Best EDM Albums of All Time

The 25 Best EDM/Electronica Albums of All Time

In the 1970s a musical revolution took place: playing records became not just way of enjoying music but of creating new music. The extended breakbeats of New York DJs coupled with the pioneering use of synthesisers and production techniques in Europe (by Giorgio Moroder and Kraftwerk) to create this new form. The acid house and rave scene took it crashing into the mainstream in the late 1980s in the UK, where it has always remained a popular form. Most of the acclaimed artists in the genre have come from the UK and Europe - the UK may have been listening to the pioneering House sounds of Chicago and Techno of Detroit in the 1980s but the music did not become mainstream in the USA until the 2000s. It arrivied there with a new label: 'EDM' or Electronic Dance Music. Of course dancing and partying is at the heart of music, meaning it is most often a genre of singles and white labels - played in clubs in a mix with other artists' hits rather than in album form. But classic albums have been made. And this is not always dance/party music - there are many ambient classics and thoughtful, intelligent music in the genre- sometimes meaning that 'Electronica' remains a more appropriate name for this diverse form of music.

1. Dummy - Portishead, 1994
2. Blue Lines - Massive Attack, 1991
3. Trans-Europe Express  - Kraftwerk  , 1977
4. Discovery - Daft Punk, 2001
5. Sound Of Silver - LCD Soundsystem , 2007
6. Violator - Depeche Mode , 1990
7. Endtroducing….. - DJ Shadow , 1996
8. Power, Corruption & Lies - New Order, 1983
9. XX - The XX, 2009
10. Silent Shout - The Knife, 2006
11. Leftism - Leftfield, 1995
12. Suicide - Suicide, 1977
13. The Fat of the Land  - The Prodigy  , 1997
14. Mezzanine  - Massive Attack , 1998
15. Random Access Memories - Daft Punk, 2013
16. Maxinquaye - Tricky, 1994
17. Dig Your Own Hole - The Chemical Brothers, 1997
18. Moon Safari - Air, 1998
19. Play - Moby, 1999
20. This is Happening - LCD Soundsystem, 2010
21. Since I Left You - The Avalanches, 2000
22. The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld - The Orb, 1991
23. In Colour - Jamie XX, 2015
24. Untrue - Burial, 2007
25. Selected Ambient Works 85-92  - Aphex Twin , 1992

BEST ALBUMS OF ALL TIME

The 25 Best EDM/Electronica Albums of All Time