Get Your Freak On, Smartypants. It's IDM Week!
 

Alright alright, IDM ("Intelligent Dance Music") doesn't at all have to be danceable. Rather, it's a term which roughly describes some of the experimental electronica music which would become popular in the 90s. Some of the most populart artists include names like Aphex Twin, Autechre and The Orb.

So, let's celebrate the IDM artists and their music!

I'll get the most obvious out of the way :p: Here's Aphex Twin's Rubber Johnny, video by Chris Cunningham. May scare your kids!

May scare your kids!? That video freaked ME out. Me and the chihuahua. :p:

Some kids appear to like IDM. Here's a song made by someone named Jenny...with a little help from her parents.

Rubber Jenny--"Little Girl Loves Aphex Twin"

I don't really listen to this as much as I'd like too, but I do have some favorites.

Panasonic (apparently Pan Sonic now, for obvious reasons). I only listened to Kulma from 1997. and it has a great opening track that fits this IDM tag (no matter how imperfect that term is)



Squarepusher - Beep Street from 'Hard Normal Daddy'



Two Lone Swordsmen 'From the Double Gone Chapel'. I always forget to search for more by them (puts it in to do list). I'm not sure if this album qualifies as IDM, as it has a lot of the post-punk aesthetics, but I love it, so...

so do you all think stuff like Front 242 and Meat Beat manifesto fall under IDM?

To be honest, I don't like this term at all, but it is what it is. As I understand it's suppose to refer to the electronic music of the 90s (mainly) to the present, which is more than music for dancing or rave parties. Well, that could include anything. I'm sure Front 242 and Meat Beat Manifesto were very influential on later artists. So shoot, since no one else does.

hmm...while i was looking for the original i came across this...i've been meaning to check out VNV Nation....their artwork and such seems to be up my alley....perhaps i'll look into their original stuff...this is just pissing me off :) (one of my all time favorite 242 songs)
the original for reference

i also like Venetian Snares....who seem to get called IDM often



^late era Laibach perhaps (dance is even in the title :thumb: )

I think I'll be paying attention to this thread as my knowledge of IDM is fairly minimal and extends to basically Aphex Twin

I think Futuro Primitivo (Argentina) could qualify as IDM. This is from album Everyday Life is War (2009):

You know what would be a good idea? And I'm just throwing this out there.

A comp at the end of the week. It would definitely be nice to see.

i agree this is a genre i hear a lot about but don't really know much about....and so far i've enjoyed all the examples

I'm sure there are people here very knowledgeable in this kind of stuff. I wish if they could post something.

Anyway, I forgot Autechre. I've only heard 'Tri Repetae', but it's been a while. I remember especially liking the closing track, that repetitive tension. It reminds me slightly of Munic A from Faust, but not so intense. Here it is:

Here are some picks that fall under the very wide Electronica umbrella that is referred to as IDM:


First, let's open with Tipper. He is a versatile and respected underground artist in the Electronic realm, and below are my favorites from him:

Tipper - Odd From Every Angle


A sit-me-down...


A lay-me-down:



Moving on to a better known artist who is equally as talented, here comes The Flashbulb (Benn Jordan) and some of my favorite picks of his:

The Flashbulb - Autumn Insomnia Session


I like this one a lot:


Now let's bring it up a couple hundred notches:




Since we're here at this point and our blood pressure has risen, might as well throw some breakcore into the mix...
Love these by Venetian Snares:

Venetian Snares - Pink And Green


Getting sicker...


We're there.



Then there's one more thing I want you to hear. I first heard this on Beatport a couple years ago, then I bought the ever living shit out of it. I hope you hate it. It will have done its job. Unfortunately, it's not the whole song. This version left out a lot of the screaming and destruction.:





So that's all I have for now.

Wow, I have my wish granted and then some. That breakcore stuff is crazy and the last one reminds me of some industrial noise. And what exactly is drill 'n bass? Is that a similar style to breakcore?

Sort of. It has a lot of the same characteristics in terms of arrangement, but Drill 'n' Bass is more of a specificity of the way the drums are programmed. Breakcore is generally more of a broad term for aggressive IDM that can contain Drill 'n' Bass sensibilities in the rhythm section.
Think of Aphex Twin's faster/crazier beats as sort of a template for the arrangement of Drill 'n' Bass style drum programming. If you take that template and use heavy, chopped up breaks and aggressive, often distorted sound, and also adding in some Glitch sensibilities you'll most likely be right under the Breakcore umbrella.
A lot of people view Breakcore as a specific sub-genre, but I look at it as more of a characteristic of aggressive IDM.

^Hmm... I see. Thank you for a very good explanation. Hopefully this IDM week will inspire me to look more into it. I am way behind this modern Electronica, especially since I really like a lot of the 80s Industrial and EBM. Like I said, I have some favorites that I mentioned, but haven't really listened to it all enough.

For breakcore I am rather partial to Bong Ra:


I like Electromeca too but I only have the E.P which this is taken from:

why haven't I posted here sooner?


^this one reminds me of old-school mac startup noises.


^this one is just plain awesome


^A BOC favourite


^A Kona Triangle Favourite

^
Choice BOC track.
As far as Autechre, I don't care for them too much. They do have some great tracks though. I'm just not an overall fan of theirs.
Haven't heard much from A Kona Triangle... Sounds decent.

One thing about Autechre is you either like them, or find them meh. Usually the people that hate them are the people who go "Electronic music is icky".

Also, how the hell do you pronounce Autechre? I speak french so the french person inside me wants to pronounce it "oh-tetch-re", but I have a feeling that that's wrong.

I have some more to add to my previous list above...


Chris Clark:
I only found out about him within the last year or so. Great producer. Here are some goodies of his:







A little Plaid in your life might work, regardless of how expected it may be. Plaid is good hearings.







And, how can you forget Tycho?!?!

Well, I've been listening to electronic music for approximately 14 years, so I definitely don't hate by virtue of not liking the genre. I just don't find Autechre as interesting as other IDM acts.

Hehe... personally, I pronounce it (aw-tek-er)
But then again, I'm from louisiana... and my Cajun French pronunciation of things like "Benoit" (Bin-wah) absolutely paralyze people who aren't used to it.

Tycho! God, I love him. he's quite good looking, too.
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/...1/Tycho+04.png

Ashton Kutcher ^^

Amirite?

yeah, that's what I thought :p:
but he makes good music so I'll choose him over Ashton Kutcher any day.

Then I'll choose Mindy White :)

Also, Here's some interesting things:

finally, a week i am interested in.

IDM is kind of an umbrella term for lots of things. I've heard some EBM bands be called IDM before

What, exactly, makes this type of dance music intelligent?

the fact that it's not the kind of dance music that you " DANSE 2, y0! PLUR 4 LIFE!"

not the kind of music you'd find at raves.

Absolutely nothing, it's just a pretentious tag created by an A&R department to market the sound. Most artists hate it and I don't think any have really embraced it, yet it still exists.

Some favorites!

Arovane! Yes, Arovane!





A lot of the other stuff I have is sort of IDM influenced, but not purely IDM. Like Flica for example.

IDM! :love: One of my favorite "things" in the world. I’m a little late to the party because I was busy moving earlier this week.

Their earlier stuff is definitely IDM, but like you said, this album is much more post-punk and "electronica" I guess than it is IDM.

Front 242 is considered EBM (Electronic Body Music). Meat Beat Manifesto is most often associated with Industrial, but that's pretty inaccurate and mostly a result of their early albums being released on Wax Trax! in the US. MBM is very heard to classify, especially since they have had many different styles. I would say some of their more recent stuff (starting with Subliminal Sandwich in 96) could be considered IDM, but generally speaking, they are not.

The term came about in the 90s, but it's not supposed to be a blanket term for electronic music between then and now. As you said, that could mean anything. What it really means to me (and most) is electronic music intended for listening, not dancing. Not that you can't dance to it if you want to, but it's not the primary focus. It's cerebral and rooted in experimentalism rather than meant to get people's asses shaking. And back on the topic of Front 242 and MBM, yes they were hugely influencial to the eventual development of IDM, as were many industrial bands and krautrock. But that doesn't make them IDM, of course. Same applies to VNV Nation and Laiback…they are NOT AT ALL IDM.

OMG me too! :D French is my first language so ever since the first time I saw the word Autechre I’ve been pronouncing it this way in my head, and every time it comes up in conversation I fumble and resort to the accepted English way of saying it, Aw-tecker. Sounds so lame that way, the French way sounds better.

Because he’s essentially a Boards of Canada knock-off and pretty inessential, IMO. :p: I really enjoy his graphic art and have a few of his t-shirts, though.
Pretty much. Just don't think of the word "intelligent" as meaning superior to other types of electronic music (even though to me it is, because I enjoy it more), but just that it's meant more for the mind than your body. That's all there is to it.

I'll try to post a few clips of my favorite examples of IDM later on, but props to the Aphex Twin, Autechre, Squarepusher, Plaid, Clark, and Tipper, all artists I enjoy immensely. I also like Venetian Snares, just not as immensely as I'm not really into breakcore. But he has some great stuff. I need to check out some of the other artists posted, not dissing them by not including them. Been meaning to get some Arovane albums.