Artificial Intelligence II - various artists (1994)

Ideated from: some things I discovered through my CMJ New Music Monthly subscription back in the 90s.

Another one that wasn’t even on the CMJ comp, just a review in the magazine. Hard to explain what drew me to electronic music, and it almost doesn’t matter anymore. We’re all just used to the idea of hearing music that’s all or mostly created inside of software. So we take it for granted how wildly different this music is. Before, you could hear a song in your head, but you’d have to find a way to express that with a guitar or a piano or an orchestra or a voice or even scratching records. But these guys were creating something that hadn’t existed before, a liminal space that they conjured into existence. I’m being dramatic. But music like this was really what opened up new worlds to me that weren’t just drum machines or boys with guitars.

This is a comp of Warp Records artists. Warp was made for this new type of artist who could create entire artificial worlds. “Techno” before the IDM movement was all about rave-friendly bangers. These tracks, by contrast, are mostly chilled out, with loping beats and loopy synth sounds. They take their time to develop. There’s a weird, cold swagger and attitude to most of the tracks. The artists knew they were doing something cool and new, I think, and it showed.

I’m not sure if I tracked some of the artists off this comp, and that’s how I ended up being obsessed with Seefeel and Autechre in the next few years, or if it was just incidental first contact. But I was hooked.

Tracks I Liked

Release To The System by Mark Franklin - a name I never really heard again, but what a great intro.

Chatter by Autechre - not their best or most ambitious track, but this was probably my introduction to a group I still listen to a lot.

Reality Net by Richard H Kirk - early industrial pioneer with Cabaret Voltaire moved to the dance floor and then beyond in the 90s. This is a solid track of his.