I conclude someone must have started something like this earlier, yet I’m putting this with anticipation that you folks would love to listen to all these beautiful albums and can suggest some to me that I’ve not already listed. I always wanted to make this list, and if by any chance you've some references of yours then please toss them over here.
I'll begin with my collection of some very exclusive and some even hard to find albums that I pompously brag of being the finest so far. I'm into ambient so most of my choices are centric towards this genre. The list can be formulaic for some who already follow the cult of underground electronic music.

25. Donna Summer - The Ultimate Collection
24. Cerrone - Love in C Minor
23. Kraftwerk - The Man Machine
22. Asura - Code Eternity
21. Peter Gabriel - So
20. A New Day - Laya Project Remixed
19. Enigma - MCMXC AD
18. Chicane - Behind the Sun
17. Carbon Based Lifeforms - World of Sleepers
16. Autechre - Amber
15. Paul Oakenfold - Bunkka (Also everything that he has ever made)
14. Buddha Bar - All the volumes
13. Tim Hecker - Radio Amor
12. Aes Dana - Leylines
11. Soundtrack from Russian movie “Stalker”
10. Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
09. Autechre - Tri Repetae
08. The Orb - The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld
07. Goldfrapp - Felt Mountain (Actually on the second thought her entire Boxset)
06. The Future Sound of London - Lifeforms
05. Brian Eno - Eno Box (Complete Boxset)
04. Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works (Vol. 1 & 2)
03. Gas (Mat Jarvis) - 0095 (Dont confuse with Wolfgang Voigt)
02. Global Communication - 76:14 (Arguably the best one)
01. Biosphere - Substrata (The only argument to the above)

The list could be longer but these specifically are those which I never let my friends borrow from me. I fear of losing both. The friend and the album.

There are some more that I gravely yearn to purchase, which could edit the list above, but by reason of not being able to find them anywhere in my city I couldn’t get hold of them. And I never trusted plastic money to shop them online. Actually I never owned a credit card (Thanx to one of my earlier odd job in credit card fraud prevention department in Washington Mutual)
And few of those sought after ones are:

1. Kate Bush - This Woman's Work
2. Amon Tobin - Foley Room
3. Martin Walker - The Greenwood
4. Faust - Boxset (Although I own their first one ‘Faust’.)
5. The KLF - Chill Out
…

So guys what’s your favorite electronica album by now?

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Edited by AuralSerenity (12/10/10 06:16 PM)

Oops there was a horrible mistake I did in jiffy and corrected it now.

Instead of Faust (their first album), I mentioned Faust is last, which obviously I dont own.

Well its been edited now.

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SoundCloud

I highly recommend any of these :

OTT - Hallucinogen in Dub, Skylon and Blumenkraft
Sphongle - Anything they've ever made
Nagual Sound Experiment - Invisible Movements
Amon Tobin - Supermodified
Damon Albarn - Mali Music
Bonobo - Anything he's ever made
DJ Krush - Jaku
Younger Brother - A Flock of Bleeps
Juno Reactor - Labyrinth
Peace Orchestra - Peace Orchestra
Tipper - Surrounded
Flooting Grooves - Upsyde Down
Gotan Project - La Revencha del Tango
Unstable Elements - Technical Illusion

There are others ....

D.

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www.thirdfloormusic.com

Thanx Darc. Many many thanx.



O I do have Ott's collection, and I adore Blumencraft (specially Jack's cheese and bread snack) and I also love Simon Posford, that guy is so cool, I remember once he even took the MIC from interviewer and interviewed himself and Raja Ram on the behalf of interviewer (effects of the joints that he was constantly blowing). And to tell you the truth I was considering putting them in the list till the last moment. Maybe I was a bit cruel towards Blumencraft. But there was something about Shpongle that never clicked me. Maybe the things that Hallucinogen used to serve, like the way 'Space Pussy' and 'LSD' drives you, after that I failed to take Raja Ram's overtly eccentric shamanic influence that was even delivering in his music under other guise like 1200 Micrograms. I understand 1200 Micrograms also sucked because of those duo Rectum(pun intended) and Bansi. Haha. But Simon always had it. He had a simplicity that goes way back to his bootlegged debut Asnesnothine. It was truly a cult back then. I've never heard Younger Brother, which I believe Simon made for his younger brother's break (correct me if I'm wrong), and that jacking never appealed to me. I might be biased though, are they really good?



And Nagual Sound Experiment, Damon Albarn, Bonobo, Peace Orchestra, Tipper, Flooting Grooves, Gotan Project, Unstable Elements - all these are new to me (Wow so many of them). Never knew them. So thanx, I'll try to get as many of them and see what's in it for me.

Amon Tobin? Yes, without a doubt, a very talented guy. I saw Foley room DVD in youtube and that was mind blowing. I anyways was trying real hard to find that in India and doubt if I'll find Supermodified. Is there a Boxset available in London?



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Please guys, contribute your suggestions. We all need good listening sessions. And I dont know about you people but I remain in constant hunt for good reference tracks. So please dont be laid-back and punch in some keys.

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I have no idea what 'Electronica' is, but I guess I must be into at least some of it given the Peter Gabriel and Pink Floyd in your list!

What's the definition?

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An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.

Quote AuralSerenity:

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I understand 1200 Micrograms also sucked because of those duo Rectum(pun intended) and Bansi.

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Haha .. I'm sure Riktam has heard that one before ...

Quote AuralSerenity:

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I've never heard Younger Brother, which I believe Simon made for his younger brother's break (correct me if I'm wrong), and that jacking never appealed to me. I might be biased though, are they really good?

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Yeah, Flock of Bleeps is a very good album. Younger Brother is essentially a collaboration of Posford and Benji Vaughn ( Prometheus ), not sure what the reference to the name is.

Quote AuralSerenity:

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And Nagual Sound Experiment, Damon Albarn, Bonobo, Peace Orchestra, Tipper, Flooting Grooves, Gotan Project, Unstable Elements - all these are new to me (Wow so many of them). Never knew them. So thanx, I'll try to get as many of them and see what's in it for me.

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Bear in mind that that's quite an eclectic mix of artists, it's not all one type of music ..

Quote AuralSerenity:

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I anyways was trying real hard to find that in India and doubt if I'll find Supermodified. Is there a Boxset available in London?

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Supermodified is, as far as I'm concerned, the best Amon Tobin album. I have no idea if you'd find a box set of in London as I don't live in the UK ... You should be able to order anything off the Amon Tobin online shop digitally or via Amazon. I've ordered from them before and they do ship internationally :

http://www.amontobin.com/discography/album/supermodified

D.

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www.thirdfloormusic.com

Quote The Elf:

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I have no idea what 'Electronica' is, but I guess I must be into at least some of it given the Peter Gabriel and Pink Floyd in your list!

What's the definition?

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Welcome, even if its just Pink Floyd and Gabriel that pulled you.



Definition? Aw c'mon Elf, that's more like taking the mikey. Why not check this instead. I know its vague and the idea of covering a limited set into such a vague definition is not fair and in that sense almost all comes under the style and blah blah and blah...
But its not a legal draft that we're filling. Its just a matter of choices.

I could have started the thread with unlimiting the genre and ask for any kind of style, but I didnt want people to mention Bach or Frank Sinatra. Thus language had to be mutilated a little and Pink Floyd had to come under the same umbrella. Rules are very much amendable you see. If you dont think that will make you put your choices then please reconsider and if possible let me know what you like. Even Frank Sinatra will be appreciated by many.

By the way which Pink Floyd and Peter Gabriel song would you think to be the best? I like Time and Sledge Hammer respectively.





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Edited by AuralSerenity (13/10/10 08:34 AM)

Quote Darclinc:

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You should be able to order anything off the Amon Tobin online shop digitally or via Amazon.

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Darc I dont have a credit card. As I said in the first post I never trusted it as I had worked in fraud prevention department for a year and it had a pretty good lasting impression on me. Otherwise I would have never missed rycote shock mount freebies from SOS. But there is a way I can get someone to buy it for me from London so that's why I asked. I think some Londoner might read this, its very likely in SOS.



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O shite! How could it be? Gosh I forgot to list Klaus Schulze in the list, and that was a blunder.

I guess I would have slide the list and make place for Klaus and his entire work, of which I hardly missed to own anything as far as I know, at top 5th position. But alas I cant rectify it anymore.



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Edited by AuralSerenity (13/10/10 08:51 AM)

If you want to listen to some more modern electronica check out:

DNTEL - Life is Full of possibilities
Mum - Go, go smear the poison ivy

Those 2 are currently on repeat for me. Might be a bit far out though, I dunno. Try it :]

You mentioned the second Chicane album "Behind The Sun" but the first one is the one to get I personally think, it used to be quite hard to find but has recently been re-issued..this is before he went completely cheese lol

Chicane-Far From The Maddening Crowd

I'll happily listen to any FSOL. If you can get the singles as they contain many remixes (paths as they call them) of the original. The archive coillections also contain many gems.

Otherwise Autechre's first two albums; Amber and Incunabula.
Speedy J - Ginger
AFX - Analogue bubblebath EP (any of them!)
Aphex Twin - SAW 1 and 2
Kraftwerk - Man Machine, TEE, Radio Activity and most of the other contempory albums to that period.
Biosphere - All his work, but Substrata and Dropsonde are probably the best two.
Black Dog Productions - Bytes.

Edit - Also Max Richter - Blue Notebooks. Mostly orchestral, but it mixes some electronica in on some tracks and is a very good album.

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http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale

Edited by Richie Royale (13/10/10 11:02 AM)

Bach
Frank Sinatra

Quote Jumpeyspyder:

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Walter Carlos - Switched on Bach

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Fixed

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http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale

Quote chew_rocket:

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DNTEL - Life is Full of possibilities
Mum - Go, go smear the poison ivy

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Very interesting. I just checked their tracks in youtube after your recommendation and frankly I'm completely blown. Very experimental. Many many thanx.



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Quote vinyl_junkie:

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Chicane-Far From The Maddening Crowd

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I have that album vinyl. But why do you think that second album is cheesy? He had Halcyon in the second one. And that one track is quite sufficient to make it in the list, I think. Though after the second album Chicane truly went cheesy.

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Quote Richie Royale:

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Otherwise Autechre's first two albums; Amber and Incunabula.
Speedy J - Ginger
AFX - Analogue bubblebath EP (any of them!)
Aphex Twin - SAW 1 and 2
Kraftwerk - Man Machine, TEE, Radio Activity and most of the other contempory albums to that period.
Biosphere - All his work, but Substrata and Dropsonde are probably the best two.
Black Dog Productions - Bytes.

Edit - Also Max Richter - Blue Notebooks. Mostly orchestral, but it mixes some electronica in on some tracks and is a very good album.

---

Thanx Rich. You are as usual rich.

It took me a century to decide not to put entire Autechre collection in the list. I am a proud owner of the set. But Amber and Tri-Reptae were actually those that I would keep on top if questioned, and I questioned myself then.

Aphex Twin changed very fast in their style. Too fast to go along with time. Even faster than Metallica. And that change of style kept on pulling me off his ever-changing appearance. I would say Saw set was good but not quite what I expected out of his signature experimentation with noises and more dronish themes. If anything else than I will put Surfing On Sine Waves up there.

Kraftwerk and Biosphere? Yes all of it. Without any doubt. These were actually the peak in echelons of their style. But unfortunately I dont own all of their stuff in original CD's, thus the limitation.

Apart from these whatever you mentioned, I havent heard yet and would luv to try asap.

Thanx my dear friend.


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Edited by AuralSerenity (13/10/10 11:44 AM)

Quote Jumpeyspyder:

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Bach
Frank Sinatra

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Ah Hahaha.

As a matter of fact a very good post. Maybe the most funny aspect of this thread.



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Edited by AuralSerenity (13/10/10 11:42 AM)

Quote AuralSerenity:

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Aw c'mon Elf, that's more like taking the mikey.

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Honestly, no joking, I have no idea! I'm clueless at genres. It's all rock'n'roll to me!

That aside, here's what I can see in my studio reference list that's been accumulating for the past few years (as opposed to, but not always in conflict with, my 'listening for pleasure' list):
Air - Moon Safari
America - Highway
Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Blackmore's Night - Under a Violet Moon
David Lee Roth - Eat 'em and Smile
Doobie Brothers - The Captain and Me
Empire of the Sun - Walking on a Dream
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Genesis - Wind and Wuthering
Genesis - A Trick of the Tail
Jethro Tull - Songs From the Wood
Jon Anderson - Olias of Sunhillow
Keep of Kalessin - Kolossus
Led Zeppelin - 4
Marillion - Clutching at Straws
Mike Oldfield - Light and Shade
Mike Oldfield - Ommadawn
Nickleback - All the Right Reasons
Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine
Pat Benatar - Best Shots
Queensryche - Empire
Peter Gabriel - 4
Porcupine Tree - in Absentia
Prodigy - The Fat of the Land
Seventh Key - The Raging Fire
The Carpenters - Gold
The Mars Volta - De-loused in the Comatorium
The Tubes - Remote Control
Roger Glover - The Butterfly Ball
Rush - Moving Pictures
Slamer - Nowhere Land
Steeleye Span - A Parcel of Rogues
Take That - Beautiful World
Taylor Swift - Fearless
Whitesnake - 1987
Yes - 90125
Yes - Going for the One

My favourite Gabriel and Floyd tracks? That would be 'San Jacinto' and 'Keep Talking'.

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An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.

Aphex Twin - "I care because you do" is also a favourite of mine. If you can handle the harder stuff, the Classics compilation is good.

Eno/Byrne - "My life in a bush of ghosts" doesn't quite qualify for electronica, but is certainly influential in that genre and a very good album.

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http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale

n no particular order...

- Early Tangerine Dream ('Phaedra' in particular)
- Isao Tomita (complete works up to 'Bermuda Triangle')
- Early Vangelis ('China' in particular)
- Switched On Bach
- Ian Boddy
- Arc (Ian Boddy and Mark Shreeve)
- Morton Subotnik ('Silver Apples Of The Moon / The Wild Bull')
- Louis and Bebe Barron (soundtrack from 'Forbidden Planet')
- Eno ('On Land')
- Jean-Michel Jarre
- Larry Fast/ Synergy

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Website / Music Lab Machines / Blog

Quote AuralSerenity:

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Quote vinyl_junkie:

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Chicane-Far From The Maddening Crowd

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I have that album vinyl. But why do you think that second album is cheesy? He had Halcyon in the second one. And that one track is quite sufficient to make it in the list, I think. Though after the second album Chicane truly went cheesy.

---

Sorry that's what I meant, just came out wrong lol Agree after the second album it was down hill.

Also not sure if it was mentioned, Sasha&Digweed-Northern Exposure vol 1 cd 1

I'll also add
Brian Eno-Apollo atmospheres & soundtracks
Washed Out-Life Of Leisure

Can't think of much else right now lol Perhaps some early stuff on Platypus records

Wot no Ryuichi Sakamoto ...?

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Veni, Vidi, Aesculi
(I came, I saw, I conkered)

In terms of Electronica, I cannot say Pink Floyd, Genesis et cetera are anywhere near electronica, but I do love them both. I would consider them both progressive rock.

For Electronica, I would consider this trip hop, IDM, ambient or anything using predominantly samples and loops, even if made themselves, such as Bonobo later releases.

Favourite albums for me would be


Four Tet - Rounds

Amon Tobin - Bricolage

Aim - Cold Water Music

DJ Shadow - ENDtroducing

Elsiane - Hybrid

Helios - Eingya

UNKLE - Psyence Fiction

All very worth checking out. I must admit I haven't listened to much 'electronica' recently, been too heavily involved with rock and its millions of sub-genres.

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-W

Quote Wlouch:

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For Electronica, I would consider this trip hop, IDM, ambient or anything using predominantly samples and loops

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Hmmmm ... we may be at cross purposes then...

Much like people use the hijacked term 'R&B' today for vile, autotuned, rappy nursery rhymes (compared with the original 'R&B' dating back to the 1940s) so 'electronica' doesn't now really encompass electronic music that doesn't have a sample or loop in sight (such as Berlin Electronica of the 70s, etc.).

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Website / Music Lab Machines / Blog

Yeah fair enough, never heard Electronica described as anything other than the artists I have just mentioned.

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-W

I certainly enjoy much of what’s already been listed here, including FSOL, Black Dog, Goldfrapp, Pink Floyd (of course!), Imogen Heap, and the majority of The Elf’s latest list

However, if your definition of electronica encompasses ambient (as I believe it should) then here are a few more I can heartily recommend off the top of my head:

AES Dana and Carbon Based Lifeforms on the French Ultimae label, where you’ll find LOADS of other good stuff: www.ultimae.com

ISHQ, who runs his own label from here: www.ishq.org

Jon Hopkins: www.jonhopkins.co.uk

And our own Tom Green (tomafd on the SOS Forums) - his Life Before Land is an ambient classic: www.anotherfineday.co.uk


Martin

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YewTreeMagic

Quote AuralSerenity:

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There are some more that I gravely yearn to purchase, which could edit the list above, but by reason of not being able to find them anywhere in my city I couldn’t get hold of them. And I never trusted plastic money to shop them online.

And few of those sought after ones are:


3. Martin Walker - The Greenwood

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Hah - thanks for the compliment AS

Send me a PM and I'm sure we can work out a solution that doesn't involve credit cards

(EDIT - AS - just spotted you have Leylines by AES Dana - one of my all-time favourite albums )


Martin

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YewTreeMagic

Quote hollowsun:

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Quote Wlouch:

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For Electronica, I would consider this trip hop, IDM, ambient or anything using predominantly samples and loops

---

Hmmmm ... we may be at cross purposes then...

Much like people use the hijacked term 'R&B' today for vile, autotuned, rappy nursery rhymes (compared with the original 'R&B' dating back to the 1940s) so 'electronica' doesn't now really encompass electronic music that doesn't have a sample or loop in sight (such as Berlin Electronica of the 70s, etc.).

---

I even PLAYED at a couple of 'Electronica' festivals!

I was once billed as 'ambient'. When I began the opening song in 5/4 with thumping drums, bass pedals and wailing Moog lead I imagined someone running out to the billboard with a marker pen!

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An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.

To me Electronica is electronic music that isn't usually dance orientated, but I guess it is a very broad genre. DJ Shadow or Aim are definitely not what I would describe as electronica; I would call it Hip Hop or Trip Hop, although the latter term is not one I tend to use, I prefer downbeat.

I mention dance music as lots of electronic music - house, techno, drum and bass, has fairly well defined genres, whereas electronica tends to be stuff that is designed to be listened to rather than danced to. Ambient is a genre, but I think it suitably falls into electronica generally, even though some of it is not made by electronic means (synths).

It's all music at the end of the day!

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http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale

Ohoho!


What the... So many beautiful replies. I'm high.



People, all of you lovely people, if you were in front of me I would have hugged all of you so bad. A bear hug maybe.



Mods or Admin, I have a request, please make this lovely thread a sticky one.





By the way, keep shooting guys.



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Edited by AuralSerenity (13/10/10 02:28 PM)

Thanx Elf, and million thanx for making this mount everest that I cant wait to climb.

Only thing that took me off my shorts was Black Sabbath. I dont like Ozzy even a wee bit. Sorry if that plucks some feelings, but I was only honest. Else you were right that for you its all Rock 'n Roll. Its obvious through the list.

What blew me in your list was ' Prodigy - The Fat of the Land ', I think that could have been there in the list that I made but couldnt find anyone who could be kicked out from that list. So what, I'll expand it gradually.

There are so many that I havent yet known.

Love you Elf.




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Quote hollowsun:

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- Early Tangerine Dream ('Phaedra' in particular)

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Thanx for all Hollowsun. But this one was excellent, and so as Eno - 'On Land'. No compromises friend.

Others I'll check soon. I might be going completely nuts in coming days.



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Tangerine Dream-Stratosphere

My personal fave..as sampled by DJ Shadow on his first album

As I said earlier Eno means no compromises. I read all his stuff and have his boxset. Many disagree but this guy was a personification of pure perfection since Roxy Music.

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Quote Dave B:

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Wot no Ryuichi Sakamoto ...?

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O yes dear. We didnt miss him. Guys like him are inevitable. Problem was I had to put only those that I own in original CD format. No MP3 rips. Its hard to find him in India. But in case you insist I would vote for 'Chasm'. That was unique in comparison to all that's been mentioned till now. By anyone.



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Quote Wlouch:

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In terms of Electronica, I cannot say Pink Floyd, Genesis et cetera are anywhere near electronica, but I do love them both. I would consider them both progressive rock.

---

Wlouch, my dear friend, no time to explain myself, so I'll be blunt. I disagree to your above statement. Any music in its totality is so vast that genre definition progressively fail to encompass it, thats how new artists innovate and subgenres evolve. Many consider Pink Floyd to be psychedelic rock and some even say they have many a times in past been into classical rock. Determining ones style is required to establish the signature of the band, and Pink Floyd went many a times into the realms of noise and experimental electronica. Time changed that band so drastically and so many times that it was once the opinion of Waters that Division Bell sucked. To which I smilingly disagree. Many who know the history of the band will decipher my smile for that expression of Roger waters. I was a stern cult follower of this mammoth occurrence (Pink Floyd) in the history of mankind that I never failed to understand why this band went beautifully berserk into the noisy experimental electronica while Live at Pompeii dawned.

Quote Wlouch:

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Four Tet - Rounds

Amon Tobin - Bricolage

Aim - Cold Water Music

DJ Shadow - ENDtroducing

Elsiane - Hybrid

Helios - Eingya

UNKLE - Psyence Fiction

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Millions of thanx Wlouch. Although DJ's dont enchant me but some handpicked beauties above can for sure put me unto trance for days.

Luv ya

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Quote AuralSerenity:

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Love you Elf.

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But will you love me tomorrow?

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An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.