Top 50 Most Overrated Electronic Albums

Eat some funk

Villalobos himself probably hasn't listened to all the music he's made in the past ten years, and I object on principle to the kind of critical treatment that seeks to elevate him above other dance music producers as some kind of profound rule-breaking genius (though this has receded over about the same period as Villalobos' own output hit total critical mass). But a top twenty productions list (assuming we could all agree on its contents) would be straight fire.

The same is true to varying extents and in different ways for Moodymann, Theo Parrish, Autechre, Aphex Twin, arguably Terre Thaemlitz - all artists who get lauded as iconoclastic auteur geniuses and, well, it's understandable, but it also not my preferred way of thinking about any of them.

DJ Koze in a different category, at least for me: there's a middle stripe of amazing widescreen and inventive dance floor material that he puts out which I think is mindblowing, and then there's the more minimalist material he puts out that I think is fine but not necessarily that distinguishable from other similar producers, and the jokey stuff on the other side which is kind of whatever. I feel like his elevation to near iconoclastic genius category is almost an accident of history, a need to fill a void. It's interesting to imagine an alternate scenario where it wasn't Koze who ended up assuming that role but, I dunno, Kalabrese or someone.

(the obvious actual alternative is Maurice Fulton but I think a lot of people would say "yeah, but he is a genius tho")

middle stripe you mean middle brow

haha sure if you like

i think you are mostly otm except come on theo parrish really is a one of a kind madman

moodymann pretty overrated esp lately

he had his day when he was untouchable but he has been getting worse and worse for a long time now

Behead all Villalobos disbelievers.

Parrish is a bit like Carl Craig in that the critical treatment is still wrong but he almost makes it right (though for different reasons).

i like the comparison because a moody top 20 would indeed tower over 99% of deep house music but he has always also had misses (like any mere mortal) and he is treading water and i hate his lame persona

there is good villalobos for sure - i will rep for the au harem and fizheuer and his taka taka mix until i die

but he should have stopped a while ago

Yep

this here is villalobos at his finest

http://soundcloud.com/vander-funkinhausen/ricardo-villalobos-live-fabric

forever and eternal

tell me more about your views on parrish because i really think there is very little like his work post- american intelligence

actually a lot of his old stuff is really weird too

Look I have no problem with "non dancers" listening to electronica but just slow your roll when it comes to shitting on things because they don't give you emotions when you're half listening to them in your flat

808 Bass Queen is all time

The one that's like an epic hard remix of "computer world" is all time

But yeah the cult of singular genius wrt Villalobos is kinda annoying. He's produced a fair amount of awesome hypnotic tracks and also a few weird full length albums that are very good but of course overfawned upon

The whole Villalobos cult thing is really wild in that he's a good dj when he's really working it, and most of his album-length things are good, but I can't really point to a single album (as opposed to his body of work as a whole) that was really overrated. Long-term, best album lists maybe have Alcachofa on them and not much else? Maybe Achso or something was overrated but there doesn't seem to be much longevity of praise

Jon Hopkins and a few other acts are enjoyable but sound more like a synthesis of other sounds done in a more composer-centric way, or arranged like it's dancefloor-oriented electronic music for non-dance fans. That probably describes a large portion of overrated albums, though, especially when the styles that are being concentrated aren't really casual listening or album-centric.

Alcachofa was the closest Villalobos ever got to bending to the rules of the album as it exists in non-dance formats, but thankfully he never tried to make songs

it’s decent as a trad album, still love the TLS remix (cover!) of Dexter

One of the reasons Villalobos albums subsequent to the Fabric mix aren't specifically overrated is that there's probably only about one hundred people in the world who have listened to them any later than 6 months after their release date.

he’s kind of had three fitting that bill, and I honestly have meant to check out Empirical House but forgot, enjoyed Vasco, and forgot Dependent And Happy

he did the ECM remix thing with Max Loderbauer and it was mildly interesting, and I even saw it done live, but it’s not the fawning-over type of thing

and, tbh, Vasco felt like a double EP which is probably true of the latest

(Oh wait there was a Vasco EP1 with remixes and I bought that and not the “album”)

As for Parrish, I'm not sure I've heard everything post American Intelligence. Love "Leave The Funk To Us" (total Dinosaur L jam), think "Preacher's Comin" and "Gullah Geechee" and interesting more than they are lovable, from memory "Warrior Code" is great but I need to go back to check it again.

With Parrish I have this thing that, with the odd exception (like the Hand Made single) I tend not to be too enthused by the smaller releases and the like, but think each of First Floor, Parallel Dimensions and American Intelligence are amazing, so I wouldn't be surprised if the issue is me.

Best Herbert is scale

― Ross, Friday, May 11, 2018 12:55 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Agreed. Scale is one of my favorite albums!

― Evan, Friday, May 11, 2018 1:32 PM (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ugh

pop herbert

Best Herbert is Secondhand Sounds and Let's All Make Mistakes.

remix of Life Goes On! What an awful sleeve though, I hid mine!

i've come to the conclusion the only Herbert i really like is "Leave Me Now"

Best Herbert is 'Bodily Functions'

when i think about herbert i just remember that whole pig debacle and no i don't mean 'sow into you'

tim’s post about theo kinda mirrors my own approach to his work; i get so dazzled by the album projects that anything surrounding it i kinda end up missing

Endtroducing has not aged well.

maybe not but the early shadow singles r still dope imo

Agreed but Private Press has aged surprisingly well imo

Endtroducing has not aged well.

Agreed but Private Press has aged surprisingly well imo

Couldn't disagree more with both of these statements!

yup

agree (with Against The 80s)

but i'm so not against the 80s

best herbert

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3FNi8kQwAY

I'm not saying it's bad, just that it feels like a time capsule.

pop herbert

― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Monday, May 14, 2018 2:36 AM (twelve hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

so?

Trans Canada Highway is what Campfire Headphase should've been.

the cool thing about Tomorrow's Harvest and Dead Cities is that you could swap their track titles and they'd still be appropriate!

JIV that is some generic fast fashion bullshit house Herbert and you should know better

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjUnO0BKZMA

Pick something that at least exhibits his trivial experiments in kitchen-tools-as-sample-fodder

Actress wins this hands down just based on this decade and I love a bunch of his tracks. Ditto Laurel Halo - found her last three albums mostly dud.

Oh and def. Bicep.

Another electronic movement that seemed really cool back in the 90’s but sounds lame in retrospective is Big Beat. It’s most respected album might be Dig your own hole by Chemical Brothers and that one is mostly duds and two or three decent songs, definitely overrated.