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

And the Brown Album is SO freaking good, so amazing. It's my favorite Orbital by a margin.

In Sides
Brown
Snivilization
Middle of Nowhere
Wonky
Green
Blue
The Altogether

IMO

4. The Orb - The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld (Big Life, 1991)
237 points, 10 votes.

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

Would still be CLASSIC even if it hadn't been totally imprinted on my head by so many nights of spiritual/psychic voyage in high school and college. One of the ultimate soundtracks to any extracirricular activites you may be up to. Also, sounds strangely undated to my ears, but again, I'm probably not the best judge of those things.

CLASSICK, CLASSIQUE, PURE CLASS

Also, amazingly after all these years I'm still not the slightest bit tired of Rickie Lee's mantras. "they ran on forever...."

― rentboy (rentboy), 1. toukokuuta 2006 14:35

Again The Orb's 'Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld' has *all* these sounds: crickets/birds/insects/churchbells/spaceships/lawnmowers/rain, you name it, it's there. So any thematic tape should have a track off that album.

― Omar, 30. heinäkuuta 2001 3:00

The Orb, even if only for Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld, even if only for disc two of that. An album to convince you that it's better to be half-asleep at 6am than rolling your tits off on two pills at 3am.

― Lukas (lukas), 4. huhtikuuta 2003 21:53

I have always loved this album, but it took the oxycontin haze of post- operative convalescence to discover exactly how much. It was at that point that the second half of the first disc became my favorite stretch.

― Tim F, 30. huhtikuuta 2011 0:50

i only ever had the one-disc but so classic, awesome gateway drug for stoner teens in the early '90s

― s1ocki (slutsky), 1. toukokuuta 2006 22:08

oh shit I forgot about ultraworld, totally deserved

I think I just can't resist Brown's momentum and focus. In Sides probably has more "moments" for me, and higher highs, but it's a real sprawl compared to Brown, which I feel like I could listen to over and over.

I predict MHTRTC at #1.

Wait, what about Carl Craig's More Songs About Food and Revolutionary Art???

Happy about the last two. Both worthy top ten's.

Now, since I didn't disqualify any nominations, I think the next entry might be a bit controversial...

3. DJ Shadow - Endtroducing..... (Mo Wax, 1996)
276 points, 13 votes.

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

I do like Endtroducing like you do. Great album. I've never thought of Endtroducting as a hip-hop album, though. Or trip-hop. Always seemed to me to belong more in the tradition of something like Godspeed You Black Emperor, this kind of grand, symphonic mood music.

― Mark, 14. lokakuuta 2001 3:00

From beginning to end it's genius. Best played at 2.00 in the morning, lights low. I find it a really emotional listen, there's a almost ghostly atmosphere around some of the tracks (Stem, Midnight, Steam). The Tangerine Dream sample is just beautiful.

― Dr. C, 14. lokakuuta 2001 3:00

I think the thing to remember about DJ Shadow is that he's a goth. He just uses turntables, is all.

― Ned Raggett, 15. lokakuuta 2001 3:00

i just realized that i should have given a bit of my own opinion when i asked. i think that shadow's legitimacy is a matter of context. 'turntablism' as a whole makes for rather boring rap music, but for rather interesting 'electronic' music (and that's how it's classified in most record stores, whether shadow likes it or not, and his non-pop album aesthetic stakes him decidedly out of the rap camp). i hate the critics who insist on revering turntablism for bringing the oh-so-essential 'live' element back into black music, because 1) it's just playing records, and live rapping is much more 'live' than that, regardless of how much you scratch, because the rapping is created entirely by the rapper and 2) black people don't listen to 'turntablism' anyway.

another point against him is that he falls into the 'only-thing-with-a-beat-at-an- indie-kids-house' camp that tom put the beastie boys in, and he's become the default torch-bearer of the dj element in 'real hiphop' beloved by jurassic 5 fan. mention grandmixer d.st and you'll get a blank stare, but mention shadow and you're sure to find someone to let you in on the secret that 'all the good rap is underground'. blech.

of course i can't blame shadow for that, and taken for what it is, his output is mostly fantastic. if this was a search and destroy, my verdict would be to search 'endtroducing' and early singles (and i still maintain that the unkle album is asorely underrated pop album, but i wouldn't advise one to 'search' for it) and to destroy his stereotypical indie production on solesides cuts. but this is classic or dud, so i have to say he's classic.

oh and ned, re: the goth connection, i think there's a good bit of truth to that, although the 'wasn't he famous once' comment is a bit harsh considering there hasn't been a new album with the man's name on it in five years. wait and see.

― ethan, 18. helmikuuta 2001 3:00

'Endtroducing...DJ Shadow' is the greatest album of all time in my worthless opinion. I love it because it strips so much away from what the definitions of music and albums is/are seen as but this does not result in a lack of imagination, creativity or provocation of an emotional response from the listener. Its an intense, deep and thoughtful piece of work that runs the spectrum of moods with a surreal yet dark edge juxtaposed with the occasional humourous quirk.

― , 23. heinäkuuta 2002 3:00

Nothing controversial about that

Maybe not, I guess the real controversy will come with #1.

new order hit #1?

It is Bentley Rhythm Ace, isn't it?

it must be scooter

So far, all of the Top 10 are records I played over and over at the time and loved dearly.

Still listen to some of them now in fact.

Chill Out???

Ah, whoops; missed it there at #8.

Very surprised Biokinetics hasn't made it.

have a strong emotional response to scanning the album covers in this thread

2. Orbital - In Sides (Internal, 1996)
290 points, 12 votes, 2 first place votes.

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

If there is one dance/electronica act that is undeniably classic, then Orbital is it. "In Sides" is the best album of the entire genre.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), 23. lokakuuta 2006 23:13

InSides for pretty INCREDIBLE MAJESTIC 'OMG IT'S THE RAPTURE AND I'M FLOATING UP TO HEAVEN' living room listening

― ledge, 13. kesäkuuta 2008 15:03

Glad you lot inspired me to get In Sides yesterday, I've listened to it three times today and it's fucking great. I love how lots of the tracks don't really reveal themselves till several minutes in. Both parts of Out There Somewhere make me feel like I've bosched two or three incredibly mongy pills, with the ketamine coming out a couple of minutes before the end of part two.

― chap, 14. kesäkuuta 2008 3:01

i recall 'In Sides' being described as their darkest album at the time of its release, in reviews...possibly by the Hartnolls themselves - the 'alien abduction' concept behind OTS fits there - and there's 'P.E.T.R.O.L.' (does anyone know what it actually stands for? a nice acronym would be Polluting Environments That Rely On Love) - i just find the whole album incredibly melancholic, sinister...even morbid at times, but still a very beautiful thing - obviously there are unbridled euphoric 'sunshine' moments such as the kick off bit in 'The Girl With The Sun In Her Head', the satisfying plod of 'Adnans' generally and certain parts of 'Out There Somewhere' but i still get an overall vibe of intense broodiness from the Hartnolls on this one more than any other album they've done.

― stevem (blueski), 30. huhtikuuta 2003 14:13

yeah that's no surprise

bosched two or three incredibly mongy pills

Frogbs offtm. As if people are pretending they like BoC cos of some indie agenda. Pfork didn't even exist when this came out anyway. I do prefer Geogaddi slightly, but MHTRTC set the stage. It's too easy to look back and say it wasn't all that, especially in the light of hauntology and chillwave, but other than a few ghostbox releases, nothing like it had really come out before.

I'm not saying it's part of an indie agenda nor that people are "pretending", I just think it ticks enough boxes of what the indie/p4k crowd likes and has a status that kind of transcends its genre and therefore a lot of people who consider it one of the very greatest likely have no clue that say, Radio-Activity was doing this kind of thing twenty years prior.

I didn't even vote for 'In Sides'. Need to dig it out and re-access.

yes, yes you do.

can we just see #1 so that we can finally unveil the full list? it'll be great to see what this list looks like without any idm or air/dj shadow/st. etienne obvious '90s canon stuff (not that i hate all idm or air or etienne or w/e)

Okay, here's the number 1:

1. U2 - Zooropa (Island Records, 1993)
322 points, 15 votes, 1 first place vote.

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

U2, Zooropa. I bought it the day it came out while on my lunch break (I was working at a mall then), and listened to it on headphones. That night I went on my first-ever date; I'm a late bloomer--I was 18, it was the summer after I graduated high school. Nothing particularly sexual happened that night but driving to a movie theater in outer St. Paul on a beautiful clear day with the sky spread out and that album playing on her car stereo is something I'll carry with me to my grave.

― M. Matos, 26. heinäkuuta 2001 3:00

I agree, for once, with what Jason said--Zooropa is the place to look if one wishes to hear the most clear-cut influence Eno has exerted on U2 to date. Listen to "The First Time," "Lemon," and "Dirty Day" for the best examples of this (and the title track for a glimpse of what Joshua Tree would have sounded like if Eno had more actively stepped in, as he did on this album).

I think the key to understanding their relationship is understanding that Eno involves himself with U2 (as with any band he's produced) as much or as little as he sees fit.

― matthew m., 9. syyskuuta 2001 3:00

I remember being really excited in middle school when Bono said he'd continue to "fuck up the mainstream" after winning the Best Alternative Album for Zooropa.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), 18. tammikuuta 2004 19:21

There's a real cold mekanik quality to a lot of this stuff, Zooropa esp, which I like. I hear both the Berlin/Bowie/Eno influence and the influence on Radiohead now.

― sund4r subramanian (sund4r), 24. lokakuuta 2004 23:50

Bono of course, he killed the pope by playing zooropa backwards on loop to him so he could get his job.

― cavern (cavern1), 7. huhtikuuta 2005 14:48

laaaaame

That is f'cking ridiculous, sorry.

lol

but you were right, that was totally unexpected

Ok actual lol

And it's a joke, right?

yeah unfortunately, this would actually be better than BoC taking it

Tuomas doesn't tell jokes!

one of my favorite ILX posts:

I threw my vote behind In Sides as well - and it would have been even if the album was nothing but "The Girl With the Sun in Her Head" followed by 30 minutes of the band taunting me by name.

I smell a rat. According to the album nom list I have, U2 ain't even on there...

I'm terribly sorry, seems I have accidentally posted the #1 of another poll! I apologize for that, here's the actual number one for this poll...

1. Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children (Warp Records, 1998)
323 points, 16 votes, 1 first place vote.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/mhtrtc-1.jpeg

One of my oldest friends became furious when I politely disagreed with him that "Music Has the Right to Children" was the best album of all time. He gave me a condescending fifteen minute lecture on how BoC was where "all art should be focusing at the moment." He smokes a lot of weed.
As for myself, I like MHTRTC. It's background music, but it's lovely background music all the same.

― Toby, 7. toukokuuta 2001 3:00

boards of canada are really good. i'd say classic, for distilling the one ambient track that's on every idm album and basing a career around it. that's usually the best song anyway.

― ethan, 7. toukokuuta 2001 3:00

Half the fun (not to mention the point) of Boards of Canada are the secret messages and hidden references that have been deliberately stashed within their material, and then wondering exactly how serious Mark and Marcus are about trepanning/WACO/chakras/numerology/Sesame Street. There's a wilful the aural equivalent of reading the Illuminatus! Trilogy I suppose, which of course isn't everyone's cup of tea; but it's their aesthetic statement - one of intrigue, information overload with a naiive facade - the wolf in sheep's clothing, the friendly stranger. The music is beautifully uneasy, simple yet complex. It's a bit like when I was a kid, listening to the news on the radio and being terrified that everyone I knew would die of AIDS or pollution or drugs or anything else I didn't quite understand yet; but also being very much attracted to novel or magical things.

― village idiot (dog latin), 9. elokuuta 2010 17:54

Whether or not you buy the album as a whole there's no denying how emotionally engaging it is for 'electronica', or how evocative of times and spaces. Whereas other Hard-Drive output fails, BOC succeed in conveying the sensation of presence (being somewhere/sometime) without resorting to the specifics. We don't even know where the sentiments are taking us, to a distant past, memories, regrets; or is it a muted anxiety about the future we haven't arrived at yet. For me the originality comes from their evocation of rural spaces, but this is not soley due to their analogue set-ups or hazy samples. They really express what it's like to be out doors through a love of the countryside, it's some of the only music I know that can compliment nature and fill the sky. So if you think it's background, fine but maybe you've not sat in a field for long enough. I formed my own opinions and loved it like nothing else for months before the Hype came down and everyone started scratching their chins, so for me, a classic, though it's not fair to assess them now. Personally I doubt they have anything else to say, the other non- album material (Happy Cycling excepted) confirms this, and their music doesn't deviate from it's singular trajectory, suggesting that perhaps they spent the whole of their lives until MHTRTC defining this sound. Surely they deserve Classic status for dabbling in nostalgia without an ironic excuse

― K-reg, 8. toukokuuta 2001 3:00

laaame

Nice bit of shit stirring there, thank you Tuomas.

Guess i should revisit it, but dont really understand the love for Insides, much prefer the Brown album and the first one for Belfast which was their peak imo. remember being let down at the time by insides their attempts at drum and bass style drums seemed kind of bandwagony and weak in comparison to what i considered the "real" d&b i was heavily into at the time.

Love MHRTC but really for no1 ?

Throughout the years, I've actually come to like MHtRtC. (When I first acquired it, the only song I liked was "Telephasic Workshop" because of the cool cut-up voices; everything else sounded like some lesser Black Dog material, and I wasn't even the biggest Black Dog fan to begin with.) I still think 310 reached the same destination via more interesting routes, but that doesn't mean BoC didn't do some nice stuff too while getting there.

Obviously it's not the best electronic album of the 90s, not even the best Warp album or IDM album.

"Roygbiv" is also amazing but in general I agree with you

If you haven't listened to In Sides on headphones, it's worth it. I remembering the listen where it clicked for me, on a coach trip, listening to the lead synths dart from ear to ear and all the tiny little details I'd never picked up before.

Sounds great to me on speakers too, of course.

But more than half of the people who voted for albums voted for it, so clearly it's well-loved.

(xx-post)