This is what IDM is: playful but experimental. Great little album.
Djrum – Meaning’s Edge
The Black Dog – Other, Like Me
These guys are churning out new albums like a factory, and what’s socking is that none of these records feel like coming from a conveyor belt. This one’s on the darker side, introvert slow to mid tempo techno, some fine IDM noises, some industrial touch, some nice synths. It’s very well crafted electronic music.
Four Tet – Three +
It’s mellow, soulful, cute, cozy—all those Four Tet words in my mind. Full of those tracks that I’d put on a mixtape I make for someone I love.
DJ Krush – Saisei
Triphop but with a surprising amount of glitch and IDM compared to a regular DJ Krush record. I recently saw him play live, which was a huge demo of his technical skills, and that shows on this album, too. It’s a diverse ride from smooth hiphop flows to strong industrial bangers.
The Black Dog – The Grey Album
It’s kind of an “oldschool minded”, classic type IDM record. Close to my heart, feels right, calm.
Aphex Twin – Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / in a room7 F760
This is a very nice IDM record. Other than that, my relationship to this is quite neutral, and saying that as a long time Aphex Twin fan. It just doesn’t have any specificity to this time and place, and it also doesn’t invoke memories strongly enough so it would be clearly on the nostalgia side. It’s like the B sides collection of records from twenty years back. It’s… fine.
Bot1500 – Surreal
It’s a little gem on the IDM-techno axis with an ambient mood. Beautifully crafted music.
Tomaga – Intimate Immensity
It’s like if you played IDM ambient but with live instruments (which reminds me of the time I attended a Plaid concert played by an orchestra in a concert hall), other times industrial jazz and a touch of experimental music. But it’s rather smooth and pleasant, not harsh.
Priori/RED – Nigh
It seems like 2022 was the come-back year for the classic IDM sound.
lynyn – lexicon
Glitchy IDM with nice melodies. Sounds very old school for a record in 2022, but also brings me back to a great era of rhythmic experimental music. It could have been a major Warp release.