"Intelligent Dance Music". A pretentious and poorly conceived name first used to describe the sounds coming from a number of electronic artists during the early 90s who's work didn't really fit squarely into the already preexisting parameters of ambient techno, minimal techno, and various other forms of (more or less experimental) electronic music that, while frequently able to describe aspects of the music being produced by these "IDM" artists, always seemed to fall short when really attempting to encompass the sonic-boundary-pushing noises coming from the likes of Warp Records artists B12, Plaid, Speedy J, Aphex Twin (among many others). Although what is and isn't considered "IDM" has become increasingly ambiguous and arguably arbitrary, its origins lie simply in Warp Records looking to market their special brand of electronic music designed "for long journeys, quiet nights and club drowsy dawns" rather than straight-up dancing. Of course Warp was hardly the only record label of the early 90s producing forward thinking electronic music not explicitly made for dancing (see: Rather Interesting, Chain Reaction, R&S Records, Mille Plateaux, Aphex Twin's Rephlex Records, µ-Ziq's Planet Mu), but, at least for the majority of the early-mid 90s, Warp Records and the IDM tag were to go hand-in-hand
THE TERMINOLOGY
It's no secret that "IDM", whether being used as a genre tag, umbrella term, or just a catch-all term used to describe electronic music that just doesn't seem to fit anywhere else, as a term, is subject to mass controversy, a great deal of which derives from those very musicians whose work gets labeled as IDM. Aphex Twin, μ-Ziq, Kid606, and any number of other big name musicians have all spoken out against the usage of the term. Alternatives (most notably "Electronic Listening Music", a title with which Warp was labeling the musicians on its roster circa 1992, and later, Aphex Twin's "Braindance"). Despite the controversy over and significant animosity towards the term itself, and, especially recently, the increased ambiguity as to what actually falls within the IDM designation, the label appears to be here to stay.
Now so as not to focus too much on the semantics, onto the music.
BEFORE IDM
Sonically, from artist to artist, IDM is all over the place. The stylistic origins of IDM cannot be directly traced seeing as the music of artists classified as IDM hardly consist of one traceable style. Any one individual artist classified as IDM can exhibit innumerable influences ranging from the ambitious Acid and Deep House of Mr. Fingers and 808 State to 70s electronic music a la Eno, Art of Noise, Göttsching, etc., to experimental and minimalist compositions going as far back as the earlier work of Cage and Reich.
Luckily, we have this as a cheat-sheet
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Warp 10+1 Influences by Various Artists
The first album in the Warp 10 series of albums, Warp 10+1 features a variety of mainly acid house and techno tracks, many of which are considered classics in their respective genres and all of which have in some way influenced at least one prominent artist on the Warp roster, and by extension, have influenced the development of the sounds that would later come to be classified as IDM.
EARLY EXAMPLES
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE:
No discussion concerned with IDM can omit, or even begin without at least mentioning, Warp Records' Artificial Intelligence series of albums. First dubbed as the almost-as-bad-as-"IDM" title "electronic listening music", these series of albums released from 1992–1994, first showcased the sonic-boundary-pushing sounds of early Warp artists Richie Hawtin, Autechre, Plaid, and the many aliases of Richard D. James (among others) in a collection of 8 albums who's main purpose was to act as electronic music designed for the living room with headphones rather than for the dancefloor, which is in essence is what initially defined "IDM" as having any concrete meaning.
Incunabula by Autechre (which also happens to be the debut album by Autechre, marking the beginning of a wonderful, long, and intensely adventurous career)
Post-Artificial Intelligence, the IDM tag stayed, being used to describe more and more music coming from far more than just Warp Records, even as it became increasingly less clear what "Intelligent Dance Music" actually implied...
ESSENTIALS AND PERSONAL FAVORITES
This is by no means a conclusive list, (given the ambiguous nature of the term I doubt there could ever be a truly "conclusive" list of IDM albums), and many of these albums may differ greatly from each-other sonically (such is often the case with IDM, especially mid 90s-onward), but they all share at least one commonality, and that is that I enjoy them enough to have written something about them and to be recommending them to you here. (starting with 10, but this list will likely be augmented in future posts)
Let's start with the obvious:
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Selected Ambient Works 85-92 by Aphex Twin
We've all become so familiar with the haunting beauty of these defining compositions of RDJ that we often overlook the deceptive simplicity of the whole affair. A few synth lines, and some meticulously arranged percussion. That's it. These ambient works are sparse of course, but this hardly makes them lacking in any form. The creativity with which these minimal components are arranged arrives at a sonic conclusion indebted to early forms of dance music just as much as is to the atmosphere of Eno, but not nearly as much as it is to Aphex Twin's own humble ingenuity. Even among an already very active IDM "scene" (if it could really be considered a scene), the recordings found on this landmark collection hardly sound like anything created before or since, even by RDJ himself.
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Music Has The Right To Children by Boards Of Canada
I will attempt to summarize what it is I love about Music Has the Right to Children by elaborating on why I chose this over the almost equally amazing "Geogaddi". Geogaddi and "Music" vary in several very significant respects. Arguably the most significant difference between BoC's two masterpieces is that of emotional versatility; both albums express deeply human emotion, and explore the emotions that they do express with more or less the same degree of depth, but Geogaddi's range of emotional expression is comparatively limited, focusing only entirely on exploring the implications of paranoia and fear on a very deep level. MHtRtC has its moments of fearful paranoia, but it contrasts those with a range of emotional expression that includes everything from the hypnotic melancholy of "An Eagle in your Mind", to the chilled out and cerebral "Aquarius", to the childhood innocence-soaked sparklings of "Open the Light". This album is a journey, a journey across the ocean of human feeling, and the complexity of the arrangements which are responsible for this degree of emotional expression (a complexity which gives the music a degree of intellectual stimulation to mirror the emotional expression) does nothing to conceal this album's deeply human nature.
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Confield by Autechre
Autechre have gone through a few distinct changes over the course of their career, or really just one, very gradual change. From their early Incunabula days as melodic technicians, Autechre have crafted some of the most intelligent and intensely mathematical electronic on the IDM scene, but the shape that their music takes has, with each new album, been slowly moving away from the comparatively logical constructs of Tri Repetae and Incunabula into even more dense and kaleidoscopic territory; Confield is where they hit the apex of this progression. Far more than a means for showing off the musicians' programming prowess and showcasing their knack for studio trickery, Confield manages to engender a unique kind of mental stimulation that, while being the product of something very technical, is hardly devoid of emotional content, nor is it the inaccessibly cold ball of cacophonous intricacies that it is so often accused of being. Quite to the contrary, Confield is in a way more accessible than any of Autechre's more straightforward early albums; if anything Confield exhibits more unrestrained freedom than any of its predecessors. This, while initially jarring, results in their most uniquely "human" album to date, despite it's many complexities and its somewhat erratic composition. The album's seemingly aleatoric rhythmic constructs are really no more random than, say, jazz improvisation. Initially I considered my favorite Autechre work to be Draft 7.30, which, for all of its rhythmic fuckery, was really little more than a (albeit brilliantly executed) return to a more Tri Repetae-esque means of production, perhaps a bit of an overcompensation for the unbridled risk-taking that occurred on the above masterpiece
Yesterday Was Dramatic - Today Is OK by múm
For something so complex and exhibiting so many rhythmic oddities, Yesterday Was Dramatic - Today is OK feels strangely inviting. The glitched out electronics found throughout the album mange to challenge your brain while still feeling innately human, and exhibiting a very human warmth that slowly builds throughout the course of the songs before erupting at a an emotionally warm yet forceful climax. Mum exhibit musical traits similar to Autechre, but where Autechre are cold and chaotic in their mathematical arrangements, holding your attention by the sheer merit of how interesting the music is, múm are simply inviting you to come inside and sit by the fire in their very surreal and dream-like world. This album is a trip to that world, and after it's over you'll only want to go back
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Warp 10+2: Classics 89-92 by Various Artists
Please excuse my while I continue to fanboy over Warp some more. Warp 10+2 (the second compilation in the Warp 10 series) sonically picks up a little after where volume 1 left off. in Warp 10+1 we got to hear the early acid and techo that inspired the sounds that appear here on volume 2 (all of which were produced 1989-1992). It's a collection of songs and remixes taken from Warp's vault (many of which previously only appeared on vinyl and/or out-of-print medium). LFO are a massive statement on this compilation, exhibiting some of their most powerfully evocative early tracks, but they are pushed to the sidelines (at least in comparison to their apparent omnipresence in Warp 10+1) to make way for, of all people, Nightmares on Wax. Yeah that trip-hop guy. Turns our his sonic origins lie elsewhere, and even though we hear little, it any, of these strange and wonderful sounds of "Dextrous" and "A Case of Funk" in his comparatively recent work, his influence on the early development of IDM within Warp is made astoundingly clear in this 2-disc compilation, as is that of practically every other artist to appear (namely, once again, LFO, who by the way do a collab with F.U.S.E on the final track of the second disc that is the greatest fucking thing ever. Seriously.)
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Tango N Vectif by µ-Ziq
The perfect representation of all of the components that comprised the mid 90s UK IDM and acid explosion. Heavy distorted beats fused with waves of thoughtful ambience and Mike Paradinas' quirky and crisp melodies, u-Ziq's debut acts as a milestone release in the world of convention-defying electronica, as well as one of the most thoroughly enjoyable albums of the 90s, IDM (or whatever the hell you want to call this) or otherwise
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Environments II by The Future Sound Of London
Sonically, it lies far closer to Aphex Twin's earliest compositions than it does to anything we've known to define TFSOL. There are elements of the ambient dub, house, and techno that pervaded the landmark release Lifeforms, but Environments II, both in contrast to it's predecessor and the aforementioned Lifeforms, is distinctly ambient in it's composition, though given the lo-fi selections that warrant the Selected Ambient Works 85-92 comparisons, as well as the unique layering of strings and a multitude of synthesizers, Environments II falls into a sonic territory actually less abstract than the vast majority of FSOL's prior work, but significantly harder to categorize, and so it falls, loosely, and very arguably, within the IDM designation. Not nearly as energetic as Lifeforms, Environments II acts almost as a chilled over counterpart to FSOL's universally hailed masterpiece; the energy found on Lifeforms presents itself here melding with the mechanical, drifting across a solemn yet beautiful landscape that acts as a residual wave, an echo left by the power of Lifeforms, (which by the way you should all check out because holy shit)
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The Braindance Coincidence by Various Artists
Aphex Twin invented "Braindance" because he, like many others producing this wonderful inventive electronic fuckery, despised the IDM tag. Nonetheless, (and RDJ would likely smack me for saying this), "Braindance" is essentially interchangeable with IDM. Now I'm gonna take a brake from my Warp Records fanboying and start swooning over Rephlex. Founded in 1991 by Aphex, and home to some of the craziest fuckers to ever touch a MIDI, and also the best (these are the same people by the way. Crazy is good at Rephex. Trust me.) Taking both previously released and rare and/or out of print tracks from Rephlex's intense history (featuring the likes of µ-Ziq, Cylob, Bogdan Raczynski, Luke Vibert, just to name a few), every single track on The Braindance Coincidence is dramatically different from the one proceeding it (once again, such is IDM). Your mind stays focused on the complex and/or unexpectedly (brilliantly) arranged sounds of all shapes and sizes while still remaining intensely prepared for each coming track knowing that every new song found on this perfectly arranged compilation brings something entirely new to the table. With such stylistic diversity it's amazing how remarkably consistent these Rephlex all-stars can remain over these 16 tracks. Never a tiring moment.
Time Tourist by B12
Time Tourist follows a similar stylistic pattern to B12's earlier contributions to the Artificial Intelligence series, exhibiting the same heavy use of hi-hat 808 and 909 beats, but Time Tourist is by no means a straight-up continuation of the sounds of Electro-Soma. Electro-Soma, while still falling fairly firmly within the IDM tag (such as it was defined circa 1993) paid heavy tribute to the more danceable side of techno that, while being an undeniable influence to B12 and many of their contemporaries, wasn't to become the element that defined B12 by the time their career hit it's apex; on Time Tourist we see what sets B12 apart from their Warp contemporaries. The 808s and 909s, the hi-hats are still here, but the entire affair of Time Tourist is washed over with layers of oscillating synths and complexly arranged yet understated percussion, topped off with a fair amount of echoes and static, evoking something akin to an air of retro-futurism, like delving into the active mind of Arthur C. Clarke...
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Hongkong by Monolake
Alright to be perfectly honest I am more than happy to throw this beautiful piece of work by German electronic musicians Monolake in any number of genre designations that are not IDM. Hongkong fits comfortably in a range of styles from ambient dub to minimal techno... perhaps I mention it here simply because, while it exhibits these traits heavily, and indeed a fair portion of the album could probably be described in far simpler terms than I would like to admit, I still have difficulty classifying the dubby ambience + field recordings + rhythmic static + I don't even know what the fuck else into any one category, and sometimes that's where the IDM label just de facto falls in: when slightly moronic pedants like myself simply don't know what else to call our favorite music for which we otherwise cannot find a name. Maybe it's silly to think that we have to apply a title to everything. Maybe "IDM" is the epitome of that silliness. Maybe "IDM" is meaningless and this thread has been a waste of your time. I love sounds, but I will readily admit that sometimes the tags we attach to sounds can be, well, ridiculous. Maybe "IDM" is ridiculous, but there is so much great music to which a very possibly ridiculous term has been applied.
My intention with this thread is not to fervently argue for the legitimacy of notoriously controversial terminology, but rather to share some of the amazing music with which this terminology, for better or for worse, has been associated. I don't know what IDM is. I don't even know if IDM "is". But I know that the music "is", and sometimes, it flies so far by all established convention that we don't know what the fuck to call it, so what the hell, let's call it IDM and just get on to listening already. It's good shit
and if ya dig, here's some of that good shit from 2014. It's been a sick year for "what the fuck am I supposed to call this" electronica:
incredible work. I set the bar with American Primitivism, but I think you raised it. I've got some listening to do. _________________ http://jonnyleather.com
incredible work. I set the bar with American Primitivism, but I think you raised it. I've got some listening to do.
Absolutely this. I guess I will either try my bet to raise it further with the Country Blues one or just nuke it so everyone can easily follow me on this Genre Extravaganza project. I'm kind of joking about the last option. But I really don't see how I can match y'all's work so far.
As for this genre, all I've heard so far is a little Autechre which I felt didn't do much for and some Aphex Tein albums, which have all been really great. And I've heard BoC as well and I love a lot of that stuff.
All and all, I guess I just wasn't ready to get into something as intense and somewhat inhuman and experimental as Autechre. BOC and AT both were much more engaging and somewhat emotional, whereas I didn't get the same vibes from the Autechre I heard (a collection of all their singles and EPs) _________________ -Ryan
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:
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...
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