EPT
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I'm not going to start this guide with a history of Electronic music because, firstly, I don't know it that well, and secondly, I don't think it is that important to appreciating electronic music. Instead, I'm going to start it with a disclaimer which will hopefully avoid long arguments in which you tell me that I have missed certain important artists, while I pointlessly try to defend my choices.
Electronic music, as a simple genre, doesn't exist. You get various very different genres of music which primarily uses electronic instruments, but these genres are specific and tend to have very distinct fans. People who enjoy house might not enjoy drum and bass, and people who enjoy drum and bass might not enjoy IDM. So, when I say guide to electronic, I tend to include all genres that depend on electronic instrumentation for most of the music.
What this means on a practical level is that there is absolutely no way I can write any sort of a definitive guide, even less so than with the previous guides. Furthermore, even though I use the umbrella term electronic I will not be covering all forms of electronic music because either I have a dislike for some of the more commonly enjoyed genres (trance, for example, although I occasionally enjoy some psytrance), or I have just not had time to experience that genre as much as I would have liked to (DnB, for instance, I haven't started with because I hate getting sets rather than albums). So, in the end, rather than a guide, this will be a short list of electronic albums that I enjoy, and that I think other people might also enjoy.
1. Venetian Snares - Higgins Ultra Low Track Glue Funk Hits 1972-2006 or Rossz Csillag Alat Szuletett
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Track Listing - Higgins Ultra Low Track Glue Funk Hits 1972-2006
- Dance Like You're Selling Nails
Banana Seat Girl
Fuck Off
Make Ronnie Rocket
Vokeheads
Deadman DJ
Cobra Commander
Walmer Side
Dismantling Five Years
We Are Oceans
Track Listing - Rossz Csillag Alat Szuletett
- Sikertelenség
Szerencsétlen
Öngyilkos vasárnap
Felbomlasztott mentőkocsi
Hajnal
Galamb egyedül
Második galamb
Szamár madár
Hiszékeny
Kétsarkú mozgalom
Senki dala
The more observant among you might have noticed that I have listed two albums for my #1 position this week. The reasons for this are threefold: Firstly, I don't want the same artist taking up more than one spot on the list. The purpose of the guide is to introduce new music, not a new artist. Secondly, I love both these albums; and thirdly, I prefer Higgins to Rossz slightly, but it's definitely the album that's more difficult to listen to, and since the purpose of this guide is to introduce you to music instead of simply listing my favourite albums, I would prefer if you listen to both albums instead of just the one.
Venetian Snares has been one of my favourite electronic artists for years now. His music is interesting and unique, and you always here something new. However, what makes Venetian Snares more lasting to me than other breakcore artists such as Shitmat or Doormouse is that, more than just creating interesting tracks, he has the ability to create stunningly beautiful tracks as well. This can be seen most clearly on Higgins which starts with the pinnacle of Venetian Snares' weirdness, Dance like you're selling, and ends with We Are Oceans, which is an absolutely amazing song.
Even then, these tracks aren't simply strange or simply pretty, they always contain both these qualities. Dance like you're selling nails has a stunning build-up in the middle, while the vocal sample in We are Oceans is just too loud to be easy-listening. And the same can be said for all the tracks on the albums. On Rossz, Szamar Madar combines a sample from Elgar's Cello Concerto in E Minor (interestingly, the version by Jacqueline du Pre is my single favourite piece of classical music) with amazing off-beats to create an intriguing, and absolutely beautiful, piece of music.
If you decide to get these albums, give them a chance to grow on you. Chances are you won't like that much on first listen, but they grow on you with each listen.
2. Squarepusher - Feed me weird things
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Track Listing
- Squarepusher Theme
Tundra
The Swifty
Dimotane Co.
Smedley's Melody
Windscale 2
North Circular
Goodnight Jade
Theme from Ernest Borgnine
U.F.O.'s Over Leytonstone
Kodack
Future Gibbon
Squarepusher, and specifically Feed me weird things, is what got me into electronic music in the first place. This album first taught me that electronic music is about more than just repetitive beats, and crappy remixes of crappy ballads. Feed me weird things combines the pretty electronic melodies and high speed beats in odd time-signatures often found in IDM, with all sorts of jazz influences. The stereotypical IDM beat is ofen exchanged for a high-speed jazz grooves, and the mysterious electronic melodies replaced with accoustic guitars.
Another way in which Feed me weird things separates itself from stereotypical IDM is that it is suited to a variety of moods. Squarepusher Theme is an upbeat, clear song that plays with an interesting groove to keep the listener entertained, while Goodnight Jade and UFO's over Leytonstone are slow, slightly minimalist pieces. Added to this, Squarepusher doesn't forget their roots, and Theme From Ernest Borgnine is perhaps one of the best examples of IDM music out there.
All in all, Feed me weird things is a stunning album. It takes a genre of music that should be fascinating but has been sucked dry by repetitive beats and unoriginal melodies, and revitalises it. I challenge anyone to find a more interesting and enjoyable IDM album.
3. Neotropic - 15 levels of Magnification
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Track Listing
- Riz Maslen - Northwest 37th
Laundry Pt. 3
La Centinela
Laundry Pt. 1
15 Levels of Magnification
Weeds
Nana
Nincompoop
Electric Bud
CCTV
Neotropic
Beautiful Pool
Regents Park
It's Your Turn To Wash Up
Aloo Gobi
Frozen Hands
This album was difficult to place for me. The music has no particular style and changes freely from drum and bass to psytrance to pure ambient. There are jazz sounds thrown in, vocal samples, chants, bells... any sound you can think of can be found somewhere on this album. So where should it be placed? I don't listen to Neotropic when I want to relax, and I don't listen to Neotropic when I'm playing an FPS and need some blood-pumping. The only time I listen to 15 Levels of Magnification is when I want to listen to music, but can't decide on what to listen to, and then I always finish the album.
Calling 15 Levels of Magnification a place-holder album, however, would be doing it a great injustice. It is not so much that I listen to it when I'm waiting to find something better to listen to, but more that I can listen to it whenever I want to. I never play a track from this album while looking for music, and then thirty seconds into the song decide that I will rather listen to something else while looking for music. Most of the time I look for about 3 minutes longer for music, and then realise that I'm enjoying what I'm already listening to more than anything I'm likely to click on.
I know this doesn't say much about the music, and that I have barely attempted to describe the album itself, but that is because describing the album would be both unnecessary and impossible. 15 Levels of Magnification contains everything that is good about electronic music without becoming confusing. It's a very solid, very enjoyable album, and it will please fans of all electronic genres.
4. Kim Hiorthoy - Melke
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Track Listing
- Door Opens Both Ways
Doktor Warson-Trikset
Evil House, Evil Day
Ting Som Virker
On Sunday
Det Blev Fel
Ready 4 Love [Fattigmannsremix]
As If
Sane [Kim Is Afraid Mix]
Tak
Going Down [Ostete Jantemix]
Nu Kommer Cathrine Inn, Hon Lutar Sig Mot Dörrposten
Äppelträd
Kim Hiorthoy is a Norwegian electronic artist that makes, what I like to think of as, exciting ambient music. The purpose of the music is clearly to be background music. It doesn't grab your attention, it doesn't force you to listen to it, it just continues on soulfully in the background. Not listening Melke, however, would be a mistake.
Hiorthoy uses a combination of clean electronic sounds, chimes, captured sounds (such as rain), and brass instruments to beautifully capture the mood she wishes to create. However, Kim creates this mood without putting you to sleep with it. The music is beautiful, vibrant, and always interesting, and you'll find yourself looking forward to listening to it. However, as with all good ambient music, you can also let it float past you as you read a book or take a nap.
My only complaint with this album is that one or two tracks (As If for instance) completely break the mood, and it seems to do so for no good reason. If you were taking a nice afternoon nap, As If would not only wake you up, it would wake you up in a bad mood, and you would either have to change the track or be annoyed by it for the next three minutes. Which is unfortunate, as albums like these generally live or die on the quality of the full album.
With that said, I'd still recommend getting Melke. The compositions are great, the mood is great, and barring one or two songs, the album does what it is supposed to do fantastically.
5. Plaid - Double Figure
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Track Listing
- Eyen
Squance
Assault On Precinct Zero
Zamami
Silversum
Ooh Be Do
Light Rain
Tak 1
New Family
Zala
Twin Home
Tak 2
Sincetta
Tak 3
Porn Coconut Co.
Tak 4
Ti Bom
Tak 5
Manyme
I've had so much trouble deciding on a fifth album to list here. I wrote out three other reviews, before deciding that I might like a different album more, and now I'm sticking to Plaid and Double Figure. This album is something of a concept album for Plaid, and one of the more important albums in Plaid's extensive discography. After tons of praise for their initial few albums, and a signing by Warp, Plaid's albums became less and less well-received, up to the point where it was feared that they would disband and continue with their side-projects. It is in this climate that Double Figure was released, an album which is a classic in my opinion.
Of all the Plaid albums, Double Figure is simultaneously the most accessible and most moody album. The opening track Eyen makes this very clear, with a simple melody that is subtlely and slowly changed throughout the track. The melody is easy to listen to, the changes work, and it appears to be an uplifting track, yet at the same time it captures you and confines you to its musical scope. This sounds very abstract and mystical, but listen to the track, and to the full album with headphones on, and you'll understand exactly what I am talking about.
And this is what makes the album a classic for me. The songs are good, and easy to understand, they are songs meant for enjoyment; the album as a whole, however, in contrast to the individual songs on it, sets a very dark mood. That is not to say that the tracks are all simple, or even similar. The tracks seem to jump from style to style, and changes in instrumentation abound. What binds the album together is not the tracks, but the mood of the album. In the end, it's not an album I listen to every day, but when a certain mood strikes me, this is the first album I go to.
Other Albums
Stunt Rock - The Pinnacle of Mediocrity - Another breakcore artist, Stunt Rock absolutely thrives on film samples. If I'm not sincere enough, please let me know and I'll squint more is one of my all time favourite electronic tracks, and it completely shits all over Pachelbel's Canon, which is an added bonus.
Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92 - Perhaps the most consistent Aphex Twin album. There are other tracks I like more, but most Aphex Twin albums are so inconsistent, with amazing tracks and then totally shitty tracks, that I really can't recommend them.
Various - Spezial Material - A compilation album by Spezial Material, I like every single track on this album.
Plone - For Beginner Piano - I'm a sucker for this clean sound in electronic music. Busy Working is an amazing track on this album.
Arovane - Lilies - My favourite Arovane album, a classic... perhaps I should have put it as my fifth spot...
So there you go. For those of you who aren't Electronic fans, give some of the albums a try. As usual, I've tried to vary the styles a bit, so if you don't like the first album, don't give up. With that said, I am fully aware that the list could be ten times more diverse than it is, so feel free to make your own recommendations. My only request is that if you disagree with anything on the list, please do so respectfully. It took me roughly six hours to sort through about 1500 electronic albums, make choices, narrow them down, choose the ones I like, write reviews, and so forth, so yeah...
Let me know what you guys think!
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