Day 0931 - Melody A.M.

Röyksopp "Melody A.M." (2001)

In my mind I had Röyksopp and Sigur Ros as being pretty much the same kind of music... not sure why, maybe it was my mind grouping Western European early 21st century artists together.

Röyksopp is definitely not in that same kind of ambient territory.  It's in the electronic genre but with a lot more prominent melody.  

The first track "So Easy" sounds a bit like Phoenix Foundation's spacier moments, or like a Blur melody with Danger Mouse production.  Pretty sure I've heard track two "Eple" before, it sounds familiar to me with its high blippy synth melody.   There' s a bit of funk in "Röyksopp's Night Out".   Whereas "In Space" is an almost Jean-Michel Jarre-esque synth vibe.

The music is largely instrumental, with vocals used more as an instrument than a focus.   The main exceptions being the laidback "Sparks" and "Remind me", and the peppier "Poor Lenno".

Day 0751 - Orbital II

Orbital "Orbital II" (AKA "Orbital" AKA "The Brown Album") (1993)

I almost thought the version that I'd found to stream online was some kind of joke.  It just seemed to be a  looped recording of Worf from Star Trek TNG eventually repeating the same 5 words over and over again.  Turns out that is legitimately the first track of the album.   The whole album is bookended by two spoken word tracks.

The rest of the album is loop-based music.  Repetitive, yet quite layered and melodic electronica.  I can sometimes find the repetition in electronic music to be uninteresting, but here it works to create a musical trance that ensnares you and carries you along.