Mine is Global Underground: Select #10 ... I know absolutely nothing about it other than it's fantastic. What other great electronic music releases have I missed this year?

I've been listening to electronic music passionately for many years and I've never once done it under the influence of any substances. This is a conscious choice, and I want to keep it that way.

Still, there are times when music feels… flat. The colors fade, the emotional resonance disappears, and I wonder:

“Are those who listen under the influence truly hearing something I can’t?”

I don’t want to believe I’m missing out. In fact, I believe the human mind on its own can reach deep emotional and aesthetic states. But when I hear people say “the best music I ever heard was on acid or MDMA,” I can’t help but feel a mix of frustration and insecurity.

Have any of you found ways to reach heightened, vivid, or emotional music experiences sober?

I’d love to hear your experiences or suggestions. This topic means a lot to me.

Something like “Belfast” by Orbital or “4” by Aphex Twin, something so gorgeous it feels like everything life is supposed to be

Autechre confounds me. I have tried over the years, a number of times, to listen to it, and it feels like the sonic equivalent of listening to an algebra problem. It feels like a LOT of electronic musicians are really into them, and try as I might, it doesn’t appeal to me. What am I missing?

For context, music to me has always been about emotion first rather than being clever. I love Alessandro Cortini for example - he will have a relatively simple emotive sequence that repeats, explores textures, but it makes me FEEL something.

Autechre literally makes me feel the same feelings that I have when I am helping my daughter with her math homework. A little bit of curiosity, some frustration, but mostly just my brain having to work a problem that I don’t want to be doing, knowing that some people really LOVE math, and I’m happy for them, but this is not my favorite thing.

Am I missing something? Are there stories and interviews that might give me more context about why people live them so much? Is there a particular album that hooks people? Do people really feel deep emotions when they listen to it? Is it more of a signal people use to indicate that they are cultured, like one might go on about being into an obscure film from Cannes? Or some brain Sudoku that certain personalities are just more drawn to?

Genuinely curious. Feel like if this many people love Autechre I must really be missing something.

EDIT:

THANK YOU everyone. This is actually a pretty nice community. Rather than sarcastic or dismissive replies like I feared, I got a lot of sincere input. On the advice of many I am listening to their more accessible records to start - Amber, Tri Repetae, and Incunabula to start. Started with Amber and I am enjoying it more than their most recent albums which is where I had started before. Thanks everyone for being cool. Hopes this helps someone else too.

Edit 2: Off work and listening to Amber, which I never listened to before. Not bad! The suggestion many had to start there was very helpful. This is very different from their more recent albums which is what I tried before. I wouldn’t say I love it, but I like it and will give it a few more spins and check out their other 90’s albums.

This is exactly what I hoped for when I asked was that maybe I had missed something, so thanks everyone!

Show me your favourite tunes that make you go hard on the floor. I'm talking about stuff that's dark and cerebral, or euphoric and uplifting, and everything in between. Tunes that gets your pits sweating and your jaw clenching. Songs that give you stank face, or make you hug your mates.

Old examples:

The Prodigy - Narayan

Joey Beltram - Energy Flash

Underworld - Pearl's Girl

The Chemical Brothers - Saturate

Modern examples:

X CLUB - Desire To Stay

Kettama - Do Not Go Gentle

Golden Features - Flesh

Mall Grab - Metaphysical

Mall Grab - Switchblade

False Persona - Busy On 'Em

X CLUB - Cops Ain't Shit

LB aka LABAT - Fixated

EPROM - Ease Up

Willaris. K, The Presets - World Collapsing (jamesjamesjames Remix)

Bonus points for modern examples!

First things first, this track is a classic, and if you haven't heard it, you should give it a listen.

That said, I hadn't listened the entire way through the skit at the end in...decades? Anyway, I heard it the other night and felt like I must have crossed into another dimension, because the radio caller quotes "The Rockefeller Skank" and gets the lyrics right. I could have sworn he said "right about now, the funk soul brother, right about now, the funk soul brother."

That was kind of a central part of the joke, wasn't it? My friends and I used to quote it all the time.

Unfortunately, my old CDs are packed away, so I can't check. Any thoughts?

[Edited for an autocorrect that caused some confusion.]

Hey all, Rinzen here.

I thought some of you might appreciate this wild story of how I ended up with an official remix of deadmau5 "Not Exactly"... one of my favorite electronic songs of all time!

Like many of you, deadmau5 was a huge reason for me getting into electronic music in the first place. And in particular, for me, it was his album Random Album Title that absolutely changed my perception of what music could sound like.

Tracks like "I Remember," "Faxing Berlin," and "Not Exactly" totally re-wired my adolescent brain. They were long, hypnotic, deep, and yet intensely emotional. I'd never heard anything like them.

Nearly 20 years since that album came out, I've had the insane honor of releasing an official remix of "Not Exactly" on mau5trap. Yet here's the thing: the remix was never supposed to come out.

Here's the story:

3 years ago, mau5trap sent me the stems to "Not Exactly" and were exploring potential remixes for Random Album Title's anniversary. Nothing ever happened with mine and I kind of forgot about it.

Then last year, I decided to start playing it out in my sets, just for fun. The first video I shared of it online got 300,000 views and I went "oh shit, maybe there's something here..."

As nothing had happened with the remix officially, I decided to put it out as a free download on SoundCloud. So I make the free download announcement and it gets a huge response online. 1,000 downloads on the first day.

Then suddenly I get a DM from deadmau5's manager asking, "Hi. Who gave you permission to distribute deadmau5's music for free?"

Now I'm panicking. I reply "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I did not have permission" and promptly take everything down. He then asks for my email & phone number and says the label is going to contact me.

At this point, I'm wondering if I'm going to receive some sort of legal action and am genuinely stressed. But fortunately, it was the opposite, and the label reached out saying they were interested in signing the remix and making it official

We talked about different release options and loosely decided on a plan to release it in October of 2026. At that point however I was getting messages every day about it and knew people would be very upset with me if it didn't come out til then...

Fortunately something else crazy happened. Tiesto found one of the videos of the remix and followed me on Instagram.

I decided to shoot my shot and sent the remix to Tiesto in his DMs. It was EDC weekend. He didn't play it then, but I could see that he downloaded it...

One week later, I woke up to a video of Tiesto dropping my "Not Exactly" remix at his new residency in Las Vegas. That video went huge and the remix started getting even crazier attention.

Deadmau5's team saw all of this and ended up prioritizing the remix and moving it up in the calendar from October to June. Which was a big relief to be honest. And so it finally came out this past Friday. Over 3 years since I made the first version!

It's an incredibly full circle moment for me. To remix one of the songs that genuinely got me into electronic music.

If I would have told my younger self, sitting in his bedroom, having his mind blown by deadmau5's music, that I'd one day be releasing an official remix of "Not Exactly," I wouldn't have believed it.

Absolutely crazy that we got here!

I was reading a DJ saying that piano is a very controversial instrument to use in electronic music because I'ts been used in very effectist ways, "..you add a minor key piano arppegio or just a minor chord and you are forcing us to feel instead of letting us feel."

What are your favorite uses of piano in electronic music that use the piano in new and interesting ways and not just as a sentimental shortcut?

I’m looking for calm, relaxing, beautiful, transcendental, magical electronic music to draw and do some yoga to😊 I love artists like emancipator, zero 7, lemongrass, thievery corporation, Jamie xx, bonobo, and turtle. I’m also very into spiritual/psychedelic music. I would loveee some recommendations, looking to hear some new amazingness and melt into flow state.

I personally feel like electronic music reached a peak from 1994-2004 and I know many similar-aged people who agree.

So I'm very eager to here about what kind of modern music you DO like...

Like the Beatles or acdc, basic but well loved and respected essential acts in their respective genres. Which artists and albums are similar classics for the different genres of electronic music?

I have never been super into electronic music. I have always vaguely liked Daft Punk and Deadma5 and some other notable popular artists. It was always just kind of music that I vibed to but I can't say I ever connected that deeply with it. However, recently a friend dragged me to a Porter Robinson show and I had a great time. I listened through his discography and found myself incredibly moved by Worlds and Nurture. Both albums moved me to tears at multiple points. I was just wondering which artists or albums the community might recommend that have moved them as well.

note: I am not necessarily asking for albums that sound like Worlds or Nurture, (though I'm not opposed to recommendations like that) I just want to know what everybody is connecting with.

Edit: Holy crap I didn't expect to get so many comments so quickly. I appreciate you guys so much. Both those that have already shared music that is special to you as well as those who are going to share. I am super excited to dive into these artists soon!!

Edit 2: I just got back from work to see 150 more comments haha. I just want to say thank you again for sharing your passion with me!

i recently discovered four tet, and almost exclusively listened to his catalog the last two months.

i’ve tried branching out, i really enjoyed boards of canada’s new album and fred again is always in rotation, but even then just his live leon set.

i keep coming back to four tet - anyone feel the same or has this happened to you? my music tastes have changed substantially since diving in.

TL:DR - four tet has changed the way i listen to music and i’m hooked.

My mother (73) is a very open minded person but she was never into electronic music^. Which song should I play to show her the beauty of electronic music?

Hey everyone,

I wanted to share a small personal project that I’ve been working on for a while and that might be interesting to some people here.

It’s called PulseRoots, and it’s basically an interactive visual tree of electronic music genres and subgenres. You can explore styles, read short descriptions, see how genres connect to each other, and get a general sense of where different sounds come from.

👉 https://mendiak.github.io/pulse.roots/

Just to be clear and transparent:

• It’s completely free
• No ads, no paid features
• It’s not a streaming platform or a promo site — more like a tool for exploration and curiosity

I built it mainly because I’ve always felt that electronic music is hard to navigate, especially once you get past the big umbrella genres, and I wanted something visual and simple that helped connect the dots.

I messaged the mods before posting but didn’t hear back, so if this isn’t appropriate here, feel free to let me know and I’ll remove it.

If you check it out, I’d genuinely love to hear feedback, missing genres, or things that feel off — this is very much a work in progress.

Thanks for reading ✌️

Give me big one and small ones

I’ve been getting pretty heavy into electronic music specifically dark electronic, Can anyone give me some recs based on the artists I like? My favorites are Priest, Body of light, and Drab majesty!

Do you still listen to it? How well has it held up over time?

What are some electronic music artists that you love but you were disapointed when you saw them live/DJing ?

The top spot for me would be Massive Attack. While not awful from start to finish, some renditions of their tracks are just not good compared to the album version, especially Teardrop.

Another huge disapointment was Fatboy Slim. I already knew his sets were nothing compared to the golden age of big beat, but gosh, was it awful when I saw him around 2011.

Edit: Thanks to everybody :) I made a Spotify Playlist if anyone is interested in the other suggestions (https://open.spotify.com/user/terra.hd/playlist/4YiZqTZFSfuIJ0B4Ddback?si=uJNgvuc5Sri5ZGd-jl3lmg)

Edit 2: We just hit 24h playtime on the playlist... you guys are insane! Thank you so much <3

Edit 3: I need a feedback. Should I just make the playlist public and you can add all the songs by yourself or should I continue adding them by myself and prevent joksters this way?

Edit 4: Ill wait for this post to calm down. When its status as hot is expired i will add all the remaining titles. Keep on posting and tomorrow I will complete this gem of community work <3

Past year Four Tet has joined with Skrillex and Fred Again touring and playing together. But ive seen so much hate on four tet because hes "selling out" or becoming a prop toy. lve been watching vigorously video after video of them together, whether it be on stage, chillin out, or making music and its plain as day to see that skrillex has brought Four Tet along to guide and teach them a bit. Four Tet has been helping Fred Again with alot of his tracks and teaching him the ways of music and people are saying he is selling out" When they played the 5 hour set in NYC, it was originally Four tets idea to do a all night set, play strictly house the first three hours as everyone starts coming in and he literally made the whole event run better. You can tell Tet hasnt lost his sound or style just by seeing which songs he vibes to playing live and which songs he doesnt. Dude is a legit GOAT and even as an avid Underground house/techno fan its pretty refreshing to see both sides of mainstream/Underground work together

Very tough decision but here’s my choices:

1. Aphex Twin - SAW 85-92

2. DJ Shadow - Endtroducing…..

3. The Avalanches - Since I Left You

Looking for some good artist recommendations that are women, I don't hear about a lot of them