POSSE! YOU KEEP THE SPIRIT ALIVE! It's the 1990s ELECTRONIC ALBUMS poll results!

Right, checked up:

It was 'nominating' I didn't do.

Fair enough, you guys know what qualifies and what doesn't, and I'm here to pick the ones I likes.

I expected there to be a fair bit of Warp in this poll but not for it to dominate to this extent.

higher echelons though Matt. Orbital/Prodigy etc will dominate.

and ..

Burger/Ink - Las Vegas (Harvest, 1996)
101 points, 5 votes, 1 first place vote.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/lasvegas.jpeg

http://open.spotify.com/album/2e9288yxNdFTCKO6MitcDy

Burger/Ink's Las Vegas is unstoppable, easily one of the best dance full-lengths ever release.

― Bill in Chicago, 28. huhtikuuta 2007 1:06

[las vegas]by Burger/Ink, one of the best albums of the 90's and still sounds so fresh. I think Kompakt could release it now and it would still seem brand new.

― jed_ (jed), 21. marraskuuta 2004 17:51

there's a palpable difference between wolfgang voigt being lazy (gas) and burger/ink: las vegas

the main difference being laziness, which tends to plague a lot of ambient music. just because it doesn't have beats and lyrics doesn't mean you can get away with being boring on purpose, or that all concepts hold water (TOMBOT: granular synthesis ate my balls, coming out in 2007)

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), 18. heinäkuuta 2006 17:27

Burger/Ink is essential. For a few years I was buying used copies and giving them to friends. It's that kind of record.

― brotherlovesdub, 27. huhtikuuta 2010 20:02

gotta go home but Gas AND Burger/Ink = I love you guyz <3 <3

― xylyl syzygy (a passing spacecadet), 29. huhtikuuta 2010 18:53

Sorry, that's 27., obviously.

That was my #2, such a timeless, beautiful album... If you were listening to German techno/house/trance around the time, the sounds they're using are actually pretty familiar (both of them had been producing banging dance music before, and Burger kept on doing that for years afterwards, though Ink veered towards more experimental stuff), but what they are doing with those sounds is totally unique and sublime, and I'm not sure if anyone, not even Burger and Ink themselves, has done anything quite like it ever since. Their second duo album that came out this year was certainly a bit of a disappointment.

Burger, btw, co-mixed the new Gudrun Gut album.

absolutely love the burger/ink. so pulsing, and fluid. just masterful.

willing to bet that more or less everything that places above [las vegas] is inferior to it

If I had voted, I think Burger/Ink's Las Vegas may have been my #1--certainly in my top 3.

I just found a pristine vinyl pressing of it a few months back, and it sounds absolutely gorgeous. It's such an expansive record.

I didn't have time to think about voting (sorry Tuomas) but since Las Vegas and Autoditacker placed without me I shall die happy, etc. (Especially if xxxxxxx and xxxxxxxxxxx place.)

It's definitely more electronic than dance per se. I guess that was in the brief.

Can't believe, for instance, Basic Channel was so low, and ranked below 2 (!) FSOL records. Weird.

Proud of myself for not freaking out about where RDJ placed - actually, wait, there are some good tracks there but it's not really a front-to-back essential album is it? *explodes*

Now I wish I had voted more strategically.

Plus already regretting not voting for Model 500's Deep Space, not that it would have placed.

26. The Chemical Brothers - Exit Planet Dust (Junior Boy's Own, 1995)
106 points, 7 votes.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/exitplanetdust.jpeg

'Exit Planet Dust'. Bringing club culture to the masses who thought 'Screamadelica' too indie/arty, creating 'lad culture'.

― tarden, 19. kesäkuuta 2001 3:00

De elpee Exit Planet Dust van Chemical Brothers, dankzij alles wat ze daarna uitbrachten.

― Maurice, 15. marraskuuta 2004 18:18

it's evidently the mid 90s stuff that is now deemed irrelevant and has been re-evaluated in the process. 'Exit Planet Dust' is the prime example (along with 'Leftism' I suppose, Underworld having escaped the expiry date trend gun with more intact). In 1995, a dynamic sonic tour de force with the Chems amalgamating love of JB breaks, European techno, bone-crunching NY electro, psychey/droney folk etc. to excellent effect. In 2005 it's widely seen as a stodgy, amateurish forerunner to better things. Though it's relevancy depends on whether you still see the Chems as influential today. They've moved on from it somewhat (though their album template does remain more or less the same) thus it's hard for me to berate their first effort because as lumpy as it may sound now it's also got the spunk the latter work naturally lacks due to repetition of formulae).

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), 16. elokuuta 2005 15:33

Also I'd say go so far as to say that of the big 90s acts the ones who most successfully made the "dance album" feel like a brilliant idea did so by making the whole record feel like a really awesome DJ mix or live set - Exit Planet Dust, Orbital's Brown album, etc. Obviously the Chemical Brothers went on to make the idea of a "dance album" feel like a terrible idea but hey.

― Homosexual Satan Wasp (Matt DC), 13. toukokuuta 2012 14:50

"Creating lad culture" is a bit harsh but this and Leftism did create the template that produced a few good dance albums and many bad ones - the self-consciously eclectic ones where you call in a variety of guest vocalists. If anything, the bad ones highlight how successfully this hangs together. This sounds somewhat rudimentary next to DYOH but I love it - some gorgeous downtempo tracks here like One Too Many Mornings, Chico's Groove and Alive Alone. So many good memories of the summer of 95.

I have literally never heard of Burger/Ink but clearly I should.

I wish the EP tracks and remixes were easier to find digitally because they were tearing through ideas at a tremendous rate in the couple of years preceding this album. It seemed like there was something from them every month. I saw one of their first ever live dates, supporting Underworld at the Astoria.

>I wish the EP tracks and remixes were easier to find digitally

it's all about this one for me: http://www.discogs.com/Dust-Brothers-Loops-Of-Fury/release/178392

when this came out I was all amped because I thought they were the -real- Dust Brothers. punked!

I can't remember if I voted for Exit Planet Dust or Dig Your Own Hole but the former is a much stronger, much heavier album than I ever remember it as being when I haven't listened to it in a while. Matt is right that it works like a really great DJ set.

This was how I discovered them. Perfect EP - four great songs, each different from the last.

http://www.discogs.com/Dust-Brothers-Fourteenth-Century-Sky-EP/master/274987

I kind of want to say the Chems are underrated? Or maybe just taken for granted? First two albums are classic, next two are not classic but mostly great, not heard anything after that.

Has Skrillex or any of those types repped for the Chems or are they more into "OG HACKAH"?

his and Leftism did create the template that produced a few good dance albums and many bad ones - the self-consciously eclectic ones where you call in a variety of guest vocalists.

Original and Open Up had already been singles, the other vocalists just feel like integral parts of the band/album to me

Nice to see EP7 get some credit (it was also my #3 album, Ledge). I had heard a good deal of Autechre/Gescom at friends' places throughout the mid/late 90s (and loved it), but EP7 was the first thing of theirs that I actually purchased. I'm sure that colors my perspective, but I find it to be the pinnacle of their experimentalism, surpassing the better known LP5, Chiastic Slide, etc. It's not as stately and iconic as say, Tri Repetae, but the sound design on it is just jaw-dropping (the barely audible fade out on 'Squeller', the hyper-caffeinated insectoid shuffling rhythmns on 'Liccflii', etc.). It's just a marvel to dive into with headphones.

Given it's inexplicable status as an EP, it seems destined to remain an underappreciated part of the Autechre canon.

Skrillex is fairly obviously more of a Prodigy man I think. The odds on him appearing on the next Prodigy album must be pretty much zero.

Exit Planet Dust has aged better than most of Dig Your Own Hole, I reckon.

I love a lot of the later stuff that Jorg Burger on Kompakt and as The Modernist but I've never actually heard of Las Vegas. Will be rectifying that as soon as possible. German techno from the 90s has been a bit of a historical blind spot for me.

xp Yes they are integral on Leftism and Planet Dust (although actually Original didn't pre-date the album). I didn't mean those albums weren't good - they're great. But like most templates it starts off as a natural organic thing and then gets travestied by less talented imitators.

love this thread, felt like i wasn't knowledgeable enough to vote and i'm enjoying discovering to the albums i'd never heard before. really loving burger/ink on first listen, right up my alley, can't believe i had never heard this before. it's fantastic !

Put on Exit Planet Dust last night after not hearing it for probably well over 10 years and WOW, it's LOADS more energetic than I remember it. In my mind I'd had it pegged as a downtempo, kind of smokey-pop album with lots of triphop beats, but on the whole it's BANGERS!

Yeah the guest vocalists on Leftism work because the production feels so of-a-piece throughout and it has that DJ set flow throughout as well, by and large. Later attempts by various 90s acts to rope in guest vocalists tended to focus on getting an indie singer in to to the psychedelic one, an undie rapper in to do the vaguely hip-hop one, Hope Sandoval in to do the dreamy one etc etc. But because Leftism is rooted in dub and reggae none of the vocalists feel out of place or shoehorned in, even Lydon.

(Should probably save this discussion for later really)

This ^^^ Fat Of The Land was probably the worst example of it letting an album down.

At least The Fat Of The Land sounded broadly coherent, there are some later Chemical Brothers albums that are all over the place, to the extent you wondered why they were even bothering.

what's up, Fatlip?

It would make me so happy to see Dettinger's amazing Intershop (1999) make this list... It was Kompakt's first single-artist release, and it's still one of the highlights of that entire catalog for me.

Skrillex posted Flim to Facebook, mentioned it was a favorite, his fans were uh nonplussed.

STILL W8IN 4 DA DROP~~WTF SKRIL??

http://fakewalls.com/storage/Skrillex-Aphex-Twin-Facebook.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1326799659144

I hope Skrillex put Tuan Sy Dau down humanely.

i'm going to take the url literally on that being fake

I've been super busy today, I'm not sure if I have the time to post anything. But if not, I'll continue tomorrow and try to finish these results by Friday, so we can get to tracks poll results next week.

It would make me so happy to see Dettinger's amazing Intershop (1999) make this list... It was Kompakt's first single-artist release, and it's still one of the highlights of that entire catalog for me.

Sorry to disappoint you, but this wasn't even nominated.

Really keen on the singles results.

But agree with everything about the Chems here, I felt the same way looking over their records for this.

25. Autechre - LP5 (Warp Records, 1998)
107 points, 4 votes, 1 first place vote.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/lp5.jpeg

http://open.spotify.com/album/7zlbMdBS3J2YQRDuMMT9u4

mindless crap is what my dad said after listening to a bit of LP5 but for me it's great background music and also when your fucked up...

― Kevin Enas, 23. huhtikuuta 2001 3:00

With Autechre, they are still Warp's mainstay tendril in the future of sound, but sort of by default. Booth/Brown's fascination with the "science fiction" aspect of creating music will always throw them forward . Sure, it's hyper-math, but so is the symmetry of the fucking cosmos, you know? The major complaint that I hear most is that their newer stuff is "difficult to listen to," as compared to earlier music. I think that specific major complaint sort of lets us perceive the fact that there is something going on with them...a type of progression, a deliberate evolution of sorts. I know people who couldn't even begin to try to relate to the opening track of LP5 who , (what? how many years later?) , now bop their head to it rhythmically. Maybe the are lost in their maths, maybe we are behind in our adaption to the future of sound. ok, babble babble.

― Gage-o, 24. joulukuuta 2001 3:00

My favorite Autechre is LP5 without a doubt. There's something especially alien about the sounds on that album, but at the same time it has this strange accessibility. When those melodies and beats get in your head, it's hard to get them out. The repetition is never too much as it can be on some other Autechre albums.

― lou, 15. huhtikuuta 2002 3:00

autechre would've been godhead if they retired after LP5.
LP5 would've been pristine if not for the hidden track.

― Sir Leee (Leee), 30. syyskuuta 2003 0:48

24. Autechre - Amber (Warp Records, 1994)
109 points, 6 votes.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/amber.jpeg

http://open.spotify.com/album/7EfhvG3RwdhzXrFlkDVxg4

Well, technically it's not about the city, but Autechre named one of their earlier songs Montreal. (This was on Amber when the songs had melodies and their titles were pronounceable) Someone told me it's because they first tried ecstasy when they played here in '93 or '94 ....interesting.

― Elliot, 11. helmikuuta 2002 3:00

That's what I always hear about Amber, but that never struck me as a melodic record. More of a drifting kind of thing.

― Mark (MarkR), 24. syyskuuta 2002 22:35

Autechre's 'Amber' album would sound good with some hip hop lyrics over it here and there

― stevem (blueski), 11. huhtikuuta 2003 13:13

that's how i feel about autechre's "amber" which is another album that i've spent an unhealthy amount of time with.

i think to myself, now this is a declaration of intent if i've ever heard one. simply massive...

i think my favorite thing about "sawII" and "amber" is the way they reference nature.

― tricky disco (disco stu), 7. huhtikuuta 2004 4:11

23. Autechre - Tri Repetae (Warp Records, 1995)
114 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/trirepetae.jpeg

http://open.spotify.com/album/0ioIXXMV89w0qC39FpxYnL

personally, subjectively, they were brilliant on _tri repetae_. almost a perfect piece of work, i think, with all of the more traditionalist melodic bits of their first two albums clashing with the beginnings of the DSP shitstorm that was to come on later releases.

― your null fame, 23. huhtikuuta 2001 3:00

I guess you might call them "anal", but I don't think that makes them dull by any means. Tri Repetae in headphones while drowsy is the absolute juice. Their music somehow makes so much sense; I won't use the word "architectural", but it's very visual, like slowly moving your eyes across a complex surface and suddenly noticing that the surface isn't just a pattern - it has *depth*, a depth that reveals even more intricacies, relationships between sounds, varieties of grain, than you noticed at first. No matter how close you look, there are always more - little soundworms wriggling around, burrowing and digging, eating each other, multiplying. You go from imagining what the surface feels like to imagining what it's like to be inside the lattice itself - I swear you can almost *feel* this happen on certain tracks (especially on Tri Repetae).

― Clarke B., 18. huhtikuuta 2002 3:00

I read two books, wrote an essay, went out, got high, got sat on by the same drunk girl twice, cooked a huge spinach/garlic lasagne, saw Pirates of the Caribbean, and hurt my flatmate's feelings by listening to Tri Repetae on full blast while she was playing guitar.

Would have been one book and half an essay if ILX hadn't been down.

― Herbstmute (Wintermute), 5. syyskuuta 2003 21:41

Listened to Tri Repetae last night for the first time in ages. Ten perfect little steam-punk sonatas. Is it really ten years since that came out?

― NickB (NickB), 15. helmikuuta 2005 13:32

Thought that would be much higher

Sorry about the quick succession of posts, but that's all I have the time to post today. I guess you can see why I posted those three results back to back, though...