Stop. Listen. Think.

My last post on Locust Toybox got me listening to similar sounding stuff. the kind of tracks that get labelled "IDM" (And as much as I hate calling that I'm going to have to for now) Anyway, as I was browsing through my collection I queued up some of my favourites I had an idea: "I could make a post out of this!" I thought. And I did. So sit back and enjoy a few of my favourite tunes from that ever enigmatic genre known as IDM.




I know I said way back when that I only really liked Autechre's first and second albums. Turns out I lied, I picked up Tri Repetae a few weeks ago, and I was completely taken with the second track. to quote a friend of mine "It sounds like space condensed into music form"



A track from Squarepusher's debut on Richard D. James' Rephlex label. It's more like conventional Drum 'N Bass, well as conventional as you get from Squarepusher at least what with it being nearly 8 minutes long and all. Excellently titled, nice breaks, great sounds. And that's all you need to know.



Another record I picked up recently from Clark. Body Riddle flows from track to track amazingly well and is basically a good album all round. The final track is what sealed the deal for me, not only does it drop TWICE but it eventually descends into a wave of full on abrasive noise. And like the rest of the album, it flows into it so smoothly that I didn't even notice the first time.



μ-Ziq (or Mike Paradinas to use his actual easier to type name) has always been a friend of RDJ, exchanging tracks and creating the collaboration album Mike & Rich: Expert Knob Twiddlers with him. μ-Ziq always seems to be overshadowed by Aphex, which is a shame really because he has some amazing tracks of his own. take this one for example, if the synths at about 2 minutes in don't grab you I don't know what will.



And of course what post would be complete without a dab of Aphex Twin eh? or better yet, AFX. Taken from his Hangable Auto Bulb EP (the EP title and this track's name are also anagrams of Analogue Bubblebath, AFX's first EP) HAB is pretty much the precursor to the compositions and sounds we'd hear a few years later on Richard D. James Album And seeing as that is one of my favourite albums of all time, this track goes down a treat.



And to top it off, one of Boards Of Canada's earlier releases on Skam Records, the Hi Scores EP. The release is a lot more Techno based than the stuff BoC are known for, but is still quite similar to their later works most obviously during the intro, which could pass for one of their shorter interludes. When the intro fades however, this track becomes a different beast, unleashing some thundering beats and menacing sounding synths. The little riff introduced at 3:43 gets me every time.



So there you have it, a few of my favourite slices from this unique niche in the world of electronic music. I Just adore some of the production in these tracks - especially the longer ones, they're the kind of tracks you just get lost in.

And I Still Miss You,
- Claude Van Foxbat