With the agreement of
@WraithApe, I am posting my Top 5 Electronic-based tracks, meaning tracks that can be classified as techno, house, drone, minimal, progressive, trance etc... If I had to set-up a "global" Top 5, only the n°1 of the following tracks would be included in it, most likely in the 4th of 3rd position.
What's the idea behind posting a Top 5? Does it make sense? Well, having spent some months on this thread, I have discovered some gems and also was remembered of old tracks that I used to enjoy back in the days. Thinking about a Top 5 brings a bit of introspection into play and let you dive into your tracks collection. Everything I have been posting on this thread and the one from
@BlakeT are tracks I paid for and that I am listening on regular basis, Bandcamp, my CDs, Boomkat, Bleep, etc... I am 40 years old and started listening to music with my father, who only was 20 when I was born. In 1987, I asked my dad to buy my first CD and CD-player. It seems odd, but already back then, I felt that music will be a part of me and my life. It went all through my body and still is nowadays. First time I got chills and goosebumps at the age of 5 in my mother's car listening to songs I didn't understand a single word of, it was already the point of no return. It seems a bit dramatic and exaggerated, but this feeling still is present today.
I always liked repetition. In music, but also in art in general. Repetition seems easy to do, but it actually is the opposite, I think. Mastering repetition is difficult and requires talent. Natural skills or acquired knowledge through studies, it does not matter. Repetition is the anti-thesis of myself, because I am a very open-minded and
touche-à-tout, always wanting to experience something new and special. A paradox. Repetition in electronic music allows me to dive very, very deep into sounds and sometimes reaching full hypnose.
So, how to set-up a Top 5, at least for me? Going trough a pretty vast collection of electronic tracks (approx. 10K), am I messing with the goosebumps scale or with the how-many-times-I-played-that-track scale? Or should I think about my funeral and the last piece of music playing, so that I can be remembered as a music fanatic and connaisseur (joking around here)? Or would it be more accurate to look for exotic, obscure, pieces of music only a few have heard of? Being visceral, music doesn't need any reflexion. You are listening to it, you are feeling it, you know what it makes to your body and soul, that's all. With this idea in mind, this is my Top 5 (n°1 did not require a lot of reflexion, though):
5 - Consulate / Carpathian Blues (2015)
A 20min track that takes you on a special journey. It's like listening to a whole album. A bit Lo-Fi in its way to approach sound, the atmosphere is uncanny, yet delicious. It pounds hard at times, it breaks without notice, changes directions, adding voices, getting back to 4/4, etc... It's an amazing composition. It requires full immersion. A gem.
4 - Yagya / Rigning Sjö (2009)
Rain in music. When I am hearing rain in electronic tracks, I tend to skip. Here it is the opposite. I have my umbrella ready. When Yagya released "Rigning" on the now defunct "Sending Orbs"-Label, it was sold out quite quickly. Yagya has been releasing some dub/techno/ambient music since 15 years now, but the "Rigning"-Album is a real standout in his discography. The 10 tracks are flowing and mixed together, but in a way that each piece can be enjoyed as a single track. Rigning Brjù (3) & Rigning Atta (8) also are very immersive, but Rigning Sjö (7) takes the cake with an under-the-radar melody building up to something aerial yet intense, while your imagination makes the rest. A fantastic track for an amazing dub/techno album.
3 - Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto / UTP_ Plateaux 2_ End (2008)
It could be n° 2. 13Min of orchestral drones. Annoying some may say. I would not argue on that, but the way of building such a piece of music requires Maestria and an intense collaboration between the artists. I saw them live playing this track and I was petrified. The sound flows under your feet and then goes up to your spine. From there, game over. Chills all over the body, especially during the last 3 minutes of the track, where you feel the composition's climax coming. It builds so stark, it's irresistible. I like Carsten Nicolai's work, especially his ongoing "Xerrox"-Serie, but this collaboration with Ryuichi is beyond everything I have heard from him.
2 - Wardenclyffe Session / Signal_ Pact Systems EP (2006)
Electronic at its purest. There are 6 tracks on this EP, but you cannot isolate one. It has to be played all at once. So, pardon me, but I consider that EP as being a single track. The recording quality is unseen. Very little is known about the people behind this release. Impossible to find any YT video or anything about it. I bought the CD in 2006 on the Raster-Noton online shop. Only Discogs link available, sorry for that. If anyone has more info, please contact me. Unmatched electronic music feeling in my book.
https://www.discogs.com/Signal-Pact...One-Live-At-Tesla-Berlin-2006/release/2596499
-> If someone is interested, please PM me, I will send you a free ripped-copy of the CD. You just pay the shipping, meaning not very much... Kind of blind purchase, though.
1 - The Sight Below / Stagger (2010)
I won't make any particular comment on this track from Rafael Anton Irisarri. I am a fan of its work in general, but the guy sometimes is a bit full of himself, nothing bad, though. Is it important? Well, not really, because music has to be distinguished from its creator to fully enjoy it. A man/woman is behind the composition, but even if you are not really connecting with the artist, his work might transport you like nothing else. This piece of music just got me in the guts the first time I have listened to it. This track is eternity. It takes me to imaginary places where I never have been before, and there are always new, since 10 years now. Listening to it right now while finishing this post, it gets under the skin. Literally.
Thanks for your patience and having read my blablabla. I hope you'll share your favorites with us.
Take care and let's hear each others...
Julian
Albums via (X-Sight, K-Tel, Brooklyn Music Limited and Intersound) here were during that time. He was always a nice and fun. Nostalgia... Women Beat Their Men, Beat Control, many more... Here is a classic I recall from Caffeine in NY (a remix of the original posted recently). 
I didn't intend it to be for beatless, ambient stuff - there's a dedicated thread for ambient and also Blake's eclectic thread, where music like that is better suited to my mind. And all I really meant by Underground Beats was stuff somewhat outside the mainstream, not necessarily mega obscure, just things your average punter probably wouldn't be aware of.
Completely fits what I had in mind. A broader scope loosens up the shoulders a bit ^^ Cheers WA. Keep 'em coming.
