131-140
131. PATASHNIK
Artist: Biosphere
From: Patashnik
Label: Apollo
Released: 1994
The title track from the Patashnik album contains a vocal sample from the movie 2010, a scene in which a Russian cosmonaut remotely pilots a probe towards a doomed encounter with the monolith – and it’s not much of a stretch to imagine that everything else in the track could have been sampled from that same scene. I’ve taken some liberties here by restructuring the tune to fit with Key Nell 4’s unusual structure, but the control room vibes remain.
132. DESKTOP ROBOTICS
Artist: Bochum Welt
From: Desktop Robotics
Label: Rephlex
Released: 1997
Just some shuffling 8 bit drums from the intro to this endearing little number, which means that we miss out on its gorgeous shimmering synth refrain. I would happily have played it all if it had fit.
133. TIED UP
Artist: LFO
From: Advance
Label: WARP
Released: 1996
It’s difficult to overestimate the pivotal role LFO played in the development of the Sheffield bleep scene and, by extension, electronic music in the UK. It’s no exaggeration to say that the success of WARP owes much to the music of this unassuming Leeds duo. Advance was a last echo of their imperial phase and was clearly aimed at the charts – not an unreasonable ambition considering LFO had already broken the top 50 twice – and Tied Up did indeed just manage to scrape in at 99. We skip past its booming intro and head straight into the heart of the tune, the atmospheric acid burble of the lush breakdown and its querulous vocal exhortations. RIP Mark.
134. EUROPA HYMN
Artist: MG
From: MG
Label: Mute
Released: 2015
It’s all in the name of this single from Martin Gore’s aforementioned MG album. Europa Hymn seems to capture the spirit of an entire era of electronic music in just three minutes. The refined elegance of Kraftwerk, the analogue evocations of Vangelis, the pop impulses of Depeche Mode – they are all here, channelled in fervent tribute to Europe’s radical tradition of synthesised emotion.
135. FURTHER
Artist: Autechre
From: Amber
Label: WARP
Released: 1994
Amber’s longest track is all sleek functionality. A delta wing with one seamless control surface concealing its inner workings; its pipes and circuits and reactors, the flowing of propellant and the commencement of fusion. And forgive the cliche, but Further does take us on a journey, a long voyage through the cold distance between stars. A lonely crossing, enlivened only by the detection of unusual electromagnetic activity, the glistening of distant nebulae and the promise of dangerous encounters in hard vacuum.
136. CICADA
Artist: Gescom
From: Gescom E.
Label: SKAM
Released: 1994
Were it not for the credits on Gescom’s eponymous debut EP one might assume that Cicada was some offcut from the Basscadet EP or possibly an Amber precursor, but listen closely and you can hear an adulterating influence – presumably the work of SKAM associate Rob Hall who collaborated with Brown and Booth on the track. There’s a soft sparseness here that’s unusual for Autechre’s work from this time; long passages of cold pulses, snatches of static and drum machine hi hats. A skeletal framework for Cicada’s raison d’etre; its long stirring sighs of Eno-esque vocal ambience.
137. BLUE CALX
Artist: Aphex Twin
From: Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2
Label: WARP
Released: 1994
Like most things Aphexian, disentangling the contradictions of Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2 seems like an exercise in futility. The album is a superlative ambient collection (the best of the 90’s, and perhaps of all time) that barely qualifies as ambient. A dream inspired masterwork produced in a hypnagogic stupor, or a mischievous pisstake aimed at WARP’s technoid devotees. A record of unfathomably serene highs and terrifyingly intense lows. In Ocean of Sound, David Toop described it as “a serene, disembodied, episodic collection, the aural equivalent to a photo album filled with Polaroids of sunsets and seascapes.” James’ himself compared it with “standing in a power station on acid… so you get a really weird presence, that hum. You just feel electricity around you“. This album scared the shit out of me and also provided some of my most enduring musical experiences of the decade.
The only officially titled track on the album, Blue Calx may have also been its earliest production, appearing initially on Rephlex’s 1992 Philosophy Of Sound And Machine compilation. From its first metronomic tick it’s clear we have entered into virgin territory, some resonant new space filled with reverb and tape hiss, deep sub bass rumbles and the slow decay of quiet sonar pulses. The atmosphere created by these elements is extraordinary in and of itself; deadly serious, like a concerto in some undersea concert hall – you almost expect to hear the coughs and fidgeting of an audience – but then we are engulfed by that slow upsurge of translucent tone which, as Marc Weidenbaum says, “distinguishes itself by being a true, hummable, recognisable, even singable melody.” The gestalt effect of all these elements raised some fundamental questions for me at the time. Just what exactly was this music? Where did it come from? Was this aimed at the chill-out room or the shrouded chapels of some hidden cult? It definitely had nothing to do with techno, but was it even electronic music?
The answer may lie somewhere in the oft repeated rumours regarding the somnambulist composition of the record, its origins in dream space. James’ tells Toop that:
“70 percent of it is done from lucid dreaming… I’d go to sleep in my studio. I’d go to sleep for ten minutes and write three tracks – only small segments, not 100 percent finished tracks… The hardest thing is getting the sounds the same.”
This suggestion has been disparaged by many down through the years including by James himself, but if this music didn’t come from dreams, then where did it come from? How else would you explain the sublime ethereal ache of Rhubarb and Lichen, the disorienting nightmarish soundscapes of Leaves and Hankie, the enveloping electric liminality of Parallel Stripes and White Blur? Despite the disturbing implications, the mystical subtext it imparts upon the work, this dream theory is, for me, the most compelling explanation for the unique sound of this record. In another 1994 piece on the UK’s electronica scene, Toop repeatedly refers to James as ‘The Twin’ as in “…the Twin claims that he rarely sleeps.” To paraphrase another great explorer of the unconscious, I might also add that: his feet are light and nimble. He rarely sleeps. He says that he will never die. He dances in light and in shadow and he is a great favourite. He never sleeps, the Twin. He is dancing, dancing. He says that he will never die…
138. HOPE WE NEVER SURFACE
Artist: Two Lone Swordsmen
From: Stay Down
Label: WARP
Released: 1998
Andrew Weatherall’s longest running musical endeavour was his Two Lone Swordsmen project alongside the great Keith Tenniswood, founded after the dissolution of Sabres of Paradise in ‘96. Tenniswood was a raver who worked as an engineer for Weatherall’s Emissions Audio label and he brought a more purist, dancefloor oriented slant to Weatherall’s eclectic excesses. 1998 saw the release of two of their finest collections: the tuff, intricate electro of A Bag Of Blue Sparks and the moody electronica of Stay Down, with the delicate idyllic strumming of Hope We Never Surface being one of several sublime and unexpectedly dainty IDM influenced cuts from the latter.
139. AS WORLDLY PLEASURES WAVE GOODBYE
Artist: Two Lone Swordsmen
From: Stay Down
Label: WARP
Released: 1998
The best kept secret of 90’s electronica. As Worldly Pleasures… is a work of extraordinary fragility, with its long burbling streams of fizzling beats, its gently plunging sub bass, its exquisite waltz feel and a stunning, beautifully elegiac melody line that seems both achingly delicate and hard hitting, like a heart massage from a friendly phantom. There’s nothing else quite like it in the 2LS catalogue; indeed there’s barely anything else like it in 90’s electronica, other than the glitchy symphonic genius of Leila’s Space Love or perhaps some of the more reflective moments of Autechre’s ambient work. A unique musical blossom that seems frozen in time, like some extinct orchid trapped in amber. I wish they’d made more tunes like this.
140. OB-SELON MI-NOS (REPAINTED BY GLOBAL COMMUNICATION)
Artist: Mystic institute / Global Communication
From: The Cyberdon EP (Reload Remixes)
Label: Evolution
Released: 1993
The presence of Tom Middleton has been hinted at throughout these pages. His early involvement with the Rephlex crew and his close friendship with Richard James mark him as an important figure in the development of the scene, and his musical career went on to span many genres, aliases, collaborations and remixes. We finally get to hear from him via a track from his much revered collaboration with Mark Pritchard, Global Communication, and their classic Ob-Selon Mi-Nos. Inspired by Middleton’s first funeral experience, and structured around a weighty metronomic tick, the track builds in steady waves of synth vox and layers of simple piano loops, rising and falling in slow blissful rhythm. A quintessential chill-out tune.
141-150
141. IESOPE
Artist: μ-Ziq
From: Bluff Limbo
Label: Rephlex
Released: 1994
The tune that got me hooked on μ-Ziq and one that typifies Paradinas’ unique melodic sensibilities, everything about Iesope is perfectly placed; from the gorgeous carillonesque melody and metallicised reverb, to the windblown whimsy of its main hook. This lush and mysteriously playful mood seems like the perfect setting from which to bid a fond adieu to Mike P and his wonderful music.
142. NONIMA
Artist: Autechre
From: Mind The Gap Volume 5
Label: Rephlex
Released: Gonzo Circus
On the surface, there’s nothing particularly Autechrian about Nonima, no perplexing sound design or advanced rhythmic science, just some arpeggiated synth delays and soft strokes of plaintive melody. Its release on a free compilation CD with the Belgian magazine Gonzo Circus only further highlights its anonymity, so much so that you might assume it was nothing more than a middling 90’s AE obscurity.
And yet if you delve into the hinterlands of online IDM nerdom you will find a different story, a small but dedicated fraternity of hardcore AE fans who view it with something approaching reverence. Justifiably so, because there is something about this tune that seems to capture the essence of Autechre, some sense of mournful infinitude, as if the simplicity of its composition opens a space for the conjuration of endlessly expansive emotion. One of the great 90’s ambient AE excursions along with VLetrmx, Overand, Yulquen and PIOBmx 2.
143. KATABASIS
Artist: The Arkitekt
From: Deep Ark Field Recordings
Label: None
Released: None
Wind noise, footsteps, indistinct chatter, sniffles. Recorded with Tascam DR-40 and Rode NTG3 Condenser mic, 2015.
144. COLOR ME (MIX 2)
145. COLOR ME (EXTENDED)
Artist: Bochum Welt
From: Seafire
Label: Central Processing Unit
Released: 2019
2019 and Di Costanzo’s still got it – if anything his sound has become even more tender and fragile over the years. Color Me is all shimmers of transparent synths, beautiful warming swells of bass, and barely-there rattles of percussion. It’s a comfort of sorts to see such unyielding persistence of vision, like one long grace note echoing down through the days. Buonanotte e grazie, Gianluigi.
146. QUINO-PHEC (REPRISE)
Artist: Polygon Window
From: Surfing On Sine Waves
Label: WARP
Released: 1992
So good I had to play it twice.
147. VLETRMX21
Artist: Autechre
From: Garbage
Label: WARP
Released: 1995
There is a track by Bedouin Ascent called If Mountains Could Sing, a windswept electric ambient epic, not too dissimilar to this tune. Of course, Autechre would never go for such an evocative track title, but I’ve always thought it was the perfect encapsulation of the elemental, geological power of the closing track from the Garbage EP. VLetrmx is even shaped like a mountain range, with foothills of soft synth chords, a slow aching climb to the high summit of intensity, and a descent into a delta of dwindling tones and decaying reverb – and there is something deeply devotional, dare I say it, spiritual about its journey, it sounds holy, like it’s being played on an ancient organ in some disintegrating cathedral at the ends of the earth. This is Turner’s Upper Fall of the Reichenbach, Friedrich’s Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience. It is mystery and awe and joy and grief and the purest expression of the romantic sublime in their 90’s oeuvre, perhaps in all of 90’s electronic music.
148. MICROMACHINES (SWELL DUB)
Artist: Sunken Foal
From: Richter Version E.P.
Label: Countersunk
Released: 2011
A fat slice of Sunken Foal provides the filling for our Autechre sandwich, with the scratchy shuffle, lustrous lead and surging synths of Micromachines providing confirmation of Murphy’s place in this musical pantheon.
149. DRANE2
Artist: Autechre
From: LP5
Label: WARP
Released: 1998
When you praise an artist’s earlier work it’s difficult to avoid the impression you are somehow diminishing what came after, but my love for Autechre’s 90’s output doesn’t imply anything negative about their later records (and the same goes for the other artists featured here). On the contrary, the duo are responsible for some of my most transcendent and revelatory live musical experiences of recent years. I’ve seen them destroy a packed dance floor with synergistic feedback loops and the dynamic 5D manipulation of twisted shards of sound. I’ve sat in the dark as they conjured strange constellations of musical colours in my head like some aural abstract expressionists. I’ve become periodically infatuated with the audaciously expansive musical universe they have created and with each of the records they’ve produced over the last 20 years – but they are different from what came before.
It’s not that humanity is absent from their later work, but it is transfigured – intermingled with the cybernetic at a cellular level, manifesting through the indigo light leaks of fibre optic cable seams, the glimpses of the organic within the shifting metal carapace, the 3 line sonnet recursively encoded into the source code of a neural network – and the pivot point for that shift was 1998’s LP5, which sits right in the middle of the duo’s transition to more process driven abstraction, achieving a sublime expression of the man-machine dichotomy, with Drane 2 being the pinnacle of that expression.
The track was the result of a friendly rivalry between the lads and Richard James, beginning with 1995’s Drane (later released on the Peel Sessions) – as Booth puts it:
“Yeah we did the track Drane, which had that exponential speeding-up delay thing happening, and then Rich did that bouncing ball track (Bucephalus Bouncing Ball) from the Come to Daddy EP), and we answered it with Drane2 which was the same delay trick but feeding percussion into it instead, as a kind of tease. He said he made a bouncing ball revenge track to it once but I guess he didn’t release it, prob cos we all got better things to do than get into a tricks war.”
I think I can speak for most fans that it’s a real shame the rivalry ended there, because this tune is just so immense it renders analysis or description redundant, so much so that I can speak only of the memories and emotions it evokes; playing it last in a set, the dance floor disintegrating under its weight, punters almost in tears as the lights came on in the club. The first time I heard it with a close friend who was even more smitten than me, the look of awe on his face with every subsequent listen. Surrendering to its sad beauty on a solitary walk under a dark sky.
A spectacular efflorescence of sensation from one of the greatest collections of 20th century electronic music. If this track doesn’t make you feel something then you’re broken inside.
150. THE DRUDGE
Artist: The Arkitekt
From: Deep Ark Field Recordings
Label: None
Released: None
Interior car noises, muffled conversation, nostalgia, road noise, the prodigal speaks! Recorded with iphone, 2017.
