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The greatest electronic track ever written?

  • 01-04-2014 05:41PM
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 305 ✭✭


    What song would you guys say ,in your opinion and from your knowledge, is the greatest electronic song ever made?
    by ''great'' i mean the beauty, complexity or what ever else it is that makes the song great
    If you dont think that it is possible to sum the greatness of EM in one song then that fine, you can just ignore this post ;)

    Mine has to be Aphex Twin's Rhubarb ,and I needn't say why:



«1

Comments

  • Subscribers Posts: 8,325 ✭✭✭Scubadevils


    Ignoring :pac:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 305 ✭✭lb1997


    Ignoring :pac:

    you dont have song that you favour more than any other?


  • Subscribers Posts: 8,325 ✭✭✭Scubadevils


    lb1997 wrote: »
    you dont have song that you favour more than any other?

    I couldn't possibly commit to just one more than any other :eek:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 305 ✭✭lb1997


    I couldn't possibly commit to just one more than any other :eek:

    haha alright


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,207 ✭✭✭a148pro


    lb1997 wrote: »

    Mine has to be Aphex Twin's Rhubarb ,and I needn't say why:

    Its funny, that track reminds me of loss more than anything else, couple of years ago my cousin died young and I knew on a conscious level that he had died and was gone but it wasn't until a week or two later I listened to that track and I realised he was gone and how sad that was and what a void it left in other people's lives (his wife, his mother)

    It was weird, I never got that from electronic music before

    But that said I agree with Scubadevils - there can't only be one, and for me the 'one' track usually only is no. 1 for a few weeks or months


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,020 ✭✭✭ianuss




  • Site Banned Posts: 10 Hibs Hearts run FR33


    now that we got that out of the way^

    heres one, i wouldn't say its anywhere near the best, but i love the structure of it, and if i was asked to pick one track, this would be it



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 305 ✭✭lb1997


    now that we got that out of the way^

    heres one, i wouldn't say its anywhere near the best, but i love the structure of it, and if i was asked to pick one track, this would be it


    intro reminds me of this scene>


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,375 ✭✭✭✭kunst nugget


    There's so much out there that I love and adore but there's one song that will always stand out in my mind as the one track I know that will always send shivers down my spine no matter where I am or what I'm doing. The greatest electronic song ever written? Probably only to me…

    The brother bought an album in 1996 called Future Funk. It was a kind of rag tag compilation of Big Beat and Drum and Bass tunes featuring the likes of Chemical Brothers, Goldie, Bomb the Bass and Nightmares on Wax. All in all, it was a fantastic selection but what topped it off for me was the inclusion of one tune on it that I listened to more than any other on it and one that I've probably listened to more than any other electronic song that I have known and adored.

    It was Mutant Jazz by T-Power and MK Ultra and even the name of it is class.

    It starts with a louche hip hop beat with a lachrymose saxophone motif playing over some lovely synth bass and piano that skirt around each other. It breaks down to just the refrain of the sax and a filtered voice telling us that 'The white man has… a god complex' before the main beat skitters in and takes over.

    A restless fusion of IDM and jungle beats are what propel the rest of the track and while they are complex and constantly mutating they never sound forced or contrived. The power and depth of the subby bass helping to keep it all anchored together. What makes the track so magical is how the different elements of the track build and build without you even realising it. A Himalayan flute signals the start of a progression of pads that keep layering on top of each other and adding more to the wistful melancholy of the track. All the while, the saxophone keeps repeating its downbeat motif until near the end of the track where it breaks free and the sound of it mixed with the pads and the careering percussion becomes a thing of pure joy until suddenly it all ends and we're left with just the pads playing by themselves and they bring the song to a close with an ecstatic sigh. Pure magic.

    The brother never got the compilation back off me.

    I've listened to many tunes and many genres of electronic music in the last 20 odd years of listening to dance but none are as timeless to me as this track. It still has the power to enrapture me to this day and it's one that will still have me smiling like an e-addled raver when I hear it in my eighties.

    Thank you kindly, Marc Royal and Nigel Samuel, for creating this thing of beauty.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,278 ✭✭✭mordeith


    This for me, is one of the standout tracks I've ever heard in terms of production, arrangement and atmosphere. The percussion programming is really well done. I could lie back and listen on repeat for ages.



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  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    Put one up last night, thought about it, and have decided to change it.

    Will go with the one that has stuck with me for 20 years now, can still put it on and listen to it again and again and it hasn't dated and I have never tired of it.

    The Future Sound of London - Lifeforms, Path 4...



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,511 ✭✭✭Heisenberg1


    For me it's The Orb with Belfast a close second.





  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,787 ✭✭✭g5fd6ow0hseima


    For techno, I have to say Daft Punk's track Alive off the Homework album is best piece of techno even written. But I've never got over this tune, I'll always remember listening to it for the first time in a mates house on youtube with ****ty speakers plugged into the laptop.

    It's breathtaking.



  • Subscribers Posts: 8,325 ✭✭✭Scubadevils


    ^ Yeah Alive is an incredible track alright. I first heard it on a Sasha mix, probably around 1994, used to love how it was mixed in, the sheer energy from it, worked really well in the mix actually.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,787 ✭✭✭g5fd6ow0hseima


    ^ Yeah Alive is an incredible track alright. I first heard it on a Sasha mix, probably around 1994, used to love how it was mixed in, the sheer energy from it, worked really well in the mix actually.
    And on Alive 1997 it's just cataclysmic!



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,278 ✭✭✭mordeith


    Some of the harder tracks on Homework don't get the recognition they deserve.
    This is an epic live version of Rollin' and Scratchin


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,787 ✭✭✭g5fd6ow0hseima


    It's an insane album alright, not a single bad track on it.

    Even tunes like Burnin' tend to be forgotten about, even though that tune is genius.


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    I've already gone for FSOL's "Lifeforms Path 4" as the track of all time.

    In recent years, and moving away from ambient, this is a slice of deep house that I could listen to on an endless loop...



  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,204 ✭✭✭fiachr_a




  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,301 ✭✭✭Daveysil15


    Nice song OP - quite haunting. :)

    If I could only pick one it would have to be Children (Dream Version)



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  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    fiachr_a May have won this thread. The Dr. Who theme must be one of the most timeless pieces...it had a few decades of a head start on most for starters, and just never dated. It's iconic.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 305 ✭✭lb1997


    And on Alive 1997 it's just cataclysmic!


    yeah something I learned about live versions is that often theyre even better than originals, artists like to iron out any kinks in there tracks that may have been annoying them in the original release or take the song in a different direction than it turned out i guess.

    I had my mind blown by Aphex Twin's Heliosphan live in norway



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 514 ✭✭✭bedrock#1


    Orbital are known for their sprawling compositions, The Box, TGWTSIHH, Nothing Left, Meltdown etc... None really compare to this though IMHO.



  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,204 ✭✭✭fiachr_a


    fiachr_a May have won this thread. The Dr. Who theme must be one of the most timeless pieces...it had a few decades of a head start on most for starters, and just never dated. It's iconic.
    Here's a less famous tune from the 1960s that is just as influential:



  • Subscribers Posts: 8,325 ✭✭✭Scubadevils


    OK I've resisted long enough - I'll probably end up posting several greatest ever tracks but sure it is the internet...

    Keeping on an Aphex Twin theme, this is a huge one for me...



  • Subscribers Posts: 8,325 ✭✭✭Scubadevils


    On a much more chilled note, this has always been very special for me, amazing piece of music from an underrated producer... the album this is taken from is stunning.

    Beaumont Hannant - Mind Colours



    Maybe the thread should be 'the greatest tracks ever written'?! :pac:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 305 ✭✭lb1997


    On a much more chilled note, this has always been very special for me, amazing piece of music from an underrated producer... the album this is taken from is stunning.

    Beaumont Hannant - Mind Colours



    Maybe the thread should be 'the greatest tracks ever written'?! :pac:

    no cos the idea was that it was one per person but yeah it would make more sense haha


  • Subscribers Posts: 8,325 ✭✭✭Scubadevils


    lb1997 wrote: »
    no cos the idea was that each person had that one song that they like more than any other but yeah it would make more sense haha

    Told ya I couldn't commit to one, but yet the allure of 'greatest tracks' dragged me in...


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,574 ✭✭✭francois


    Even aged 8 I knew this was something special



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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,013 ✭✭✭Ole Rodrigo




  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,511 ✭✭✭Heisenberg1


    Not the greatest track but I always loved how this comes together



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,327 ✭✭✭Billy Mays


    This for me. 303 perfection from Hardfloor.

    Hearing this in a club at the peak of the night :eek: :eek: :eek:



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,670 ✭✭✭jonnny68


    Realistically I could list dozens of tunes, almost impossible to answer but as long as I live never forget hearing this seminal warehouse classic in 1990,goosebumps and rushing like a ****ing demon, it was remixed last year but nothing can touch the vintage original tune.

    http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PtFb5Y6Os8c&feature=kp


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 184 ✭✭Beakflakes


    Impossible to pick. Change my mind every few weeks. Hmmmm


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,213 ✭✭✭was.deevey




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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11 1st Yr Lab




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 184 ✭✭Beakflakes


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juFMFhPSnvI


    This is in with a shout for me...


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 184 ✭✭Beakflakes


    Billy Mays wrote: »
    This for me. 303 perfection from Hardfloor.

    Hearing this in a club at the peak of the night :eek: :eek: :eek:


    Superb track. Deserving of a place here for sure!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,115 ✭✭✭asteroids over berlin


    old school dnb with a new fresh twist (at the time)


    epicness - reminds me of summer time partying (back in the day)


    his done a lot of great if not brilliant tracks but this one just for everything - video, music complexity, ground breaking even!


  • Subscribers Posts: 8,325 ✭✭✭Scubadevils


    I'm going to add two more tracks that are really special to me, both in terms of how much I love them and the memories I associate with them. I've always had a real soft spot for long epic tracks and both of the below fit the bill in that context.

    The first is a remix by Slam, you'd never hear the first half out, or I certainly never did - it was always about the change at 8.25 - I'll never forget hearing this out, the place fcking exploded - stunning track. I enjoy the build too, but it's really about 8.25+.

    One Dove - White Love (Slam Mix)



    This second then is quite an obvious classic. It always pssed me off though when it was cut short as the last few minutes are absolutely mind-bending :eek: I loved playing this fully anytime I did parties etc back then and it always got a brilliant reaction right to the end. Without question for me one of the all-time classics of dance music.

    Sabres of Paradise - Smokebelch II (David Holmes Mix)



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3 cudtech


    Since Autobahn has already been posted, I'll stick this one up off the top of my head



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 456 ✭✭Bootsy.


    I know this is technically 2 tracks but they are always played together and the live combo of both tracks has become the definitive version imo. For me, the best electronic track ever.



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,700 ✭✭✭ThirdMan


    I couldn't possibly pick just one, but I have to put up something so it may as well be this.



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,150 ✭✭✭kumate_champ07


    1994, had this on repeat. still gets the hairs standing





  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,933 ✭✭✭holystungun9


    So so many tracks but this one did spring to mind as I never tire of hearing it.



  • Subscribers Posts: 8,325 ✭✭✭Scubadevils


    I went to post Intensities to compliment the above but it's gone from YouTube - decided I'd upload it but when it completed I got a 'blocked worldwide' message on YT - I've had quite a few Soma tracks now blocked, blinkered mofos.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,283 ✭✭✭Maysa07




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,019 ✭✭✭✭JRant


    http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DutKmbxWpLo&feature=kp

    A lovely little collaboration between Squarepusher & AFX(Aphex Twin).

    Still enjoy listening to it even after all these years.

    "Well, yeah, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man"



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,375 ✭✭✭✭kunst nugget


    This second then is quite an obvious classic. It always pssed me off though when it was cut short as the last few minutes are absolutely mind-bending :eek: I loved playing this fully anytime I did parties etc back then and it always got a brilliant reaction right to the end. Without question for me one of the all-time classics of dance music.

    Sabres of Paradise - Smokebelch II (David Holmes Mix)


    Ah, serious choonage... I love this with every fibre of my being. Something about the acid freakout at the end always reminds me of this tune...



    Seriously, if all of y'all haven't heard this remix, get into your lives. It's amazing...

    It makes me all squirmy in the headnut. Just like hearing that voice intone 'Positive Education' over those stabs. Nothing finer than hearing that when your full of disco biscuits. Ah, the auld Slam and the way they'd look at you.

    A bit of logical progression is called. The finest bit of mc-ing on a jungle track I ever did hear...



    (Can't find the whole tune for some reason)

    Two other tunes in the old skool styelage...





  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,019 ✭✭✭✭JRant


    On a techno theme I always enjoyed this one.

    Umek -Gatex

    http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pWlw362oZH0&feature=kp

    "Well, yeah, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man"



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