Best 90s electronic music duo

"do your thing" is about as awesome as "cotton eyed joe"

both in terms of sound and concept

I don't think you are defending your point as well as you believe you are

Cotton Eye Joe is pretty crunk, imo

like basically you are being the dance music version of me on R&B threads going "this is terrible, it sounds like Ginuwine"

Late Great otm, who could ever want to listen to more than a tiny few Basement Jaxx tracks again? They've aged terribly. They have some genuinely embarrassing stuff too, lots of it.

voted for autechre, though I actually like their 00s stuff a lot more than their 90s stuff

What's that even worse one, after do your thing, had a novelty video?

i would rather listen to ginuwine than any post-rooty basement jaxx

i say this as someone who used to have the "lucky star" single

who could ever want to listen to more than a tiny few Basement Jaxx tracks again?

indeed, WHO? Clearly nobody here. Hmmm

I listen to them all the time FWIW

air

Who could ever deliberately misunderstand a rhetorical question?

Very UK centric list, this.

Who could ever deliberately misunderstand a rhetorical question?

Who would waste time and space asking one?

Are rhetorical questions?

No

Opinions a waste of time, why even post on a messageboard?

I think the "would you listen to much of it now / has it aged well" rubric is usually problematic but particularly so with electronic music where it seems to reward only stylistic bet-hedging.

Truly Basement Jaxx ended in embarassing territory but so did a lot of such acts and nothing they have ever done is a patch on the awfulness of "The Salmon Dance" - and yet I still think the Chemical Bros were (are) a fantastic act. See also Orbital and that hideous David Grey song.

With seveaal of these acts I think a lot of what made them great at some times is intimately bound up with what made them embarassing at others - not knowing where to draw the line makes you vulnerable to hideous errors of judgement but it also allows you to see possibilites others can't.

In terms of public perception Basement Jaxx now feel overdetermined by the guest star eclecticism of their third to fifth albums (though this is not to take away from the fact that Kish Kash is excellent) - it's very easy to forget that first and foremost they had a vision of house that was pretty singular.

Best exemplified by their 1997 and 1999 Essential Mixes I think.

In terms of public perception Basement Jaxx now feel overdetermined by the guest star eclecticism of their third to fifth albums

On a related note, I can't shake the feel that (bizarrely to me) a lot of people ignore the first two Chemical Bros albums and instead conceive of them as "Setting Sun" + "Block Rocking Beats" + Surrender.

I mostly agree with you, Tim, but I do honestly think the vast majority of Scars is worse than "The Salmon Dance"

also I can't really fathom that view of the Chems, but that's mostly because I hated Surrender and took them off of the trusted list after that album, even though I pretty much love Come With Us and We Own The Night

Truly Basement Jaxx ended in embarassing territory but so did a lot of such acts and nothing they have ever done is a patch on the awfulness of "The Salmon Dance" - and yet I still think the Chemical Bros were (are) a fantastic act. See also Orbital and that hideous David Grey song

well for the Jaxx that's really their whole aesthetic. the tracks you mentioned were one-offs, and c'mon, neither is really that bad

well for the Jaxx that's really their whole aesthetic.

What, bad music?

Anyway what about "The Test" and (the original of) "The Golden Path"? Or most of The Altogether?

I don't really know what "their whole aesthetic" refers to, but presumably it doesn't include:

- "Be Free" / "Samba Magic" - gorgeous textured latin-influenced deep house

- "Flylife" / "Set Yo Body Free" - slamming jack house

- "Lonely" / "Wish Tonight" - stunning percussive vocal garage

- "Razocaine" / "All U Crazies" / "Same Old Show" - mindbending ruminative yet thuggish drug-house

- "Missing You" / "Jump N Shout" - rigorous dancehall/house fusion

- "Bingo Bango" / "I Beg U" - epic latin house

My point is not that they covered lots of bases, but that none of the above sit easily with this popular notion of them as mix'n'match guest-star poptimists, which doesn't really start until Rooty and (properly) Kish Kash.

As with the early Chemical Bros, people seem determined to wipe out any legacy of Basement Jaxx as consummate track-centric producers crafting dancefloor bangers.

For pushing a consistent aesthetic throughout their discography:

Air
Autechre
Boards of Canada

For keeping the mainstream and my younger years interesting:

Basement Jaxx
The Chemical Brothers
Daft Punk

For their production values:

Matmos
Röyksopp

Anyway what about "The Test" and (the original of) "The Golden Path"? Or most of The Altogether?

well I like "The Test" quite a bit and most of The Altogether isn't pop. not saying they haven't made some bad music. I would just categorize them differently.

Very UK centric list, this.

aye well i'm a very uk centric person - or was in the 90s. electronic music wise.

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

― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 3 April 2012 14:56 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah, no. listening to time tourist (1996) and it's still very much warp circa 92/artificial intelligence: chillout room melodies, four on the floor beats with some added skitteriness. autechre got a little bit more "out there" than that.

Basement Jaxx are at that 10-year point where they just seem hideously unfashionable and dated and incongruous up against the backdrop of current music. There was a moment a few years ago when funky was straying into Basement Jaxx territory but it's largely swayed away since. But a lot of the acts in this poll were in that position a decade or so ago and sound relevant again now as sounds and approaches reoccur in different contexts.

But Basement Jaxx are a different era to most of the rest of this poll, they're a late 90s act who pushed on into the next decade rather than a late 80s/early 90s act who started winding down around 2000.

They also lack Daft Punk's feted deity status. Surprised there's still so much gloss around DP seeing as they haven't made a good record for 11 years and every variety of lowest common denominator hack has wrung just about everything out of their sound.

Matt DC OTM.

Lots of canonical electronic acts haven't put out a decent record in 10 years.

Lots of canonical electronic acts have had their sound utterly pillaged by hacks.

I don't see how that automatically revokes their canonical status, when they were so U&K at a certain time and place.

yeah, no. listening to time tourist (1996) and it's still very much warp circa 92/artificial intelligence: chillout room melodies, four on the floor beats with some added skitteriness. autechre got a little bit more "out there" than that.

i know!

i am kind of conservative sometimes in my tastes and i guess that's an example.

Masonic Boom - yes, that's true, BUT most of those have had time for elements of their sound to come back into fashion. I suppose the case with DP is that they've never really gone OUT of fashion, which Basement Jaxx decidedly have. They clearly have a sort of aura that most of these acts lack. I'm not trying to revoke the canonical status of those first two records, they're amazing.

I think a lot of DP's pull is down to the paucity of material they released.

Yes, staying so "mysterious" and keeping their output so low for so long helped keep the legend factor up and the spoiler factor down.

basement jaxx have made some horrible sounding records, that's my problem with them. at the time, they sounded fresh and exciting but every year that passes they get harder and harder for me to listen to. the hooks aren't as immediate as they used to be, it sounds overly busy, production is cluttered and it all sounds a bit dated to my ears

daft punk and air seem to have aged better, they're way less ambitious and just do the same thing over and over from different angles. i don't really follow this one daft punk album is better than the other stuff. they're all about the same if you ask me, they do their thing but they do it very well. i think the tour a few years ago proved that, i can't think of many other acts who have a body of work strong enough to put together an hour and half show with so many highlights like that.

b-12 and autechre had such different intentions, i dunno, electro soma is prob my most listened to record from both, but autechre are one of the few acts that can make me go 0_0 WTF. each time i revisit their stuff i hear it differently and the autechre in my life is in constant

anyway, it's probably between daft punk and autechre altho i like stuff from everyone here, apart from the grid and crystal method.

I think for a certain type of person Daft Punk are also year zero for taking house seriously.

But they also have much more of a big light show music of the future vibe to them (certainly now). "One More Time" and "Digital Love" notwithstanding I don't think they tend to be associated with pop.

Basement Jaxx ended up more pop but also started more house qua house, a kind of house that hasn't ever really crossed over properly. Having said that:

Basement Jaxx are at that 10-year point where they just seem hideously unfashionable and dated and incongruous up against the backdrop of current music.

Agree with this in general terms but I think Night Slugs, Numbers et. al. owe a shitload to early Basement Jaxx, even if it's largely unacknowledged.

This thread is actually quite amusing for showcasing a certain kind of ~dance rockism~ for lack of a better word, with all these references to "certain kind of person" and "dance artists with videos on MTV." I am finding that oddly hilarious.

I was at a bar a few weeks ago and "Digital Love" came on the jukebox and every single person sitting/standing around me went "what the fuck is this? this sucks."

~dance rockism~ is totally a thing. It's been around as long as dance. Various people who are anti ~rockism-qua-rockism~ and pro popism can be pretty ~dance-rockist~, which always amuses me.

I was on a "download loads of late 90s dance singles" tip the other week. You can't download Music Sounds Better With You from iTunes except as part of a compilation you need to pay about £8; so I bought a 2nd hand CD single of it! Not bought oen of them in forever.

I don't think you're really engaging with the point Tim made. House music didn't actually have a great deal of traction with indie-inclined audiences pre-1997 or therabouts and Daft Punk, and Da Funk in particular are a key signpost and maybe even turning point towards wider acceptance.

I'm talking specifically about house, as opposed to techno, hardcore, jungle/D&B, IDM, crossover dance, Krautier stuff. You could put disco in the same bracket as house there.

I mean there are still people who would be into some or all of those genres who don't take house seriously and they're not necessarily corny indie types either.

haha xxpost!

I think for a certain type of person Daft Punk are also year zero for taking house seriously.

Believe it or not I meant this pretty non-judgmentally.

It's as much about age as anything else. A lot of people my age were about about 14 when "Around The World" and "Da Funk" blew up, and before that were probably too young to really appreciate anything so remorselessly repetitive. And my sense is that Daft Punk's godlike status is actually amongst people my age and younger rather than amongst older people who might actually have been (old enough to be) sniffy about pre-1996 house.

I was at a bar a few weeks ago and "Digital Love" came on the jukebox and every single person sitting/standing around me went "what the fuck is this? this sucks."

it does suck! i have mostly always been a daft punk hater and this has only increased as their sound has been relentlessly mined by people of varying shades of awfulness, as matt says.

i had no idea b jaxx were considered unfashionable. i don't think anyone would argue that they've been even slightly relevant or acceptable post-kish kash but this happens to every dance act. their god period >>>> all these other acts' god period.

"red alert" along with armand van helden were year zero for me getting into dance music

A lot of people my age were about about 14 when "Around The World" and "Da Funk" blew up, and before that were probably too young to really appreciate anything so remorselessly repetitive.

even after over a decade of being immersed in dance music i still can't appreciate something as remorselessly, shittily repetitive as "around the world"