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

Sven Väth and Hardfloor were big in Britain.

They were? For some reason people seem to rarely discuss them here, though, and they never place in polls like this one.

I never felt a big affinity with Dig Your Own Hole and never listened to the Chems after. It just didn't feel as "of a piece" as Exit Planet Dust to me. Maybe I ought to dig it out again. I did used to adore Electrobank - maybe my favourite track by them? Block Rockin Beats was good too, if a bit Fatboy Slim-y. They made tremendous use of the 23 Skiddoo sample if anything.

A woman wakes up in the company of a stranger, the implication being that they've had sex ("Sunday morning I'm waking up/Can't even focus on a coffee cup/Don't even know whose bed I'm in"). A lover is referred to as "the devil in me" ("Setting Sun"). Behind the computer-driven sounds of "Electrobank," a fuzzy, yet audible f-word appears. Even the all-instrumental tracks serve up annoyingly hypnotic sensory overload. This band's incessant barrage of nonsense, set to a dizzying repetition of the same eight or ten notes, is inherently nerve-wracking.

Explosive musical chemistry. It's a shame the unrelenting, intoxicating dance beats don't subside long enough for young listeners to clear their heads. Lyrics offer more tangible evidence that The Chemical Brothers are experimenting with unstable elements.

For a 'creepy christian review', that's not bad going...

Dig definitely sounds dated now, but you listen to Justice or Skrillex these days and it's not like that aesthetic of "loud and annoying as possible" has really gone away. Just the monster bass riffs and airraid sirens.

18. Leftfield - Leftism (Hard Hands, 1995)
129 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote.

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

http://open.spotify.com/album/6Hh2XrY2Yuse8omAzSabdp

Agree with Dan - Leftism is fun but not nearly as ephocal as you'd expect from all the hype. That said, it's a very open-minded release (hints of dub, hip hop, jungle etc.) which is more than can be said for a lot of house artists circa '95.

― Tim, 10. elokuuta 2001 3:00

Leftism is FAR from overrated imo - it is certainly one of the most seminal dance albums to released in the 90's, and off the top of my head, cannot think of a more perfect example of the coming of age of electronic music and the death of rock.

― Jarrod, 2. heinäkuuta 2002 3:00

And anyway, well, sometime around 96-97, I discovered I didn't really hate all techno. There was even a lot of techno without melodies (although not without harmonies, which is even more important to me) that I liked.

Orbital's "In Sides" was the album that really turned me into techno, but I liked "Leftism" even before that.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), 19. huhtikuuta 2003 0:22

My #1

Whatever happened to Leftfield, btw? It seems they haven't released any new music since 1999, neither as Leftfield nor under any other aliases.

17. Basement Jaxx - Remedy (XL Recordings, 1999)
148 points, 9 votes.

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

http://open.spotify.com/album/6G9fHYDCoyEErUkHrFYfs4

Not too long ago I picked up "Remedy" by the Basmeent Jaxx and I could have kicked myself for waiting this long.

― Brenya, 14. lokakuuta 2002 17:28

I picked up "Remedy" the other day knowing the 4 singles and "Same Old Show". It really is one of the best albums I've ever heard. It's smooth and flowing, suprising and unpredictable, bouncy and fun, hooky and spiky. It just sounds so easy.

― Nick H, 10. toukokuuta 2003 17:38

basement jaxx are the bomb squad of house

― vahid (vahid), 19. elokuuta 2003 7:08 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i mean more in the wall-of-sound sense. i am closing the bookstore and i'm going to put remedy on RIGHT THIS MINUTE.

― vahid (vahid), 19. elokuuta 2003 7:11

The Prodigy - Music for the Jilted Generation (XL Recordings, 1994)
155 points, 9 votes.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/musicforthejiltedgeneration.jpg

http://open.spotify.com/album/04moHShgS3I0ErPt2mTAtd

summer of 94 i was 9 going on 10 and I remember hearing some older kids listening to this on their boom box in their garden and thinking, wow.

― Blackout Crew are the Beatles of donk (jim), 4. huhtikuuta 2009 2:06

When I was 14, I went to France on holiday with my best mate and his family - we had a tape of this which we listened to on headphones pretty much anytime we went anywhere by car throughout the whole two weeks. 'No Good', 'One Love', 'Break and Enter', all great but I'd have to pick 'Poison', it's just so hard.

― Gavin in Leeds, 4. huhtikuuta 2009 16:41

I think I've told this story before, but around the time this album came out, one day my cousin was sitting in his car at a parking lot and blasting it on his car stereo. When "One Love" started to play, some random dude came knocking on his window. My cousin opened the window, and the dude was like, "Yeah! Yeah! I love this track!", and proceeded to dance and sing the vocal sample along the tune.

― Tuomas, 5. huhtikuuta 2009 2:22

Shit, I love them, esp Music For The Jilted Generation which brought my rawking arse closer to dance.

― nathalie (nathalie), 28. elokuuta 2003 17:17

1990-1994 - The Prodigy - Dance music was my first and most natural love. I was given a radio for Christmas and hearing all the early (kiddy) rave stuff was amazing... So fast and sugary with comical noises etc. I got the first album the following Christmas and was disappointed with how the original single versions had been replaced with slightly drier, more serious remixes, but it didn't matter. A few years later, a lad came round with Music For A Jilted Generation and my mind was blown again - this wasn't kiddy rave pop, it was laced with evilous intent - references to drugs, swearing and loads of stuff I had NO IDEA about but knew my parents wouldn't like it.

― Why'd You Wanna Tweet Me So Bad? (dog latin), 22. elokuuta 2011 17:47

That's 16., obviously.

There will never be a better inner sleeve than that.

Yup, I'd forgotten about that cover. Brilliant.

so far the list is only 45% IDM, nice!

only artist of color not a junglist is carl craig, who of course invented jungle

Boo to Leftism but yay to everything else that's shown up today.

the top 10 is going to be all detroit techno

waiting for the lardossen takeover

top 10: all Orbital.

15. Underworld - Second Toughest in the Infants (Junior Boy's Own, 1996)
158 points, 8 votes.

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

http://open.spotify.com/album/3UfnrvOQRJUgLevE5l4nVF

juanita/kiteless/to dream of love

one of the best openings of any album.

― jed_, 25. toukokuuta 2008 3:30

wow guys, I used to really like this album but now I really LOVE it, had heard it 25+ times without hearing ANY of the crazy sounds that go on during "Banstyle" or "Confusion"

― frogbs, 4. lokakuuta 2012 23:15

second toughest was one of those leave it in the CD player and play it over and over again cds. it is ace. i think it's common to resent the born slippy cultural thing, but that does not debase the fact that it is a fucking great tune to dance off yr nuts to. esp v long mix.

― Alan Trewartha, 24. tammikuuta 2002 3:00

I owe it al to STITI. It's the record that got me into electronic music, house music, DANCE music even.

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), 28. kesäkuuta 2004 17:49

that monochrome pall is part of what i find really absorbing about second toughest. i find it difficult to explain how that is different from merely "boring" or "featureless" but somehow the songs are distinct, yet flow naturally one into the other without any giant leaps or gaps.

partly i think the danceability of second toughest is subtle yet powerful- the repetitive figures of the "juanita/kiteless" opening block at first just make you bounce around a little bit, jiggle a leg in your seat or whatever, but by later you're humming along with the vocoder and it picks up speed. this is opposed to the danceability of, say, "push upstairs," which just starts bashing down the door and forcing you to dance with the detroit-ness of it all and builds even more on that.

― .rob (rgeary), 29. kesäkuuta 2004 8:30

14. Global Communication - 76:14 (Dedicated, 1994)
165 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/7614.jpeg

http://open.spotify.com/album/4b1iSPXfaGmOgKmec1wk7X

Ho ho. It's a very nice album, in a sort of mid 70s Tangerine Dream kind of way, and is an ideal record to fall asleep to and have strange but happy dreams. It's lovely.

― Rob M (Rob M), 21. helmikuuta 2003 18:51

76:14 is an album of true beauty.

― The conflicts, the craziness, and the sound of credenzas falling (Stevie D), 11. joulukuuta 2009 6:02

can someone tell me about more moments in music like the moment 10:02 into 14:31, that might be the most sonorous moment i've heard in all my ambient listenings

― dyao know what i mean (acoleuthic), 19. joulukuuta 2009 3:31

that track has healing properties for real

― jabba hands, 19. joulukuuta 2009 3:45

the proverbial cloud of titties

― dyao know what i mean (acoleuthic), 19. joulukuuta 2009 3:57

I have this album and U.F.Orb on the headphones and a new prescription for beta blockers. I think I can survive the next few weeks. Yeah.

― Karen D. Tregaskin, 18. elokuuta 2010 12:41

I'm a bit perplexed by that Louis comment, what sort proverb talks about "cloud of titties"?

Second Toughest should be top 5 :( But hey. You keep the spirit alive.

i was playing the GC album the other day and my bf remarked "this is kind of bad." i don't agree with him but i see what he means: the general turn away from sampled-sounds to generative sounds has caused it not to age v well.

yeah.

That's a weird opinion, you'd think ambient music was one of the genres where the sound being fully synthetic would matter the least? Why would lack of samples hurt an ambient album?

it has less to do with the merits of the album and more with the general trend electronic music has taken since the late 00's

'second toughest in the infants' is in the running for my favorite album of all time.

U.F.ORB is just so much more interesting sonically and ideas wise than 76:14.

well i guess Ultraworld would be a fairer comparison chronologically and is yet to place.

I only got around to listening to the GC album last year and was underwhelmed to be honest. And I have mates who swear by it. Presumably if I'd lived with it through the 90's I'd think differently. Personally find 'Adventures beyond the Ultraworld' more sonically interesting than both U.F.Orb and 76:14. Now I wonder if that album will turn up - was No. 8 on my list.

xp:

Alas, those values are a bit irrelevant to ambient music's ideal of being "as ignorable as it is interesting" (Eno)

only things I remember off 76:14 are the first and last track, which are both breathtaking. outside of that I dunno where the "good parts" are

well i guess Ultraworld would be a fairer comparison chronologically and is yet to place.

too much wine.

originally read that as 'ultrasound' which would have been a weird twist, even for ILM standards ...

I much prefer their Chapterhouse remodelling entitled Pentamerous Metamorphosis. But as the listmaker for the first internet poll that enshrined 76:14 as an all-time ambient album, I can't deny 76:14's staying power.

I much prefer their Chapterhouse remodelling entitled Pentamerous Metamorphosis.

ringo bingo.

that deserves a big OTM from me ..

:D at using the inner gatefold of Jilted instead of the cover

Whatever happened to Leftfield, btw? It seems they haven't released any new music since 1999, neither as Leftfield nor under any other aliases.

they split up, apparently largely due to touring- and stimulant-related stresses on their personal relationship. Neil Barnes reformed to tour in 2010 with most of the original singers and a new drummer, with Daley's blessing but continued lack of interest in being involved.

Ah, thanks for the info. It doesn't look like either has done any solo releases either.

13. Underworld - Dubnobasswithmyheadman (Junior Boy's Own, 1994)
167 points, 7 votes.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/dubnobasswithmyheadman.jpg

Classic for sure. I ignored it for a few years as people were telling me how great it was and then was smitten around 96 and it struck me as sounding kinda old fashioned too, an almost 80's synth pop influence. I dug it out recently and it still sounds great.

― Winkelmann, 28. elokuuta 2002 12:19

dubnobasswithmyheadman eliminated the barriers between dance's escapism and modern life. it is the Velvet Underground & Nico of dance - a little clumsy, dated, known better for 2 or 3 songs - nonetheless forcing dance kids to listen to their own music with new ears and rock fans to revamp their notions of how popular music can be "soundtrack of life."

dubno is Bernard Summer discovering Fool's Gold on a 4/4 skyscraper in a city of balkanized thoughts. so classic Christ was on crutches.

― slippyepic, 29. elokuuta 2002 17:54

I don't understand all those comments above about it sounding a bit dated!!!! Er, how can I put this, it's a decade old dance music album, of course it's going to sound dated!!!!! And as for that "Awful, soulless, funk-free British knotted-hankie-on-yer-head techno shitness", that's a bit like saying The Eagles would have been decent if they shaved their beards off and didn't play guitars ie it's kind of missing the point in a massive way!!!! At the time most of the decent techno was soul-less, funk-free British knotted-hankie-on-yer-head, (or alternatively soul-less, funk-free and from Johnny Foreigner in Euroland!!!!!) and that's why it was bloody ace!!!! If you wanted "funky" and "soulful", you could go for progessive house, "garage", retreads of late-80s Detroit, "ambient dub" and millions of other dreary bollox that have dated so badly that they make "Dubnobass..." sounds like it was recorded in the year 3759!!!! (And before anyone mentions jungle, let remind you that at the time of the release "Dubnobass..." it was still underground and generally regarded as an extreme 'like gabber with breakbeats' offspring of hardcore rave- at least it was before some berks let go of their "progessive" records for long enough to put "jazz" chords over the beats, although the end results was usually about as "jazzy" as Val Doonican!!!!!)

― Old Fart!!! (oldfart_sd), 7. tammikuuta 2004 12:16

Wasn't Underworlds Dubnobass etc over 55 minutes. For me that constantly evolved and never once felt like a filler track plugging a musical gap anywhere on it

― Sonicred, 3. joulukuuta 2001 3:00

i mean the thing about underworld in general, and dubnobass in particular, is that you're guaranteed a few shit tracks per album. but when they're good, they're really, really good. and you can't knock cowgirl, or skyscraper. dark, moody, euphoric, utterly fucked lyrics. and superb production.

propellorheads? generic, going-through-the-motions big beat. dull at the time and they haven't dated well.

― drasticman, 13. tammikuuta 2006 18:57

Holy hell this Paperclip People album is amazing. Why did no one tell me about this before?

12. Underworld - Beaucoup Fish (Junior Boy's Own, 1999)
168 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/beaucoupfish.jpg

I think one of the things that draws me back to Beaucoup Fish most frequently of all the Underworld albums is that it's really such an unusual proposition. I love Dubnobass... to death and totally understand why it's the favourite of many listeners, but I think if you described Underworld to someone who hadn't heard them before but knew dance music, they would imagine Dubnobass... and be spot on! Of all their albums it most closely lives up to the idea of Underworld as being Massive Attack with the hip hop basis replaced by dance music. Second Toughest... is a more inscrutable and enigmatic album (and the proper ballad moments are their best ever in that vein) but again it follows in the same general vein apart from some surface level stylistic modification (the occasional breakbeat etc.).

Whereas Beacoup Fish I think really plays around with one's assumption as to what Underworld are by just being so brutally uncompromising and tracky so frequently, and because Karl is so often very aggressive. Like, I find the first four tracks to be a totally emotional suite, but not emotional in the sense that the group inject "rock" emotion into a dance setting - the ebb and flow of intensity is much closer to a DJ set. And I perversely enjoy the fact that the slower tracks are just really odd and unwelcoming - it's like the group want to avoid people finding any sort of "relief" in them. Instead, the slow tracks are the uncomfortably, unsettling moments and the hard-edged tracks are the heart and soul of the album.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), 13. marraskuuta 2004 6:08

All this talk of the new Underworld single led me to look for it on WinMX (NO JOY). What I ended up with instead was track 8 from _Beaucoup Fish_, a track I find to be stunning, surreal, ominous, uplifting, oppressive and all-around fucking marvelous. I would even go as far as saying that it's far and away the best thing Underworld has ever recorded, narrowly beating out "Pearl's Girl", "Dirty Epic", "MMM Skyscraper I Love You" and "Tongue". That lovely bliss-out part at 4:25 that just drones and swirls on for a minute is truly breath-taking, making a perfect counterpoint to the dirty drum cadence at the beginning of the song.

Why wasn't this a single instead of "Bruce Lee" (aka "That Fucking Embarrassing Song Which Is The Only Thing Keeping Me From Buying _Beaucoup Fish_")?

― Dan Perry, 17. kesäkuuta 2002 3:00

Second Toughest is sooo much worse than Beaucoup Fish it's ridiculous. I phoned Derrick May and he agreed.

― RickyT (RickyT), 1. marraskuuta 2004 1:54

I agree with everyone who's said Beaucoup Fish is Underworld's best album. Those HUGE lush chords in jumbo! And that syncopated synth riff in the closing minuts of Cups! Amazing. And many other bits too.

― JimD (JimD), 2. marraskuuta 2004 15:19

So yeah, Beaucoup Fish beat Dubnobass... by just one point.

lots of vote splitting it feels like? How many people voted in this? I'd have thought it would be insanely popular given this board's demographic.

All in all about 40 people voted in the poll, but I think only 25-30 of them voted for albums, the rest were tracks-only ballots.

No no no.

Dubno > STITI > BF

No Orbital or Daft Punk yet either

The Underworld albums are the right way round I think. Never liked Second Toughest but Beaucoup Fish is by far their best. It sags in the middle a bit but those first four tracks are just wow.

no way. how is BF higher than the other 2? Crazy!

11. LFO - Frequencies (Warp Records, 1991)
169 points, 8 votes.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/frequencies.jpg

Why is it after all this time I still think this is the best "Techno" record ever? I just can not find fault in anything about it. I have listened to electronic based music for years here as well so I am not some naive kid... DM/Kraftwerk/Soft Cell/HL/etc... to Juan Atkins/Derrick May/Armando etc... to Hawtin/Beltram/Tresor/R&S etc... now onto (too many to list) I just think that after 14 years of listening to this record and still thinking it is a masterpiece deserves some mention. It was hard for me to say this as I love sooooo much from this time period... but this one still throws one up me.

― benoit, 6. toukokuuta 2005 15:26

One of my all-time favorites. Completely sublime and still offering rewards each time I listen to it.

― chris breitenbach (Chris808), 6. toukokuuta 2005 18:55

Frequencies = still dope beyond all reason

― Music should never have changed anymore after my mid 80s (Noodle Vague), 15. lokakuuta 2009 11:37

"Frequencies" is probably my favourite warp album ever. The 5 track - We are back/Tan ta ha/you have to understand/el ef oh/ love is the message - sequence of the album makes me almost explode with joy. The sounds are so basic; the result is so rich. Gorgeous.

― jed_ (jed), 4. syyskuuta 2004 4:01

I have to take a break from posting now, but I'll try to post the final results later today.

Go on with the top 10 speculation then, you know you wanna!

More Aphex, the two Boards albums, a couple from Orbital, Photek and Incunabula of course ;)