My latest attempt in trying to get the EM fans talking!

Basically what I want you to do here is name any type of electronic music and then name the albums and EPs that you consider to be the most influential, genre defining, or generally noteworthy albums for that genre.

Name as many as you like and feel free to include anything you have to say about your choices if you want. Try to be as specific as possible with the sub-genres you use.

James Holden - Balance005 (Prog House)
Portishead - Dummy (Triphop)
2 Many DJS - As Heard on Radio Soulwax pt 2 (Mash-up)
Air - Moon Safari (Chillout)

this may be the more popular of the two, but I think Massive Attack's Blue Lines was quite a landmark, even if people heard it after (what I would call the best trip hop album ever made), 'Mezzanine'. But I get what you're saying...I've never been much of a Portishead fan, but that was probably the first trip hop album to get much exposure on MTV.

I prefer Portishead to Massive Attack. The massive attack albums that you mentioned are great. Just comes down to personal opinion I guess. For me Portishead's sound is so original, it is so 1930's and yet electronic (I am talking about Portishead and Dummy here Third has a different sound) and the songs on dummy are incredible. I pretty sure that most people that I know (who are all into both bands) would rate dummy as the landmark ..... well I don't know, I might put the question to some people at the next social gathering (aka pissup).

Portishead on MTV?? That surprises me, but I have never really ever seen MTV so what would I know.

As for the landmark recording on trip-hop I think Blue Lines would be the choice, but I do prefer Dummy a little more too.

when it comes to glitch-hop or cut-up hip hop, I'd have to say...



Prefuse 73 'Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives'



Machine Drum 'Now you Know'


there were a few albums that predated these 2 albums (that came out within months of each other back in 2001), but I feel these brought this 'subgenre' to a bigger audience.

For ambient music how about:



Brian Eno - Ambient 1: Music for Airports

Make what you want of this but Lady Satchmo actually liked it.

Ok, I made/make fun of her general taste (and she did the same with me) but it really wasn't all bad....


Going to give it a listen, now.

even though that may have been his 'landmark' in ambient music, I still enjoy his first album into the territory (albeit more experimental) with...



Discreet Music








P.S.

...and of all 4 of the Brian Eno 'Ambient' series discs, I like the 2nd one the best with Harold Budd...



The Plateaux of Mirror

...also another ambient recommendation of his if you haven't tried yet...



The Pearl (with Harold Budd and Daniel Lanois)

...on the topic of important ambient releases:

Biosphere - Substrata