Fuck EDM. As anyone who was “largin’ it” in the 90s knows it’s simply called dance music. But electronic music goes back even further than that. David Guetta might not have much in common with Stockhausen, but without the likes of The Human League, Juan Atkins, Goldie and Depeche Mode he’d be strumming a guitar. So to tie in with this month’s Digital Festival here’s our pick of the artists who paved the way to Skrillex.
Kraftwerk ‘Autobahn’
This 1974 hymn to the German motorway system is still an incredible electronic achievement. Taking up the first side of Kraftwerk’s fourth album, ‘Autobahn’ opens with the sound of a car starting and a vocoder-treated voice intoning the title, before taking the listener out on a picturesque sonic drive. Beyond the timeless melody and simple lyrics (Kraftwerk’s first), it’s the tiny details that enthral: the Doppler effect synth passes, the tape-twisting spin through the radio dial. Intelligent, influential, beautiful. (SH)
Giorgio ‘From Here To Eternity’
The groundbreaking electronic pulse of Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’ was an international smash, and stands alone from the rest of Giorgio Moroder’s classic disco productions for the diva. Giorgio was already an established, sometimes cheesy pop star in his own right on the continent, with ‘From Here To Eternity’ hitting the UK top 20 in autumn 1977, a couple of months after Summer’s no.1. Unjustly forgotten, ‘From Here To Eternity’ is a pocket symphony of analogue wonder – all of techno lies within. (SH)
New Order ‘Video 586’
Recorded to accompany the opening of The Hacienda club in 1982, this relentless, churning instrumental found New Order indulging in their love of electronic hardware for over 20 hypnotic minutes. Their heads-down investigation into the outer limits of sequencing, although undeniably self-indulgent, was soon whittled down into song form as ‘586’, the track that begat the giant dance-rock crossover of ‘Blue Monday’. Long available only in piecemeal, cassette form, it was 15 years before ‘Video 586’ was finally released in full. (SH)
Jamie Principle ‘Your Love’
You probably know this song as The Source Featuring Candi Staton’s ‘You Got The Love’ (which slotted an old disco vocal on top), or even under Frankie Knuckles’ name, which frequently happened with Principle’s records. But apart from Knuckles tightening up the drums, Jamie invented house music as we know it on this home recording. Jesse Saunders’ sketchy, gimmicky ‘On & On’ might get the chronological props, but ‘Your Love’ is the first fully formed house record that you could still play out. Deep, sensual dance music you could get lost in. (JK)
Orbital ‘Impact’
They might not have gone to school with the Belleville Three (what on earth were they teaching in the classes that Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin ‘Inner City’ Saunderson attended?) but the Hartnolls took techno to the stadiums. They were the first rave band to be able to perform live and keep people interested. How bad “club PAs” (as in personal appearances) were cannot be measured, so for Orbital to take on Glastonbury in 1994 and be crowned the band of the festival legitimised dance music. ‘Impact’’s big melodic riffs and distorted crescendo brought on a new era, and even rock and indie fans got on one. (JK)
Aphex Twin ‘Windowlicker’
The glitchy drums and almost unlistenably distorted last minute of Aphex Twin’s ‘Windowlicker’ should have consigned it to the record collections of just a few muso geeks. Instead its weird yet incredibly catchy hooks found a place in the hearts and heads of listeners everywhere. A UK top 20 hit, ‘Windowlicker’ helped bring experimental music in the mainstream. Cited as a major influence by the equally loved and hated Skrillex, Aphex Twin may be more important in his rise to Grammy-winning fame than he might realise. (JD)
Words By Joel Dawes, Stuart Huggett, James Kendall
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