IDM

IDM (Intelligent Dance Music):
IDM is a broad classification of post-Rave sounds, when DJs took their sounds away from the dance floor and into their bedrooms by melding (and breaking) traditional dance floor rules with other styles such as Ambient and Downtempo. The irony of the name is that the majority is not, in fact, dance music, but music instead better suited for bedrooms and headphones. The style achieved its formal genesis with Warp Records’ Artificial Intelligence series, which introduced most of the style’s early innovators. Originally founded as a clash between dance and chill out music, IDM soon molded into the primary genre for electronic experimentation, with elements of glitch and noise predominating the sounds of many of its innovators, such as Aphex Twin and Autechre. The name today sticks despite the misnomer (hence its almost constant abbreviation), and now exists to describe a broad range of experimental Techno, ranging from the extremely serene to the extremely abrasive. The IDM scene also partially claims itself as the forefather of many important sub-genres in the advancement of electronic music, such as Drill’n’bass (IDM + Jungle), 8 Bit (IDM + Video Game Music), and Indielectronica (IDM + Indie Rock). Sub/Related Genres: Glitch, Experimental Techno, 8 Bit, Drill’n’Bass, Indielectronica, Clip-Hop, Leftfield Techno Noteworthy Artists: Aphex Twin, Autechre, Mouse On Mars, Boards of Canada, Plaid Noteworthy Albums: Autechre, Incunabula (1993) Aphex Twin, Richard D. James (1996) Boards of Canada, Music Has the Right to Children (1998) Plaid, Not For Threes (1998) Mu-ziq, Lunatic Harness (1997)

Link: www.boards.ign.com