Best Electronic albums of all time ?
 

Looking at the evolution of electronic music over the past years, it’s incredible to see its broadening and cultural prominence.
Everything from hip-hop, ambient and pop, to dubstep, jungle and techno weaved into one another, launching new scenes and trends with albums of forward-thinking sounds.

What are your favorite electronic albums of the past fourty years ?


Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children




Justice - Justice

Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Stereolab - Dots and Loops
David Holmes - Bow Down to the Exit Sign
Portishead - Dummy
The Chemical Brothers - Exit Planet Dust

There's many more, but I don't feel like typing them out at the moment.

Uberzone - Ideology
Add N To (X) - Avant Hard
Kraftwerk - The Mix
Les Sirènes Débrouillardes - Lena

Underworld - Dubnobasswithmyheadman
Kraftwerk - Trans Europa Express
YMO - BGM
Ruth White - Flowers of Evil
Cluster - S/T
Harmonia - Musick Von Harmonia
Tangerine Dream - Phaedra
Vangelis - Spiral
Sparks - No 1 in Heaven
Klaus Schulze - X
Throbbing Gristle - 20 Jazz Funk Greats
Suicide - S/T
The Residents - Not Available
Solid Space - Space Museum
Simple Minds - New Gold Dream

Just up to early 80s

White Noise and all of Derbyshire's work in the BBC Radiophonic Workshop are god tier




On the dance end, I've been wearing the **** out of Burial's Untrue lately.

Crystal Method - Vegas got a lot of play from me in the late 90's


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBh16Nttu7U

One of my favorite albums by Röyksopp , I totally love the songs titled ''Eple'', "Sparks" and ''Poor Leno''.
A truly magnificent album - warm, deep and melodic !

''An Electric Storm" is probably the best psychedelic record ever :)

The his is possibly one of my favourite Electronic albums of all time !

Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase
Todd Terje - It's Album Time
Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Volume II
Burial - Untrue
La Femme - Psycho Tropical Berlin
Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4
Jon Hopkins - Immunity
Ashra - Blackouts
Terry Riley - A Rainbow in Curved Air
Robert Wyatt - The Animals Film

Off the top of my head.

One of my favorites:

Moderat - Moderat (2009)

TEE - Kraftwerk

I'd venture to say that Kraftwerk's 3D Catalogue has far superior versions of every song they've done and is probably (at least one of) the ultimate electronic album(s) in terms of significance of songs and it's ability to captivate you despite it's long length, anywhere you start takes you through a trip of what came to be known as techno along with industrial standings and a lot of lush just great synth tones. I used to listen to it quite a bit but alongside that,

Another favorite recently has been this monster of an album:


Psychic TV - Origin of the Species Volume Too! A Second Supply of Two Tablets of Acid

This has been wonderful to dig into recently along with PTV's entire discog

Daft Punk - Discovery. Easily. Haven't heard anything that tops that album yet.

^ Definitely agree. Of all the electronica albums I've listened to over the years the main one that sticks out for me is Discovery.

Ye I agree Tristan. For me, on first listen TEE kind of sucked, but for some reason the stubborn repetition and the monotone voice with german accent wouldn't leave my head. With other electronic music, especially modern one, they may start with something Kraftwerk would start, but at some point there is some sort of "release", where they break the stubborn beat. Kraftwerk refuses to do that. They do not break it, but just keep shoving that same repeating sound down you, almost like a trance.

That psychic Tv tune is quite interesting I will say

Thats what I love about Kraftwerk too, they find a groove and know it’s gonna get stuck in your head anyways so why not hammer it in y’know

Jeez, haven't seen you around in a minute. Welcome back! :beer:

Also:

Tangerine Dream - Zeit

My favorite Tangerine Dream album. The second track ("Nebulous Dawn") makes me feel like I'm on the Titanic only minutes before it hits the iceberg. It's incredibly visual and ethereal.

Apollo Four Forty ‎– Gettin' High On Your Own Supply (1999)

Highly recommended CD.

I'm gonna not count ambient albums 'cause that would be a whole different list. Also if I'm talking the objective best this would be different but I'm just gonna give you my favouites...

Boards of Canada - Geogaddi
Autechre - EP7
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Jetone - Ultramarin
Arovane - Atol Scrap
Bola - Gnayse
Murcof - Remembranza
Plastikman - Consumed
Burial - Untrue

I know "Geogaddi" isn't the standard pick for BoC but it's my favourite.

Listening to Geogaddi now, fantastic

Always liked this one even more than his stunning debut

https://productimages.worldofbooks.com/B000025TIZ.jpg

Is this your first listen of "Geogaddi?"

"...I Care Because You Do" is a good album but I prefer his ambient work.

Yeah I'm not terribly familiar with BoC. I heard the first one but I like Geogaddi better.

Me too.

I think they say something about great minds.

What's your favorite Aphex Twin?

Selected Ambient Works Volume II.

My favorite ambient album (not that I know too many) is probably Eno's Music for Films

https://i.discogs.com/etJcQBHRQQn0xL...xMy5qcGVn.jpeg
https://media.karousell.com/media/ph...cd_progressive
https://open.spotify.com/album/2FUsv...RZilTyFjECrKTQ
best typing music

That’s a good one too, Eno is pretty high on my list.

But my favourite ambient album is Tim Hecker’s “Harmony in Ultraviolet.”

That's the one album by him that really stuck with me. What are some of the others you would recommend?

Everything he’s done is at least a 9 to me but my second favourite is “An Imaginary Country.”

Have you heard Underworld's 'Second Toughest In The Infants' yet? One of my all time favorite electronica albums. Just about as good as BoC's first two.

Yes! Underworld are brilliant

Basically anything Boards of Canada has done.

BT- Movement in still life

Always excited to see some love for Underworld in the community.

Checking my latest stats, my Underworld collection now comprises 77 physical releases and artifacts, memorabilia, subway posters, books, prints, magazine articles, DVDs, VHS tapes, etc, as well as over 600 digital albums, EPs, mixes, concerts, and other materials - well over 8100 tracks including concert videos. With new material being released every week, they're showing no sign of slowing down.

Here's a shot of the physical portion of my UW inventory. For reference, the Everything Everything Live UK subway poster is over 5 feet tall.

https://i.imgur.com/Oaq4C2Il.jpg

Jean Michel Jarre - Zoolook
Vangelis - Antarctica
Jean Michel Jarre - Rendez Vous
Vangelis - Chariots Of Fire
Kraftwerk - Electric Café
Moby - Play
U2 - Zooropa
Prodigy - The Fat Of The Land
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Daft Punk - Homework
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells II: Live At Edinburgh Castle

I like also this 1981 soundtrack, a sort of “compilation” that may represent a bridge from modern electronic/ambient to a past much more remote than “the past fourty years”: classical music

Underworld is the best