Higher Intelligence Agency - Appreciation Thread

One of the most (if not the most) underated IDM acts of the 90's. Could have easily been part of Warp's AI series.

Discuss, appreciate, etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rw3ZBRtb7U

I am so glad somebody started this thread. They're really great, and, as you stated, quite underrated. Generally, it seems to me that both B12 and Higher Intelligence Agency's role in IDM/electronic music history isn't recognized like it should be.

I listened only to Colourform, and in my opinion that album could, as you already said, fit perfectly into Warp's AI series. It definitely deserves to be put next to Incunabula.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXW7xN0kXcU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTiZk5c29hI&feature=related

Delta has always been one of my favorite tracks but most of the rest of that album was kinda blah. There's a Biosphere/HIA collab that's nice. I forgot it's name tho.

  On 2/7/2012 at 2:36 PM, couch said:

There's a Biosphere/HIA collab that's nice. I forgot it's name tho.

There are those two:

http://www.discogs.c...es/master/21114

http://www.discogs.c...es/master/21101

I should definitely check those out, they must be good.

Polar Sequences is the one I had in mind. It's very good, very ambient.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Clu2RrSLngY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZdwqNj37LE

One of the first I really got into. The Two A.D. compilation was one of the first CD's I ever purchased. There was a lot of great tunes on the Waveform label back then...One of the first labels to dabble in online delivery too if I recall.

this band is responsible for how i heard of ketamine, although i prefer similar stuff by jonah sharp more.

did the creation of this thread have anything to do with me drawing a comparison between Fax records and Warps early stuff in the other IDM thread ?

  On 2/7/2012 at 11:10 PM, Awepittance said:

this band is responsible for how i heard of ketamine, although i prefer similar stuff by jonah sharp more.

 

did the creation of this thread have anything to do with me drawing a comparison between Fax records and Warps early stuff in the other IDM thread ?

hahaha no. I was listening to Ketamine Entity and the nostalgia bug bit me. Did a searched and saw there was no thread.

HIA, Biosphere, Spacetime Continuum/Jonah Sharp, Irresistible Force , Atom Heart, Tetsu Inoue, Move D, B12 and Namlook the 'techno ambient' aristocrats of the early-mid 90's.

They are probably in my top 10 fav electronic acts!

all this ta

  On 2/8/2012 at 12:21 AM, soundwave said:

HIA, Biosphere, Spacetime Continuum/Jonah Sharp, Irresistible Force , Atom Heart, Tetsu Inoue, Move D, B12 and Namlook the 'techno ambient' aristocrats of the early-mid 90's.

heck yeah dude, the only person you didn't mention is Richie Hawtin, who's F.U.S.E. alias was some of the first 'idm' i ever heard

i htink Spectral is probably my fav off colourform.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrukXcDYnzM

Need to check out their collabs with Namlook - heard lots of good stuff about them.

And if it wasn't for Bobby Bird of HIA, the Birmingham music scene wouldnt have had the likes of Autechre, Orbital, Pentatonik, etc playing at his music night called Oscillate. His music is so underrated! He still does a lot of music work as part of a collective called Modulate which is geared towards sound installations vs Art vs Vibe :) Some of the nights they organise can be just set in old cold warehouses in Birmingham and are superb to go and experience.

Anyway nice to see he has reached out to a lot of people here :)

p.s check his work with Pete Namlook - 2 albums worth

Cheers

Steve (Loopz)

twitter: steveloopzprice

Yeah, I used to listen to a lot of the Namlook collaborations in the early 00s. Especially S.H.A.D.O. 2. Still gives me the goosebumps.

  On 2/8/2012 at 10:05 AM, xxx said:

  On 2/8/2012 at 12:21 AM, soundwave said:

HIA, Biosphere, Spacetime Continuum/Jonah Sharp, Irresistible Force , Atom Heart, Tetsu Inoue, Move D, B12 and Namlook the 'techno ambient' aristocrats of the early-mid 90's.

Hall of Fame formative years.

Speaking of formative, I got "Freefloater" in '96 but I wasn't ready for it. That year was full of Tri Repetae, Prototype 909, Joey Beltram, Second Toughest In The Infants, LTJ Bukem's Mixmag CD and Eat Static (lol) so it wound up as weaksauce next to all that TR-909 and breaks. When I revisited it later, I really liked it and can now see it as an important iddums event

What so lol about Eat Static? They had some great albums.

  On 2/8/2012 at 10:20 AM, Loopz said:

And if it wasn't for Bobby Bird of HIA, the Birmingham music scene wouldnt have had the likes of Autechre, Orbital, Pentatonik, etc playing at his music night called Oscillate. His music is so underrated! He still does a lot of music work as part of a collective called Modulate which is geared towards sound installations vs Art vs Vibe :) Some of the nights they organise can be just set in old cold warehouses in Birmingham and are superb to go and experience.

 

Anyway nice to see he has reached out to a lot of people here :)

 

p.s check his work with Pete Namlook - 2 albums worth

 

Cheers

Steve (Loopz)

twitter: steveloopzprice

Oh man Pentatonik - haven't thought about them for yoinks. Thanks for the reminder!

  On 2/8/2012 at 12:21 AM, soundwave said:

HIA, Biosphere, Spacetime Continuum/Jonah Sharp, Irresistible Force , Atom Heart, Tetsu Inoue, Move D, B12 and Namlook the 'techno ambient' aristocrats of the early-mid 90's.

Yes!

I'd like to add Sun Electric as well. And basically almost everything released on Apollo.

hell ya I love spacetime continuum & irresistible force. Some of my favorite music.

I remember them from back in the day on Peel. I recall recording a few tunes and a session on tape. Exciting times and fond memories.

Fuck the haters - they made some great music. Since they evolved out of Ozric Tentacles originally...i would expect nothing less!

haven't heard any of their later stuff, but anything between 93 and 98 is gold!

Great Thread...

I got lucky and bought "Colourform" back in early 95... And had many blunted-out, late nights to that record...

this remix made me buy the Biosphere collab, don´t know why I stopped looking for more.