| 94 Diskont | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1995 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 52:09 | |||
| Label | Mille Plateaux, Thrill Jockey | |||
| Oval chronology | ||||
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94 Diskont (stylised as 94diskont.) is the fourth album by German electronic music group Oval. It was released in 1995 via Mille Plateaux in Europe and in 1996 by Thrill Jockey in the United States. It was the final Oval release to feature Sebastian Oschatz and Frank Metzger. It has received critical acclaim.
Oval received both praise and controversy for its styling methods, such as literally deconstructing music and digital audio by using exacto knives, paint, and tape to damage the surfaces of compact discs, only to stitch the sound back together in loops of melody punctuated by the disc's physical skips. [3] On its initial release, Select noted in their review that Oval "sound unlike any other combo" on 94 Diskont. [4] The review went on to note that group have been described in desperation as techno and critiqued this reference stating "try dancing to the sort of erratic pulsing and hiccuping that comes over like the read-out from a dying alien's electrocardiograph". [4]
94 Diskont was released as a companion piece to Oval's previous album, Systemisch . The album's centerpiece is "Do While," a 24-minute track originally composed for the group's 8-channel, 128-speaker modular sound installation named Wohnton (translates into home tone) in a stereo mixdown. The installation was shown throughout Europe between 1994 and 1996 on various occasions, ranging from art exhibitions to techno raves. [5] A radio edit of the song, "Do While ⌘X", is also included on the album. The US pressing by Thrill Jockey adds two additional songs and, on vinyl, moves "Do While ⌘X" up in the running order to appear directly after "Do While", instead of closing the album.
Both US and international vinyl versions of the album came with a remix LP that contains remixes by Mouse on Mars, Scanner, Cristian Vogel, and Jim O'Rourke. [5]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  [6] |
| Select | 4/5 [4] |
Dave Morrison of Select gave the album a four out of five rating, first mentioning the group's unorthodox method of obtaining the sounds on the album, then noting that "this out-on-a-limb approach wouldn't mean a thing if the results weren't so brilliant." [4] The Wire placed the album at number five on its 1995 of top albums of the year. [7]
Ben Tausig of AllMusic awarded the album five stars and stated, "94 Diskont is undoubtedly a standout in the field of electronically advanced, glitch-heavy music." [6] In their 1998 list of "100 Records That Set the World on Fire (While No One Was Listening)", The Wire wrote of the album: "From nothing but digital detritus, Oval construct a resonant holism of pure crystalline beauty. The balance of this disc is given over to brief excursions into textural exposition, pushing back the boundaries of sound as music." [8]
In a 2003 feature, the webzine Pitchfork placed 94 Diskont at number 47 on its list of the top 100 albums of the 1990s. Mark Richardson of Pitchfork declared, "Sounds appear as multi-layer holograms, with both sources and ghosted copies simultaneously vying for attention, a piece of sonic trickery used to create some of the most serene and aquatic music of the '90s." [9] Richardson would later state in a 2016 piece that 94 Diskont "was the first sound of a new future". [1] In 2016, Pitchfork named 94 Diskont the seventh best ambient album of all time. [2]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Do While" | 24:04 |
| 2. | "Store Check" | 4:01 |
| 3. | "Line Extension" | 3:05 |
| 4. | "Cross Selling" | 6:09 |
| 5. | "Do While ⌘X" | 4:50 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Do While" | 24:04 |
| 2. | "Store Check" | 3:58 |
| 3. | "Line Extension" | 3:02 |
| 4. | "Cross Selling" | 6:06 |
| 5. | "Commerce Server" | 4:56 |
| 6. | "Shop in Store" | 4:00 |
| 7. | "Do While ⌘X" | 4:50 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Do While (Jim O'Rourke)" | 5:36 |
| 2. | "Do While (Scanner)" | 6:53 |
| 3. | "Do While (Mouse on Mars)" | 8:55 |
| 4. | "Do While (Christian Vogel)" | 6:27 |
Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes tone and atmosphere over traditional musical structure or rhythm. It is often "peaceful" sounding and lacks composition, beat, and/or structured melody. It uses textural layers of sound that can reward both passive and active listening and encourage a sense of calm or contemplation. The genre is said to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual", or "unobtrusive" quality. Nature soundscapes may be included, and the sounds of acoustic instruments such as the piano, strings and flute may be emulated through a synthesizer.
Christian Fennesz is an Austrian producer and guitarist active in electronic music since the 1990s, often credited mononymously as Fennesz. His work utilizes guitar and laptop computers to blend melody with treated samples and glitch production. He lives and works in Vienna, and currently records on the UK label Touch.
...I Care Because You Do is the third studio album by the British electronic music artist and producer Richard D. James under the alias of Aphex Twin. It was released on 24 April 1995 through Warp Records and contains material recorded between 1990 and 1994. It marked James's return to a beat-driven sound following the mostly ambient album Selected Ambient Works Volume II (1994), and combines abrasive rhythms with symphonic and ambient elements. The cover artwork is a self-portrait of James.
Glitch is a genre of electronic music that emerged in the 1990s which is distinguished by the deliberate use of glitch-based audio media and other sonic artifacts.
Richard D. James Album is the fourth studio album by the British electronic music artist and producer Richard D. James under the alias of Aphex Twin. It was released on 4 November 1996 through Warp Records. It was composed by James on his Macintosh computer, and took longer to complete than his previous albums. It features fast breakbeats and intricate drum programming which draw from jungle and drum and bass. James' drum loops are paired with lush string arrangements, and ambient melodies reminiscent of his earlier work, as well as modulated vocals from James.
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Mouse on Mars is a German electronic music duo formed in 1993 by Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma. Their music is a blend of electronic genres including IDM, dub, krautrock, breakbeat and ambient, featuring heavy use of organic analog synth and cross-frequency modulation. Their music also features live instrumentation including strings, horns, drums, bass, and guitar.
Amber is the second studio album by English electronic music duo Autechre, released on 7 November 1994 by Warp. It was the first Autechre album to be composed entirely of new material, as their debut album Incunabula (1993) was a compilation of older tracks.
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Glass Swords is the debut studio album by Scottish producer Russell Whyte under his alias of Rustie, released by Warp in 2011. The album was produced and recorded between 2008 and 2010 by Whyte, partially in his father's home in Glasgow, Scotland and partly in his own home in London, England. The album contains vocal work from Whyte as well as London based producer Nightwave.
Mutant is the second studio album by Venezuelan electronic music producer Arca. It was released on 20 November 2015 via Mute.
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