Top 50 Most Overrated Electronic Albums

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And he was still telling the same sad story about the first time he bought a scanner!

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 4 June 2004 01:01 (twenty-two years ago)

what pants was he wearing?

― mullygrubber (gaz), Friday, 4 June 2004 01:02 (twenty-two years ago)

That I couldn't tell you. It was on the radio.

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 4 June 2004 01:03 (twenty-two years ago)

ah, sorry, not in US

― mullygrubber (gaz), Friday, 4 June 2004 01:04 (twenty-two years ago)

fuck this thread
Yep. Sundar was totally otm about non-dancefloor oriented music upthread.

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Friday, 4 June 2004 01:06 (twenty-two years ago)

What does it say about me that this thread is making my blood boil? And why hasn't anyone mentioned Kid 606's Down With the Scene?

― Clarke B. (Clarke B.), Friday, 4 June 2004 01:27 (twenty-two years ago)

It was doomed from the get-go, dissing SAW II like that. This thread has savagely dismissed like ten of my favorite records in the world!

― Clarke B. (Clarke B.), Friday, 4 June 2004 01:30 (twenty-two years ago)

You don't like Radio-Activity = you are soulless

― Clarke B. (Clarke B.), Friday, 4 June 2004 01:31 (twenty-two years ago)

in response to Alex in SF and Strongo, I don't necessarily disagree with saying that Basic Channel stuff is overrated. I'm just saying you've got balls saying it ;) And apparently those balls are overrated by my mom, right?

― ken taylrr (ken taylrr), Friday, 4 June 2004 02:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Jess just means that the Basic Channel singles are better than the CD... right? ;-)

― Clarke B. (Clarke B.), Friday, 4 June 2004 02:40 (twenty-two years ago)

i think fridge/fourtet don't belong above. they were significantly ahead of the game. same with pole. anyone that was making idm before the phrase was coined deserves a little credit. it's easy to wag your ass at that stuff now with the legions of ibooks and freeware about... but something else to consider is that most of the above sold themselves on 12 inch singles, not full lengths.

for example, photek's "seven samauri" was awesome but form and function was less so.
m.

― msp, Friday, 4 June 2004 02:41 (twenty-two years ago)

One interesting thing about dance music as whole is that there's a sense in which each scene chronically underrates everything that comes out of each other scene. I can't think of many dance albums that are across-the-board canonical choices for dance fans which aren't also canonical choices for rock fans (ie. what annoys about "best ever electronic album" lists in dance mags is not the over-represented house classics you get in the corresponding 12" lists - and even that decreases by the year - but rather the fact that they list the same stuff that rock mags do in their own best albums ever threads, except, like, minus The Beatles).

For some reason rock tends to go in for that syncretist "I love my metal and my post-punk but y'know Radiohead and Outkast are definitely the geniuses right about now" approach much more. Perhaps they feel more of a responsibility to be broad-minded and representative (even if their representativeness is seriously flawed!).

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Friday, 4 June 2004 04:17 (twenty-two years ago)

This thread is so provocative. Isn't it fun to piss on records that nerds like?

― oops (Oops), Friday, 4 June 2004 04:24 (twenty-two years ago)

haha "nerds"--look who was doing the debunking, for fuck's sake! the biggest nerds EVAH!

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Friday, 4 June 2004 04:27 (twenty-two years ago)

(I include myself in absentia there, too, btw)

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Friday, 4 June 2004 04:31 (twenty-two years ago)

exactly! you can almost see them trying to distance themselves from nerdom.

― oops (Oops), Friday, 4 June 2004 04:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes Oops, but that doesn't mean that as nerds we all secretly like Autechre whether we admit it or not.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Friday, 4 June 2004 04:49 (twenty-two years ago)

of course not. I just find it interesting when people seem so eager to run into a thread and proclaim their dislike for 'nerd' music.

― oops (Oops), Friday, 4 June 2004 04:53 (twenty-two years ago)

not long after I started hanging out on ILM the word 'overrated' lept out of the dictionary, wrapped its hands around my throat and strangled me to death. ILM teaches me things like that.

my own moment of epiphany was when I lazily posted that sheer hellish miasma was overrated, then realized... how many people in the world are ever going to even learn of this album's existence let alone hear it once. after that, pissing matches like this thread became easier to take... I was trying not to post a candidate until strongo (the loudest pisser on this thread) kicked off his '10/10' contribution with fucking 94diskont and I just lost it

― (Jon L), Friday, 4 June 2004 04:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Clarke, you had me with you . . . and then you had to go and fucking diss Down With the Scene!

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Friday, 4 June 2004 04:58 (twenty-two years ago)

(But, yeah, pursuant to what milton said, it is actually kind of a compliment to the record that you consider it overrated. I had no idea it had any sort of widespread esteem to begin with!)

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Friday, 4 June 2004 04:59 (twenty-two years ago)

thanks for that link--it reminded me that we forgot to include Herbert on this thread

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Friday, 4 June 2004 05:22 (twenty-two years ago)

fucking KISH KASH, dammit

― fizzcaraldo (Justin M), Friday, 4 June 2004 06:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Southall - you totally fucked up with jumping the gun on Kompakt.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Friday, 4 June 2004 07:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Also FARBEN - TEXTSTAR PEOPLE!

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Friday, 4 June 2004 07:09 (twenty-two years ago)

milton do you like druum's 'triangles'? (not all electronic, 'sheer hellish...' is like a good version of 'metal machine music' on CD (please don't tell me you hate MMM)).

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 4 June 2004 07:22 (twenty-two years ago)

I hope jess wasn't joking that time he said side 3 of MMM was his favorite because I was thinking 'hey he's right'

haven't heard anything else by drumm, was scared off. I'll look for 'triangles'.

― (Jon L), Friday, 4 June 2004 07:35 (twenty-two years ago)

One interesting thing about dance music as whole is that there's a sense in which each scene chronically underrates everything that comes out of each other scene

tim otm. they also overrate everything in their own scene. but hey, enthusiasm over balance is all aprt of being excited.

― mullygrubber (gaz), Friday, 4 June 2004 08:18 (twenty-two years ago)

re 808 State: 'Gorgeous' and 'Don Solaris' probably over-rated at the time wrt to getting mostly positive reviews. i think 'Newbuild' is a bit over-rated too as the acid monotony = tedium after a while. nobody ever bangs on about '90' or 'Ex:El' being dance canon really tho (at least not in the same way they do about Orbital) tho they're just as strong as them if not stronger.

'The Fat Of The Land' should be on this thread tho i guess

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 4 June 2004 08:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Herbert - Around The House

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Friday, 4 June 2004 08:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Interesting thread from the perspective of someone who has never been a committed electronica fan but has an interest in the genre. Electronica has always left me vaguely dissatisfied. I love the idea of it, and I keep willing it to be great, and some of it certainly is, but the canonical albums invariably seem to fall well short of what I had hoped for. I think this is true of canonical albums in all genres, but in my case it's more extreme with electronica than other genres, or at least genres I feel generally well disposed towards and WANT to like. It's interesting to see these feelings apparently finding an echo among people who, for the most part, are much more committed fans than I.

― frankiemachine, Friday, 4 June 2004 10:01 (twenty-two years ago)

hey we knew it wasn't an albums genre when we signed up.

― vahid (vahid), Friday, 4 June 2004 10:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Of course I take that point but as a non-clubber or singles buyer the albums tend to be what I've heard, apart from the some compilations or single that gets radio play. I'm not dissing the genre, just wondering if my reaction to the albums and more committed fans reaction may be less different than I'd assumed.

― frankiemachine, Friday, 4 June 2004 10:17 (twenty-two years ago)

steve's undying devotion to early-mid 90s home electronica is nothing short of heroic

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 4 June 2004 10:54 (twenty-two years ago)

How in the fucking fuck is BLUE LINES overrated? Don't you LIKE "Safe from Harm"???

― Unknown User, Friday, 4 June 2004 11:18 (twenty-two years ago)

are all of you that dumb that you keep confusing the word "overrated" with "dislike" or "bad"?

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 4 June 2004 11:19 (twenty-two years ago)

(though i do dislike blue lines. quite a bit.)

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 4 June 2004 11:20 (twenty-two years ago)

it's funny some people seem as embarassed about liking 'Leftism' or 'Exit Planet Dust' now as they do about 'Parklife' or in my case the first Faithless album. but everyone liked these albums at the time! (except the first Faithless album, that was just me)

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 4 June 2004 11:23 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm surprised no-one mentioned 70 MINUTES OF MADNESS tho as strongo notes i will defend that too muahaha

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 4 June 2004 11:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I still like "leftism" and "parklife" but I have always thought the chem bros BRING TEH SUKC, so ass to "exit planet dust".

jess otm, as well, I mean, I like orbital's albums loads, but they are, or were at least, very over-rated.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 4 June 2004 11:30 (twenty-two years ago)

jess doesn't like electronica anyway though. its like asking alex frm NYC what jazz is overrated.

― mullygrubber (gaz), Friday, 4 June 2004 11:36 (twenty-two years ago)

I read the Spin Alternative Record Guide

Your first mistake, Anthony. I'm with Siegbran.

― Chris Ott (Chris Ott), Friday, 4 June 2004 11:51 (twenty-two years ago)

To sum up this thread:

Top 50 Most Overrated Electronic Albums=ALL OF THEM

― peepee (peepee), Friday, 4 June 2004 13:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Down With the Scene was overrated by college radio types when I was, well, a college radio type. I actually don't hate it, but people were creaming over it back when it was released!

― Clarke B. (Clarke B.), Friday, 4 June 2004 14:43 (twenty-two years ago)

'Endtroducing'

― dave q, Friday, 4 June 2004 14:48 (twenty-two years ago)

four tet is overrated

― Toon (Skelter), Friday, 4 June 2004 14:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Taking sides:

Talking About Records

vs.

Talking About Your General Impressions Regarding the Underlying Pattern of How Other People Have In the Past Talked About Records

― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 4 June 2004 15:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Luomo, VOCAL CITY. IDM guy makes deep house. Big whup.

― Jeff Sumner (Jeff Sumner), Friday, 4 June 2004 15:48 (twenty-two years ago)

This is a major XPOST, but since I started this thread, I feel I should reply to a few assertions:

Yeah, in context everything is/can be overrated, but I wanted to see if some people would throw down their choices and back them up. I dropped SAW II because while I thought it was a good album at the time of its release, in time it has evolved even further into this groundbreaking ambient work (on many "top ever" lists), which is untrue. If anything, with time it seems to highlight Aphex Twin's tendency to pepper his audience with masturbatory sketches and lazy efforts.

And I totally disagree with Tim Finney's suggestion that people simply don't remember albums being overrated. I was very much into electronic music in the early days of 808 State (which was the point of reference) and it in fact was fairly rated at the time.

And I would agree that DJ Spooky would own this thread, but the only place he's ever been "overrated" is maybe Newsweek or the like.....

― jsoulja (jsoulja), Friday, 4 June 2004 16:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, you not fitting into Tim's argument doesn't totally disprove it.

― oops (Oops), Friday, 4 June 2004 16:46 (twenty-two years ago)

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