Monster Loop recently stumbled upon what we consider to be an interesting electronic music artifact: A list labelled “100 good techno tracks,” dated April 11, 1995. Unfortunately, one page was torn from the list so it ends with #78. Nevertheless, we felt it was worth reprinting what we have, which included the following introductory language:
100 good techno tracks
The following 100 tracks are, in our opinion, good electronic music tracks. This list is not intended to be complete. We are sure there are many, really good tracks unjustifiably left off the list either because we haven’t heard of the track, or because we have heard of the track but are just too dumb to realize the track is good. On the other hand, there are a thousand tracks we left off the list that are outright BAD. We mean REALLY bad, and the purpose of the list is to let people know that there is actually good electronic music out there, it’s just hard to find in most vinyl & CD bins. The tracks are in no particular order.
| Track | Artist | ||
| 1 | Pscilocybin | Oliver Lieb/DJ Jorg | |
| 2 | Das Omen | Mysterious Art | |
| 3 | Carnaval | Signal Aout 42 | |
| 4 | Biting my nails | Renegade Soundwaves | |
| 5 | High Energy Protons | Juno Reactor | |
| 6 | I sit on Acid | Lords of Acid | |
| 7 | The Comeback | Love, Inc. | |
| 8 | Word of God | The Subjects | |
| 9 | Mantel Der Nacht | Time Modem | |
| 10 | The definition of taking a step into another dimension | Skydiver (T. Heckman) | |
| 11 | Remind | Psychic TV | |
| 12 | Spice Must Flow | Eon | |
| 13 | America | Bigod 20 | |
| 14 | Contrast | Recall IV | |
| 15 | Die Zukunft (last minute mix) | Scope | |
| 16 | Age of love | Age of Love | |
| 17 | Bit Stream III | ClockDVA | |
| 18 | Headhunter | Front 242 | |
| 19 | Jesus Loves the Acid | Ecstacy Club | |
| 20 | The Model | Kraftwerk | |
| 21 | Move your Body | 101 | |
| 22 | Fahrenheit | Umo Detic | |
| 23 | Liquid Empire | Cold Sensation | |
| 24 | 8080808 | 808 State | |
| 25 | No Way Back | Adonis | |
| 26 | Weather Experience | The Prodigy | |
| 27 | Flesh | A Split Second | |
| 28 | Choice | Trilithon | |
| 29 | Ver Vlads | Crazy Ivan | |
| 30 | Substance Abuse | Fuse (aka Plastikman) | |
| 31 | Warbeat | Bassline Boys | |
| 32 | UT1-DOT | Polygon Window (aka Aphex Twin) | |
| 33 | The Gardens | X-103 | |
| 34 | Clap Me | Jack Frost | |
| 35 | Testtone | F/X1 | |
| 36 | Germany Calling | Houseman | |
| 37 | Placebo Mix | Force Staccato (Oliver Lieb) | |
| 38 | Radioactivity | Kraftwerk | |
| 39 | Helter Skelter | Meat Beat Manifesto | |
| 40 | Umsturz Jetzt | Robotiko Rejecto | |
| 41 | Schottkey 7th Path | Aphex Twin | |
| 42 | Antenna | Kraftwerk | |
| 43 | Warsaw Ghetto | Nitzer Ebb | |
| 44 | Acid Rock | Rhythm Device | |
| 45 | Ritual of Life – Tribal Acid Mix | Sven Vath | |
| 46 | Kampfbereit | Front 242 | |
| 47 | Digital Tension Dementia | Front Line Assembly | |
| 48 | Meet Every Situation Head On | Psychic TV | |
| 49 | Welcome to Paradise | Front 242 | |
| 50 | Sun | The Ambush (Oliver Lieb) | |
| 51 | Jack to the sound of the underground | Hithouse | |
| 52 | Russian Radio | Red Flag | |
| 53 | Nocturne | Age (T. Heckman) | |
| 54 | Human Transmission | Konzept | |
| 55 | Living in a Land | Robert Owens | |
| 56 | Slam | Humanoid | |
| 57 | El Wer | Wonderland | |
| 58 | Sympathy for the Devil | Laibach | |
| 59 | Alone (It’s Me) | Abfahrt (Torsten Fenslau) | |
| 60 | Acid Trax | Phuture | |
| 61 | Remind | Orbital | |
| 62 | Time to die | Aircrash Bureau | |
| 63 | Hearts & Minds | Nitzer Ebb | |
| 64 | Tanzen | Tragic Error | |
| 65 | System | Force Legato (Oliver Lieb) | |
| 66 | Colosseum crash | A Split Second | |
| 67 | Little Fluffy Clouds | The Orb | |
| 68 | Over the Shoulder – ext. remix | Ministry | |
| 69 | Hypnautic Beats | Konzept | |
| 70 | UHF | UHF | |
| 71 | Ultimo Imperio | Atahualpa | |
| 72 | Deadly | Renegade Soundwaves | |
| 73 | Acknowledge | Koto | |
| 74 | Look on this side | X marks the pedwalk | |
| 75 | I’ve lost control | Sleezy D | |
| 76 | I’ll never let you down | William S | |
| 77 | Evolution | Nostromo Department | |
| 78 | Our Darkness | Anne Clark |
6
Oct
The City of Nottingham, located roughly in the center of England, enjoys fame for its connection to the mythical Robin Hood. And, like Robin Hood who was ultimately no longer able to elude detection or fame; Nottingham electronica artist Chris Bicknell, aka ‘BIK,’ may no longer be able to hide within his musical Nottingham forest.
A true student of the electronic music genre, BIK could be described many ways, though a common thread to his music is a detailed focus on composition. Each track appears to have been constructed patiently and intelligently. Moreover, while many contemporary electronica artists focus exclusively on percussion, BIK focuses on filtering synthesized sounds and building impressive soundscapes. The man knows how to construct a track. More importantly, those constructed tracks make you dance!
BIK’s influences are unclear to this writer; perhaps those European electronic music pioneers from the ‘80s and ‘90s who carried the torch of electronica when so much bad music was being produced as the genre spread rapidly. Whatever the source, BIK’s music reflects several interesting styles. The pure danceability evident in many of his tracks is, at times, reminiscent of early Front242 (e.g., ‘White Dwarf’). ‘Funk N Jive’ recalls early European techno classics, such as the 1990 mind-blower “Evolution” by Nostromo Department which appeared on the cutting-edge and influential compilation “Technopolis.” Other tracks suggest a more mature Oliver Lieb, aka LSG (e.g., ‘Rachael’s Song’). Several feature a mysterious, almost gothic, old-school electronic trance vibe (e.g., ‘Drance’) and an aggressive, psychedelic aspect is evident at times (e.g., ‘LTM vs. BLK’). Some tracks are relatively mellow and recall Vangelis (e.g., ‘Creed,’ ‘LollyB,’ ‘Automata,’ ‘Gabriel Kron,’ and ‘Roykion’). One could almost envision these appearing in a modern day version of Blade Runner. Turn up the danceability knob a notch or two on certain of these (e.g., ‘Roykon’) and you have his track ‘Eva3.’ But to this writer, BIK’s masterpiece is without question ‘Binary,’ which brings it all together.
Chris indicates on Reverbnation that “[m]y first experience of electronic music was spinning around to Popcorn by Hot Butter as an infant. It wasn’t until I heard Kraftwerk’s ‘Man Machine’ on my mum’s old gramophone that I realized that there was so much more out there. Listening wasn’t enough though; I needed to make it. There has followed years of buying and selling of different pieces of electronic music equipment making of songs: some good, some bad. The urge to make music still continues today.” That is evident in his body of work, which is artful, upbeat, hopeful, and intelligent music for the mind, body, and soul. Monster Loop recommends BIK!