Electronic Music

Post by **Daedelus** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 6:08 pm

This started in the Tool thread. Ayanami asked me to post what I thought were some good electronic artists. Here are a few of my favorites. Feel free to add more... I'm always open to some new beats.

Paul Oakenfold. While some might call his stuff British house, he has certainly done a foray into some mellow house (which is more closely inline with the term 'trance' at it's base root). Tempest can back me up on this one. Oh, and if you're looking for albums, Bunkka is not the droids you are looking for. That was much more of a mainstream album. I still hear "Ready, Steady, Go" on TV commercials today. I'd recommend looking for any of his Essential Mix stuff - these are bootlegs mostly, but it's all ripped from BBC Radio 1 and are pretty good quality. This all happened back in about 1999, so you might recognize some of the (now dated) tracks. I have a 3 hour set from him at Creamfields... just some awesome mixing in there.

Chicane. Actually is DJ /producer Nick Bracegirdle. Almost as mellow as mellow gets. Behind the Sun is a great album and almost none of the tracks disappoint.

Dave Clarke. Ayanami should know this one from his brother, who actually turned me on to him. Clean, deep bass hits abound here so if you don't like that, stay away. Devil's Advocate is the album I'm playing the most from him. My favorite track is "What Was Her Name?" because the lyrics flow pretty good with the beat and sound. "Disgraceland" is a three minute romp against modern society. "Someone asked me yesterday/What's the history of pop?/What's it all about?/It's all about..what?/The sound of the city collapsing?/Give me something new in rock 'n roll./Punk with a pogo." Well, you get the idea.

DJ Sammy. As cliche as this will sound, after "Heaven" hit mainstream radio (wow that is embarrassing to type) I found the album of the same name. Double disc set, all tracks of some of the best dance/house I've heard in a while. A lot of people think Sammy is short/nickname for Samantha and DJ Sammy is actually a guy named Samuel from Spain. "Boys of Summer" is worth checking out if you liked the cover by The Ataris at all.

Mauro Picotto. Like Dave Clarke, heavy on the bass hits at times. Friend in an old Tribes clan turned me onto him. His stuff is mostly big club beats, he did a stint at Ibiza and is now back in native Italy running his own club. Keep that in mind, he's mostly mixing for huge clubs (Ibiza has a 10,000 person capacity).

Post by **Ayanami** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 7:32 pm

Not a fan of Oakenfold. I don't think he is good as everyone says he is.

The Chemical Brothers are the best electronic band evar. At least from what I have heard. (Which isn't much to be honest.) But still, you won't hear any thing quite like them as far as electronica goes.

Daft Punk is another favorite of mine. Human After All is a let down, but Discovery and Homework are phenomenal. If you like electronica or techno as some call it. You owe it to your self to pick up one of those two albums.

Post by **Albator** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 7:34 pm

Good title.

The only thing I would disagree with is Paul Oakenfold, he's not all that great if you ask me, I find his music messy. Starry Eyes Surprise was a nice bit though.

I'm still in love with Daft Punk. Their last album (I think they retired) is not that great but still contain some perls, but all the albums before that are must-have in my book. It's not everyday that you find electronic albums worst buying consistenly. I could add more artists to the list but it's more like one-hits wonder.

And mainstream can be good sometimes. I know it's all cool to not be mainstream, but some stuffs are good, they are just submerged in overall mediocrity and pushy publicity campaigns.

EDIT: shit Ayanami beat me to it and say the same thing as me. Get the fuck out of here, make me look mainstream!

Post by **Sandman** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 7:42 pm

Prodigy is that Electronica, because if it is.... I am the fire starta, twisted fire starta..... they rock ass..... smack my bitch up that was great

Post by **Ayanami** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 7:46 pm

Prodigy is considered Electronica. And they are pretty good too if you ask me.

Good to see another Daft Punk fan. Discovery owns so much, I play that disc a whole bunch. And.... is it true that they are retired? That would suck very much so.

Post by **Daedelus** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 8:12 pm

Ayanami, I'm curious as to what Oakenfold you've heard. I know I've given you one or two of the EMs but I can't remember what else besides China. Bunnka doesn't count.

I also don't see The Chemical Brothers as god's gift to Electronica. They're good but I definately don't see them as the best.

Daft Punk is alright. I can listen to an album now and again.

Remember kids, electronica is a VERY broad genre. It's like saying "rock". The Prodigy is definately electronica. Probably post-punk or if you want Brit-punk.

Post by **halfnhalf** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 8:44 pm

so is benny bessani in this category?

/edit i got quite a few songs from daft punk and chemical brothers

Post by **Devil_Dante** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 8:52 pm

Paul Oakenfold is nice yes, I liked : greece 2000, dream traveler, hallucinogen, hypnotised, but these ones are old, I haven't heard anything new of him yet...

I prefer Paul van Dyk, the german dj. He is considered to one of the world's best trance dj's. few albums like politics of dancing 1 & 2, Seven ways, ...
I consider him as an original dj, his melodies are different from other dj's. His greatest hit was "for an angel".

And then there is Dj Tiesto. He is from Holland. I like him the most, especially his "In search of sunrise 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5". He brings out good music, but he fails at mixing tracks on cd's. Thats why most people prefere him live.

Armin van Buuren: Very nice trance dj, he does the weekly "A state of trance", with the latest trance tracks, and it owns. He is allready at Asot 245 or something, but much people say the first 100 were the best.

Airwave? both dj and producer I guess. Best tracks are "I want to believe", "Lady blue", "lightspeed"... but then again these are also old.

Orbital can be consider electronica too? I loved their track "halcyon", it made me really fly away.

And Prodigy, these dudes offer a wide variation of music. They might be considered to be "Trendsetters". I like most of their tracks, but some of them really cross the line.

Daft Punk are nice too, although I think their older tracks are better than the new ones.

Post by **Ayanami** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 9:12 pm

I have heard a lot of the EMs. China and another I can not remember are my personal favs. I am just not blown away by Oakenfold like a lot of other dudes are.

I like Drum and Base and Jungle. But it has actually been a while since I have gone out and grabed some CDs of stuff. So I am definitely not the authority on the electronica as a whole.

Post by **Daedelus** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 10:42 pm

Oakie hasn't put out any new albums himself in a while, at least that I've seen around. He might have stuff in the UK that has never made the jump though. He spends most of his time producing for his label, Planet Perfecto. I actually went to a show Oakie did at the State Theater in Detroit back in 2002 (I think that's about right) and the whole show including the openers was nothing but 8 hours of energy. Oakie definitely knows how to play a crowd and definitely did a better job than the other DJs there. I'd have to see the bill to remember who the hell they were. Unfortunately I missed the last time he came stateside in 2004... closest he got here was Chicago IIRC.

I left van Dyk off the list, and hoped that someone would mention him. He's also in on the three hour EM I have at Creamfields. He is definitely a master of his craft, and one of the originals.

As to Tiesto, I unfortunately haven't been able to get a lot of tracks from him. I have heard that his recorded stuff isn't that great. Seems like he is excellent at living in the moment of his mixing.

Post by **Albator** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 11:45 pm

I wanted to mention all these guys you talked about and more, as I have tracks of all of them. Nobody talked about Scooter by the way, it's pretty simplistic but enjoyable nonetheless. The thing is I would never buy an album of these guys, only Daft Punk as of now. That's why I put them up there. THey produce few, but quality (did anybody have this movie they did with Leiji Matsumoto, Interstella 5555? It's like they did Discovery for this only purpose! Genius.). All the others guys put out an assload of tracks of variable quality, lots of remixes, to the point it's hard to follow and get boring.

Oh yeah I forgot one that I have the albums: Fatboy Slim, but it gets old as well when he started being known and putting out a new album every month.

Website · Post by **Damien** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 1:56 am

Armin van buuren, Dj aligator, Dj sammy, Armin van helden, ATB, the prodigy, I like house, progressive, Trance, electronica, so on and so forth.

Post by **Pikachupast** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 7:39 am

My favourites Brooklyn Bounce, and there are too Paul Van Dyck, Dj Tiesto, Carl Coxx...

Post by **MournfulWoods** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 11:06 am

I love the song The Test by The Chemical Brothers and Richard Ashcroft, but I didn'T lsiten to enough electronica music to know any other song that I enjoy as much.

I don't know if that's electronica music to you but I also like teardrop and Angel by Massive Attack.

and of course classics such as the Blade song, and some Matrix songs. Conga fury ? That was a nice one. Also the MK2 Soundtrack.

Post by **Devil_Dante** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 2:35 pm

I didn't knew Oakenfold did Planet Perfecto

And for scooter, I like their beats and stuff, but that dude who sings ruins EVERYTHING. He tries to play with the audience, but he fails miserably IMO.

And moby? he does electronic right? I like a few of his tracks like "Go".
Faithless has a few electronical tracks too, like "insomnia" and "God is a DJ"

And for the people who haven't listened to Tiesto yet, try In search of Sunrise 4. It's a mixed compilation by tiesto of various tracks from various artists, I would recommend them to everybody.

Anybody got a favorite track? "I think Cafe del mar" is definitely one of my favorites.

Post by **Daedelus** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:23 pm

Cafe del Mar has found its way onto a couple of my playlists now and again. I usually save it for summer, I play more high energy stuff then.

Right now I'm playing mellow stuff. Real chill, seeing as the end of the semester is coming and summer is a week away.

Moby is definately electronica. Been playing that a bit lately. My mom is actually a huge fan, oddly enough. I know for a fact right now that Hotel is one of the discs in her CD changer - and I haven't been home in over a month!

Post by **Tempest** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 7:29 pm

Moby for me is kind of hit or miss. I loved pretty much the entire "Play" album, but I just wasn't feeling "18" at all, with the exception of like 3 songs.

Post by **The Fallen** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 8:23 pm

Im with devil dante on this one. Tiesto, Airwave, Prodigy. Id also say that Oakenfold and Van Dyke are always safe bets if you are looking for something that anyone can listen to. Moby is good too, you just have to be in the mood for it. I think my favorite electronica album was by DJ epic, anyone evere heard of him?

Post by **Devil_Dante** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 3:30 pm

The Fallen wrote:Im with devil dante on this one. Tiesto, Airwave, Prodigy. Id also say that Oakenfold and Van Dyke are always safe bets if you are looking for something that anyone can listen to. Moby is good too, you just have to be in the mood for it. I think my favorite electronica album was by DJ epic, anyone evere heard of him?

No I haven't, but if you like Tiesto, airwave & Prodigy, I'm willing to follow your advice. What was the name of that album?

ANybody knows Marco V? He's rather famous in the netherlands. He's got tracks like "Solarize", "C/del*mp3" and "scorpio". He is more techno than trance though.

Oh btw, A State Of Trance 2006 (2 cd compilation) is out (from armin van buuren). If you don't know it, I suggest you d/l or buy it.

Post by **Daedelus** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 5:19 pm

Devil_Dante wrote:Oh btw, A State Of Trance 2006 (2 cd compilation) is out (from armin van buuren). If you don't know it, I suggest you d/l or buy it.

Already 6 steps ahead of you. Not a bad set at all.

Post by **Devil_Dante** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 6:52 pm

Daedelus wrote:
Devil_Dante wrote:Oh btw, A State Of Trance 2006 (2 cd compilation) is out (from armin van buuren). If you don't know it, I suggest you d/l or buy it.
Already 6 steps ahead of you. Not a bad set at all.

few ups and downs. But some tracks are a bit too slow. Asot 2005 Dark is better, no?

Post by **The Fallen** » Mon May 01, 2006 4:18 am

Name of the Album is DJ Epic: "Pandora". Check it out if you get a chance.