Electronic avantgardist Markus Popp aka. Oval recently released the first new Oval material in over a decade in Oh on Thrill Jockey.
[audio:03 Riffifi.mp3] In the meantime, Oval has put together a Free EP, featuring non-album tracks from the O sessions. It’s called Ringtones, and you can download it right here from Thrill Jockey.
On September 7th, Thrill Jockey will release Oval’s new 70-track double-album, O. The album comes in 4 different covers, and Oval is slated to play some rare performances in support of the new record in Europe, Japan, and North America.
Oval | AH!
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=-I5xHE5EkoA
Popp, who lives and works in Berlin, took some time between his last release under the moniker SO and the “Oh” EP because he wanted the new material to be a radical departure from his old concepts and methods on all levels, to essentially be a second “debut” album. For “O” Popp’s creative process shares nothing with his creative process for prior Oval albums. Previously, Popp focused on the creation of the programs that would process sound and effectively create the music.
Oh is pressed on 150 gram white vinyl and housed in an LP jacket with a hand-glued photo art card on the front. The 12” is limited to 1,000 copies worldwide.
As a musician, Popp’s process was more theoretical in nature. Creating the platform and knowing what that platform could and should do to the sound sources. He selected the sound sources and then turned it over to the platform.
For ”O”, Popp uses an instrument that is very common, a stock PC outfitted with stock sounds and plugins. He no longer uses or creates a custom platform, but instead utilizes a readily available instrument. What he has done with this instrument highlights Popp’s, perhaps for the first time, musicianship.
Popp spent years woodshedding with his instrument and worked diligently to push the instrument beyond its normal sonic boundaries.
