| Intelligent dance music | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | Electronica, experimental, ambient, techno, house, industrial, drum & bass, avant-garde |
| Cultural origins | Early 1990s, United Kingdom and Japan |
| Typical instruments | Synthesizer, human voice, drum machine, sequencer, sampler, electronic keyboard, personal computer |
| Mainstream popularity | Low |
| Subgenres | |
| Ambient house - Glitch | |
| Fusion genres | |
| Breakcore - Microhouse | |
Intelligent dance music (commonly IDM or intelligent dance) is a term that describes an electronic music genre that emerged in the early 1990s. The genre is influenced by a wide range of musical styles particularly electronic dance music (EDM) such as Detroit Techno.[1][2] Stylistically, IDM tends to rely upon individualistic experimentation rather than on a particular set of musical characteristics.[3] The range of post-techno[4] styles to emerge in the early 1990s were described variously as art techno,[5] ambient techno, intelligent techno, and electronica.[6] In the United States, the latter term is now used by the music industry as a catchall to describe EDM and its many derivatives.
The term IDM is said to have originated in the United States in 1993 with the formation of the IDM list, an electronic mailing list originally chartered for the discussion of music by (but not limited to) a number of prominent English artists, especially those appearing on a 1992 Warp Records compilation called Artificial Intelligence.[7]
Usage of the term "Intelligent Dance Music" has been criticised by electronic musicians such as Aphex Twin and is seen by artists such as Mike Paradinas as being peculiar to the U.S.[8][9]
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During the late 1980s, a number of UK based electronic musicians were inspired by the underground dance music of the time and started to explore experimental forms of EDM production. By the early 1990s, the music associated with this experimentation had gained prominence with releases on a variety of record labels including Warp Records (1989), Black Dog Productions (1989), R & S Records (1989), Carl Craig's Planet E, Rising High Records (1991), Richard James's Rephlex Records (1991), Kirk Degiorgio's Applied Rhythmic Technology (1991), Eevo Lute Muzique (1991), General Production Recordings (1989), Soma Quality Recordings (1991), Peacefrog Records (1991), and Metamorphic Recordings (1992).
Ambient house, a genre that fused house music (particularly acid house) with ambient music, was being produced in the United Kingdom around this time, by bands such as The Orb.[10] A major influence on ambient house was Japan's Yellow Magic Orchestra, who were producing ambient electronic music during the late 1970s to early 1980s and were cited as pioneers of ambient house by the 1990s.[11] During the early 1990s, the term "ambient house" became synonymous with intelligent dance music in general, but was eventually replaced by several other terms.[10] Following the lead of ambient house, ambient techno music was soon produced by artists such as Ireland's Aphex Twin and Japan's Tetsu Inoue. Ambient techno distinguished itself with strong techno and electro influences, including more extensive use of Roland's TR-808 and TR-909 drum machines. The term "ambient techno" was eventually replaced by "intelligent techno" following the success of Warp's Artificial Intelligence series.[12]
By 1992, Warp Records was marketing the musical output of the artists on its roster using the description electronic listening music, but this was quickly replaced by intelligent techno.[13] In the same period (1992–93), other names were also used, such as armchair techno, ambient techno, and electronica,[6] but all were attempts to describe an emerging offshoot of electronic dance music that was being enjoyed by the "sedentary and stay at home".[14] Steve Beckett, co-owner of Warp, has said that the electronic music the label was releasing at that point was targeting a post-club, home-listening audience.[15] In 1993 a number of new record labels emerged that were producing intelligent techno geared releases including New Electronica, Mille Plateaux, 100% Pure, and Ferox Records.
In 1992, Warp released Artificial Intelligence, the first album in the Artificial Intelligence series. Subtitled "electronic listening music from Warp", the record was a collection of tracks from artists such as Autechre, B12, The Black Dog, Aphex Twin, and The Orb, under various aliases.[16] These artists, among others, would eventually become the main topics of conversation in the Intelligent Dance Music List, an electronic mailing list founded in August 1993.
In November 1991, the phrase "intelligent techno" appeared on Usenet in reference to Coil's The Snow EP.[17] Another instance of the phrase appeared on Usenet in April 1993 in reference to The Black Dog's album Bytes.[18] Wider public use of such terms on the Internet did not come until August 1993, when Alan Parry announced the existence of a new electronic mailing list for discussion of "intelligent" dance music: the Intelligent Dance Music list, or IDM List for short.[19][20]
The first message, sent on August 1, 1993, was entitled "Can Dumb People Enjoy IDM, Too?".[21] A reply from the list server's system administrator, Brian Behlendorf, revealed that Parry originally wanted to create a list devoted to discussion of the music on the Rephlex label, but they decided together to expand its charter to include music similar to what was on Rephlex or that was in different genres but which had been made with similar approaches. They picked the word "intelligent" because it had already appeared on Artificial Intelligence and because it connoted being something beyond just music for dancing, while still being open to interpretation.[22]
Artists that appeared in the first discussions on the list included Autechre, Atom Heart, LFO, and Rephlex Records artists such as Aphex Twin, µ-ziq, and Luke Vibert; plus artists such as The Orb, Richard H. Kirk, and Future Sound of London, and even artists like System 7, William Orbit, Sabres of Paradise, Tycho, Orbital, Plastikman and Björk.
As of early 2011, the mailing list is still active.
Warp's second Artificial Intelligence compilation was released in 1994. The album featured fragments of posts from the mailing list incorporated into typographic artwork by The Designers Republic. Sleeve notes by David Toop acknowledged the genre's multitude of musical and cultural influences and suggested none should be considered more important than any other.[1]
During this period, the electronic music produced by Warp Records artists such as Aphex Twin (an alias of Richard D. James), Autechre, LFO, B12, Seefeel, and The Black Dog, gained popularity among electronic music fans, as did music by artists on the Rephlex and Skam labels. Lesser-known artists on the Likemind label and Kirk Degiorgio's A.R.T. and Op-Art labels, including Degiorgio himself under various names (As One, Future/Past and Esoterik), Steve Pickton (Stasis) and Nurmad Jusat (Nuron) also found an audience, along with bigger-name, cross-genre artists like Björk and Future Sound of London.
In the mid-1990s, North American audiences welcomed IDM, and many IDM record labels were founded, including Drop Beat, Isophlux, Suction, Schematic, and Cytrax.[23] In Miami, Florida, labels like Schematic, AiRecords, Merck Records, Nophi Recordings, and The Beta Bodega Coalition released material by artists such as Phoenecia, Dino Felipe, Machinedrum, and Proem. Another burgeoning scene was the Chicago/Milwaukee area, with labels such as Addict, Chocolate Industries, Hefty, and Zod supporting artists like Doormouse, Trs-80 and Emotional Joystick. Tigerbeat 6, a San Francisco based label has released IDM from artists such as Cex, Kid 606, and Kevin Blechdom. Contemporary IDM artists include Team Doyobi, Quim, Himuro Yoshiteru, Kettel, Ochre, Marumari, Benn Jordan, Proem, Lackluster, Arovane, Ulrich Schnauss, Wisp and Zygote. [24]
British electronic music and techno artists, including Aphex Twin, Cylob, and Mike Paradinas, have criticised the term IDM. Paradinas has stated that the term IDM was only used in America.
Allmusic Guide describes the IDM name as
A loaded term meant to distinguish electronic music of the '90s and later that's equally comfortable on the dancefloor as in the living room, IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) eventually acquired a good deal of negative publicity, not least among the legion of dance producers and fans whose exclusion from the community prompted the question of whether they produced stupid dance music.
In a September 1997 interview, Aphex Twin commented on the 'Intelligent Dance Music' label:
I just think it's really funny to have terms like that. It's basically saying 'this is intelligent and everything else is stupid.' It's really nasty to everyone else's music. (laughs) It makes me laugh, things like that. I don't use names. I just say that I like something or I don't.[25]
Aphex Twin's Rephlex records official overarching genre name is Braindance, of which Dave Segal of Stylus Magazine asked whether it was a "snide dig at IDM’s mockworthy Intelligent Dance Music tag?"[26]
Kid 606 has said,
I hate IDM and its elitist champions. It makes the music sound so much more than it actually is. It's a label invented by PR companies who need catchphrases. I like sounds, but hate what people attach to sounds.[27]
Cylob, aka Chris Jeffs, said, "Also, anyone who applies the term IDM to my music deserves to be shot."[28]
Thaddeus Hermann of City Centre Offices has said:
Nowadays, I do not like the sound of the term. Whenever someone mentions it, or uses it to describe their own music, I immediately become skeptical, expecting weak and boring tracks.” [24]
Matmos (Perfect Sound Forever) has said,
I belong to the weblist called "IDM" and occasionally enjoy the discussions there, because I like some of the artists who get lassoed into that category (not to mention that we, occasionally, are lumped into that category too), and because you can occasionally find out about interesting records on that list... Matmos is IDM if that only means "might be talked about on the IDM list"- but I don't endorse that term "intelligent dance music" because it's laughable. Rather Interesting Records had a nice slogan that kind of says it all: "Remember: Only Stupid People Call It "Intelligent".[29]
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