my picks for top electronic music albums of 2000, for Sonicnet webzine
1. Isolee, Rest (Playhouse). Multi-tiered rhythms, snaking pulse-riffs and headphone-friendly production riddled with wormhole-y details made for this year's most eminently listenable house album.
2. Ananda Project, Release (Nitegroove). Wamdue's Chris Brann returns with spacious deep house shimmerscapes fueled by bittersweet epiphanies (especially "Cascades of Colour") and spiritual yearning.
3. Herbert, Let's All Make Mistakes (Tresor). The English doyen of quirky-but-gorgeous house, Matthew Herbert drops his first mix-CD, a flawless mosaic of abrasive minimalism and succulent sensuality.
4. Pole, 3 (Matador). Stefan Betke's most rootsical and skankadelic avant-dub foray thus far sounds as warped and fuzzy as a lost King Tubby master tape dropped in a puddle, left to dry in the sun, then forgotten for 24 years.
5. Various Artists, Clicks+Cuts (Mille Plateaux). A showcase for "glitch," the new skool of electronica made from digital distortion and the snap-crackle-pops of molested machinery, this double-disc comp is always stimulating and often surprisingly "musical."
6. Green Velvet, Green Velvet (F-111/Warner Bros.). Curtis Jones' genius is his knack for writing and singing story-ditties that not only don't detract from the harsh, pounding, mechanistic house he purveys in his "tracky" Green Velvet persona, but actually make the experience even more alien and tripped-out.
7. Kid 606, Down With the Scene (Ipecac). Mashing up DSP-addled breakbeats, gabba noise, glitchy electronix, emo-core passion and Riot Boy petulance, Michael Depredo brings mischief, humor and sheer character to the overly scientific IDM world.
8. Various Artists, Lily of the Valley (Schematic). The missing link between 2 Live Crew and Autechre, booty and brain, the Miami-bassed Schematic crew showcases its roster's flair for rhythmic convolution, texturological research and low-end boom.
9. Various Artists, Pure Garage: Mixed Live by E-Z (Warner ESP). This series, now up to its third volume, offers the best introduction to two-step garage, the UK's freshest sound since jungle emerged back in '94.
10. Hellfish & Producer, Constant Mutation (Planet Mu). Industrial-strength hardcore enlivened with mad breakbeats and turntablist mayhem, this mix-CD — assembled entirely out of the duo's own oeuvre — suggests that gabba's distorted kick-drum aesthetic may be the next frontier for IDM.
2. Ananda Project, Release (Nitegroove). Wamdue's Chris Brann returns with spacious deep house shimmerscapes fueled by bittersweet epiphanies (especially "Cascades of Colour") and spiritual yearning.
3. Herbert, Let's All Make Mistakes (Tresor). The English doyen of quirky-but-gorgeous house, Matthew Herbert drops his first mix-CD, a flawless mosaic of abrasive minimalism and succulent sensuality.
4. Pole, 3 (Matador). Stefan Betke's most rootsical and skankadelic avant-dub foray thus far sounds as warped and fuzzy as a lost King Tubby master tape dropped in a puddle, left to dry in the sun, then forgotten for 24 years.
5. Various Artists, Clicks+Cuts (Mille Plateaux). A showcase for "glitch," the new skool of electronica made from digital distortion and the snap-crackle-pops of molested machinery, this double-disc comp is always stimulating and often surprisingly "musical."
6. Green Velvet, Green Velvet (F-111/Warner Bros.). Curtis Jones' genius is his knack for writing and singing story-ditties that not only don't detract from the harsh, pounding, mechanistic house he purveys in his "tracky" Green Velvet persona, but actually make the experience even more alien and tripped-out.
7. Kid 606, Down With the Scene (Ipecac). Mashing up DSP-addled breakbeats, gabba noise, glitchy electronix, emo-core passion and Riot Boy petulance, Michael Depredo brings mischief, humor and sheer character to the overly scientific IDM world.
8. Various Artists, Lily of the Valley (Schematic). The missing link between 2 Live Crew and Autechre, booty and brain, the Miami-bassed Schematic crew showcases its roster's flair for rhythmic convolution, texturological research and low-end boom.
9. Various Artists, Pure Garage: Mixed Live by E-Z (Warner ESP). This series, now up to its third volume, offers the best introduction to two-step garage, the UK's freshest sound since jungle emerged back in '94.
10. Hellfish & Producer, Constant Mutation (Planet Mu). Industrial-strength hardcore enlivened with mad breakbeats and turntablist mayhem, this mix-CD — assembled entirely out of the duo's own oeuvre — suggests that gabba's distorted kick-drum aesthetic may be the next frontier for IDM.
