Synth/Electronic LP recommendations


After picking up Kraftwerk's "Minimum-Maximum" and Gary Neuman's "Replicas" this past year, I'd like to get some other LP's of synth-based music. Any suggestions?
roblanger
These artist has very good synth bass that sound incredible on my Dalis:

Scritti Politti "Boom! There She Was"

Thomas Dolby "Alien Eate My Buick"
It's tough to find clean copies but anything by Synergy aka Larry Fast. My personal fav is "Electronic Realizalions For a Rock Orchestra".

Larry's web address is:
http://synergy-emusic.com/
I second the Synergy recommendation. Also there was a band called FM that had two releases in the late 70's that I really liked also, their first lease was the best.
You might try Nectar also but I haven't listen to those albums in years.
Very cool guys - keep 'em coming! A number of these LP's/groups I've never heard of.

How about some things that fall in the Prog or Avant Garde realm? I always liked the sound of analog synths on albums that I grew up with - Yes, ELP, early Genesis.
Tangerine Dream, a very old band of electronic pioneers. I'd try there late 70's to late 80's stuff.

Here is a cool link:

http://www.synthmusicdirect.com/index.htm
I could probably author a book on the subject hence my name :-) Are cds an option or are you specifically wanting vinyl?
Here are some of my favorite that I know are on LP:
The Orb-UFOrb
The Orb-Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld
Global Communication-76:14
Pete Namlook-Air I
Pete Namlook-Air II
Boards Of Canada-Music Has The Right To Children
You might like some of the Ultravox and John Foxx lps for more pop-based electronic music ala Numan,Human League,OMD, etc.
Future Sound Of London-Lifeforms
Future Sound Of London-Dead Cities
Klaus Schulze-numerous albums
Tangerine Dream-I prefer their early '70's to about '80 releases such as Rubycon, Phaedra & Stratosfear
The Edgar Froese(of T. Dream) solo releases Aqua and Stuntman are also i this vein
Syzygy-Morphic Resonance
Bola-Soup
Bola-Gnayse
Higher Intelligence Agency-Freefloater
Higher Intelligence Agency-Colourform
Speedy J-G-Spot
Peace Orchestra-Peace Orchestra(or just about any Kruder & Dorfmeister related albums)
Anthony Manning-Concision
Irresistible Force-Flying High
Irresistible Force-Global Chillage
Irresistible Force-It's Tomorrow Already
Distance-My Demons
I third the Synergy, Second the band called FM and for newer groups that are out there, try Ozric Tentacles (Prog Rock meets Synth). You may also appreciate some Mike Oldfield and another interesting band from the seventies and one of my all time favorites was Happy the Man. The keyboardist is amazing and you can find his solo stuff on line. Just search for Kit Watkins.

Cheers,
Ozric Tentacles have been around over 25 years. I'd hardly call them newer. They are good though as well as Eat Static which is kind of a side project for a few of the guys. The new-ish album titled Back To Earth is fantastic. Steve Hillage even shows up for a bit on the album.
Synthfreak - I'm mostly listening to vinyl these days, but would certainly go to CD's in the search for good music. There's just something about the sound of analog synths - that warmth and presence....a very "fat" sound - and vinyl seems like a great medium to exploit that.
I am surprised I don't see Wendy Carlos - now that is going back to synth roots - remember Clockwork Orange! Also no mention of Depeche Mode (Vince Clarke) and his subsequent work Alison Moyet (Yaz). And Human League - classic stuff - especialy the 12" versions. Visage and Ultravox. Duran Duran's work (Nick Rhodes). And Jean Michel Jarre - perhaps the audiophile synth all time best - like Ultravox - put it on and turn out the lights....WOW, WOW and WOW!
Harold Faltermeryer, Thomas Dolby, Trevor Horn, Alex Sadkin, Robert Miles...

Great thread.
Checkout Jean Luc Ponty early 80s albums. Killer violin with layers of synth keyboard work make it a can't miss on vinyl.
Kudos' to the Jean Luc Ponty, you want to hear "Individual Choice" turned up a bit more than usual. This is an awesome album
The Album Leaf
Brian Eno
Burial
Dimitri from Paris
Lemongrass
Nitin Sawhney
Thievery Corporation
Zero 7
Patrick O'Hearn "Ancient Dreams", I know its on CD, not sure if it was ever released on vinyl.--Mrmitch
Early Depeche Mode,
'Upstairs at Eric's' by yazoo (Vince Clarke-ex depeche mode/Alison Moyet).
The Human League.
Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
Laurie Anderson.
Roxy Music.
Rick Wakeman especially '6 wives of Henry the 8th' and 'Criminal Record'
Soft Cell.
Vangelis
ELP
Pet Shop Boys
Jean Michel Jarre.
Goldfrapp
Ultravox
OMD.
Since you are asking for Synth mainly,

Check out the ' Broken Spindles' by Broken Spindles- The first electronic album from ' the Faint'. Very Kraftwerky, synth and bells, if you like synth the last track on this album will take your breath away. LPs available, i think.

Another must for the Kraftwerk fan is the albums from 'Kraftwelt'- Deranged in space and Retroish. Oh man you will love these. Not sure about LPs

Of course work from Depeche mode. 'synthesizer hits' compilation is what I turn to to get 80's synth sound- many hits- like miami vice theme and many more

Check out 'www.discogs.com' for anything electronic- you will find rare LPs there- at a price $$

On other note , my new find lately is the Dub steps category: Pole, Deepchord, Benga. And for taste of meditation/beautiful dub, try the 'dub tractor' - music and moniker so cooool.
Right. Hard to find, but if you see **anything** by Global Communications, pick it up. The first album is the 'ear' album (reissued 3 times), 2nd is 'Remotion' (not reissued) and finally Pentamorous Metamorphosis. If you are into this stuff, these LPs are required.

Vangelis did a soundtrack for the movie 1492, it is on LP and so far is his best work. About the same time Mike Oldfield released his best work to date, 'Songs of Distant Earth', also on LP but like 1492, quite rare. But awesome. If you get into Vangelis, his other LPs are spotty, perhaps one of his best is called Soil Festivities. You want to get the British LP. Opera Sauvage is quite nice too.

There is a sizable amount of stuff that came out of Germany during the 1970s, loosely called 'Kraut Rock' of which Tangerine Dream is the tip of the iceberg. You may also enjoy Can, Ashra Temple, Klaus Schultz (stay away from his later stuff...), Neu (we issued one of Michal Rother's later albums on LP, if you are interested), Cluster...

And our LP, Thunderbolt Pagoda, has been getting good reviews, although its more of a space rock, like early Hawkwind. We did 360 copies and the cover is hand-screened. (myspace.com/thunderboltpagoda)
Atmasphere I consider myself a HUGE Global Communication fan so I have to make a correction. Pentamerous actually came out before 76:14 aka the "ear" album. It was re-released because George Lucas wanted the one 5 second CR-P0 sample removed. That may be the year you have. Remotion is a remix album of theirs' that is superb. You should track down the Reload album for more GC goodies.
Nilthepill you should check out the new Distance album. Ace dubstep producer. It's titled Repurcussions I believe.
Another pick for me is the Sending Orbs label. The Secede album titled Tryshasla is my fave.
Spacetime Continuum-Sea Biscuit.
Speedy J-G-Spot.
Synthfreek, you and I have a lot of musical taste in common. Thanks for the trivia about GC. I do a one-man synth act called Salubrious Invertebrae (myspace.com/salubriousinvertebrae)

An obvious band I forgot- the Orb.
Another essential LP is Mystical Experiences, by the Infinity Project, on the Blue Room label.

And- Bola.

I'm also a big fan of Porcupine Tree. Lots of electronic soundscapes there, especially in their early stuff.
Synthfreak, thanks for the dubstep pointer- i will be sure to check it out.
I second the global communications
Other key acts not mentioned on this thread- just to name few are - Autechre, aphex twin, orbital, plaid, photek, FSOL'S other moniker- amorphous androgynous, Mira calix, Colleen, Felix Laband, Don't forget Ladytron for the synth stuff, Goldfrapp, Komputer, underworld, squarepusher ( check out his last three offering- very jazzy, Air, Boards of Canada. Musiq, stars of the lid, Loscil (u will love these), (I will add more when I get more time)
The one not to miss also is the GAS (the founder of Germman label Kompact)
Also unique is PANSONIC
From newer artists, Venetian snares, 2562, ellen alian, Burial, bookashade, rod modell, box cutter, dominik euleberg, The flying lotus, Panth du prince, luciano, and the trentmoller..
It is not fair to name these all in one breath as their styles differ, but they all make some outstanding electronic music.
Nil I have almost everything on your list. Good stuff. you should track down the album by Yagya titled Will I Dream During The Process? if you're down with the Basic Channel, Gas & Modell sound. Super minimal but more melodic and ambient than BC. Pete Namlook is another favorite of mine. I have many to suggest by him for fans of Tangerine Dream, Schulze(who he's collaborated with many many times), Jarre, Ashra, Hillage, etc.
Looks like I have alot of LP searching/purchasing ahead of me :)

I'm going to try to work chronologically through some of the suggestions. I've located a CBS 1/2 speed version of Wendy Carlos' "Switched on Bach", so I'll be starting there.
Why O Why is the ultimate so often neglected? The great electronic composer of the 40's - 70's.

Luigi Nono, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Ligeti, Pierre Henry, Luc Ferarri, John Cage, Morton Subotnick, et al....
Synthfreek, Yes I do like minimal stuff and do immenslely love the pole, Deepchord, basic channel, loscil sound, Rod modell's last is diff the deepchord but still very good. Like I said, the dub tractor is really unique. The 'hideout', his last is complete departure from his first two, but oh so gorgeous. I can't have enough of the hideout. Heavy rotation. I will be sure to check out your recommendations. And Chashmal's too.

Amontobin is also unique

Then there are minimal spacey ambient stuff from Biosphere.

Some good stuff from Tarwater. (the guy can't sing a la Kraftwerk, but good quirky melodies and guitar work)- 'The needle was travelling' a really standout and a must buy. How is the new 'spider smile'?

'Kiln' stuff is a must buy. 'Bibio'is unique electronic 'folk' music, although nothing like typical folk. You buy this kind of stuff after you do Mastery in electronic music listening. Not to start out with. You will eventually be able to separate real stuff from cheesy and typical dance music.(stay away from this and 'compilations') Of course good dance (upbeat)music is out there. Check out 'Motor', the vegetable Orchestra, The field, from kareoki to stardom, skull disco.

Monolake is really good stuff. 'Pop ambient' offerings from Kompact label is always good bet

I can go on and on...
Single Cell Orchestra did some nice stuff back in the mid 90s.

I agree, must of the complications suck, but back in the 90s there were some good ones: Free Zone 2, Chill out or Die 2, the Astralwerks samplers (I have one that has FSOL and Labradford, the Labradford cut in particular is awesome), the Apollo Divine Compilation (has a Biosphere cut on it)... these are LPs that I can play from one end to the other.

I think Orbital had a fabulous career. 'Insides' is one of my favorites, and 'Blue' was a great swan song, especially with the Lisa Gerrard cut at the end.

Although I'm not a fan of her, Madonna's Ray of Light LP, collaborated with William Orbit, has several nice electronic cuts. IMO its her best work since I can't listen to anything else she did :)

If we expand this genre just slightly, Mogwai is suddenly on the horizon- their second to last LP (current LP is The Hawk is Howling) was a set of remixes and is a lot of fun, and I recommend anything that they did. Although its not on LP, the soundtrack to The Fountain is really nice too. Mono is a Japanese band that sounds enough like Mogwai that if you like Mogwai, you will like Mono too.

Sundial did a wonderful set of LPs back in the 90s- hailed as one of the modern masters of psych. A spinoff LP, Quad, is really wonderful and well worth the effort, if you want something more chilled.

I'm not a fan of his later works, but the early Aphex Twin, which is really minimalist, is recommended.
Agree. Orbital has had a fabulous career. Ditto about the 'Insides'. Orbital's last the Blue was in many ways departure from their signature sound, but still very good. The last thing you want in these electronic albums is someone singing vocals. Surprising Orbitals not only pulls off with Lisa Gerrard singing but it becomes high light of the album that you repeat for and tickled pink (that is the best I can come up with;-))in anticipation. I think Orbita had pulled similar vocal tracks before with great success.
Agree on Madonna's Ray of Light LP-A stand out.
Agree times 3 on Aphex Twin later work. The last good album was the 'Druqks'. Although, the LP contained some handful great keyboard melodies ever made, the rest was his drill and bass, although the excellent kind in this album, is in stark contrast to the beautiful keyboard/piano melodies. 'The Richard D james Album is another standout and serious piece of work. The 26 for cash was not bad. Now he is putting out non stop unremarkable stuff on Vinyl. May be he should take a high road and retire?
I picked up "The Mix" by kraftwerk recently. It jumps up near the top of may favorite albums in this category immediately along with "Mix Up" by Patrick O'hearn.

Both have outstanding sound quality.

"The Mix" does a nice job of taking Kraftwerk's classic groundbreaking material from the 70's and bringing it up to date and relevant to those that appreciate good modern club/synth/pop type music.

"Mix Up" is simialr in end result but a more significant twist upon O'Hearn's 80's "New Age" tunes into something completely different that many fans of the original's cannot stomach.
I've been enjoying Depeche Mode of late.

Heard cuts from their "Violator" album on Radio Paradise and finally picked it up.

Good stuff. The recording is awesome!
I've been wearing out Violator for over 20 years now. A Top 10 of all time for me.
IMO the DMode's best stuff is the instrumentals that appeared on some of their singles.

I can't recall if anyone has mentioned Massive Attack but if not they deserve a lot of mention. I use their albums a lot at shows- Protection, Mezzanine, 100th Window (3LP 45rpm edition!) as well as their new one.

Hawkwind has a new LP out on 180gr clear vinyl. Tim Blake is now doing keyboards. Its the first Hawkwind that has kept my interest in years!
Synthfans, check this out: simply gorgeous music, not to mention beautiful models and fashion.
Let me know if anyone can find out who this music is by. It sounds like older Kraftswerk but it is not. also good is from the latest fashion show. I emailed over last Christmas but got no reply.

http://www.chanel.com/fashion/8#8-paris-byzance-ready-to-wear-chanel-fashion-show-21,0
If anyone is starting out in electronic music listening you can't go wrong with the basic channel, M series by Maurizio and Rhythm & Sound. They are all available on Vinyl as 12" singles- cd compilation is also available, but vinyl is highly recommended for sound quality.

While talking about the mighty Moritz von Oswald, check out his latest Vertical Ascent and Live in New York and just noted that new one just released yesterday - Horizontal Structures (not to self: go to Amoeba Music ASAP and get it)

New one from Pantha du Prince, Black Noise is also great. Few notable similar to Deepchord is couple of LPs from Quantec. Also silence from Monolake

Synthfreak. a recommendation you made couple of years ago- Repurcussions by DJ Distance has become one of my favourites- thanks.
"Electronic Realizations for Rock Orchestra" by Synergy (Larry Fast) is a classic from the 70's if you can find it.

[url=http://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Realizations-Rock-Orchestra-Synergy/dp/B00000612K]Synergy[/url]
dZihan & Kamien stuff is really good if you like loungy electronica.

Kruder & Dorfmeister
Tosca (side project by Richard)
Ulrich Schnauss
Cantoma
Thievery Corporation

all of these names should have stuff on vinyl as well.
Agree on dZihan and Kamien and K&D Recommendations. If you really want to explore boundaries of electronic music creations, you should get " Autechre". ( i don't think this mentioned on this thread) Autechre's older LPs may be hard to get as they may be out of print and you may end up paying premium
If you'd like a very different example of electronic music which is on the quiet and haunting side check out James Blake self titled. Sort of a dubstep Bon Iver sound.
A name you would not normally associate with Electonica, Sufjan Stevens, also has some interesting electronic music in his catalog. "Enjoy Your Rabbit" is an early one and his latest, "The Age Of Adz" is very much in the genre.
I've been infatuated with the producer Brock Van Wey the last few years. White Clouds Drift On And On is essential but is skyrocketing in price. I'd HIGHLY suggest tracking down The Art Of Dying Slowly from last year before it does the same. He used the moniker Bvdub for that one. It's like the iciest of Biosphere's ambience mixed with the Gas album Pop. It's nearly perfect.
Synthfreak, You mean "The art of dying alone" from last year. I had bought that one last year and just yesterday picked up the only copy they had at the Amoeba -Tribes at temple of silence. will have to look for the white clouds..

If you like bvdub, other one to check out is the setting sun from Variant. Also notable is 'K' from Dozzy Donato- very minimal
Kraftwerk-"Tour de France soundtracks" obviously! There are also remasters of all their back catalogue. Worth a listen.

Some Human league. Anything around "Dare" and before.

Massive Attack- "Mezzanine", and maybe "Heligoland" although more dark hip hop in nature.

How about some early Simple minds? "Sons and fascinations" or "Empires and Dance" or "Celebration". Kinda old school new wave. All around the time or "Replicas". Anyone that used the old Roland synths.

Nil,

Let me know if anyone can find out who this music is by. It sounds like older Kraftswerk but it is not. also good is from the latest fashion show. I emailed over last Christmas but got no reply.


The music is by ARP on The Soft Wave LP. No, I am not familiar with this artist. If you look at the Chanel page, at the bottom right, you will see a volume on/off button as an equalizer icon. Rollover this icon with your mouse and it will provide the music information.

What I cannot tell is if this is the same version that is being used (limited to a 30 sec demo).

Enjoy the music!
Jamscience, I can't thank you enough for tracking this down. Just ordered CD and Vinyl. I think it is same version as I have listened to the chanel show many times. at least the first 8 minutes of it and then it switched to probably one of the other track. Ahh, just gorgeous music!
Hard to find but a group that goes back to the 60's called Silver Apples and their eponymous album-early analog synth music.--Mrmitch