PEOPLE OF THE NATIONS, DANCING TOGETHER! It's the 1990s TOP 100 ELECTRONIC TRACKS poll results!

No Chemical Brothers so far...

I was worried this might miss out. What a fucking tune.

what a way to go for the evening

I heard the whole of Baby D's album for the first time the other day, it's really quite good!

Concerned for the legitimacy of the poll.

― MikoMcha, Thursday, 20 December 2012 10:22 PM (44 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol miko

New board description.

I love that Chime article

20. The KLF - 3 A.M. Eternal (Live at the S.S.L.) (KLF Communications, 1990)
596 points, 11 votes.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/3ameternal_zpsb82d6212.jpg

http://youtu.be/g2qMtXG3Z5o

I've been on a early 90s jamz kick and never realized before how much of an exact rip the 3AM Eternal single is of Snap - 'The Power', down to the Eastern European voice sample at the start. feckin brilliant - How to Have a No 1 the Easy Way indeed...

― Fahrvergnügent (herb albert), 6. tammikuuta 2010 0:58

And why is "3AM Eternal" not counted as the all time bestest dance tune of all time? There is no justice in this world.

― dog latin, 1. joulukuuta 2002 3:52

I fucking hated dance music at the time and I thought "3 am Eternal" was amazing.

― sund4r subramanian (sund4r), 3. joulukuuta 2002 23:30

3 A.M. Eternal" still sounds GRATE.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, 3. lokakuuta 2007 1:39

You posted that a few hours too late.

Although if 3 a.m. Really is eternal, then that's a moot point.

Has anyone else made pop acid house as effectively as The KLF? I don't think so.

beep boop, boop beep

19. Orbital - The Girl with the Sun in Her Head (Internal, 1996)
598 points, 9 votes, one 1st place vote.

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

http://youtu.be/_a9U9dpf3PE

the intro to "The Girl With The Sun In Her Head" is incredibly poignant in an uplifting way.

― David Gunnip, 24. tammikuuta 2002 3:00

I always had the same question of people with Orbital back then too; "if The Girl With The Sun In Her Head were played on guitar you'd wank over it" I said to my guitarist mates, and they had to admitt that yes, they would.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), 19. kesäkuuta 2003 11:56

To my ears, "The Girl With the Sun in Her Head" and "Lush 3-1/3-2" are so much above anything I've ever heard from Underworld--including a few tracks that I think are amaaaazing, that I don't understand why anyone can choose Underworld instead. The thing I especially love about the former is the multiple layers of the song: I think at one point there are five or six melodic lines all locking together to form this incredibly dense but beautiful melody, while still keeping the groove going.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), 2. marraskuuta 2004 0:45

What I meant to say was that when I'm listening to Orbital I can never quite forget that the music was deliberately composed. This is not really a compliment. There is a sense of of marionette strings being pulled and mechanisms chunking through a predefined path. At best it's part of the charm (The Girl With The Sun In Her Head), but at worst, if the track as a whole doesn't work for me (several tracks on Wonky) the music just ends up sounding contrived.

― hot slag (lukas), 29. elokuuta 2012 9:27

KLF do nothing for me, tbh

Always always always rocks the party that tune. Any kind of party.

OTM. I don't know anyone under the age of 40 who doesn't like On A Ragga Tip. You could play it to a room of angry earnest metal dudes who vow destruction of all dance music and On A Ragga Tip would get people dancing.

Also going back to Sandstorm, last night I remembered this ridiculous house party where the DJ had been totally shameless in a more or less predictable way all night and he ostensibly ended his set with La Rock 01 by Vitalic and the entire room thought he's blown the roof off it and then he just grinned and wheeled out Sandstorm and everyone realised quite how wrong they were. It was insane.

Also we appear to have already covered a lot of very big guns indeed already given we're only just into the top 20. Although given the slant of the list so far I'm now wondering a) if Injected With A Poison will place and b) if the Chemical Brothers will miss out altogether.

I'm 99.9% certain my number one isn't going to place. There's one tune that I assumed would be up there, but not all that high, and the higher up we go the more I think it's not going to make it.

very UK/ Europe heavy list thus far. I wonder if some of the big N American names will place? Off the top of my head maybe some Drexciya/UR, more Carl Craig, Jeff Mills maybe?

this ridiculous house party where the DJ had been totally shameless in a more or less predictable way all night and he ostensibly ended his set with La Rock 01 by Vitalic and the entire room thought he's blown the roof off it and then he just grinned and wheeled out Sandstorm and everyone realised quite how wrong they were. It was insane.

This, and the one upthread about the crowd tearing down the walls, just make me wonder why Sandstorm isn't the unanimous no.1. Imagine creating a record that can do that, you'd feel like god.

18. Orbital - Belfast (FFRR, 1991)
619 points, 9 votes.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/belfast_zpsd4219a3e.jpg

http://youtu.be/h7sO39nU6hc

My favorite Orbital moment is from Belfast when the bassline hits the highest note.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), 29. huhtikuuta 2003 23:03

"Belfast" is UNDERrated if anything ... they never played it live as much as they should since it's gentler (=not very "banging") than most of their stuff. I doubt the casual Orbital fan even knows the song.

"Belfast" is the most gorgeous, tear-jerking thing they ever did, save perhaps "Attatched" or the first minute of "Way Out" or the last four minutes of "Out There Somewhere". I put it #3 on my 90's ballot.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), 14. lokakuuta 2004 19:06

And no fucking way is Blue better than Green. Maybe because you UKers didn't get the singles with your version, but our version has both "Chime" and "Belfast," thus automatically making it superior to every Orbital album besides In Sides and Snivilisation.

― The Good Dr. Bill\ (Andrew Unterberger), 14. lokakuuta 2004 13:46

Recommend me more songs like Orbital's "Belfast"

I don't think it's too big a spoiler to say that this was my number one, given that I've just done a search and the only reference to it on ILX is when I nominated it. The tune which I was expecting to place somewhere, but am beginning to doubt will turn up, is Liquid - Sweet Harmony. I've been assuming Da Funk will be up there somewhere and feel pretty sure Show Me Love will be top ten.

Things I'm hoping to see still: Loops of Fury, Da Funk, Flowerz, Renegade Snares, Narramine.

I reckon Sweet Harmony will place, people LOVE that tune.

Off the top of my head maybe some Drexciya/UR, more Carl Craig, Jeff Mills maybe?

Not sure exactly what's nominated but you'd expect The Bells to turn up at some point at the very least.

(xpost Renegade Snares definitely as well)

wow! such a stream of amazing tracks. 3am Eternal is my favourite KLF track. Surprised to see Something Good (another one I had on single as a kid). Never too mad on TGWTSIHH by Orbital, not a particular highlight of In Sides for me.

This, and the one upthread about the crowd tearing down the walls, just make me wonder why Sandstorm isn't the unanimous no.1. Imagine creating a record that can do that, you'd feel like god.

In Finnish, the word for "horce races" is "ravit", which conjugates similarly to the word "rave". Because of this, the Finnish word "raveissa" can mean both "at the horse races" or "at a rave". So it has become a common joke, when someone here says "I was at a rave", to ask "Oh, which horse won?". One day, in the early 00s, the local paper had a headline that said "Darude soitti raveissa" ("soitti" = "played"), which I automatically interpreted as "Darude played at a rave", so I was kinda wondering why that was somehow newsworthy... Until I read the article and found out Darude had actually played live at the horse races. It was kinda hard to take the guy seriously after that.

(Btw, fun fact: "Sandstorm" was co-produced by JS16, the same guy who produced "Freestyler", so he's partially responsible of the two biggest dance hits ever made in this country.)

Though "Freestyler" is, in my opinion, infinitely better than "Sandstorm".

One of the reasons I could never get 100% behind the John Talabot album was that I kept comparing it unfavourably to The Girl With The Sun In Her Head, which is completely unfair but they're attempting to do similar things with melody and build and the Orbital track is just on a different plane.

Which version of "Let Me Be Your Fantasy" has a total breakdown with a robot voice saying something like: "Underground is where we work and move it... Underground!" and then goes turbo rave bonkers? That was the version I used to have, but I haven't heard it in ages.

17. Beltram - Energy Flash (Transmat, 1990)
636 points, 10 votes.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/energyflash_zps258e4b10.jpg

http://youtu.be/ALsHox5sYCk

van dyke parks could never have written such an anthem as energy flash.

― Francis, 8. heinäkuuta 2009 7:11

jb IS techno. put his records in a time capsule and forget the rest.

― blunt, 1. maaliskuuta 2008 22:26

you're right but there's something about the 'pop-trance' tracks and the like that just makes them seem so much weaker despite the harsh synth tones, heavy basslines and ultra-dense bassdrums...they're too polished even tho they are just built around a complete lobotomy of a riff, whats the point of such well EQ'd beats and sounds when the overall composition is so uninspiring? mind you, whats more minimal than 'ENergy Flash'? but at least THAT had some meance and attitude - dare i say profound given its uncomprimising appraoch and shockingly primitive production values?

― blueski, 9. lokakuuta 2002 17:20

also i was just listening to "energy flash" today and it sounds enervated as hell (especially next to the wedlock track that follows it on the mix cd), but compelling in a completely different way just the same.

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), 8. joulukuuta 2003 3:57

Van Dyke Parks vs Joey Beltram FITE

Btw, while searching for quotes on that, I found out that ILM has, no exaggeration, about 10 times as many posts on Energy Flash the book than Energy Flash the track, which I guess is indicative of something...

Which version of "Let Me Be Your Fantasy" has a total breakdown with a robot voice saying something like: "Underground is where we work and move it... Underground!" and then goes turbo rave bonkers? That was the version I used to have, but I haven't heard it in ages.

Isn't this just the regular version? The 12" mix I posted has the breakdown, and, as far as I can recall, the video/radio edit has it too.

probably. whenever i hear it out these days it doesn't have the breakdown. think people play a more modern version.

FWIW I'm not convinced that's the right version of Set You Free upthread, it certainly isn't in the Spotify playlist.

Well, whoever nominated it didn't specify any mix, so in those cases I've usually posted the music video, as it's fun to watch 90s dance videos.

'Bug in the Bass Bin' must be a lock fr the top 10.

And a Windowlicker/Come to Daddy one-two

I genuinely have no idea what's going to win this.

i'm really hoping it's not aphex or autechre, but it probably will be.

ROYGBIV hasn't appeared yet either, has it?

When I started this poll I had no idea either what tune might win, but in the end the winner was quite clear - it got almost 300 points more than number 2.

it can't be autechre, there's no consensus track.

Also there's like 20 Autechre tracks nominated and there'll be mad vote splitting.

I reckon 'Little Fluffy Clouds' has a fairly decent chance of winning this.

arch carrier?

these are random stabs in the dark - i dunno what might win.

There are plenty of Prodigy tracks that could make it of course.

Or maybe this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?hl=en-GB&gl=GB&v=IZDhCveQhOA

This, and the one upthread about the crowd tearing down the walls, just make me wonder why Sandstorm isn't the unanimous no.1. Imagine creating a record that can do that, you'd feel like god.

In my experience and these anecdotes the track is huge for people who weren't generally interested in the scene or genre it's taking its cues from (Trance and Hard House) at the time it came out. The love for it feels more ironic like it's a novelty hit (you're not 'supposed' to like or take seriously) - so much closer to 'Poing' than 'Storm' by Storm, big Gatecrasher anthems etc. This also explains the disdain for it compared to other hard monotonous but more credible bangers (altho I'm struggling to think of good examples from the same time as 'Sandstorm' as opposed to COUNTLESS from a few years before).

Sandstorm doesn't actually sound like anything else from the time either.

The only other Prodigy track that might possibly place is No Good, the idea of there being two tracks placing above Out of Space just doesn't make sense to me.

Other, less obvious tracks that might still show up due to being consensus picks among committed constituencies - 'Beau Mot Plage', 'Original Nuttah', Weatherall remix of 'Soon'.

All of these feel essential to me: No Good, Hey Boy Hey Girl, Age of Love, Rez, Hideaway, Your Loving Arms, Positive Education, Renegade Snares, Beau Mot Plage, Windowlicker, Soon, Da Funk, Papua New Guinea, Horsepower, Little Fluffy Clouds, Professional Widow. But they can't all place.

surely LFO before Horsepower

16. Kenny "Dope" presents The Bucketheads ‎- The Bomb! (These Sounds Fall into My Mind) (Henry Street Music, 1994)
639 points, 11 votes, one 1st place vote.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/thebomb_zpsf4039651.jpg

http://youtu.be/W7Hk3o_knvY

who are they? how could they drop 'the bomb', never to be heard of again?

― minna, 20. maaliskuuta 2002 3:00

they were a bit pissed off when The Bomb was a UK hit cos ended up costing them 30 grand for the Chicago sample

― michael, 20. maaliskuuta 2002 3:00

bucketheads "the bomb" : dancefloor :: grenade : swiming pool

― :|, 28. lokakuuta 2004 19:10

what's interesting is that early house does not have what blueski/tracer are talking about. Nor does ardkore/jungle/drum and bass/2-step garage: what those styles all have instead is a more advanced use of the breakdown where the beat cuts out for a while and then rams back in with astonishing force (in modern drum & bass the difference here becomes almost imperceptibly small, as the linearity of the beat means you can "hear" it even after it has cut out, thus mimicking some of the effect of the trance-style build-up breakdown).

Whereas with trance/french house etc. it's like the groove is abandoning you, but then it comes back to save you... there can be something almost metaphysical about the experience of a breakdown/build-up/release section on the dancefloor, especially if drug-assisted: it's like you've lost yourself and you're stuck waiting for the groove to help you find yourself, and you can hear it searching for you with flashlights around the edges, always circling closer, but you're not sure when the flashlight will suddenly fix upon you.

With disco - esp. say Larry Levan productions or in a different way Moroder - I'd say there's a lot of stuff which replicates part of this effect: with Levan stuff it's the way that layers are added and subtracted in order to create the sense of peaks and valleys in the track. But there's nothing like this specific trick with trance perhaps kickstarted.

Indeed, I thought to myself "surely Wild Pitch house would be the first time this trick was used in "proper" house music in a substantive, sustained and deliberate way?? Which at least coincides with early trance, and probably just predates it??" But then I went back and listened to Photon Inc's "Generate Power (Wild Pitch Mix)" and there's no breakdown section at all, let alone a build-up version of one - I had assumed there was because the use of layering in this track the whole way through is just out of this world - but, crucially, it's "out of this world" in a post-Levan sense, not a trance sense. If anyone can think of Wild Pitch tracks that actually do this trick that'd be interesting.

So maybe the use of EQing really kickstarted this in house. EQing, I think, formed the sonic highpoint for this tactic, and in some senses dealt a bit of a blow to trance by stealing and improving on one of the key weapons in its arsenal in the name of house music.

So then I thought perhaps an early example of this being done in a substantive/sustained/deliberative way in house would be something like The Bucketheads' "The Bomb". Still one of the best house tracks ever in its full fifteen minute version, and sounding so so current right now - and first and foremost the whole thing is an experiment in eliciting different types of anticipatory tension. Anyway, I listened to it again, and you can start to hear this idea (ahem) filter through, but still in a very limited and hesitant sense, it's still in a post-Wild Pitch (i.e. post-Levan) mode of adding and subtracting layers strategically, the EQing is very subtle. Moments at the eight/nine minute marks are very close to being build-up breakdowns, but fall short, I think, of what this thread is looking for - on a tangent, what this track does really well that's not done enough in house (and certainly not in trance) is cut from one groove to another suddenly and radically (going from the percussion and "Wooh! Wooh!" section to the disco/vocal section) - a trick which mimics some of the effect of the build-up breakdown insofar as the first section explicitly sets itself up as a prelude to something. But the lack of a proper build-up breakdown surprised me, and makes me wonder what the first use of this in a house context would be.

Around The World as well probably. Maybe Impact (The Earth Is Burning) if that was nominated.

(xpost - I totally forgot about that one and am completely delighted to see it).