Electronic music you will love

Electronic

style / mood

Editor's Picks (see more)

BIRDS & BATTERIES: I'll Never Sleep Again
A good cover is hard to come by. When so many bands attempt to pay homage to their favorite songs by playing it as much like the original as they possibly can, it’s easy to wonder why you’re not just listening to the original. That’s why when you attempt to play something as classic and beautiful as “Heart of Gold,” you’d sure as heckfire better be prepared to bring something completely different to it, and you’d better be sure that it works completely. The opening track of this record is just that, a gorgeous and cavernous cover of Neil Young’s heartbreaking beauty, rippling with synths, electric pianos, affected electronic drum sounds, and a voice that’s hollering through the depths as though it is slipping further and further away from you. The trick about this second album from San Francisco’s Birds and Batteries is that as a whole work, it somehow manages to ignite post-rock, a mellow Americana, and electronic music all at the same time. The marriage of electric piano, slide guitar, and drum machine is a textural wonder that seems to have the blatant approval of Apollo. The up-front parts are perfectly illuminated, elements toward the back fade into the velvety black of nighttime. The record feels deliberate, but completely unforced… cozy but spread out. Add in the superb, crystal clear production, and this record is ridiculously mouth-watering.
CD price: $13.97
COSINER & CAPITAL: Still
With its nods to down tempo lounge beats and the mellow golden age of Brazilian bossa nova, Cosiner & Capital’s “Still” is a work that updates the Ipanema Beach ethos of the 1960s. Where one may have previously found Astrud Gilberto breathing through lyrics about unrequited love, here we have carefully constructed rhythmic loops and spherical classical guitar arpeggios. Delicately played and lilting, the nylon melodies bring the sun to your eyes and the surf to your step. The occasionally appearing electric guitars play like they’re on stretched-out eight-second bits of magnetic tape, while looping counter rhythms surface in understated percussion experiments. There’s a certain amount of discordant but dreamy melodicism here, and most of the time it’s right up front to hear. It’s the overall feel of the record, though, the summer evenings at the coast that it evokes, that perfectly compliments the current season, with its salt water, sand, and perhaps a bit of rum.
CD price: $14.00 / MP3 price: $14.00
FRENCH THINKERS: What If We Died Of Happiness?
Creepy voices from nowhere, slow strumming ache. There’s something immediately alluring about this record for those of us who are drawn to the utterly crushed and deflated singer/songwriter types. But listen closer… there’s a slow swell of darting keyboard and an accented but delicate rhythm in there, too. With this release, the French Thinkers draw all their defeated feelings out, and put them into engrossingly rich half folk, half electronic songs. Focusing on their enveloping melodies and washy reverbs, the group outlines the resigned emotional depression that is so often found in the west, in contrast to the east coast’s aptitude for more pointed expressions of dissatisfaction (though that is found in some small doses on this album, too). Perhaps this is more of a winter album than one for the approaching summer, but there are a some shimmering and nostalgic sounding pieces that might be perfect for parking on a lawn with a blanket and catching the Perseids come August.
MP3 price: $10.00
REDHOOKER: The Future According to Yesterday
Deep and intense, Redhooker's "The Future According to Yesterday" is a solemn and gorgeous piece of classical/electric fusion. While an electric piano lumbers along, plodding through dusty chords and resonating in dark caverns of reverb, strings and woodwinds dart through, leaving remnants of their flighty character in wide swaths of color. Not your traditional quartet, the ensemble consists of a clarinet, a violin, a Rhodes, and an electric guitar, all precise and lamenting. It's easy to get caught up in emotion as the players spin tales of the urban Manhattan cityscape, shriveling from human contact, but longing to be held. It's easy to get hung up on the landscape of the decrepit oceanside village that may harbor a secret or three. These are the songs that speak the darker truth of human life, ringing in the ears of of the facade-bearing city-dwellers, and rolling through the hulls of the small boats put out to paddle the sea. It's perfect soundtrack music.
CD price: $12.97 / MP3 price: $12.97
CENTOVALLEY: August
Here's a place to park your parlor pillows, turn the switch in your brain to "off," and just enjoy what's flowing out of the speakers. At once delicate and wide, Centrovalley's brand of mellow and wafting electronic lounge music is exactly what's called for on a summery afternoon with nothing to do; stretch out on the couch (or the lounger by the pool!), close your eyes, and don't think about what you have to do until tomorrow. With its thick beats and even thicker synths, "August" is an all over bath of warm reverb and (sometimes slightly Latin influenced) trip hop rhythm. The record also has urgent moments, when snares get a bit more pointed, the compelling bass lines get a little more rowdy, and the record takes off just a little bit more. The occasional vocals bring an additional focal point (where in other songs other melodies or beats might be the focus) and they're just as beautifully atmospheric as the rest of the sounds with which they co-exist. It's the perfect album for an easygoing summer.
CD price: $14.00 / MP3 price: $9.99

Top Sellers (see more)

E.S. POSTHUMUS: Unearthed
A band that fuses classical, electronic, world music and hard beats into a sound that is cinematic and sountrack quality.
CD price: $15.98 / MP3 price: $15.98
STAN RIDGWAY AND PIETRA WEXSTUN: CD Soundtrack for Mark Ryden's "The Blood Show"
The CD Soundtrack commissioned by the Artist Mark Ryden. HYPNOTIC and MESMERIZING. Composed by Stan Ridgway (Wall of Voodoo) and Pietra Wexstun (Hecates Angels). New Special Limited Jewelbox Edition of 1000 w/ full color NYC gallery Lobbycard.
CD price: $16.00 / MP3 price: $10.00
DONNIE DARKO: Music from the Original Motion Picture Score by Michael Andrews
The hauntingly beautiful instrumental score to the cult classic film that includes the UK Christmas #1 "Mad World" featuring Gary Jules.
CD price: $14.00
DAUGHTER DARLING: Sweet Shadows
This trip hop release has been described as a more "song oriented Portishead", and "a revelation for 2003." Natalie Walker's voice, which has been compared to Sarah McLachlan's, commands the music which is dark and moody, yet very accessible.
CD price: $14.99 / MP3 price: $14.99
BIRD YORK: The Velvet Hour
Low voiced female vocals atop slow vibey groove. Features IN THE DEEP from the film CRASH. Sophisticated, sultry lyrics. Sensual and moody.
TIFFANY: Dust Off And Dance
I THINK WERE ALONE NOW was an 80s classic & now a superb new version is included in this breakthrough CD. Tiffany's voice is simply mesmerizing and the beats infectious. Heard on "Ugly Betty" & Ghostwhisperer.Winner Best Dance CD of the year at JPF AWARDS
CD price: $12.97 / MP3 price: $12.97
THOMAS DOLBY: The Sole Inhabitant DVD (autographed)
Warm, soaring electronica, with bold textures and thoughtful lyrics, from an authentic original who has influenced a whole generation of musicians.
DVD price: $29.95
SUPHALA: Blueprint
Tabla artist, producer, and composer, Suphala, features virtuoso artists Edie Brickell, Vernon Reid, King Britt and more.
CD price: $14.99
GAVIN CREEL: GOODTIMENATION
Sexy, FUN, Feel-Good POP. Debut Album from NY Stage TONY-nominated star.
CD price: $15.00 / MP3 price: $9.99
SCOTT DRAVES: Spotworks Dvd
87 minutes of hypnotic retinal bliss by San Francisco VJ and software artist Spot aka Scott Draves. Five tracks sync with music by Spool, jhno, dj vordo, and mbb. Three tracks sync with music by techno-violin sensation Kenji Williams (ABA Structure).
DVD price: $15.00