Pitchfork: The 50 Best IDM Albums of All Time

[joshuatxuk]

I haven't looked at it yet but basing it off their recent ambient album top 50 but I'm guessing it's:

 

65% of albums already in existing lists FACT and RA have put out on similar lists

25% of somewhat obscure / underrated albums 

10% some decent but overhyped stuff that is hardly IDM that they gave BNM to recently

Exclusion of classics that they never rallied behind in the past or find too corny / un-hip

PARTY IN MY MIND: THE ENDLESS HALF-LIVES OF IDM
By Simon Reynolds

 

 

Oh wait, this might actually be really fucking solid list wise.  Nice summery write up for newbies to IDM but I admit this is an odd list: BoC is ranked too high (I love them to death but let's admit that MHTRTC has just as much of a leg in IDM as it does trip-hop, downtempo, musique concrete and experimental electronic in general). I agree the absence of FSOL is a big disappointment. Too many "IDM tinged/informed" recent albums.

 

Things I liked: Kid 606 and Tigerbeat6 love, Venetian Snares inclusion, some other underrated IDM adds, Seefeel, Plaid and Black Dog being on there.

 

Simon is usually about as good as it gets in terms of music writers: he knows his stuff, he's a good writer, and he's actually been around in the scene since the late 80s. This a pretty easy target for WATMM but in context this a decent list compared to the other shit being published on pfork and elsewhere.

[joshuatxuk]

ok now look - this jlin thing is getting a little out of hand. i love her music and think she's a very exciting artist but dang simon... don't get caught up in the hype the way you always do. there are about 30+ footwork records that are just as good as black energy. 

 

I have to admit a lot of my cheerleading for her has to do with the fact that she's pushing her sound and progressing in a pretty brazen manner that doesn't keep it grounded in the footwork/juke scene (i.e. samples of cursing and sexual slang) nor has made it really slick and accessible the way Machinedrum has (arguably). She's also one of the few electronic musicians who I can think of offhand who is still working a 9-5 job, in a factory in Gary fucking Indiana no less, while still plugging along on very unpretentious yet avant-garde music. That deserves as much acclaim as possible as far as I'm concerned. Nothing personally against the talented trustbabies dicking around and making good music in places like LA or NYC or whatever BUT as someone who knows a lot of people in DIY scenes busting ass trying to keep up music-making and playing gigs alive while also paying bills an artist like JLin is a huge inspiration.

 

That RDJ nod at Houston legitimized the hell out of her music in the minds of many I'm sure.

[KovalainenFanBoy]

3 AE albums, 3 BoC albums and 3 Aphex albums in the top 20 feels very redundant. But it's either that or "omg only one AE album and it's not [my favorite one]"

[Soloman Tump]

pitchfork, lol

[ncrtx]

They should just whack them in alphabetical order and name the thing '50 great IDM albums' - save all the ball ache and whining. Quite a lot on there I've not heard of and need to investigate !

 

This. There's no point in ranking them. Also a lot of oddballs on stuff that I wouldn't even think of calling anything near IDM. Decent effort but it's only natural that 'real IDMheads' think some of the choices (and omited albums) are laughable. Good list for anyone trying to discover the genre, definitely!

[ncrtx]

Wait... no Drukqs? 

 

Changed my mind, it's a shit list.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dr lopez]

 

ok now look - this jlin thing is getting a little out of hand. i love her music and think she's a very exciting artist but dang simon... don't get caught up in the hype the way you always do. there are about 30+ footwork records that are just as good as black energy. 

 

I have to admit a lot of my cheerleading for her has to do with the fact that she's pushing her sound and progressing in a pretty brazen manner that doesn't keep it grounded in the footwork/juke scene (i.e. samples of cursing and sexual slang) nor has made it really slick and accessible the way Machinedrum has (arguably). She's also one of the few electronic musicians who I can think of offhand who is still working a 9-5 job, in a factory in Gary fucking Indiana no less, while still plugging along on very unpretentious yet avant-garde music. That deserves as much acclaim as possible as far as I'm concerned. Nothing personally against the talented trustbabies dicking around and making good music in places like LA or NYC or whatever BUT as someone who knows a lot of people in DIY scenes busting ass trying to keep up music-making and playing gigs alive while also paying bills an artist like JLin is a huge inspiration.

 

That RDJ nod at Houston legitimized the hell out of her music in the minds of many I'm sure.

 

 

all of that is true i suppose but the whole footwork thing is certainly not rich trust fundies making "lo-fi house" or "vaporwave" at all. DJ nate was robbed and beaten on camera as was Traxman. They all just live in south side chicago which is rough. Gary is an extension of that (aka super rough) The genre as a whole is awesome for all the reasons you described and Jlin is an interesting part of it. I own all her shit and absolutely love supporting a black lesbian (from my home state no less) making electronic music. 

 

 

-BUT- just because aphex played two Jlin tracks in Houston doesn't mean that album is suddenly more important to IDM than time tourist or in sides or adventures beyond the ultraworld or lifeforms. it's a fucking obvious political move that irks me. A couple years ago aphex mentioned sd laika as someone who was making original music from outside the scene in milwaukee. so why isn't that's harakiri! on this list??

 

dumb. oh well.

[YO303]

as soon as I read the headline I knew you all would go apeshit over this lol YOU LIVE FOR THIS SHIT!!!

[ascdi]

Love the watmm mention in this list. Hi ’forkers!

 

Point of order: for such a contentious list, you’d think they could leave off compilations and EPs and get a few spots back to fill with some proper albums. Or call it “Best IDM Records” or something. Big Loada is not an “album”. And the inclusion of In A Beautiful Place… is just silly. It’s practically a single, barely an EP!

 

Same with Clicks & Cuts. Great music, NOT AN ALBUM. Not even close to an album, really. 

 

Agreed on lack of Vibert being an abomination. And everyone else in this thread has a point too. 

 

Why not just split out the Warp stuff into a separate list? Think of how interesting a “50 best non-Warp IDM albums” list could be! You get all those spots back! The way this is now is like a catch-22 — can’t leave off too much Warp stuff because that’d just be incorrect, but then the representation you get from everything else is necessarily going to be overly thin. It doesn’t work this way.

[usagi]

'forkwits.

[Rotwang]

omg only three AE albums and they're not Chiastic Slide

[Lada Laika]

Wait... no Drukqs?

 

Changed my mind, it's a shit list.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They gave Drukqs a 5.5/10 when it came out, can't walk it back unless they praise a reissue

[Redruth]

th they

[joshuatxuk]

 

 

ok now look - this jlin thing is getting a little out of hand. i love her music and think she's a very exciting artist but dang simon... don't get caught up in the hype the way you always do. there are about 30+ footwork records that are just as good as black energy. 

 

I have to admit a lot of my cheerleading for her has to do with the fact that she's pushing her sound and progressing in a pretty brazen manner that doesn't keep it grounded in the footwork/juke scene (i.e. samples of cursing and sexual slang) nor has made it really slick and accessible the way Machinedrum has (arguably). She's also one of the few electronic musicians who I can think of offhand who is still working a 9-5 job, in a factory in Gary fucking Indiana no less, while still plugging along on very unpretentious yet avant-garde music. That deserves as much acclaim as possible as far as I'm concerned. Nothing personally against the talented trustbabies dicking around and making good music in places like LA or NYC or whatever BUT as someone who knows a lot of people in DIY scenes busting ass trying to keep up music-making and playing gigs alive while also paying bills an artist like JLin is a huge inspiration.

 

That RDJ nod at Houston legitimized the hell out of her music in the minds of many I'm sure.

 

 

all of that is true i suppose but the whole footwork thing is certainly not rich trust fundies making "lo-fi house" or "vaporwave" at all. DJ nate was robbed and beaten on camera as was Traxman. They all just live in south side chicago which is rough. Gary is an extension of that (aka super rough) The genre as a whole is awesome for all the reasons you described and Jlin is an interesting part of it. I own all her shit and absolutely love supporting a black lesbian (from my home state no less) making electronic music. 

 

 

-BUT- just because aphex played two Jlin tracks in Houston doesn't mean that album is suddenly more important to IDM than time tourist or in sides or adventures beyond the ultraworld or lifeforms. it's a fucking obvious political move that irks me. A couple years ago aphex mentioned sd laika as someone who was making original music from outside the scene in milwaukee. so why isn't that's harakiri! on this list??

 

dumb. oh well.

 

 

Great point/clarification, I agree and I should of been more specific, I meant to say her music as an extension of that scene compared to other underground genres: lo-fi house, all the grime / trap derived stuff made by art students in Brooklyn, LA, and London, etc.

 

It is a political move and I was irked too, I suppose I can tolerate that in her case though. They seem to really bite off more than they could chew trying to get 50 albums listed while trying to make their criteria pretty broad. It caused for a lot of holes at the expense of making an ambitious primer of the genre. They could of easily made listed 100.

[Atop]

A strange list for sure. Lots I wouldn't have put in there. Lots I would have. Should have had one album pet artist. No comps. I don't disagree with ep's on there. So much they could have added without the multiple releases by the same artists. Pitchfork, so hot yet so cold. No Tobin, no Vibert, No Team Doyobi, no Orb? Carl Craig? Jim O'Rourke? Love those dudes but no. I do consider Rounds to be IDM and it deserves to be in there. Too much Kid606 in that list. Stars as Eyes was my fave Tigerbeat6 group. We should do a list of 100 albums and/or ep's.

 

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

[peace 7]

"50 best" is bullshit, but it's a pretty solid list in general.  Surprisingly.

[beerwolf]

I don't hate Pitchfork as much as I used to. Probably 'cause I'm a bit older and don't care as much, or maybe they've improved a bit. Perhaps a bit of both.

[dr lopez]

oversteps should be on there because wtf is even going on in oversteps except IDM that we had never heard before and haven't heard since

[Hail Sagan]

I don't know why, but I never knew SAW I was so highly-regarded...

 

 

I thought the same. Everyone around me who has ever heard Aphex Twin generally has it at or near the bottom of all his full length albums (although it's still great). A lot of millennials seem to hold it in high regard though. I'm not sure if it's the whole "their first release is their greatest" (which is usually a myth) line of thinking or what. Obviously it was a very important, if not THE most important release with regard to the genre as a whole, but I think Richard grew into an even better musician and created superior music later on.

 

 

Fuck it. People must really like it. As far as the list is concerned there are quite a few albums I've never heard that I'll have to check out later. I'm no brain dance expert myself and this kind of exposure is a good thing in my opinion. It's too bad that outside of Jlin and John Hopkins, however, Simon didn't really mention any newer artists that are talented and could have used a bit more exposure. 

[Goiter Sanchez]

Best of list is what it is, I'm just pleased to see teh iddems accruing a greater deal of press in recent years; it bodes well for fests like DFA and gigging 'left-field' electronic musicians in general.

[Hail Sagan]

Best of list is what it is, I'm just pleased to see teh iddems accruing a greater deal of press in recent years; it bodes well for fests like DFA and gigging 'left-field' electronic musicians in general.

 

 

True. It would also be nice to see a list of new and talented musicians though. 

[PlatrixECV]

It's better than I would have thought.  Several of the albums while good are not what I would call IDM.  Their Autechre selections are typical (underrating Chiastic in favor of Lp5) but most do, Actually found several albums I was negligent in hearing back in the day and have been impressed so far (Jan Jelinek,

 

Personal omissions:

 

Jega  -  Geometry

Bitstream (although not sure what album would have made it. They mostly had 12s). 

Fizzarum - Monochrome Plural .  Yeah it's one of the Ae/AFX derivative ones but what of the best and a great example of obscure IDM that was sort of the scene. Still listen to several of the tracks a lot. 

Quench (Funckarma) - Punctuated. Same narrative as Fizzarum.  Obscure label (n5md). Came out on minidisc. Funcken brothers were probably too productive back then but this album is brilliant.

Compilations beyond Warp. This was a big way to hear IDM 97-02.  I was thinking maybe Neurokinetic on Toytronic as that is sort of a trainspotter label to begin with and had many of these artists (Arovane, Funckarma, Fizzarum, Digitonal, etc.)

[flim]

 

I don't know why, but I never knew SAW I was so highly-regarded...

 

 

I thought the same. Everyone around me who has ever heard Aphex Twin generally has it at or near the bottom of all his full length albums (although it's still great). A lot of millennials seem to hold it in high regard though. I'm not sure if it's the whole "their first release is their greatest" (which is usually a myth) line of thinking or what. Obviously it was a very important, if not THE most important release with regard to the genre as a whole, but I think Richard grew into an even better musician and created superior music later on.

 

 

Fuck it. People must really like it. As far as the list is concerned there are quite a few albums I've never heard that I'll have to check out later. I'm no brain dance expert myself and this kind of exposure is a good thing in my opinion. It's too bad that outside of Jlin and John Hopkins, however, Simon didn't really mention any newer artists that are talented and could have used a bit more exposure. 

 

 

Yeah, out of all of RDJ's releases, I have always placed SAW1 kind of low in my mind if I ever made a list. It's a great record, but he surpassed it long ago. Them placing RDJ Album below it is weird and incorrect, because RDJA is infinitely superior to SAW1 and closer to being his best record overall.

 

The list isn't bad though. My favorite Squarepusher and Autechre albums are all on this list, so good for them.

[Key]

Reynolds did a pretty good job in the into of setting up the problem he is going to have with the term 'IDM' and his identification of the 'two stages'. I can't really think of that much 'IDM' being made outside of the featured artists and their record labels for about 10 years, I guess it branched off into subgenres or retreated back under the envelope of 'electronic music'. Strange that he mentions the likes of Oneohtrix/Actress/Arca as spiritual successors in the intro somehow cordened off from the dirty world of IDM, but includes stuff like Flying lotus, Jlin, Jon Hopkins in the main list.. I guess it comes down to personal interpretation. You feel IDM you dont just chop it up and put it in boxes. or grids.

 

Fair enough to include some more far reaching stuff (dub techno, microhouse, breakcore etc.) to get a sense of the fringes, its not stuff I would have picked but somewhat illuminating, tbh I'd happily fill the slots with all watmm artists.

 

Glad to see getting their dues: Leila, Urban Tribe, Seefeel, Two Lone Swordsmen, Mira Calix, .snd (?) Drexciya (!?)

Should've got those emmys: Cylobian Sunset!! Vatican Nitez!, Astrobotnia! Shimmering Hour! rephlex wuz robbed in general.

Trademark Ribbons of Gold wouldve been a good shout.

Autechre choices sucked. Druqks shouldve been there.

no Vibert either. sheer madness

 

other than that, nice piece of work. ive got some new stuff to check out now as well.

[joshuatxuk]

I don't hate Pitchfork as much as I used to. Probably 'cause I'm a bit older and don't care as much, or maybe they've improved a bit. Perhaps a bit of both.

 

I hate the direction and scope of the site now but they still have some decent writers and articles. The divisive edgy reputation of dissing albums and gushing over other ones in overwrought reviews is gone, now it's safe bet "best new music" awards to bands they hype up themselves.