Best Ever Albums

Re: Genre Extravaganza: IDM

Graeme2 — Thu, 7 Aug 2014 03:58:00 GMT

Author: Graeme2

Posted: 08/07/2014 07:58

Had quick listen to Harold Grosskopf, really lovely what I heard. I see it's being reissued at the end of the month. I have one of his tracks on one of those Deutsche Elektronische Musik compilations which are great for delving into the German 70s.

Re: Genre Extravaganza: IDM

Revolution909 — Wed, 6 Aug 2014 11:22:28 GMT

Author: Revolution909

Posted: 08/06/2014 15:22

Thanks for this, lots of reading to do! 😁

Re: Genre Extravaganza: IDM

Anonymous — Wed, 6 Aug 2014 06:47:14 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 08/06/2014 10:47

Graeme2 wrote:

but if you are into the history side of dance music you need to hear it. Got to say it's made me chuckle somewhat. All the talk of the first this and the first that and here's some guy from India doing it way before anyone else and nobody knew :lol:

Holy shit! What a dig, Graeme!

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Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat by Charanjit Singh

Came out in 1982. And it's really good too! Makes me think he may have been into Silver Apples and this Skinny find from 1980...

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Synthesist by Harald Grosskopf

edit: From this interesting read in the UK Guardian, it quickly becomes clear that he was NOT influenced by either Silver Apples or Harald Grosskopf. 🤣

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/may/10/charanjit-singh-acid-house-ten-ragas

Re: Genre Extravaganza: IDM

Graeme2 — Wed, 6 Aug 2014 05:48:37 GMT

Author: Graeme2

Posted: 08/06/2014 09:48

Wow, I'm new to this guy here:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charanjit_Singh_(musician)
The album is already on here so some of you will know it but if you are into the history side of dance music you need to hear it. Got to say it's made me chuckle somewhat. All the talk of the first this and the first that and here's some guy from India doing it way before anyone else and nobody knew 🤣

Re: Genre Extravaganza: IDM

albummaster — Tue, 5 Aug 2014 08:20:34 GMT

Author: albummaster

Posted: 08/05/2014 12:20

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Plus 8 Classics, Vol. 1: 1990-1992 by Various Artists

Not seen it mentioned, but this is another awesome IDM compilation with tunes from back in the day.

Re: Genre Extravaganza: IDM

Graeme2 — Tue, 5 Aug 2014 07:58:56 GMT

Author: Graeme2

Posted: 08/05/2014 11:58

Did a write up for a new thread regarding that racism issue but I must not have saved it. Anyways I'll put a few suggestions on here for this thread, though as you know the IDM term is a bit ambiguous.
Some of these I rank in my top 100:

UNDERWORLD Dubnobasswithmyheadman
Second Toughest In The Infants

BOOKA SHADE Movements

THE FIELD Yesterday and Today

MODERAT Moderat

GLOBAL COMMUNICATION 76 14

NATHAN FAKE Drowning in a Sea of Love

Compilations:

Terry Farley Presents ACID RAIN (Acid/Deep House)
Mastercuts: Classic Electro (Compiled by Greg Wilson)
FUSE 15 Years (Classic Techno)
20 Jahre Kompakt (The best tracks from great German Techno label, a 20 years best of)

Re: Genre Extravaganza: IDM

Anonymous — Mon, 4 Aug 2014 05:09:59 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 08/04/2014 09:09

Graeme2 wrote:

Just listened to the radio doc, really good. Definitely worth a listen. The quote from theo Parrish is just ridiculous though. Plain racist in my opinion. His full article has some good points and other stupid ones http://www.moodmat.com/?p=977 but saying that white people may just be at a party they were not invited to and have no business being at is pretty shocking. Yes most music originates from black and whites have have since maybe claimed it as their own without paying dues etc, but this guy makes electronic music which originates virtually completely by music made by non black. I'm talking about electronic origins not house, techno etc. I'm quite shocked by it. Not helpful and just plain ignorant.

Glad you mostly dug the radio doc. I think the discussion of race, sexuality and music is an important one, and I encourage you to start a new thread on that if you like. This thread is going to serve as an archive for IDM (and now house) recs. Contextual history is important, which is why I wanted yours and satie's discussion yesterday included, but any further discussion on race, sexuality and music should be held in a different thread.

Thanks!

Re: Genre Extravaganza: IDM

Graeme2 — Mon, 4 Aug 2014 04:56:38 GMT

Author: Graeme2

Posted: 08/04/2014 08:56

Just listened to the radio doc, really good. Definitely worth a listen. The quote from theo Parrish is just ridiculous though. Plain racist in my opinion. His full article has some good points and other stupid ones http://www.moodmat.com/?p=977 but saying that white people may just be at a party they were not invited to and have no business being at is pretty shocking. Yes most music originates from black and whites have have since maybe claimed it as their own without paying dues etc, but this guy makes electronic music which originates virtually completely by music made by non black. I'm talking about electronic origins not house, techno etc. I'm quite shocked by it. Not helpful and just plain ignorant.

Re: Genre Extravaganza: IDM

Anonymous — Sun, 3 Aug 2014 10:29:43 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 08/03/2014 14:29

Graeme2 wrote:

Wow, some work been done here, fantastic. I'm going to have a lot of stuff to check out. The stuff I have that I would list here has already been mentioned. Due to the nature of the music and the fact that most of it is probably not album based but rooted in 12"s for djs I might add some classic mix album suggestions. Also I'm quite a fan of them. Ok to list them here? I'll need a think though.

Sure, Graeme! Thanks, satie!!!

Here's a great radio documentary about what satie & Graeme were discussing...
Midwest Electric: Chicago House & Detroit Techno

Also, just going to throw in the vids that NoWax posted because they're both awesome...

Link

Link

Re: Genre Extravaganza: IDM

Graeme2 — Sun, 3 Aug 2014 09:18:31 GMT

Author: Graeme2

Posted: 08/03/2014 13:18

Wow, some work been done here, fantastic. I'm going to have a lot of stuff to check out. The stuff I have that I would list here has already been mentioned. Due to the nature of the music and the fact that most of it is probably not album based but rooted in 12"s for djs I might add some classic mix album suggestions. Also I'm quite a fan of them. Ok to list them here? I'll need a think though.

Re: Genre Extravaganza: IDM

Anonymous — Sun, 3 Aug 2014 06:01:04 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 08/03/2014 10:01

META NOTE: Again at RepoMan's suggestion (see above post), I've assembled a small list of absolutely essential house and proto-house disco albums. Keep in mind that this was largely a singles-based genre, so the albums here are almost entirely compilations. At the bottom, I've included a variety of singles, mainly based on personal taste over "empirical" value (as the compilations serve as a good "essentials" mix, in my view), made up of a range of house subgenres including deep house, Italo-disco, acid house, and others. But first, some suggestions from other users:

joyofdivision wrote:

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Virgo by Virgo

And

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Alcachofa by Ricardo Villalobos

noWaxJim wrote:

Super Discount by Étienne De Crécy

And my suggestions:

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Jungle Music - Mixed With Love: Essential & Unreleased Remixes 1976-1986 by Walter Gibbons

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Journey Into Paradise: The Larry Levan Story by Larry Levan

Frankie Knuckles Presents: His Greatest Hits From Trax Records by Frankie Knuckles

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Faces & Phases by Kevin Saunderson

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Frictionalism 1994-2009 by Anthony Shake Shakir

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Home Town Chicago LP by Boo Williams

Singles Not on Any of These Compilations
Candido - Thousand Finger Man
Cola Boy - 7 Ways to Love
Fast Eddie - Git On Up
Houz' Neegroz - All Night Long
Lil' Louis - Club Lonely
Lisa - Rocket to Your Heart
Ce Ce Rogers - Someday
Joe Smooth - Promised Land

Re: Genre Extravaganza: IDM

Anonymous — Sun, 3 Aug 2014 05:41:19 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 08/03/2014 09:41

META NOTE: At RepoMan's suggestion, I am archiving for the benefit of the future House thread an exchange between Graeme2 and me in this thread. The exchange is presented here in its original format, but if you have any feedback for me on streamlining this (or you're the future House thread creator and you were directed here by someone and want some help weaving in the CliffsNotes of the exchange) PLEASE PM me, so as not to interrupt the flow of this thread more than is necessary.

satiemaniac wrote:

That list is a shitshow that summarizes the wholesale erasure of the actual forefathers of house music because the majority of them were LGBTQ and/or people of color (in American scenes, mainly black). It disgusts me that when these people made disco, (white) Americans BURNED the music, but when a couple white French guys try their hand it gets a Grammy. It pisses me off that house music was relegated to underground clubs for weirdos until white people figured out how to make it into a cost-prohibitive industry of excess to market to frat boys.

As an aside, noWaxJim between this comment and the crux of the discussion provided some great input about specific categorization:

noWaxJim wrote:

The problem here is how people are interpreting what constitutes 'house music'.

Satiemaniac is absolutely right in so far as the 'original' Chicago house music of Knuckles, Levan et al go. For an 80s child like me there was always something wildly sexy about tracks like French Kiss - most of the modern stuff that has been mentioned are pale, euro-pop comparisons which bar the beat strip everything away from what was so exciting about the genre in the first place.

You've also go to be careful how you catagorise Daft Punk - personally Homework is the album that fits most neatly into the house genre (check out the track Teachers, where Lil Louis and a number of other house innovators are mentioned, along with the likes of Joey Beltram (Techno), George Clinton (Funk) and so on). The closest to house DP get would be Bangalter's solo stuff on Roule Records - Trax On Da Rocks, Club Soda, etc.

Back to our scheduled programming, Grame2 replied to my original post with the following, and the exchange continues from there.

Graeme2 wrote:

What's colour got to do with it? Anyways the origins of house were as much white as black. The 70s influential electronic music was nearly all made by whites, the influential new york djs who pioneered the sound by mixing post punk, disco, Italo etc were mostly non white. Anyways although the actual makers of the first actual house music were black american, they were virtually ignored and unheard of in their own country, but became stars in the uk that really embraced the whole house thing. Since the massive uk house boom of the late 80s, house and dance music has been mainstream. Not in America though, seems they only heard about it when daft punk made their 2nd album. I don't think race has anything to do with the reason the US didn't take to house for many years, maybe just stupid. All the cool people in NY etc were down with it anyways, the masses just wanted hair metal.

satiemaniac wrote:

Well, seeing as the evolution we're seeing is distinctly European electronic influences coming back with a vengeance in the US, I don't think it's outlandish to cite the LGBTQ-dominated Hi-NRG scenes in Germany as well as the US black American house influences that, as you so rightly point out, made a bigger splash in Europe, as major contributors to the evolution of the sound that now is so popular. "The 70s influential electronic music" bit bugs me a lot. Yes, progressive electronic music was a major stepping stone for electronic music as a whole. Many a DJ, black, white, or other, cites Kraftwerk as a perennial influence. But to completely off-handedly ignore disco as a MAJOR MAJOR phenomenon, in the US and abroad, and again as a MAJOR rallying point for communities of color and of LGBTQ individuals is ludicrous. Bringing it back to the music, I challenge you to find a single house DJ with major influence through the '80s and '90s who was not influenced, directly or indirectly, by the likes of Walter Gibbons and Larry Levan. Were they the only disco artists making splashes? No. Were only black Americans making important disco music? The entire Dinosaur L project says no (and others probably do, too - here I default to ignorance in that the only disco I can think of off the top of my head made by a white producer was a project that in its time had much more regional than worldwide influence), but they were making the majority, and looking at the court of public opinion was my main point. In the '70s, disco was viewed as trash in the US, and sure that had a lot to do with hokey white folks making it into a mockery with silly movies and sillier dances, but it had a lot more to do, in my opinion and many others', with racial tension. Yeah, hair metal was a major cultural landmark, but do you really think that had nothing to do with race? I surely don't see that tension as the ONLY contributing factor, but I don't find it outrageous to point out the masses' hypocrisy in, even today, dismissing disco music yet LOVING Random Access Memories (or at least the critical establishment of Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, etc.).

Ultimately, my problem is this: I don't even seek to right the wrongs of history and tell white Americans from the '70s to undo the disco burning. Fuck it. What I do seek, however, is for these punk-ass little DJs who make, let's face it, vapid music for drug-obsessed hedonists viewing themselves as modern hippies (God help us) to stop erasing the cultural scenes forged by LGBTQ and black American communities as the historical forebearers of the music that has made them so fucking rich and important. I want people's "vintage house" to stop being Daft God Damn Punk. Just as rock music was hardly started in the '50s by Elvis Presley, house music was NOT started by two French people with funny hats. I am passionate about it because it is an active historically revisionist campaign that mirrors very closely the erasure of blues musicians from the historical record of rock music. Rock music even today is just starting to actually acknowledge the influence of the blues (instead of shorthand lazy "There's blues influence but fuck me if I've listened to the shit. By the way, have you heard of these massively original Led Zeppelin guys?") and I wish that in a world with immediate access to this information that people were at least respectful enough to give credit where it is due. Shit, house music has always been about paying props to your influences and playing around with it. Increasingly, it is becoming a genre of massive cults of personalities erected around "singular geniuses" like Flume or Disclosure or whatever. To put this into yet another comparable situation, imagine if hip hop history were traced to Kraftwerk without acknowledgment of the influence of jazz musicians. People with brains and consciences would be fucking livid. Anyway, thank you for your contribution to the thread. You do bring up incredibly good points and I'm not looking to pick a fight with the vitriolic language I've used (as I intend it as more an outward energy of frustration than a focused attack). You clearly have good knowledge of the history of house music. Don't you want others to see what's behind the Daft Punk curtain, as well?

Graeme2 wrote:

Think we probably agree. Great post. And race probably has a factor in it for the mainstream 80s media. Just look at hip hop, it really took beastie boys and run dmc with aerosmith to break it to the MTV mainstream. I did mention disco. The dj widely credited as the first real house dj was frankie knuckles who played loads of disco but also Italo, post punk and rock even. I've read loads about the formations of it, a fascinating subject like the formations of hip hop. But the formations of house (not even including the British who actually broke the sound out) was as much a white thing as black. I think that's one reason it was loved initially it was seen as bringing people together, white, black, gay whatever. There's a lot on myths about the start of house and the biggest according to seminal dj Greg wilson (check his blog), is the myth that djs oakenfold, Rampling, holloway brought house to the uk after a holiday in Ibiza. This is quoted again and again by people but Wilson states tht house music nights in Manchester were going way before that and they were actually all black affairs but this has been written out of history. not daft punks fault though as they are always more than happy to say who has influenced then, as mentioned by someone they did a song called teachers and name checked them. By the way, I don't really like house music after the 80s.

satiemaniac wrote:

I'll just clean up a few points since we're in agreement and leave this for others to read. First of all, thanks for the tip on Greg Wilson. Second, fair re: Frankie Knuckles. I listen to him a ton and those influences are there; I just always regard him as house with those influences so you weren't making the disco mention explicit enough for a dumb person like me. 😜 Third, yeah, Daft Punk is more a placeholder for the music media's reaction to them/elevation of them. They seem like charming enough folks, and you're absolutely spot on in that they call a lot of attention to their influences. I think their music is pretty shit, but they're not the problem, as you said, personally. And yeah, I was hardly trying to make house a "black thing" vs. a "white thing," just meant to emphasize that the myriad "black things" about it are being flattened and obscured if not completely excised by music journalists today. Thanks for the fun talk and the blog-reading Homework (pun intended, but you knew that). ;)

Graeme2 wrote:

Good stuff. It's a shame if people can't open their eyes like the journalists you mention. I've just ordered bill brewsters book 'last night a DJ saved my life' which is about all this. I've meant to get it for years but this has given me the inspiration to get it. To go with the other hundred I need to read ha.

Re: Genre Extravaganza: IDM

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 19:41:01 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 07/21/2014 23:41

Some musicians that will cross over from IDM to my post-rock post include Seefeel, Bowery Electric, Mouse on Mars, To Rococo Rot, and mum. Recs for Seefeel and mum have been made, but I'd add Succour and Finally We Are No One. Beat and Bowery Electric for Bowery Electric; Ioara Tahiti, Instrumentals, Autoditacker, and Vulvaland for Mouse on Mars; and TRRD (w/ D), Veiculo, and The Amateur View for To Rococo Rot.

Re: Genre Extravaganza: IDM

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 19:26:12 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 07/21/2014 23:26

Kickass work, DBZ!!! And awesome contribution, Satiemaniac! I worship Pole. This is totally a perfect time to drop some Detroit Techno and/or Dub Techo recs. Even if we do eventually get to Techno, it's totally cool for certain pivotal artists such as Jeff Mills to be mentioned in multiple genre threads. Essentially, don't hesitate to mention some of your favorite albums just because your not sure if they fit. At the very least, any controversial recommendations will encourage discussion.

As far as what the best name for IDM should have been, I personally think Richie Hawtin coined it best w/ Plastik.

Here are a few of my favorites that, if you squint just right, can fall under the IDM umbrella.

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Quique by Seefeel

Despite what sp4cetiger says, there are indeed ways around the Laws of Thermodynamics. Just ask Seefeel who developed their own perpetual motion machine with Quique. Which makes it the album to beat for post-midnight, no one else on the highway, road tripping music when you need to sleep NOW but just cannot afford nor justify a motel. (The campground's just a few more hours away, he says…) For when you need something to both keep you energized AND soothe your overtaxed, sleep deprived nervous system. Or for when your down to your last adderall. This propulsive lovechild of Loveless and Ambient Works Vol. 1 just can’t be stopped.

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Microgravity by Biosphere

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In Pine Effect by µ-Ziq

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Musik by Plastikman

and I know it's already been mentioned, but it's just that good...

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1 2 3 by Pole

Re: Genre Extravaganza: IDM

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 19:11:27 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 07/21/2014 23:11

Excellent post, sir. Very accurate and a lot for me to check out. Thank you for sharing. 😄

And I liked the mail you posted at the end.

Re: Genre Extravaganza: IDM

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 19:11:25 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 07/21/2014 23:11

satiemaniac wrote:

stuff

'

Cool, thanks. That BCD comp. is actually in my chart and I've been halfheartedly trying to find stuff similar to it.

Re: Genre Extravaganza: IDM

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 18:39:45 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 07/21/2014 22:39

Kool Keith Sweat wrote:

Anybody got any Detroit techno and/or dub techno recs they can add to this (or is this even the appropriate thread)?

as mentioned in the OP, IDM is basically a dumping ground for stuff that is geared more towards home listening and doesn't easily fit into other, existing archetypes and schematics of classification. personally, i feel like the term is rather useless, given that most of the things under the IDM umbrella besides the super hype Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, etc. have been given genre tags such as Detroit Techno or Dub Techno, as you mention. anyway, i'll just assume BEA isn't going to have a whole thread for either of those genres and mention some of my favorites.

for Detroit, there's Jeff Mills's entire output, most notably probably this one:

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Live At The Liquid Room - Tokyo by Jeff Mills

also Derrick May:

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Innovator by Derrick May

my favorite personally is probably:

Andre Holland - City of Fear (which apparently clocks in at 22 minutes, so I might add this to the database soon 😈 )

for dub techno, I'm one of those people who mainly listens to the previously mentioned Chain Reaction label, but if you want specific works that I find incredible, there's

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BCD by Basic Channel
and BCD-2. these are THE early '90s techno works, bar none. at this point, I should bring up that I consider BC themselves to be more "Minimal Techno," but that's home listening electronic music that is complicated, generally just has labelmates under its same genre, and they use tons of dub elements, so many label them dub techno. clearly, electronic music writ large could use some musicological analysis and genre parsing/re-arranging, but for now...

another watershed moment:

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Fluxion - Vibrant Forms

my personal favorite:

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1 2 3 by Pole

and a contemporary classic-in-the-making:

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Lucy & Silent Servant - History Survivors

Re: Genre Extravaganza: IDM

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 18:18:38 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 07/21/2014 22:18

dividesbyzero wrote:

Mille Plateaux

This record label is a personal favorite of mine, and I highly suggest sampling their catalogue.

Anybody got any Detroit techno and/or dub techno recs they can add to this (or is this even the appropriate thread)?

Thanks for the post, dbz

Re: Genre Extravaganza: IDM

Antonio-Pedro — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 17:36:15 GMT

Author: Antonio-Pedro

Posted: 07/21/2014 21:36

A
M
A
Z
I
N
G
W
O
R
K

Will take a look in it even not being a fan it does not hurt.....does it?

Re: Genre Extravaganza: IDM

meruizh — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 17:24:00 GMT

Author: meruizh

Posted: 07/21/2014 21:24

This is brilliant dude! Great work