If not Chris Clark than who?

I love electronic music and feel like I've heard a fair share of it. With that said I feel like Chris Clark is making some of the best electronic music right now as well as some of the best I've heard. Now I know this opinion isn't the general consensus around this board at all. Perhaps this is a naive opinion? Maybe I just haven't heard some of the other great shit happening right now? Maybe it's all just personal taste. But this thread is to help educate me, and share opinions.

So...

With the subforum artists aside... who do you think is the best or is your favorite in contemporary experimental electronic music? Who do you feel holds a candle to the subforum greats? Who is the most creative or original right now? I don't want to be perceived as a bolstering and annoying fanboy, I'm just interested! Let me know!

Mouse on Mars is the equal to Aphex and so on

Prefuse 73, Jega are a step below but still amazingly good

Then a great deal of very, very good music like Monolake and Kettel and so on

that said, I think Mouse on Mars have it, pretty much.

for me... Chris Clark... best new electronic musician of this decade

Flying Lotus is very promising too

then

I think the question itself is bound to generate misunderstandings and pointless arguments based on those misunderstandings, because 'good' and 'best' need to be further specified. For instance, your asking about 'the best electronic music' ... in what context? In da club? The best programming? Sound design? Melodies? What doesn't sound like most other electronic music being made today? I know a lot of this is implicit in what you're asking, but if you can be more specific, that might carve out a more well-defined space for reasoned debate on this.

while it's not the best technically, i really enjoy Cepia. there's a few other good artists off ghostly that i've been digging lately, Kiln, Twine to be specific.

other than that i'm still getting caught up on the massive discogs of ae which is now mostly complete, rdj, boc and cylob actually.

  On 7/27/2009 at 10:31 PM, Root5 said:

then

lol nice. my mistake.

Prefuse 73 and Flying Lotus are two others of my current favorites. I could never get into Mouse on Mars, but haven't really given them a fair chance. What's a good starting place for them? What's a good Jega album as well?

Kettel is good but far from great.

encey: This is about opinion. Their is no factors which can determine something as "the best", only your opinions about the uses musical elements like sound design and melody. I think these elements are good things to bring up in this discussion. I've said that I think Clark is one of the best, so I obviously think his sound design, use of melody, programming, and emotional content is the shit. I just want to know what you guys think. If "best" is too vauge, which it is, then at least who do you guys think is better than Clark.

flying lotus and clark are the best new electronic artists i know of. i'd choose flying lotus but his tracks are too polished sometimes. i really want to include drexciya though, but you know, not currently releasing. well not stinson at least.

i've been a total fanboy of legowelt and dmx krew lately

  On 7/27/2009 at 10:32 PM, encey said:

I think the question itself is bound to generate misunderstandings and pointless arguments based on those misunderstandings, because 'good' and 'best' need to be further specified. For instance, your asking about 'the best electronic music' ... in what context? In da club? The best programming? Sound design? Melodies? What doesn't sound like most other electronic music being made today? I know a lot of this is implicit in what you're asking, but if you can be more specific, that might carve out a more well-defined space for reasoned debate on this.

What makes someone the best is if they are original and if I obviously deeply enjoy their music. I don't really know much about programming and the technicals of electronic music to comment on it, I just focus on what I enjoy.

fuck subforums.

Dont like clark very much really, and i am not sure if i have any hot tips for the decade so far, thats quite depressing really.

i don't think "best of idm" is a title worth discussing in today's music climate. just wait for aphex's next one, this thread will be easier

I would say

Prefuse - He's been (more or less) consistent since '95, and is still bringing out fresh, good music, love his stuff.

Flying Lotus - A new guy, but very promising. At this moment in time, he's a bit too mastered I think, and some of his tracks sound the same, w/claps and then that piercing synth line (Camel and Parisian Goldfish are examples of both). We'll see.

Other than that, I don't really know. If Clark is meant to be the 'savior of electronic music', then I think he's up to it. Who else is gonna carry the torch of AFX/Ae/SP/BoC/Vibert/Plaid lollololol

  On 7/27/2009 at 10:52 PM, Adjective said:

i don't think "best of idm" is a title worth discussing in today's music climate. just wait for aphex's next one, this thread will be easier

Oh, this too. teehee

Asmus Tietchens

Wisp

  On 7/27/2009 at 10:23 PM, Deepex said:

Maybe it's all just personal taste. But this thread is to help educate me, and share opinions.

i took out the naive part because perhaps that is a little harsh but you definitly need to expand your scope of electronic music discovering. Do you listen to Last.fm ?

i think Chris Clark is pretty good, his newest album is palatable take on hard electronic beats with pop like vocals. I do think though that a similar dude on Warp Records Tim Exile's similar take on electronic is far more interesting and will sound much less dated 10 years from now unlike Totem's Flare. The production techniques, synth sounds and mixing style is very much 'of the times' unlike artists like Aphex Twin and Autechre who you can listen to tracks that are 10 years old of and they sound like they were made now. Of course this is just my opinion.

I do listen to last.fm. It's a great website. What I've heard of Tim Exile's Listening Tree hasn't appealed enough for me to check out the whole album, but I will based on your recommendation.

Or would you recommend another of his albums?

Ryoji Ikeda

  On 7/27/2009 at 11:08 PM, Deepex said:

I do listen to last.fm. It's a great website. What I've heard of Tim Exile's Listening Tree hasn't appealed enough for me to check out the whole album, but I will based on your recommendation.

 

Or would you recommend another of his albums?

i like his previous album a lot - http://www.discogs.com/Tim-Exile-Tim-Exiles-Nuisance-Gabbaret-Lounge/release/702869

but don't get me wrong i am not saying that Tim Exile is the greatest thing out right now, i am one of those idm idealists who feel that since the days of Autechre's and Aphex Twin's best there hasn't really been anything too crazily groundbreaking since.

I think the most interesting (to me) electronic music these days is coming from artists like DeepChord and Echospace (and all the other related projects), Gerald Donald's projects, Claro Intelecto (and other Modern Love stuff like Andy Stott), Byetone, Vladislav Delay, Alva Noto, Ryoji Ikeda, Ricardo Villalobos, SND, and so on.

In other words, I would look mostly to offshoots of minimal/dub techno, electro and ambient/noise for interesting stuff, especially with labels like Modern Love, echospace [detroit], Raster-Noton, kompakt, etc.

I also think that 2009 has been a pretty good year for electronic music, though not necessarily for IDM. Clark's album is maybe the best IDM release so far (maybe 2nd after Wisp), but there have been better albums from Nosaj Thing, SND, Claro Intelecto, Intrusion, Brock van Wey (aka BVDUB), maybe The Field.

good post: to grue

tha nosaj thing album is actually pretty good. SND + Jega are the best IDM releases thus far, IMO

with Wisp, Clark and whatnot following behind. I'll have to check some of that other stuff you mention

Awesome. I've definitely heard a number of those artists, but I'm looking forward to digging in deeper. Right on guys!

I'm excited by the Asmus Tietchens & Ryoji Ikeda brand of recommendation too. I look forward into digging into their work.

check out takagi masakatsu

eating, eating 2, and coieda

this thread got me to return to the new prefuse 73 album

everything she touched turned ampexian

it's really incredibly good. highly recommended