Autre Ne Veut

French for "I think of none other," New York's enigmatic Arthur Ashin, also known as Autre Ne Veut, makes music that falls somewhere between '80s R&B hooks and melodies and the blurry sounds of Ariel Pink. His self-titled debut album arrived in August 2010 on Olde English Spelling Bee and Upstairs, the label owned by Oneohtrix Point Never's Daniel Lopatin. Autre Ne Veut supported Hooray for Earth during their residency at Piano's that fall, and played some shows with Zambri and Mirror Mirror in early 2011. That year, Ashin also released the Body EP via Hippos in Tanks and appeared on Ford & Lopatin's Channel Pressure. When interviewed by Altered Zones blogger Richard MacFarlane about his sound, Ashin has this to say: "The earliest ANV sound that I was really happy with-- perhaps best exemplified by “Tell Me”, “Loveline”, and “Emotional” [from Autre Ne Veut]-- was, aesthetically, the culmination of attempting to merge an intellectual respect for sound-craft with an affinity for traditional, popular song-craft. The results are a failure, but in my estimation a happy one. Since then, the sound has been a function of attempting (and again failing) to reappropriate those initial fortunate accidents. In my mind, hypnogogia aside, this is just failure-pop." Failure pop? Weird descriptions aside, Anxiety is full of lush synths, stark beats, and rich vocals, all of which are on display on tracks like the glitchy but hopeful "Promises." This gloss nods more clearly to classic and contemporary pop and R&B than any of Autre Ne Veut's previous music, but unlike some indie artists who try to incorporate these elements into their work, it never feels superficial or ironic on Anxiety. Ashin's genuine love for these genres' roots and where they're at in the 2010s comes through at every turn, but most importantly, in his hands these sounds seem natural, and above all, personal. Anxiety is a satisfying study in paradoxes: moving toward more mainstream sounds while sounding nothing like the pop maelstrom. If anything, some of the vocal stylings are reminiscent of Hercules and the Love Affair and How to Dress Well if the vocals weren't buried in echo. This was surprisingly enjoyable. You can get to know a little more about Arthur Ashin here. Listen up: Buy here.

A Long Way to Fall

Ulrich Schnauss has never been afraid to embrace the new age side of his sound. Even on the albums like 2007's Goodbye, where he went almost full-on shoegaze with plenty of guitars, there was always a softness to the synth textures, and a gentle touch to the melodies, which were soothing, to say the least. On his 2013 album, A Long Way to Fall, Schnauss has fully embraced the new age aesthetic of creating background music perfect to have on while relaxing. Though there are some guitars on the album, they are muted to the point of invisibility, and the beats that creep in now and then are polite and almost loping. While it makes for pleasant music to have on while you are sleeping away the afternoon in a cubicle or fighting insomnia late at night, the album is something of a letdown for anyone who, not unreasonably, came to it expecting something a little more interesting from Schnauss. Regardless, since there's not that much coming out right now, I still recommend this type of background music. We all can use something to relax to. Buy your copy of Ulrich Schnauss' A Long Way to Fall here.

Luxury Problems

Andy Stott is a Manchester-based producer of dub and techno music who has released three albums with the Modern Love label. Despite being significantly more ambient and less knotty than Andy Stott's 2011 releases, which were combined and expanded that December for Passed Me By/We Stay Together, Luxury Problems is nearly as spine-chilling. Its rhythms are fluid more often than coagulated, and there's an additional human element granted by the voice of opera-trained singer Alison Skidmore. The sense of intimacy is present from the opening "Numb," beginning with a looped intonation of "touch," a fragment of which takes the role of hi-hat before an industrial-sounding thrum -- something like a mechanical malfunction -- enters as a four-four beat. It's dark ambient, industrial techno, and trip-hop all at once. Preview the entire album here: buy your copy of Luxury Problems here. Check him out spinning in Berlin's Boiler Room