Battles

Wow, really? There exists in this world great and fantastic independent labels which specialise in introducing and promoting certain sounds or genres and are like the most important thing going on in music. They not only put out local music, but help foster scenes. You want to catch up on what's going on in German minimal techno, and be guaranteed to hear the creme de la creme, then you go to Kompakt, which *started* the whole thing. You want leftfield eerie electronica, check out Tri Angle (Balam Acab, How to Dress Well, Clams Casino, Holy Other). You want among the best dubstep that was being made, you go to Kode9's Hyperdub (Burial, King Midas Sound, The Bug, Mala, Darkstar, Joker, Ikonika). If you want to check out the great pioneering IDM artists, you checked out Warp Records. Some guy in the USA started SST Records, and thanks to this, the world has albums by Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, the Minutemen, Husker Du, Black Flag, the Meat Puppets, Soundgarden... These bands and their albums wouldn't exist in the world today without this label.

In England, a certain small label called 4AD put out albums by no-name bands like the Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, the Pixies, Throwing Muses, the Breeders. These bands didn't stand a chance, and would've never recorded their masterpieces without this label. 4AD current recording artists include Ariel Pink, Bon Iver, Camera Obscura, Deerhunter, Gang Gang Dance, Grimes...

So, yeah, very important, certain independent labels are. Certain jazz labels put out certain kinds of jazz music, and aficionados would purchase albums from these labels knowing very well that the music inside had to be great and important. Fantastic times, fantastic local scenes. These labels are the lifeblood of music.

Warp Records was formed around a group of people promoting a certain vision and aesthetic that was heavily influenced by Kraftwerk and Pink Floyd. Nearly everything put out by this young label is now a classic, and those artists are considered pioneers in so-called IDM. At the very topic is the person considered to be the heir to Brian Eno, and that's Richard D. James, otherwise known as Aphex Twin. The Orb, Aphex ("Selected Ambient Works," 1 & 2), Boards of Canada, Future Sound of London, and so many others are, in fact, progressive electronic.