Electronic music may be most closely associated with modern technology, but as this playlist shows, it dates back quite a bit further than that. Compiled by British music shop Bleep, “A Guide to Electronic Music” documents nearly 80 years worth of musical history. It starts in 1937 with Olivier Messiaen’s “Oraison” — which was performed with an early electronic instrument known as an Ondes Martenot — before moving through the decades and touching on songs from Throbbing Gristle, Boards of Canada, J Dilla, Brian Eno, and more. The compilation was originally released in 2010 and sold through Bleep’s online store (they even built a Facebook timeline), but was only available for a limited time — thankfully a playlist has since been compiled on Grooveshark for easy listening. As MetaFilter points out, the Grooveshark version is missing a handful of tracks, but it’s still a great way to get a musical history lesson.
A history of electronic music in 55 songs
is an entertainment editor covering streaming, virtual worlds, and every single Pokémon video game. Andrew joined The Verge in 2012, writing over 4,000 stories.
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