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=> GENERAL DISCUSSION => Topic started by: Barcelona on September 19, 2006, 11:22:00 pm
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I am a complete ignorant on this subject, I guess the closest thing to electronic music I had heard until now was Mike Olfield's "Foreign Affair" or Neil Young's "Transformer Man", and I am sure that wouldn't qualify as anything close to electronic, this just shows how clueless I am on this.
Anyway, the other day listening to the "indie" radio station in last.fm I ran into Broken Social Scene's "Alive in 85" and really liked it.
Can anyone give me any suggestion on similar music?
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Aphex Twin, Autechre, Boards of Canada, Radiohead's Kid A.
Those are some good places to start.
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this (http://www.indiana.edu/~emusic/elechist.htm) is a pretty decent site with a timeline.
you might want to check out the wikipedia entry too. Also, look for a video doc online called "Pathways to Music." A bit outdated, but it serves its purpose.
Ellipsis Arts recently put out a reissue of the OHM: The Gurus of Electronic Music 3cd set which serves as a overview of some of the most significant works over the past century. The reissue also comes with a dvd which makes it a very worthwhile purchase, imo.
There's also the Sonic Circuits (http://dc-soniccircuits.org/) festival next month which you shouldn't miss if you're curiosity is at all peaked. The lineup this year is incredible.
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Kraftwerk, Derrick May, Chemical Brothers, Underworld, Juan Atkins, Richie Hawtin/Plastikman, are all worth checking. IMHO you can pretty much avoid anything called Trance or Progressive.
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Originally posted by Barcelona:
I am a complete ignorant on this subject, I guess the closest thing to electronic music I had heard until now was Mike Olfield's "Foreign Affair" or Neil Young's "Transformer Man", and I am sure that wouldn't qualify as anything close to electronic, this just shows how clueless I am on this.
Anyway, the other day listening to the "indie" radio station in last.fm I ran into Broken Social Scene's "Alive in 85" and really liked it.
Can anyone give me any suggestion on similar music?
Go see Massive Attack next Thursday. There's some good electronic music.
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For Aphex Twin (because he's so complex) I would start out with "Selected Ambient Works Volume 1", then move on to stuff like "Classics" and the "Richard D. James" LP. He also releases stuff under the name AFX and Polygon Window. AFX's "Chosen Lords" is mindblowing. Great stuff.
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for the more ambient side check out yellow 6
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some of my favourite electronica...
Daft Punk
M83
Aphex Twin
Four Tet
Orbital
DJ Shadow
Leftfield
and the chemical brothers, but they get a little more dancey (so does daft punk for that matter)
and yes, dance music to me is different than electronic music.
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Hey, weren't Thievery Corporation the ambient darlings of this board? Wha'happen?
For me ambient is too monotonous... prefer crazier stuff like Cornelius
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I would hardly call Thievery Corp Ambient... They fall in more in the Dub, Acid Jazz, Trip Hop subgenres of Electronic Music. They also have broaden their sound with more vocalists wich Ambient tends to shy away from. Eno and Aphex Twin are examples of Ambient.
Electronica became the catch all genre for modern Electronic music, which added Big Beat (i.e. Chem Bros, Fatboy Slim), Trance, etc etc etc
Like all subgrene's there good and bad artists. There are thousands of artists calling themselves Techno however I only prefer the early innovators from Detroit like Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, and Jaun Atkins.
House music is just as diverse but no specific favorite artists spring to mine.
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Originally posted by kosmo vinyl:
House music is just as diverse but no specific favorite artists spring to mine.
just go to Chicago for that.
Derrick Carter
DJ Sneak
Paul Johnson
Mark Farina
also, Armand Van Helden and Todd Terry from NYC.
and Kosmo, dont forget Richie Hawtin!!!!
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see above for Richie...
If one is looking to hear some quality house music checkout some of the Everything But The Girl remixes Todd Terry's remix of "Missing" is legendary.
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dj? acucrack
www.cracknation.com (http://www.cracknation.com)
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Tangerine Dream
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orbital
check out the "orbital 2" LP and specifically the "halcyon + on and on" track ... really revelatory stuff
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Thanks for these recommendations, lots of things to try. Quick question, of the bands recommended, which would be the ones that include in their songs more instruments such as guitars, drums... and I guess less computer stuff. I don't like techno or house, which I consider to be extemely repetitive.
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Panic at the disco use both guitars and synths.
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Some that haven't been mentioned yet:
squarepusher
Prefuse 73
Bluetech
Bonobo
Caribou
Flanger
Jamie Lidell
Beta Band (not purely electronic but they definitely fall into the trip hop genre at times)
Shit Robot
DFA (James Murphy/Tim Goldsworthy)
The Juan Maclean
Booka Shade
Perry Farrell (I really like his "song yet to be sung" album (only electronic one?)
Nightmares on Wax
The Egg
The Knife
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Oh and speaking of four tet, he put out 2 interesting albums with Steve Reid recently.
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is that a serious recommendation as so do The Killers...
Most of the artists listed here use only synths, drum machines, sequencers, etc.... Radiohead is a band, some bring in outside musicians and singers like the Thievery Corporation, Daft Punk and Chemical Brothers. My favorite Electronica acts whatever tend to approach tracks as songwriters and arrangers vs just sitting down creating loops.
Also checkout David Holmes who did much of background music for Oceans 11. Dimitri From Paris and Ursala 1000 bring a bit of 60s kitsch to thier productions.
ESL Music is Thievery Corporations Label and a good place to start...
http://www.eslmusic.com/ (http://www.eslmusic.com/)
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Originally posted by azaghal1981:
Bluetech
if you like bluetech (trippy downtempo, electronic dub, etc), you'll probably like:
slackbaba
entheogenic
adham shaikh (everything on the interchill label is all quality, IMO)
shpongle (first album is a masterpiece)
abakus
tripswitch (can get close to trip hop)
shulman
puff dragon
solar fields
makyo (best ethnic dub that i've come across)
ott
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ha!
no one has mentioned Kraftwerk!
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read much :D
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Wow... I guess everyone assumed kraftwerk were mentioned without reading through the thread too carefully. I know I did.
And yeah that first shpongle album is brilliant.
Ott's Hallucinogen in Dub is solid; the original hallucinogen tracks, while intricate and arranged well, are way too trance-oriented for my tastes.
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Originally posted by le sonick:
ha!
no one has mentioned Kraftwerk!
while i admire them for the pioneers that they were, their music isn't that interesting by today's standards. also, the person who started this thread said he wasn't into repetitive beats.
kraftwerk, along with tangerine dream, was the first electronic music i listened to... those two don't hold up so well, though. i wouldn't start someone off by listening to them.
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Well I strongly disagree about Kraftwerks music not standing the test of time... Considering the fact they created electronic music without the aide of drum machines, sequencers, computers, etc their output is groundbreaking. Most of their instruments were built by hand, etc. All you had to do was see them live to see how well they are holding up...
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Originally posted by Barcelona:
Thanks for these recommendations, lots of things to try. Quick question, of the bands recommended, which would be the ones that include in their songs more instruments such as guitars, drums
Devo's first four albums:
Devo Hardcore #1
Devo Hardcore #2
Q. Are We Not Men? &
Duty Now For The Future
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Of Montreal's last 2 albums contained a balance between electronic instrumentation and arrangement and the use of guitars/drums. This upcoming one, however, is pretty much all electronically driven. Kevin Barns has become an impressive electronic producer and this new album (leaked 5 months in advance) really shows it.
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Originally posted by kosmo vinyl:
Well I strongly disagree about Kraftwerks music not standing the test of time... Considering the fact they created electronic music without the aide of drum machines, sequencers, computers, etc their output is groundbreaking. Most of their instruments were built by hand, etc. All you had to do was see them live to see how well they are holding up...
Kraftwerk is more relevant to current popular music than the Beatles; that is how far and wide their influence has spread. The Beatles are certainly still important but there's a lot more Kling Klang on the radio today than Abbey Road.
And that's from someone with all of the Beatles CDs.
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Tell us more! What other stuff do you like? There are tons and tons of different sorts of Electronic Music...
I'm going to second the Of Montreal if you're looking for more catchy, hooky, indie-pop electronics. These are probably good to start with if you're just starting to get into electronic music. Beck's last record, Guero, also incorporated some more accessible songs with some synth and band insturmentals. I'd also recommend for starters:
The Dandy Warhols
Figurine
The Faint
Le Tigre's Self-Titled album
New Order
any Air record, ESPECIALLY Moon Safari or maybe even Talkie Walkie
VHS or Beta
Whirlwind Heat
and STARS (esp. if you're digging Broken Social Scene)
All of that has other insturments in addition to synth, and is very accessible. Start with some of that.
And if you're feeling more brave check out Deerhoof or Lightning Bolt...but you might not be into that at first :)
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It took that long for someone to mention air; that's surprising too.
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styrofoam
dntel
mum
ms. john soda
electric president
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start at the beginnning with the "ohm: early gurus of electronic music" boxset and from there look into portishead and kraftwerk and aphex twin and luomo and dj shadow
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Originally posted by azaghal1981:
It took that long for someone to mention air; that's surprising too.
Yeah, I found that odd too...
They are great though and I hope Barcelona will check them out.
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David Bowie's Low album has always been a favorite of mine.
Also Roxy Music, you can't go wrong with Eno.
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Another great compilation album worth looking into is the soundtrack from that Moog documentary. It contains some great selections from the album leaf to tortoise to stereolab just to name a few.
The movie is pretty awesome too.
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Originally posted by azaghal1981:
Another great compilation album worth looking into is the soundtrack from that Moog documentary. It contains some great selections from the album leaf to tortoise to stereolab just to name a few.
The movie is pretty awesome too.
just saw that the album leaf are coming to rock & roll hotel ... RAWK!!
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Originally posted by twangirl:
David Bowie's Low album has always been a favorite of mine.
Also Roxy Music, you can't go wrong with Eno.
Word to this.
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these are all dc/baltimore area folks:
BT (though he's huge in europe)
Deep Dish (again, huge in Europe)
Thievery Corporation (they are very very varied in their stylings)
Thunderball (on ESL's label, which Thievery Corp owns)
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Originally posted by you be pickup:
start at the beginnning with the "ohm: early gurus of electronic music" boxset and from there look into portishead and kraftwerk and aphex twin and luomo and dj shadow
If you really really wanna go primative build a Telharmonium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telharmonium). It was so early it never even got recorded.
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Originally posted by hostiledm:
dj? acucrack
www.cracknation.com (http://www.cracknation.com)
Nice! Someone showing some crack-love! :)
Along the lines of Kraftwerk with pioneering sounds with live instruments, I'd highly recommend Einstürzende Neubaten.
For some Enigma-type stuff but with flamanco guitars, you should check out B-Tribe. (Barcelona Tribe)
Also, we use guitars and synths, but probably way too dance or heavy for what you're looking for :)
MindCage
Mindless Faith (http://www.mindlessfaith.com)
Deep6 Productions (http://www.deep6.com/)
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So what the hey does 'electronic' mean anyway? Billboard has an 'electronic album' chart and have stuff like Gnarls and Madonna on it. Huh? In the 1960s, 'electronic music' meant you played a regular instrument but the signal was manipulated through a Moog or tape loops or whatever. Now you can totally create music *electronically* in a program like Sony Acid or Adobe Audition and not use any real instruments, but manipulate the tone so that it sounds exactly like real acoustic playing. So is the label 'electronic' about how the music sounds, or is it about how it's made?
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That's the difference between techno & electronic. Computerized filtering isn't neccessarily a requirement for electronic music.
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Personally I would say start with
1. Throbbing Gristle (and you could add a dash of the earlier Coil albums).
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Originally posted by Barcelona:
I am a complete ignorant on this subject, I guess the closest thing to electronic music I had heard until now was Mike Olfield's "Foreign Affair" or Neil Young's "Transformer Man", and I am sure that wouldn't qualify as anything close to electronic, this just shows how clueless I am on this.
Anyway, the other day listening to the "indie" radio station in last.fm I ran into Broken Social Scene's "Alive in 85" and really liked it.
Can anyone give me any suggestion on similar music?
In terms of contemporary electronic music, you might find the following artists worth a listen:
Klaxons
SebastiAn
Simian Mobile Disco
Basement Jaxx
Junior Boys
Lo-Fi-Fnk
Justice
MSTRKRFT
North Shore Pony Club
The Knife
Annie
Tiga
The Similou
The Presets
Kelley Polar
Mylo
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As with any other genre, you can go into a multitude of directions under the guise of "Electronic".
To add to the ever expanding list:
Highly recommend:
</font>- <font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda">Ulrich Schnauss</font></li>
- <font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda">Hammock ("Kenotic" is incredible!!!)</font></li>
- <font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda">God Is An Astronaut</font></li>
- <font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda">Glider</font></li>
- <font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda">Daturah</font></li>
<font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda">
Other very good choices:
</font>- <font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda">ThisQuietArmy</font></li>
- <font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda">Coastal</font></li>
- <font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda">Landing</font></li>
- <font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda">Dreamend</font></li>
- <font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda">My Education</font></li>
- <font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda">Loveliescrushing (extremely ambient guitar effects)</font></li>
- <font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda">Amp</font></li>
- <font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda">Portal</font></li>
- <font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda">Project Skyward</font></li>
- <font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda">Lamb (More dancy in a Zero 7 kind of way.)</font></li>
- <font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda">Auburn Lull</font></li>
- <font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda">Circlesquare</font></li>
- <font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda">Bowery Electric</font></li>
<font size="2" face="Arial, Veranda">
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Raymond Scott
George Harrison
Perrey Kingsley
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Bump