Various Artists - One on Twoism Vol.4 [2010]

[DEVICE]

Finally , i've downloaded the compilation and will listen to it tonight from front to end.
I'm very curious to hear it all. I was thinking about entering a track too but I totally spaced on the date..

Too bad dude!
Your stuff is superb. Would fit beautifully on a OoT compilation.
Next time .
Did you create any new tracks lately?

He's right, your stuff is fucking terrific!

[Naal]

Finally , i've downloaded the compilation and will listen to it tonight from front to end.
I'm very curious to hear it all. I was thinking about entering a track too but I totally spaced on the date..

Too bad dude!
Your stuff is superb. Would fit beautifully on a OoT compilation.
Next time .
Did you create any new tracks lately?

He's right, your stuff is fucking terrific!

Hey thanks guys !
I haven't really made new stuff for a couple of weeks due to hardware problems, lack of inspiration and being busy looking for a job. But somethings coming soon though...


As for the OoT compilation , I've heard it once yesterday and really like it!
Quality stuff with a few standout tracks. Will surely listen to it again in the next days.
It's nice to hear all music by people who visit this forum.
And the mix is flawless.

[Frank]

Ooh it's here! Downloading.

[The Telepathic Kid]

the percussion in the Underwater track is off the hook.

[Aesthetics]

CD release postponed by 2 weeks...
The testcopy didn't arrive yet

Some great news:
Twilight Interface his track was aired on Digital Nimbus!

Twilight Interface also made 2 little teasers of OoT4 tracks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LnGfP_iAd4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUSoNvv3wIo
Seems like he got something in return for making these

[sithlord999]

O_o This is very surprising. I really didn't think my track would be enough of a standout to be picked for anything like that. Still awesome though!

[Beacon]

Current favorite track: Trills - Foma

I love where it comes into the mix. Really refreshing and chill.

[Aesthetics]

Like the other year, it seems that we got ourselves a steady place on Digital Nimbus

Congrats to Island Near the Clouds and Boreal Network!

# Bitcrush :: Nimbus Effect [D::N] M/Cadoo
# Cepia :: Me And My Gin [Cepia] Cepia Music
# Island Near the Clouds :: Between Landscapes of Reality [One On Twoism V4] Twoism
# Dimentia :: Realm [Electric Carpets] Record Label Records
# Nommo Ogo :: Chromomiasma [Drinking the Goats Blood] Record Label Records
# Drifting In Silence :: Phonetic Reversal [Lifesounds] Labile
# CitizenGreen :: Foiled The Ruse (Remake by Ryan Noise) [Ulterior Motives EP] Nophi
# Mothboy :: Medusa (feat. Sezrah Sylvan) [Yield EP] Drawn
# Abs6 :: Douce Trepanation [Audiomedikation] Hymen
# The Empath :: Ultima Thule [Meanwhile] Hymen
# Totakeke :: Untitled 09 [Approach Lights] Tympanik Audio
# Autechre :: 777 [LP5] Warp
# Weiss : 04.22.38 [22.38] Electroton
# Pleq :: Integral [Sound of Rebirth] Impulsive Art
# Reef Project :: Yellow Tang [Adrift] Looq
# Movax :: Fragment [Experimental Dance Breaks 36] Plastic Sound Supply
# Meat Beat Manifesto :: Totally Together [Totally Together EP] Metropolis
# Meat Beat Manifesto :: 010130 [Answers Come In Dreams] Metropolis
# COIL :: Answers Come In Dreams II [The Snow EP] WaxTrax!
# Invisible Allies :: Ghost Bridge [Hyperdimensional Animals] Native State
# Tzolk'in :: Tezcatlipoca [Tonatiuh] Ant-Zen
# Boreal Network :: Park Avenue [One On Twoism V4] Twoism
# Clock DVA :: e-wave [Digital Soundtracks] Contempo
# Meat Beat Manifesto :: Electric People (Version version) [Nuclear Bomb] Mute

[turquoise70]

That's awesome! I feel really cool about that

[nev]

Awesome - downloading now.
Looking fwd to listening Many thanks.

[Aesthetics]

Here is a rather in-depth (and critical) coverage of OOT4 from Igloo mag:

It should be self-evident now that Boards of Canada are irreplaceable and inimitable, and the absence of any new material in 4+ years has made this even more obvious. The last time they released anything, the Trans Canada Highway EP, it was halfway through 2006, a few years before nostalgia became irritatingly pervasive in pop culture. Of all the producers that have tried since then to take Boards of Canada’s place, Christ. has been the only producer ever able to walk the thin line between being dismissed as a Boards of Canada sycophant and a hopeful, well-intentioned producer who is trying too hard. Being one of the original members of the group couldn’t have hurt, but is it really that difficult to recreate Boards of Canada’s sound?

Unfortunately, that question is increasingly difficult to answer now that so many musicians are willing to sell your memories back to you as mp3′s. Even the critic-championed synth music of 2010 is guilty of this – Whether it was a Klaus Schulze throwback or just an 80′s educational vision, a lot of new synth music within the past few years has had hints of one or both categories. Not to mention chillwave in its entirety. It all has to do with the recollection of memories, the imprecise and confusing nature of memory itself, and that longing everyone has to travel back to another place years ago made ideal by the passage of time. And regardless of any artistic intent, there’s always a possibility that nostalgic music can be construed as a mere appeal to sentimentality in order to profit. Call it recollexploitation, perhaps.

If this is what Boards of Canada was doing all along (it was), why the hell don’t more people have a problem with it? I certainly don’t, and apparently neither do the people behind One On Twoism Volume 4. The only plausible explanation for this is that Boards of Canada were able to achieve something astounding – processing their own memories to make music that was at the same time intensely personal and undoubtedly universal, without thinking of ways to profit from it. Profit they might have, but still, is there anything really insincere about Music Has The Right To Children? Given the musical climate at the time, probably not. Just two dudes who loved My Bloody Valentine and The Incredible String Band channeling their memories of educational video soundtracks into something that became an all-time classic. There is something amazing that permeates Music Has The Right To Children. It is recognition of the imprecision of one’s own memory of bored daydreaming at school, and the exploration of the double nature of recollection – the joy of long-gone sounds and sights coupled with the pain of not being able to fully re-experience them. This perfect combination of pure artistic vision and studio mastery is formidable, imitations of which are best left to the artists themselves.

So, given the problematic nature of outdoing Boards of Canada at the game they practically invented, why handicap yourself by advertising the fact that you’re attempting to imitate their sound? Why spend four albums doing so? As I said earlier, a producer has an extremely slim chance of transcending the difference between obsequious flattery and misdirected nostalgia-plundering. I mean, at least with a Tycho album I have a few minutes before I realize he’s trying to make the Next Great Boards of Canada Album and listen to something else.

The shame with One On Twoism Volume 4 is not its actual content, but the fact that it’s designed to appeal to Boards of Canada fans who just can’t take the wait any longer. The artwork including radio towers and serene lakes, the vaguely wistful track names, hell, even the URL of its website (twoism.org) – I get it! The issue – and you’ve waited long enough for the back handed compliment – is that a lot of this is very good music made by very talented producers! It just might not get a fair chance from more cynical listeners, myself included.

The first standout is “Dense Planet” by Rik Olson. The slow, simple beat works perfectly paired with slightly detuned, echoing guitar strings. “The Big Mill” is also a favorite. It works in the same way an interstitial Boards of Canada piece might, pairing odd, cascading synths with what is apparently a sample of Margaret Thatcher speaking. The next track, the beautiful “Earthrise,” is one of the few successful ambient songs on the album (audio stream below). “Foma,” (audio stream below), “Park Avenue,” and “Hang Glider Parade” are all enjoyable, spacey excursions. It’s too bad “Strange Deed” is relegated to a little over a minute in the slower second half of the album – it would have fared nicely with some development and protraction. With a little recontextualization, these songs could have been comfortably nestled among the releases of great experimental music labels – Merck Records comes to mind first.

V/A 'One On Twoism Volume 4'

Where One On Twoism Volume 4 aims to succeed is exactly where it fails: accurate and authentic mimicry of the Boards of Canada sound. This is why the second half of the album drags so much: in trying to recreate the nostalgic magic of pieces like “In The Annexe” and “I Saw Drones,” the producers have assembled an inadvertently dull olio. Other, longer pieces succeed not by virtue of any similarities to Boards of Canada songs (though if you’re looking for the sound-a-like contest winner, it’s “Panic Over.” for sure), but on the strength of the songwriting or the quality of the production. Most of the artists here have unfortunately handicapped themselves by channeling their talent towards creating a highly specific, near-impossible to achieve sound.

Nothing on here works as an accurate Boards of Canada reproduction, and perhaps this is intentional. On every track there’s something askew – the percussion is very crisp, the synths are too modern-sounding – all complaints that aim at a quality of the music but slightly miss the mark, a mark that can only be described as “trying too hard.” This should be expected from a Boards of Canada tribute album, something that tries to improve on something that was perfected more than ten years before.

But this should be encouraging! The One On Twoism series’ critical flaw should also serve as an pertinent message for its associated producers: Try something new. I have no doubt that any of the musicians on this compilation (and the three before it) could find success within another genre. IDM, chillout, ambient, post rock, instrumental hip hop – anything but Boards of Canada homage. One On Twoism Volume 4 is only discouraging insofar as it is a showcase of misdirected talent, talent that could be used to make new, exciting breeds of electronic music – maybe even music that channels nostalgia in the same respectful, perfect way Boards of Canada did. It’s the difference between, say, using one’s guitar skills to make original music or to form a Led Zeppelin cover band; the difference is enormous. Can you name any Led Zeppelin cover bands off the top of your head?

One On Twoism Volume 4 is out now as a no-charge digital download and available on CD January 18, 2011 on Twoism. [Purchase CD | Digital download]



I personaly don't mind the crytical approach at all. I mean, it's inevitable to ignore the connection with BoC as it's all over the place. It does have a great message in it and it's great to see that despite of this it still got a rather big review. I do miss the word independent in the review but that should be considered a compliment.

[Cupz]

I agree, very honest review there. He hit the nail smack on the head.

[portiss]

Well, in some things he did Cupz. But for me not entirely.

I think the reviewer falls back to BoC to much. For me, the feeling of OoT albums is more like a fun process for the people who enjoy making music on this forum. Not really to try and get really well known in music, but just something to do for fun, and actually release it. For me OoT is not about imitating BoC as good as you can, but just make music inspired by them, and make a nice well flowing mix of it. Just something from BoC fans to BoC fans. I don't think people should compare it to BoC but ofcourse they always do, just have fun while listening it, and enjoy the sounds that BoC fans can bring in the world.

[Aesthetics]

portiss: We all are in the middle of this BoC game and we might be blind to how an outsider interpret this sort of music. Heavy-metal fans hear al kinds of different styles in their music but to me it all sound the same

I agree about this review being a bit too much about BoC.

[turquoise70]

What you guys said. They spent 3 or 4 good paragraphs on BoC's musical impact alone.

I also agree with the critique, but I don't think it applies to all aspects. Like you said - reviewers not close to the process of putting together this fan compilation never get the benefit of seeing how removed from any attempt to mimick or reproduce BoC's sound most of the actual business of our putting this together really is.

I do think there is and always will be too much focus on sounding like BoC. For one thing, we're a BoC fan-forum. Hellooooooo. Wiping THAT smell clean from our compilation approach will be hard, especially since all we do is invite people who frequent a BoC forum to submit music they've made. You have to know what to expect if you do that, that's like going to an indie show and asking for everyone there to send you their demo CD or whatever. You will always get a certain percentage of artists there who are more or less just playing around in the shallow waters of whatever musician they're there to see.

I was kind of unsatisfied with my track this year, because while I do think it's a good submission production wise, and it has some pretty ear-warming moments, it does sound way too much just like an attempt to cry out in a MHTRTC voice, even if that isn't how I intended it at all. And I must admit - and I've said this before, though I don't mean to put down subset or any of the people who voted for his artwork - but I saw the "BoC Imitation Is So Played Out" critique stamped on this artwork from the first moment I saw it. Whether you think it's well-designed or not, it absolutely SCREAMS "we are trying to remind you of Boards of Canada - look! Maths! Geometry! Superimposed over grainy photos of remote areas juxtaposed with electrical pylons!" All that's missing are the badly-photoshopped faceless people and our record carries the look of a well-dressed but immediately identifiable poser at a concert.

I think the review is both correct in parts, and incorrect in parts. I think reviewers can't help but see our compilations as attempts to somehow shoot juice into the whole BoC aura and get it going again when their pop significance has clearly waned. Most people are NOT waiting out for new BoC and are only mildly interested in their new stuff, and they are not interested at ALL in hearing a bunch of "it's kind of like BoC sort of, on purpose" music. I don't think we'll ever leave that behind, and there's an element of truth to it that, for reasons I mentioned above (We're a BoC fan-forum, the submission process is /generally/ themeless and invites anyone to submit work, including artists who really ARE just happily treading water in the shallow end of the BoC pool - call me one, if you want).

I think this angle or perspective on our compilations will probably never go away. Even when the "BoC imitator" angle is played way down, what reviewers usually say is "It sounds like they're trying to be BoC, but they come up with some great stuff in the process". Otherwise it's this - to paraphrase: "It sounds like they're trying to be BoC. Isn't anyone tired of this yet?" Personally there are parts of it I -am- tired of, and parts of it I'm not. I still maintain, however, that OoT is critically misunderstood outside of our own doors, and we might do well to busy ourselves in the future with trying to meet that misunderstanding with some kind of new, interesting offering next time around.

EDIT: And no, I'm not talking about dubstep, please nobody suggest we do dubstep next time or I'm going to submit 5 minutes of fart sounds.

[rdy2bz]

Well, some, but not too much time ist gone since oot4 was released, so here's my thought about that story:

In short, I miss the line behind the album. There's no coherent theme behind the songs, not even a similar idea.

I very much loved oot1&2, already in oot3 I imagined the beginning of this, but now in oot4 it's definately there.

At first, I listened to the album as a whole, and afterwards I just could remember a 1 hour background song. Where are the outstanding songs? Where are the songs that just don't get me? I don't remember them, in my memory it's like a nice, one hour long song.

It's made very good, that for sure is not the point!

It's also not the songs. I recently started to listen so single songs. On random I pick a song, listen to it and then move away from oot again. And only then I see, there are so many really great songs on this album, I wonder why I could not see them in the first listenings.

In one thing, the review is wrong. The songs don't try to be-as-boc-would-be. They just don't and oot is not a filler until the next boc album is released.

But I think, it is right in the idea, that oot misses the clear point what it wants to be.

On the one hand, it's a kind of best-of of the twoism members (with best-of means influenced by boc and this community somehow). On the other hand, the very accurate and well-fitting making of oot makes it a regular album. So for me, since oot3 it became a mixture between both ideas somehow.

Maybe it would be a bit more honest to just say, ok, we try to make an influences-by-boc-album with this as the idea behind the album rather than just collect songs of the musicians that are around here and make the best of it.

Skip the "no direction of sound"-rule, at least I would appreciate it.

[DEVICE]

I have been a fan of the "one on twoism" series, from the beginning. And i love this album, just as i do the others.

When I put together the track for this album - i really did go down the "BoC" route, so to speak. But that's what this is all about really isn't it?
I mean it has the fucking name Twoism written on it??

Every piece is fantastic and individual in it's own right. And it's a superb album - BoC inspired or otherwise.

I think if the album had another name and was featured on another site - it wouldn't be as overly associated with the group and listeners would stop trying to pick out "here's where it sounds like, BoC" in my opinion. But Twoism is what is , because we love them Scottish mother fuckers so much!
And it's thanks to them i've gotten to listen some of the best electronica i've ever heard around - on the one on twoism series!.

Thanks

R.

[turquoise70]

When I put together the track for this album - i really did go down the "BoC" route, so to speak. But that's what this is all about really isn't it?
I mean it has the fucking name Twoism written on it??

That's what I'm talking about - some of our artists really do go down the BoC route, consciously and willingly sounding that way. Others don't. Whether that's what it's "really all about" is what's being called into question. It's not easy to say, one way or the other. Yeah, it's Twoism, name lifted straight from BoC, but a lot of artists are not interested in sounding anything like them. So, it is, and it isn't, all about BoC.

[Techboy]

I hear what he's saying if he's unaware of the fact that this is a side project for some of us and that the compilation is more a celebration/result of the meeting of BoC fans with common musical background by this stage rather than a tribute album. Which would be a fair thing to be unaware of.

Thanks for the comments again btw. So happy that I got mentioned in the igloo interview, haha

Btw, could my artist link be updated to my soundcloud page? http://soundcloud.com/markgallagher

thank you

[coffee grapes]