You could start back in the mists of time and work forward, or just dive in and see what happens. There is so much stuff to listen too.

I would recommend getting your hands on the Rough Trade compilation 'Rough Trade Shops: Electronic 01'. This is a good starter. There is also a Warp boxset (Warp 20) coming out which looks rather good - but need to shell out £100. Alternatively, you could go for any of their other comp CDs.

In terms of stuff I'm enjoying now - try Fever Ray and also The Knife. Off to see Fever Ray tomorrow night at Shepherds Bush Empire and cannot wait.

1. Ben Klock -- One
Klock DJs at Berghain in Berlin, the club du jour, and very much the prime mover in more dancefloor orientated electronica. Because the sound is more minimal based, his album works in a home setting, too and I can't recommend it enough.

2. Byetone -- Death of a Typographer
Anything on the Raster Noton label is worth listening to. Incredibly rich, glitchy IDM full of depth and warmth. I'd find it difficult to choose between this, the Drive by Pixel and Xerox Vol. 2 by Alva Noto. I swear to God, if you at all interested in electronic music, you'll love these.

3. Intrusion -- The Seduction of Silence
Another big movement in Electronica is the whole dub techno thing, where dub, ambient, dubstep, minimal and house are congregating and creating some breathtakingly lovely stuff. This album is a great starting point, although you'd also want to consider the entire back catalogue of the movement originators, Basic Channel and Chain Reaction.

4. Gui Boratto -- Take My Breath Away
Gui Boratto's doing now what Ulrich Schnauss was doing a few years ago, i.e. creating fun, sunny and very accessible electronica you can play in the car on the way to the seaside. This album is good, but his previous one, Chromophobia is even better.

5. Skull Disco -- Soundboy's Gravestone Gets Desecrated by Vandals
There's a lot of rubbish being made in the name of Dubstep, but this ain't it. Incredibly atmospheric and making wonderful use of vocal samples, this has got a real tension running through it. Probably best not to play it in the car on the way to the seaside.

6. The Fun Years -- Baby It's Cold Inside
Evocative, wintry (sorry) this worked great in February. Imagine Burial, but a bit more ambient.

7. Balance 014 Compiled by Joris Voorn
A mix album wherein Voorn has taken over 100 tracks and created something that only occasionally sounds like any of them. It's the mix of the year, beyond doubt, and broadly speaking sounds like a glorious melange of everything above.

On edit: reminded about Fever Ray by the post above this one. Seconded. Another of the year's very best.

to Fever Ray on Spoify, very good! Looking forward to getting a listen to the other stuff, thanks!

from the classical, rather than the pop/dance tradition, I'd recommend the Tone Generation podcast series - it's not easy going but it provides a great introduction to electronic and music concrete (real 'hardcore' music) from the 40s through to the 70's

http://www.ianhelliwell.co.uk/tone%20generation.html

... have you tried Feed The Animals by Girl Talk
it's a mash-up album, but IMHO in a league of it's own, and if you don't like one sample, don't worry they'll be anothet one along in a second.
available for what ever price you choose [or nothing] a la Radiohead via http://www.myspace.com/girltalk
hope thats of some help

but I have been enjoying a lot of stuff by Lindstrom (some on his own and some with another guy I can't remember the name of). Lots on eMusic.

... and this popped up on their compilation Total 8

Others that tickle my fancy, at the slightly minimal style are Plastikman

and Basic Channel

Someone else mentioned the Warp boxset - anything from that is a good thing - and it was Warp records that influenced Thom Yorke to take Radiohead in the direction of Kid A & Amnesiac.

Could go on, but I think Andrew Harrison is the man for this thread.

all the replies! I'm also just after finding a CD called 'Oceans Of Sound' that I bought for a college project about ten years ago, looks very interesting

Is really strong on electronic. One cracking album I would recommend is October Language by Belong.

Four Tet, Boards of Canada, and Future Sound of London

neu 1 and 2, anything from enos ambient period - music for films, apollo, another green world. Human league, i kid you not, first two albums are elctronic pop greats. of course krafwerk and mixing abit of rock and electronica up the phantom band.

Warp records have some great electronic music, for the melodic try Boards of Canada and Plaid, for the more abstract The Aphex Twin, Squarepusher and especially Autechre. My personal favourite is on another good label Planet Mu, Beauty Walks The Razor's Edge by Tim Tetlow.

A good electronic site is the Milkfactory at - http://www.themilkfactory.co.uk/st/

I got into electronic stuff through dancing, so I love Orbital, Underworld, The Chemical Brothers, Aphex Twin and Andy Weatherall.

Andy has been responsible for some great electronic things, under various names: Sabres Of Paradise, Two Lone Swordsmen are the main names. Some lovely little bleeps and beats. But all of the above have made some amazing music. Orbital's Insides album is one of my all time favourite albums...

I'd also second Warp as the label of choice, and add another recommendation for Boards Of Canada.

(All of the above named have moments where they start to sound quite similar, and I mean that in a good way. Basically if you like one, you'll probably like them all...)

The album Wiuvend Riet by Johannes Schmoelling, has a track named 'Zeit', which, played at volume, has about as much power as any piece of music I've ever heard.

Jean-Luc Ponty's 'Individual Choice' album from the early-80s is a bit of an electronic sleeping giant.

The second Biosphere album 'Microgravity' is a cracker.

You need some Kraftwerk - 'Trans Europe Express' is a good place to start.

The Rough Trade recommendation above is a good one.

The David Toop comps are also excellent if you can find them.

Boards Of Canada "Roygbiv"

Plus a rather cool bonus acapella version of the same tune

definitely the way to go

Can anyone recommend the best The Knife stuff to start with? Have heard the Fever Ray album a few times and love When I Grow Up.

Deep Cuts. It contains their best-known song, Heartbeats (it was used in an advert, I think) and One For You, which could easily find a place on the Fever Ray album.

Silent Shout is also wonderful though.

If you like Fever Ray you'll probably like them all, to be honest. They're incapable of being dull.

i like a lot of stuff mentioned - orbital, underworld, the knife, four tet...

still consider myself as lacking in any real knowledge of the 'scene' though.

anyway, a few which haven't been mentioned...

lamb (ok,so it's got songs, and it's got vocals, but it's electronic, and wondeful)
fridge (their 'happiness' album is one of my favourite spotify finds)
sybarite (another spotify)
caribou (early stuff is better...)
early unkle (the music for films stuff is good too)

i'm making a plalist on spotify of the ones mentioned here i havent heard..

thanks for a thread not about a rock stare over fifty, or how much someone loves/hates a band.

Autechre - Gantz Graf

Plaid - Itsu

Venetian Snares - Szamár Madár

For the early stuff I would heartily recommend Terry Reilly's 'A rainbow in Curved Air' from the late 60's. (It was Pete Townshend's inspiration for Baba O'Reilly). Neither can you go past Tangerine Dream - early stuff is best - Phaedra and Rubicon particularly. Eno - (of course).

Would also agree with previous recommendations for later stuff- Boards of Canada - esp Music Has The Right To Children, Aphex Twin - 'Selected Ambient Works', Ulrich Schnauss, Higher Intelligence Agency and the album 'Freefloater'.

a gig at the races! Going to enjoy exploring all the music mentioned here!

If you were to plump for the Balance 014 album I've mentioned above you'd get a great cross section of a lot of the stuff recommended by other posters. On it, you've got the originators: Juan Atkins, Derrick May, while the likes of Carl Craig, Richie Hawtin, Aphex Twin, Basic Channel, Leftfield are also there. Then you've got a spanking Ripperton mix of Radiohead, minimal innovators like Ricardo Villalobos and my personal favourites Minilogue. Why, Steve Hillage is even on there (in his System 7 guise).

It's as good a cross-section of electronic music as you'll find, IMHO, and there won't be a better mix album released this year. Here's a link to the complete tracklisting. (Joris Voorn's own site also goes into trainspotterish detail about the how the album was put together).

http://www.discogs.com/Joris-Voorn-Balance-014/release/1639822

There is a WORLD of fun for you to explore. To start with, you could have a look at the "The Technical Music" thread on this very blog http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/the-technical-music

There's a Spotify playlist I made here: http://open.spotify.com/user/joemuggs/playlist/6mAu8uhHuIBPdaszmsrRnz

I second the recommendation of Boomkat.com - but even better is their 14tracks.com 'curated download' service, which each week introduces you to a different style which may not necessarily be well represented on the album front.

As for dubstep, yes the Skull Disco boys are wonderfully brooding, but I would also suggest as suitable home listening: Pinch (his 'Underwater Dancehall' album is one of the genre's finest), Rob Sparx, DFRNT, Joker, Guido, Brackles, Skream, Kush Arora.... and most of all the Hyperdub label that brought you Burial and is shortly to release its 5th Anniversary album '5'. In fact, when that comes out, I would say that will be pretty much the definitive statement of where bassy, brainy club music is right now.

The Planet Mu label is currently on fire - some previews here (click the track titles):
http://www.planet-mu.com/discography/ZIQ241
http://www.planet-mu.com/discography/ZIQ242
http://www.planet-mu.com/discography/ZIQ235
and particularly http://www.planet-mu.com/discography/ZIQ232

For song-based stuff in the Goldfrapp / Fever Ray type arena, I can't recommend Little Dragon highly enough.

I absolutely second Four Tet, start with his wonderful 'Everything Ecstatic' album and go from there. For folktronica-ey type stuff, try Engine 7's 'Me But Perfect', Future Loop Foundation's 'Fading Room', Digitonal 'Save Your Light For Darker Days', Talvihorros 'It's Already On Fire', Sleeps In Oysters 'We Kept The Memories Locked Away Like The Beetles Of Our Childhood, Or How To Appreciate Someone Who’s Always Around' :)

For deep, refined techno, the Cadenza and Kompakt labels are pretty certain things - get any of the Kompakt compilations, e.g. their 10th one is due out next month. Also their 'Pop Ambient' series of albums has some very beautiful stuff on it. For ultra-meditative ambient, you can't go wrong with the Type label (well, you can, as a lot of it is pure drone, perhaps a bit intense for some, but even that can be completely transporting - try before you buy as with all this stuff).

I could - and, later on, will - go on at extreme length, but have fun with all this stuff!

Joe and Albert, have the Spotify playlist ready to go, and am going to take a chance on the Balance 014 album! I don't know why, but I didn't think there would be so much stuff to check out!

Fever Ray
Juan Maclean
Blood Everywhere
Flying Lotus
Boards Of Canada

Check out ZZT, I've posted a link to "Lower State Of Consciousness" below, if you like this listen to Turbo Records' "Omnidance" compilation (it's on Spotify). Or if you like the Kraftwerk suggestion above, try the Powerplant "Electric Counterpoint" for a electro-ey classical-ish (pass the thesaurus!) spin on Tour de France and some Reich all in one go. Have you given Eine Kleine Nachtmusick (Band's name, not Mozza) a go?

... is worth of note, and I do recommend his DE9 : Closer To The Edit album (available at a bargain £4.98 at Amazon)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/DE9-Closer-Edit-Richie-Hawtin/dp/B00005NVT9/ref=...

And another prime example of his work as Plastikman

... by Global Communication

spotify:album:4b1iSPXfaGmOgKmec1wk7X

There is so much great stuff that falls under the "electronic" banner that it's hard to know where to start. I suppose, broadly speaking, there is stuff that's aimed at the dancefloor and stuff that is more for home listening and it depends what you're looking for. You can't really ignore the Detroit Techno sound (and there have been mentions for the holy trinity of Derrick May, Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson). Derrick May's "Innovator" is a good starting point and Juan Atkins has some fine compilations under his Model 500 moniker.

Underground Resistance has a bewildering array of releases, side-projects, etc but their own stuff is great and the likes of Drexciya and their various pseudonyms are pretty essential. The Shifted Phases album "The Cosmic Memoirs Of The Late Great Rupert J. Rosinthrope" is a particular favourite of mine. Also, check out the second generation Detroit producers like Robert Hood, Jeff Mills and Carl Craig.

I'd echo the claims of WARP but I'd tread carefully with the newer stuff. I'd say it was once a buy on site label but not so anymore. I mean, Maximo Park are on WARP now! The Black Dog are flying the flag for the British take on the Detroit sound and they have some good free mixes on their website (www.dogsquad.co.uk) where they pay homage to their influences. They've "done" Robert Hood and UR recently.

Kompakt has been mentioned and you can;t go far wrong with their stuff. There are many compilations out there and any of the Total or Pop Ambient series are worth hearing.

Finally, I must sing the praises of the wonderful Bop. He's a Russian producer who's influenced by techno, drum & bass and dubstep amongst others. He has a very unique style which is reminiscent of old WARP stuff but it's very hard to describe. His debut album comes out in a week or so on Med School which is an offshoot of Hospital Records (two excellent labels by the way). He has a micro-mix of tracks from his album on his site (www.iambop.com). I think he's absolutley fantastic and surely deserves a Word feature!

There's more but I'm sure this will do for now! Good luck with your search and hopefully you find something to enjoy!

album is excellent! I'm going to make a Spotify playlist of other stuff mentioned here, well whatever Spotify has! This is going to keep me occupied for a while! Thanks everyone

... the Fabric label who, for £7 per month, send me a CD mix by a different artist in different genres each time.

Here are a few examples

I also recommend Hospital Records output, though this is a Drum & Bass label - but more at the melodic end of the spectrum.

Has anyone suggested 'Future Sound Of London / Lifeforms' yet - feckin' wonderful eletronica with a real organic feel to it - i first listened to it whilst hiking through Keilder Forest years ago, felt like i was in the jungle being soundtracked by FSOL!

Also there's a pretty cool band out at the moment called 'Delphic' who sound like a cros between Orbital (have these been mentioned also?) and New Order... saw them supporting Orbital in LEeds last month and they are feckin' great!

Another vote here for Caribou, in fact much of the Leaf label is worth investigation, although it's not all electronic.

Warp label is also well worth a look as others have mentioned, I'd echo the comment above and approach the more recent releases with caution though.

I'm a huge fan of the Ghostbox label, although I've never been able to persuade anyone else to join me! They describe themselves thus

"Ghost Box is a recording label for artists that find inspiration in library music, folklore, vintage electronics and haunted television soundtracks"

Very much an all or nothing project, if you like one of their releases you'll probably like them all, if you don't, you won't like any of it. I think it's mostly the work of two guys despite the different band names.

http://www.ghostbox.co.uk/

and had a listen, and I like it! Thanks for link!

I must admit I am pleased to see this thread as I feel
the Word does seem to neglect electronic music, maybe
they should look into this with all the enthusiastic replies.
(Andrew are you listening!).

Does anybody else read the Wire magazine as I find it a good
yin to the Words yang in my musical magazine reading.
They often have a good reviews of electronic releases and
artists.

Without a shadow of a doubt the masters of the whole genre are Autechre. Never quite been matched, not dated at all, and always musically light-years ahead of the pack. Dip into their back catalogue, it really does reward repeated listens as while initially it may sound like a circus being pushed down a spiral staircase, there are so many lovely intricate melodies and details going on under the surface.

Start with the earlier stuff, maybe Amber or Tri Repetae. They need some time to appreciate, and often I find myself not sure about a record of theirs only to come back to it 6 months, 1 year, 2 years later and 'get it'.

Good to see Boomkat getting a plug here, they used to have a tiny 'shop' at the back of a Veggie cafe in Manchester but alas went mail order only a few years ago.

Electronic/Dubstep/Wonky/Minimal etc. is still relatively underground and exciting. Its not overexposed and not that easy to hear or find the really good stuff..in fact all the things Ellen, Hepworth & co were bemoaning the lack of this weeks excellent Podcast. Shame there isn't a bit more of it in Word Magazine and a bit less Fleet Foxes & Van Morrison.

I only wish a lot of electronic acts would do "proper gigs" rather than sets in horrible clubs at 3am.

I am just glad I didn't pipe in early doors with my electronic recommendations but hell - why not - I think OMD's second album Organisaton is an electronic masterpiece as is Depeche Mode's Violator. Kraftwerk's TransEurope Express is also essential. Also try Soft Cell's Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing.

I feel pure electronic music was killed off in 1965 with the introduction of the keyboard synthesizer.

Once the synthesizer became 'an instrument' rather than one of many sound sources available to the composer it just became another meaningless genre.

just wanted to say that I have really enjoyed this thread. I have picked up some new stuff to explore and gone back to some old favs. Thanks humpreym!

Reading through this again sent me back to an album that's been cited as a major influence by many recent(ish) electronic artists (Broadcast, Plone, The Orb, Add N To X)

Electric Storm by White Noise, it's Delia Derbyshire plus some others from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, dark and brilliant, it would be a hugely impressive release now. Go listen to it and then remind yourself it was recorded in 1969, simply staggering.

No-one seems to have mentioned them yet. They make exciting, clattery, American electronica. Not really dance music as such but jolly good all the same.

I'd have to put a bid in for Tangerine Dream as well. The late 70's / early 80's quartet of albums Tangram, Force Majeure, White Eagle and Hyperborea are, I think, them at their best. Gentle, tuneful electronic twiddling.

May I recommend Simon Reynolds' "Energy Flash - A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture" as a brilliant primer for anyone wanting to explore electronica in all its forms. Although Simon freely admits a personal preference for the more "'ardkore" aspects of the genre/s, the book is a thought-provoking and comprehensive history of electronic music and its attendent distractions from Kraftwerk to dubstep.

It's Luke Hess' Light in the Dark. Deep, dubby and minimal – it's got atmosphere to burn – but with enough going on to sustain your interest beyond its ambient qualities. Actual melody, even! It's on Echocord, which is one of the labels specialising in this type of post-Basic Channel bass-worrying techno and is definitely a label to keep an eye on. If you like the beginning of the first disc of Balance014, you'd like this. Plus, look at that yummy cover.

people may find interesting is 'He Loved Him Madly' by Miles Davis, from the 'Get Up With It Album'. It's not completely electronic, but it sounds a bit like some of the music mentioned here. Brian Eno has said that it had a very big influence on him when he first heard it. It's fairly long (33 mins!), but I can't stop listening to it at the moment! The Spotify link is spotify:album:45ctrEp7TjmxtR22ohcfVG

lots of great recommendations here.

A few that haven't been mentioned:
Murcof - glitchy, orchestral.
Fennesz - multilayered, ambient/noise.
Apparat - glitchy dance and ambient.
Clark (formerly Chris Clark) - IDM/techno.
Xela - ambient/beats/drone.

and listen to Jean Michel Jarre's Oxygene, good as it is (says a dyed-in-the-wool Jarrefan).

Get a hold of Zoolook instead, because it contains the wondrous Ethnicolor and has some very nice uses of sampled human voice. Not what most expect from JMJ and why, it sold really badly in the UK.

I'd also second listening to some Kraftwerk, though I'd probably go for Tour de France or Computer World over Trans Europe Express (norhing at all wrong with the latter, it's extremely good - just personal preference).

And, from an historical point of view I'd second Rainbow In Curved Air and would also recommend a listen to Walter/Wendy Carlos' A Clockwork Orange soundtrack companion.

And, there is another rare Jarre album, Deserted Palace, released in 1973 well before Oxygene that sounds of similar ilk to the Carlos stuff.

that list on to my mate who was obsessed with Jarre, wouldn't stop play bits of his music when we had rehearsals! I love the Zoolook album, listened to it again a few days ago. I first heard it (courtesy of same obsessed mate!) in 1984. We all thought it was hilarious because one of the sampled voices sounded like it was saying 'tit'! Endless hours of amusement for 15 year olds! Still a great album though.

The Leaf label have a got a free sampler thing going on, and it's a splendid thing.

You can either buy it for 99p from Boomkat, or get it for free if you subscribe to the Leaf newsletter, which is obviously worth doing...