Röyksopp - Junior (2009)

Röyksopp - Junior

Original Release Date: Mar 24, 2009

Label: Astralwerks

Genre: Electronica, Downtempo, Trip-Hop

Size: 408MB

Flac (Separate tracks + .cue + .log + Covers)

Tracklisting:
1. Happy Up Here (2:43)
2. The Girl and the Robot (4:29)
3. Vision One (4:59)
4. This Must Be It (4:41)
5. Röyksopp Forever (5:00)
6. Miss It So Much (5:01)
7. Tricky Tricky (5:59)
8. You Don't Have a Clue (4:33)
9. Silver Cruiser (4:36)
10. True to Life (5:50)
11. It's What I Want (3:09)

Review by John Bush
Makers of sophisticated dance-pop with more than enough production finesse to intrigue electronica listeners, Röyksopp complete their transition from trip-hop maestros to electronic popsters on their third album, Junior. As on 2005's The Understanding, the melodies here are unmissable, whether there's a star vocal feature or not — and, to signal their rising status, there are several here. Karin Dreijer of the Knife returns for two songs (including the dizzyingly Moroder-like "This Must Be It"), while Robyn makes her Röyksopp debut on "The Girl and the Robot" (which may or may not be an inter-life form torch song), and Lykke Li also makes a first appearance with "Miss It So Much" (also curiously robotic, with the lyric "My mechanical heart, how it tears me apart"). Besides the stars, Anneli Drecker of Bel Canto does the heavy lifting, lending her heavenly voice to four songs. Overall, the Röyksopp duo remain stellar producers, with a good handle on the three things most important to dance-pop: bewitching melodies, intriguing effects, and enough character to find a fanbase among the non-chart-buying public. (Their old standby, back in force here, is a squelchy synth bassline that creaks and shudders as it cycles through arpeggio after arpeggio). As in the past too, many of the usual stylistic signposts are passed — Giorgio Moroder, Daft Punk, Air. In the end, Röyksopp remain among the best at middlebrow dance-pop, crafting music that can and will rule the supermarket aisles while still having a shelf-life longer than the canned ham you'll find there.

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Röyksopp - The Understanding (2005)

Röyksopp - The Understanding

Original Release Date: Jul 12, 2005

Label: Astralwerks

Genre: Electronica, Downtempo, Trip-Hop

Size: 409MB

Flac (Separate tracks + .cue + .log + Covers)

Tracklisting:
1. Triumphant (4:21)
2. Only This Moment (3:56)
3. 49 Percent (5:12)
4. Sombre Detune (4:52)
5. Follow My Ruin (3:52)
6. Beautiful Day Without You (5:29)
7. What Else Is There? (5:17)
8. Circuit Breaker (5:25)
9. Alpha Male (8:11)
10. Someone Like Me (5:23)
11. Dead to the World (5:21)
12. Tristesse Globale (1:23)

Review by John Bush
When the Norwegian production duo Röyksopp dropped their first album, Melody A.M., it sounded as though they were on a stopover from another planet. Otherworldly samples and a crisp production sense combined to make the singles "Eple" and "Sparks" perfect examples of the downbeat form and near-ubiquitous inclusions on chillout compilations. As electronica artists from Biosphere to Boards of Canada had proved before them, a life away from the mainstream — say, in the extreme northern climes of Europe — was easily capable of freeing an artist from the demands of trendiness. Their second album, The Understanding, reveals a different focus: fascination with all manner of radio-ready European dance. Yes, Röyksopp are all grown up now. In their quest for maturity (as well as the ears of busy shoppers all over the Northern Hemisphere), the duo changed their distinctive sound in the process. The single "Only This Moment," a post-connubial duet between male and female, could perhaps have heralded the comeback of a middle-aged Aqua, while on "49 Percent" the duo struggle to emulate Underworld's "Pearls' Girl" (while a bewitching vocal from Chelonis R. Jones rescues them from the brink). Nods to synth pop (Depeche Mode, Soft Cell), disco (Moroder), and electronica (Daft Punk, Boards of Canada) simply accentuate the overall mood, that Röyksopp have little left to say aside from what others have said more clearly in the past.

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Röyksopp - Melody A.M. (2001)

Röyksopp - Melody A.M.

Original Release Date: 2001

Label: Wall Of Sound

Genre: Electronica, Downtempo, Trip-Hop

Size: 277MB

Flac (Separate tracks + .cue + .log + Covers)

Tracklisting:
1. So Easy (4:09)
2. Eple (3:37)
3. Sparks (5:26)
4. In Space (3:31)
5. Poor Leno (3:58)
6. A Higher Place (4:31)
7. Röyksopp's Night Out (7:30)
8. Remind Me (3:40)
9. She's So (5:24)
10. 40 Years Back / Come (4:46)

Review by John Bush
Chilled-out or downbeat acts swept through the electronic scene during 2001 and 2002, prompting dozens of identikit compilations, all conjuring up images of exhausted clubbers returning home early in the morning and enjoying a cup of tea or a smoke after a hectic night out. And although downtempo electronica had always been largely album-based, most of these trackmasters didn't do much on the full-length front. The Norwegian duo Röyksopp, however, displayed a careful hand with the boards on their 2001 debut Melody A.M.. Röyksopp balances the haunted atmospheres of Boards of Canada with the more traditional "songwriting" sensibility of downbeat specialists like Groove Armada or Koop. The opener is proof enough, with a chunky bassline undergirding the spooky, ethereal refrain from Bobby Vinton's "Blue on Blue" recorded by some long-forgotten vocal chorus. There's much of beauty on Melody A.M., very textured and imaginatively produced to sound like few of their contemporaries; it's saying much to even admit that Röyksopp is occasionally the equal of such otherworldly acts as Boards of Canada or Goldfrapp. They seem a bit too indebted to the gauzy synths of '70s soundtracks, but there are a few good exceptions, like the distinctly '80s sense of artificial ethereality to the closer, "40 Years Back/Come." Picking up the ball right about where Air dropped it after Moon Safari, Röyksopp produced one of the most intriguing downbeat albums of the year.

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