# The Essential Music Library: Electronica **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 17, 2005, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-electronica/331458 "2005-11-17T05:04:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-electronica/331458/21 "2005-11-19T06:21:43Z")
I don’t know if all of this fits into the concept of electronica, but it’s all electronic, so here are some of my favorites (one or two have been mentioned above, so I’m seconding these) … **The Echoing Green** The Winter of our Discontent **Iris** Awakening **Covenant** Northern Light **Anything Box** Worth **Depeche Mode** Violator **Depeche Mode** Black Celebration **mesh** Who Watches Over Me? **VNV Nation** Empires **Assemblage 23** Failure **Apoptygma Berzerk** Welcome to Earth **Empirion** Advanced Technology **BT** Movement in Still Life ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-electronica/331458/22 "2005-11-19T15:37:06Z")
FWIW, **Interface** , I was going to recommend _Movements in Still Life_ as well. Considering the first half the album is Big Beat and the rest is more hardcore clubby, I think it goes into the generic Electronica genre rather than Dance, altho you could make the case for that as well. ---
**Author:** ![who\_me\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/87869e/32.png) [@who\_me\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/who_me_2)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-electronica/331458/23 "2005-11-19T22:41:01Z")
**vco3** see, here’s the way I see it. I’m not a huge electronica fan, and that means that the electronica I _do_ listen to has to be either A) very popular, or B) very influential, like influential enough to goose the cortex of non-electronica musicians. So, while I can’t say anythng about your selections (I’m sure they’re all very fine), please don’t trash talk what I like, K? ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-electronica/331458/24 "2005-11-19T22:54:54Z")
What about **Yaz** and **The Eurythmics**? It’s not like they invented the two-person band idea, but it was kinda new having one singer, and one keyboardist/programmer. Actually, **Yello** and **DAF** were doing it too. Then there’s **Thomas Dolby** who made it cool to do _everything_ yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-electronica/331458/25 "2005-11-19T23:32:56Z")
The whole idea that you can neatly divide music into genres is flawed, IMO, so I doubt that this exercise has much value. For example, you’re lumping together hundreds of years of progress in many different styles under the heading “Classical”, but meanwhile microcategorising contemporary music into “rock”, “modern rock”, “blues”, “new wave”, and so on. Someone born before maybe 1920 might categorise all these recent types of music as “late 20th century pop” or something. Are they really more different from each other than, I don’t know, Palestrina is from Tchaikovsky? ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-electronica/331458/26 "2005-11-19T23:44:31Z")
Apologies, that comment should have been posted in **ultrafilter** ’s main [Essential Music Library: Project Planning](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=335665) thread. I had both threads open, posted to the wrong one. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-electronica/331458/27 "2005-11-19T23:48:19Z")
It’s an interesting discussion, but it probably deserves a thread of its own. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-electronica/331458.md?page=1)