NationMaster - Encyclopedia: IDM

IDM, short for intelligent dance music, is an electronic music genre which began as a style of techno in the early 1990s and moved on to include the textures and sound manipulation methods of Musique concrète and early, "true" industrial bands such as Coil and Nurse With Wound. Unlike the driving, pounding sound of dancefloor techno, IDM is more cerebral, and often uses much lower or much higher tempos than is found in dance genres. In general, it is more melodic, less aggressive, and more quirky and improvisational. It is sometimes informally called intelligent techno, listening techno, art techno, experimental techno, or braindance, a term coined by Aphex Twin's Rephlex Records. The genre was also known for a while as electronica, though that term now encompasses many forms of electronic music from big beat to acid house. Electronic music is a loose term for music created using electronic equipment. ... Musical genres are categories which contain music which share a certain style or which have certain elements in common. ... Techno is a form of electronic music that emerged in the mid-1980s and primarily refers to a particular style developed in and around Detroit and subsequently adopted by European producers. ... // Events and trends The 1990s are generally classified as having moved slightly away from the more conservative 1980s, but keeping the same mind-set. ... Musique concrÃ¨te (French; literally, concrete music), is the name given to a class of electronic music produced from editing together fragments of natural and industrial sounds. ... A line-up of the band Coil, from left to right: Simon Norris, Thighpaulsandra, John Balance and Peter Sleazy Christopherson Coil is an experimental music group that has worked in several forms of music (electronic and otherwise) such as industrial, noise, ambient and dark ambient, neo-folk, spoken word, and... Nurse With Wound (NWW) is a British music band, formed in 1978 by Steven Stapleton, John Fothergill and Heeman Pathak. ... Richard D. James, aka Aphex Twin Aphex Twin (born Richard David James, August 18, 1971, Ireland) is a UK-based electronic music artist, credited with pushing forward the genres of techno, ambient, acid, drum and bass. ... Rephlex Records is an influential record label started in 1991 by acclaimed Electronica musician Richard D. James (aka Aphex Twin) and Grant Wilson-Claridge, without the intention of making large profits. ... Electronica is a rather ambiguous term that covers a wide range of electronic or electronic-influenced music. ... Big beat (also Big Beat, or sometimes chemical breaks) is a term devised in the mid 1990s by the British music press, as a way of describing the work of The Chemical Brothers, but was defined by the work of Fatboy Slim. ... Acid house is a variant of house music characterized by the use of simple tone generators with tempo-controlled resonant filters. ...

Overview

IDM refers to a style of experimental electronic music with an emphasis on unconventional sequencing and processing which sets it apart from traditional dancefloor techno and house. Some IDM is influenced by earlier styles. The music of B12, Kirk DeGiorgio, and others seems inspired by jazz. Other influences include musique concrète and avant-garde classical composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen and Iannis Xenakis; and early hip-hoppers like Mantronix. In the field of electronic music, a sequencer was originally any device that recorded and played back a sequence of control information for an electronic musical instrument. ... Audio signal processing, sometimes referred to as audio processing, is the processing of a representation of auditory signals, or sound. ... Techno is a form of electronic music that emerged in the mid-1980s and primarily refers to a particular style developed in and around Detroit and subsequently adopted by European producers. ... House music refers to a collection of styles of electronic dance music, the earliest forms beginning in the early- to mid- 1980s. ... Jazz is a musical art form characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms, and improvisation. ... Musique concrÃ¨te (French; literally, concrete music), is the name given to a class of electronic music produced from editing together fragments of natural and industrial sounds. ... A work similar to Marcel Duchamps Fountain Avant garde (written avant-garde) is a French phrase, one of many French phrases used by English speakers. ... Karlheinz Stockhausen (born August 22, 1928) is a contemporary composer. ... Iannis Xenakis (Î“Î¹Î¬Î½Î½Î·Ï‚ ÎžÎµÎ½Î¬ÎºÎ·Ï‚) (May 29, 1922 Romania - February 4, 2001) was a Greek composer and architect who spent much of his life in Paris, France. ... Hip hop is a cultural movement that began among urban African Americans, and Hispanics in New York City in the early 1970s, and has since spread around the world. ... Mantronix is a 1980s hip hop crew led by Kurtis Mantronik, a native of Jamaica who had moved to New York, New York in the late 1970s. ...

The initials IDM appeared in music magazines during the genre's first wave in 1992-1993, but didn't really stick until the formation of the IDM mailing list on the Internet in August 1993. At that time, the discussion list's focus was the progressive electronic music of Richard D. James, Autechre, and other artists featured on the influential Warp label's Artificial Intelligence compilations. The second compilation in the series, released in 1994, even featured various postings from the list incorporated into the typographic artwork in the sleeve notes. A music genre is a category (or genre) of pieces of music that share a certain style or basic musical language (van der Merwe 1989, p. ... 1991 is a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1993 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Electronic mailing lists are a special usage of email that allows for widespread distribution of information to many Internet users. ... 1993 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Richard D. James, aka Aphex Twin Aphex Twin (born Richard David James, August 18, 1971, Ireland) is a UK-based electronic music artist, credited with pushing forward the genres of techno, ambient, acid, drum and bass. ... Autechre are an English electronic music group consisting of Rob Brown and Sean Booth both coming from Rochdale. ... Warp Records is a pioneering independent UK record label, founded in Sheffield in 1989, notable for discovering some of the most enduring artists in electronic music. ... Artificial Intelligence is a series of albums by Warp Records released in the early 1990s to exhibit the capabilities and sounds of electronic music. ... 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... Typographic work Typography (from the Greek words typos = form and grapho = write) is the art and technique of selecting and arranging type styles, point sizes, line lengths, line leading, character spacing, and word spacing for typeset applications. ...

Lesser-known at the time, but equally influential and highly regarded today, are the artists that were on Kirk Degiorgio's A.R.T. and Op-Art labels, and the Likemind label, including Degiorgio himself under various names (As One, Future/Past, Esoterik), Steve Pickton (Stasis), and Nurmad Jusat (Nuron).

The majority of IDM's early pioneers were based in Great Britain, but a few artists, such as Sun Electric from Berlin, hailed from other countries. Sun Electric is the name of an electronic music group from Berlin. ... Berlin? (pronounced: , German ) is the capital of Germany and its largest city, with 3,426,000 inhabitants (as of January 2005); down from 4. ...

Spread of IDM

While mainly British based during the early-to-middle 1990s, IDM spread somewhat in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with a diverse array of styles being combined in new ways by a growing stable of artists across the globe. Saddam Hussein shortly after his capture Major controversy over U.S. presidential election, 2000 September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on New Yorks World Trade Center and Virginias Pentagon killing almost 3000 people. ...

In particular, during this period, IDM production greatly increased in the United States. One of the more notable hubs of activity was Miami, Florida, with labels like Schematic, Merck Records, and The Beta Bodega Coalition sprouting up and releasing 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 and Emotional Joystick. The Miami skyline, as it is seen from the northeast on Biscayne Bay. ... --Duk 17:14, 22 May 2005 (UTC) Categories: Possible copyright violations ... Phoenecia is an IDM duo from Miami, Florida comprised of Romulo del Castillo and Joshua Kay. ... Machinedrum is the recording alias of Travis Stewart, one of the artists who helped launch the Merck label with his debut release under one of his aliases called Syndrone. ... Proem, otherwise known as Richard Bailey, is a 30 year old web designer living in Austin, Texas. ... Chicago, colloquially known as the Second City and the Windy City, is the third-largest city in population in the United States and the largest inland city in the country. ... This article is about Milwaukee in Wisconsin. ... Hefty Records is an independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois (USA). ...

Criticisms of the name

The term "intelligent dance music" is often criticized for not being an actual description of the music genre. Whether or not intelligence or dancing are involved, or whether everybody else's music is not intelligent, in particular, the name was apparently more memorable than other competing phrases (see: memetic replicator). This is probably due in large part to the high volume of the aforementioned IDM mailing list. Later, Otto Von Schirach aided the replication of the "IDM" meme by mockingly shouting "IDM" repeatedly on the first track of the EP compilation album "Chopped Zombie Fungus". Detractors of the phrase have occasionally used the term "dolphin music" as a disparaging alternative to "intelligent". Intelligence is usually said to involve mental capabilities such as the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend ideas and language, and learn. ... A contemporary dancer rehearsing in a dance studio Dance generally refers to human movement either used as a form of expression or presented in a social, spiritual or performance setting. ... Meme, (rhymes with cream and comes from Greek root with the meaning of memory and its derivative mimeme), is the term given to a unit of information that replicates from brains and inanimate stores of information, such as books and computers, to other brains or stores of information. ... EP can stand for: European Parliament. ...

Sound production in IDM

Early IDM was produced much like other forms of techno music at the time, using hardware drum machines and rackmounted equipment, possibly all sequenced by MIDI. Since the late 1990s, however, IDM has been primarily produced on computers, using advanced sequencing programs such as Cubase and advanced synthesis programs such as Reaktor and Max/MSP. Musical Instrument Digital Interface, or MIDI, is a system designed to transmit information between electronic musical instruments. ... Cubase is a MIDI, music sequencer and digital audio editing computer application (commonly known as a DAW - Digital Audio Workstation) created by the German firm Steinberg in 1989. ... Reaktor is a graphical modular software sound studio developed by Native Instruments. ... Alternate meanings: MAX Max is a graphical development environment for music and multimedia developed and maintained by San Francisco-based software company Cycling74. ...

The effects processors included with the most popular sound programs cause many IDM groups to use them, unwillingly creating some common features which many listeners find to be clichéd sounds in the genre. One such example is the use of the "bit reduction" effect, where the sampling rate of a sample can be adjusted in real time, creating a "low fi" effect. A clichÃ© (from French clichÃ©, stereotype) is a phrase or expression, or the idea expressed by it, that has been overused to the point of losing its intended force or novelty, especially where the same expression was at one time distinctively forceful or novel. ... The sampling frequency or sampling rate defines the number of samples per second taken from a continuous signal to make a discrete signal. ...

Many contemporary IDM live performances are played entirely on a laptop computer or with a "groove box" such as the Roland MC-909. In a live performance, the actual amount of "performing" as opposed to "playing back a pre-arranged sequence" varies from artist to artist.

Notable IDM artists

The Two Lone Swordsmen are British house DJ and producer Andrew Weatherall and studio engineer Keith Tenniswood. ... Uwe Schmidt (aka Señor Coconut; born in Frankfurt, Germany) is a German DJ and producer of electronic music. ... Richard D. James, aka Aphex Twin Aphex Twin (born Richard David James, August 18, 1971, Ireland) is a UK-based electronic music artist, credited with pushing forward the genres of techno, ambient, acid, drum and bass. ... Autechre are an English electronic music group consisting of Rob Brown and Sean Booth both coming from Rochdale. ... Black Dog Productions (or The Black Dog) were a musical trio that produced Spanners, a high point of the intelligent dance music genre. ... Boards of Canada is a Scottish electronic music duo comprised of Michael Sandison (b. ... Bogdan Raczynski is a UK-based Drum and Bass artist. ... Casino Versus Japan is the recording name for Erik Kowalski (born May 5, 1973), a United States-based electronic musician who produces intelligent dance music (IDM for short). ... Cex is a musical project helmed by Rjyan Kidwell and started in 1999. ... Richard Devine is an Atlanta-based electronic musician. ... Four Tet is the name used by Kieran Hebden for his electronic music-oriented solo efforts to differentiate from his work with post-rock band Fridge. ... Michael Fakesch and Christian de Luca 2004 in Munich Image Â© 2004 Marek Vogel FunkstÃ¶rung (German for transmission interference, sometimes also spelt Funkstorung or, more rarely, Funkstoerung) is Christian de Luca and Michael Fakesch, a duo of IDM producers hailing from Rosenheim, Germany. ... Kid 606 is the stage name of Miguel Depedro, an electronic musician who was born 1979 July 27 in Caracas, Venezuela , raised in San Diego and later moved to San Francisco. ... Machinedrum is the recording alias of Travis Stewart, one of the artists who helped launch the Merck label with his debut release under one of his aliases called Syndrone. ... Matmos (left to right): Drew Daniel and M.C. Schmidt Matmos is an experimental electronica duo from San Francisco on the Matador Records label. ... Mouse on Mars are a duo from Germany (Jan St. ... Mike Paradinas, who works primarily under the name µ-ziq (pronounced like the word music), is a British musician in the field of electronic music. ... Panasonic, now called Pan Sonic, is a Finnish electronica group consisting of Mika Vainio and Ilpo VÃ¤isÃ¤nen. ... Plaid is a British electronic music duo, Andy Turner & Ed Handley. ... Prefuse 73 is one alias under which electronica and hip-hop artist Scott Herren releases music. ... Proem, otherwise known as Richard Bailey, is a 30 year old web designer living in Austin, Texas. ... Tom Jenkinson a. ... Telefon Tel Aviv is a New Orleans-based electronic music group (relocated to Chicago in 2001) primarily known for their work in the intelligent dance music genre. ... Aaron Funk aka Venetian Snares Venetian Snares is the performing name of Aaron Funk, an electronic music producer and performer from Winnipeg, Manitoba, in Canada. ...

Contents

Overview

Spread of IDM

Criticisms of the name

Sound production in IDM

Notable IDM artists

See also

External links

Major labels

Other labels

Contents

Overview GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

Spread of IDM

Criticisms of the name

Sound production in IDM

Notable IDM artists

See also

External links

Major labels

Other labels

Overview