looneytoon

The Pastels

Les Rallizes Denudes

Ash Ra Tempel's New Age of Earth? Eno's good stuff? Cluster? Harmonia? Yellow Magic Orchestra? Aforementioned Kraftwerk? Holger Czukay's Persian Love? etc. All mentioned, other than Eno and Harmonia's De Luxe, sound dated and sterile. Sure, they were key in developing electronic music but put on one of their albums today and there's very little in the way of mood, atmosphere, production or instrumentation that stands out. Especially with the likes of Yellow Magic Orchestra....how this group is as lauded as it is completely mystifies me. And if you'd mentioned Klaus Schulze or some of Neu!'s stuff instead of Cluster, I might have forgiven you. Quite possibly the worst Kraut band of the early 70s. And it was Ashra, not Ash Ra Tempel, that recorded said album, of which I do appreciate the zen-like arrangements in Sunrain, but that's about it. Now if you'd mentioned Manuel Göttsching's solo stuff, you might have had a point. The fact is electronic music has come a long, long way since the 70s and those artists just don't hold up these days. You just have to listen to something like Kesto to realise that. I'm not saying there wasn't anything good pre-1990s, just that the majority of great stuff has come out relatively recently. Plus, I'm pretty sure the thread starter wanted electronica recommendations, so post- 1st wave Detroit techno seems to make more sense.

That's because almost all of the greatest electronic music came out in the 90s. Sure, we could sit here and wank on about the Silver Apples and Stockhausen endlessly, but what would be the point when their output today sounds a)dated and b)shit?

I'm not a fan of all his stuff. His last album was vastly overrated. His debut, however, is stunning.

Some good starting points are Orbital (just about any album really but Snivilisation or In Sides might be a good starting point also the 'Green' album - untitled but with a green cover aka 'Orbital I' which has the tunes 'Belfast' and 'Chime' which are two of the best electronic tunes of all-time imo); Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works '85-'92; Mixmaster Morris aka Irresistible Force - It's Tomorrow Already which is nice and chilled; Derrick May's Innovator compilation is quality an an introduction to 'proper' Detroit Techno; for crossover appeal I'd recommend the aforementioned Air, especially Moon Safari along with Nightmares On Wax (especially 'Car Boot Soul' and 'Smokers Delight') plus Portishead and Massive Attack ('Blue Lines' in particular); the Artificial Intelligence compilations are a good intro to the WARP techno label. There's loads of other stuff I could recommend too if you like any of that lot. Has anybody checked out the new Paul (or was it Phil?) Hartnoll album btw? He's one half of the now defunct Orbital? I've just bought it and I'm just getting into it. Quite 'soundtrack' like. Edit: Underworld as well - Dubnobasswithmyheadman and Second Toughest In The Infants Good post...you've mentioned two of the very, very best in In Sides and Dubnobasswithmyheadman. These two albums would probably be in my top 5, electronic or otherwise, of all time. 10 more essential electronic purchases IMO would be: 1. 'Tri Repetae' | Autechre 2. '76:14' | Global Communication 3. 'Substrata' | Biosphere 4. 'Music Has The Right To Children' or 'Geogaddi' | Boards Of Canada 5. 'Ascend' | Manual 6. 'Haunt Me, Haunt Me, Do It Again' | Tim Hecker 7. 'Kesto (234.48:4)' | Pan Sonic 8. 'Afro Finger & Gel' | Mu 9. 'Lifeforms' | The Future Sound Of London 10. 'Momentum' | Monolake

Absolutely storming collection of films. I've managed to buy all but about 3 of the films. My personal recommendations would be The Cremator, Love and Interrogation. I'm yet to see a bad Second Run film.

3 superb films right there. Check out Chungking Express if you haven't already done so, probably my favourite Wong Kar Wai film.

Cleo from 5 to 7. Wonderful.

'Black Light' | Bowery Electric

New Dalek album. Breathtaking stuff.

pantha du prince

havent heard either - Wire were the lot that did that 'eardrum buzz' song a few years back werent they? Indeed. IMO they were the greatest band of the late 70s and their first three albums were pretty much perfect. Their debut, Pink Flag, is probably my favourite album of that decade. Original Cover

Best - 'Map Ref. 41° N 93° W' | My Bloody Valentine. Wire's original is one of the best songs ever made and MBV's cover is just as brilliant. I can upload it if anyone's interested.

Think I might give Snivilisation a listen myself.