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Anteater · 03-29-2014, 08:08 PM

Part 4: Electronic Music - Five Albums

I'm one of those guys who would scare away people at an actual discotheque because I am your lord and savior when it comes to bad dancing, but I still found plenty of stuff to jam to as a younger feller that not only resonate with me today, but hooked me on beats, textures and bass drops alike. To be extra ultra specific: I DO listen to stuff from a huge variety of electronic subgenres today, but these are the albums that served as the starting line.

Thievery Corporation
The Richest Man In Babylon (2002)

Not necessarily the best album from the Corporation, but when your on a road trip with a friend in middle school and his weird hippie-rave dad decides to play this album from start to finish for the ensuing couple of hours...yeah, one helluva impression gets left. The title track is particularly dope, but you can't really go wrong with anything here. It's not too bad as a downtempo late-night selection for clubs or parties either: at least your neighbors wouldn't call the cops over it.

Daisuke Kashiwa
Program Music I (2007)

Something I picked up on recommendation as I was getting into high school from an electronic savvy friend, which technically makes it my introduction into "serious" post-rock as well. While only two tracks long, its a whole hour's worth of beautiful, fractured chord progressions, motifs and sheer mindfuckery. That moment of transition around 4-ish minutes into 'Stella' is one of the best things I've heard in any instrumental release ever, and that holds true seven years later for me.

Enigma
The Cross Of Changes (1994)

World music/New Age/Electronic crossover stuff was all the rage back in the 90's, and most of that can be attributed to guitarist/producer Michael Cretu and his Enigma project. Say what you want about the major cheese of 'Return To Innocence', but he sampled friggin' Led Zeppelin (the drums from 'When The Levee Breaks'), Genesis and Lord knows what else to make that song. That takes some serious creativity and balls to pull off, and this album was a real ear opener as a kid at how versatile electronic-oriented stuff could be.

BT
ESCM (1997)

My door to trance and techno, and boy does this sucker pop even now. Brian Transeau at one point was an absolute genius at blending club-like anthems with more organic instrumentation and Berlin School ambiances. Easy to do on paper, harder in practice. Whilst I learned quickly that beautiful European and South American women (yumm!) go crazy for Armin van Buuren for some reason, I'll take this dude over most trance any day of the week, so I'm glad I found it as a youngin'.

And speaking of Tangerine Dream...

Tangerine Dream
Phaedra (1974)

My first "go to sleep to" electronic ambient album. Once upon a time, even mainstream establishments like Barnes & Noble used to have Tangerine Dream albums in stock. I had seen their stamp on all kinds of soundtracks plus their name sounded cool, so I bought Phaedra on a whim and quickly realized why they've persisted for DECADES and remain one of the most influential groups of all time. If sound were able to exist in the great ethereal ether...well, it would probably be quite Phaedric indeed. There's no rhyme or reason to the album, but neither Pink Floyd nor Hawkwind got quite as close to the heart of the chaotic cosmos as these fellas did, and I'm all the better for it.