The 15 Best Songs From the Electronica Era

Seeing as we were around during the last huge electronic music phase in America, it's hard to not look at today's EDM scene and compare it to the last

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

Seeing as we were around during the last huge electronic music phase in America, it's hard to not look at today's EDM scene and compare it to the last time America truly gave a fig. The period stretching from the mid-'90s to the Y2K bug scare was a marvelous time to be a fan of dance music, as labels were setting up subsidiaries and pouring decent amounts of money into life-changing acts like Daft Punk, The Prodigy, and the Chemical Brothers. There wasn't a huge market, so it felt like there was a freedom to experiment, not worrying about ad dollars or keeping small imprint afloat to sustain a career. All of those factors lead to some of the most extraordinary electronic music ever, and in living in an age where EDM is being pushed as the new pop, we wanted to look back at a time when electronica was churning out gems just to make timeless music.

Photek - "Ni-Ten-Ichi-Ryu (Two Swords Technique)"

Not Available Interstitial

Label: Science / Virgin

Year: 1997

During this era, Photek shunned what everyone else in drum & bass and jungle music was creating, drawing from totally different areas to bring his own unique take on the sound. "Ni-Ten-Ichi-Ryu" turned into a classic because it stuck to its guns; there was a jazzy flair to the four-note bass, the razor-sharp drum work, and the sense of danger. It was like listening to a supreme master train for the fight of their life, and while it's not one of the most recognizable tracks from this era, it is one of the best by far. The wild part is this came out on Science, a subsidiary of Virgin, and is something that couldn't happen in 2013 at all.

Wink - "Are You There..."

Not Available Interstitial

Label: Columbia

Year: 1996

Acid techno! Was Philly DJ/producer Josh Wink's "Higher State of Consciousness" the more successful single? Surely; it hit #8 in the UK, although it was alternate versions that were much more well-received. In America, however, it was the intriguing "are you there?" vocal thrown atop those acid beats and looped breaks that sent the electronica set crazy. It also set Wink apart from many of the more popular UK transplants at the time, letting the world know that America did have a rave scene, with producers who were just as apt to craft homegrown bangers that could receive critical acclaim.

Robert Miles - "Children"

Not Available Interstitial

Label: DBX

Year: 1995

Epic dream trance from Robert Miles' Dreamland album, "Children was a song that was designed to help curb the growing epidemic of drunken club goers causing auto accidents. The idea was that this track was to be played at the end of the night to help people calm down, and while we don't have stats to highlight how well this aided in stemming auto deaths after clubbing, one can imagine that this should've done the job. It did contain an easily recognizable piano riff that helped push this from just being a club tune to truly catching more mainstream attention, hitting #1 on every European singles chart at the time. This is a pretty awesome feat for a song with no vocals whatsoever.

15 SONGS THAT GAVE DANCE MUSIC A GOOD NAME

Sneaker Pimps - "Spin Spin Sugar (Armand's Dark Garage Mix)"

Not Available Interstitial

Label: Clean Up

Year: 1997

What do you get when you combine the "garage" side of house music with the bass of drum & bass? Speed garage, of course, which many see as being crafted by this very remix from Armand van Helden. Armand was a beast in this phase, gaining a grip of club acclaim as well as being in high demand for remix work. He weaved a cyclone of funky, sub-low bass and ethereal vocals into one of the most popular remixes of the 1990s, as evidenced by it being featured on a number of compilations, including ones from Ministry of Sound and MTV Grind.

Faithless - "Insomnia"

Not Available Interstitial

Label: Cheeky

Year: 1995

Faithless' "Insomnia" spoke to a number of ravers out there who lived for the night/weekend and, sadly, the drugs that kept them partying to the break of dawn (and beyond). Insomnia was and is real for the raver massive, and Faithless brought those vibes to song perfectly. It was one of their biggest hits, hitting #1 in 1996 on the UK charts, then re-entering at #48... in 2005. Talk about staying power.

Orbital - "The Box"

Not Available Interstitial

Label: FFRR

Year: 1996

Brothers Paul and Phil Hartnoll created Orbital, and proceeded to incorporate a number of electronic music styles into their music, from ambient to trance to techno. They had received numerous accolades prior to releasing their fourth album, In Sides, but there was something about this opus from 1996 that sat in a different light than their previous work, and was properly realized in their 1996 single "The Box." The full version of this track clocked in at 28 minutes, with a slow, brooding build that grew into a more uptempo, fast-paced feast. In this one track, you definitely saw the duo's growth, with film soundtrack and video game work coming post-In Sides.

Roni Size / Reprazent - "Brown Paper Bag"

Not Available Interstitial

Label: Talkin' Loud

Year: 1997

If Goldie let the mainstream know that drum & bass wasn't a joke, Roni Size / Reprazent's New Forms was the gem that showed the world that this form of music can properly incorporate jazz, hip-hop, and live instrumentation, ultimately creating some captivating material. "Brown Paper Bag" highlight Roni's love for the double bass, and resident MC Dynamite added some fresh lyrics to the procedure, like the icing on the cake. It was one of the sparks that helped this album grab the prestigious Mercury Music Prize in 1997, aligning Reprazent with UK acts like Portishead and Primal Scream.

ESSENTIAL RONI SIZE

Aphex Twin - "Come to Daddy"

Not Available Interstitial

Label: Warp

Year: 1997

"Come to Daddy" is one of Aphex Twin's most well-known songs, which can be odd considering how unconventional it is compared to the rest of his catalog. He'd been known for more ambient, "intelligent" dance music leanings before embarking (alongside µ-Ziq) into this phase that some journalists were calling "drill & bass." "Come to Daddy" was said to be a mark on producers who were copycatting Aphex's style, and featured a massive amount of aggression with heavily-edited beats. To be fair, the legacy this song left was probably due to the intense video, which featured a number of children wearing Aphex's face and terrorizing an old woman.

THE 10 ODDEST EDM MUSIC VIDEOS

Moby - Play

Not Available Interstitial

Fatboy Slim - "Praise You"

Not Available Interstitial

Label: Astralwerks

Year: 1999

Fatboy Slim. Maybe it was the creative name that stuck out in my eight-year-old mind, or maybe it was the funky beat that had me jumping up and down from the second I loaded this CD. Either in my walkman or in the car asking my dad to play this song on the stereo, I could not get enough of the wacky Fatboy Slim sounds. Norman Cook's musical genius manifested in a lot of different ways, but with "Praise You," the producer fuses elements of big band, rock, hip-hop, and soul to make one seriously catchy breakbeat tune. Listening to this song we'll go right down memory lane, and before you know it we're all dancing.

Chemical Brothers - "Block Rockin' Beats"

Not Available Interstitial

Label: Astralwerks

Year: 1997

Is it weird that the second single from the Chemical Brothers' second album made such an impact? It shouldn't be. There was something about the combined fury of that Schooly D vocal sample, that hypnotic bassline and those big drums that turned this one into an anthem for the breakbeat set. Not only did "Block Rockin' Beats" hit #40 on the US Modern Rock chart, but this track also won a Grammy for "Best Rock Instrumental Performance."

Underworld - "Born Slippy.NUXX"

Not Available Interstitial

Label: Junior Boy's Own

Year: 1996

The best part about this isn't that the that pounding rhythm and vocal was meant to be a joke, some kind of weird internal monologue that drunks go through (Underworld member Karl Hyde was said to have been a functioning alcoholic at the time). This also shows the power of proper visuals at the time; the ".NUXX" mix of "Born Slippy" didn't receive any attention when it was initially released as a single, and it wasn't until the classic film Trainspotting included it in the film (and on the soundtrack) that it hit #2 on the UK charts in the summer of 1996. It's popularity has spread to many compilations and releases, and its said that since 1996, Underworld has worked it into every live show they've had. It's an undeniable progressive house staple that any student of electronic music should have in their repertoire.

Goldie - "Inner City Life"

Not Available Interstitial

Label: FFRR

Year: 1995

While Goldie had been in the rave scene for four years before this seminal single was released, it felt like all of that time spent creating and experimenting lead up to the formation of this opus. This was one part of the 21-minute gem that capped off his album Timeless, and is one of the biggest tracks to emerge from the drum & bass scene, ever. Chock full of soul, precision breakbeat edits, and strings, "Inner City Life" helped let the mainstream know that drum & bass was more than the chin-stroking dark sounds in the corner, and was more than capable of making tracks that could move you emotionally.

10 ESSENTIAL GOLDIE TRACKS

The Prodigy - "Firestarter"

Not Available Interstitial

Label: XL Recordings

Year: 1996

The Prodigy wasn't a new group when this 1996 monster hit the music scene; they'd made waves in the early 1990s as more of a raver-friendly act. Early proto-jungle and acid vibes dominated their previous works, although Music for the Jilted Generation hinted at some of the sounds we'd get with their third album, Fat of the Land. All of the pieces seemed to fit; primary producer Liam Howlett took their sample-heavy sound and injected some of the rock aspects that had slowly started to creep into their music, created a pre-millenium powder keg that was waiting for the proper ignition, which was dancer/vocalist Keith Flint, who wildly altered his appearance and became an icon for the next breed of electronic music fan. It wasn't done on purpose, but the sound and look of The Prodigy was just what the mainstream needed, and was rewarded as it hit #1 on the charts in the UK, Finland, and Norway, and was certified gold in the US, UK, Finland, and Sweden. It represented the aggression brewing on both sides of the Atlantic, and is one of the most instantly recognizable songs from the 1990s.

Daft Punk - "Around the World"

Not Available Interstitial

Label: Virgin

Year: 1996

You could probably add just about any of Daft Punk's Homework-era singles to this list, but there's something about the impact that "Around the World" made. It wasn't the first single, but its simplicity made it one of the most catchy. It hit #1 on Billboard's US Hot Dance Club chart, and was a certified club smash worldwide. It also came with an unforgettable music video, with all kinds of creatures frolicking around a colorful stage. This was the sound that typified the Daft Punk vibe from the 1990s.

ESSENTIAL DAFT PUNK

Latest in Music