IDM-minimalist electronic appreciation? - Page 2

Definitely not my day to day kind of music, but I enjoy Vector Lovers quite a bit:

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Check out the label Basic Channel or anything involving the head of that label, Maurizio, for some dub-minimal techno perfection.

Yeah, Basic Channel invented dub techno back in 1993. Really incredible stuff - they have 2 compilations out called BCD and BCD-2 (I think the track Quadrant Dub is my favorite). There's also Maurizio, which is actually just another alias of Basic Channel (BC and Maurizio are two guys, Moritz von Oswald and Mark Ernestus). They also ran Chain Reaction for a while, which released great dub techno work by Fluxion, Matrix, Vainqueur, Porter Ricks, and Hallucinator. My favorite on that label is their last release, "Ship-Scope" by Shinichi Atobe. They also had a side project called Main Street Records that focused more on traditional house music (at least at first) - here's a great one by Round One (they did five singles under 5 aliases, Round One through Round Five - the music gets dubbier and more abstract as the Round number increases) called "I'm Your Brother." It's based off "Caravan of Love" by The Isley Brothers.



They also run a dub/reggae label, Rhythm & Sound, which I'm not into as much but it's still cool stuff I guess..

If Basic Channel is too dry for you (which it is for most people, though I really enjoy it) then Deepchord and Echospace are two labels that are great for that kind of stuff. People like Quantec, Mikkel Metal, and Deepchord make dub techno that (for me) is a little samey but it's a good update of the Basic Channel sound that's a little more accessible and warmer.

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I think it's best not to throw yourself directly into drone and minimalist ambient as that stuff can sound the same after a while and it's pretty inaccessible to begin with. Sounds like you should start off with some Future Sound of London. It's ambient, sort of, and techno, sort of, and sample-based, sort of. More of a mixture of all three - it's sample based ambient, which means it's not just distorted notes or pure tones sustained over long periods of time. It means there's a clear structure the samples are laid out on (like you would lay out a hi hat, a kick, and a snare over a grid of 16th notes or whatever) but there are no beats, in a traditional techno sense. Instead, what propels the songs forward is a collage of guitar sounds, filtered piano, synthesizer, or sometimes just weird sounds. The album "Lifeforms" is a really good introduction to ambient music, if you're still trying to figure out the framework of ambient music and how it works. Of course, there's always Brian Eno's "Ambient 4: On Land," which was also hugely helpful for me in terms of understanding ambient music.

Both fantastic albums. Also Eno's Music for Airports is just outstanding. +1 to Grouper's taste in music.

Bill Laswell does some ambient-dub, his ambient albums with Mick Harris and Tetsu Inoue are good as are his collaborations on Pete Namlooks "Dark Side of the Moog" series; Laswell is only on a couple volumes, it's mostly Namlook and Klaus Schulze, but Laswell appears on some of Namlook's other albums. Laswell's jazz work is awesome as well. Lustmord does some dub stuff occasionally, but his dark-ambient work is exceptional. Some of his earlier stuff shows more diversity, some people think he overuses the Tibetan horn in his later works. You might want to try the "Select Ambient Works" (both vols, but I prefer 1) by Aphex Twin as that might be what you're looking for. I listen to a lot of ambient and minimalist music so I could probably rattle off quite a few names especially if you wanted to get into different subgenres of ambient...

Thanks jefe!


I would actually caution against this if you're trying to get into ambient music... Selected Ambient Works 85-92, even though it is one of my favorite albums ever, the title is very misleading. The album is more of a compilation of "the lighter side" of Aphex Twin's work during that period (as opposed to I Care Because You Do), and it has a lot more techno aspects to it than does a traditional ambient record. Plus, I don't really find Selected Ambient Works II nearly as interesting.

All that stuff you mentioned about Pete Namlook (and anything involving the FAX label) is good stuff, though.

Alva Noto's "Xerrox Vol. 2" might be good for starters, too. There's a lot of blending of digital elements of music (His other projects are more focused on digital composition and minimalist, austere electronics) and warmer, analog forms, like string samples. It's a pretty good and cohesive listen.

Another artist that comes to mind when I think "accessible ambient" is Eluvium, who has branded himself quite successfully lately as an "emotional" ambient artist. This is sort of unfortunate as the origins of the genre lie in making music that can be focused on or regarded as background music with similar results - comparing Eluvium most recent material to Eno's early ambient work and "thinking music" is almost like comparing pop punk to first wave late 70s punk. That said, his early material is much better, notably "Talk Amongst The Trees."

No it's not very ambient, but it's not a bad stepping stone and it's a great album either way. Yes, anything Namlook does is good, his music does span a wide spectrum though... If we're talking "accessible ambient" ala Brian Eno et.al, then Michael Stearns ("Planetary Unfolding") is very good, others to look into would be Erik Wøllo ("Elevations" and "Stream of Thought" with Steve Roach) and Jon Jenkins ("Beyond City Light"). Klaus Schulze, who is one of my favorites, is also very good, a lot of his earlier works ("Irrlicht") featured some samples and tape loops so they're fairly melodic. If you like Klaus' earlier stuff check out Neptune Towers (by Fenriz of Darkthrone) For some lesser known, but IMO spectacular, is the Finnish group Jääportit ("Uumenissa"). Also, since I'm listening to it now, I'll suggest Atomine Elektrine ("Archimetrical Universe"), it is heading more towards some darker ambient, but it's still quite melodic with some minor trance influences, it's not nearly as dark as the composer's other projects.

Oh, never mind then. Have you listened to Terre Thaemlitz or Hazard?