Nurse With Wound - Rock 'n Roll Station [1994]

'Do you remember? It was 1959. The observatory. What a strange story. Rock and roll session is a session where we can do what we want to do. [...] Everything is possible.' These lyrics from the opening title track of Nurse With Wound's 1994 magnum opus Rock 'n Roll Station. Although their (well, really 'his' - it's a project of Steven Stapleton) music is fairly indefinable, to newcomers it's normally a mixture of industrial and avant-garde, but on this, Stapleton took a break from the norm to make a more rhythmic record, which was controversial among existing fans to say the least. Regardless, it's far from mainstream and is a stunning album which should be listened to again and again and again.

N.B. This is a 1996 re-release which features a remix of the closing track.

192 kbps


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James Blake - James Blake [2011]

Boy, did I miss a trick here. Had I listened to this album just a month ago it could have been sitting proudly among my favourite of the year. Anyway, I really did just download this on a whim the other day, and boy was I pleasantly surprised. "Imagine Jeff Buckley is still alive and making minimalist electronic music" is how I've been describing it, and I reckon that's pretty close to what it is. It's been officially described as 'post-dubstep', but I'm really not seeing it here. Whatever it is, it's short and sweet and a great listen. Check it out.

11 tracks, 38:00, 58.94 MB
Mediafire (Mp3, 320 kbps)

SebastiAn - Total [2011]

On its release in May 2011, Ed Banger Records artist SebastiAn's first album was met with some anticipation. He had gained some exposure as a remixer and as an opening act for Justice on their "A Cross the Universe" tour, but people were interested in hearing what his own work sounded like.

Unsurprisingly, it sounds a lot like Justice. The French duo's fidgety style is prominent here, and there's a lot of sampling of split-seconds of singing, occasional individual bass notes and so on. However, "Total" is both harsher and lighter than the work of Justice at the same time. Harsher in that a lot of the time there's an almost industrial edge, though there's also much less bass here than, say, "Cross".

Either way, if you like Justice you'll be sure to like this, so check it out.

22 tracks, 51:18, 73.46 MB
Mediafire (Mp3, 192 kbps)

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Aphex Twin - Drukqs [2001]

On it's tenth anniversary, Aphex Twin's last studio album remains a significant cornerstone of modern electronic music. Drukqs shows Richard D James forming a distinctive collage of the styles acquired through his past albums. It's contents show inspiration ranging from the abrasive acid techno of his notorious Richard D James Album to the cold drones of James' early ambient work.  What you also get are 13 solo piano compositions, making up almost half the album, a decisive turn of direction for a musician more prominently known for testing the sonic boundaries of electronic equipment. The album's ambition admittedly overweighs it's quality (spanning 2 discs and a meaty 100 minute running time, it's way too long!) but Drukqs is certainly one to check out if you want an introduction to Aphex Twin's vast musical output.

256kbps

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Digitalism - Idealism [2007]

Digitalism were at Leeds fest you know; did anybody go see them? It is unlikey.

Now to say this sounds a bit like Daft Punk would earn you the title of Captain Obvious as the start of "Moonlight" sounds almost identical to the start of "Emotion" (from Human After All by Daft Punk). I tell a lie, this is only true for half the tracks as the other half are kinda 'electro-indie' but thankfully not in a way which is shite, it keeps the album fresh and prevents it growing stale (like Daft Punk albums can do sometimes).

Whilst neither a floor filler or an electronic experience it's place in the middle of somtimes fun sounding other times eletronic pieces gives for at lest an interesting experience. Recomended for Daft Punk fans (as you may have guessed), maybe not for the metalhead population of this blog. I wish I could tell you more but I picked this up on a whim from a friends external hardrive.

Great tracks: Magents, Digitalism in Cario, Pogo and Jupiter Room

256kbps

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Man Is The Bastard - Thoughtless [1995]

I'm sure you've all gathered at least a little that I love more aggressive punky music, so Man Is The Bastard, pioneers of powerviolence, were naturally going to appeal to me. This is their debut full-length (and possibly their only one, depending on how you see Mancruel), and it's brilliant, simply put.

128 kbps

Link taken down at request.

Daft Punk - Discovery [2001]

Given their popularity in the mainstream media, it would be a stretch nowadays to not know about Daft Punk. However to many they are simply the group who made that song Kanye West sampled, those who look deeper will find an extremely captivating musical duo who do a great job of keeping their listeners interested.

"Discovery" is Daft Punk's best album, and with good reason. Although best-known for the singles "One More Time" and "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger", the album goes through a wide range of different types of dance, house and disco music. I love it not only because it's so varied, but because (and this seems to be a recurring theme in albums I like) it all flows so well, with each track closing in a way that brilliantly leads on to the next.

M4a, ~320 kbps (VBR)

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Ulver - Perdition City [2000]

Despite beginning their career in the realms of black metal (raw black metal, at that), this has no metal in it whatsoever. A crazy mixture of jazz, electronic and generally experimental music, this is not for most metal fans, but may be good for many others.

160 kbps

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