I have some Amazon.com MP3 credit, and I was thinking I wanted to try out some electronic-type music that would give my system a good workout. I'm clueless and would appreciate some recommendations. Thanks!

I'm sure Dean might have some suggestions?

Good call.

How about it, Dean?

**snicker**

I'm thinking about picking up Metisse's Nomah's Land in MP3 format, because I can't find the CD anywhere. I've loved both their albums (My Fault is the other one) for years listening to them on Rhapsody often. I just keep putting off buying the CD, and now I'm suffering because the CDs are out of print.

They're not bass heavy, but cover the audio spectrum nicely. Also minimal compression has been applied, so the mid-bass should kick nicely (it kicks on my 6" studio monitors). Having listened to some of your all-time favs. I think you'll like the female vocalist's sound.

http://www.amazon.com/Nomahs-Land/dp/B001P1JQQW/
http://www.amazon.com/My-Fault/dp/B001P1L6GA/

If you want one specific track to try go with "Fool Inside You" from My Fault. Play it in ProLogic II(x) Music.

Thanks, Chris. I'll check them out!

Armin Van Buuren "Imagine the Remix" will put your system to the test and then some. It's my audio CD reference.

http://www.arminvanburren.com/news/110/

Chris, I did like the track you mentioned, so I'll pick up more sometime. Also, here:

Metisse - Nomah's Land (CD Baby)

Ooo, thanks. Just need their first album too.

Oh, you didn't have either in CD format? It looks like you can get the other one by importing from a third party seller on Amazon.co.uk. Of course, that makes for an expensive CD.

Sorry Charles I hadn’t read this thread earlier. As you two must be alluding to I’m a big electronic music fan but it’s a damm big genre so is there anything in particular you were considering or wishing to rule out.

List of electronic music genres

I pull a lot of stuff off internet radio to sample one of my favorite set of stations is SomaFM

Has anything I’ve linked to ever interested you like Armin Van Buuren mentioned above?

Also Armin Van Buuren’s show “A State of Trance” (ASOT) is a great start for trance music. Though he leans a little more to the progressive side while I prefer Psychedelic/Goa trance esp “full on” and “dark psy”

I have “A State of Trance Classics” Vol. 1-4 all of which are good and some of which are available on Amazon as mp3s.

I have to admit that my following of your music links has been haphazard at best, and I can't say I remember what I've liked or disliked. And yeah, as that list of sub-genres indicates, it's a huge world of possibilities. I don't even know where to start. I can say I think it would be hard for me to get into anything that's too repetitive. I think I need something more obvious and attention-grabbing. Obviously if vocals are going to be involved, I tend to find it easier to get into female vocals. I think I'm hoping to find some modern day genius composers who just happen to use digital instrumentation that will show off what my system is capable of. Considering how oblivious I am to the whole scene, I'm not sure they're out there. I think I get a little turned off by electronic music where I can't sense an underlying human passion. Some grit and imperfection would be welcome, if that makes any sense, given that I'm asking for electronic music in the first place. So... any idea where I might start? I'll check out SomaFM.

I mostly listen to SomaFM for the “Drone Zone” and “Space Station Soma” both of which might not appeal to you if you don’t like to much repetition.

You might find the early Human League interesting though they didn’t have the female vocalists back then.

Try out some of these and give a thumbs up or thumbs downs and it might help better target some selections.

Husky Rescue - Blueberry Tree, Pt. 1 Ambient-pop.

Perfume - Electro World HQ Electro-pop, j-pop.

translated but poor audio:

Perfume (パフューム) - Electro World (English

Laika - Almost Sleeping Electronica, Dreampop. . . .

Aural Vampire - オーラルヴァンパイア - / Darkweave, synthpop, electropop. . . .

Robots In Disguise- Turn It Up Electropunk

Girls' Generation(소녀시대)_RunDevilRun(런데빌런 Pop Dance

Tujiko Noriko + Tyme. - また、らいねん [Mata Experimental

Probably not up your ally but one of my favorite psytrance groups.

Electric Universe - Lumiere goa/psytrance

Girl's Generation sounds a lot like Lady Ga Ga.

Charles, here's one for ya.

WOW!

I enjoyed most of those, even if they weren't all tracks I think I would listen to often. I do remember the Perfume and Aural Vampire videos. I think I watched the English version of "Electro World" before, and I prefer the Japanese. I don't think I cared for Aural Vampire last time, but this time I was digging them. I'd say that out of that list I liked Husky Rescue and Aural Vampire the most on first listen. You guessed right about Electric Universe. I think I would find it hard to get into trance-type music. If it seems like I'm supposed to be in a dark club with pulsing lights, I think I might always feel out of place listening to it. Ha ha.

Ha ha. Wow is right. It started off slightly disturbing and eventually got pretty gross. Catchy enough song.

Once I find a band I like or want something similar I often go to last.fm and do a search. On the artists page there are “Similar Artists” linked:

Aural Vampire

Husky Rescue

Have you heard these:

Qntal - Ecce Gratum (extended version)


Bespa Kumamero (Nylon Wave)

I hadn't heard those. I couldn't quite get into them. I did, however, purchase Aural Vampire's Zoltank from iTunes, since getting a CD seems to require importing from Japan, which makes things many times more expensive.

Thanks, guys, for sharing. Feel free to offer more suggestions, and I'll also let you know if I come across anything else that catches my attention.

Kind of related to this thread and the film scores thread, but I saw this Super Mario Galaxy 2 OST channel linked to on Joystiq, and it made me wonder what video game soundtracks any of you have been impressed enough with to buy. I've thought about buying some before, but I never have. I've always liked the music in the Nintendo first-party games. Can't go wrong with Mario and Zelda. I liked music in the Halo series, too, among others. Those are the easiest to think of. For any of you who've actually bought video game soundtracks, which ones have the nicest sound quality?

SomaFM...excellent recommendation. I had one of my clients in the midwest bring this to my attention in early May. What took me soooo long???

http://somafm.com/

I found SomaFM through program that downloads internet radio feeds. I had told it to find ambient music and noticed a lot of the best stuff it was finding was coming from SomaFM so started recording it regularly.

I noticed you also seem to like Armin Vanburrens show what other stuff have you found out there Rich?

Cheers,
Dean

Dean - I like all the "This is Trance" CD's that have come out over years; I got into this genre circa 1995 when a work-related presentation trip to Chicago brought (us) to a place called the Baja Beach Club. An old converted warehouse. Women serving beer in bikinis, great music and a fabulous audio system. I was hooked.

I've since discovered Symphonic, prog metal and mostly with female leads, (the M3ti's love female vocals),they're the best. Greatest of these IMO is Nightwish

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarja_Turunen

with Tarja Turunen, a classically trained mezzo soprano who simply dazzles. Putting a "Operatic" singer with a metal band is just pure heaven. Who would of thought. Others include Within Temptation with Sharon Den Adel, Epica with Simon Simmons and a new one I just found called Delain.

Thankfully they did.

Yep I love Nightwish, Epica, Within Temptation and Delain.

If you aren’t already try out these bands:


Amberian Dawn - He Sleeps In A Grove

After Forever - Emphasis

Nemesea No More Clip

SIRENIA - The Path To Decay

stream of passion OUT IN THE REAL WORLD

Elis - Black Angel

Edenbridge - Arcana

Eyes of Eden - Winter Night

Lunatica - The Edge Of Infinity - Sons Of The

IMO owning M80s and not listening to symphonic/gothic metal is like owning a Ferrari just to drive to and from the grocery store. So much unused potential. I listened to a lot of speakers before coming up with a short list of which so called “bright” ones I liked. Overall they all sounded great but none of them could touch the M80s playing stuff like this. Probably not a ringing endorsement since Metal or Trance for that matter probably aren’t considered relevant buy most internet audiophiles.

Nice new list, thanks…some of these I’ve heard some I have not. Love new music. I think After Forever is disbanded unfortunately. Europe is full of some really great bands that just don’t get much, if any attention over here. That’s too bad. This genre of metal is sophisticated, layered, well written and very well produced.

Do you have Within Temptation’s “Black Symphony” and Nightwish’s “End of an Era DVD’s? These are probably the best concerts I’ve experienced. And that’s saying a lot. These have displaced (which I didn’t think was possible) Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” SACD and their “Pulse” DVD. But they are not far behind.

Also should be mentioned is Sade. Went to my brother’s place in PA a few weeks and watched her and her band until 4:00 AM. He too has M3ti’s (which I told him to buy) and he just upgraded his surround with a pair of Axiom QS4’s and Aperion Bravus 8D sub. Just outstanding sonic integration; seamless and transparent.

I only have the audio tracks of “Black Symphony” and “End of an Era” not the video . . . yet. Based on what Blu-ray.com says about it I’m going for the Blu-ray version of Black Symphony.

If you end up buying it, let me know what you think of it. It's just too bad it has to be imported, inflating the price. I would probably do a blind buy at a cheaper price.

Hopefully by tomorrow I will have a demo which will go a long way toward deciding if I buy it or not.

Listening to "Tag's Trip" on SomaFM. Great stuff. The Senn's love it. I didn't get Black Symphony in Blue Ray so my price was very reasonable. Less than $20 as I recall. This disc has occupied the number one slot in my Yamaha's carousel for over a year. This one-off concert really showcases the bands accomplishments over the decade and is so much more than your typical lead singer, lead guitar, bass and drums presentation. The integration of the orchestra and choir is top notch. Sharon is quite fab...btw.