Oval Oval Process Genres:Dance & Electronic, Alternative Rock, Special Interest, Pop, Rock Oval is the brand name for Markus Popp's singular approach to sound manipulation--he's a software developer as much as a composer. Skipping CDs, field recordings of bells, and his own back catalog are grist for his digital... more » mill, but regardless of a sound's source, Popp's ever-evolving "Ovalprocess" application renders his work immediately identifiable. But not identical; this is both the rawest and most complexly textured Oval recording to date. The album's patterns of rasping low-end blurts, midrange buzzes, and high-pitched glassy splinters will sand the finish off your speakers. The beats, when present, are staggered sequences of CD skips. But adjust your sense of scale and you'll hear Popp's real rhythms; they're in the cinematic variation of his repeating sequences, brief-as-blinking events, and discrete sound scenes. --Bill Meyer« less
Oval is the brand name for Markus Popp's singular approach to sound manipulation--he's a software developer as much as a composer. Skipping CDs, field recordings of bells, and his own back catalog are grist for his digital mill, but regardless of a sound's source, Popp's ever-evolving "Ovalprocess" application renders his work immediately identifiable. But not identical; this is both the rawest and most complexly textured Oval recording to date. The album's patterns of rasping low-end blurts, midrange buzzes, and high-pitched glassy splinters will sand the finish off your speakers. The beats, when present, are staggered sequences of CD skips. But adjust your sense of scale and you'll hear Popp's real rhythms; they're in the cinematic variation of his repeating sequences, brief-as-blinking events, and discrete sound scenes. --Bill Meyer
CD Reviews
Darker
Matthew D. Mercer | Chicago, IL United States | 07/07/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Markus Popp has finally given us a new installment of his work as Oval. Implicit in its title, this disc is all about process (none of the tracks have titles this time around), much like the rest of Oval's albums. However, Ovalprocess is the first Oval release to reflect the developments Popp is making in developing the Ovalprocess software, an application which actually generates sounds and configures and arranges them, in essence doing the composing for him. Ovalprocess has been featured in installation environments which can be viewed on a site. The music does sound quite different from past efforts, while still sharing the same quality that's run through all of the Oval releases. The CD skip still crops up now and again but is more abstracted and less obvious than on "diskont" or "szenario." It is less rhythmic than "Systemisch" and less soothing than "dok." The closest comparison is the rather abrasive and strange remix Popp did of Squarepusher's Big Loada album (in one track, that's right) on the Warp 10+3 Remixes compilation in 1999. The quiet, abstracted bells of "dok" have been replaced by a slightly darker, harsher buzzing sound (which perhaps can be interpreted as an extension of the short experimental interludes of the "Szenario" collection). The result is much busier than any of the previous releases, and at times this can prove somewhat irritating, but on the whole the album works fairly well. In terms of a starting point for Oval, for those not familiar with his recordings, this may not be the best choice; most Oval fans will rate "do while" from the diskont CD as the best track he's recorded. There are several tracks on Ovalprocess, however, that evoke a certain melancholy mood, such as the seventh track for example.... this mood didn't really surface for me until making repeated listens, and to be honest I didn't enjoy the album at all at first when comparing it to past efforts. But judged on its own merits, and picking up on the aural clues buried within the process, this album is equally engaging when compared to the rest of Oval's backcatalogue."
Great cd
Jennifer Dworak | Hornell, New York United States | 08/01/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Ovalprocess is a really great cd, flowing textures and beautiful drones and tones. On this cd one can truely hear a possible future music. All their cds are great except Whonton which has vocals. Ovaprocess and DOK are the best.Track #10 on Ovalprocess includes sampled material from Andrew Deutsch's cd Garden Music release in 1999 on Magic If recordings."
Music to upset your pets
P. Gunderson | San Diego, CA USA | 10/13/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Even pets know the sound of something going terribly, terribly wrong. Unlike other glitch artists, Oval eschews techno-minimalism to create lush textures from skipping CDs, feedback, and assorted drones. The funny thing about listening to Oval is that, after a while, you'll start to hear music in their ungodly scraping and you won't be able to tell if the music is objectively "there" or if it is your brain trying to cope with the trauma.
If you're going to buy just one Oval CD, this is the one to get."
Uncompromising and austere - a challenging listen
Rinchen Choesang | Melbourne, Australia | 12/28/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Being a huge fan of '94 Diskont' and to a lesser extent 'Systemich' and 'Dok', I can see that this album is a logical extension of what has gone on before. There were hints of this starker style in 'Szenariodisk', but there are more moments of respite here than on that quirky little CD. There are also rare moments of beauty - tracks 5 and 7 are almost melodically pleasing.
There are no track titles and it would be hard to 'rate' the individual tracks. Much of it assaults the ears and, like all well made machine-music, begs to be listened to, rather than used as background music.
Markus Popp stands at the pinnacle of the glitch genre, both as 'Oval' and in his 'Microstoria' manifestations with Jan St Werner from 'Mouse on Mars'. He thankfully refuses to stand still musically and each album inhabits its own soundworld.
Newcomers to the glitch style might want to begin with '94 Diskont' or 'Systemich', but for anyone who likes electronica at the far edge, this is as good a place to start as any.
Other offerings worth exploring in this genre are:
- Pole (especially '1' and 'R') - glitch with a dub sound, almost funky
- Nobukazu Takemura (try 'Scope') - very sparse and more spacious than 'Ovalprocess'
- 'Clicks and Cuts' (the first of three volumes - 2cds) - various glitch artists - mostly great stuff, with a couple of boring dud tracks. Good sampler of the glitch style"
If you like it, you like it. If you don't, you don't.
jeremycolorado | Denver, CO USA | 10/13/2001
(3 out of 5 stars)
"The fact that there are no song titles says a lot about this CD. As I listened to it, I realized that it all sounds pretty much the same, which is to say its a lot of noise with some incredibly nice moments throughout. I like this CD, but its not as good as "discont" and its good for one long listening except that it has one of those dumb hidden tracks after 10 minutes of silence (which about ruins any album in my opinion). I suggest checking out the Oval website for some free downloads, which are as good as anything on this record (formandfunction.net/en/artists/oval/oval2.htm)."
