Some Electronic Albums I've Listened to in Times Past

A List of Some Electronic Albums I've Listened to in Times Past

I don’t really listen to electronic music anymore, for various reasons, but while I was into it I started compiling this list, so I figured I’d edit it a bit and post it here. For completeness I ended up listing all of the electronic albums I’ve ever listened to.

</b>Items highlighted in yellow are important/recommended , items highlighted in orange are highly recommended.

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Abe Fenton - Advanced
Minamalism / slow progressive drumming
3/5 This is epic minimalism. But it does fall into the trap of being utterly stupefying. It would make good hard-core clubbing music, though.

Ace of Base - Greatest Hits
Europop -- 90s
4/5 : This album is mostly crap remixes, but the songs "Beautiful Life", "Hallo Hallo" and "The Sign" are all europop / eurodance classics and perennial favorites at social gatherings. Recommended for anyone surveying Eurodance.

Age of Love - Age of Love
Classic trance

Akufen - Architextures
Ambient house
3.8/5 -- semi decent ambient house, but kindof boring.

Agalaia - Three Organic Experiences
Ambient
3/5 This is the true unadulterated ambient experience. It's really long and subtle, and I just didn't have the time to get into it.

Akufen - My Way
Microhouse
4.6/5 : This is very interesting. Microhouse is music made from short sound samples (<1sec).

Amethystium - Evermind (2004)
Ambient electronica / new age
3.5/5 This is very listenable "ambient", in that it stays engaging, yet retains ambient qualities. Has a sort of of a vague "celtic" feel to it for some reason, probably due to the female vocals and incorporation of instruments, which is always nice. Like a more mellow, more ethnically infused version of Future Sound of London.

Andy Hunter - Go
Breakcore / techno / stadium techno / vocal trance / electronic mix / Christian electronic
5/5: this is an epic album, the one that got me hooked on electronic music. This guy is a genius and totally not fully respected, perhaps because an overall lack of originality. But the originators are not always the best! This guy perfected complex mash-ups. There is not a single dull moment in this entire album.

Andy Hunter - Life
vocal trance / electronic mix / Christian electronic
4.5/5: decent album, his style changed a bit, much more emphasis on vocals.

Animusic - Animusic
percussive / new age
4/5 "Future Retro" is a cool song. Think of it as synthesized Yanni. May come off as cheesy. The PBS program was cool though.

Amon Tobin � Bricolage (1997)
�Electronic Jazz�/ Intelligent Dance Music / Ambient Dub
4.9/5 It was hard to choose between �Bricolage�, �Supermodified�, and �Out from No Where�, three great albums by Tobin. Supermodified is my originally my favorite, and is more popular then his earlier works. It was a very successful album, and contains some very remarkable sounds, no doubt. The same can be said for "Out from No Where", which is a further development of his style. However, Bricolage wins high points of originality and influence. A lot of movie soundtracks have a similar sound. Additionally, "Bricolage" has started to grow on me, and every time I hear it I like it more and more. It is smooth electronic jazz at its finest. His later works are more rough and complex, by comparison. This, by contrast, is more sublime and beautiful. I also recommend the other two aforementioned albums as a continued evolution of this music.

Amon Tobin � Supermodified
�Electronic Jazz�/ Intelligent Dance Music / Ambient Dub
4.8/5

Amon Tobin � Out From Nowhere (2002)
Intelligent Dance Music / Ambient Dub
4.8/5

Aphex Twin - Analogue Bubblebath
Techno / drillcore
4.6 / 5 This is a historically important album, I suppose. It's a mixed bag, sophisticated techno mixed with acid-infused drillcore, Aphex Twin's own post-modern techno experience. It's definitely unique and a lot of his further explorations built off this burst of creativity. It blows always the stereotype that techno is monotonous -- it is hard to find more dynamic music. It's no wonder the call him the "Mozart of Techno".

Aphex Twin - Polygon Window (surfing on sine waves)

Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92
Ambient Techno
4.8/ 5 Many people call this Aphex Twin's opus magnum. Gets better with each listen. The first tracks in particular are pretty famous.

Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Volume II

Aphex Twin - The Richard D. James Album
Drillcore / IDM
4.5/5 This is a hard style of techno almost completely invented from scratch by Aphex Twin. Its been taking me a while to actually enjoy this music fully.

Aphex Twin - Melodies from Mars
Ambient Techno / downtempo
4.2/5 : not super interesting, but can't say it's bad either.

Aphex Twin - drukqs
Techno / avante garde
3.8/5 I don't remember much about this. It has more experimentation, and he even does some non-electronic compositions for piano which are ok, but not classical-music grade or anything.

Aphex Twin - Classics
Drillcore / IDM / Ambient Techno
4.8/10 Required listening for anyone interested in electronic music.

Banco de Gaia - Last Train to Lhasa
Ambient House / Ambient trance
4.2/5 The titular track is awesome! Great ethnic trance experience.

Basshunter - Hits
Europop / Stadium techno
3/5 They have about 2 good songs, the rest is repetitive drivel.

Billy Idol - Cyberpunk
Synthpop / 80s / electronic rock
4/5 : I really wish I could say this album was good, because I love the concept. It's a concept album that didn't quite live up to what it could have been. It was radical and hated when it came out. It's very dystopian and typifies the dark side of the 80s. It got horrible, horrible reviews across the board. (1/10 stars , AllMusicGuide gave it 1/5) and is still thought of as a flop. As bad as it is, I think some of the songs are worth a listen. The song "Wasteland" is a semi-decent song, but incredibly cheesy and riffy. "Heroin", the remix of the famous Velvet Underground song, was called the worst remix of all time. It's so bad, it's good. Kindof like a B-movie music, I guess. The song "Neuromancer" is a cool concept song (the entire album was inspired by Neuromancer and related Gibson works.) Overall, some of the songs are painful to listen to, but as bad as it, I find myself enjoying some of the songs because the concept and because it distills the cheesy parts of the 80's.
Bluetech - Elementary Particles
Pysbient / Ambient Electronica
4/5 Cool psybient

Bluetech - Prima Materia
Pysbient / Ambient Electronica
4/5

Brian Eno - Ambient 1: Music For Airports (1978)
Ambient
5/5 : This is one of the undisputed greats in electronic music. For me this is like meditation music, especially the first track. In fact, it was meant to be relaxing music for people waiting at airports. It scores high points on originality and influence. It earned Eno a respectable place in the history of western music.

Bruce Haack - Electric Lucifer
Acid / Electro / Early hippie electronic music
4.5/5 : Scores high on unusuality

Camarata Contemporary - The Electric Spirit of Erik Satie (1972)
Minimalism / Symphonic / Advante Garde
4/5 : A very rare album. Great concept but mediocre execution.

Cascada - The Remix Album
Eurotrash / Europop / Anthem
4.3/5 : Very seductive eurotrash. A guilty pleasure. Technically there is nothing new here but there is some interesting synthesizer frequency modulation. Her tracks are made with a cookie cutter, they follow the simple build up, breakdown anthem formula which dominates eurotrash to this day.

Chicane - The Best of Chicane (2009)
Pure Ibiza trance
4.1/5 : Not sure if I actually listened all the way through. The epic track here is "Saltwater".

CPU Bach - CPU Bach
Synthesizer
4.5/5 : Similar to the famous album by Wendy Carlos.

Crazy Frog - Crazy Hits
Eurotrash
0/5 : I guess this is something you listen to for the agony. It's Euro-trash at it's worst. Not a guilty pleasure, just crap.

Cybotron - Clear
Techno (Detroit Techno.. the real thing)
5/5 :Arguably the first techno album ever produced, and one of the greatest. Highly recommended if you can find it.

Cybotron - Cyber Ghetto
Techno
4/5 : Somehow it doesn't match up with Clear. It's basically an LP.

Daft Punk - Homework (1997)

Daft Punk - Discovery (2001)

Daft Punk - Daft Club (2003)

Daft Punk - Human After All (2005)

Daft Punk - Alive (2007)

Darude : Calm Before the Storm
Stadium House / Rave
4.5/5: This scores high points on popularity and a few on influence. Most of the songs arn't very good, but a few like "I can feel the beat" and "Sandstorm".

DJ Shadow - Endtroducing.. (1996)
Abstract hip-hop
5/5 : Endtroducing is important because it was the first albums ever composed entirely of sound samples. At first this didn't seem like anything spectacular, but on my second listen I had acquired more taste for it. It is very postmodern, meaning that it incorporates old material in new ways. As DJ Shadow says this himself in one of the few lyrics : "the music is flowing through me", ie. he is interpreting the music in his own way and presenting it in a novel fashion. It has several very sublime songs make for great chill out music.

DJ Shadow - Preemptive Strike (1997)
Abstract hip-hop
3/5 - Bleh, somehow I don't remember it being that great at all.. Perhaps too "abstract".

Faust � Faust (1971)
Krautrock/Musique-concrete
4.9/5 This album is strange, horrible madness. As Darktremor says, it sounds like a journey through Hell. But it is never at one moment boring, instead it is "morbidly" captivating. Obviously the sounds here where influenced by the innovator Stockhausen, one of the great figures of Electronic Art Music. Yet I can't include any of Stockhausen works in this list, because, although he drove for large changes in music, he never had any truly stand-out albums that took even semi-popular appeal outside his tight circle of advante-garde friends, and he is more associated with classic music. This album is different, it takes Stockhausen's ideas and runs with them, and directly inspired many electronic musicians. This album was at the forefront of a deconstuctavist movement to totally demolish popular rock. In brief, this is truly a mind expanding album. It paved the way for the entire genre of industrial rock and a variety of German abstract rock called "Krautrock". The Krautrock movement influenced Radiohead and other bands.

Klaus Schulze - Irrlicht
Electronic Space Music/krautrock
4/5 :Highly recommended for the curious! Personally, I couldn't make it
all the way through this, but it was very very interesting.

Kraftwerk � Autobahn (1974)
Early techno / electro
4.9/5: This receives such a high ranking for originality. It is one of the first albums to use synthesizers to create catchy melodies and other interesting sound effects, meant to convey a trip on the Autobahn. Previously electronic music had been mostly abstract experimentation in highly academic circles. Due to their overall influence on the development of electronic music, I could not leave Kraftwerk out of the top 10. A lot of people say �Trans-Europe Express� was their opus magnum, and I have listened to it, and perhaps it is true. Either way, it scores lower points on originality and influence.

Kraftwerk � Electric Cafe
Electro
4/5 Decent album in the Kraftwerk style.

Kraftwerk � Trans-Europe Express (1977)
Electro
3.8/5 - Some claim it's their best, I just don't see it.

Kraftwerk � The Man Machine (1978)
Electro
4/5 Decent album, contains "We are the Robots".

Illegal Rave vol. 1
Hardcore rave / speedcore
2/5 This is a nice album to have in your collection. Could really annoy your friends with this crap.

Infected Mushroom - Classical Mushroom
Dark Psy-trance / symphonic psy-tranc
5/5 This is the best psy-trance album ever. Period. Partly because it's accessable to non- psytrance freaks (like me) and because it incorporates electric guitar and symphonic themes.

Infected Mushroom - Cities of the Future
Psy-trance
3.5/5 A famous album by them, but not my cup of tea. It's a bit too over the top, too spazzy, not enough structure. Don't like the vocals very much either.

Infected Mushroom - Vicious Delicious (2007)
Psy-trance
4.3/5 : I couldn't really get into a lot of the songs, but "Heavy Weight" is an AMAZING song. Totally insane electric guitar solo. Fucking crazy.

Isao Tomita - Greatest Hits
Synthesizer
4.5/5 The greatest classical remixer. Remember that epic "Clair de Lune" from Oceans's 11? That's what this is.

James Holden - Balance 005 (2003)
Progressive House / Melodic house
4.9/5 this it the greatest prog-house album I know. A bit long and tedious at times, but still quite amazing. Excellent cultural experience. Superb control.

La Roux - La Roux (2009)
Synthpop
4.8/5 This is great as far as pop goes, borrows some from the 80s. I really like her style.

Ladytron - 604
Synthpop / neo-electro
4.5/5

Ladytron - Light & Magic
Synthpop / neo-electro
4.5/5

Ladytron - Witching Hour
Synthpop / neo-electro
4.5/5

Ladytron - Velocifero (2008)
Synthpop / neo-electro
4.25/5

The KLF - The White Room
Stadium House / Anthem House
4.25/5 This is considered their Magnum Opus and the album that started Stadium House. Whether it is actually a masterwork is debatable. However, it does remain fresh after all these years. I really enjoyed it the first few listens, but I guess I got tired of it.

The KLF - Chill Out (1990)
Ambient
2.5/5 Some people claim this is a masterwork, but I couldn't get into it. Its kindof druggy, advante-garde, found it hard to associate with it. It's kindof for people that are really into British house and the whole "KLF cult".

Massive Attack - Blue Lines (1991)
Trip-hop
5/5 : Blue Lines is considered the first album of the British "Trip-hop" style. Its smooth, down-tempo, house-y, basically hip hop with a lot of style. Also has some elements from reggae.

Moby - Play
Electronic / House
4.75/5 - Kindof a mixed bag, contains some great really well-known songs, some mediocre.

Moby - Greatest Hits
Electronic / House
4.5/5 - Again a mixed bag.

Morton Subotnick - Silver Apples of the Moon
Advante-garde / synthesizer
4.8/5 This is a very unique early electronic album. Well known amongst post-modern musical circles, but hard to find.

Nalin and Kane - Beachball (remixes)
Ibiza / Balearic Beat
3.8/5 : A seminal work in Ibiza trance, but somehow it doesn't quite stand out any more.

Night at the Roxbury Soundtrack
Europop / Eurotrash
4.8 / 5 : This entire album is guilty pleasures -- it's the ultimate condensed europop anthology.

Orbital - The Yellow Album
Classic trance / electronic
4/5 Classic, best orbital album.. "Halcyon on and on" is a masterpiece.

Orbital - The Brown Album

Orbital - Snivilisation

Infected Mushroom - Classical Mushroom
Psychedelic Trance
4.9/5 This is a really cool album: a mixture of classical and psychedelic trance styles. It is by far the best Psychedelic trance album I have heard, probably because it has a reference points in classical music and rock. Highly recommended, but perhaps not everyone's cup of tea.

Paragliders (Oliver Lieb) - The Oasis EP
Progressive trance / classic trance
4.5/5 -- More genius from Oliver Lieb. Somewhat of an acquired taste. Basically a single track / some side tracks. Very German, very unpredictable beats, very classic. Similar in style and spirit to "A Day on Our Planet". Can get tiring though.

Pink Floyd - The Wall
Psychedelic Rock/Musique Concrete
4/5 Hm, I'm not sure if I've actually bothered to listen to the entire thing.

Pink Floyd � Dark Side of the Moon
Psychedelic Rock/Musique Concrete
5/5 Obviously this is an excellent album. More of rock, but deserves mention here.

Radiohead - Kid A
Electronic Rock / Art Rock / Shoegaze
5/5 A very unique album -- it took me a bit of time to get used to their style here. I like it more then Ok Computer and it's one of my favorite album in general.

Radiohead - OK Computer
Electronic Rock
4.3/5 A well known album, I like some of the songs.

Robert Miles - Dreamland
Dream Trance
3.5/5 This is the alpha and omega of Dream Trance. It is all dream trance was meant to be and will ever be. Sweet heavenly bliss. But it gets kind of tiring.

Royskopp - Melody A.M. (2001)
Ambient house / downtempo / trip hop
4.5/5 A nice relaxing album, great ambient house with a mix of some other styles. Good chillout music, I guess. I really like the song "Remind Me".

Paul Oakenfold �Tranceport (1998)
Anthem Trance / Epic Trance
4/5 : A very popular album, and a good introduction to the sounds of hit European trance. Most of the songs on this were major hits. It has a very good variety of �epic� synthesizer lines, vocals. Energy level is fairly high and held consistent (less breakdown (release) then Tiesto).

Paul van Dyk - The Politics of Dancing Vol. 1 & 2
Melodic trance
4.1/5 : Basically its 2.3 hours of non-stop melodic trance� it has a few great moments, such as Whiteroom � �Someday (Instrumental)� which has a great use of �beep� sounds, for lack of a better term.

Phillip Glass - Einstein on the Beach
Minimalism
4/5 c.f. Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians was much, much more influential, but is not electronic.

Sasha & John Digweed - Northern Exposure
Ambient trance / Progressive House / Ambient House
5/5 This is my favorite mix album (granted I have not listened to that many, so this may be biased), but it considered by darktremor as one of greatest of all time, among a few others DJs. The original version was a double album, which contains two CDs, North and South, which was only released in Europe. I believe they were released separately in the United States. "North" is more well known, and in my opinion, the better part as well. ( it contains amazing songs by major artists such as The Orb, William Orbit, Banco de Gaia and Apollo 440). I have also heard much high praise for another Sasha and Digweed production called "Renaissance: the Mix Collection". Apparently, it one of the Opus Magnums of ambient house. I have listened to some or it, but have not been able to get a full copy (which is pathetic, I know). Sasha & Digweed also produced the opus magnum of progressive house : Renaissance : The Mix Collection : a 3 CD collection which is an impressive mix of progressive house at its finest. It is highly recommended if you have never listened to progressive house before.

Sasha & John Digweed - Northern Exposure Expeditions
Ambient trance / Ambient House
3.5/5 I only listened to this once and I don't' remember it being that great.

Sasha & John Digweed - Renaissance: The Mix Collection - CD1/CD2/CD3
House -- old school house
4/5 The first half of the first album and first few tracks on the 2nd are are great. Otherwise, its a bit long winded and gets tiring fast, unless you are really, really into house music.

Scooter - Stadium Techno Experience (2003)
Stadium techno / anthem techno
1/5 If you want the modern day, blast your brains out stadium techno experience, this is where you go. Utterly retarded and obnoxious, yet morbidly fascinating.

Slagsmalsklubben - Sponsored by Destiny (2008)
Trance (what I would call "tech-trance")
4/5 -- Very addictive tech-trance, the classic appreciated anthem sounds we've all heard, but nice execution. And crazy music videos.

Spicelab - A Day on Our Planet (1994)
Acid Trance / Classic Trance
5/5 As online electronic music expert Darktremor says, "The first wave of trance was perfected here ... Sci-fi samples, long ambient washes, an unqeildy length to the tracks, laser twerps, catchy melodies, unpredictable structure, and acid, acid, acid. However, A Day on Our Planet really transcends all that, to be something far greater, something far more beautiful. Lieb (as in OLIVER LIEB, > noob) has tapped into some otherworldy, alien atmosphere with the 4 tracks contained here, he's managed to produce something not of the Earth. There is no rave reference point to this trance (something that really can't be said for most other trance...): the beats are momentum (and you couldn't dance to a lot of this anyway), this album is a fast-moving journey through another universe." This scores low on popularity, but is representative of the influence of Oliver Lieb in a wider sense upon the development of trance and EDM. It may be the most biased ranking here, as it is a very obscure album.

Spicelab - The Spirit of Fear
Acid Trance / Classic Trance
4/5 Ok album, another example of HartHouse style.

Sven V�th - An Accident in Paradise (1992)
Acid Trance / Classic Trance
4.1/5 - When a great DJ without much conventional music training goes out an composes his first album, it's bound to be a mix bag. This is actually pretty good, the song La'Esperanda got a lot of club play. The rest is not musically advanced, but somewhat interesting. I like the mix of ambient sounds with baroque counterpoint in the song "Sleeping Invention".

Terry Riley - A Rainbow in Curved Air
Minamalism
4.5/5 : Really famous minimalism, but not everyone's cup o' tea. Kindof thing you listen to once and don't go back to.

The Cynic Project - Mixed and Remixed Vols. 1,2 & 3
Tech trance / Dance / Happy trance

The Cynic Project - Player
Tech trance / Dance / Happy trance

The Cynic Project - Sidewinder
Tech trance / Dance / Happy trance

The Cynic Project - Soundscapes 2000
Tech trance / Dance / Happy trance

The Future Sound of London - Amopous Androgynous - Tales of Ephidrina

The Future Sound of London - Dead Cities
IDM / ambient house
4.75/5: the titular track is awesome. The rest is dark and dystopian as well.

The Future Sound of London - Lifeforms (CD1&2)
IDM / ambient house
4/5: A few of the tracks are really good, but it gets long and tiring, unless you are really into this style.

The Future Sound of London - Papua New Guinea & remixes EP (2001)
ambient trance
4/5: This is a popular early trance song, but gets boring / tiring.

The Glitch Mob - Drink the Sea (2010)
IDM
5/5: Cool "west coast" sound, inspired by abstract hip hop.

The Orb - Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld (1991)
Ambient House/Sound Collage
4.9/5: Starting with the well known "Little Fluffy Clouds", this album slowly brings you on several ambient adventures, ending at "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld", which is one of the greatest ambient tracks ever made. This music is meant to be played in "chillout rooms" at clubs, and serves that purpose wonderfully. The album has grown in acclaim over the years, due to the use of experimental ambient sampling and music concrete tempered with some pop sensibility. . Some songs are somber and dreamy, others are more upbeat. Like most albums on this list, it gets better with each listen.

Theatre of Tragedy - Musique
Electropop
4.5/5

Throbbing Gristle - The Second Annual Report
Industrial hardcore
1/5: This is an infamous album, but I honestly can't appreciate it. Its a bunch of mind-numbing noise. Its trying to be postmodern but I think it failed.

Tiesto � In Search of Sunrise 1 (1999)
Anthem Trance / Ibiza Trance
5/5 : Highly recommended!!! This is what I usually recommend as a first trance album. It is my favorite, and I have listened to it at least 25 times, if not more. There is nothing particularly special about the mixing. The real genius of Tiesto comes from the track listing and selection. This is an album which takes you on an aural journey: a journey which perfectly captures all the wonderful sounds of commercial "epic" trance. The album is generally described as smooth, uplifting, sensual, a tad spooky/nocturnal, and just plain uber-cool. The tracks are basically hit after hit after hit by the best artists in commercial uplifting trance. The track selection is done to insure lots of tension and release, both in the macrostructure of the album and the internal emotional power of the tracks. Songs include "Walhalla", "Far From Over", "Sparkles (Magikal remix)" composed by Tiesto himself (under different aliases), and others by big names in the genre like Yahel Sherman, Lange, BT, and Billie Ray Martin.

Tiesto � In Search of Sunrise 2 (2000)
Anthem Trance / Ibiza Trance
4.5/5

Tiesto � In Search of Sunrise 3: Panama (2002)
Euro Trance
4.2/5

Tiesto � In Search of Sunrise 4 : Latin America (2005)
Euro Trance
4/5

Tiesto � In Search of Sunrise 5 : Los Angeles (2006)
Euro Trance
4/5

Tiesto � In Search of Sunrise 6 : Ibiza (2007)
Euro Trance
4.5/5 : The first CD of this is awesome: pure Ibiza sounds.

Tiesto � In Search of Sunrise 7 : Asia (2008)
Euro Trance / "neo-trance"
3/5 : Somewhat of a departure from the previous albums. I couldn't get into it, and I don't think I made it all the way through.

Tiesto- Nyana (2003)
Trance
2.5/5 Not sure if I've finished. Mediocre trance as far as I can see.

Tiesto � Magik One: First Flight (1997)
Anthem Trance / Tech Trance / Progressive Trance
4.9/5 : Great if you like progressive stuff. I didn�t like this one at first, but after several listens I was hooked.

Tiesto - Magik Two: Story of the Fall (1998)
Anthem Trance / Tech Trance:
4.7/5 : Its Fall , the season. Very nice album. Some memorable anthems.

Tiesto � Magik 3 Far from Earth (1998)
Anthem Trance / Tech Trance
4.5/5

Tiesto � Magik 4: A New Adventure (1999)‎
Anthem Trance / Tech Trance
4.5/5

Tiesto � Magik 5: Heaven Beyond (2000)‎
Anthem Trance / Tech Trance / vocal trance
4.75/5 this is a great album

Tiesto � Magik 6: Live in Amsterdam (2000)‎
Anthem / Uplifiting trance
4.8/5 This is an amped-up non-stop anthology of the best anthem-based and popular epic trance.

Tiesto � Magik 7: Live in Los Angeles (2001)‎
Vocal trance / Euro trance
3.5/5 : somewhat of a departure from the rest of the Magic series. It�s a very commercialized sounds and he was clearly trying to appeal to na�ve US audiences with accessible vocal tunes. Its good stuff though, although, since this is a double album, it gets a little tiring. I�ve listened to the first album at least 2 or 3 times, but I�m not sure if I�ve listened to all of CD2.

Tiesto � Forbidden Paradise 3: The Quest for Atlantis (1995)
Gabber Trance / Acid Trance / Hard Trance
4.8/5 : Great album of classic hard trance which never gets old. Newbies might have a slight headache by the very end, but its still highly recommended! The first half of this album in particular is amazing and is mixed with a high degree of skill and precision. This is not your head banging rave album: here we have rich, complex, unpredictable beat structure, with lots of �classic trance� bells and whistles, like laser chirps, acid bass lines, arpegiators, etc. This could be thought of as �Intelligent dance music�� although towards the end the BPM goes up a bit and it gets a bit rave-esque, and the wonderful consistency that characterized the first half is broken. I find I can only listen to half this album at a time, though.

Tiesto � Forbidden Paradise 4: High as a Kite (1995)
Gabber Trance / Acid Trance
3/5 : After riding on the momentum of Forbidden Paradise 3 this album is somewhat disjointed and disappointing. The song by Emmanuel Top �Tone� , an intense progressive acid line, is probably the high point of this album.
<![if !supportLineBreakNewLine]>
<![endif]>Tiesto � Forbidden Paradise 5: Arctic Expedition (1996)
Gabber Trance / Hard Trance
3/5 : There a few good songs here. If one song was to characterize the essence of �Gabber Trance�, �Are Am Eye� by Commander Tom is a good pick. I�m not a big fan of it, but it�s a classic.

Tiesto � Forbidden Paradise 6: Valley of Fire (1996)
Hard trance / Anthem trance
3.4/5 � This is my second favorite in the entire Forbidden Paradise series. This is mainly because of 2 songs, �Netherworld� (Vinyl Cut) by Oliver Lieb and �Dream Universe� by CM. The song �Flute Lore� is also kindof cool.

Tiesto � Forbidden Paradise 7: Deep Forest (1998)
Hard trance / Anthem trance
3/5
<![if !supportLineBreakNewLine]>
<![endif]>Tiesto � Forbidden Paradise 8 - Mystic Swamp
Hard trance / Anthem trance
3/5 � I don�t remember much notable about this album. Technically, its not by Tiesto, but I think most people assume its by him.

Tiesto � Forbidden Paradise 9 - Waves
Hard trance / Anthem trance
3/5 � �Easter Island� Cygnus X remix is a major anthem classic that appears prominently in this album.

Tiesto � Space Age 1.0 (1998)
Hard Trance / early hard anthem crap
2/5
<![if !supportLineBreakNewLine]>
<![endif]>Tiesto � Lost Treasures: Isle of Ra (1996)
Gabber Trance / Hard Trance
2/5 � uninspired

Tiesto � Summerbreeze (2000)
Ibiza trance
4/5 � Good, but ISOS1 and ISOS4 are better and contain some of the same songs.

Tiesto - In My Memory (2001)
Epic Trance
4/5: titular song is great, rest of the album is semi-decent trance hits.

Tiesto - Parade of the Athletes (2004)
Trance mix
4.2/5: nice trance mix, has some novel styles.

Tiesto - Just Be (2004)
Trance mix
3.5/5: this was a popular commercial album, I just don't remember anything notable about it.

Tiesto - Just Be: Remixed (2006)
Epic Trance
2/5 - album came out solely for commercial purposes.

Tiesto - Elements of Life
Uplifting Trance / Vocal trance
4.7/5 - A fresh new style for Tiesto. I like the concept. Great.

Tiesto - Kaleidoscope (2009)
"neo-trance" / tech-house / vocal trance
3.25/5 I was non-plussed. It's too commercial, its struggling to be new but isn't. He's trying to satiate more western audiences and people the teeming masses. The song "Louder than bomb" was pretty cool though, great synthesizer control, I like the "8-bit" sound that seems to be popular now, but I wouldn't call it a masterpiece. This album seems to have been mostly criticized by trance critics. Trancecritic.com gave it 1/5 stars an a horrible review, AllMusicGuide gave it 3.5/5. The biggest complaint is that for people who have listened to trance for a long time and Tiesto's previous albums, this music is pretty boring, it's the kindof music that people who go to clubs for sex will enjoy. People that go to clubs for the music will hate it. Also, the track list is a bit over-stuffed. That said, I felt "You Are My Diamond" was a well-executed, albeit incredibly generic europop song. A year ago I would never have guessed it was composed by Tiesto.

Underground Resistance - Sonic EP (1990)
Techno / Detroit Techno
2/5 uninspired techno noise

Underground Resistance - Acid Rain EP (1993)
Acid techno / Detroit techno
3/5 : An amusing study in acid techno.

Underworld - Dubnobasswithmyheadman (1994)
Techno / Dub ?
3/5 - A classic album, but I don't' think I managed to listen to the entire thing. Their style bored me. The track "Dark and Long" got me interested in the album. Its a somewhat unique track, interesting early incorporation of vocals in a deep trance / acid trance background. The rest of the album left me nonplussed.

Union Jack - There Will Be No Armageddon (1995)
Acid trance
4.8/5 This is somewhat obscure now.. The song "Red Herring" was a major club hit when it came out and is one of the best examples of progressive acid trance. The rest is still very good, it was referenced in the movie Hackers as well. Overall, this is a must-have for classic trance aficionados. (I don't own the entire album, just some songs, listened to the rest on YouTube

VA - Deep House Fashion Mix
Deep house (duh)
4/5 - You know that really slick up-scale house music they play during fashion shows? That's what this is. Really smooth and upbeat. You feel very suave listening to this stuff. A nice addition to round out your electronic music collection.

Vangelis - Blade Runner Soundtrack
Synthesizer / Space music
4.5/5 Obviously its Vangelis so the quality will be good. I thought the soundtrack was great, spacey and fairly futuristic.

Wendy Carlos - Switched on Bach
Synthesizer
4.8/5 I like this album a lot because Bach is my favorite composer. (It's all bach synthesizer remixes, well done).

YTCracker - Nerdrap Entertainment System
8-bit / nerdcore
4.8/5 - The greatest nerdcore album ever!

Mike Oldfield - �Platinum� (1974)
8/10
progressive rock, new age, easy listening, elevator music
I listened to the 2000 CD featured in a 7 CD collection released that year. There is also a 2012 �reissue� which I assume is pretty close to the original 1974 release. The first four tracks of this album (�Platinum parts 1-4�) are the highest pinnacle of achievement in the field of elevator / call waiting music. I feel as though that there are not many albums like this out there. The song �Punkaddidle� is a nice amusing tune on the second half.

Mike Oldfield - �Ommadawn� (1975)
7.5/10
new age, progressive rock
superb new age grooves with bits of folk / ethnic music and lots of masterful guitar melodies. The later part becomes more spacey.

Mike Oldfield - �Tubular Bells� (1983)
10/10
progressive rock, new age
While perhaps not technically not electronica, I feel that this album involved enough post production and mixing to warrant mention here. This is one of the great albums of the 20th century. I�m not exactly sure what to say about it, but it is filled with beautiful contemporary times. It also has some nice structured build ups which are similiar to things found in the minimalist movement, but designed to have more popular appeal. I love voice over narration towards the end of �Part 1� -- I suppose it could be considered a type of �metamusic� -- music about music.

Mike Oldfield - �Tubular Bells III� (2003)
10/10
new age
YouTube link)
This is awesome! Similiar in style to Tubular Bells I, but more energetic and dramatic!

R�yksopp - �Melody A.M.� (2001)
7.5/10
chill out electronica
Nice non-boring chill out album. One of my favorite electronic songs, �Remind Me� is featured here. Their style is not ground breaking (Orbital had a similiar style minus the vocals many years earlier) but their music is very well made.

R�yksopp - �Back to Mine� (2007)
7/10
post-disco, 80s mixtape, funk
Fun mix album. The first 4-5 tracks in particular are superbly mixed, with some of the best transitions I�ve ever heard. However, after about half way through (~35min) the album�s 80s eurodisco sound becomes somewhat tiring. The second half of the album is nothing remarkable. I highly recommend the first half, though.

R�yksopp - �Junior� (2009)
7.5/10

Lady Gaga - �The Fame Monster 2CD� and �Born this Way: the Collection� (2009 & 2011)
Popular electronic
6.5/10
There isn�t anything fundamentally new here, but the production quality is very high. Her DJ should get more attention, but my suspicion is that the record company is keeping him under the radar so as not to detract from Gaga�s image as the new pop superstar. The music here is fundamentally basically a mixture of the same types of pop we heard in the early 2000�s from Britney Spears et. al. repackaged with some dark frills. She borrowed lyrically and stylistically from Madonna but has made her fashion style sufficiently �crazy� enough so as not to be considered a complete knock-off of her. She has also tried to remake herself as a talented �cabaret� artist, and to that regard I think she has failed miserably. I�m not sure if she (or more accurately, her production artists) use auto tuning and really don�t care either way - she is a talented vocalist to the extent required of her to achieve her popular success, and the use autotuning, if anything only adds to the already high production value of these tracks. Madonna and a lot of other big pop stars used or continue to use backup singers to make their music sound better, so what�s wrong with artists using auto-tuning to do the same? These albums have some songs which are very good, such as �Poker Face�, �Alejandro� and �The Edge of Glory�, but also contain an equal or larger number of songs which I consider utterly tasteless and bland such as �Monster�, �Dance in the Dark�, �Hair�, �Teeth� and �Heavy metal lover�. At the risk of hyperbole I believe �Poker Face� to be one of the top pop songs of all time, with it�s addictive hook, throbbing 80s hoovers, sleek production value and quirky lyrics. I guess the thing which I personally like about her music is the use of darker hoover-esque sounds and a strong baseline balanced and contrasted with her fruity feminine vocals, but that�s just what is whetting my appetite in electronic music at the moment and those elements can be found in many albums coming out in the 2010s.

Purity Ring - �Shrines� - (2012)
Synthpop, dream pop, post-dubstep, witch house, indietronica, futurepop
9/10
This album is very good. They definitely achieved something new here, creating a fusion of what I would call �progressive microhouse� with �synthpop�. I find the designation of �post dubstep� questionable, as there are not really any real dubstep drops here, but there are a few spazzy dubstep �mini-drops�. The drum tracks are �duby� but not �dubsteppy�, in my opinion. Also, considering that dubstep is a relatively new and undeveloped genre, the designation of �post dubstep� seems premature to me. The term �post-___� is usually used to refer to a reaction to a genre after it�s full development has more or less finished (is, post-rock, post-modernism, post-cyberpunk), whereas here it seems to be referring more to a development of a genre or perhaps just a mixture of this genre with others. Perhaps a better term would be �progressive dubstep�. The sheer number of different genres by which this music has been labeled testify to its greatness.

Passion Pit - �Gossamer� - (2012)
8/10
indie pop, indie rock, electronica, pop rock
This is a great album, listened to this for a few days, but I did get tired of it after about 9-10 listens. The sounds here are light and cheery, so if that�s what you�re looking for , check it out!

Passion Pit - �Manners� - (2009)
8/10
indie rock, indie pop, electronica, progressive rock
This album is pretty much just as good as �Gossamer�, but I listened to �Gossamer� first, so I seem to be slightly biased towards that one. Some tracks are more traditional prog. rock and other tracks (such as �Sleepyhead�) are delightfully quirky electronica.

Theatre of Tragedy - �Musique� (2000)
9.5/10
electronic metal, electropop
Originally a purely metal band, in 2000 they completely changed their style to a mainly electronic format with their release of �Musique�. This was very disappointing to their fans, but personally I find this album to be superior to their previous works. This album is oozing with transhuman / sci fi themes. I also especially like the song �Radio�, because of the addictive hook, and lyrical content of the song �Commute� which is about commuting. This is definitely by far the best album I�ve found in the somewhat limited �electronic metal� genre. The contrast between male and female vocals, a mainstay of the metal genre, is very well done in some of the tracks here, with the male vocal serving as the �robot� and the female vocal serve as the �futuristic electronic lover�.

Theatre of Tragedy - �Assembly� (2002)
8/10
electronic metal, electropop
I particularly like the delicious hook in �Automatic Lover�. As far as the rest of the album, it isn�t as good as the first song or as �Assembly�, but if I recall correctly, is still great electronic metal.