{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Infobox album | name = 94 Diskont | type = Album | artist = Oval | cover = Diskontcover.jpg | alt = | released = 1995 | recorded = | venue = | studio = | genre = {{hlist|Glitch<ref name="richardson2"/>|ambient<ref name="sherburne"/>}} | length = 52:09 | label = Mille Plateaux, Thrill Jockey | producer = | prev_title = Systemisch | prev_year = 1994 | next_title = Dok | next_year = 1998 | misc = {{Extra album cover | type = studio | cover = 94Diskont-streaming.jpg | caption = The cover of ''94 Diskont'' used for the 1996 release and thereafter. }} }}
'''''94 Diskont''''' (stylised as '''''94diskont.''''') is the fourth album by German electronic music group Oval. It was released in 1995 via Mille Plateaux in Europe and in 1996 by Thrill Jockey in the United States. It was the final Oval release to feature Sebastian Oschatz and Frank Metzger. It has received critical acclaim.
==Background== Oval received both praise and controversy for its styling methods, such as literally deconstructing music and digital audio by using exacto knives, paint, and tape to damage the surfaces of compact discs, only to stitch the sound back together in loops of melody punctuated by the disc's physical skips.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/seconds/oval-do-while.htm|title=Oval: Do While|date=4 January 2006|access-date=23 November 2006|last=Macdonald|first=Cameron|work=Stylus Magazine|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061230195315/http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/seconds/oval-do-while.htm|archive-date=30 December 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref> On its initial release, ''Select'' noted in their review that Oval "sound unlike any other combo" on ''94 Diskont''.<ref name="select-95" /> The review went on to note that group have been described in desperation as techno and critiqued this reference stating "try dancing to the sort of erratic pulsing and hiccuping that comes over like the read-out from a dying alien's electrocardiograph".<ref name="select-95" />
''94 Diskont'' was released as a companion piece to Oval's previous album, ''Systemisch''. The album's centerpiece is "Do While," a 24-minute track originally composed for the group's 8-channel, 128-speaker modular sound installation named Wohnton (translates into home tone) in a stereo mixdown. The installation was shown throughout Europe between 1994 and 1996 on various occasions, ranging from art exhibitions to techno raves.<ref name="ThrillJockey" /> A radio edit of the song, "Do While ⌘X", is also included on the album. The US pressing by Thrill Jockey adds two additional songs and, on vinyl, moves "Do While ⌘X" up in the running order to appear directly after "Do While", instead of closing the album.
Both US and international vinyl versions of the album came with a remix LP that contains remixes by Mouse on Mars, Scanner, Cristian Vogel, and Jim O'Rourke.<ref name="ThrillJockey">{{cite web|url=http://www.thrilljockey.com/catalog/?id=100031|title=Thrill Jockey Records: Oval: ''94 Diskont''|access-date=18 February 2011|last=Macdonald|first=Cameron|publisher=Thrill Jockey|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101217040258/http://www.thrilljockey.com/catalog/?id=100031|archive-date=17 December 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Composition== ''94 Diskont'' is considered to be an album in the glitch and ambient music genres, composed from brief loops that overlap. On ''Pitchfork'', Philip Sherburne regards that ''94 Diskont'' was when Oval found their potential in their methods. Sherburne further notes that its sound of "bit-crushed chirps and desiccated hiccups" would be used to define glitch music. Alike the works of Erik Satie and Brian Eno, the album "both fades into the background and charges the very air around you".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pitchfork |date=2016-09-26 |title=The 50 Best Ambient Albums of All Time |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/9948-the-50-best-ambient-albums-of-all-time/ |access-date=2025-06-08 |website=Pitchfork |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Reception== {{Music ratings | rev1 = AllMusic | rev1Score = {{rating|5|5}}<ref name="tausig">{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/94-diskont-mw0000080753|title=''94 Diskont'' – Oval|publisher=AllMusic|access-date=29 June 2011|last=Tausig|first=Ben}}</ref> | rev2 = ''Select'' | rev2Score = 4/5<ref name="select-95">{{cite magazine|title=Oval: ''94 Diskont''|magazine=Select|issue=59|date=May 1995|page=99|last=Morrison|first=Dave}}</ref> }}
Dave Morrison of ''Select'' gave the album a four out of five rating, first mentioning the group's unorthodox method of obtaining the sounds on the album, then noting that "this out-on-a-limb approach wouldn't mean a thing if the results weren't so brilliant."<ref name="select-95" /> ''The Wire'' placed the album at number five on its 1995 of top albums of the year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/363/|title=Top 50 records of 1995|access-date=18 February 2011|work=The Wire}}</ref>
Ben Tausig of AllMusic awarded the album five stars and stated, "''94 Diskont'' is undoubtedly a standout in the field of electronically advanced, glitch-heavy music."<ref name="tausig"/> In their 1998 list of "100 Records That Set the World on Fire (While No One Was Listening)", ''The Wire'' wrote of the album: "From nothing but digital detritus, Oval construct a resonant holism of pure crystalline beauty. The balance of this disc is given over to brief excursions into textural exposition, pushing back the boundaries of sound as music."<ref>{{cite magazine |title=100 Records That Set the World on Fire (While No One Was Listening) |magazine=The Wire |issue=175 |date=September 1998}}</ref>
In a 2003 feature, the webzine ''Pitchfork'' placed ''94 Diskont'' at number 47 on its list of the top 100 albums of the 1990s. Mark Richardson of ''Pitchfork'' declared, "Sounds appear as multi-layer holograms, with both sources and ghosted copies simultaneously vying for attention, a piece of sonic trickery used to create some of the most serene and aquatic music of the '90s."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/5923-top-100-albums-of-the-1990s/?page=6|title=Top 100 Albums of the 1990s|page=6|date=17 November 2003|access-date=18 February 2011|last=Richardson|first=Mark|work=Pitchfork}}</ref> Richardson would later state in a 2016 piece that ''94 Diskont'' "was the first sound of a new future".<ref name="richardson2">{{cite web|url=http://pitchfork.com/features/resonant-frequency/9730-a-glitch-in-time-how-ovals-1995-ambient-masterpiece-predicted-our-digital-present/|title=A Glitch in Time: How Oval’s 1995 Ambient Masterpiece Predicted Our Digital Present|date=5 October 2015|access-date=26 September 2016|last=Richardson|first=Mark|work=Pitchfork<!--DASHBot-->}}</ref> In 2016, ''Pitchfork'' named ''94 Diskont'' the seventh best ambient album of all time.<ref name="sherburne">{{cite web|url=http://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/9948-the-50-best-ambient-albums-of-all-time/?page=5|title=The 50 Best Ambient Albums of All Time|page=5|date=26 September 2016|access-date=26 September 2016|last=Sherburne|first=Philip|author-link=Philip Sherburne|work=Pitchfork<!--DASHBot-->}}</ref>
==Track listing== {{Track listing | headline = Original Mille Plateaux pressing | title1 = Do While | length1 = 24:04 | title2 = Store Check | length2 = 4:01 | title3 = Line Extension | length3 = 3:05 | title4= Cross Selling | length4 = 6:09 | title5 = Do While ⌘X | length5 = 4:50 }}
{{Track listing | headline = Thrill Jockey pressing (US) | title1 = Do While | length1 = 24:04 | title2 = Store Check | length2 = 3:58 | title3 = Line Extension | length3 = 3:02 | title4 = Cross Selling | length4 = 6:06 | title5 = Commerce Server | length5 = 4:56 | title6 = Shop in Store | length6 = 4:00 | title7 = Do While ⌘X | length7 = 4:50 }}
{{Track listing | headline = Bonus 12" | title1 = Do While (Jim O'Rourke) | length1 = 5:36 | title2 = Do While (Scanner) | length2 = 6:53 | title3 = Do While (Mouse on Mars) | length3 = 8:55 | title4 = Do While (Christian Vogel) | length4 = 6:27 }}
==Notes and references== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{Discogs master|14200}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20101217040258/http://www.thrilljockey.com/catalog/?id=100031 ''94 Diskont''] at Thrill Jockey
{{Oval (musical project)}} {{Authority control}}
Category:1995 albums Category:Oval (musical project) albums Category:Thrill Jockey albums Category:Mille Plateaux (record label) albums