musical journey pt2

Presenting week 2 of my 100 step journey through my favored styles of music. The previous week ran past the more hip-hop oriented tracks in my list, covering all the cross-overs and mixed breeds I like so much. This week's list will start from there and will advance another step towards pure electronic mayhem.

For reference, here is the link to the previous part of the list: 01-10

Picking up from where I left off, this week's list includes everything from grime, through the early British IDM scene, passing some odd melodic trance tracks and taking a quick stop at the mid 90s German rave scene. Brace yourself for a fun 50 minutes of melodic goodness.

1. 011. Dizzee Rascal - Stand up Tall

   check the Dizzee Rascal album
   

   Rascal is the godfather of grime. A little slower than Durrty Goodz but also a little rawer and unpolished, his tunes ranging from banging to simply fun and upbeat.

2. 012. eDIT ft The Grouch - Artsy Rmx

   check the eDIT album
   

   eDIT is a true mixture of hip-hop and electronic, keeping the balance right in the middle and mixing his own unique blend of genres. Though I do prefer his vocal work over his instrumental tracks.

3. 013. Ilkae - Bovine Arrangements (Setzer Rmx)

   check the Ilkae album
   

   Snuggly sheltered in the IDM corner, bearing small hip-hop influences, Ilkae is a Merck regular that delivers fine and upbeat melodic electronic. Goes very well with sunshine and blue skies.

4. 014. Bogdan Raczynski - Why, Why!!

   check the Bogdan Raczynski album
   

   Raczynski is a breakcore flirt avant la lettre, but his early work went well with the early IDM crowd and still managed to be very cute, melodic and also a tad melancholic.

5. 015. Chris Clark - Proper LoFi

   check the Chris Clark album
   

   Clark is an artist that is rather hard to compare to others. His earlier stuff is pretty choatic, IDM-like, melodic, a tad upbeat but also rather melancholic from time to time. And it sounds like no other artist out there.

6. 016. Brothomstates - Viimo

   check the Brothomstates album
   

   Brothomstates is the perfect example of down-tempo, early Warp IDM that gave electronic music its original shine. Soft and warm melodies draped over subdued glitchy rhythms, creating almost trance-like patterns.

7. 017. Orbital - One Perfect Sunrise

   check the Orbital album
   

   Staying close to Britain, there is no way around Orbital. While One Perfect Sunshine is hardly a typical Orbital track, it does demonstrate their melodic strengths and forms a nice bridge to more straight-forward, trancey dance music.

8. 018. Dune - Million Miles From Home

   check the Dune album
   

   Bumping up the happy factor a few notches, we arrive in the "so endearing you can't help but smile" realm of mellow. Dune belongs to the few that actually survived the test of time and so they couldn't be left out of the list.

9. 019. Ravers World - Paradise of Rave

   check the Ravers World album
   

   Mmmmm, rave music. Ironically the people into this music weren't all that happy at the time, but as far as happy, trancey and uplifting electronic dance music goes, nothing beats some solid German jumping fun.

10. 020. Fruits Of God - Lion's Fear (303 Mix)

    check the Fruits Of God album
    

    Slightly older than the rave formula, Fruits of God is typical dance/trance music from the early 90s. Melodic, still somewhat grungy but already well aware of what works on a dance floor.