Ellen Allien & Apparat's Orchestra Of Bubbles. Very sophisticated.
Ladytron. Esp their album Light & Magic. CHeck their song Blue Jeans. Love it.
The Knife. This band RULES. Amazing short but satisfying performance. Check their latest album SIlent SHout, esp We Share Our Mothers' Health. Took my breath away.
Latest addition; The Blow's Paper Television. Closest to the pop-rock genre of these four. Very accesible.

People like Endo, CarrieMPLS, Moonbeam and IstenSzek will love these. You too, Nathan. Just try them.

HamsterHuey said:

amg review;

Ever since Khaela Maricich teamed up with Jona Bechtolt for the Poor Aim: Love Songs EP, the Blow's avant-pop leanings have been refined with more structure, more rhythm, and more hooks, resulting in a sound that, interestingly, is more forward-thinking than the group's more concentratedly experimental early work. Paper Television goes even further in this direction, marrying Maricich's charismatic vocals with beats and arrangements inspired by mainstream and urban pop. This bold juxtaposition of sounds pays off more often than not, particularly on Paper Television's first two songs. "Pile of Gold" pairs Maricich's sassy rap-singing with slinky, stuttering rhythms, while "Parentheses" boasts a fantastic chorus and production so bright and immediate that even if the song isn't played on mainstream radio, it certainly could be. However, the daring that makes Paper Television's best moments so unique also leads to some experiments that aren't as successful: "The Long List of Girls" is kinetic, but its beats feel a little contrived and end up stifling Maricich's singing. The glitchy girl-group pop of "Babay (Eat a Critter, Feel Its Wrath)," which likens the end of a bad relationship to being digested and excreted, is original, but also a lot odder than the songs surrounding it, and ends up detracting from Paper Television's flow. Still, the album has more uniquely great moments like the danceable, philosophical breakup song "Fists Up" and witty final ballad "True Affection," than uniquely awkward ones. Even with its subverted mainstream pop productions, the Blow is still very indie pop and very K-sounding; they're just not trapped in any preconceptions of what that means. Paper Television is exciting and accomplished, the album where the Blow goes from being interesting to being addictive.

HamsterHuey said:

AMG;

The remoteness of the Knife (aka Olof and Karin Dreijer) and the chilliness of their music makes it easy to conjure up images of the duo working in a studio that resembles the Fortress of Solitude, playing instruments carved out of ice. But if the vibrant pop of Deep Cuts was like the northern lights, then Silent Shout is a sunless, vast expanse of tundra. A much darker, more ambitious set of songs than the Knife's previous work, the album finds the Dreijers stretching their sonics and downplaying the overt poppiness of Deep Cuts and The Knife. But, while Silent Shout isn't as whimsical or immediate as the Knife has been in the past, it's just as inventive, if not more so. Karin Dreijer's vocals are more striking than ever; treated as another instrument in the arrangements, they're layered, pitch-shifted, and tweaked until there's almost nothing left but tones and emotions. Her tweaked whispers on "Silent Shout" add to the song's pulsing, restrained, but very real menace; on "Na Na Na," she sounds like an alien diva. Likewise, Karin's whimsical, detailed lyrics also have a darker cast, offering glimpses of strange people in stranger situations. "From Off to On" deals with voyeurism and TV addicts; on "Like a Pen," Dreijer describes a character's struggle with body issues with disturbing clarity: "Sharpen my body like a pen...something too small for a lens." Many of the album's songs -- especially "Forest Families," "The Captain," and "Still Light" -- have a hushed, eerie intensity, but Silent Shout also sets off flares of emotion against its frosty backdrops. The fantastic single "We Share Our Mother's Health" is sleek yet chaotic, with marauding vocals set against frantic synths and beats that sound like the aural equivalent of blood bouncing on ice. The equally fantastic but completely different-sounding "Marble House" -- which was inspired by the classic French film The Umbrellas of Chebourg -- embodies doomed romance with its gliding melody and brittle castanet rhythms. The Knife eventually shows off its more playful side with the lumbering, cartoonishly macho "One Hit," which gives the album's sinister bent a mischievous twist. A truly unique work -- even for a group as unique as this one is -- Silent Shout is the Knife's most compelling work yet.

HamsterHuey said:

Not their most recent release, but you all should start with Seventeen and Blue Jeans.

AMG:
On Light & Magic, the follow-up to the critically acclaimed 604, Ladytron do indeed bring on the special effects, adding denser arrangements, more complex melodies, and processed vocals to their brand of spooky, stylish synth pop. Like Chicks on Speed and Adult., Ladytron helped shape the sound of electroclash before the style even had a name, and, in turn, this album feels influenced by the music that followed once the style formalized. Tracks such as "Turn It On," "Fire," and "Evil" are colder, more detached and dance-oriented than the rather naïve, bittersweet sound of 604, and feature digital-sounding synths instead of the analog warmth of Ladytron's previous work. While much of 604's charm came from the way it sounded like Ladytron just unearthed their gear from attics, dumpsters, and flea markets, most of Light & Magic -- from the "Warm Leatherette"-esque "True Mathematics" to the icy, vaguely dissonant "Cracked LCD" -- borrows from the early-'80s' sharp-edged sounds. Though this approach takes some getting used to, after awhile the album reveals itself as an accomplished and worthy set of songs. Even more so than on 604, Light & Magic makes the most of Helen Marnie and Mira Aroyo's contrasting vocal styles; spare, Aroyo-sung numbers such as "Nuhorizons" are pitted against lush, poppy songs like Marnie's "Blue Jeans," which, with its warm, buzzing synths and '60s-inspired melody, is the album's most quintessentially Ladytron moment. Though Light & Magic's intricate, often fascinating sound takes center stage, the album does offer more than a few memorable songs, most notably the creepy-sexy "Seventeen"; the paranoia-by-the-numbers of "Flicking Your Switch"; "Re:Agents," a hypnotic mix of Eastern melodies and Joe Meek-like sci-fi sounds; and "Cease2xist," which features the line "Do you cease to exist when you stop being missed?" While the processed vocals used on most of the songs add another interesting textural element, they do tend to obscure the group's clever and usually worth-hearing lyrics. Like 604, Light & Magic might be slightly too long for its own good at just under an hour long, though there aren't any obvious moments that should be removed. On the whole, Light & Magic is a logical, elegant progression for Ladytron, balancing their pop and experimental instincts even more ably than their debut.

HamsterHuey said:

Disc unheard, the collaboration between DJs Ellen Allien (of the BPitch Control label) and Apparat (Sascha Ring of the Shitkatapult imprint) is far from a natural match. Both are iconoclastic with different approaches to electronic music in general and dance music in particular -- though it should be noted from the outset that Orchestra of Bubbles is not their first collaboration--they've worked on remix projects together, and done one another's remixes for a few years now. Allien has worked tirelessly to engage the club dancefloor with her albums and 12"s, where Ring has taken a more aesthetic and strategic approach. The end result is that the two don't square off so much as find a strange albeit delightful common ground between techno and IDM. Allien and Ring both share a sense of humor, though the latter's is a bit more wry, and both are applied here. To call this is a 50/50 split between the two would be unfair and inaccurate. Individual identities don't play that much a role, though Allien's trademark vocals and floor-central modality anchor the project clearly. Ring, as Apparat, adds dimensionality, off-kilter beats and dynamic ambient spaces to offer the technocratic solidity some room to breathe and open out onto different vistas--and his moodier M.O. is heard precisely in those moments where Allien's bassline is most pronounced. On tracks such as "Retina," Allien's post -- 1989 futurism melds almost seamlessly with the dreamy and spacious exotica of Ring and his staccato beats. Elsewhere, on "Floating Points," the noir-ish electronica of Ring is lent weight and height by Allien's trusty 808 Roland drum machine, TR-808 drum machine, SH-101 analog synth, and the ARP 2600, along with other vintage synths, add pop and flow to the melancholy spectral warfare of Ring's skeletal, post-rave aesthetic. Things get downright Bladerunner-ish on "Under," where Allien's TR-808 drum machine and SH-101 analog synth, along with the Nord Modular synths, are folded into Ring's heady and downright spooky atmospherics. The track bleeds imperceptibly into the dramatic silence and tension of "Edison," a short flange-and-loop cut that embodies the very core of their duo's experimental sensibilities. Then there's the beautifully understated vocal appearance by Ring on "Leave Me Alone" that could be a single anywhere these days. In sum, those looking for another Thrills by Allien, or the bleak post-techno clinicalism of Apparat's Duplexmay find this a bit underwhelming. For anyone sincerely interested in the open territory of electronic music and its possible futures, this is not only a microscope to examine the new bacteria with, it's the pulsing life form beneath it.

And another one!

What do you get when you add Japanese influences with Smoke City and some Massive Attack, the Twin Peaks soundtrack thrown in for good measure?

Susumu Yokota's Wonderland.

AMG just has a bio on this man, but Cokemachineglow's Mark Abraham says this;

Shoulders bumping into one another, the opening samples jockey for space in a groove that never quite meshes but stays entrancing just the same. Not since the opening kafuffle of “Soft as Snow (But Warm Inside)” has an artist managed to blend dissonance with melody so seamlessly. “1000 Wing Beats Per Second” has glaciers, fire pits, and factories jostling for spots around the melodic sprawl of Caroline Ross – her vocals a thick plumb line that keep the jagged edges from injuring the listener.

It’s tough to say what Yokota’s ethic is. At times mushy and at times glistening, he blends acoustic forms into walls of electronics that are challenging but climbable if you can find the right footholds. Sometimes his music is as soft as the clunking of wind chimes, and at other times, like when Iva Bittova surges through the funkish electrodes of “Siva Dance,” it’s a thrilling call to the dance floor. “My Energy” slips through the cracks, giving Kahimi Karie a chance to haunt us with arched vocals, opening a space between “1000 Wing Beats” and “Siva Dance” that’s filled with chimes and cleverly placed samples, rewinding themselves into deep pockets of calm.

“Pegasus 150” crinkles clapping hooves, bass, and wild vocals into another club gem, although the horse noises might be a bit much. “Robed Heart” is the strongest track on the album, lilting a gorgeous violin riff over sparse percussion which allows the focus to stay on Ross’s delicious voice; a piano plunks notes randomly throughout so as to deflate any attempts at taking the track too seriously. Karie gets to play within the interlocking machinery of “Eternity is the Beginning of the End,” a voice simply another patch among many. Yokota’s clever use of panning and sequencing makes what could be a simple piece compelling; try to follow any one instrument through to the coda.

“L’etranger” stretches a KMFDM intro; as that allusion might suggest, it ain’t that exciting. Alex From Tokyo does his best to insert some personality into the piece, but ultimately it’s filler. “Rainbow Dust” follows with a more interesting idea, splashing more chimes and synths around a thick string line. It’s cute initially, but that intro isn’t quite compelling enough to make an entire track, and a few minutes in it’s pretty monotonous. The end of the album turns things around again, though. “Your Shining Darkness” spins filtered percussion, snares, and acoustic guitar, and the soft vocals keep things moving forward. “Holy Ground” is the most interesting instrumental idea here, Yokota pitting clanging resonance against bubbling synths lowered in the back.

On Wonder Waltz, Yokota is best when he trusts his vocalists to lead the charge and orchestrates around them. It’s hard to know what that says about him as a composer (versus a producer), but while there are several gems here, the album is complicated by his tendency to fine-tune beautiful pieces of music with jarring noises. He isn’t quite able to successfully navigate between those poles on everything here, but on certain tracks he shows the potential to redefine complex pop music.

Loveing The Plow! Thanks Herman- XOX, Stu

I got The Knife just this past week and I have the latest Ladytron too. Gonna check out the others as well.

GangstaFam said:

Oooh! Oooh! As I am CRAZY about the Knife, I wanna know what you think! You got a chance to listen to it?

And that one Ladytron album is all you have? Do not deny the power of Blue Jeans. It reminds me of New Order. Serious.

CynthiasSocks said:

The slip in your avatar is Freudian, right?

The Plow, LoL