7 Most Influential Electronica Artists

[Spindrift]

I didn't read the whole thread but I saw Skinny Puppy mentioned, and I must say for me personally they was the biggest inspiration I had to start making psychedelic electronic music.

Of course frontline assembly and Front242 has not to be forgotten, and I'm glad to see that they obviously are not.

 

I don't know if they was mentioned before in this thread, but FSOL influence on acid and later trance was huge.

Their Stakker Humanoid was the most defining track for the acid scene at the time and did a lot to shape the sound of countless producers.

Mental Cube - Q is another example of one of their many projects which was setting the standards for how psychedelic dance music should sound.

 

KLF is another group that did a lot. Apart from obviously being one of the founders of ambient music they influenced the acid scene on a massive scale with "What Time Is Love".

And of top of that I would say they are pretty much responsible for eurotrance.

Without KLF there simply would not have been any technotronic and snap, for better or for worse.

 

Small mention when it comes to psytrance should go to the new beat producers in the end of the 80s.

For example Lords of acid, miss nikky traxx & mac sample.

And of course the track that started the whole new beat scene and probably did more to define goa morning music than any other single track...the pitched down remix of A Split Second and Flesh.

[Snapinho]

Bumped for great-thread-ness.

[Malevol3nt]

I totally agree with your first post here seraph.

And aphex twin really is one of the most diverse artists there is, I love his earlier works, I just ignore the bad masters and enjoy the music

[jivamukti]

Kraftwerk - inspiration for tons of producers

Aphex Twin - need I say more?

The Prodigy - one of the original big names

Leftfield - started progressive house

BT - had a great impact on trance

[rino]

I won't bitch, too much that is. Seraph's original post pretty much adequately summed up some of the greatest names and their influence on modern and contemporary electronic music.

However, it is down right blasphemous to include Plastikman AKA Richie Hawtin on this list and miss out on at least one of Detroit's godfathers of techno music. Remember, and don't forget, that whilst unquestionably very talented, mr. Hawtin belongs to the second generation of those legendary Detroit giants (even though he's a Canadian), but it's very questionable where would he stand today if it wasn't for the likes of Underground Resistance (Hood, Mad Mike Banks, Mills), D. May, Kevin Saunderson, Atkins to pave the path for him!

[Otto Matta]

I won't bitch, too much that is. Seraph's original post pretty much adequately summed up some of the greatest names and their influence on modern and contemporary electronic music.

However, it is down right blasphemous to include Plastikman AKA Richie Hawtin on this list and miss out on at least one of Detroit's godfathers of techno music. Remember, and don't forget, that whilst unquestionably very talented, mr. Hawtin belongs to the second generation of those legendary Detroit giants (even though he's a Canadian), but it's very questionable where would he stand today if it wasn't for the likes of Underground Resistance (Hood, Mad Mike Banks, Mills), D. May, Kevin Saunderson, Atkins to pave the path for him!

True.

 

And as far as IDM/electronica is concerned, there's really no underestimating the influence that Boards of Canada has had on the genre. I know they were mentioned once in this thread, but I felt like repeating it. It's really difficult to read an electronica review or article without a reference to BoC. It's annoying to me, but it's true. I'm not saying they should be on the top 10 list, but I think they've overtaken both Autechre and definitely Aphex Twin for overall influence.

[Oopie]

I won't bitch, too much that is. Seraph's original post pretty much adequately summed up some of the greatest names and their influence on modern and contemporary electronic music.

However, it is down right blasphemous to include Plastikman AKA Richie Hawtin on this list and miss out on at least one of Detroit's godfathers of techno music. Remember, and don't forget, that whilst unquestionably very talented, mr. Hawtin belongs to the second generation of those legendary Detroit giants (even though he's a Canadian), but it's very questionable where would he stand today if it wasn't for the likes of Underground Resistance (Hood, Mad Mike Banks, Mills), D. May, Kevin Saunderson, Atkins to pave the path for him!

so very true. thanks for saving my time writing the same thing

[yohankiwi]

I can't believe no one's mentioned DJ Shadow!!! Endtroducing... had a MASSIVE impact on the electronica scene when it came and paved the way for many more artists who would experiment with sample based music (RJD2, Amon Tobin etc etc)

 

Also Portishead, along with massive attack (who've already been mentioned) were exceedingly influential with their release Dummy. Look at just about every band with a DJ and a female singer and they will almost always recognise portishead as an major influence

 

St Germain is another one. Boulevard and tourist were the single biggest influences on the nu jazz scene IMO

[Hippieshaman]

Kraftwerk

Jean-Michel Jarre

Aphex Twin

The Prodigy

Deep Forest

Enigma

Enya

 

some mixed genres here but, what the hell, they are all great

[Jikkenteki]

I can't believe no one's mentioned DJ Shadow!!! Endtroducing... had a MASSIVE impact on the electronica scene when it came and paved the way for many more artists who would experiment with sample based music (RJD2, Amon Tobin etc etc)

Endtroducing was quite popular when it came out, but there wasn't that much "groundbreaking" about it. Amon Tobin was already active then (this first release as Amon Tobin was released the same month that Endtroducing came out, but we worked under the name Cujo for a few years before that). Popular, very much so, but influential? I'm not so sure. I think that Dummy was probably more influential than Endtroducing

[Jikkenteki]

double post

[seraph]

I won't bitch, too much that is. Seraph's original post pretty much adequately summed up some of the greatest names and their influence on modern and contemporary electronic music.

However, it is down right blasphemous to include Plastikman AKA Richie Hawtin on this list and miss out on at least one of Detroit's godfathers of techno music. Remember, and don't forget, that whilst unquestionably very talented, mr. Hawtin belongs to the second generation of those legendary Detroit giants (even though he's a Canadian), but it's very questionable where would he stand today if it wasn't for the likes of Underground Resistance (Hood, Mad Mike Banks, Mills), D. May, Kevin Saunderson, Atkins to pave the path for him!

You are most definitely right about everything you've said, but Richie IS Richie...

[psydmt]

For me influential electronic artists-digital or analogue or otherwise

 

Orchestral manouvers in the Dark

Skinny Puppy

Chris and Cosy

Controlled Bleeding

Section 25 (For a great basic electronic cd from 1984 listen to looking from the Hilltop)

Portion control

ColourBox (The 4ad band not the more recent one-just listen to Shotgun ep)

Harold Budd

Higher Intelligence agency

Astralasia

 

 

and then many artists from the psy trance movement

[Otto Matta]

Higher Intelligence agency

Me too. Big influence.

[snowball]

steve roach?

pete namlook?

juno reactor?

boris blenn?

eat static?

the orb?

 

just ppl that came through my mind right now

[Bahamut]

why the question marks?

most ppl just mention some favorites anyway...and those first 3 definately belong to my favorites also

 

we gotta define influential: to whom, to what or to your own taste?

and even if we can agree on a definition, it's still hard to say anything meaningful about the degree of influence of a certain artist...it's not like you can measure it

[Otto Matta]

why the question marks?

most ppl just mention some favorites anyway...and those first 3 definately belong to my favorites also

 

we gotta define influential: to whom, to what or to your own taste?

and even if we can agree on a definition, it's still hard to say anything meaningful about the degree of influence of a certain artist...it's not like you can measure it

Well, you can measure it. It's not so much a favorites thing, although a good bit of this thread has some obvious favortism apart from the real answers. There are books on the subject, tracing the history of electronic music and its influences back a couple of centuries. Fun reading, indeed, for those who want to know more about it.

[Snapinho]

Any must-read classics on that subject, Otto?

[el brujo]

I think the one who is missing from the list (I havent seen it maybe its there but anyways)

 

ILHAN MIMAROGLU

probably one of the most influential, original and innovating man in the history of electronic music, his first completely electronic music compositions date back to 1965

He is also reffered by Process (I put this one because of relativeness to the scene) and also people like Jon Anderson who is the lead vocals for the group `Yes`

[Time_Trap]

Morton Subotnick

 

First electronica released ever, i think.

Experimental

Richard Devine has claimed that he has enough influences from him.

 

 

http://www.discogs.com/release/60977

[Bahamut]

Well, you can measure it. It's not so much a favorites thing, although a good bit of this thread has some obvious favortism apart from the real answers. There are books on the subject, tracing the history of electronic music and its influences back a couple of centuries. Fun reading, indeed, for those who want to know more about it.

but people can only make general claims like this and that artist have been very influential to a lot of other artists (based on what these other artist told themselves and how much the music resembles)... it´s hard to get really specific about this subject especially if we talk about electronic music in general, so these lists are still largely subjective IMO

[seraph]

Morton Subotnick

 

First electronica released ever, i think.

Experimental

Don't know about him, have to check it out...

[rino]

I appreciate all of your guys knowledge and output, but I think some of you are making somewhat a mistake: you seem to be confusing the first and the most influental! It is not the same thing, naturally. The mere fact somebody was there first does not necessarily make him the best or most influental; it only makes him the first... Countless are situations where the pupil exceeded the teacher, right?

Morton Subotnick, Ilhan Mimaroglu and others are all pioneers, but they've been outmatched in their own game plenty of times. Which of coarse, does not diminish their overall importance in the history of electronic music, but it does not make them (IMHO) prime examples of the style.

I once read an article about this guy who already in the sixties went around, recording various sounds, and then cutting & pasting the tape at home, in order to create music. My point is, this guy is so unknown, that I even menaged to forget his name, but the shit he was doing back then was outta this world. He use to come up with music from recording the world around him. Back in the sixties!!! And he probably had no match. You barely ever hear electronic music heads speak about him, but this guy used to mess around with sampling before sampling existed... Get it?

Anyways, some great names in this list, man!

[Otto Matta]

Any must-read classics on that subject, Otto?

The one book I read on the subject was The Ambient Century by Mark Prendergast. The title is misleading, because although Eno is highlighted, the book covers all major electronic genres up until about 2000. What I found most valuable was a discussion on the influences from classical music, the development and innovations in electronic music technology, and all the major artists in the 20th century who have done interesting things with it. It's not a perfect book and gets hazy with its info towards Y2K - and it totally disses psytrance. A good read though.