Listening list for an electronic music class

[zhao]

ok found it here is the right list for them kids:

Throbbing Gristle - 20 Jazz Funk Greats
Lee Perry VS. Bullwackies - Satan Dub
New Order - Movement
Suicide - Suicide
K-rob and Rammel-Z - the one on Woebot's list
Fad Gadget - not sure which album? (to some extent, Fad Gadget is to Front 242 what V.U. is to the Strokes)
planet rock obviously
the Silver Apples - self titled
Spectrum - Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows

etc...

 

[hamarplazt]

Fad Gadget - not sure which album? (to some extent, Fad Gadget is to Front 242 what V.U. is to the Strokes)

Rather, Front 242 is to Fad Gadget what V.U. is to The Ventures... not that I've anything against The Ventures... or Fad Gadget...

 

[DigitalDjigit]

Derrick May - It Is What It Is (pure detroit techno)
Human Resource - Dominator (quintessential rave)
Remarc - R.I.P. (amen jungle mashup with reggae sample)
Stardust - Music Sounds Better With You (house, disco, loops)
Basic Channel - E2E4 basic reshape (simultaneously dub techno, glitch and classic reference)

It's a bit silly to go for the obscure stuff that even those into the music haven't heard of.

 

[Ness Rowlah]

and for a bit of stuff that actually made the charts (more in a last 35 years range though)
"Popcorn"/Hot Butter and "Oxygene"/Jean Michel Jarre

 

[polystyle]

Your getting all this right , autonomic ?

Some quite good suggestions already .
Ok, I'll have a go

Donna Summer / Moroder - ck
Ultravox! - John Foxx Underpass being somewhat a pop thing in UK - ck
Basic Channel - ck
Planet Rock - ck
Kraftwerk - something from Computer World
Early Human League - Dignity' (you guys nailed that one , Mariane , etc. so good in it's time, inspiring)
Missy - Freak on
Aphex Twin - one of the Ambient tracks '85 -'92 or the later collection (or one from both)
Bowie - (under influence of Eno & the Germans) Warszawa from Low
Metalheads - yep , already noted
Suicide - Teardrop or Cherie , one of the early rocka electro hybrids (not a pop hit or anything , but ...) - ck
Prodigy - Yea, i can see how Charly does rate in all this ...

Anyway, it's just a list , not a gospel, autonomic hope you got what you need >

 

[nomos]

Your getting all this right , autonomic ?

Haha, yes. This will be a difficult decision. Maybe I can play a bit in the class as well. Thanks for everything so far, folks

 

[Chef Napalm]

1. Rhythim is Rhythim - "Strings Of Life" (Detroit in a nutshell)
2. Young Gods - "Jimmy" (possibilities of sampling/studio as instrument)
3. Metalheadz - "Terminator" (pivotal/transitional track in jungle evolution)
4. Oval - "Do While" (covers glitch/laptop)
5. DJ Shadow - "What Does Your Soul Look Like?" (hip-hop/trip-hop in one fell swoop)
6. Boards Of Canada - "Everything You Do Is A Balloon" (not sure why; lovely listening, though!)

Some good suggestions there.

My list would look like:

Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express - Precursor for Chicago House & Detriot Techno
Donna Summer - I Feel Love - Disco, as above
Inner City - Good Life - THE Detroit Techno Anthem (with the possible exception of Strings of Life).
Frankie Knuckles Pres, Marshall Jefferson - Move Your Body - THE Chicago House anthem.
808 State - Pacific 303 - Acid House
The Prodigy - One Love - 'Ardkore
Tricky - Overcome - Trip Hop
Metalheadz - Terminator - Jungle/D'n'B
Aphex Twin - Digeridoo - Ambient/IDM

I know, that's nine, not six. Just couldn't pare it down anymore. Actually, now that I think about it, one could easily mix Trans Europe Express into Donna Summer and Move Your Body into Good Life into Pacific 303. That would give you six and provide the cross-over into DJ culture.

Just a thought.

 

[dominic]

Stakker - Humanoid

just played this at -8 = kinda groovy

even so, i don't know if i can bring myself to play this for others

 

[zhao]

Rather, Front 242 is to Fad Gadget what V.U. is to The Ventures... not that I've anything against The Ventures... or Fad Gadget...

are you saying that 242 inspired F.G.? I'm pretty certain it was the other way around, but I guess there is the possibility that I could be mistaken... F.G. first full length dropped in 1980, and 242 in 1982. and both continued to steadily make music all through the 80s...

 

[hamarplazt]

are you saying that 242 inspired F.G.?

Not at all, The Ventures were before V.U. What I'm saying is that 242 took things so much further than anyone else at the time. They were definitely inspired by lots of things... Kraftwerk, Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, DAF, Depeche Mode, Art of Noise and probably Fad Gadget as well. But they didn't really sound like any of them (exept that the songwriting on some of their "hits" is a bit Depeche Mode-y), by 1985 and the No Comment-album, their use of sample manipulation, of space and groove, is simply far ahead of it's time. Listen closely to that album, and you'll hear proto-jack tracks, belgian rave, doomcore, minimal detroit techno, even techstep... It's the Trans Europe Express of the eighties.

 

[zhao]

Not at all, The Ventures were before V.U. What I'm saying is that 242 took things so much further than anyone else at the time. They were definitely inspired by lots of things... Kraftwerk, Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, DAF, Depeche Mode, Art of Noise and probably Fad Gadget as well. But they didn't really sound like any of them (exept that the songwriting on some of their "hits" is a bit Depeche Mode-y), by 1985 and the No Comment-album, their use of sample manipulation, of space and groove, is simply far ahead of it's time. Listen closely to that album, and you'll hear proto-jack tracks, belgian rave, doomcore, minimal detroit techno, even techstep... It's the Trans Europe Express of the eighties.

wow, interesting to see one of my teenage obsessions regarded in such high esteem... now I kind of miss all those early albums... geography... back catalog... god I used to love that shit in 1989

 

[grosun]

Others have skirted round it further up, but surely something by the Art of Noise belongs on there? Taking sampling to another level... made me want a sampler anyway (even if it took me about 15 years to actually get hold of one of my own)

 

[john eden]

"popular" where?

Kraftwerk OR donna summer
Sleng Teng or other early ragga of your choice (a good lead in to the economy of technology - bedroom producers etc)
KLF
some kind of jungle OR something more contemporary, but bonkers - i.e. glitch, gabba, breakcore
Art of Noise/Steinski/coldcut/negativland cut and paste stuff etc

and, duh, hip hop, yes?

I guess we need to throw down some basic themes?

disco/pop (chart stuff from Joe Meek to Kraftwerk to Moroder and beyond)
sampling and the forward march of technology -> AON, Steinski, hip hop. collage... mash ups?
avant garde moving into pop (TG, post punk...)
"rave" -> jungle -> breakcore? "repetitive beats"


and then, dunno, just something about how everything is electronic popular music these days?

 

[nomos]

Yeah it's a "Western popular music" course which you can take to imply a northern, anglo, dominant culture emphasis. By my week we'll have dealt briefly with reggae and disco and spent one class on hip hop. So I won't be covering them in my lecture.

I think I've got a plan. Won't announce it here because I don't feel like arguing about it but thanks everyone for the ideas.

 

[Immryr]

awww come on. you cant just make a topic and leave us in suspense.

 

[nomos]

haha. well then i'll be vague about it. i think i'll spend one half of the class following a (necessarily oversimplified) "rave-continuum" thread from electro and house through to jungle or two-step - linking to disco, hip hop, reggae, etc. in the other half i'll look at a few of the scenes that have operated around, in opposition to, and oblivious to the dance scenes. ideally i'd like to have a full course at my disposal to develop as many strands as possible (check that wayne marhsall link upthread if you haven't), but i'll settle for pulling together an incomplete survey of major developments. probably accompanied by clips from Modulations, a Fantazia video and Kodwo Eshun quotes.

 

[big satan]

hail

nothing from mid/late nineties aphex, autechre or squarepusher?

 

[nomos]

I think I mentioned that upthread but yes, definitely.

 

[subvert47]

Donna Summer's Giorgio Moroder-produced "I feel love" (1977) would qualify as a moment of transition, I suppose. First totally electronic production, etc etc.

quite right
amazing track at the time
and it still sounds pretty good

 

[Martin Dust]

There's a track on that The Golden Hour of the Future CD that is just bangin' techno too, but the name's slipped my mind. The Future=early incarnation of HL.
Much more significant is Jammys' "Under me sleng teng", I think, a touchstone for so many things which came after it.

That would be Dance Like A Star...