[Column] The 100 most influential albums in music history: A new music history reconstructed solely by the degree of influence on modern music (Part 8, 71-80: The Golden Age of Breakbeats and Ambient)
Column en Dub Techno![[Column] The 100 most influential albums in music history: A new music history reconstructed solely by the degree of influence on modern music (Part 8, 71-80: The Golden Age of Breakbeats and Ambient)](/../assets/images/column-influential-album-08.webp)
8th Part 1 (71st place)
Super Ape
“The moment when dub became a technique for composing ‘space itself’“
"”Super Ape’’, released in 1976, is a historic work that elevated dub from a mere derivative of reggae to an independent musical expression that uses the recording studio itself as a place of creation.
Producer Lee “Scratch” Perry treated the studio, which had previously been thought of as a place to record performances, as an “instrument.”
By moving faders, layering echoes, and transforming the space with reverb, the post-recording editing process itself becomes an act of composition.
This idea became an important starting point for modern music production, which later led to hip-hop, ambient, techno, trip-hop, and dubstep.
A revolution born of Jamaican recording culture
In Jamaica in the 1970s, in order to make the most of expensive studio equipment, there was a culture of editing a single recorded material multiple times to create a new work.
The central figure is Lee “Scratch” Perry.
At Black Ark Studio, which he set up on the outskirts of Kingston, he creatively used limited equipment to create a sonic space that was completely different from traditional reggae.
Vary the speed of the tape machine.
Add too much spring reverb.
Operate tape delay like a musical instrument.
Perform fader operations as an improvisational performance.
These were unprecedented production methods at the time, anticipating the current production culture of reconstructing recorded performances as raw materials.
Mixing becomes composition
The biggest innovation in ““Super Ape’’ is that it transforms mixing into a creative act that produces the work itself, rather than just a finishing process.
The bass line sinks deep and the drums float in the reverberation.
Guitars and horns appear for a moment, then disappear beyond the echo.
Sound acquires its presence through subtraction, not addition.
This idea of ”“letting a blank space be heard’’ was something that had almost never been seen in pop music up until then.
The idea of playing “space”
When listening to ““Super Ape,” the ““space” leaves a stronger impression than the performance itself.
Snare extended by echo.
Deep undulating base.
Vocals suddenly disappear.
Reverberation rising from the gaps in the sound.
Lee “Scratch” Perry wasn’t playing an instrument, he was playing “space.”
This idea would later be inherited by Brian Eno”s ambient work, Massive Attack”s trip-hop, Basic Channel’s minimal dub techno, and even post-Burial UK bass music.
Influence on music production around the world
Super Ape’s influence goes far beyond reggae.
In hip-hop in the 1980s, the spatial processing of dub was linked to sampling culture, and in the 1990s trip-hop and dub techno inherited this idea.
Furthermore, since the 2000s, methods of designing spaces centered on bass sounds have become an important expression in dubstep and experimental electronica.
Today’s mixes, which make full use of automation and spatial effects, are carried out on DAWs, and this philosophy still remains strong.
Why is it ranked 71st?
"”Super Ape’’ is a historic work that not only perfected dub, but also turned the recording studio into a musical instrument.
Its innovations have had a long-lasting impact on fields as diverse as recording technology, production, club culture, electronic music, and hip-hop.
This ranking ranks 71st because works that fundamentally changed the recording technology itself are placed higher, but the idea of ”“composing space’’ that this work shows continues to be one of the foundations of contemporary music production.
“‘Super Ape’ transformed a recording studio into a performance venue and established dub as a spatial art. Due to its innovation, it is ranked 71st in this ranking.”
8th Part 2 (72nd place)
Black Secret Technology
“The moment when the jungle transformed the multilayered nature of the city into music”
"”Black Secret Technology’’, released in 1995, is a work that symbolizes the evolution from jungle to drum and bass, and is a historic album in which electronic music transforms the complexity of urban society into sound.
It was produced by A Guy Called Gerald, a pioneer of UK electronic music. Having been active since the early days of acid house, this album unites rave and sound system culture, black music traditions, and the rapidly changing rhythms of the city into a single musical language.
Jungle here is more than just fast dance music.
This became the ““acoustic city theory’’ that reflected the sense of time in the multi-ethnic city of London.
New rhythm after rave
In the early 1990s, the acid house and rave movements were exploding in Britain.
However, at the same time, new music was beginning to emerge in urban areas, a complex mix of Jamaican immigrant culture, hip-hop, soul, and breakbeat.
Gerald saw this change not as a simple fusion of genres, but as a structural change in the city itself.
As a result, in “Black Secret Technology”,
- Breakbeat subdivision
- Sound system culture centered on heavy bass *Floating pad
- Spatial processing derived from dub
are highly integrated.
Invention of “chopped time”
The biggest feature of this work is its handling of breakbeats.
In traditional dance music, rhythm was a device for synchronizing the bodies.
But by breaking down the beat and rearranging it, Gerald turned time itself into an object of editing.
The drum sways even as it accelerates,
The base supports the space like gravity,
Synthesizers drift like urban fog.
Here, the music expresses not the linear flow of time, but the multi-layered time structure of the city.
Fusion of technology and black music
The album title “Black Secret Technology” is symbolic.
“Technology” here is not just equipment.
It refers to the idea of renewing the rhythmic culture that black music has accumulated in a new digital production environment.
Jazz, funk, reggae, hip hop.
These genes are transformed into new forms through samplers and sequencers.
This perspective was carried over into later drum”n”bass, UK garage, and grime.
The cornerstone of UK bass music
"”Black Secret Technology’’ had a profound influence on subsequent UK electronic music as a whole.
Roni Size developed drum and bass in a more sophisticated direction,
Burial depicts urban solitude as sound,
Kode9 and Digital Mystikz inherited the bass-heavy culture into dubstep.
It is no exaggeration to say that current UK bass music is an extension of the sense of time and bass design that this work pioneered.
Why is it ranked 72nd?
"”Black Secret Technology’’ is an important work that matured jungle from the fragmented sounds of urban culture to artistic electronic music.
His accomplishments in developing breakbeat into a time-editing technique were significant, and became an important starting point for the lineage that would later extend to drum and bass, UK garage, grime, and dubstep.
In this ranking, works that place emphasis on subsequent cultural repercussions are placed higher than works that institutionalize the jungle itself, so we placed it at 72nd place, but the idea of ”“depicting the multilayered nature of the city through sound’’ that this work shows is the basis of contemporary UK electronic music.
“‘Black Secret Technology’ evolved breakbeat into a time-editing technique and sublimated jungle into the sonic language of the city. Due to its historical significance, it is ranked 72nd in this ranking.”
8th Part 3 (73rd place)
New Forms
“The moment when drum and bass matured from a “club” to an “art”“
"”New Forms’’, released in 1997, is a historical work that shows that drum and bass has made a leap from underground club culture and has been established as a comprehensive musical expression.
Roni Size & Reprazent gave drum”n”bass a new range of expression, fusing jazz, soul, hip-hop, and live performance without losing the wild energy of jungle.
This work won the Mercury Prize in 1997 and is widely known as a work that showed that club music could receive the same artistic recognition as rock and jazz.
It was here that drum”n”bass matured from being a one-night-stand dance music to a music that was talked about over a long period of time called an ““album’’.
New urban music born in Bristol
Bristol, where Roni Size was active, is known as one of the most multicultural cities in England.
Reggae sound system culture.
jazz.
hip hop.
Soul.
breakbeats.
"”New Forms’’ was born in an environment where these things naturally intersect.
Bristol was an important testing ground for British music in the 1990s, with the likes of Massive Attack, Portishead and Tricky emerging from the same city.
However, rather than the introspective nature of trip-hop, Roni Size forged a path of his own, combining jazz-like playability and composition while maintaining the vibrancy of club culture.
Fusion of programming and live music
The innovation of ““New Forms’’ lies in the fact that it was designed so that typing and live performance were not opposed to each other, but complemented each other.
A breakbeat played at high speed.
A deep bass line.
Improvisation on saxophone and keyboard.
A rich melody with female vocals.
These do not exist separately, but are integrated into one organic sound.
Jungle”s mechanical editing techniques and jazz”s human improvisation.
The coexistence of the two was extremely revolutionary at the time.
Establishment of “listening to club music”
Until the mid-1990s, many drum”n”bass works were created with DJ use in mind.
However, New Forms is structured so that a single story flows throughout the album.
It’s not just the intense beats.
There are also quiet songs.
There is also a jazz-like development.
There are also works that focus on singing.
As a result, this work has become an electronic music piece that is listened to repeatedly not only in clubs but also at home.
This trend has had a major influence on later LTJ Bukem and High Contrast, as well as modern crossover jazz and broken beat.
A work that changed the social evaluation of drum & bass
The success of New Forms changed the social reputation of the drum and bass genre itself.
Fast breakbeats are not violent music, but highly structured art.
Club culture is not a passing fad, but an important expression of contemporary urban culture.
The historical significance of this work is that it spread this awareness widely.
Its influence was also significant in that it supported the trend of electronic music being seriously evaluated as the subject of music awards and criticism.
Why is it ranked 73rd?
"”New Forms’’ is a definitive work that evolved drum and bass from underground club culture to artistic album expression.
While retaining the energy of jungle, they incorporated jazz and soul, greatly expanding the expressive realm of electronic music.
In this ranking, works that pioneered the genres of jungle and drum”n”bass were ranked 73rd, as they were ranked somewhat higher, but the idea that ““club music can also be realized as a full-length work’’ that this work showed had an immeasurable influence on subsequent electronic music production.
“‘New Forms’ matured drum and bass from club culture to comprehensive album art. Due to its historical significance, it is ranked 73rd in this ranking.”
8th Part 4 (74th place)
Screamadelica
“The moment when rock and rave became “the same culture”
Screamadelica, released in 1991, is a historical work that completely erased the boundaries that existed between rock and club music, and determined the musical culture of the 1990s and beyond.
Until then, there was a clear distinction between rock and dance music, which was ““music played by a band,” and dance music, which was ““music played by a DJ.”
But Primal Scream overturns that assumption with this album.
They boldly incorporated acid house, dub, psychedelia, gospel, sampling, and club mixes into the rock lineup of guitar, bass, and drums, and presented a new sense of values called ““dancing to rock.’’
Screamadelica is more than just a fusion of genres.
This work records the moment when rock culture and club culture intersected as a single community.
Beyond the Manchester Movement
In Britain at the end of the 1980s, a rave culture called the Second Summer of Love was rapidly spreading along with the acid house craze.
Around the same time, rock bands and club culture began to come together, centering around Manchester’s The Haçienda.
Happy Mondays
The Stone Roses
808 State
These artists had been experimenting with the fusion of band performance and dance music, and Screamadelica took that trend a step further.
Rather than ““quoting’’ club culture, Primal Scream dived fully into it.
Andrew Weatherall changed the sound of rock
An indispensable presence when talking about this work is producer and DJ Andrew Weatherall.
Weatherall reimagined Primal Scream’s songs as tracks that worked in clubs rather than as rock pieces.
Emphasize the beat.
Uses a lot of dub effects.
Make the song longer.
Actively introduce sampling.
As a result, songs like “Loaded” and “Come Together” are rock songs that work naturally in a DJ set.
This went beyond the traditional idea that ““a remix is a different version’’ and was also a new production philosophy in which the remix itself becomes the complete form of the original work.
A celebratory space called “album”
"”Screamadelica’’ is not a work that aims to be a hit with each song.
The entire album is structured as if you were reliving a night at the club.
Exalted.
Euphoria.
Silence.
release.
dawn.
This emotional flow is designed by the song order itself.
This was an important idea that would later be inherited by the Chemical Brothers, Underworld, and even Festival Culture’s album production.
Cultural turning point before Britpop
British music in the 1990s is often talked about in terms of Britpop, represented by Oasis and Blur.
But it was Screamadelica that laid the cultural foundation.
Rock fans who go to clubs.
A raver listening to a guitar band.
A culture where DJs and bands perform at the same festival.
After this work, these techniques rapidly became commonplace.
It has rewritten not only the genre of music, but also the lifestyle of enjoying music itself.
Why is it ranked 74th?
Screamadelica is a historic work that perfectly fused rock and club culture and determined the direction of British music in the 1990s.
Its influence extends to big beat, electronic rock, Britpop and even contemporary festival culture.
In this ranking, works that created club music itself and works that fundamentally changed the structure of electronic music were ranked 74th, so the idea that ““rock and dance music are not in conflict’’, which this work showed, became an important premise for popular music for over 30 years afterward.
“‘Screamadelica’ integrated rock and club culture into one culture, redefining British music from the 1990s onwards. Due to its historical significance, we rank it at number 74 in this ranking.”
8th Part 5 (75th place)
Since I Left You
“The moment when sampling became a technique for composing ‘memory itself’“
Since I Left You, released in 2000, is a historical work that liberated the technique of sampling from mere quotation and beat-making and sublimated it into a musical language for constructing ““memories” and ““stories.”
Hailing from Melbourne, Australia, The Avalanches collaged together thousands of fragments of existing sound sources, creating an entire album into a dream-like world.
What’s important here is not “which song was sampled.”
The important thing is that they are creating new times and emotions.
"”Since I Left You” is a work that evolved sampling from ““quotation” to ““creation.’’
Turn hip-hop techniques into album art
During the 1980s and 1990s, sampling developed as a central technique in hip-hop culture.
Public Enemy is used as a political collage,
De La Soul expands into playful quotations,
With ““Endtroducing….’’, DJ Shadow completed the production of an album using only sampling.
And The Avalanches pushes that lineage even further.
Rather than creating hip-hop beats, he arranged samples to create a cinematic album.
Thousands of fragments become one world
It took several years to make and used a huge number of records as material.
jazz.
Soul.
Disco.
Easy listening.
movie music.
CM sound source.
children’s records.
latin music.
Music from all over the world is cut into pieces and rearranged into new contexts.
Each quotation may be short, but when they accumulate, they create ““nostalgic music that no one has ever heard before.’’
This feeling was the result of a re-editing of 20th century recording culture itself.
“The whole album” becomes a journey
"”Since I Left You” has almost no ““between songs” in the general sense of the word.
Music connects with nature,
The motif reappears in different forms,
Fragments of sound acquire new meanings in different situations.
Its structure is like a novel or a movie.
This idea of ”“designing an album as a continuous experience’’ had a considerable influence on later highly conceptual electronic music works, mixed culture, and even playlist design in the streaming era.
Collage aesthetics in the digital age
Since the 2000s, music production has rapidly shifted to an environment centered on computers.
copy.
edit.
Paste together.
Rebuild.
These tasks have become commonplace in digital production.
However, ““Since I Left You’’ presents this idea not as mere efficiency, but as a form of artistic expression.
This aesthetic foreshadowed the sensibilities that would come later in plunderphonics, mashup culture, YouTube-era remixes, and even Internet culture as a whole.
The idea that ““by combining existing materials, you can create completely new works’’ becomes even more important after this work.
Why is it ranked 75th?
"”Since I Left You” is a historic work that evolved sampling from a beat-making technique to an ““art of building memories and stories.”
Its influence extends to electronica, hip-hop, indie pop, and even the remix culture of the internet age.
In this ranking, works that have historically established the sampling technique itself are ranked 75th, so the idea of ”“creating future music by re-editing past recording culture’’ that this work shows is an important turning point that symbolizes music production in the 21st century.
”“‘Since I Left You’ evolved sampling into a ““technique for composing memories” rather than quoting it.Due to its innovation, it ranks 75th in this ranking.”
8th Part 6 (76th place)
69: The Sound of Music
“The moment when Detroit techno reached “abstract art”“
Released in 1993, ““69: The Sound of Music’’ is a historic work by Carl Craig, a representative of the second generation of Detroit techno, who expanded techno from functional club music to pure acoustic art.
If Juan Atkins envisioned cities of the future, Derrick May gave machines emotion, and Kevin Saunderson connected them to club culture, Carl Craig took things even further.
The aim is to expand techno into ““music for listening and thinking” rather than ““music for dancing”.
"”The Sound of Music’’ signaled the coming of age of Detroit techno, and was a major turning point for the subsequent minimal techno, IDM, and electronica.
The future as seen by the second generation
In the early 1990s, Detroit techno was already enthusiastically received in Europe.
However, at the same time, the genre was rapidly becoming standardized.
Four hits.
mechanical beat.
club function.
Carl Craig wasn’t satisfied with that framework.
Influenced by jazz, classical music, film music, and contemporary music, he wanted to redesign techno as ““music that explores structure itself.’’
"”The Sound of Music’’ is the first work that truly brings this idea to fruition.
“Acoustic architecture” rather than minimalism
What characterizes this work is the method of constructing vast spaces from minimal materials.
short phrase.
Repeating synthesizer.
Code that changes silently.
Subdued beat.
At first glance, there are not many changes.
However, if you listen carefully, you will notice that the timbre, localization, reverberation, and rhythmic fluctuations are constantly changing.
Carl Craig was designing “space” rather than piling up notes.
A bridge connecting Detroit and Europe
"”The Sound of Music’’ inherited the tradition of Detroit techno, but actively engaged in dialogue with the electronic music that was beginning to develop in Europe.
Detroit’s soulful chord progression.
Repetition of German minimalism.
Ambient space design.
Free thinking in jazz.
Rather than being collected into a single genre, they coexist in tension with each other.
This aesthetic would be inherited by later Basic Channel, Ricardo Villalobos, Plastikman, and even modern electronica.
Techno living “outside the club”
Carl Craig’s greatest accomplishment was proving that techno was not just a music that existed in clubs.
Concentrate on listening at home.
It will be displayed as an exhibition piece in the museum.
Depicting a city in a movie.
Coexist with contemporary art.
This new way of accepting electronic music rapidly spread after this work.
It was here that techno transcended the category of dance music and began to be recognized as a form of ““modern music.’’
Why is it ranked 76th?
69: The Sound of Music is an important work that matured Detroit techno from functional club music to abstract sound art.
Its influence extends to minimal techno, IDM, electronica, and even sound installations in contemporary art.
In this ranking, we ranked 76th because the works that created the techno genre were ranked higher, but the idea that ““electronic music can be a thinking art’’ expressed by this work set the direction for the development of electronic music over the next 30 years.
“‘69: The Sound of Music’ liberated techno from the club and elevated it to abstract sound art. Due to its historical significance, it is ranked 76th in this ranking.”
8th Part7 (77th place)
The KLF – Chill Out
“The moment when ambient music became an art of composing the journey itself”
"”Chill Out”, released in 1990, is an epoch-making work in the history of ambient music that takes the concept of environmental music one step further and transforms ““moving landscape” itself into music.
The KLF, which produced it, was known as a dance unit that had produced stadium-sized hits up until then. However, this album, released in the midst of that success, was an experiment in the opposite direction of a commercial hit.
Here, even the unit of music becomes ambiguous.
The sound of a train running.
sheep bleating.
Radio broadcast.
A bell echoes in the distance.
The silence of dawn.
These are not just sound effects, but are arranged as elements that make up a “journey.”
"”Chill Out’’ expanded music from an art of time to an art of space and movement.
Music born at the dawn of the club
From 1989 to 1990, acid house culture was at its peak in Britain.
However, at the same time, music that colors the end of the club, the dawn, and the silence is also sought after.
A culture called ““chill out’’ was born out of this trend.
"”Chill Out’’ is a representative piece of that culture.
However, this work is not just BGM.
The entire album tells the story of leaving the city at the end of the night and continuing your journey towards the morning sun.
Landscape depiction by sampling
In this work, sampling is used not to create beats, but to describe “places.”
The sound of a train running.
The voice of a radio DJ.
country music.
environmental sounds.
animal sounds.
By seamlessly connecting these elements, the listener feels as if they are experiencing a single road movie.
This was also an attempt to develop the idea of collage presented in ““My Life in the Bush of Ghosts’’ into a more cinematic composition.
“The whole album” becomes one landscape
Chill Out has very few singles in the typical sense.
What’s important is not just one song, but the overall flow.
From the city to the suburbs.
From night to morning.
From artificial to natural.
This transition is depicted throughout the nearly hour-long piece.
This idea would later be inherited by many artists such as ambient house, film-like electronica, and even Boards of Canada and Biosphere.
Music as a spatial installation
Chill Out’s influence extends beyond the clubs.
Art museum.
Gallery.
sound installation.
environmental design.
game music.
The idea that ““music can design spatial experiences’’ had a great influence on subsequent sound art as a whole.
The KLF developed Brian Eno’s idea of ”“music as an environment” into ““music as a journey.”
Why is it ranked 77th?
Chill Out is a historical work that evolved ambient music from static environmental music to a constantly moving narrative space.
His influences range from ambient house, sound art, field recording, and cinematic electronica.
In this ranking, works that created the very concept of ambient and works that fundamentally changed sampling culture are placed higher, so we placed it at 77th place. However, the idea of ”“designing the album itself as a landscape’’ that this work showed has certainly been inherited by immersive sound works of the 21st century.
“‘Chill Out” evolved ambient music from a “place” to a “journey’, turning the album into a scenic experience itself. Due to its historical significance, it is ranked 77th in this ranking.”
8th Part9 (78th place)
Lifeforms
“The moment when electronic music became an art for designing an ecosystem”
"”Lifeforms”, released by The Future Sound of London in 1994, is a historical work that showed that electronic music had completely become independent from the framework of club and pop music, and had reached ““the art of creating a living environment through sound.”
Up until then, ambient music had often been talked about as music meant to decorate a space.
However, ““Lifeforms’’ pushes that concept even further.
Music is not the background here.
**It is an ecosystem in itself, and the listener becomes a walking being within it. **
The album is not designed as a series of songs, but as an ever-changing biosphere.
Create an “environment” instead of a “song”
The Future Sound of London completely eliminated conventional pop ideas in the production of this album.
A melody.
B melody.
Rust.
climax.
Such structures almost never exist.
Instead, it is placed
A synthesizer that grows like a plant.
Ambient pad that gives you a sense of humidity.
Fragmented folk music.
field recording.
Subtle electronic noise.
They coexist as one huge environment without competing with each other.
What is important in ““Lifeforms” is not the individual melodies, but the feeling of ““existing in that world” itself.
The studio becomes a place where “life” is generated
Garry Cobain and Brian Dougans used samplers, synthesizers, and sequencers to create this album, going beyond traditional recording.
The studio is not a place to record performances.
It will become a laboratory for designing life.
One tone is a cell,
Rhythm is breathing;
Reverberation is climate.
These ideas would have a strong influence on later sound installations and generative music.
The idea of ”living acoustics”
In Lifeforms, sound is not a fixed object.
Changes its appearance over time,
interact with the surroundings,
Always changing.
This idea was an important turning point in connecting music from the 20th century concept of “work” to the 21st century “process.”
Its influence is not limited to ambient music.
Electronica.
game music.
Video music.
Sound design for VR space.
Today, much of the ““music used to design environments’’ inherits the ideas of this work.
Impact on the post-rave generation
Since the late 1990s, electronic music has expanded beyond clubs to museums, films, and installations.
The background to this is the idea that ““Music can design the environment itself” as shown by ““Lifeforms”.
Boards of Canada.
Biosphere.
Autechre.
Furthermore, the influence of this work has quietly permeated the environmental sound design of the 21st century and beyond.
It was here that electronic music evolved from ““music for dancing” to ““a space for existing.”
Why is it ranked 78th?
"”Lifeforms” is a monumental work that develops ambient music from just quiet music to ““the art of designing living environments.”
Its influence has spread to the entire sonic culture since the 1990s, including IDM, electronica, game music, and sound installations.
In this ranking, works that established the concept of ambient itself and works that created the basic structure of electronic music are placed higher, so we placed it at 78th place. However, the idea of ”“designing music as an ecosystem’’ presented by this work is an important turning point that forms the basis of modern sound design.
”“‘Lifeforms” evolved electronic music from a song to an “ecosystem’ and expanded it into an art that creates the acoustic space itself. Due to its historical significance, it is ranked 78th in this ranking.’‘
8th Part 10 (79th place)
BCD
“The moment Berlin turned techno into architecture”
In 1995, Basic Channel (Moritz von Oswald / Mark Ernestus) released BCD, proving that ““reducing the sound’’ could be the greatest innovation in the history of techno.
Detroit techno in the 1980s envisioned a futuristic city, and raves in the early 1990s created a huge amount of energy.
But Basic Channel went in a different direction.
What they aimed for was
**It”s not about adding sound, it”s about creating space. **
"”BCD’’ is a monumental work that led club music to a mindset close to architecture and minimal art.
Music from the city of Berlin
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the city was left with many vacant factories and warehouses.
The huge space will become a testing ground for a new club culture.
What was needed was
It’s not a flashy melody.
A sound that will not make you tired even if you keep playing it for a long time.
Bass that permeates the entire building.
Reverberations that dominate the space.
Basic Channel has transformed this urban space itself into music.
Fusion of dub and techno
The biggest innovation of this work is the complete fusion of Jamaican dub into techno.
In the dub,
echo.
Reverb.
reverberation.
Blank.
They become as important as the performance.
Basic Channel transferred this philosophy to techno.
Beats are minimal.
The chord is only a few notes.
However, the reverberations spread infinitely.
Here, the ““sound that disappears” is more important than the ““sound that is played.”
Music that makes you listen to “time”
In “BCD”, almost no major developments occur.
Same phrase.
Same beat.
Same code.
However, within a few minutes, over ten minutes,
Subtle filter changes.
Expansion and contraction of reverberation.
Changes in localization.
A slight fluctuation in tone.
As these elements accumulate, the listener perceives “time itself” rather than “change.”
This feeling became the basic idea of later minimal techno and ambient techno.
Design philosophy of Berlin Techno
Basic Channel’s influence goes beyond just a musical genre.
Later Chain Reaction label.
Rhythm & Sound.
Monolake.
Around Basic Channel Records.
And Berlin techno, symbolized by Berghain.
There is a common thought there.
Sustainability over flashiness.
Space rather than development.
More texture than melody.
It was here that techno evolved from “music” to “architecture.”
Influence on contemporary electronic music
Current minimal techno.
dub techno.
installation.
Sound works at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Ambient sound for movies.
Many of these are extensions of the idea of ”“designing spaces” presented in ““BCD”.
Sound is not information.
It is a medium that allows us to perceive space.
This idea has become an extremely important foundation for electronic music production in the 21st century.
Why is it ranked 79th?
"”BCD”’ is a historical work that established Berlin”s unique spatial aesthetic while inheriting Detroit techno.
His influence extends to dub techno, minimal techno, sound art, and even the acoustic design of architectural spaces.
In this ranking, works that created the techno genre itself and works that changed the fundamental structure of electronic music are placed higher, so we placed it at 79th place. However, the idea that ““sound can become architecture’’ that this work showed was an important turning point that determined electronic music after Berlin.
“‘BCD” sublimated techno into an architectural space and established a new aesthetic of “music that listens to time and reverberation.’ Due to its historical significance, it is ranked 79th in this ranking.”
8th Part11 (80th place)
76:14
“The moment ambient music became an art that designs “time itself”“
"”76:14”, released by Global Communication (Tom Middleton/Mark Pritchard) in 1994, was the culmination of 1990s ambient music, and is the work that most beautifully presents the idea that ““music can design time itself, not events.”
There are no song titles in the album title.
Each track is referred to only by its playing time.
“14:31”
“5:59”
“9:25”
Here, the music is freed from titles and narrative.
What matters is not what is being played, but how time passes.
"”76:14’’ was a monumental work that matured ambient music from background music to time art.
Quiet revolution of the post-rave generation
In 1994, rave culture was coming of age in the UK.
The club has become huge,
Techno is fragmented,
Jungle and drum and bass were also rapidly developing.
However, at the same time, electronic musicians began to ask new questions.
“Where will electronic music without dancing go?”
The answer provided by Global Communication was quite clear.
**Design for time, not space. **
That is “76:14”.
Listen to “change” instead of development
General pop music is
Intro.
A melody.
Rust.
bridge.
ending.
It has a dramatic structure.
However, in “76:14”, there is no such clear break.
One cord breathes slowly,
A minute synthesizer drifts through space,
The reverberations change shape little by little.
Sounds that didn’t exist a few minutes ago suddenly changed the scenery.
There are no “incidents” happening here.
However, by the time you finish listening, time has definitely changed.
Global Communication puts change itself at the center of its work.
Beyond minimalism
"”76:14’’ is often described as minimalist.
However, the essence of this is not “less sound.”
sounds interfere with each other,
change the density of the air,
Shift the auditory focus.
In other words, this work designs perception itself, not musical notes.
This was an attempt to further develop the ambient philosophy advocated by Brian Eno and complete it as music that transforms the listener’s own sense of time.
Archetype of modern ambient
The influence of ““76:14’’ has continued from the late 1990s to the present.
Stars of the Lid was able to build an extremely quiet drone.
Loscil was able to depict the urban landscape as sound.
Taylor Deupree and the 12k label have made “minor changes” an aesthetic.
Furthermore, this idea has been widely inherited in everything from environmental music, game music, meditation music, and sound design for architectural spaces.
This work established a new sense of value: not ““music that makes you listen to something,” but ““music that lets you experience the passage of time.”
Why is it ranked 80th?
"”76:14’’ is a definitive work that developed ambient music from spatial art to temporal art.
The idea of transforming perception through an accumulation of minute changes, rather than dramatic developments or techniques, had a deep influence on subsequent contemporary ambient music, sound installations, and environmental sound design.
In this ranking, ““Ambient 1: Music for Airports” (26th place), which created the concept of ambient music, and ““Lifeforms” (78th place), which expanded electronic music as an ecosystem, are ranked higher, so it was ranked 80th. However, ““76:14” acts as an important bridge between the two, and is a work that determined the direction of 21st century ambient music as ““music that designs time.”
“‘76:14” evolved ambient music from “music of space” to “music of time’. It is ranked 80th in this ranking as a historical work that shows that electronic music can design perception itself.”
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