Pretty Hate Machine is certainly an electronic album. Portishead I am unsure how much of it is electronic and how much instrumental. Machines of Loving Grace, particular concentration is a heavily rock album, though I agree it’s an amazing album, their best on IMO. Depeche Mode - Violator is the first CD i ever had, and it’s always an amazing album.
Darth Nader Music to Play in the Dark is great, but not something I would instantly think of to listen to.
Air is certainly a great band as well.
I’ll give an honorable mention to Alien Sex Fiend who puts on a great live show. They were the last thing I saw at Coney Island High here in the city. They are on tour this summer with 6.16 in NYC.
When I made my list, I was ignoring artists like Portishead & NIN because I was thinking of them as different genres. I was going for a narrower definition of electronic.
But I want to make it clear that I’m not arguing against these choices. I’m not looking to turn the thread into a discussion of what constitutes electronic. That’s less interesting than seeing everyone’s list. And the lists show a pretty amazing diversity.
Yeah, I debated putting KMFDM in for that reason, but Symbols is a highly electronic album. In Industrial circles, KMFDM, NIN and Machines of Loving Grace would be considered, “Coldwave”, which is like metal mixed with electronics.
I would assume that someone who mentioned Lou Reed, Mike Oldfield, and Pink Floyd probably has at least a passing knowledge of who Todd Rundgren is, but I could be wrong because it’s obvious from the other lists listed here that the majority of y’all posting are under 35. I imagine my list betrays my age, but considering that all the albums I listed were made within 5 years of the invention of the first Moog synth, I guess my list could be considered Roots Electronica. Some of you youngins’ might want to check out some of the stuff I listed if you want to hear where it all started.
Yeah, seriously. I saw Infected Mushroom live at Webster Hall in NYC last night, and although their performance was great (it was my first electronic show, so I had no idea what to expect…for being electronic, they had a great guitarist, as well an electric drum kit and a keyboardest whose fingers looked like they should have fallen off within the first 10 minutes) but otherwise it was probably the WORST concert I’ve ever been to. Webster Hall tries to double as a dance club (you need a colored wristband to enter the concert hall) and between the ravers and concert goers, it was well beyond the fire marshall’s limits. Not to mention how cramped that place is, especially on the stairs. Also the AC was dead, and they were charging $5 for tap water. And the show was supposed to start at 11 but they didn’t even open the doors until 1230…and when we tried to inquire what was going on, we were rudely told to ‘mind your business and wait upstairs or feel free to LEAVE’. When the doors finally did open, there was a stampede that almost turned into a The Who in Cincy incident. And we get inside only to have a really really lame DJ ‘perform’ for 90 min straight. Rumors started flying that Infected Mushroom wasn’t even performing and the club was trying to tire the concertgoers out so we would leave rather than riot or demand refunds. So FINALLY they go on at 2am…and in a way, it was still worth it. I need to start a new thread on worst concert experiences…
Viciouse Delicious definitely deserves to be on the list, btw.
Numbered only so I know I got to ten, but in no particular order:
Air - *Moon Safari * (it’s the classic for me, while all their other albums are impressive enough, I adore the first one best)
Assemblage 23 - Storm
Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92
Pet Shop Boys - Very
Sterolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup
**Doktor Kosmos ** - I’m having a hard time picking one in particular. I’m almost feeling cheeky enough to say Cocktail, but not quite. I’ll just let it hang there.
KMFDM - I’ll go with Symbols, but I’m fast becoming a big fan of Hau Ruck.
Pig - Toss up between *Geniune American Monster * and Praise the Lard.
Ministry - yeah, I’ll get behind Twitch. Heh.
There are so many other good bands out there to choose from, but because I haven’t seen them mentioned, and I know it’s cheeeeeeeese, but I’ll throw them a bone: Razed in Black - Damaged. There, I said it. You know my horrible guilty pleasure.
I’m using a fairly loose definition of electronic for this list, as likely noted.
If they ever do come back around this way again, I would highly recommend seeing them, just as long as it’s a venue you’re familiar with…I can personally vouch for the Bowery Ballroom, NorthSix, Southpaw, Warsaw, Roseland (although that place has crazy expensive drinks too), The Knitting Factory, and Nokia (probably my favorite venue in the city now) within NYC as places I could see them playing at. Irving Plaza used to be fine (although that wooden floor gets pretty uncomfortable to stand/mosh on after a while) but since The Fillmore took it over, I have no idea how they’re running things now.
For the record, this was the setlist:
Riders on the Storm (The Doors cover)
Cities of the Future
Deeply Disturbed
(brand new song)
Muse Breako RMX
Suliman
IM the Supervisor (brought out these neon umbrella dancers, who stuck around for the rest of the main set)
Becoming Insane
Vicious Delicious
Special Place
I Wish (WAY WAY more rocking an intense live than on the album!)
I can’t think of ten, but I am surprised that **Crystal Method ** didn’t make anyone’s lists.
**Crystal Method ** Las Vegas
ProdigyFat Of The Land
**Chemical Brothers ** Dig Your Own Hole
KMFDMSymbols
NINPretty Hate Machine, Downard Spiral * and Broken*
That’s about the extent of my knowledge as far as full length electronica recordings go. I have a few compilation CD’s with the likes of the Propellerheads, Atari Teenage Riot, etc on there that I like a lot but I don’t own any of their full-length stuff.
