some beats, and make it sound nice too. This album was recorded with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, lots of dirty nasty beats, and good vocals. Shows that dance/techno doesn't have to be w/out structure and merit
11.)
Deepsky - In Silico Incredible production on this one, sounds recorded perfectly, songs mesh up beautifully, very melodic, harmonious, blah blah blah...oh, and it's also a very "fun" album to listen to, as well
12.)
Way Out West - Don't Look Now the latest offering from the overseas production/dj Duo. Nick and Jody take it to new heights on this one, straying from their solid proggressive house/trance roots into a more vocalized album with a bit of varriance to it. It still has that same euphoria common to other W.o.W productions though
13.)
Dr. Octagon - Instrumentalyst Kool Keith, DJ q-bert, and Dan the Automator make some of the wackiest electro/scratch rap on the market...Kool Keith's lyrics will have you going "hell yeah" and "what in the hell?" all at once
14.)
Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante umm, in a word...jigajabahoogadoogavollabolladingagoolaphoofa!! definitely not what you'd expect from the ex-lead singer of Faith No More
15.)
Children of the Bong - Sirrius Sounds listening to this as I type, another fun, trippy album, full of effects and basically, just playing with sounds, in an electro format and a dub format, and a combo of the two...radical bass on this one, crank it up and dub out
16.)
the Buddha Bar Series vol 1-8 there may be more than this available now, 8 was the latest one i've heard. Named after the Paris night-lounge, the Buddha Bar, several different DJ's take you through a whole gambit of after hours, chill, downtempo, lounge music with a world wide sampling of music. Good stuff.
17.)
Freaky Chakra - Low Down Motivator classic bay area tribal techno/trance, an interesting montage of drums, beats, rhythm and good old electronic sounds.
18.)
Mickey Hart - Planet Drum ex-Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart gathers musicians, and their instruments from all over the world for full on drum circle goodness. Totally organic, lots of deep african vibes, and an overall feel-good album
19.)
the Rolling Stones - Theirr Satanic Majesty's Request the stones get out here on this one, some good old kind of folksy hippy numbers blended with some of the most spacy, experimental sounds of the days...might be drug influenced, but if not, it will sound good if you are
20.)
The Smashing Pumpkins - Pisces Iscariot a collection of b-sides from the first two albums worth of singles, relased as it's own album. Show's a wide range of the Pumpkins diversity, all very nice, some of my favorite tunes from on of my all-time favorite bands
well, this is only a few that come to mind out of my rather eclectic music collection, i think music lovers of all kinds can possibly find something they like here, or maybe even something they didn't think they would like beforehand...all in all, if i spread the word about some good music, i'll be happy
