Giant Bomb's Unofficial Electronic Music Discussion Thread

I've seen threads for other genres of music on the forums and I've seen quite a few people mention some electronic music in the "What Are You Listening To?" thread, I know there's some interest based on some comments I've seen recently, so why not have an entire thread devoted to it?

I realize that electronic music is a large umbrella that many genres and styles fall under so I thought of a couple of questions to help generate some discussion.

• What's your favorite genre/style?
• How'd you get into/introduced to it?
• What's a recent release/song you've been enjoying?
• Favorite Artists/Labels?
• Do you buy physical releases (vinyl/cassettes/etc.)? What was your most recent purchase?

I've also got some answers to get things stated!

Favorite genre/style?

A very tough question to be honest, I'm into pretty much everything under the sun! I've been listening to a lot of Juke/Footwork, Bassline, Jungle, Grime, UK Funky and 90's Hardcore in the past few months.

How'd you get into it?

It's hard to say how I've gotten to the point I'm at right now but I started out listening to Daft Punk & Justice which are about as entry-level as you can get.

Recent release you've been enjoying?

Favorite Artists/Labels?

Another tough one! I've managed to pick a few though!

Artists: Crookers, Teamm Jordann, Gerry Read, FFF, LOL Boys, Matrixxman, Clouds

Labels: Off Me Nut Records, Night Slugs / Fade To Mind, Unknown To The Unknown / Hot Haus, Swamp 81, Berceuse Heroique, The Trilogy Tapes

Do you purchase physicals releases?

Yep! Last thing I bought was DJ Punisher - LACR003, a weird electro/noise sort of thing. Have a trailer!

I'm really into: Daft Punk, MSTRKRFT, Justice, The Bloody Beetroots, and Steve Aoki. Hot Chip is a cool band that likes to infuse electronica into pop/folk.

The newest Beetroots and Justice albums are great. I think Neon Future is dissapointing though.

@lelcar: Very nice picks! That's all stuff that I listened to in my early years. I really like the new Beetroots album from what I remember of it. Have you heard of The Toxic Avenger or Danger? I think you might like 'em!

I can't get into subdivisions in electronic music like I can in metal, but my buddy links me to a ton of random stuff he finds online. Kind of like jazz, I like a lot of what I hear but don't have encyclopaedic knowledge.

The one artist that sticks out is The Glitch Mob, still. I know people weren't big on the last album, but it stuck with me for reason unknown. And Can't Kill Us is just so damn good.

There was one specific video that got me thinking that electronic music is ok because it was a Tekken tribute. I was all against this stuff when I was younger. Let's see if I can find it...

Yep:

Some stuff I'm listening to: crashfaster-superchroma, Myrone - Exclusive Coupe

I mainly listen to 80's synth and Daft Punk-esque house but there's been a few times that something completely unlike those has really grabbed me. The biggest ones being Mystery Skulls (Heavy Electropop) and the soundtrack to Gatchaman Crowds (dubstep).

What's your favorite genre/style?

I don't really have one favourite. I like a bit of IDM (mainly Autechre, Boards of Canada and Aphex), the stuff coming out of the Brainfeeder camp and their affiliates (Flying Lotus, Lapalux, Dorian Concept), some Tech House, the older Grime stuff. I guess Chip music technically falls under this category, so Little-Scale, Chipzel and Chibitech. I really love the stuff thats influenced by 80's synth stuff too, like Com Triuse, Kuedo, TOBACCO and Tycho.

How'd you get into/introduced to it?

I got into DnB for a bit through a friend at school, and that naturally led me to weirder stuff Aphex Twin and Squarepusher. The rest just happened. I get super obsessive about finding new stuff to listen to.

What's a recent release/song you've been enjoying?

The Bug - Angels and Devils.

Go listen to it on Bleep, then buy it. Its special.

Favorite Artists/Labels?

See above for artists. Warp Records and Brainfeeder for labels.

Do you buy physical releases (vinyl/cassettes/etc.)? What was your most recent purchase?

Not often. Last record I bought was Tomorrows Harvest on 12".

My library is very limited when it comes to electronic music and such. Only ones I listen to sometimes are Solar Fields, AES DANA and Carbon Based Lifeforms.

My favorite genres would probably fall in the new wave and old school industrial genres of the late 70's/early 80's. But I'm pretty fond of EBM, minimal wave, early 90's rave, IDM and drum 'n' bass/jungle too, and listen to some dark ambient and that kind of stuff every now and then.

I'm rather fond of noise/power electronics too, but that stuff kinda works best in live environments rather than recordings (thankfully there's a cheap and large annual industrial/noise/power electronics festival in Stockholm every year, as well as several smaller groups arranging concerts every other month).

I was introduced to new wave as a kid, pretty much the first music I ever heard were a Swedish new wave compilation tape with music from 1978-82 and Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds.

I tend to buy cassettes and CD's primarily. Sometimes vinyls and downloads, but as my vinyl player doesn't work all that well, I usually only do that when no other formats are available.

Favorite labels would probably be the now defunct Cold Meat Industry, Börft/Konduktör Records, Minimal Wave, Planet Mu, Wax Trax and Warp, and over all favorite electronic artists would probably be Aphex Twin, µ-Ziq, Front 242, En Halvkokt I Folie, Fever Ray, Test Department, Throbbing Gristle, Deutsch Nepal, Enema & Gejonte, Squarepusher, Clock DVA, Muslimgauze, Skinny Puppy, Lille Roger/Brighter Death Now.

The most recent release I've enjoyed has been Benjamin Syra's tape Öppen Kista (Benjamin Syra is a wordplay on the Swedish name for Jiminy Cricket, Benjamin Syrsa, and the Swedish word for acid, which is syra, and the tape's name translates to "open casket"). Pretty much Sweden's answer to Ceephax Acid Crew, I guess.

This is pretty much the song that got me into music as a kid, which has been continously on my walkmans, MP3 players etc. for the past 25+ years:

Some Benjamin Syra:

And Arvid Tuba, a Swedish electronic music legend from the 80's, whose releases sadly are incredibly hard to get hold of these days, I only have a couple of compilation tapes with tracks by him:

Favorite genre/style?

My taste in dance music is really eclectic, much like my general music tastes. I love house, which I realize is a really broad statement, but I'm still learning the differences between all the sub-genres. I have no idea what you would call artists like Bassnectar, Pretty Lights, Griz, and Gramatik, but I love all those guys. I've been getting more into hardstyle lately as well. The only thing I'm not that into is the mainstream trap that's been dominating the scene lately only because I find it kinda repetitive.

How'd You Get Into It?

My buddy sent me Deadmau5's Ghosts N Stuff right after it came out and it pretty much went from there for me.

Recent Release You've Been Enjoying?

The new Bassnectar and Glitch Mob albums are pretty dope.

Favorite Artists/Labels?

Showtek, Infected Mushroom, Deadmau5, Bassnectar, 3lau, Wolfgang Gartner. As far as labels OWSLA and Pretty Lights Music have some incredible talent on their rosters.

Do You Still Buy Physical Releases?

No. I stream everything through Spotify or Soundcloud. Sometimes I'll download sets from festivals through other sites. I go to tons of shows and festivals every year so my money finds its way to their pockets one way or another...

Favourite genre/style:

No idea. Drum and bass? "IDM"? I dunno, I just label stuff "electronic" in my library. I guess it'd be easier to say I don't really like dubstep. Like, the monotonous "wub-wub" stuff. That stuff just sounds boring to me.

Got into/introduced to it:

Oh geez. Pretty much as long as I was aware of music I've been aware of and enjoyed electronic stuff. I only really got into it maybe 6 or 7 years ago when I was starting to get a sense of my own particular musical tastes. I had electronic stuff in my library already, so it was just a matter of thinking "yeah, more stuff like this".

I suppose I could credit The Prodigy, Amon Tobin, and Massive Attack (though they're apparently "trip-hop") for having the first electronic music that really stuck in my head when I was young, and that I actively sought out. I've got Much Music, some Nissan car ad, and The Matrix to thank for those respectively.

Recently been listening to:

Favourite artists/labels:

I've got a lot of albums by (and have listened to a ton of) Amon Tobin, Plaid, Boards of Canada, and Air. Ninja Tunes is the only label I'm aware of because of Amon Tobin, but the only other act under them that I know of (and also happen to like) is Daedelus.

There are a ton of singular songs that I fucking LOVE but haven't heard much else of from the artist. Like the song Absence that I embedded above, I Remember by deadmau5 and Kaskade, Fading Nights by Parra For Cuva feat. Anna Naklab, or this peculiar gem of a thing.

So while I really, really like Amon Tobin, right now I like Absence more than anything from him. That's music I guess. Ebbs and flows.

Buying physical music releases:

I don't actually. I haven't bought a physical music CD (or anything else that's physical) in almost a decade.

It didn't occur to me while writing the OP but if you've got a last.fm link to it! Here's mine!

For those of you who mentioned liking 80's synth stuff definitely check out Perturbator and Kavinsky, if you haven't already. Also I bought a tape from an artist who goes by Spare Death Icon the entire album sounds like an 80's horror movie soundtrack. It's only available on cassette but I did find this video of the title track!

@csl316: I haven't listened to a ton of the Glitch Mob's stuff but I have listened to a lot of it's individual members (eDIT, Ooah, Kraddy, Boreta) previous work. I suggest you check 'em out if you already haven't!

@fisk0: That Benjamin Syra track you posted is sweet! I'm gonna try and find buy some of his stuff next time I get some cash!

@blzzzrrttt: I don't have a Last.FM but I do have a Spotify playlist.

Unfortunately it doesn't work well because most of it is local files, but you can read it at least.

Aphex Twin

AFX

Bradley Strider

Blue Calx

The Tuss

Universal Indicator

GAK

Power-pill

Oh, wait those are all the same guy.

My last.fm is fisk0.

What's your favorite genre/style? - I'm all over the board on this: ambient, house, techno, bass, footwork, IDM, DnB, etc. There's good and bad music in all of those genres. I'm partial to dance music I suppose, seeing as I'm always on the lookout for DJ-able tracks, but some of my favorite artists never struck me as "danceable" until I became more clued-in to the scene. I'm not really into the bigger EDM stuff, but I do love that mainstream American music has basically turned into Euro-trance.

How'd you get into/introduced to it? - Probably through The Prodigy and "Firestarter," which made for a smooth transition from the heavy angst-rock of Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, and Rage Against the Machine, which were very popular in middle school. Later I basically went through the Wipeout XL soundtrack and a "best electronic music albums" list on the now-defunct CDnow and used them as guideposts for expanding my listening.

What's a recent release/song you've been enjoying? - This year I really adore the new Basement Jaxx album, the new Danger EP, new Caribou LP, and the Lockah album, among many others. I'm very excited about the new (final!) Royksopp album, and love their Robyn collaboration. Also, more obscure, but this teaser for the new Koudlam album is exhilarating. Oh, and the stuff coming out of PC Music is super interesting.

Favorite Artists/Labels? - Too many to mention, but Orbital is probably tops for me. Labels I'll at least check out everything on: Warp, Modern Love, AUS, Tusk Wax, Brainfeeder, Hemlock, Livity Sound, Hotflush, Planet Mu, Tek Life, Hyperdub, DFA, Kompakt, Night Slugs, Bromance, R&S, Italians Do It Better, Marble, Turbo, 50 Weapons, and more I'm forgetting.

Do you buy physical releases (vinyl/cassettes/etc.)? What was your most recent purchase? - I stockpile digitally and buy a bunch of my favorites on CD like once a year. I listen to a lot on YouTube and Soundcloud mostly though.

One really interesting thing about different genres of electronic music for me is that sometimes certain ones don't make sense to me until I hear it in its ideal or native setting. I didn't get footwork until I saw dance battles. Minimal techno took on a whole new meaning when I went to clubs in Berlin that never close. It's cool, and while the appeal of some of this music is universal, I like that there are certain edges that carry a specificity or local community flavor. Been finding that stuff more intriguing lately; learning about stuff like batida in Lisbon.

Maybe I should clear up that EDM (electronic dance music) and EBM (electronic body music, or körpermusik) are very different genres. Since EDM is the dominant thing right now, and EBM hasn't been popular since the late 90's (and was at it's peak in the mid 80's), many may not have heard of it. EBM is kinda synthpunk-ish, 4/4 stuff with heavy use of FM synthesizers (usually the Yamaha DX7) for bass lines, samplers and digital, sample based drum machines.

Here are some examples of the EBM genre I fancy:

Artists - Aphex Twin, Throbbing Gristle, Four Tet, Brian Eno, James Blake & Boards of Canada, to name just a few.

As for the medium, mostly CD and cassette. A lot of good Peel Session tapes for electronic bands

I honestly never much liked him before, but the new Aphex Twin album - Syro is pretty fucking awesome.

Luke Vibert's brief experiment with drum and bass as "Plug" is a perennial favourite:

@fisk0: Oh cool, I'd never heard the term EBM before. Sort of industrial but more electro; I like it.

Also, I don't have a last.fm, but I do have a Mixcloud. Unfortunately I haven't been as active in my mixmaking lately. Here's a bunch of older stuff too, if anyone's interested.

BURIAL, GODDAMNIT

About as far as I go into electronic is Crystal Castles, Anamanaguchi, Throbbing Gristle, and Health. It's not my favorite genre by any means, but damn, do I love the examples I mentioned.

Also, any excuse to post "Crimewave":

Two of my favourites - I only recently heard about Nils Frahm and instantly adored his work the moment I heard it, whereas Fall of Saigon have been a music staple for a number of years now - a friend played them (this song specifically) to me a long, long time ago and I was hooked. Everything just seems so effortless and moody as all hell. Same with Suicide - nothing comes close. There are other things I listen to a lot like early techno from Detroit and whatnot, a lot of stuff from UR, drum and bass occasionally - although I haven't really paid much attention to how it sounds now, I bought the Ohm Resistance collection from bandcamp recently because it is full of absolute head-crackers that reminded me of records from the late 1990's such as Replicant:

It tends to come and go, at the moment i'm totally back into punk rock like AC4 then after a while i'll come back to electronic stuff or maybe hip hop, just depends. But it's always there. Bandcamp is great for finding new tracks and I have no problem paying for artist's work even if they are giving it away for free - sometimes it can't be helped, such as Replicant where the only readily available version is on YouTube (I actually have the original white label in storage but no deck to play it on).

Never been big on 'defining' music, especially electronic stuff - the names for all these (new) categories sound absurd - to me it's all just music and if I like it, I like it and play the fuck out of it.

Compared to the rest of you guys, my tastes aren't particularly big, clever or stylish.

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I'm not sure if I'm a fan of whole genres, but more specific bands within them. I love VNV Nation, Assemblage 23 and mind.in.a.box, but most other "future-pop" bands sounds pretty dreadful to me, outside of a select few singles or remixes. Like Rottersand for example. Can't stand their albums, but the War on Error and Waiting to be Born EPs are amazing.

Outside of that scene, the biggest band that I follow is Front Line Assembly. I know, hardly the most obscure choice. Pretty much everything they've done is amazing.

Got a few Front 242 albums that I infrequently spin, but it can feel a little too "archaic" when I'm not in the right mood. Much prefer 32Crash when it comes to Jean-Luc De Meyer weirdness. Amazing mix of retro styled EBM and storytelling.

On the very weird side, I've a massive soft spot for igorrr. It's an insane combination of baroque and hyper cut up drum & base with a hint of metal. As loopy as it sounds.

And finally, they might be a bit of a novelty, but I rather enjoy Heimataerde. Electro-industrial with a grand medieval narrative and style weaved throughout. Don't understand German, so a lot of the story is lost on me. Still, it sounds pretty damn good. As for the music, it started off with a more aggrotech flavour, but has since dropped that for a more modern NDH feeling.

For what it's worth, here's my last.fm page. Feels like I stopped using the service with any regularity around 2009, so the top tracks are kind of still based around what I was mostly listening to then.

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There's plenty more that I'm missing, but those are the big ones that I've been listening to recently.

Don't really have a favorite type. Drum & Bass, EDM, Electro Rock, Dubstep, all have some good stuff I tend to like. I'll listen to mostly anything.

I think it may have been Pendulum that really got me into it. Hold Your Colour, In Silico, and Immersion are still some of my favorite albums. Really excited for whenever Rob Swire gets working on the new one. I like Knife Party but I still love Pendulum way more.

For new stuff, Sleepwaves' 'Broken Compass' is a great album. 'Anything Goes' from Klaypex has a few good songs like 'Together', 'Informative Broadcast' and 'Dangerous'.

And though it's not new (2012), I only got it recently, Celldweller's 'Wish Upon A Blackstar' album is fucking great. All of it. 'It Makes No Difference Who We Are', 'Blackstar', 'Louder Than Words', 'The Lucky One', 'Unshakable'; all great (also they all go in order off each other like that, which is awesome because it seems like just a huge song).

I enjoy quite a few artists, and undoubtedly I'll forget a few. Pendulum being obvious, but Knife Party is fun too. Klaypex is great though I don't like as many songs in Anything Goes as the past two albums. Celldweller is fucking awesome. Lindsey Stirling has great songs. Approaching Nirvana is awesome, a large mix of music of various genres but they do good stuff.

I just stick with digital purchases now. I'd just copy the album to my computer anyway, so it cuts out the middleman.

A little intro: I first got into electronic music about a decade ago when me and my band split up due to real life being more important, or what to call it. Jobs, marriages, whatever. Just as well, we played death and black metal but as we aged we incorporated prog, jazz, fusion, polka, razmatazz, noise, ambient, grindcore, you name it! We did a lot of things for fun, but never anything electronic. So the day we split, I sat down with the internet and said ELECTRONIC MUSIC, WHAT ARE YOU?! and from there I've been on an amazing journey of discovery.

What's your favorite genre/style?

I've no clue. It's not about the name of the style, and in most cases I don't even know. I like what I hear; though I found it amusing that recent artists I've been listening to are in a genre called Witch House. Artists like oOoOO, Balam Acab and Solar Bears seemingly come in under that curious tag. Some of it is pretty good, like Solar Bears' Dolls below.

How'd you get into/introduced to it?

Read my intro above! Though before that I would often borrow my brother's CDs and listen now and then. (before the internet)

What's a recent release/song you've been enjoying?

I always enjoy iamamiwhoami's new releases, they're frequent and refreshing most of the time. Otherwise there's the new Aphex Twin album but I've not really clicked with it yet. The new Thom Yorke album is pretty interesting though, which surprised me since I wasn't too fond of his previous solo projects. His Boiler Room set was pretty dope however. The crowd is hilarious as well in their complete disinterest. And yes that's Thom Yorke from Radiohead, and yes that is a jig he does at around 16 minutes in.

Favorite Artists/Labels?

Hard to pick of course, but Boards of Canada introduced me to a new world of music along with Aphex Twin. At some point I disregarded electronic music as all sounding the same; thankfully BoC opened my mind through an online cartoon thing named Salad Fingers. Warp records stick out in my mind as my favorite label if any.

Do you buy physical releases (vinyl/cassettes/etc.)? What was your most recent purchase?

I only ever got Boards of Canada on Vinyl, oh and rare signed Vinyl of the Shatter Soundtrack.

Man, i need to bookmark this thread!

I have no idea what genre / style any of the stuff i like fit into, but here are some things i enjoy.

The Glitch Mob! Discovered them 6 months ago, and have been playing them constantly.

Todd Terje. Bouncy, happy, silly music that make any mundane task an enjoyable experience:

Rymdkraft. 8-bit? Chiptune? SID? who cares !? it makes me happy just thinking about it !

Dance With The Dead. My newest obsession for sitting down and working on something creative. They hooked me more than PERTURBATOR, and i find it hard to pick a few songs from the albums i have heard. (Dressed To Kill, Stitch )

Klaypex. I guess this is close to dubstep ? I enjoy a lot of his tracks ( Like the game inspired Gamefire )

@geirr: Kinda surprised you weren't into electronic music if you were into black metal, plenty of early black metal - especially the Norwegian scene - was heavily inspired by 70's electronic music like Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze. Hell, Mayhem even went as far as getting Tangerine Dream's Conrad Schnitzler to compose an intro track for their 1987 Deathcrush EP.

Several bands even went full on electronic after a few years, like Ulver and Burzum.

Oh right, another recent cassette purchase I did was 60 Minut Projekt's "Behringer Mixtape Plan", Polish drum 'n bass on entirely analog hardware, played live without any sequencers or computers. Pretty rad concept on it's own, but it's also pretty damn good music.

Sadly the only recording I can find of it is this 40 second teaser. Apparently only 60 copies were made, so I don't know if they are still in stock anywhere:

EDIT: Also found this live performance (no, that guy isn't jerking off, you get a closeup of the Yamaha RY-9 he's playing on about 10 minutes into the video):

My electronic music library is basically a hodgepodge of random tracks from a bunch of different artists + every track VNV Nation has ever recorded. VNV Nation makes me very happy.

I don't particularly like the absolutely earliest Front 242 stuff, which kinda like the earliest DAF and Nitzer Ebb sounds a bit too simplistic (not even really in a minimalistic way). It's generally the stuff from 1986-87 up to 1993 I like, but which I like a whole lot, especially Official Version and Tragedy For You are near flawless albums. I bought a couple of the 32Crash albums a few years ago, but couldn't really get into them. Of Jean-Luc De Meyer's various projects I think I prefer C-Tec and Cobalt 60, which he had in the late 90's, the former a bit VNV Nation-futurepop-ish whereas the latter sounded a bit like Millenium era Front Line Assembly. I didn't like either of them as much as Front 242 though.

On a video game related note, Cobalt 60 wrote several songs for Wing Commander: Prophecy back in 1997. Especially the song Darwin Was Right from that soundtrack is really good.

@ripelivejam: YES, BURIAL! With the Rival Dealer EP, Burial ascended to a higher plane (which is ironic considering the name). But seriously, the guy keeps outdoing himself.

Anyone else a Gang Gang Dance fan? They're weird, don't really fit into any genre, and part of me thinks I'm not supposed to like them, but I do. Eye Contact was my favorite album from 2011. I got into them back when they released God's Money and have been a fan ever since.

@spunkyhepanda: Haha. Well, VNV Nation are damn near perfect. If this was a contest to see who could pull out the most obscure band, they certainly wouldn't win, but there's a damn good reason they're so beloved by many.

@fisk0: 90's FLA and VNV you say? Oh, I'll certainly have to look into those projects. Thanks. :)

What's your favorite genre/style?

I guess Prog techno/trance. But I listen to almost all of it (with the exception of Minimal)

How'd you get into/introduced to it?

Parties when i was 15 introduced me to it, specifically some Faithless songs made me fall in love with electronic music. Soon after i had the Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Amon Tobin, Bonobo, etc period that cemented it

What's a recent release/song you've been enjoying?

I'm getting old :D so now i just follow a couple of the most popular podcasts by known djs for my needs

Do you buy physical releases (vinyl/cassettes/etc.)?

Nope. Never got into physical (i'm a mess, i'll lose/displace them almost immediatly), always digital for me

My man.

In the past months I've really gotten into the whole 'retro-futuristic 80's horror/scifi' synth music (or 'synthwave'). I couldn't tell you where it started but I sort of just stumbled upon it one day and have loved it ever since. I'm still very new to the genre but I would also recommend Lazerhawk and as mentioned before Power Glove, specifically the Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon soundtrack.

But if there's one artist who's really stood out for me so far it's Carpenter Brut. You may have heard his music on the most recent Hotline Miami 2 trailer:

For a good impression of his work I strongly recommend listening to this live set, which you can also download for free.

Also look for the video's to his tracks 'Le Perv' and 'Obituary'. They're both very cool, but also very NSFW, so be warned.

Favorite genre/style?

Difficult to say. I like "IDM" (I hate that term), jungle, drum n bass, dubstep, dub techno, ambient, house, and whatever we're calling FlyLo/Dabrye/Prefuse73-type stuff these days (post-rap?).

I'm currently enjoying revisiting the 2007-2010 period of dubstep when they were throwing all the other electronic music subgenres at those standard dubstep (and sometimes 2-step) tempi and rhythms. Artists like Peverelist, Martyn, Ramadanman, Pinch, Pangaea, Ikonika, etc. It's held up quite well IMO. The mixes (Breezeblock, FACTMag, Dubstep AllStars, etc.) from that era are stellar.

How'd you get into it?

Dating myself a bit here but my love of electronic music can be traced back to 2 sources.

1) MTV's "Amp". It was an electronic music video program that aired at some ungodly hour on Friday and/or Saturday nights in the mid-to-late 90s. As a very stoned teenager living in the cultural force field that was Arkansas my mind was blown a million times over every time I watched that show. I had literally no exposure to that kind of music before. The videos and music spoke to me and rubbed the pleasure centers in my brain that rock, rap, and jazz weren't able to reach. Videos like Future Sound of London's "We Have Explosive", Photek's "Ni Ichi Ten Ryu", and We™'s "3/10 of the Population" affected me in a very profound way.

2) Around the same time I discovered "Amp" I was obsessed with the Wipeout XL soundtrack. I played that game for hours just to experience the music.

Recent release you've been enjoying?

Nothing really recent. Maybe the Livity Sound compilation.

Favorite Artists/Labels?

Recent/Current: Hessle Audio, Deep Medi, Punch Drunk & Livity Sound, Skull Disco, Young Echo, Modern Love.

Older: Warp, Ninja Tune, Liquid Sky, Nothing Records, Asphodel, a host of major labels that were supporting acts back in the 90s.

Do you purchase physicals releases?

Yes. My most recent vinyl purchases were Vessel's Order of Noise, Flying Lotus' You're Dead!, and patten's Eolian Instate. I also purchased the vinyl re-pressings of Amon Tobin's Permutation and Supermodified.

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It should be noted that I am completely obsessed with Bristol, England. I have this burning desire to figure out why so much good music has come from that city.

and

Much respect to fellow Plug fan and therefore exemplary human being Sinusoidal. Drum 'n' Bass for Papa is one of my favorite albums of all time. I think it's the Endtroducing.... of DnB albums.

I don't really spend a lot of time looking for music, so I'll be the boring guy that just likes deadmau5. If I'm having a particularly bad day I'll lay down and just... chill... with his stuff blasting at 11.

I'll look through this thread later and maybe expand my horizons.

Heh, I'm similarly fascinated by Sheffield, which seems to have been pretty much the epicentre of the early industrial music of the 1970's.

1.) Love lots of music styles. Ambient most of all.

2.) Exposure to the world of Vangelis as a child has left a permanent mark on me.

3. Gus Gus - Mexico. It's ok.

4.) No fav. labels. Biosphere is my favorite. If you like the link - you really should check him out.

5.) I do. Gus Gus bought on holidays in Iceland.

Oh man, this thread kinda took off! There's a lot more posts than I was honestly expecting!

I'm still not sure what direction this thread'll go in, I did like that little EBM primer @fisk0 wrote above. I'm sure there are some people who know a lot about a certain genre/style that can introduce other people to it with a short intro post.

I've also been thinking about trying to put together some community thing maybe a community Mixcloud or soundcloud group? Haven't put a ton of thought into this but I'm sure we'll be able to figure something out...

Also, someone mentioned Livity Sound? This just came out, yesterday I think. Good stuff!

And in honour of Mark Bell's passing this week;

My most recent discovery is the Romanian minimal synth/darkwave band Tanz Ohne Musik. Maybe a bit too derivative of Haus Arafna, but still pretty rad, and you don't come across Romanian electronic music often.

I've also rediscovered the Minimal Wave Tapes compilation CD's from around 2009-2010, featuring lots of previously tape only music from the early to mid 1980's.

Some examples:

Lately i'm really into Progressive house. This stuff is too good. Just listen to this song.

I see people here having "favorite labels". Why would anyone have a favorite label?

Smaller labels generally focus on a specific genre, or even projects by a set group of people (Planet Mu for example is run by Michael Paradinas, and he has released several of his projects and collaborations with others on that label), so it's likely that if you like some of their releases, you'll also like their others. Just a pretty safe way to explore bands you haven't heard before, since they are likely to share some traits for bands you are already into. I have yet to be disappointed in anything from Minimal Wave, Börft or Cold Meat Industry for example.

This obviously isn't true for comparably big labels like Mute or the giant labels like Universal or something, that puts out great stuff at times, but within a wide variety of genres.

I see. I follow Nuclear Blast and BlankTV on YouTube with the hope to find something nice yet I like only a few bands they offer (they are the reason I subscribed actually). But I guess that depends on genre and taste mostly.

Since there seem to be a number of VNV Nation fans here, another of the futurepop genre's founders rereleased their celebrated second album "7" on cassette earlier this year (originally released in 1996), including bonus tracks and a download code for a mp3 version.

It's probably my favorite album of theirs.

I'm bumping this thread because a pretty amazing synthwave album just came out:

GosT - Behemoth

If you're still unfamiliar with the genre, it's the type of music that's in Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon and both Hotline Miami games. This particular artist is on the heavier side of the spectrum, maybe even one of the heaviest. If you liked Carpenter Brut's tracks (Roller Mobster, The Perv) in Hotline Miami 2, this should be right up your alley.

I'd describe GosT's music as Justice doing the doing the soundtrack to a horror film.

The album is released through Blood Music, who makes all their music available for download at 'pay what you want - no minimum', which means you could even download it for free. It also features remixes by Perturbator (who you might also know from the soundtracks of both Hotline Miami's) and Dance with the Dead.

I very much recommend people give this a try if you like the Hotline Miami soundtracks, which I know practically everyone does.