As a long-time IDM list veteran, I'm going to pick a few nits here. Long, yet necessary (in my pathological trainspottery opinion).
On Thu, 29 Aug 2002, Tristan Watkins wrote: > > The ART series were released on New Electronica. > I believe it was just the name of the comp(s). The last one (or two) may > have been on OpArt, which New Electronica sorta morphed into (again, > peicing together memories, but I'm pretty sure this is right). He also > put out the 'Global Technological Innovations' series, which also be > classified as IDM. > Applied Rhythmic Technology, also known as A.R.T. was a very influential detroit-influenced label run by Kirk DeGiorgio from 1992 to 1995. In 1996, because of a name conflict, A.R.T. morphed into Operation Applied Rhythmic Technology, or Op-Art, as the umbrella title for the entire organisation and the record label Most of the A.R.T. releases showcased various artists, e.g. DeGiorgio's projects Future/Past, As One, Esoterik, and Elegt; Ed Handley and Andy Turner's (then two thirds of Black Dog Productions, now know as Plaid) Balil and Atypic; Carl Craig's Psyche and B.F.C., Steve Pickton's (Stasis) Phenomyna, and B12's (Mike Golding/Steve Rutter) Redcell and Cmetric. The first CD release on A.R.T. was a joint compilation with another up-and-coming IDM-referenced label, RePHLeX (run by Grant Wilson-Claridge and Richard D. James, also known as the Aphex Twin, Caustic Window, Polygon Window, Pac-Man, and The Dice Man). On this compilation, you can find the first appearance of Aphex Twin's Blue Calx (under the name Blue Calx), later released on Selected Ambient Works II on Warp, as well as the only known Q-Chastic track from the fabled 2x7" (CAT002) on RePHLeX. Here's a quick discography: ART1 Future/Past; As One; Balil; Atypic (12", 1992) ART2CD Various - The Philosophy of Sound and Machine (CD, 1992) ART2.1 Various - The Philosophy of Sound and Machine pt. 1 (12", 1992) ART2.2 Various - The Philosophy of Sound and Machine pt. 2 (12", 1992) ART3 Psyche/B.F.C. [Carl Craig] (12", 1993) ART4CD Various - Applied Rhythmic Technology (CD, 1994) ART5CD Phenomyna - Unexplained (CD, 1994) ART5.1 Phenomyna - Explained (remixes) pt. 1 (12", 1994) ART5.2 Phenomyna - Explained (remixes) pt. 2 (12", 1994) ART6 Elegy - Ensemble (12", 1994) ART7.1 Various, split with B12 Records (B1214.1) (12", 1994) ART7.2 Various, split with B12 Records (B1214.2) (12", 1994) Op-Art had only six releases, one by the now ubiquitous drum'n'bass favourite Photek, one by Autocreation (K. Hector and T. Patterson), one by The 4th Wave (Steve Paton) who also had a release on Planet E, one by Sensurreal and two by Paul W. Teebrooke, another one of Steve Pickton's aliases (besides Stasis etc.). As an aside, Steve Paton ran another quite influential and short-lived IDM-referenced label called The 4th Wave with releases by Ian O'Brian, Wavescape etc. OP1 Photek - T'raenon (12", 1996) OP2 Autocreation - Caught Short (12", 1996) OP3 The 4th Wave - Attention Please (12", 1996) OP4 Paul W. Teebrooke - Nova (12", 1996) OP5 Sensurreal - Newbranddesign (12", 1997) OP6 Paul W. Teebrooke - Connections (2xLP/CD, 1996) Now, to explain the connection between A.R.T./Op-Art and Beechwood Music's sublabel New Elecronica, let me guide your attention towards a couple of snippets from my New Electronica discography (which can be found in it's entirety from http://www.diversion.org/new_electronica.txt): ELEC5LP/CD (2xLP/CD, 1994) As One (Kirk DeGiorgio) ``Reflections'' ELEC6T (12", 1994, Ltd. clear vinyl) As One (Kirk Degiorgio) ELEC9LP (4xLP only, 1994, limited edition, 1000 copies) Various Artists ``Objets D'Art'' ELEC23LP/CD (2xLP/CD, 1995) As One (Kirk DeGiorgio)``Reflections On Reflections'' ELEC25T (12", 1995) As One (Kirk Degiorgio) ELEC26LP/CD (2xLP/CD, 1995) As One (Kirk Degiorgio) ``Celestial Soul'' ELE27CD (2xCD only, 1996) Various Artists ``Objets D'Art 92::95'' ELEC31CD (CD only, 1997) Various Artists ``Objets D'Art III'' The first albums by Kirk DeGiorgio (Reflections, Reflections on Reflections (a remix album of the first), and Celestial Soul) were released on New Electronica between the years 1994 and 1995 - the gap between A.R.T.'s demise and the beginning of Op-Art. ELEC9LP is a compilation of the first four vinyl releases on A.R.T., ART1, ART2.1, ART2.2 and ART3 - supposedly pressed from the same plates as the original. ELEC27CD is a compilation of the whole catalogue of the original A.R.T. releases, released on CD only. ELEC31CD is a CD-only compilation of Op-Art releases. Later on, Kirk released an album on Clear (The Message In Herbie's Shirts on vinyl, In With Their Arps and Moogs and Jazz and Things on CD), one on French Shield (The Art Of Prophecy). He still releases music under the name As One, most recently on Ubiquity. > If I remember right, I first heard the term in '93, and I think > everyone's right, that it was inspired by WARP AI comps and took hold > with the mailing list. Those WARP AI comps were seriously crucial in > 'explaining' the link between Detroit and british electro f*ckery - > think Kenny Larkin on AI II, or Azemuth's US release as an AI album (I > think) - I know it was at least released through WARP stateside (never > seen the import to know if it was originally a WARP release, although > I'd assume it must be, unless R&S had it). > Yes. The Artificial Intelligence series, starting off with the first compilation in 1992, were quite crucial in the formation of the IDM list, in conjuction with RePHLeX, A.R.T., B12 etc. The first compilation also sort of named the prototype IDM-related artists as well - The Aphex Twin (as The Dice Man), B12 (as Musicology), Autechre, Black Dog Productions (as I.A.O.), Jochem Paap (as Speedy J) and Richie Hawtin (as UP!). In the series, each of these artists got an album: WARP7 Polygon Window - Surfing on Sine Waves (AI 2) WARP8 Black Dog Productions - Bytes (AI 3) WARP9 B12 - Electro-Soma (AI 4) WARP12 FUSE - Dimension Intrusion (AI 5) WARP14 Speedy J - Ginger (AI 6) WARP17 Autechre - Incunabula (AI 7) The series culminated in Artificial Intelligence II, showcasing some of the earlier pioneers as well as some that are still part of the discussion on the IDM list - the best examples are probably Autechre and Darrell Fitton, nowadays known as Bola on Skam and Jello on Peacefrog. Larkin's Azimuth, although released in 1994 (WARP20), is not part of the AI series. The same goes for Richard H. Kirk's The Number of Magic (WARP19, 1993). Fine albums, both. Funny you should mention R&S here as well, the connection is quite obvious with Larkin, though R&S released a version of A.R.T.'s first release, ART1, with just a tiny bit different a track listing. There's one on Planet E as well, PEART1 - the story goes that Kirk DeGiorgio made a deal with Carl Craig for an exchange release - thus PEART1 on Planet E and ART3 with Psyche/B.F.C. on A.R.T. When you count the re-release of ART1 on the New Electronica 4x12" compilation, that makes 4 different releases of ART1 on four different labels. I won't deny the obvious connection between the IDM movement and the music it spawned and detroit, but I wouldn't go as far as to describe it as a bridge between the two. IDM-related music drew some influences from Detroit, but I still think the music stands on it's own as well. It's not an UK version of Detroit, it is original and in the end owes nothing to the early pioneers on the other side of the Atlantic. And once again, I reiterate - IDM is not a genre. Not. A. Genre. It's a mailing list discussing (if you can call it that nowadays) a very heterogenous group of musicians, a myriad of labels and mostly just good old plain nothing. There are some artists and labels which by historical definition could be labeled as IDM. If it could come down to just me, I wouldn't call anything IDM except the mailing list. As for Braindance, it's a term coined by the jesters at RePHLeX to differentiate their releases from the fodder of IDM - it's not "intelligent", it's not "dance", it's not "music" it's so much more... it's "braindance" (http://www.rephlex.com/ ) Cheers, -- nuutti-iivari meriläinen gordon at diversion dot org http colon slash slash www dot diversion dot org slash --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
