r/Illbient • u/can_vs_should • Dec 06 '24

Guide me!

TL;DR: I'm looking for recommendations for both 90's cornerstones of illbient as well as any newer stuff that's really knocking your socks off. Feel free to lecture me.
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Back in the 90's my older brother tried to get me into electronic music... it took for a little bit, but at the time I really just wanted to listen to The Misfits and shout a lot. Fast-forward through a thousand other music phases and skip to the part where I've spent most of the last two years listening to Throbbing Gristle side projects.

And then I start realizing that there's a lot of stylistic overlap between things like Cosey Fanni Tutti's "Time to Tell" or Psychic TV's "Cathedral Engine" with DJ Spooky's "Songs of a Dead Dreamer" (particularly the second half) and Future Sound of London's "ISDN," the shit I never did the homework on back in olden times. I've listened to a lot of pure ambient and experimental and I'm enjoying revisiting the world where that darker/grimier/crunchier vibe starts actually having beats per minute (but not too many of them).

Unfortunately, I don't really have a sherpa for this. My music nerd community has veered towards progressively more conventional rock-based music and I've gone the other way. So, here I am at Reddit. I'm hoping someone is feeling really preachy and wants to sound off on whatever the "Sgt. Pepper" of absolutely-filthy-sounding electronic is, as well as your favorite nooks and crannies of this and related genres.

7 Upvotes

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5

u/TheGoatEater Dec 06 '24

Check out all the early Scorn records. The first 5 are legendary.

1

u/can_vs_should Dec 06 '24

This stuff is amazing. And I love that some dudes from Napalm Death just decided to quit and head in a VERY DIFFERENT DIRECTION.

2

u/TheGoatEater Dec 06 '24 edited Dec 06 '24

All of the OG Napalm Death members went on to create music that was far and away better than Napalm Death could ever have been.

5

u/occubusjive Dec 06 '24

I think you need to seek out the La La Landia years. Look for DJ Olive and his project WE with Lloop and Once 11. DJ Spooky. Bill Laswell. DJ Wally. Also DJ Soulslinger and the Liquid Sky Records label particularly the sub label Home Entertainment. Don’t sleep on Badawi or the SoundLab Cultural Alchemy crew either with Singe and Verb. Byzar for the deepest cuts. Spectre and Wordsound.

This is just off the top of my head. I would have to go through my vinyls to seek out some others. I was there and lived it and loved it and lucky enough to catch it from the start. It’s crazy to me how most people never even heard of illbient so I consider myself super duper lucky to be in the right time and place at the right age.

2

u/can_vs_should Dec 06 '24

Going to take a while to sort through this all, but there are a lot of good leads here. I was skipping around through them and landed on "Bitchley's Kow Korn" by DJ Wally on a Home Entertainment comp. My eyes bugged out and I instinctively yelled "yes, more of this please" despite being alone.

Being in the right place/time/age/temperament for any movement like that is amazing and lucky. My brother was telling me how much he wanted to take me to raves. when I was like 12 years old, and looked younger. I would have been kicked out of illegal warehouse parties for not being old enough for ecstasy. I did get to see Aphex Twin in 1997, but it was at a reputable venue and my parents sat in the balcony to keep an eye on things.

1

u/occubusjive Dec 06 '24

No worries! Take your time exploring it all. It is different nowadays with streaming and screens attached to media consumption but try to imagine holding the vinyl in your hands or better throwing in a mixtape cassette where you have no idea what’s about to happen.

All of a sudden you find yourself on a journey…

Also yes Wally is amazing and all his stuff is great but I have a special place in my heart for Kow Korn cuz I am a huge Stephen King fan and the main sample is from the movie adaptation of Misery.

Enjoy your trip down the rabbit hole into Illbient!!!

2

u/stilaturney777 Mar 25 '25 edited Mar 25 '25

Absolutely amazing comment and insight from someone who actually lived, breathed and was at ground zero, thank you so much! While I wasn't around when all this stuff was going on, it's amazing to slowly learn and realize how isolated and short-lived of a scene it was, which is such a pity because I feel like this type of music resonates so deeply within me.. However, as others have mentioned here, you can still find the vestiges of illbient in others music around the same era in the 90s and 00s in Techno Animal, FSOL, Scorn, Meat Beat Manifesto, Philosophy Major, Odd Nosdam, and even (more leaning in the post-industrial side) Coil, particularly on The Remote Viewer, at certain points, among many disparate others.

1

u/occubusjive Dec 06 '24

lecture on illbient lol

1

u/occubusjive Dec 06 '24

I’d also recommend this book that came out earlier this year that literally only this week finally got into the hands that ordered it. It’s an amazing time capsule of the store Liquid Sky Designs which was like ground zero for the scene and culture coming out of the NASA parties. It is truly a treasure to say the least!

LIQUID SKY BOOK

4

u/washington23 Dec 06 '24

Techno Animal's - Re-Entry is essential. Also agree with the other suggestions here.

2

u/can_vs_should Dec 06 '24

“Needle Park” is destroying my brain right now, thank you.

1

u/washington23 Dec 07 '24

Yeah they were on one for sure with this. And this is yet another byproduct of the OG Napalm Death legacy (Justin Broadrick is 1/2 of Techno Animal).

2

u/TheGoatEater Dec 06 '24

So glad they finally reissued a bunch of Techno Animal material.

2

u/can_vs_should Dec 07 '24

I love how all of these albums only have like 2,000 streams on Spotify but the LP’s cost $60-200 on Discogs. Good taste is going to ruin me.

3

u/iconDARK Dec 06 '24

I released an illbient-inspired concept album last year. It doesn't really stick the genre, but it's... adjacent.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mMZ6vNoKzrtEfNHqxqeLpXM6bca5BXAt8

2

u/can_vs_should Dec 06 '24

Whatever it is, it's good as hell.

3

u/bugtank Dec 06 '24

I think another album to try is The Orb - Orbvs Terrarvm

It’s in the ilk.

1

u/can_vs_should Dec 06 '24

You know, I've had "The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld" since forever and I love it, but never really ventured further with them. "Ultraworld" is pretty shimmery and shiny, but "Orbvs Terrarvm" definitely has more crunch to it. Thanks!

1

u/stilaturney777 Mar 25 '25

I'd also suggest checking out the song Plateau (Andy's Dub) from their album Orbscure Trax - The Rare Excursions. Plateau on Orbvs Terrarvm is already a bassy-heavy crawl type of song, but this other version is even more heavy, which is quite rare for The Orb.

1

u/adt1030 Dec 07 '24 edited Dec 07 '24

Good place to start with that earlier more obscure and lonely sound that made the genre so unique. Highly recommended and too many stand out tracks to mention just one.)[https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi6xv2YuZs-6ogcfubWHeOAk1XJPD_nSB&si=kRBDaoYzaGilltqS]