Why is Röyksopp’s Melody A.M. on my best 1,000 albums ever list?
Spacey and ethereal trip hop with grounded, chilled out electronic beats to keep things grooving.
Some stats & info about Röyksopp – Melody A.M.
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Electronic Music, Trip-Hop, Dance Music, Lounge Music, Chill Hop
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4.5 out of 5 stars
- When was Melody A.M. released? 2001
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #950 out of 1,000
Röyksopp’s Melody A.M. on Spotify
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective take on what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.
What does Röyksopp’s Melody A.M. mean to me? What does it make me feel? Why is it exciting or compelling?
This is an album that knows exactly what it is while fulfilling a very unique space, which is a relatively rare and special combination. That space — spacey and ethereal trip hop with grounded, chilled out electronic beats to keep things grooving – is exceptional for mood setting, working, or general background tunes and is both generally pleasing and good enough to reach that bar to trigger people to comment and ask, “This is really good – what is this?”
The thing about trip hop is that in the wrong hands it can be, well… too trippy and spaced out to be interesting, and electronic music in the wrong hands can be boring or ear shattering or both.
“Eple” is such a pleasing combination, with a pretty and catchy melody that seals the deal on a really delightful song.
I must say that I’m blown away by this video as well. It’s so great when a music video enhances the musical experience rather than distracting from it – a really hard thing to do and so great when it’s pulled off. The video to me is perfectly Norwegian (Röyksopp’s duo of Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland hail from Norway) and hipster and nostalgic somehow all at once.
“So Easy” is just that while percolating and grooving all at once, and compels you to happily hum whatever the vocal chorus is doing in the background.
And if you really want to take it to the ultra-chill hop level, get on board with “She’s So.” It also has dramatic production that is nearly Pink Floyd-ish, interesting stuff.