I’m looking for suggestions for electronic albums in any sub-genre that you think exemplify dedication to craft and careful consideration of detail in any aspect: production, sound design, composition, etc.
Here are examples of some artists that I think have consistently released music in this vein:
- Daft Punk (on this list particularly due to everyone’s go-to for great production, Random Access Memories)
- Tipper
- Yosi Horikawa
- The Flashbulb
- Shpongle
- Lusine
- Eli & Fur
- KOAN Sound
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Boards of Canada - the entire discography
For something fresh I don’t see listed: Vegyn - Only Diamonds Cut Diamonds
Really any albums from:
- Boards of Canada
- Amon Tobin
- Flying Lotus
I mean Aphex Twin probably goes without saying, given the influence on some of the listed artists alone. Can’t go wrong with any album but “…I Care Because You Do” or either of the “Selected Ambient Works” would be good starting points. Could also throw Autechre or Squarepusher in for the same reason too!
If you want something a bit more melodic, I love Stimming’s album “Ludwig.” Lisa Bella Donna’s stuff is also a treat.
And I’ll sneak in another style yet with Helene Vogelsinger! “Contemplation” is a great album.
I’ve listened to Selected Ambient Works and Squarepusher’s Hard Normal Daddy in the past, both great! Have also listened to lots of Lisa Bella Donna. Have somehow never dived deep into Autechre before. Thanks for all the good recommendations!
My pleasure! The other suggestions in the comments are excellent too, you’ll have a ton of music to explore here.
I’m not sure if it technically counts as electronic music, but I really liked Aphex Twin’s Computer Controlled Analogue Instruments.
The effort that went into recording it must have been enormous, and I wish I could have been in the room when the tracks were recorded.
Yes! His “Selected ambient works” are out of this world!
I’ll throw in a few:
- Four Tet (Rounds is generally regarded as amazing, I am a big fan of Sixteen Oceans)
- Caribou (each subsequent album is more intricate than the previous)
- Kuedo
- SBTRKT
- Sepalcure
- Autechre
- Chapelier Fou
- Kid Koala
autechre!
Four Tet’s unpronounceable side-project is great too. Search for: ⣎⡇ꉺლ༽இ•̛)ྀ◞ ༎ຶ ༽ৣৢ؞ৢ؞ؖ ꉺლ
This EP is a great place to start: ooo ̟̞̝̜̙̘̗̖҉̵̴̨̧̢̡̼̻̺̹̳̲̱̰̯̮̭̬̫̪̩̦̥̤̣̠҈͈͇͉͍͎͓͔͕͖͙͚͜͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢͢ͅ oʅ͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡( ؞ৢ؞ؙؖ⁽⁾˜ัิีึื์๎้็๋๊⦁0 ̟̞̝̜̙̘̗̖҉̵̴̨̧̢̡̼̻̺̹̳̲̱̰̯̮
It’s a bit more analogue than his normal stuff? But definitely hits the “intricately crafted” mark!
Ha, yeah, I have those and my DAP hates them
Burial - Untrue
Igorrr is great. Boards of Canada. very good. Aphex Twin was my favorite thing for like a year. and very recently i’ve been enamoured by Patricia Taxxon. its queer as fuck furry art, and it makes me cry every time i listen. the texture of her sound is really intricate, it feels tactile to me. lots of super well crafted sound synthesis. i like it alot.
Glad I didn’t have to scroll to see Aphex Twin mentioned. 🙂
If I had to recommend one artist, it would definitely be this. I’ve never heard anything like it. Chaotic, lighthearted, masterfully crafted beats and percussions, and a lot of heart. There’s also a little world built around the music with alien creatures and their own languages.
just listened through Neō Wax Bloom which was very enjoyable. I think the more you listen through this album, the more small things you notice…
Yes! Great recommendation. Neō Wax Bloom is an overwhelming 40 minutes, but Iglooghost’s colorful sound palette and sense of melody keeps it intensely listenable. I’m amazed by how he fuses recorded instruments and synthesized soundscapes like it’s nothing.
Great recommendation, never heard anything quite like this! Neō Wax Bloom was a frenetic but joyous adventure!
Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase
Nathan Fake - Drowning in a Sea of Love
The Campfire Headphase!. I find it packed with great stuff that I consider intricately crafted, and full of feeling
I’d highly recommend these - they’re not all strictly electronic but I feel there’s overlap at least:
- Sasha - Scene Delete
- Jon Hopkins - Immunity
- Daniel Avery - Drone Logic
- Bonobo - Black Sands
- BT - This Binary Universe
- Boards of Canada - Tomorrow’s Harvest
- Hugo Kant - Far From Home
- Bicep - Bicep
- Sub Focus - Sub Focus
Bonobo spans genres but he’s probably my favourite artist right now. His Late Night Tales entry (not electronic) was one of the best albums I’ve ever heard.
Nicolas Jaar’s Space Is Only Noise and Olafur Arnalds’ For Now I Am Winter (slightly more neo-classical/acoustic) are two I regularly revisit precisely for how cohesively the tracks fit together. Oh, and anything by Floating Points.
Mind, none of these use 100% electronic/synthesized sounds, so I don’t know if they count.
Yesterday Was Dramatic – Today Is OK
Studio album by MúmI’ll 2nd this. It’s one of my favorite albums.
Future Sound of London - ISDN
Check out some mixed tapes, this is one of my faves - https://www.mixcloud.com/Hallucin8/thee-o-sunset-on-venus/
I was going to recommend ISDN as well. Also Orblivion by The Orb. Both are desert island albums for me.
Excellent! Though I might go Orbvs Terrarvm.
I’ve been lurking kbin for a few weeks now, and finally a question I can’t help myself but register to answer!
And my answer is -
They’ve been, and still are, making electronic music, specifically PsyTrance, for 25+ years. Their music is phenomenal.
I’ve actually just sorted through their discography file on my pc (life is going down the drain and I need the distraction, plus their music provides such an escape, my mental health would seriously be even worse without them) and am now listening through my final playlist, and it’s over 360 tracks, and I couldn’t pick a single favourite! But I also don’t want to infodump on you, so I’ll limit myself to 5 tracks and try to give you a good sample of their work:
Release Me is from their first full album and is still one of my top most played.
It’s Behind Me Now to contrast, is one of my favourites from their most recent album.
Bust a Move - a masterpiece really. Their own remix of it and Bliss’s remix are as good as the original, which isn’t something I say lightly.
Cities of the Future is always good to lift the mood.
And I’ll leave you with a taste of their more mellow side with Animatronica, though I can’t help myself and will also sneak Shakawkaw and I Wish in under that category, sorry, I couldn’t help myself lol
Seriously though, the number of tracks that didn’t make the playlist is probably in single figures, and many of those are because the music personally brings up bad memories, not that it isn’t good to listen to, so it’s a deep and fantastic rabbit hole to dive in to - enjoy!
Oh, and just to edit in a bonus fact: they’ve said things like “We think music should be available for everybody. We don’t care about album sales. We’re big supporters of illegal downloads and shit” on several occasions!
Oh, almost forgot - for the full experience you must listen on headphones, so much detail is lost via most speakers.
I’ve been working my way through the playlist some more today, and I just can’t not share a few more of my favourites that I don’t think get mentioned enough (you know, for posterity lmao):
And this unreleased track I found buried in the discography file, first time I heard it the other week I just had the biggest grin on my face, it’s silly and cheeky and groovy all in one -
Sleeping
- Starcadian, any of his albums but especially Radio Galaxy.
He says he “makes ear movies,” and I’d say that’s about the best description. His music is very cinematic but also expansive and diverse. Radio Galaxy in particular reminds me very favorably of Random access Memories in the way that it experiments with different genres a bit more than previous works.
I found Starcadian 8 years ago and I’ve listened to some of his music almost every day since. I keep finding new things.