The Orb - The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld (1991)

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With 1991's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld, The Orb exhaled the dragon's breath that ambient house producers still chase. Alex Patterson jettisoned the experimental-turned-commercial prankster outfit, The KLF, and set sail with his companion and coproducer, Thrash, for the center of the ultraworld. Little did they know this deep space region is guarded by the ethereal voice of Minnie Riperton. What did they find once they reached the huge ever-growing pulsating brain at said center? Well it appears they discovered the opportunity to make a hefty profit selling Volkswagens with the single "Little Fluffy Clouds." A massive influence upon its release, The Orb's debut still sounds fresh some 15 years later, especially the epic "Supernova at the End of the Universe."

Autechre - Tri Repetae++ (1996)

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The cybernetic music of Autechre begs the question: Do androids dream of electric sheep? This English duo's ability to record the neural activity of artificial intelligence and transform its coded nano-screeches into futurist funk bordered alchemy. Tri Repetae++ appeared in 1996 and provided the blueprint for techno deconstructionist. Autechre's artificial sounds also provided the template for luxury automobile commercials. The frigid paranoia of "Clipper" and "Stud" recalls Electronic Voice Phenomena (voices of the dead embedded in magnetic tape) recordings taken from inside an abandoned nightclub. "Second Bad Vibel" drills into your eardrum with the subtle force of a primitive AI physician armed with substandard sonic neurosurgical implements. This glimpse into music's future proves the future is indeed a very cold place.

Aphex Twin - Richard D. James Album (1996)

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Emerging from a selected ambient haze, sonic journeyman Richard D. James jumps the drill 'n' bass early adopters' train. Under his most recognizable pseudonym (Aphex Twin), James flirts with jungle and proto-drum 'n' bass, but avoids immediate career devaluation by mixing in avant-garde textural elements and childlike macabre themes. The result is brilliant modern compositions that challenge rather than just encourage narcotized, glow-stick-pumping rave anthems. Album highlights include the glitch track "Yellow Calx" and the pedomorphic "Milkman."

Meat Beat Manifesto - Subliminal Sandwich (1996)

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Meat Beat Manifesto's Jack Dangers is the unsung architect of modern electronic music. A studio fire in 1988 destroyed the original tapes for the group's debut, but miraculously Dangers and crew recorded the epic four-song, double-vinyl album Storm the Studio in time to meet their deadline. In just two short weeks, Dangers managed to create the building blocks for post-acid house trance, techno, big beat, and industrialist freak beat. At the time, the only sonic explorers matching Dangers' innovation were Public Enemy producers, the Bomb Squad. Massive underground praise encouraged the release of the ridiculously influential 99%, and eventually the major label oddity Satyricon. The foray into major labeldom must have soured Dangers' perspective, as Subliminal Sandwich finds Meat Beat revisiting and expanding upon themes first realized on 1989's Dog Star Man. This massive double-disc album is akin to an encyclopedia of electronic-music innovation that requires years of study to digest.

Amon Tobin - Bricolage (1997)

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With astounding results, Amon Tobin eases a round jazz peg into a square abstract electronic hole. Bricolage has much more in common with say Miles Davis' Bitches Brew than faceless drum 'n' bass. Discerning Tobin's samples from "live" instrumentation becomes impossible, as he weaves together strands of jazz, samba, bossa nova, and jungle hyperactivity. This adventurous album effectively channels bygone musical trends into the modern world without reeking of vampirism or cheap retro-gimmickry. Be sure to check out the beautiful "Easy Muffin" and the mind-numbing future jazz of "Defocus."

Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children (1998)

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If a technology existed to record dream soundscapes, Music Has the Right to Children would prove a prophetic aural representation. The reclusive Scottish duo, Boards of Canada, layers obscure samples of children speaking, relaxed electro-dub, and minimal techno, resulting in hypnotic downtempo. Though, at the time, the duo's sounds were derivative and the album possessed an enigmatic genius that captured listeners' imaginations and spawned a legion of imitators.

Two Lone Swordsmen - Stay Down (1999)

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The Two Lone Swordsmen returned from inner-space exploration with an album's worth of environmental recordings. Sure, there are plenty of digitized dub-house rhythms, but the genius of Stay Down is the unnerving atmospheres it generates. Uber-producer/DJ Andrew Weatherall, in conjunction with Keith Tenniswood, retrofit futurist funk with skittering robotic insect calls, percolating basslines, and mutated vocal samples. This beat-anchored sonic wallpaper is best realized on tracks like "Big Clapper" and "As Worldly Pleasures Wave Goodbye..."

Kid 606 - Down with the Scene (2000)

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Kid 606 creates music that is potentially dangerous to the hecaptionh of the elderly, infants, and small mammals. The Kid's Down with the Scene is 100-percent armed audio warfare--a total and complete assault against the delicate downtempo preferred by Web designers and cocktail-sipping new-media workers. This is not "nice" or "safe" music; this is music that the US military could use to permanently fracture the minds of prisoners in Guantánamo Bay. With a total disregard for the listener's well-being, the Kid attacks with a lethal combination of just about every genre under the sun, including hardcore techno, glitch-core, plunderphonics, gabber, hip-hop, dancehall, noise, and so much more. Seriously, if you want to push your teetering parent into years of therapy, slap this album in the deck during your next road trip.

The Prodigy - Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned (2004)

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The Prodigy outgunned England's rave scene competitors and arose as electronica's godfathers. Liam Howlett, the man behind The Prodigy machine, has weathered the collapse of the baggy-pant rave revolution, jungle, drum 'n' bass, downtempo, chill-out, and every other variation on electronic music. His years of sequenced, digital exploration have taken him from a 10-track demo to international, fist-pumping superstardom. The loss of monosyllabic barker Keith Flint proved uneventful, as Howlett enlisted the likes of Liam Gallager, Kool Keith, and others in order to birth his electronic-heavy metal opus, Outnumbered, Never Outgunned. The album is a caged deathmatch between speaker-damaging synthlines and rage-inducing guitar riffs. But do not call it a comeback, because Howlett has been here for years.