Aphex Twin Electronic music as good as Aphex Twin, or better?

Having browsed this forum for over a year now, it seems like many people here are very widely listened, with some of you recommending albums incidentally that turned out to be fantastic when I listened to them. So what tracks/albums of electronic music would you consider at least as good as Aphex Twin's best? My own picks would be:

• Burial - Untrue
  
• Carl Craig - More Songs About Food and Revolutionary Art

Erm, that's pretty much it...

Honorable mentions:

• Brian Eno - Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks
  
• Pantha Du Prince - This Bliss
  
• Unsuk Chin - Xi
  

  On 3/7/2011 at 3:31 PM, CapriBuddha said:

Having browsed this forum for over a year now

problem found

  On 3/7/2011 at 3:35 PM, ruiagnelo said:

  On 3/7/2011 at 3:31 PM, CapriBuddha said:

Having browsed this forum for over a year now

 

problem found

What do you mean?

Howie B

Squarepusher's Big Loada, Feed Me Weird Things, Go Plastic, Hello Everything and Hard Normal Daddy are essential listening to any electronic music fan, specially if you think Aphex is the benchmark, which he is not.

idk, he kind of is to me. just like autechre. music is boring if it doesn't push boundaries or have some kind of edge to it. cue: 98% of electronic music. they're basically saying, 'look, i know how to use a drum machine!'.. big deal. teach me something new.

  On 3/7/2011 at 4:59 PM, vasio said:

Squarepusher's Big Loada, Feed Me Weird Things, Go Plastic, Hello Everything and Hard Normal Daddy are essential listening to any electronic music fan, specially if you think Aphex is the benchmark, which he is not.

opinions opinions :D:D:D

Afx is still the Daddy to me as far as I'm concerned :aphexsign:

I'll be very happy to find his contemporary.

lay back and piss in your own mouth

  On 3/7/2011 at 3:43 PM, CapriBuddha said:

  On 3/7/2011 at 3:35 PM, ruiagnelo said:

  On 3/7/2011 at 3:31 PM, CapriBuddha said:

Having browsed this forum for over a year now

 

problem found

What do you mean?

Did you browse the rules?

I thought about it and settled with a few albums that a) never got old for me, b) have a very unique and defining style about them, and c) I consider to be the best of the associated artist. And I'ma leave out the Watmm featured artists as you're probably familiar with them and most of them are good anyway (although I have no idea who Cylob is) - These releases came to my mind:

Bola - Fyuti

Bola is a SKAM-artist and a friend of Sean and Rob (autechre). He's very good at combining beats and weird, ambient-esque melodies. The album is just that, probably his most "polished" work, but pretty much his entire catalogue is worth buying. All of his work has a very unique and strange mood.

Anything by Gescom

Gescom is a collective of various people and supposedly involves up to 30 different members. The individual tracks aren't credited to the artist(s) who made them, but it's known that Gescom involves both the autechre guys as well as Darrell Fitton (Bola). The tracks could stylistically be compared to many of the autechre remixes from the mid-late 90's, imo.

Murcof - Martes

Murcof is a dude from Mexico whose main goal is to "create tension" with his music, according to an interview. The album, like most of his work, combines minimal, glitchy electronics and neo-classical elements in a way nobody else has quite managed to do. His latest releases were relying more on the classical/orchestral sounds, which I personally didn't like as much, but Martes is definitely worth a listen.

The Future Sound of London - Lifeforms

A milestone of early Ambient-Techno. Although FSOL have been infamous for their cheesy 90s CGI videos and generally being a bit cuntish, you have to acknowledge the double-album as a very influential release. Imagine a pair of modern hippies who happen to be very talented at creating electronic melodies combined with tribal instruments, field recordings, a few hip hop elements and so on. Lifeforms is a very solid piece of esotechno. I just made that word up but it fits.

VHS Head - Trademark Ribbons of Gold

SKAM's newcomer who likes to chop up his 1980s videotapes and create very complex and downright enjoyable melodies based upon them, with a whole bunch of humor. Many watmmers, me included, have called it their 2010 album of the year.

The Flashbulb - Reunion

None of these sound LIKE Aphex, but that would be pretty pointless cause I think you're looking for unique style and quality rather than copycats.

  On 3/7/2011 at 6:43 PM, Terpentintollwut said:

I thought about it and settled with a few albums that a) never got old for me, b) have a very unique and defining style about them, and c) I consider to be the best of the associated artist. And I'ma leave out the Watmm featured artists as you're probably familiar with them and most of them are good anyway (although I have no idea who Cylob is) - These releases came to my mind:

 

 

Bola - Fyuti

 

 

Bola is a SKAM-artist and a friend of Sean and Rob (autechre). He's very good at combining beats and weird, ambient-esque melodies. The album is just that, probably his most "polished" work, but pretty much his entire catalogue is worth buying. All of his work has a very unique and strange mood.

 

 

Anything by Gescom

 

 

Gescom is a collective of various people and supposedly involves up to 30 different members. The individual tracks aren't credited to the artist(s) who made them, but it's known that Gescom involves both the autechre guys as well as Darrell Fitton (Bola). The tracks could stylistically be compared to many of the autechre remixes from the mid-late 90's, imo.

 

 

Murcof - Martes

 

 

Murcof is a dude from Mexico whose main goal is to "create tension" with his music, according to an interview. The album, like most of his work, combines minimal, glitchy electronics and neo-classical elements in a way nobody else has quite managed to do. His latest releases were relying more on the classical/orchestral sounds, which I personally didn't like as much, but Martes is definitely worth a listen.

 

 

The Future Sound of London - Lifeforms

 

 

A milestone of early Ambient-Techno. Although FSOL have been infamous for their cheesy 90s CGI videos and generally being a bit cuntish, you have to acknowledge the double-album as a very influential release. Imagine a pair of modern hippies who happen to be very talented at creating electronic melodies combined with tribal instruments, field recordings, a few hip hop elements and so on. Lifeforms is a very solid piece of esotechno. I just made that word up but it fits.

 

 

VHS Head - Trademark Ribbons of Gold

 

 

SKAM's newcomer who likes to chop up his 1980s videotapes and create very complex and downright enjoyable melodies based upon them, with a whole bunch of humor. Many watmmers, me included, have called it their 2010 album of the year.

 

 

The Flashbulb - Reunion

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Nah just kidding, not the Flashbulb. He's very dull. But the rest of the list I highly recommend!

 

 

 

None of these sound LIKE Aphex, but that would be pretty pointless cause I think you're looking for unique style and quality rather than copycats.

LOVE these!

DJ Nate

  On 3/7/2011 at 6:24 PM, Macca said:

  On 3/7/2011 at 4:59 PM, vasio said:

Squarepusher's Big Loada, Feed Me Weird Things, Go Plastic, Hello Everything and Hard Normal Daddy are essential listening to any electronic music fan, specially if you think Aphex is the benchmark, which he is not.

opinions opinions :D:D:D

 

Afx is still the Daddy to me as far as I'm concerned :aphexsign:

 

I'll be very happy to find his contemporary.

RDJ's favorite artist is Squarepusher, so it makes logic to move to his discography next, even if just based on that. But, I don't think there are clear benchmarks, what criteria would we even use? There's too many to consider, imo.

  On 3/7/2011 at 6:43 PM, Terpentintollwut said:

None of these sound LIKE Aphex, but that would be pretty pointless cause I think you're looking for unique style and quality rather than copycats.

this. there´s no music that is "better" or "worse" than any other music. Mindless machines work that way imho.

(Even a crap track can be good for a sample)

mr76ix

frog pocket

mrs jynx

last step

the gasman

the tuss (ahem)

  On 3/7/2011 at 6:56 PM, plstik said:

  On 3/7/2011 at 6:43 PM, Terpentintollwut said:

None of these sound LIKE Aphex, but that would be pretty pointless cause I think you're looking for unique style and quality rather than copycats.

this. there´s no music that is "better" or "worse" than any other music. Mindless machines work that way imho.

(Even a crap track can be good for a sample)

this

and good recommendations ruiagnelo

  On 3/7/2011 at 7:44 PM, joshuatxuk said:

and good recommendations ruiagnelo

yeah you really did put some effort in that quote, ruiagnelo

(but I'm sure he'd have recommended very similar albums as we found out before that we have the same tastes)

imo, any artists that are as interesting as afx are like apples and oranges in comparison to him, so I don't want to say any better than/worse than statements. If you're looking for someone who's basically a clone of him musically, you're not going to have much luck finding someone as good as him.

Here are some artists who do/did creative & original things with their music that I personally like:

(any alias of) Gerald Donald

Raymond Scott

(any alias of) James Kirby

Bogdan Raczynski

EOD

Vulva

Leafcutter John

Nobukazu Takemura

Automatic Tasty

Nero's Day at Disneyland

Food For Animals

Cornelius

Global Goon

Istari Lasterfahrer

Candie Hank/Patric Catani

Space Dimension Controller

Cylob

Tokimonsta

Wevie Stonder

Soundmurderer

etc.

You won't find any one person the same out of them.

if you're looking for an afx substitute, none of those will do though.

every sub-forum artist (haven't heard Cylob, can't say anything about him) has been just as good as Aphex at one point or another. and then some. Richard isn't some untouchable IDM deity

Apollo is more than just an honourable mention...

  On 3/7/2011 at 7:06 PM, soundwave said:

frog pocket

seriously, this too^ nobody ever mentions him

Thanks for the contributions guys. I'm surprised at the insistence that he's not the benchmark though, isn't he the pioneer with the best production skills and sense of melody? I'd assumed users of this forum would think the same. Still, it's opinions I'm looking for. And if anyone's heard anything as evocative as Untrue please tell!

Speaking of which, that's probably why I think so highly of Aphex Twin: his best isn't just experimental, it's got strong emotions as well. Squarepusher and most others just can't compete on that level IMO.

  On 3/7/2011 at 11:15 PM, CapriBuddha said:

Thanks for the contributions guys. I'm surprised at the insistence that he's not the benchmark though, isn't he the pioneer with the best production skills and sense of melody? I'd assumed users of this forum would think the same. Still, it's opinions I'm looking for. And if anyone's heard anything as evocative as Untrue please tell!

 

Speaking of which, that's probably why I think so highly of Aphex Twin: his best isn't just experimental, it's got strong emotions as well. Squarepusher and most others just can't compete on that level IMO.

Wow, seriously. Shut the fuck up.

I know its a featured artist so this should be assumed, but Clark - Body Riddle is an amazing listen.

Edit: Apparently this guy is too eclectic to enjoy anything other than Aphex, so nvm.

Did anyone say Vibert?

Get something by him and ejumakate-yo-self

well Aphex Twin is a great starting point, but ruling out the potential talents of others isn't the way to go. he just gets more exposure than others, and that makes him seem like a benchmark artist, when really he doesn't have to be.

and i'm not doubting he's a pioneer, he totally is.