Warp-era pioneers, Berlin dub technicians and Kompakt minimalists all made records you can dance to half-asleep. Who built the sound best?
1Aphex TwinRichard D. James, whose Selected Ambient Works 85-92 became the founding text of ambient techno.1000pts
2Carl CraigDetroit's second-wave innovator whose Landcruising and 69 releases fused techno with ambient atmospheres.777pts
3AutechreRob Brown and Sean Booth, whose 1993 debut Incunabula is a cornerstone of Warp's ambient techno era.678pts
4Thomas FehlmannBerlin producer and longtime Orb member whose Kompakt albums refine dubby, weightless ambient techno.678pts
5MonolakeRobert Henke's project, co-founded with Gerhard Behles, known for spacious dub-techno albums like Hongkong and for co-creating Ableton Live.678pts
6The OrbAlex Paterson's ambient house collective behind Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld and the chart-topping U.F.Orb.555pts
7GasWolfgang Voigt's Kompakt-linked project that buried a muffled 4/4 kick inside fog-like orchestral loops on Pop and Zauberberg.555pts
8OrbitalPhil and Paul Hartnoll's duo, whose Chime and the Brown Album brought ambient textures to the rave stage.555pts
9Move DHeidelberg producer David Moufang, known for the ambient techno album Kunststoff and his collaborations with Pete Namlook.555pts
10SeefeelLondon band whose Quique and Warp-era Succour blurred shoegaze guitars into ambient techno.555pts
11Basic ChannelMoritz von Oswald and Mark Ernestus' Berlin label and duo, the source of dub techno's hazy, echo-laden sound.0pts
12The Future Sound of LondonGarry Cobain and Brian Dougans' duo behind the ambient epics Lifeforms and ISDN.0pts
13Speedy JDutch producer Jochem Paap, whose Warp Artificial Intelligence-era album Ginger is an early ambient techno touchstone.0pts
14PlaidEd Handley and Andy Turner, ex-Black Dog members whose melodic Warp records bridge ambient techno and IDM.0pts
15System 7Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy's duo, which merged psychedelic guitar with ambient techno from the early 1990s.0pts
16Vladislav DelayFinnish producer Sasu Ripatti, whose Chain Reaction albums like Multila push dub techno into abstract ambience.0pts
17BiosphereNorwegian producer Geir Jenssen, whose Arctic-themed Microgravity and Patashnik defined icy ambient techno.0pts
18Global CommunicationTom Middleton and Mark Pritchard's duo whose 1994 album 76:14 is a landmark of ambient techno.0pts
19PoleStefan Betke's dub techno project, built on the crackle of a broken Waldorf filter across his 1, 2, 3 albums.0pts
Photo credits
- Aphex Twin — Blackphoenix94, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Carl Craig — basic_sounds, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Autechre — Pablo Sanz Almoguera from The Hague, Netherlands), CC BY-SA 2.0
- Thomas Fehlmann — Kaethe17, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Monolake — Unknown author, CC BY 2.0
- The Orb — Sebastian Larsen, CC BY-SA 2.5
- Gas — Alec Luhn, CC BY 2.0
- Orbital — MJWill25, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Move D — Nicor, CC BY-SA 2.5
- Seefeel — experimentaclub, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Basic Channel — Unknown author, CC BY 2.0
- Speedy J — basic_sounds, CC BY 2.0
- Plaid — Kowarisuki, CC BY-SA 3.0
- System 7 — Duk3L1xon, CC BY 4.0
- Vladislav Delay — Jonas Ahrentorp from Göteborg, Sweden, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Biosphere — Mitja Podreka, CC BY 3.0
- Global Communication — Huppeltrut, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Pole — Franck Schneider, CC BY-SA 3.0
