B12 - Electro-Soma

For me, that's some of the best souvenirs from those days, in after hours... Definitively, it's intelligent techno. IDM is general term who appear long years after, for the general style of Home Listening techno. Bio dimension and Debris are very incredible, totally intelligent style. Intelligent techno appear with Warp rec, formally with the excellent Artificial intelligence complilation. It's possible to dance on intelligent techno, and that's not the case for a lot of IDM production.

Contrary to the above review, I do not find anything about this release to be similar to Aphex Twin or the Black Dog. Aphex Twin and the Black Dog were consistently groundbreaking, fresh, and intelligent. This release contains none of those qualities. Like the top review, I agree that this is none other than a slightly more innovative take on the very exhausted acid house outline and foundation set before it. Starting with the percussion, the frequent use of the 909 is cliche, untreated/expanded, very plain, and just quite unoriginal. A 4/4 kick with repeated sequences of the 909 trademark open hat and hand claps is pretty much the most of what you'll find here, percussion-wise. Moving to the synths/pads, the sounds used arent manipulated much further than the default sounds that came with the various synthesizers they used, which is the least of what a producer whos output is considered "idm" should be doing. The textures and melodies used arent evocative in the slightest bit, and they seem to lack originality as well. If you like boring ambient house check this one out, im sure you wont be dissapointed.

Fanatstic early outing by B12 on the seminal Warp record label. Fantatsic Detroit influenced Techno and electronica. Classic synths, futuristic sounds and fantastic drum programming make for a very enjoyable release. Very similar to Balck Dog and early Aphex Twin (Selected ambient works) type stuff. Miss at your peril!!!!

This is widely considered an "IDM" album, but it doesn't really represent anything paradigm-shifting. If you do your homework, you can tell that it's basically just acid house and/or early techno mixed with the futuristic atmospherics of electro. More proof that "IDM" is pretty much a bullshit term for people who don't know electronic music history. Yes, it was probably designed for home listening, but so was a lot of electronic music made before it.

People probably just call this IDM because it was released in Warp's AI Series, which happened to feature a small handful of artists who went on to do more experimental work. But come on - these tracks are full of house/techno rhythms and Roland drumkit sounds. Handclaps everywhere! Can't get much less experimental than that.

That said, this is a very nice and well-produced release. It's a nice mix of styles and a lot of craft went into these tracks. Great if you want that dreamy, futuristic, techy house sound that the Brits were doing in the early 90's. My overall point is that listeners should rethink the whole premise of "IDM."