i have been following the whole 'roots of idm'
thread with great interest. it's always amazing to
see how other peoples paths led them to common ground.
here is how it all came together for me with a few
recommended listens tied in:
1977-9:(i would have been 10)
kiss-destroyer. "beth, i hear you callin..."
kiss-dynasty. this features the classic "i was made for lovin you"
1980:
blondie-autoamerican. (the tide is high and rapture) this was a gift
from my mothers aunt, who had walked into the record store and asked
for "what kids like"
1982 and onward
duran duran-duran duran/rio. they were the only band that
mattered to me as a 12 year old. they set the pace for
all that followed. i have a collection of duran goodies that
at one point in my life was known world wide. i went to paris
in 1987 and i went into a shop and started to talk with the owner
and he had heard about me and all of stuff. this was very cool!
depeche mode-people are people then the entire back catalog.
the cure-boys don't cry, charlotte sometimes, then all of it
joy division/new order-it all rocked. so i obsessively collected it all!
roxy music-my intro to both bryan ferry and mr. eno. eno was
more a curiousity i read about and didn't really know what to make of
until i really started to study music.
japan-this is where it gets sort of interesting. i credit japan as
being one of my primary sources of "ambient" insight. the music
on "tin drum" was the first pop i had heard that had some feeling
of what i would later call ambient music.
as well, the art of noise changed my thought processes reagrding
the arrangement of songs and the use of instruments. when i saw
them play live (1985-6) it changed my notions of the "band mentality"
arcadia-this was a duran side project and features 2 tracks that
changed my life forever. "lady ice," which was a really slow
ambient-y piece and a long version of "rose arcana" which was
originally about 1 minute long on the album. the remix is 6 or 7
minutes and is all instrumental, but very much ambient as opposed
to a regular "song"
david sylvian-after japan split sylvian's solo work really crossed
me over the threshold. he was very heavily influenced by eno and
can and wanted to show it. the progression of his work really
made me appreciate the potential for vision in the work of others.
at the same time i was getting into ambient music there was something
else alltogether.
cabaret voltaire (micro-phonies, crackdown, code, hypnotised etc. etc)
nitzer ebb (join in the chant (harding mix), that total age, belief)
front 242 (front by front, official version)
skinny puppy (bites, remission, mind tpi, dig it, chainsaw)
ministry (halloween, over the shoulder, stigmata)
rev co (no devotion, beers, steers and queers)
et al.
this was the way for me to see the light. i started djing in a
club in 1986 and i was really into playing the "new wave hits of
the day" these included all of the above mentioned plus punk,
ska, reggae, brit pop and everything in between. i really liked
the agressive edge that industrial offered and the kids really dug
it when i played it really loud in the clubs.
AND THEN CAME HOUSE!
it sort of just fell in my lap. it started with "pump up the volume"
and "house nation" and "jack your body" and snowballed from there. i
still really get off on the old classics. someday maybe someone will
put out a really good 3-4 cd set of all the really insane old school
house tracks from that time period (if anyone knows of one, please
e-mail and give me dirty details!) techno came and was really cheesy
in it's infancy. sogs like "sesame's treet" were goofy but there was
one little song that got me back into the fray: "pacific" by 808 state.
they were on to something. i went to my first "rave" in 1990. a huge
party that was part of the 1990 new music seminar in nyc. it featured
808, happy mondays, northside, adamski, dee-lite and a bunch of dj's
including oakenfold. this gave me crazy ideas!
i guess from there it just progresses into alot of branches of a very
big tree.
some of the things i've bought that have blown my nuggets were:
orbital-brown lp
vapourspace-gravitational arch of 10 ep
speedy j-ginger and g-spot
eat static-implant
global communications-76:14
aphex-saw I
plastikman-recycled plastik
submerge-into the void
banco de gaia-last train...
from within-fax
escape-fax
seefeel-quique
this is just off the top of my head. one of the things
i really enjoy about my collection of music is that, imho,
there isn't alot of crap. you know how every now and again
you pick something up and you bring it home and it's just ok?
(this, fortunately, doesn't happen so much now because you
can usually listen before you buy. although, a quick skip
through a disc is no guarantee. we can all vouch for this:-( )
well, that about says what i thought should be said. keep
up the good 'roots' posts and down with the crappy flames.
best regards,
peace, love and ambience.
d...
orbital@clo.com