Dusted Down – Various Artists – Artificial Intelligence (Warp)

Three decades old – the album that kickstarted ‘intelligent techno’

Various Artists – Artificial Intelligence (Warp Records)

Very few albums, and even fewer compilations, genuinely shift the dial as much as Warp’s Artificial Intelligence compilation did 30 years ago. Released in December 1992 at a time when techno was rapidly moving away from its Motor City Roots and mutating into countless harder, faster and more intense forms, Artificial Intelligence introduced the idea of ‘electronic listening music’ that sounded just as good sober on a wet Wednesday night as it did during the sofa-bound, post-club hours when the Ecstasy experience was slowly wearing off.

The album’s ubiquity in the years that followed – pretty much every student owned a copy on CD, filed alongside sets by The Orb and more dancefloor-focused crossover acts such as Orbital, while Phil Wolstenholme’s (then) futuristic, computer-aided cover illustration became both familiar and iconic – helped usher in what then NME reviewer Mixmaster Morris dubbed ‘intelligent techno’ (much to the irritation of some producers, who took offence at the idea that their releases weren’t thoughtful) and the Americans christened ‘intelligent dance music’, or ‘IDM’.

Whatever the merits, or otherwise, of such genre labels, or the direction the style went in later down the line, there’s no doubt that the music presented on Artificial Intelligence is magical and timeless, sounding every bit as far-sighted and futuristic now as it did back in 1992. Crucially, the influence of the Afro-futurism so inherent in the Detroit techno and electro records that inspired many of its creators is far more obvious than you’ll find on many of their later releases.

It’s an impressive cast list, too. Aside from Dr Alex Paterson, whose Tangerine Dream-esque ‘Loving You Live’ (a radically cut-down shuffle through the Orb’s breakthrough single ‘A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Ruled From The Centre of the Ultraworld’) offers an LP-ending nod to the earlier ambient house movement, most of those featured either ended up becoming Warp mainstays (Autechre, Richard D James, the then members of The Black Dog and Plaid, who appeared as I.A.O, and B12 as Musicology) or then high profile producers from overseas (Speedy J and Richie Hawtin as Up!).

Musically, the album’s most ground-breaking contribution to the development of ‘home listening techno’ was the presence of a clutch of tunes that smothered head-nodding, hip-hop style beats with chords, textures and melodies drawn from the Motor City futurism tradition. This is most noticeable on Speedy J’s peerless ‘De Orbit’, which became a favourite with ‘jungle techno’ DJs when played at 45rpm rather than 33rpm (thus giving it a breakbeat-driven energy wholly in-keeping with the emerging hardcore sound), but is also there on Musicology’s effervescent ‘Telefone 529’.

‘Artificial Intelligence’ also includes several trips into what would now be considered ambient techno territory, including the faintly unsettling, early morning dancefloor dream-scape of Polygon Window’s ‘The Dice Man’ (a precursor to Richard D James’ similarly inspired ‘Surfing On Sine Waves’ album under the same alias) and ‘Spiritual High’ by Up!, a minor key-heavy Detroit stomper whose wayward, mind-altering electronics and jagged acid lines foretold some of Richie Hawtin’s later work as Plastikman.

Whether it was Warp’s intention or not, the innovations introduced via ‘Artificial Intelligence’ and its similarly impressive 1993 sequel fundamentally changed discourse around electronic music and techno specifically. Suddenly, sofa surfing was just as valid as dancing. In the years since, we’ve never looked back.

Matt Anniss

Pre-order your copy of Artificial Intelligence (reissue), out on December 9, by clicking here