Intelligent dance music

Intelligent dance music (commonly abbreviated as IDM) is a

style of electronic music originating in the early 1990s, regarded Intelligent dance music
as "cerebral" and better suited to home listening than Other Electronic listening
dancing.[3][4][5] Emerging from electronic and rave music styles names music[1][2] ·
such as techno, acid house, ambient music, and breakbeat,[6][7] intelligent techno[1][2] ·
IDM tended to rely upon individualistic experimentation rather
art techno[1]
than adhering to characteristics associated with specific genres.[8]
Prominent artists associated with the genre include Aphex Twin, Stylistic Electronica · techno ·
μ-Ziq, the Black Dog, the Orb, the Future Sound of London, origins ambient · acid house ·
Autechre, Luke Vibert, Squarepusher, Venetian Snares and Boards breakbeat · electro ·
of Canada.[3][4] jungle · avant-garde
Cultural Early 1990s,
The term "intelligent dance music" has been widely criticised and
dismissed by most artists associated with the term, including origins United Kingdom
Aphex Twin, Autechre, and μ-Ziq. The term was likely inspired by Typical Keyboard · synthesizer
the 1992 Warp compilation Artificial Intelligence and is said to instruments · drum machine ·
have originated in the US[9][10] in 1993 with the formation of the digital audio workstation
"IDM list", an electronic mailing list originally chartered for the
Derivative Breakcore · drill 'n' bass
discussion of English artists appearing on compilation.[11] In 2014,
forms · glitch · microhouse ·
music critic Sasha Frere-Jones observed that the term "is widely
reviled but still commonly used".[12] post-rock · wonky
Other topics
Acid techno · ambient techno ·
Contents electronic dance music

History
Intelligent techno and electronica
The IDM List
Artificial Intelligence Vol. 2
IDM worldwide
Criticism of the term
See also
References
Further reading
External links

History

Intelligent techno and electronica

In the late 1980s, riding the wave of the acid house and early rave party scenes, UK-based groups such as
The Orb and The KLF produced ambient house, a genre that fused house music (particularly acid house)
with ambient music.[13] By the early 1990s, the increasingly distinct music associated with dance music
experimentation had gained prominence with releases on a variety of mostly UK-based record labels,
including Warp (1989), Black Dog Productions (1989), R&S Records (1989), Carl Craig's Planet E, Rising
High Records (1991), Richard James's Rephlex Records (1991), Kirk Degiorgio's Applied Rhythmic
Technology (1991), Eevo Lute Muzique (1991), General Production Recordings (1989), Soma Quality
Recordings (1991), Peacefrog Records (1991), and Metamorphic Recordings (1992).

In 1992, Warp released Artificial Intelligence, the first album in the Artificial Intelligence series. Subtitled
"electronic listening music from Warp", the record was a collection of tracks from artists such as Autechre,
B12, The Black Dog, Aphex Twin and The Orb, under various aliases.[14] This would help establish the
ambient techno sound of the early 1990s.[15] Steve Beckett, co-owner of Warp, has said the electronic music
that the label was releasing then was targeting a post-club, home-listening audience.[16][17] Following the
success of the Artificial Intelligence series, "intelligent techno" became the favored term, although ambient
—without a qualifying house or techno suffix, but still referring to a hybrid form—was a common
synonym.[17]

In the same period (1992–93), other names were also used, such as "art techno,"[18] "armchair techno," and
"electronica",[19] but all were attempts to describe an emerging offshoot of electronic dance music that was
being enjoyed by the "sedentary and stay at home".[20] At the same time, the UK market was saturated with
increasingly frenetic breakbeat and sample-laden hardcore techno records that quickly became formulaic.
Rave had become a "dirty word," so as an alternative, it was common for London nightclubs to advertise
that they were playing "intelligent" or "pure" techno, appealing to a "discerning" crowd that considered the
hardcore sound to be too commercial.[17]

In 1993, a number of new "intelligent techno"/"electronica" record labels emerged, including New
Electronica, Mille Plateaux, 100% Pure, and Ferox Records.

The IDM List

In November 1991, the phrase "intelligent techno" appeared on Usenet in reference to Coil's The Snow
EP.[21] Off the Internet, the same phrase appeared in both the U.S. and U.K. music press in late 1992, in
reference to Jam & Spoon's Tales from a Danceographic Ocean and the music of The Future Sound of
London.[22][23] Another instance of the phrase appeared on Usenet in April 1993 in reference to The Black
Dog's album Bytes.[24] And in July 1993, in his review of an ethno-dance compilation for NME, Ben
Willmott replaced techno with dance music, writing "...current 'intelligent' dance music owes much more to
Eastern mantra-like repetition and neo-ambient instrumentation than the disco era which preceded the
advent of acid and techno."[25]

Wider public use of such terms on the Internet came in August 1993, when Alan Parry announced the
existence of a new electronic mailing list for discussion of "intelligent" dance music: the "Intelligent Dance
Music list", or "IDM List" for short.[26][27]

The first message, sent on 1 August 1993, was entitled "Can Dumb People Enjoy IDM, Too?".[28] A reply
from the list server's system administrator, Brian Behlendorf, revealed that Parry originally wanted to create
a list devoted to discussion of the music on the Rephlex label, but they decided together to expand its charter
to include music similar to what was on Rephlex or that was in different genres but which had been made
with similar approaches. They picked the word "intelligent" because it had already appeared on Artificial
Intelligence and because it connoted being something beyond just music for dancing, while still being open
to interpretation.[29]
Artists that appeared in the first discussions on the list included
Autechre, Atom Heart, LFO and Rephlex Records artists such as
Aphex Twin, μ-ziq and Luke Vibert; plus artists such as The Orb,
Richard H. Kirk and The Future Sound of London, and even artists
like System 7, William Orbit, Sabres of Paradise, Orbital,
Plastikman and Björk. By the end of 1996, Boards of Canada and the
Schematic Records label were among the usual topics of discussion,
alongside perennial favorites like Aphex Twin and the Warp
repertoire.
Autechre, notable electronic music
As of 2015, the mailing list is still active.
act associated with IDM.

Artificial Intelligence Vol. 2

Warp's second Artificial Intelligence compilation was released in 1994. The album featured fragments of
posts from the IDM mailing list incorporated into typographic artwork by The Designers Republic. Sleeve
notes by David Toop acknowledged the genre's multitude of musical and cultural influences and suggested
none should be considered more important than any other.[6]

During this period, the electronic music produced by Warp Records artists such as Aphex Twin (an alias of
Richard D. James), Autechre, LFO, B12, Seefeel and The Black Dog, gained popularity among electronic
music fans, as did music by artists on the Rephlex and Skam labels. Lesser-known artists on the Likemind
label and Kirk Degiorgio's A.R.T. and Op-Art labels, including Degiorgio himself under various names (As
One, Future/Past and Esoterik), Steve Pickton (Stasis) and Nurmad Jusat (Nuron) also found an audience,
along with bigger-name, cross-genre artists like Björk and Future Sound of London.

IDM worldwide

In the mid-1990s, North American audiences welcomed IDM, and many IDM record labels were founded,
including Drop Beat, Isophlux, Suction, Schematic and Cytrax.[30] In Miami, Florida, labels like Schematic,
Merck Records, Nophi Recordings and The Beta Bodega Coalition released material by artists such as
Phoenecia, Dino Felipe, Machinedrum and Proem. Another burgeoning scene was the Chicago/Milwaukee
area, with labels such as Addict, Chocolate Industries, Hefty and Zod supporting artists like Doormouse,
TRS-80, Telefon Tel Aviv and Emotional Joystick. Tigerbeat 6, a San Francisco-based label has released
IDM from artists such as Cex, Kid 606 and Kevin Blechdom.

Contemporary IDM artists include Team Doyobi, Himuro Yoshiteru, Kettel, Ochre, 8b
(http://8bmuzik.com), Marumari, Benn Jordan, Proem, Lackluster, Arovane, Ulrich Schnauss, East India
Youth, Yosi Horikawa and Wisp, among many others.[31]

Criticism of the term

British electronic music and techno artists, including Aphex Twin, Cylob, and Mike Paradinas (A.K.A. μ-
Ziq), have criticised the term IDM. Paradinas has stated that the term IDM was only used in North America.
Criticism is dominated by the use of the term "intelligent" in the genre name, and also often calls attention to
the fact that artists working under this name often produce music that is not easy to dance to.

Allmusic Guide describes the IDM name as

 A loaded term meant to distinguish electronic music of the '90s and later that's equally
comfortable on the dancefloor as in the living room, IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) eventually
acquired a good deal of negative publicity, not least among the legion of dance producers and
fans whose exclusion from the community prompted the question of whether they produced
"Stupid" dance music.[32]

In a September 1997 interview, Aphex Twin commented on the 'Intelligent Dance Music' label:

I just think it's really funny to have terms like that. It's basically saying 'this is intelligent and
everything else is stupid.' It's really nasty to everyone else's music. (laughs) It makes me laugh,
things like that. I don't use names. I just say that I like something or I don't.[33]

Aphex Twin's Rephlex records official overarching genre name is Braindance, of which Dave Segal of
Stylus Magazine asked whether it was a "snide dig at IDM’s mockworthy Intelligent Dance Music tag?"[34]

Kid 606 has said,

It's a label invented by PR companies who need catchphrases. I like sounds, but hate what
people attach to sounds.[35]

Matmos has remarked on Perfect Sound Forever that

I belong to the weblist called "IDM" and occasionally enjoy the discussions there, because I
like some of the artists who get lassoed into that category (not to mention that we, occasionally,
are lumped into that category too), and because you can occasionally find out about interesting
records on that list... Matmos is IDM if that only means "might be talked about on the IDM
list"- but I don't endorse that term "intelligent dance music" because it's laughable.

In a 2016 interview with Resident Advisor, Sean Booth of Autechre said that,

All these things about us being "intelligent" and the term "IDM" are just silly. I'm not a
particularly intelligent person, me. I'm diligent, I'm pretty hardworking, but I'm not that clever.
I ain't got any qualifications, I just pick up stuff that I think is interesting at the time...There was
also the "Artificial Intelligence" tag that Warp coined, but to me as a listener that never seemed
to be saying "this is more intelligent." It was just a signifier of it being sci-fi music...Thing is,
almost all the artists on that first AI compilation are just like us, they were regular kids, they're
not intelligent people particularly. Richard [D. James] is a fucking blagger, Richie Hawtin too...
I don't know how the fuck he gets away with the things he does![36]

In a review of Aphex Twin's Syro Insomniac called IDM an "awfully dumb tag for experimental techno."[37]

See also
Folktronica
Glitch
 List of electronic music genres
List of IDM artists

References
1. Cardew, Ben. "Machines of loving grace: how Artificial Intelligence helped techno grow up" (htt
ps://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jul/03/artificial-intelligence-compilation-album-warp-rec
ords-idm-intelligent-dance-music). The Guardian. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
2. Winfield, Adam. "Is IDM Dead?" (https://igloomag.com/features/is-idm-dead). Igloo Magazine.
Retrieved 1 February 2020.
3. Pollard, Vincent. "Translator" (http://exclaim.ca/music/article/translator-idm). Exclaim!.
Retrieved 28 April 2017.
4. "IDM" (http://www.allmusic.com/subgenre/idm-ma0000004477). Allmusic. Retrieved
20 January 2013.
5. Hobbes, DJ (26 February 2013). "Clubbers' Decktionary: IDM aka Intelligent Dance Music" (htt
ps://www.list.co.uk/article/49207-clubbers-decktionary-idm-aka-intelligent-dance-music/). The
List. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
6. "The electronic listening music of the nineties is a prime example of an art form derived from
and stimulated by countless influences. Partisan analyses of this music claim a baffling variety
of prime sources (Detroit techno, New York electro + Chicago acid, Eno + Bowie, Cage +
Reich, Gary Numan + Tangerine Dream) but this is beside the point. To claim ascendancy of
one source over another is to deny the labyrinthine entwinements of culture: rooted in political
history + the development of science + technology, yet tilting at the boundaries of society +
language." Toop, David, in the Artificial Intelligence II sleeve notes (http://stream.anglepoised.c
om/post/27074118/david-toop-essay-from-the-artificial-intelligence) Archived (https://web.archi
ve.org/web/20110707143210/http://stream.anglepoised.com/post/27074118/david-toop-essay-
from-the-artificial-intelligence) 7 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
7. Toop, D. (1995),Ocean of Sound, Serpent's Tail, pp. 215-216. (ISBN 978-1-85242-743-6).
8. "…the label ‘IDM’ (for avant-garde, ‘intelligent dance music’) seems to be based more on an
association with individualistic experimentation than on a particular set of musical
characteristics." Butler, M.J., Unlocking the Groove: Rhythm, Meter, and Musical Design in
Electronic Dance Music, Indiana University Press, 2006, (p. 80).
9. Winfield, Adam (24 November 2007). "Is IDM Dead?" (http://igloomag.com/features/is-idm-dea
d). igloo magazine. "…use of the idiom was initiated online with the conception of the IDM
mailing list in 1993, which functioned as a forum for discussion on leading IDM artists and
Artificial Intelligence. Incidentally, when I questioned Mike Paradinas (μ-Ziq) on his feelings
towards the term, he bluntly answered: 'No one uses or used it in UK. Only Americans ever
used the term. It was invented by Alan Parry who set up the IDM mailing list'."
10. "'No one really listens to IDM over here,' says Mike Paradinas from his home in Worchester,
UK. 'You just say stuff like the Aphex Twin, and they might have heard of him.' It's a bold
statement for Paradinas, who, along with friends and contemporaries like Richard James
(Aphex Twin) and LFO, was one of that genre's defining artists in London's fertile dance music
community of the early 1990s." "'No one says IDM in England? No, only on message boards
when they're talking to Americans!" Ben Stirling (2003), Junkmedia.org (http://www.junkmedia.
org/index.php?i=773) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20110524010937/http://www.junk
media.org/index.php?i=773) 24 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine, published 28 July 2003.
11. "the development of IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) is closely entwined with a mailing list
established to discuss the work of seminal post-techno producers like Autechre and Aphex
Twin; in fact, the name ‘IDM’ originated with the mailing list, but now is routinely applied by
reviewers, labels and fans alike." Sherburne, P. (2001:172), Organised Sound (2001), 6 : 171-
176 Cambridge University Press, 2002.
12. Frere-Jones, Sasha (6 October 2014). "The Pleasure Principle. Aphex Twin smooths out his
edges" (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/06/pleasure-principle). The New Yorker.
13. "Ambient House" (http://www.allmusic.com/style/ambient-house-ma0000012031). AllMusic.
Retrieved 15 November 2014.
14. Allmusic Guide, Overview of Artificial Intelligence (https://www.allmusic.com/album/r215956)
15. Reynolds, Simon (2012). Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture.
Soft Skull Press. pp. 156–7.
16. …the dance scene was changing and we were hearing B-sides that weren't dance but were
interesting and fitted into experimental, progressive rock, so we decided to make the
compilation 'Artificial Intelligence', which became a milestone… it felt like we were leading the
market rather than it leading us, the music was aimed at home listening rather than clubs and
dance floors: people coming home, off their nuts, and having the most interesting part of the
night listening to totally tripped out music. The sound fed the scene. Birke S. (2007), "Label
Profile: Warp Records" (https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/music-magaz
ine/label-profile/label-profile-warp-records-768021.html), The Independent (UK), Music
Magazine (supplement), newspaper article published 2/11/07
17. Reynolds, S., (1999). Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture,
Routledge, New York, (pp. 180-205)
18. "Art Techno Favorites". Reactor Mega-Magazine (4): 21. December 1992.
19. "Of all the terms devised for contemporary non-academic electronic music (the sense intended
here), 'electronica' is one of the most loaded and controversial. While on the one hand it does
seem the most convenient catch-all phrase, under any sort of scrutiny it begins to implode. In
its original 1992-93 sense it was largely coterminous with the more explicitly elitist 'intelligent
techno', a term used to establish distance from and imply distaste for, all other more
dancefloor-oriented types of techno, ignoring the fact that many of its practitioners such as
Richard James (Aphex Twin) were as adept at brutal dancefloor tracks as what its detractors
present as self-indulgent ambient 'noodling'". Blake, Andrew, Living Through Pop, Routledge,
1999. p 155.
20. Reynolds (1998), p181.
21. Google Groups archive of rec.music.industrial, "Coil, The Snow EP" (https://groups.google.co
m/group/rec.music.industrial/msg/44a6402995500106)
22. Needs, Kris (26 September 1992). "On The Tip: Marching Through Germany's Techno Love
Parade". Billboard: 45.
23. McCann, Ian (14 November 1992). "Short Circuit: Various: Earth Beat [review]". New Musical
Express: 32.
24. Google Groups archive of alt.rave, "miniREVIEWS galore (No hardcore please, we're Finnish)"
[1] (https://groups.google.com/group/alt.rave/msg/a3a68dfae9daeca4)
25. Willmott, Ben (10 July 1993). "Various – Global Sweatbox [review]". New Musical Express: 33.
26. [Intelligent Dance Music] "is a forum for the discussion of what has been termed 'intelligent'
music – that is, music that moves the mind, not just the body. There is no specific definition of
intelligence in music, however, artists that I see as appropriate are FSOL, Orb, Orbital, Richard
James (aka Aphex Twin), Black Dog, B12, and various others from Warp's 'Artificial
Intelligence' series. Of course, the list is open to all interpretations of intelligent dance music."
Quote by Alan Parry in an IDM mailing list announcement posted on alt.rave, dated Aug. 1993
27. Google Groups archive of alt.rave, "list announcement: IDM" (https://groups.google.com/group/
alt.rave/browse_thread/thread/b8592fef4a3a14b4)
28. " "Can Dumb People Enjoy IDM, Too?", the first post to the IDM list" (https://web.archive.org/w
eb/20071117155018/http://elists.resynthesize.com/idm/1993/08/412599/). Archived from the
original (http://elists.resynthesize.com/idm/1993/08/412599/) on 17 November 2007. Retrieved
26 January 2011.
29. " "Re: Can Dumb People Enjoy IDM, Too?" post from Brian Behlendorf to the IDM list" (https://
web.archive.org/web/20071118071301/http://elists.resynthesize.com/idm/1993/08/412600/).
Archived from the original (http://elists.resynthesize.com/idm/1993/08/412600/) on 18
November 2007. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
30. All Musi IDM (https://www.allmusic.com/explore/style/d11690)
31. Winfield, Adam (24 November 2007). "Is IDM Dead?" (http://igloomag.com/features/is-idm-dea
d). igloo magazine.
32. IDM page at (http://www.allmusic.com/subgenre/idm-ma0000004477)AllMusic
33. Aphex Twin interview, September, 1997 (http://www.furious.com/perfect/aphextwin.html)
34. Rephlexions!: A Braindance Compilation, 20 November 2003, Dave Segal, Stylus Magazine,
[2] (http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/various-artists/rephlexions-a-braindance-compilati
on.htm)
35. Kid606 Ultrahang festival (http://www.mpiii.com/UpDownload-index-req-viewdownloaddetails-li
d-1853.html) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20070930005410/http://www.mpiii.com/Up
Download-index-req-viewdownloaddetails-lid-1853.html) 30 September 2007 at the Wayback
Machine
36. Muggs, Joe (6 June 2016). "Review: Autechre - NTS Sessions 1-4" (https://www.residentadvis
or.net/features/2756). Resident Advisor. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
37. Kelley, Thomas. "Aphex Twin's 'Syro': A Track-by-Track Review" (https://www.insomniac.com/
magazine/aphex-twins-syro-a-track-by-track-review/). Insomniac. Retrieved 9 September
2019.

Further reading
Ramsay, Ben. "Tools, Techniques and Composition: Bridging Acousmatic and IDM (http://cec.s
onus.ca/econtact/14_4/ramsay_acousmatic-idm.html)." eContact! 14.4 – TES 2011: Toronto
Electroacoustic Symposium / Symposium électroacoustique de Toronto (March 2013).
Montréal: CEC.
Reynolds, S., Energy Flash: a Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture, Pan
Macmillan, 1998 [also published in abridged form as Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of
Techno and Rave Culture, Routledge, New York 1999] (ISBN 978-0-330-35056-3).

External links
The Intelligent Dance Music Mailing List (http://music.hyperreal.org/lists/idm/) – list info
Archive of posts to The IDM Mailing List (1993–2008) (https://web.archive.org/web/200806242
01354/http://elists.resynthesize.com/idm/)
original list announcement (http://groups-beta.google.com/group/alt.rave/msg/af70a963a5002d
dd?hl=en&fwc=1) on alt.rave, 8 August 1993
I.D.M. (https://curlie.org/Arts/Music/Styles/E/Electronica/I.D.M.) at Curlie
Last.fm group for IDM artist discussion (http://www.last.fm/group/Intelligent+Dance+Music)

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