There is more than one band with the name Oval :

1) Ever since his groundbreaking early album releases, Markus Popp aka "Oval" continues to be one of *the* prolific / influential forces in contemporary electronic music, a true visionary of digital audio.

Popp's now legendary early album releases sent shockwaves though the electronic music landscape and laid the foundations for an entire new class of digital sound & production aesthetics. With an undeniable instinct for the pleasantly irritating, the drastic and the dreamy, Popp pioneered "glitch" and "clicks & cuts" - and continues to inspire and provoke a new generation of musicians to this day.

The distinctive, organic appeal of Popp's tracks, remixes and albums are often regarded as watershed moments for the entire genre. Many of his songs have been described as timeless, haunting classics, earning him critical acclaim worldwide - as well as the occasional art award here and there: "Ovalprocess", his custom, software-based, interactive installation platform won "Prix Ars Electronica".

Popp has constantly refined his signature style and instantly recognizable aesthetics in several musical collaborations, most notably with the long-running projects MICROSTORIA (duo with Mouse On Mars' Jan St. Werner) and SO (with Japanese songwriter extraordinaire Eriko Toyoda). Popp has also worked for/with: BJÖRK, RYUICHI SAKAMOTO, TORTOISE, MOUSE ON MARS, SQUAREPUSHER, PIZZICATO 5, GASTR DEL SOL etc.

Popp has also worked in the fields of contemporary dance and interactive applications: he integrated an entire secret bonus stage in Tetsuya Mitsuguchi's visionary, abstract video game REZ (SEGA/SONY). Popp has also did original sound track work for several art house movies as well as for advertising (Harmony Korine, Amberley Productions, Masako Tanaka, Armani, Comme Des Garcons, Prada etc).

Over the course of many lectures, workshops and presentations Popp has shared his creative vision - with topics ranging from digital audio workflow to his very own flavor of video game discourse.

With the "Oh" EP and the subsequent double CD "O", both released 2010 on Chicago-based Thrill Jockey Records, Popp opened up an entirely new chapter in his ongoing critical dialog with music. And it's a surprise move: this arresting, 101-track extravaganza is truly a radical departure and yet once again challenging music-as-we-know-it - but this time, things are happening on music's own turf.

Out of nowhere, Popp debuts as a producer of unexpected versatility beyond the electronic music arena. "O" is a wild ride - exploring a wide spectrum from delicate, sophisticated pop vignettes to brutally torn, electro-acoustic riffing full of angular, colliding guitar work accompanied by "free", yet ultra-precise, one-of-a-kind acoustic "live" drumming that evolves over the course of a track.

This new Oval sound is a celebration of a new level of skill & sensibility in contemporary music: handcrafted polyrhythmic phrases, riffs and structures, bristling with tiny resonances & detail - add-ing up to oddly timeless tunes which are effortlessly traversing rhythms, scales and harmonies. But despite the picturesque, accessible "songwriter 2.0" trappings, this is no revisionist, kitschy "love letter to music". "O" - which received a honorary mention by the "Prix Ars Electronica" 2011 - a hi-tech product through and through and enthusiastically dealing with the "now".

2) Oval is a rock band from NJ, USA. They recorded two EPs for Icerink records (run by Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs of Saint Etienne)in 1992/93.


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