Aphex (fucking) Twin

and Chemical Brothers are good if you need something to ROCK OUT to (not their new album though, it blows big time)

Don't listen to this maen Boards of Canada are out to steal your soul (and Moby too)

Edit: My comprehensive list (hopefully this all falls under ELECTRONICA)

Above and Beyond (sort of)
Amon Tobin
Aphex Twin, AFX, Caustic Window, etc., etc. (Polygon Window kind of sucked imo though)
Bjork
Brian Eno
BT
Faithless
Hifana
Hybrid
Ilkae
Lamb
LFO
Massive Attack
Mr. Scruff
Orbital (I guess)
Portishead
Royksopp
Scatman John
The Chemical Brothers
UNKLE
Underworld

I also need to check out The Knife, Global Communications and The Future Sound of London, but they sound good

Uhhh Tangerine Dream =o)

Amon Tobin

I second this recommendation.  I'm not someone whose heavily into this genre of music, but I'm a big Amon Tobin fan.

Massive Attack needs to be said at least once more in this topic.

!!!

not electronica at all


I Am Robot and Proud
Telefon Tel Aviv
Ladytron
Her Space Holiday
Lali Puna
ISAN
Múm
Sleepy Town Manufacture
Erlend Øye
Venetian Snares (caution: breakcore)

I guess somone missed Ulver.

For ambient:
Ulver
Biosphere
Deaf Center
Helios
Future Sound of London

IDM:
Gridlock
Orbital
Autechre

Psychedelic:
Shpongle
Astral Projection
Nystagmus
Yahel

At the very least try the three highlights. I would call those three groups likely the best electronica out there. Amon Tobin and Brian Eno are good too, but everyone recommends them so I tried to give you stuff that isn't as well known. I would highly recommend against Chemical Brothers and Aphex Twin, mainly because those are acts for people who have not experienced much in the way of electronica. Chemical Brothers are alright, but not if you actually want to LIKE electronica. You can't appreciate them without having listened to many other acts. Aphex Twin is garbage, but it is readily accessible for the main stream, so most people have heard him and like to claim they like him so they look like they are WELL VERSED IN MANY TYPES OF MUSIC. I could recommend you some other more accessible electronica like Tiesto, but trance is kind of like the pop of electronica and, again, you can't really appreciate what is good and bad in trance without having listened to lots of electronica. Otherwise you will either think it is AMAZING STUFF when it really isn't or REPETITIVE BULLCRAP when it isn't. I always recommend exploring genres from the bottom up rather than from the top down; that way you get an appreciation for the whole genre rather than just what you can buy at your local music store.

I'm a casual Electronica fan, so I'll suggest to you what you'd have the easiest time digesting:

Boards of Canada and Amon Tobin

Boards of Canada is decent "chill" music with a ton of 70s novelty.  They'll help you get an appreciation for the clever beat-sequencing and odd instrumentation electronica's known for, and is probably a good introduction to composition-based electronica.  Amon Tobin is the most interesting and painstaking mashup of 40-year-old Jazz recordings I've ever heard, and sometimes manages to even sound coherent.  It's the best example of sample-based electronica out there.

I would also recommend 13 And God if you have any interest in hiphop.  A really interesting and occasionally disturbing of rap and electronica and some of the stranges vocal harmonies you'll ever hear.

I don't really get why people list a million artists when people ask for a brief introduction to a genre; it's a lot more helpful to pick one or two sound recommendations and stick to them.  Anyway, since everyone is including Boards of Canada and Amon Tobin, you should probably start there.

Aphex Twin is garbage, but it is readily accessible for the main stream, so most people have heard him and like to claim they like him so they look like they are WELL VERSED IN MANY TYPES OF MUSIC. I could recommend you some other more accessible electronica like Tiesto

^
You have earned instant and unending hate from the depths of my very being

Also wtf how are the Chemical Brothers not immediately accessible - they've had every single one of their songs in every commercial ever so obviously it is quite digestible even by random members of the general public

Although Dig Your Own Hole was a pretty weird album I guess

Aphex Twin is garbage, but it is readily accessible for the main stream, so most people have heard him and like to claim they like him so they look like they are WELL VERSED IN MANY TYPES OF MUSIC.

Holy shit have you heard any Aphex Twin in your life

Aphex Twin isn't mainstream in the SLIGHTEST, and is definitely not accessible. Aphex Twin is a pioneer in the electronica/IDM field, and one of the most important modern artists around. People like him because his body of work is consistently great - everything from Selected Ambient Works to Drukqs. I would greatly recommend Aphex Twin because of this.

And generally the people who like Aphex Twin ARE those who have heard a great deal of electronica.

And Tiesto is garbage

btw I'll also recommend everything on Warp Records, especially Jackson and his Computer Band.

Jean Michael Jarre, Kraftwerk, Brian Eno and Tangerine Dream are the best electronicmusics I have heard. Most definately Kraftwerk and Jean Michael Jarre, two of my fave artists. Jean Michael Jarre is more weird electronic noises making beautiful melodies, while Kraftwek are well known for their solid tunes about robots.
If you want more of a poppy side, The Human League are pretty fantastic, with great synths and the odd instrumental piece, well known for "Don't you want me baby", they've got a few serious songs under their belt.

Check out a few songs on the following page(this is the site I visit when looking for new musics):
http://www.progarchives.com/subgenre.asp?style=33
They have a flash mp3 player halfway down the page

Daft Punk's Discovery is the best.

Since I Left You by The Avalanches is the best album to come out of Australia. It's all samples and has great appeal since it's so varied. I'd call it the ultimate party album it is motherfucking COOL.

Aphex Twin isn't mainstream in the SLIGHTEST, and is definitely not accessible. Aphex Twin is a pioneer in the electronica/IDM field, and one of the most important modern artists around. People like him because his body of work is consistently great - everything from Selected Ambient Works to Drukqs. I would greatly recommend Aphex Twin because of this.

And generally the people who like Aphex Twin ARE those who have heard a great deal of electronica.

And Tiesto is garbage

btw I'll also recommend everything on Warp Records, especially Jackson and his Computer Band.

I agree with pretty much everything in this post - although supposedly Drukqs was kind of a sell-out album, something about pre-empting an internet leak of 50240492402 tracks from an MP3 player he lost (I would like to hear those tracks though)

You can tell the material on Drukqs wasn't meant to be together in an album at all. Besides the obvious Piano tracks vs. super-fast electronic seizure tracks, Bit 4 sounds like it was made at the same time as "Bit" from the Hangable Auto Bulb EP (like maybe he made a whole bunch of "bits" at the same time and picked the one he liked best), and bbydhyonchord sounds a lot like the beat from Mookid along with the ptzzty sounds from I Care Because You Do in general. And Gwely Mernans could easily be one of the "non-selected" Ambient Works from Volume II. Like just imagine it with a name like DOORKNOB or something.

Even though Come To Daddy was one of his most mainstream head-bangin' thingies, I would seriously recommend the single as an introduction to Aphex because it has so much variety in the other songs. Film and IZ-US are so beautiful and fragile it's kind of hard to comprehend it was made by the guy who did the title track. And Bucephalus Bouncing Ball is just so frenetic while being mellow at the same time. (And supposedly it was made out of all different samples of bouncing balls and marbles and stuff) The other tracks are a lot WEIRDER to say the least but I was surprised how solid they were musically, most of the time anyway.

But definitely don't listen to Selected Ambient Works Vol. II first. It pretty much DEFINES inaccessible, and there are tracks I still haven't been able to listen all the way through because half of the tracks are like a dream and the other half is like the worst nightmare you could possibly have. But Selected Ambient Works 85-92 is very easy to get into although the SUPERBASS kind of gets on my nerves sometimes. I wish he'd reissue it with a better mix and stuff but then again I probably wouldn't want to buy it all over again.