The two of us that comprise Monster Loop have been listening to electronic music for quite awhile. Every once in awhile, we’ll throw out suggestions of what we consider great electronic music – currently and from the past. We believe that, in many ways, the electronic music being produced today is as good as has ever been produced. On the other hand, we’re benefiting from great artists from the past who have influenced the current sound. Moreover, production technology has immensely improved, giving artists greater control over the final sound.
There have, however, been some outstanding productions in the past with no current parallel. The Belgian “New Beat” movement, circa 1990, for example, produced a phenomenal, grinding bass-heavy, chill-but-oh-so-intense-groove that, at its best, produced a mysterious, compelling cutting-edge sound with no modern equivalent. Some of Psychic TV‘s productions (e.g., Jack the Tab, Peak Hour), as far as lunatic creativity, possibly hasn’t been matched. The Acid House movement, around 1988, is also distinct and unmatched – many of the original acid house tracks have a powerful groove one rarely hears these days. Incidentally, a band from northern Europe, the Havanna Acid Club, may well produce the most powerfully authentic “Acid House” sound since that day.
If you like:
- Unique ambient: Check out Aphex Twin – “Selected Ambient Works” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selected_Ambient_Works_85–92
- Unusual/tripped out electro: Try Psychic TV’s Jack the Tab – “Acid Tablet Volume One” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_The_Tab_-_Acid_Tablets_Volume_One
- Outstanding early techno/industrial dance: We recommend Front 242 – “Front by Front” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_by_Front
- Provocative, erie synthetic atmosphere: Try ClockDVA – “Buried Dreams” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clock_DVA
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 |