The eMusic Dozen: Glitch

Christian Marclay predates the CD era but his interest in the noisy byproduct of recording technology — in his case, the skips, clicks and pops of the vinyl LP — marks him as a kindred spirit to glitch musicians. Marclay also traffics in memory on this compilation, using multiple turntables to layer choice bits from cheap big band exotica, instructional records, environmental recordings and the occasional pop hit to reflect back the culture of the 20th century in a dizzying collage pasted on a backdrop of decaying technology.

94diskont was the third Oval release to use skipping CDs as a source, but because of its immediate acceptance as an ambient classic it did more than any single record to put the idea of glitch on the map. Famously created by applying felt-tip markers to Aphex Twin CDs, 94diskont is more orderly than that haphazard method implies. The skips and clicks provide a rhythmic foundation and anxious emotional counterpoint to the blissed-out textural drones, making for a highly complex yet oddly approachable listen.

As Microstoria, Oval's Markus Popp worked with Jan St. Werner of Mouse on Mars to create a more subtle and free-flowing alternative to his main project. Their working method was improvisational, and Init Ding sometimes sounds like the amplified interior of an aging computer, with a jittery whirr of beeps, crackles and modem handshakes competing with the occasional organ sample for attention. Though abstract and loosely structured, the gentle sound palate and deep bass chords lend Init Ding a certain relaxed warmth.

By marrying the CD-skip aesthetic of Oval to the subtly changing repetitions of minimalist composers like Steve Reich, Japan's Nobukazu Takemura created an album of austere beauty. Key tracks "Icefall" (which sounds like a calliope tune forced through a wood chipper) and "Kepler" (in which Takemura finely chops the voice of collaborator Aki Tsyuko and layers it above a hypnotic vibraphone pattern) are Takemura's career highlights.

Though song titles like "Polyhedron" and "Diffraction" suggest hard science, the music of this Japanese collective is unusually organic and fluid, as warm ripples of processed chords lightly seamed with noise float leisurely past. Long tracks like "Procession" take their time going nowhere in particular, and can be best imagined as sculptures in sound responsive to varying levels of listening attention. Formed Verse is glitch at its most ambient and accessible, certain to please those weaned on Apollo-era Brian Eno.

Though the first Clicks + Cuts compilation is certainly worth hearing and defined the dry rhythmic minimalist aesthetic that had been brewing for the previous few years, the second volume has richer pleasures. The all-star team includes Farben ("The Videotape (Re-Edit)" is an excellent example of Jan Jelinek's genius for musical dissection), Fennesz (whose "Menthol" was a precursor to his highly successful album Endless Summer), Pansonic ("Arvio (Long Edit)" is extremely spare, even for them) and Ekkehard Ehlers (who contributes tracks under his März and Auch aliases), among many others. This series explores the more beat-oriented side of glitch, but there's serious variety spread across these three discs worth exploring in its entirety.

On one hand this record of danceable house doesn't really belong on this list, but Vocal City is an interesting demonstration of what happens when glitch ideas are applied to other genres. As the title indicates, the lean, funky tracks are populated by voices, but producer Vladislav Delay (who has released abstract glitch-oriented material under the Delay moniker) prefers not to leave well enough alone, subjecting his divas to disorienting edits and processing influence by both dub and experimental laptop music. This is a classic of the genre eMusic columnist Philip Sherburne dubbed microhouse.

Though Matmos can hang with the theoretical heads when so inclined, their clever sense of humor sets them apart from other glitch artists. Matmos records tend to have a conceptual bent, and for A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure they captured the sound of surgical procedures and subjected the noises to intensive processing to create rhythmic cut-ups that border on pop. What's surprising is how musical the various drills, scrapers, probes and suction devices can sound in the right hands.

Sogar's Jürgen Heckel, like Fennesz, Keith Fullerton Whitman and Greg Davis, uses the guitar as a sound tool in conjunction with computer processing. You won't often recognize his primary instrument on Basal, but Sogar's soundscapes are organic and terrestrial, and his distinct palette of buzzes, chirps and flutters bring to mind electronic versions of jungle field recordings. A standout on the underrated 12k label, the best American imprint for minimal electronic music.

While most glitch artists make drifting music for home listening, Andrew Duke, like Thomas Brinkman of Germany, excels at arranging glitches into pumping techno. Some tracks sound built from a locked run-off groove of a vinyl LP sprinkled liberally with sand ("Felt NH") while others conjure images of an over-juiced and unbalanced machine furiously shaking loose its bolts ("Crablike"). Relentlessly focused and unapologetically repetitive, Sprung invites physical movement as it lulls the listener into a trance.