IDM

[abasio]

I have recently become curious of IDM but I know next to nothing about it. I heard a beautiful chillout track recently which I was told was IDM & I'd like to know more.

 

What kind of music is it?

How does it sound?

What albums should I buy?

Why are their album covers so cool?

What does IDM stand for?

 

Any help would be appreciated.

[amphiton]

Intelligent Dance Music. Synonyms: Aphex Twin, early Warp Records releases.

[Snapinho]

I always call it 'IDMbient' ... at least that's the folder's name.

 

There's lost of names: maybe try Telefon Tel Aviv, Ulrich Schnauss, some of Squarepusher's, Autechre's and Aphex's songs count as well, maybe some Bola, Plaid, Wisp and whatnot...

[Otto Matta]

I have recently become curious of IDM but I know next to nothing about it. I heard a beautiful chillout track recently which I was told was IDM & I'd like to know more.

 

What kind of music is it?

How does it sound?

What albums should I buy?

Why are their album covers so cool?

What does IDM stand for?

 

Any help would be appreciated.

583463[/snapback]

There are a couple of people here including myself who could be of great service to you regarding the IDM genre. It's my personal favorite. I know that Astro Cortex is also a fan, with his own set of likes and dislikes.

 

IDM stands for "Intelligent Dance Music", which is sort of silly, but the good stuff backs up the awkward title. I prefer the term "Braindance". It started back in the early nineties and was pioneered by the Rephlex and Warp labels, both of which are still releasing music.

 

As a style it is infamous and somewhat narrowly defined for having a deconstructed sound, similar in form and concept to Deconstructivist architecture, if you're familiar. If not, here's a quick link.

 

The attempt is generally to deconstruct sound, to dismantle it in a way that only computers can, and put it back together in a different logical form. Many of the album covers represent this aesthetic, and are therefore very cool-looking.

 

But not all IDM is abstract. There are different kinds, from heavily abstracted to not very abstracted at all. I prefer the moderately abstracted stuff, with nostalgic, sci-fi melodies and innovative beats.

 

My recommendation to you would be to start with some of the now classic and timeless stuff Warp was releasing in the mid to late 90s, which is still widely available. Here's a small, unbiased list:

 

Autechre - Tri Repetae

Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children

Plaid - Not for Threes

 

And my small, biased list would look like this:

 

Arovane - Atol Scrap

Isan - Meet Next Life

n.Ln - Astronomy for Children

Shuttle358 - Frame

 

If you want to talk more about it with me personally feel free to PM me.

[Frontier Psychiatrist]

Apparat - Deluxe, if you're into melodic, psychedelic and intense IDM

[Guest Astro Cortex]

To me it seems IDM has always been connected to ambient and ambient techno in some way. As I got it, the term (at lesat partially) derives from the "Artifcial Inteligence" phase of Warp records in the early 90s. The music was labelled "intelligent techno" at the time, though some artists (most notably Autechre) avoided the familiar techno (4/4 kick) beat in favour of more intricate rhythm patterns from the very beginning. But as I said, there were still signicficant elements of ambient and techno involved (IDMbient indeed!), and that's why things like HIA or even Plastikman could roughly be classified as IDM too, if you ask me. I could even say that Pete Namlook created his own brand of IDM as well (for abasio: Environmental Atoms!! )

 

The deconstructive aspect developed more and more throughout the years, and that's IDM in narrower sense, I suppose. Just follow the discography of Autechre and you'll see....

 

And Otto, how dare you not mention RRINE - EACIV??

Possibly the best IDM album ever!!! OK, it's impossible to track down, that's why. Damn!

[Otto Matta]

To me it seems IDM has always been connected to ambient and ambient techno in some way. As I got it, the term (at lesat partially) derives from the "Artifcial Inteligence" phase of Warp records in the early 90s. The music was labelled "intelligent techno" at the time, though some artists (most notably Autechre) avoided the familiar techno (4/4 kick) beat in favour of more intricate rhythm patterns from the very beginning. But as I said, there were still signicficant elements of ambient and techno involved (IDMbient indeed!), and that's why things like HIA or even Plastikman could roughly be classified as IDM too, if you ask me. I could even say that Pete Namlook created his own brand of IDM as well (for abasio: Environmental Atoms!! )

 

The deconstructive aspect developed more and more throughout the years, and that's IDM in narrower sense, I suppose. Just follow the discography of Autechre and you'll see....

 

And Otto, how dare you not mention RRINE - EACIV??

Possibly the best IDM album ever!!! OK, it's impossible to track down, that's why. Damn!

583512[/snapback]

Yes, there were and still are some techno elements in the genre - but most electronic genres came from techno, right? I personally think that it took a little while for IDM to solidify into a style, and at that point it didn't want much to do with techno or 4x4 beats. It wanted to be its own thing, and acts like Autechre, Plaid (and its various early entities), Boards of Canada and HIA were among the solidifiers. Namlook's music (and Plastikman's, for that matter), although great, to me never really strayed from that point shortly before IDM solidified. Which is fine, but I don't consider it definitive IDM, which in my ears is constantly striving to redefine the structure of electronic music.

 

So to me the deconstructive element is not as narrow as it is definitive.

 

And yeah, EACIV is a great album, but hopelessly unavailable. My Atol Scrap recommendation is the closest thing from what I've heard.

[Guest Elysium]

Intelligent Dance Music. Synonyms: Aphex Twin, early Warp Records releases.

583490[/snapback]

Warp just joined Beatport.com so I look forward to see a lot of their old catalogue getting re-relased there soon

 

To me Warp is one of the true experimenting labels who's never afraid of being different.

[Time_Trap]

Warp just joined Beatport.com so I look forward to see a lot of their old catalogue getting re-relased there soon

 

To me Warp is one of the true experimenting labels who's never afraid of being different.

583529[/snapback]

 

true

 

 

 

I prefer the most atmospherical/chilly IDM usually, such as Displacer or Dither.. From my listening experience, most IDM has a lot of downtempo/ambient/drone elements as well as breakcore/noisecore part sometimes.

I do enjoy the most experimental stuff sometimes, such as Richard Devine, released in Warp .

 

 

check:

 

All 3 Dither albums

 

Displacer - Moon Phase

Displacer - Arroyo

 

Ch.District - Slides

 

Detritus - Origin

 

Richard Devine - Cautella

[Sawfly]

For melodic IDM check out:

 

Christian Kleine - Beyond Repair

Funckarma - Solid State

Kettel - My Dogan

Ulrich Schnauss - Far Away Trains Passing By

Yasume - Where We're From The Birds Sing A Pretty Song

[el brujo]

well the best way to get into and hear what it is

get Warp records releases

and there is also a great book about the label

check out their website which is a cool one too

and I have some IDM head friends

and I cant believe how many millions of releases they got

and there is a very big variety in releases

sometimes gets too experimental for me

especially like Autechre who is the master of this genre

some tunes I can listen or even love and some cant listen to 2 minutes

[Guest Astro Cortex]

Yes, there were and still are some techno elements in the genre - but most electronic genres came from techno, right? I personally think that it took a little while for IDM to solidify into a style, and at that point it didn't want much to do with techno or 4x4 beats. It wanted to be its own thing, and acts like Autechre, Plaid (and its various early entities), Boards of Canada and HIA were among the solidifiers. Namlook's music (and Plastikman's, for that matter), although great, to me never really strayed from that point shortly before IDM solidified. Which is fine, but I don't consider it definitive IDM, which in my ears is constantly striving to redefine the structure of electronic music.

 

So to me the deconstructive element is not as narrow as it is definitive.

583522[/snapback]

Yep. Most of today's IDM is definitive indeed, it solidified, as you called it. Still, there's a lot of stuff in between, i.e. it's somewhere in between IDM and ambient and/or techno. What about Reagenz for insatance? I wouldn't call that a pure ambient album, it has lots of IDM-ish elements and yet it's quite different from "modern" IDM. Along with that, I could mention Incunabula or HIA's Freefloater. Maybe that's all "oldschool IDM" or something

And then, what about David Reeves? That mysterious artist made some really unconventional music in the mid 90s, but I have no clue whether to call it IDM or just experimantal ambient. It's definitely something unique.

 

So, my point is just that the line becomes quite blurry if you go back in time (from now to early 90s), regardless of the artists' intention to solidify the style. Again, the development of Autechre's music is a good example.

[Rotwang]

I'm a huge fan of Autechre, but that's really the only IDM I listen to... everything else I hear just sounds lame in comparison (I would love to be proved wrong about this... is there anything I should check out?).

 

If you want to get into Autechre's IDM stuff I would suggest getting Chiastic slide and Cichlisuite first.

[abasio]

Thanks for all the tips guys!!

I'll go & check some of these out.

[Otto Matta]

Yep. Most of today's IDM is definitive indeed, it solidified, as you called it. Still, there's a lot of stuff in between, i.e. it's somewhere in between IDM and ambient and/or techno. What about Reagenz for insatance? I wouldn't call that a pure ambient album, it has lots of IDM-ish elements and yet it's quite different from "modern" IDM. Along with that, I could mention Incunabula or HIA's Freefloater. Maybe that's all "oldschool IDM" or something

And then, what about David Reeves? That mysterious artist made some really unconventional music in the mid 90s, but I have no clue whether to call it IDM or just experimantal ambient. It's definitely something unique.

 

So, my point is just that the line becomes quite blurry if you go back in time (from now to early 90s), regardless of the artists' intention to solidify the style. Again, the development of Autechre's music is a good example.

583543[/snapback]

Good points. Yeah, I would definitely put those albums into the "old school" of IDM, which to me is a VERY interesting time in electronic music. I've been avidly listening to music for a loooooong time and I've never heard similar chord, melody or rhythm structures. B12 stands out for me as an act that really put the hardcore sci-fi spin on melodic structure. I'm sure there were others.

 

abasio - If you're interested in this old school sound, two very popular disks that played a big role in solidifying this sound are the Artificial Intelligence I and II disks from Warp that Astro mentioned. Again, they're widely available.

 

I'm a huge fan of Autechre, but that's really the only IDM I listen to... everything else I hear just sounds lame in comparison (I would love to be proved wrong about this... is there anything I should check out?).

 

If you want to get into Autechre's IDM stuff I would suggest getting Chiastic slide and Cichlisuite first.

583620[/snapback]

I totally agree. Chiastic Slide was my first Autechre album and it totally blew me away at the time - changed my way of listening to music altogether. That and HIA's Freefloater. I might also recommend the Envane EP for a similar sound. I don't understand people's interest in their earlier albums like Incunabula and Amber, which to me sound pretty nasty.

[Guest Astro Cortex]

Good points.  Yeah, I would definitely put those albums into the "old school" of IDM, which to me is a VERY interesting time in electronic music. I've been avidly listening to music for a loooooong time and I've never heard similar chord, melody or rhythm structures. B12 stands out for me as an act that really put the hardcore sci-fi spin on melodic structure. I'm sure there were others.

 

abasio - If you're interested in this old school sound, two very popular disks that played a big role in solidifying this sound are the Artificial Intelligence I and II disks from Warp that Astro mentioned. Again, they're widely available.

I totally agree. Chiastic Slide was my first Autechre album and it totally blew me away at the time - changed my way of listening to music altogether. That and HIA's Freefloater. I might also recommend the Envane EP for a similar sound. I don't understand people's interest in their earlier albums like Incunabula and Amber, which to me sound pretty nasty.

583846[/snapback]

Yay, B12 are great! I don't get why they're so underrated. Their two albums are splendid examples of early IDMbient techno, Time Tourist in particular.

 

But what's nasty about the early Autechre sound?? Per, you're puzzling man!

[Sawfly]

Amber is great, but I don't really like Incunabula that much although it has a couple of really great tracks; Eggshell & 444

 

edit: My fav. AE's are Tri Repetae and Draft 7.30

[Otto Matta]

But what's nasty about the early Autechre sound??   Per, you're puzzling man!

583885[/snapback]

It's just nasty. Autechre's gifts are with rhythms and sculpture of sound. They lack proficiency with melody, and the early stuff is pretty bad in my opinion.

 

Jackson Pollack couldn't draw, but he figured out a way to make groundbreaking art anyway. Same with Autechre and melody.

[Guest Astro Cortex]

It's just nasty. Autechre's gifts are with rhythms and sculpture of sound. They lack proficiency with melody, and the early stuff is pretty bad in my opinion.

 

Jackson Pollack couldn't draw, but he figured out a way to make groundbreaking art anyway. Same with Autechre and melody.

583915[/snapback]

Same problem as with Aphex then, right?

[Otto Matta]

Same problem as with Aphex then, right?

583920[/snapback]

Actually, I've been slowly but surely warming up to James' music. I still find his early ambient collections completely and horrifyingly unlistenable, but I've heard some tracks he did later that are truly elegant and beautiful. In other words, he knows how to draw, but sometimes, for some reason, he forgets. Or maybe he's like Picasso, who in my opinion was a crap sculptor but a great painter, and James can't sculpt.

[Time_Trap]

I can't see why you don't like Amber.

The melodies there are very nice,nostalgic,melancholic in my opinion.

[Otto Matta]

I can't see why you don't like Amber.

The melodies there are very nice,nostalgic,melancholic in my opinion.

583940[/snapback]

To me they weren't quite competent yet, but were getting there. Later releases attest to that. FMP.

[seraph]

IDM INPUT :

 

KEY ALBUMS :

 

APHEX TWIN - SELECTED AMBIENT WORKS

APHEX TWIN - I CARE BECAUSE YOU DO

APHEX TWIN - RICHARD D. JAMES ALBUM

APHEX TWIN - DRUKQS

 

AUTECHRE - TRI REPETAE

AUTECHRE - INCUNABULA

AUTECHRE - DRAFT 7.30

AUTECHRE - AMBER

 

MONOLAKE - MOMENTUM

MONOLAKE - HONG KONG

MONOLAKE - INTERSTATE

MONOLAKE - CINEMASCOPE

 

TWO LONE SWORDSMEN - SWIMMING NOT SKINNING

TWO LONE SWORDSMEN - STAY DOWN

TWO LONE SWORDSMEN - TINY REMINDERS

 

BOARDS OF CANADA - GEOGADDI

BOARDS OF CANADA - MUSIC HAS THE RIGHT TO CHILDREN

 

SQUAREPUSHER - HARD NORMAL DADDY

SQUAREPUSHER - FEED ME WEIRD THINGS

 

MURCOF - MARTES

MURCOF - REMEMBRANZA

 

THE BLACK DOG - SPANNERS

 

PURE - NOONBUGS

COH - MASK OF BIRTH

HECKER - SUN PANDEMONIUM

KID 606 - DOWN WITH THE SCENE

[abasio]

Thanks for the recommendations guys. Today I bought

 

Ulrich Schnauss - Far Away Trains Passing By (2CD)

Just listened to the 1st CD which was very nice

 

Kettel - My Dogan

Which I am listening to now & has started off very cool indeed.

 

&

Autechre - Tri Repetae++

[Frontier Psychiatrist]

Thanks for the recommendations guys. Today I bought

 

Ulrich Schnauss - Far Away Trains Passing By (2CD)

Just listened to the 1st CD which was very nice

 

 

Amazing artist though i can't really label him as an IDM artist, for me he only continues where BT stopped and moved to cheese. Very simple structures and sound yet very sweet melodies.