Barbelith Underground > Radio & Music > Barbelith discography guides

IDM = Intelligent Dance Music, ie Autechre, Pole, Kid 606, Mu-Ziq, Future Sound of London, other Warp records type electronic artists... it's probably the most arrogantly named genre in the world, obviously the assumption that the *other* dance musics are stupid or something...

here's an explanation courtesy of an IDM list page

quote:
A definition by Chris Hilker:

"What is Intelligent Dance Music? "Intelligent" gives a nod, obviously, to Warp Records' (UK) "Artificial Intelligence" releases. Let's take a close look at our copies of the 'Artificial Intelligence' compilation, shall we? (This compilation, WARP CD 6 in the UK, Wax Trax/Tee Vee Toons TVT 7203 in the US, is one of the very few definitive releases in this genre.) On the front cover, we see the subtitle: "Electronic Listening music from Warp". The picture on the front cover is of a humanoid figure reclining in a chair. From these two points, we can conclude that the music we're talking about is intended for *listening* - it may be danceable, and it may be influenced by current trends in more straightforward dance music, but it is intended more for your living room than your local club. Looking more closely at the cover pic, there are three album covers strewn on the floor of the figure's room: an early Kraftwerk record, Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon,' and Warp Records' first compilation, 'Pioneers of the Hypnotic Groove.' These, then, are three big influences in IDM: the electronica of Kraftwerk, the druggy self-indulgence of Floyd, and the funky bleepiness of Warp's early stuff (and techno, in the narrow sense of the word, in general). Moving on to the back cover, there are two bits of text, besides the tracklist, of interest: one, at the top left corner, asks "Are you Sitting comfortably?", the other, in the lower right, says "Artificial Intelligence is electronic 'Listening music' for Long journeys quiet nights and club drowsy dawns. Listen with an open mind." Again, and always, the focus is on listening, rather than dancing. Inside back cover: "Artificial Intelligence: electronic music for the mind created by trans-global electronic innovators who prove music is the one true international language. Real people whose unity lies in a common sound + spirit and whose 'listening music' cannot be described as either soulless or machine driven. The atmosphere and emotion both come from the musicians, their machines are merely the means to a human end."

and another by Mixmaster Morris..

"[Intelligent Dance Music] means the opposite of stupid hardcore. And of commercial dance music. Ambient music and intelligent techno were always linked in my mind and the audience largely overlaps. Intelligent techno has got to have more function than just to be utilitarian dance music. It has to give you something to listen to and be intrigued by. It has to work in the domestic environment."