Best 90s electronic music duo

xxp i'm kind of amazed to find MHtRtC (quintessential boc lp imo) was as late as '98! i'd somehow retconned them into being contemporary with the other warp usual suspects (i did see them supporting autechre errr '96?, to be fair).

in '96

I definitely think of B0C as being second-wave Warp.

BoC.

internet tells me it was prob early '97.

I definitely think of B0C as being second-wave Warp.

Yeah, I remember when Music Has the Right to Children came out, I didn't really understand what the hype was about, since they didn't seem to be doing anything that hadn't been done in the previous 5 or so years. That album had exactly one track (the one with the chopped-up vocal bits) that sounded fresh and new to me. I'm still not sure why they became the poster boys for this sound, but whatever.

The past 2 or 3 times that I've dug out an Autechre album just to check that I still hate Autechre, I've ended up thinking "hey, this isn't so bad, actually." And today when I did it, I was all "hey, this actually sounds pretty cool."

At what point do I have the "Celine Dion on Pandora" moment where I have to admit "actually, OMG I think I like Autechre?"

daft punk still retain some cred.

global communication are prob the best here, tho why/how they are listed alongside a few of the novelty acts here is beyond me.

I still don't get Autechre, but I've not tried to get tham again in at least 7 years, so...

tho why/how they are listed alongside a few of the novelty acts here is beyond me

a duo, the same two from beginning to end, both knob-twiddlers, in the 90s. not sure who is really 'novelty' here except for the lol crystal method, who may have been big in the states at the time idk.

All I know Crystal Method from is "Trip Like I Do" and that ridiculous Spawn soundtrack, I don't think they were very big in Europe... They were like a second-rate US version of the Chem Bros, right?

Air has always seemed like a novelty act to me, but I guess most of you would disagree. Also, it's weird seeing them and Basement Jaxx listed as 90s acts, since most of their major works came out in the 00s.

my take:

Air: they built their career on a mountain of bullshit, then released one stellar album (Talkie Walkie)
Autechre: I never really cared about these guys
B12: see Autechre
Basement Jaxx: one of my absolute favorite acts up until Scars
Boards of Canada: Music Has A Right To Children is amazing but I feel like they are a direct influence on The Weeknd
The Chemical Brothers: one dip of quality surrounded by some of the greatest dance music ever
The Crystal Method: okay lol, seriously? I mean, I love "Keep Hope Alive" as much as the next person but come on
Daft Punk: ultimately, they never topped Homework
The Future Sound of London: I admire these guys more than I actually like them, if that makes sense; "Paupau New Guinea" is all-time tho
Global Communication: see Autechre and B12
The Grid: okay now you're just fucking with us
Leftfield: OVERRATED BULLSHIT
Matmos: I am embarrassingly unfamiliar with their music
Orbital: hands down, one of the greatest musical acts of the past 25 years
Plaid: see Autechre, B12, Global Communication
Röyksopp: they're pleasant enough but ultimately... eh
Two Lone Swordsmen: I know them by name rather than by music

okay now you're just fucking with us

yeah but you never know when someone's gonna go "i can't believe you left [act you've barely heard anything by] off this poll, they changed my life!"

I thought you would like The Grid, Dan!

see!

How can you not love this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f0kXNdxjBk

Crystal Method in their prime was a total budget Chems ripoff but everyone who loves the Chems' big beat period should listen to CM's "Keep Hope Alive" at least once:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFqmz5NS1bM

"Busy Child" is pretty bad-ass too; actually their first album would have made an amazing EP

xp: I don't dislike The Grid but compared to EVERYONE else on this list, including groups I dislike/hate like Air and Leftfield, they are non-entities

(also everyone knows that The Grid was all about "Swamp Thing")

Autechre has the most interesting catalog of the whole list, BoC is the most accessible (for good reason), Plaid is skewwy for me: I get no real vibe from them, as they seem largely part of the movement rather than innovators themselves. They just can't seem to decide whether to be melodic like BoC or as boundary pushing as Autechre, so a lot of their songs always seem to start off with that jittering, goose-stepping IDM kinda thing before transitioning into melody. They're very stiff in concert, with even head nods minimal at best.

Death In Vegas also bears notable mention, ignoring their reggae remixes and Oasis collabs. "Rekkit" & "Girls" are masterpieces.

Oh come on, Air never did anything as trippy as this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gocee0RWvho

The Grid never did anything as beautiful as this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcUrEn7xmNE&ob=av3n

(also everyone knows that The Grid was all about "Swamp Thing")

They'd already released two albums before Swamp Thing; I genuinely think you might enjoy some of the stuff on those albums, knowing your taste.

lots of good choices here but if I were to rank the best three albums any of these guys have made both In Sides and Snivilisation would be on it so I guess you know where I'm voting

though I would have voted Denki Groove if they were on the poll!! they've got the other one in the top three

B12 were about 1,000,000,000,000 times better than Autechre

seems unlikely but i will check them out when i figure out how to stop youtube giving me 100 videos about vitamin b12 supplements.

It is sort of funny how "out there" we all thought BoC and Autechre were, and you listen to it now and it sounds really basic (which is no bad thing in itself)

Kelpolaris if you think BoC are "more accessible" than Orbital, then you mad doggy.

wait, who thought BoC was "out there"? their entire steeze was immaculately crafted nostalgia bombs tied to awesome beats

Come on, nobody in Air ever made an Acid House album with Genesis P Orridge before either of them had ever heard any real Acid House, based solely on second hand descriptions thereof. How cool is that?

I never thought BoC were out there - like I said above, their sound felt pretty basic IDM to me when MHtRC came out, which is why I never understood what all the fuss was about. As for Autechre, they proved being "out there" wasn't necessarily a good thing; I still find their more abstract 90s stuff terribly dull.

(x-post to Tracer)

that's still out there. there's one BoC track that pretty much uniformly freaks everyone out - "The Color of the Fire" I think it is.

wait, that track freaks people out???????? that track is warm and inviting!

reading other people's reactions to Boards of Canada comes across to me like meeting a room full of people talking about how terrifying and sinister they find "Babe"

The one with the creepy girl going "I... looooove... you" with the sinister warbly synth bass?

Best creepy electronic music duo of the 90s = Coil

The one with the creepy girl going "I... looooove... you" with the sinister warbly synth bass?

I honestly do not think that child sounds creepy, nor does the bass sound sinister. The whole thing reads to me like an enormous warm blanket of sound.

no that's definitely the point where most people are like "okay, you should put something else on now"

Yeah, BoC definitely have creepy vibes, though they're most prevalent on Geogaddi.

little louie vega and kenny dope gonzales

^

also, i should learn not to say "we" when i mean "me"

People think that BoC sounds creepy when, like, Main records exist?

either way I always feel like BoC's music creeps me out like 20% as much as they want it to, "Color of the Fire" excepted. which is ultimately why I feel they're massively overrated.

"Best creepy electronic music duo of the 90s = Coil"

I guess coming into this stuff from the industrial area, where yeah Coil but also Laibach, Skinny Puppy, TKK, Severed Heads, SPK, Pankow, Tear Garden, KMFDM, etc etc etc kind of puts me in a different headspace when approaching BoC than most others but I can count on one hand the number of tracks I've heard from them from MHARTC on that I would consider "creepy" (I don't really remember the pre-MHARTC material; I've heard it like once or twice).

how about early drexciya - gerald "dopplereffekt" donald and james marcel stinson

in that spirt, what i find odd about this list is why it sort of seems predisposed to the album-selling, indie-friendly acts like chemical bros, basement jaxx etc. but with two/three more serious duos thrown in.

ultimately aren't there about a zillion 90s dance duos?

xxp - well BoC is more popular than all those acts, it's kinda like how Radiohead gets insane credit for being "experimental", when they're really just a kinda experimental act that happened to get very famous