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Techno and Dubstep


NobBe Nobbs

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What do you mean by techno?

EDIT: This isn't to be dismissive. It's just more querying your question. Techno is sort of used as boilerplate language for electronic music, so I just wanted to clarify if you wanted techno or anything made with computers that makes you want to dance.

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Oh man, oh boy, oh man, oh boy. Do you just want a smattering of dubstep or do you have any specific preferences? Actually, I don't really care. I am not going to miss this chance to link to some solid tunes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufmk132wRgI, by Caspa has been one of my recent favorites. There are two versions of this song, actually. Luckily, I like them both. The other one is just called http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh7i9nqMRBA. I can highly recommend Caspa, actually. Him, a long with Rusko, have really hit the sweet spot for me when it comes to dubstep out of the UK. I think I am just going to drop some tracks on you now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7f9xFOqkho, by Caspa.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmgtRD2MgRI, by Rusko.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMa_O83U9Ow, by Rusko.

Cockney Violin, by Caspa.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtMlB-BEMso, by Rusko. (Actually, you should look into getting O.M.G.! by Rusko, the album where this track is from because it is an awesome album, with a great mix of more electro-based stuff but also some really old-school shit like

).

I can also highly recommend checking out Quest for Sonic Bounty from Horsepower Productions. That was my introduction into actual dubstep; meaning not any of electro-based fax machine murder that is Skrillex or anything like that. Let me link some tracks from that one as well;

and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z16KfYjMFA. Other people to check out is Skream, basically one of the guys who brought British dubstep into the mainstream back in 2000. He is also one of the three dudes behind Magnetic Man who drop more poppy, but still just as awesome, dubstep tracks that you've probably heard before;
and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRnDIXsGIyc. He has also done a ton of drum'n'bass tunes and yeah, Skream has done a whole lot since he started. Somewhat unrelated to this whole dubstep affair, Skream also produced an extremely funky and soulful remix of Duke Dumont's "Need U (100%)" when that dropped on wax. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o8Gew9rsKg.

Of course if you tend towards more of the electro variant, both of house and dubstep, or just curious or you like both or whatever, I might as well throw in some a recent favorite as well. Fucking Flux Pavilion. And his fucking track

featuring Foregin Beggars. This shit floors me every time I hear it. Generally, three of the four tracks from the Lines In Wax EP are bangers;
and
are great as well. Flux Pavilion also did an massive remix of Jamiroqaui's http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDf1wFiOnwY. Also, just for good fun, here are two of my favorite Wolfgang Gartner tracks,
and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_rQ6Av0gMY.

However, you need to remember that all music made on computers and/or electronically is totally bad and anyone could do it and takes no skill whatsoever and all that.

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What do you mean by techno?

EDIT: This isn't to be dismissive. It's just more querying your question. Techno is sort of used as boilerplate language for electronic music, so I just wanted to clarify if you wanted techno or anything made with computers that makes you want to dance.

That. My grasp of techno, dubstep and all this other stuff is very limited - I just know it makes me want to dance and I like it. That's probably not helpful, but I was hoping you'd have some ideas anyway.

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Holy shit, I completely forgot a whole bunch of stuff, actually. Just going to make another cool little list of dubstep tracks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CpKSoS5CA4, by The Others.

King Pin, by The Others.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh09sPt3fMU, by Emalkay

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mwL6R-Z1e4, by Emalkay

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhkbbBowtPA, by Caspa & Rusko.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N_hat1fngk, by Rusko.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL7E6nF-oZY, by Skream.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBv4kWsi4TE, by Skream.

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What I'll do is throw up a few recommendations... they'll be arbitrary genres I choose, but ... just sort of a taste of what's out there.

Dubstep (heavy bass, very trendy): Burial, Clubroot, Scuba, Mala, Rustie, Zomby. These are a few of the artists I like. Some of it veers into other genres, but I'd say that is a good survey of dub-step/bass music ranging from hyper energetic (Rustie) to more moody and quiet (Mala and Burial) to more challenging (Scuba and Zomby).

Electroclash/dance-punk (electronic music for punks, not "in" anymore): Fischerspooner, The Rapture, Tiga. Ladytron, Vitalic, Peaches. That's a good smattering of electroclash. It's not in anymore, and it's sort of infused with the dance-punk craze that happened a few years after. Electroclash is way more associated with more of a cultural movement (a lot of it was queer/genderbending type artists).

House (four on the floor and time to dance like it's a disco, always "in"): Daft Punk, Mylo, Hercules & Love Affair, Metro Area, Soulwax, Gus Gus, Basement Jaxx, Disclosure. I love house music. House music has influenced a lot of pop music these days and it's got a bad rep. There is a lot of great house music out there, from straight up mainstream (Daft Punk, Basement Jaxx), to grittier (Soulwax), to genre pushing (Disclosure), to quiet (Gus Gus), to detail minded (Metro Area). This was just a random list of bands I could think of that were different. If you like house, let me know... I can go on for days.

Techno (four on the floor and time to dance like it's a rave, comes and goes): Orbital, Andy Stott, Aphex Twin, The Field, Underworld, Murcof. Techno, like every other electronic genre, has it's variety. You've got Orbital who is more rave minded, the FIeld who is way more detailed and loop minded, you've got Andy Stott who's makes music for your bedroom. I like techno, but it's not my favorite.

Synth (80's music but more dance floor orientated, popularity comes and goes): Pet Shop Boys, M-83, The Knife, Cut Copy, Depeche Mode, Fever Ray, Sally Shapiro, Chromeo. Some synth music is really routed in an sort of emotional way, like M-83 and Pet Shop Boys, other artists sort of celebrate the camp and fun behind it (Chromeo, Cut Copy, Pet Shop Boys), others try to push the boundaries like the Knife/Fever Ray.

IDM (music that pushes boundaries rather than you to the dance floor, listen if you want to look cool): IDM is less of a genre and more of an ethos. A lot of people say Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada are IDM. I'd recommend Flying Lotus, Squarepusher, Matmos, Herbert, Venetian Snares. I mean, they could all fall under other genres.

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Burial owns dubstep. Listen to any of his albums or to Kindred. Burial perfected it. He's known as the best for a reason.

Mount Kimbie is good. Get their latest one.

Rustic too. Download his essential BBC mix or whatever it's called

James Blake is good. Get his latest one.

Belbury Poly is very ethereal and haunting.

Outside The Box by Skream is good.

For some good poppy dubstep stuff, get On A Mission by Katy B.

Techno is such a wide ranging genre. It's hard to narrow it down. It could really encompass anything from the Pet Shop Boys to Autechre. Listen to the Pet Shop Boys.

What I'll do is throw up a few recommendations... they'll be arbitrary genres I choose, but ... just sort of a taste of what's out there.

Dubstep (heavy bass, very trendy): Burial, Clubroot, Scuba, Mala, Rustie, Zomby. These are a few of the artists I like. Some of it veers into other genres, but I'd say that is a good survey of dub-step/bass music ranging from hyper energetic (Rustie) to more moody and quiet (Mala and Burial) to more challenging (Scuba and Zomby).

Electroclash/dance-punk (electronic music for punks, not "in" anymore): Fischerspooner, The Rapture, Tiga. Ladytron, Vitalic, Peaches. That's a good smattering of electroclash. It's not in anymore, and it's sort of infused with the dance-punk craze that happened a few years after. Electroclash is way more associated with more of a cultural movement (a lot of it was queer/genderbending type artists).

House (four on the floor and time to dance like it's a disco, always "in"): Daft Punk, Mylo, Hercules & Love Affair, Metro Area, Soulwax, Gus Gus, Basement Jaxx, Disclosure. I love house music. House music has influenced a lot of pop music these days and it's got a bad rep. There is a lot of great house music out there, from straight up mainstream (Daft Punk, Basement Jaxx), to grittier (Soulwax), to genre pushing (Disclosure), to quiet (Gus Gus), to detail minded (Metro Area). This was just a random list of bands I could think of that were different. If you like house, let me know... I can go on for days.

Techno (four on the floor and time to dance like it's a rave, comes and goes): Orbital, Andy Stott, Aphex Twin, The Field, Underworld, Murcof. Techno, like every other electronic genre, has it's variety. You've got Orbital who is more rave minded, the FIeld who is way more detailed and loop minded, you've got Andy Stott who's makes music for your bedroom. I like techno, but it's not my favorite.

Synth (80's music but more dance floor orientated, popularity comes and goes): Pet Shop Boys, M-83, The Knife, Cut Copy, Depeche Mode, Fever Ray, Sally Shapiro, Chromeo. Some synth music is really routed in an sort of emotional way, like M-83 and Pet Shop Boys, other artists sort of celebrate the camp and fun behind it (Chromeo, Cut Copy, Pet Shop Boys), others try to push the boundaries like the Knife/Fever Ray.

IDM (music that pushes boundaries rather than you to the dance floor, listen if you want to look cool): IDM is less of a genre and more of an ethos. A lot of people say Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada are IDM. I'd recommend Flying Lotus, Squarepusher, Matmos, Herbert, Venetian Snares. I mean, they could all fall under other genres.

Actually RPS was doing this at the same time as me. I pretty much wholeheartedly agree with it.

I miss electro clash.

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I am going to throw a vote in for Rustie as well; Glass Swords is an immense album.

As for House music, I advise you check out Alan Braxe as well. Especially his collaborations with Fred Falke. That is so some funky French house they have going on right there. Really, just get The Upper Cuts compilation and check out some of the singles not represented, on his Vulture Music record label. Examples include

by Defender and
by Das Glow.

And Burial isn't the best at dubstep; Horsepower Productions are. :shifty:

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Yeah. A lot of the distinctions are arbitrary and honestly, if I had an hour I could seriously just make a huge list and actually sort of split everything into genres they belong. A lot of electronic music doesn't really have a fixed genre, so I just kind of slapped stuff together. Aphex Twin is probably not so much techno as IDM a. There is way more stuff out there that I could have touched like breakbeat, ambient, wonky, jungle, witchhouse... the genres distinctions are as silly as the names. They are all kind of silly genres in the end with really sort of arbitrary differences. I find a good way to do things is to use a site like last.fm/allmusic/rate your music to genre hop, or to just post here about whatever musicians / bands you like. I pretty much exclusively listen to electronic music so if you get a feel for what you like, I'd have no problem recommending other things.

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I like a bit of techno, I'd agree with PRP on Underworld and Orbital, Underworld especially.

One of my favorites though is from Detroit, Underground Resistance. I recommend you find the Acid Rain and UR-10 7 inch albums, UR-10 has Riot, Panic, Rage, and Assault on it which are all great tracks. Acid Rain is probably they're best known work. They have a large discography so I'd start with those suggestions and move on from there if you enjoy.

Detroit Techno itself is a pretty big subgenre of electronic music, might be something to dive into. Cybotron were one of the front runners of not only techno in Detroit, but techno in general. If you've ever played GTA Vice City you might be familiar with Alleys of Your Mind. As far as I remember, Juan Atkins and Jeff Mills were two of the big time players from our area. Yellow Magic Orchestra and Kraftwerk were big influences on this stuff coming up in the early 1980s.

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RPS knows. Electroclash was loads of fun back in the early 00s. I got into that big time.

My favourite Techno DJ has always been Dave Clarke. His World Service CD is excellent. Otherwise, Aphex Twin is an absolute must.

My uni years were 199-2002 so I went through different phases, from trance to hard house to techno to electronica/IDM to electroclash to breakbeat. Nowadays I'm not fussed about trance or hard house. Techno has its place and electroclash is dated (but still fun). IDM and good electronica is still something I like. Breakbeat is cool too.

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*Full disclosure: this list is biased because there are certain beloved artists/albums that I particularly don't care for (Boards of Canada or Kid A, for example). Also, I didn't expand too much into albums that were on the fringes of being considered electronic (like M.I.A's album Arular, Nine Inch Nails discography, Suicide or David Bowie's Low). There are lots of lists out there that rep bands like Boards of Canada or David Bowie's late 70's/early 80's work.

  1. Air – Moon Safari (1998 | Downtempo | Cosmic adventure to a chilled out club)

  2. Andy Stott – Luxury Problems (2012 | Ambient | An abandoned city that may be haunted)

  3. Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works (1992 | ambient techno | music from another world)

  4. Armand Van Helden – Ghettoblaster (2007 | House | Sounds like a party where you dance all night)

  5. Autechre - Tri Repetae (1995 | ambient techno | glitchy, alienating and warm)

  6. Basement Jaxx – Rooty (2000 | House | a house party where the DJ keeps changing genres)

  7. Bitch Ass Darius – Follow the Sound (2001| Ghettotech | like an orgy)

  8. Björk – Homogenic (1997 | electronic | like a weird art installation at a modern art museum)

  9. Brian Eno – Music for Airports (1978 | ambient | the blueprint for minimalistic electronic music)

  10. Burial – Untrue (2007 | dub-step | the empty streets of London)

  11. Chemical Brothers – Dig Your Own Hole (1997 | big beat | big loud and boisterous)

  12. Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours (2008 | synth pop | like a rollercoaster of sound and color)

  13. Daft Punk – Homework (1997 | house |

  14. Deee-Lite – World Clique (1991 | house | a really gay dance party)

  15. Depeche Mode – Violator (1990 | symth pop | haunting and danceable)

  16. DJ Shadow – Entroducing.... (1996 | instrumental hip hop | hip hop for the IDM crowd)

  17. Faithless – Reverence (1996 | trip hop | music from The Matrix)

  18. Fennesz – Endless Summer (2001 | ambient | backpack glitch)

  19. The Field - From Here We Go To Sublime (2007 | minimal techno | a beautiful landscape that slowly reveals itself)

  20. Fischerspooner - #1 (2002 | electroclash | that sound of a million dollars)

  21. Four Tet – Rounds (2003 | folktronica | free and flowing)

  22. Francois K – Essential Mix (2000 | electronic | sprawling, hitting multiple different genres)

  23. Flying Lotus – Los Angeles (2008 | experimental | a paranoid hip hop album)

  24. Goldie – Timeless (1995 | drum and bass | massive sounds that warp your mind)

  25. Gui Boratto – Chromophobia (2007 | progressive house | cold edges mixed with moments of beauty)

  26. Hercules & Love Affair – Hercules & Love Affair (2008 | house | a gay orgy)

  27. The Human League – Dare! (1981 | synthpop | 80's coke party)

  28. James Blake – CYMK EP (2010 | dubstep | dubstep goes emo)

  29. Jon Hopkins – Immunity (2013 | microhouse | gritty and scratchy)

  30. The Knife – Silent Shout (2007 | experimental | weird Swedish people who wear masks)

  31. Kraftwerk – Trans Europe Express (1977 | krautrock | early electronic music)

  32. LCD Soundsystem – LCD Soundsystem (2005 | dance-punk | indie kid making dance music)

  33. Le Tigre – Le Tigre (1999 | electroclash | feminists yelling feminists slogan over simple beats)

  34. Massive Attack – Blue Lines (1991 | trip-hop |

  35. Matmos – The Rose has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast (2006 | found sounds | dudes cumming on a piece of paper and making it into an album)

  36. Moby – Play (1999 | electronica | like a car commercial)

  37. Mylo – Destroy Rock & Roll (2004 | house | smart sexy sleek)

  38. Orbital – Orbital 2/The Brown Album (1993 | techno | one of the most adventurous techno albums)

  39. Portishead – Strangers (1994 | trip-hop | a hip hop album sung by a woman who can belt out a tune)

  40. Primal Scream – Xtrmntr (2000 | acid house | sounds like a bunch of dudes took acid and made a fucking trippy album)

  41. The Prodigy – Music for the Jilted Generation (1994 | big beat | punks at a rave)

  42. Rustie – Glass Swords (2012 | wonky | a dubstep record made by a guy who likes house)

  43. Saint Etienne – So Tough (1993 | ambient house | early morning beauty caught on record)

  44. Soft Cell - Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret (1981 | new wave | a gay orgy... in the 1980's)

  45. Soulwax – Nite Versions (2005 | remix | a night out on the town while on E)

  46. Squarepusher - Music Is Rotted One Note (1998 | breakbeat | jazz meets electronic music with metal vibes)

  47. Venetian Snares - Rossz Csillag Allat Született (2005 | breakbeat | classical music meets electronic with metal vibes)

  48. !!! - Louden Up Now (2004 | dance-punk | “and you can tell the President to suck my fucking dick”)

  49. 2 Many Djs - As Heard on Radio Soulwax Pt 2 (2002 | mash-up | the ultimate party mash up... the 9 to 5 and Independent Women transition is the work of a genius)

  50. 808 State – ex:el (1992 | acid house | sounds like acid)

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Because they were mentioned. Ladytron are amazing. I wish they came up on my Birthday Massacre/Sohodolls Pandora station more often.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Because they were mentioned. Ladytron are amazing. I wish they came up on my Birthday Massacre/Sohodolls Pandora station more often.

I saw them live back in the day when they were touring their Light and Magic album.

That's when they performed live standing behind four different synths and sequencers with the vertical lights and the beige jackets, pretty emotionless like this:

ladytron.jpg

Brilliant. Utterly brilliant. Blue Jeans, Seventeen and a number of the other tracks off that album (as well as Playgirl from earlier) are great.

I need to get that album back onto my phone actually. I only have Velocifero on there at the moment.

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Other interesting acts from that period are:

FC Kahuna (another track used in Layer Cake)

Mirwais (this track used in Snatch)

Fischerspooner

Adult.

Felix Da Housecat (man, this track reminds me of final year at uni with housemates drinking wine and watching Fashion TV before going out for the night)

Also Add N To (X) who were brilliant.

http://youtu.be/YvT5KCGZYck

Avant Hard is a glorious album title.

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