Colin M Posted November 6, 2012 Author Share Posted November 6, 2012 I completely forgot about Hebert. Probably wouldn't have made the top ten but just gave Desire a listen on youtube. Cracking tune. Same here - when I saw it submitted as a vote, I hoped it would make the cut even though it wasn't in my list. Have enjoyed listening to it again! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breaking Decency Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 Looking forward to listening to all the albums I've never heard before! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin M Posted November 6, 2012 Author Share Posted November 6, 2012 26= Polygon Window Surfing On Sine Waves (1993) The evil twin to Aphex's first Selected Ambient Works offering, Surfing On Sine Waves was technically Richard D. James' debut album, preceding SAW85-92 by a whole month. While the more ambient offering remains RDJ's most celebrated album, Surfing On Sine Waves offers a slightly darker more techno-driven affair, yet sounds every bit as vital. The album was part of Warp's Artificial Intelligence series, designed as electronic listening music rather than functional body music for the club. This record can still punch its weight though - the single Quoth delivers heads down battering pulverising techno beats, and there's dark acid riffs a plenty throughout the album. It being RDJ though, there's plenty of wonderful melodic and rhythmic hooks to carry you through - The opener Polygon Window delivers a flurry of handclaps against what have come to be known as Aphexian synth lines. Early highlight Audax Power begins with gorgeous swathes of colour before heading off into a bad acid trip along the way. The riffs are compelling and inventive, laying down a template for much of the "Braindance" Aphex's Rephlex label came to be famous for releasing. Surfing is a fantastic collection of electronic music from one of the leading lights of the genre - If It Really Is Me manages to subvert piano house to sound mournful, while Supremacy II provides a ghostly Julie Andrews introducing captivating techno beats ands hooks. Quixote offers up essential electronica before the drifting closer Quino-Phec shows the first signs of Aphex Twin's magnificent touch for ambient music. I would happily argue the case for every one of his albums to be included in this list, but James' sole excursion as Polygon Window remains a great favourite of mine - brilliant and inventive throughout, with a great balance between dark and light. It's an unsung achievement amongst his more celebrated releases, but for those who know its charms, it's up there with the best of his work and the best electronic music in general. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mambostaggie Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 Another cracker that didn't make my list. Saw him live in the Glasgow art school in about 2000. It was absolutely mental. When I saw chicane on the list my heart sunk thinking it was all going to be Ibiza/commercial shite. I'm really getting into it now. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jupiter Jazz Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 Very promising start (other than Chicane). Although none were on my list - Herberts Bodily Functions nearly made it - they are quality. Is it gonna be 90's dominated I wonder? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mambostaggie Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 Hopefully the 90s will dominate. Easily my favourite era of dance music. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin M Posted November 6, 2012 Author Share Posted November 6, 2012 Hopefully more albums to reveal tonight/tomorrow - I need to listen to some more first and think of some new superlatives to throw at them. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinto McGinto Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 And there was one of my additional ones over and above the 8 I wanted to include. Magic. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy boo Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 Aaaarrgghhhhh..........I've just discovered this thread and feel left out Electronic music for me starts in germany in the 70's with Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk......which lead eventually to trance....my favourites being Daniel Kandi and Above & Beyond. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin M Posted November 6, 2012 Author Share Posted November 6, 2012 24= Eric Prydz Eric Prydz Presents Pryda (2012) To the uninitiated, the name Eric Prydz almost certainly conjures up a specific set of images – No matter what you think of modern progressive house and trance, let's all take a moment to remember fondly those times we've all sat enchanted by those pneumatic gym bunnies while Steve Winwood is looped ad nauseum, as if you're paying attention to the music. Anyway! Pryda is a mammoth 3-disc set that serves both as career retrospective and new album for Prydz, and it's that disc of new tracks that is nominated here. While David Guetta has come to monopolise the entire pop industry (it seems), Prydz remains unsung to a degree, the progressive connoisseur's choice, and Pryda displays his array of production tricks and musical devices that invite adulation from his legion of fans. It's an album jam packed with highlights and peaks – in fact it's Prydz's skill in delivering those peaks that stands out. Shadows' squiggly hook and electro-pop groove is an infectious opener before the blissful bleeping melodies of Agag and Beyond 8 lock you in. Sunburst is the first track to really explode big-room style, and anyone who's ever lost themselves in the communal joy of clubbing should understand the appeal, regardless of your taste. This album undoubtedly won't be for everyone reading this thread, but there's no question that with his overworked arpeggiator, Prydz is an absolute master in his field, and Pryda is brimming with melodic peaks and highs. If you don't want to jump and punch the air when the strings and beats of Mighty Love kick in, then there's no hope for you. Take a leap of faith. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mambostaggie Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 Meh -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uberman Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 Is youtube gubbed just now? For the last few days it's been very selective on which videos it will play for me, tried chicane and herbert which wouldn't play but polygon window did. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin M Posted November 6, 2012 Author Share Posted November 6, 2012 25 Bjork Homogenic (1997) Bjork's third album proper saw her team up for the first time with Mark Bell, one of of UK house and techno pioneers LFO, who would remain a key collaborator on subsequent albums. Homogenic is a perfect marriage of electronica, swooning strings and Bjork's glorious songs and voice. The machine gun splatter of beats and throbbing bass that introduce Hunter set the scene, and still sound cutting edge 15 years later. The strings of Joga and sax of the utterly gorgeous Unravel (two of the best songs ever written, people) combined with electronic beats and effects provide a wonderful arrangement for the real star of the show to shine – I can never get over how incredible a rush it is to hear Bjork let rip. I fucking adore this record, in case you haven't guessed already. All pop music should sound like this – 5 Years contains distorted beats that lead to more of those incredible strings and that voice that provide highs way beyond any so called anthem ever can. The loop and clicking rhythms of Immature swing majestically, Alarm Call is electronic swingbeat before Pluto provides pumping gritty techno (I think Bell was calling the shots on that one). The closer All Is Full Of Love is spaced out bliss that leaves you drifting after a fantastic trip with everyone's favourite Icelandic pixie. Damn, nearly made it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin M Posted November 6, 2012 Author Share Posted November 6, 2012 Is youtube gubbed just now? For the last few days it's been very selective on which videos it will play for me, tried chicane and herbert which wouldn't play but polygon window did. Call On Me video playing fine for me, several times in a row....... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mighty meadow Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 You probably f****d it then :-) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshmallo Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Good write up on Pryda, which was my number 1. If you're being put off by "Call on Me", that album is nothing like. Eric Prydz and the Pryda alias are completely different. "Leja" is about as different a sound to "Call on Me" as you'll hear, for example. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin M Posted November 7, 2012 Author Share Posted November 7, 2012 (edited) Good write up on Pryda, which was my number 1. If you're being put off by "Call on Me", that album is nothing like. Eric Prydz and the Pryda alias are completely different. "Leja" is about as different a sound to "Call on Me" as you'll hear, for example. It was different from what I expected in general, it's not that fine a line really between it and some of the other things on this list. Can definitely see the appeal! Edit: I think I meant to say it is a fine line. My brain is melted by The Orb. Edited November 7, 2012 by Colin M 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin M Posted November 7, 2012 Author Share Posted November 7, 2012 21= The Orb The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld (1991) Sample based music takes many forms, from the loops and chops of golden era hip-hop to Herbert's clipped house, but in 1991, Dr Alex Paterson unleashed a 2 disc epic of ambient excursions and collages that soundtracked many a smoking session and afternoon nap. Progressive may have a different meaning in dance music, but Adventures often recalls the mighty Floyd in spirit if not always explicitly in sound. The good Dr and his cohorts (including Kris Weston, Jimmy Cauty of KLF fame, Steve Hillage of Gong and long time collaborator Thomas Fehlmann) here apply an everything and the kitchen sink approach to found sounds and aren't afraid to plunder huge chunks of other records, taking them out of context to sail atop their glorious ambient backings. Steve Reich is looped to great effect on ambient house masterpiece Little Fluffy Clouds, while an out of context Minnie Ripperton pops up unexpectedly later on. There are a myriad of sound effects and incidental cues accompanying this trip through dub, house and spaced out meandering. The pretty guitar motifs of Star 6&789 and the circular basslines of Spanish Castles In Space are personal favourites. The real treat though is the lengthy finale of the snappily titled A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld – a track that the term “trance music” seems designed for if it didn't now conjure up something else entirely. On it The Orb take us deep into inner space in a compelling and hypnotic trip that brings this classic album to a brilliant close. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin M Posted November 7, 2012 Author Share Posted November 7, 2012 (edited) 21= Carl Craig More Songs About Food And Revolutionary Art (1997) Among the most celebrated of Detroit's supposed "second wave" of techno artists, Carl Craig has had an amazing career with a huge back catalogue ripe for discovery. From his 69 guise to Paperclip People to his amazing remixes, he has treats a plenty that deserve a wider audience. More Songs was his second album under his own name, and gathered new and old tracks, several of which are up there with his best and the best of all Detroit techno. Craig is never slow to serve up chunks of melody, and the tuneful acid riff of Televised Green Smoke sits atop a lush Detroit offering. We then have the cinematic Blade Runner-esque Goodbye World and slo-mo hip-hop beats of Red Lights carrying us towards the piano led tech-house of Butterfly. This album sees Craig provide a varied display of his exceptional musical gifts, and it sounds every bit as good today as it did back then. The undoubted peak of the record though comes with two of Craig's classic and best known tracks the looped vocal sample and thumping beats of Dominas are joined by an amazing bassline and those trademark synths, before the utterly magnificent At Les comes in with its fluttering riffs, bed of synth pads and sprightly breakbeats. This is emotional machine music at its best from an absolute master and genius of electronic music. At Les is up there with the best music of any genre for this listener, and this album is worth the admission price just to hear it alone. For all his great music since, I'm dying to hear another Carl Craig album if it's even half as good as this collection of amazing music, it'll be well worth the wait. Edited November 7, 2012 by Colin M 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breaking Decency Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Shit, completely forgot about The Orb 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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