Intelligent Dance Music
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Intelligent Dance Music is the expanded phrase behind IDM, used for electronic listening music connected to Warp, Rephlex, ambient techno, and intricate breakbeat programming. The name is controversial because it implies other dance music is unintelligent, but historically it marks a particular 1990s conversation about techno made for home listening, headphones, and computer-era detail.
History
The phrase followed Warp's 1992 Artificial Intelligence compilation and the 1993 IDM mailing list, which gathered listeners around Aphex Twin, Autechre, The Black Dog, B12, LFO, Orbital, The Future Sound of London, µ-Ziq, and related artists. Rephlex countered with the term braindance, but "Intelligent Dance Music" persisted in press, shops, filesharing, and databases. Today it is best treated as a historical and search term rather than a value judgment.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Guardian Warp Artificial Intelligence history
- Perfect Circuit IDM history
- Darkwaveradio IDM guide
- Wikipedia IDM overview checked against primary release history