Since FM first launched itself onto the shelves way back in 1992, we’ve been lucky enough to have the opportunity to sit down with many of modern music’s most exciting and innovative artists. Whether it’s at the time of their creation or in retrospect, we’ve spent a whole three decades taking you behind the scenes of the making of countless iconic albums.
In order to celebrate this glorious anniversary, we’ve delved into the FM archives to bring you a short snapshot of 30 of those must-hear records, as told by the artists themselves and some of their key collaborators. From the most weirdo of ambient experiments through to modern pop classics, come with us on a journey through three decades of killer electronic music…
Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works 85–92
[1992]
1 Ever one for breaking with convention, Richard D James’ early-career masterpiece was created mostly using an array of modded analogue synths. While the gear used involved a lot of familiar faces, most were circuit bent, sampled and processed to create unique textures.
Richard D James: “The only keyboard that I haven’t changed is the Korg MS-20; I’ve got three of those. It’s a mad keyboard, it’s got a great range of sounds and I like it the way that it is. A lot of things that I make don’t respond over a keyboard range – they’ll make one sound, which I’ll then sample. Some stuff I control with triggers and control voltages; I put a lot of control on these so that I can alter the sound while they’re being triggered.
“I really hate the idea of using other people’s equipment – I’ve just got a bit obsessed. I don’t want to use pre-programmed drum sounds.
“I’ve used modified 808 sounds on Ambient Works. I’m surprised that the ambient stuff came out as well as it did.
“Someone phoned me up to ask how we got the quality so good; I thought ‘What are they talking about? It’s shit!’”
Plastikman – Sheet One
[1993]
2 The second full length from Richie Hawtin and his first as Plastikman, Sheet One is one of the defining works of stripped-back, early-’90s techno. Richie Hawtin: “My studio for Sheet One was called UTK, which stands for ‘under the kitchen’, as it was at my parent’s house.
“It was the first real studio I had. I had all the Sequential Circuits stuff, my Wavestation, which was all over this record, and all of the Roland stuff. I had my first patchbay – it meant that I could quickly do things. I’d just purchased a very early Allen & Heath GS2 mixer. It was small, but it had a lot of power.
“I had 24 channels and a three-band parametric EQ. I had flanges and delays going all the time. Another big piece of gear was the DP/4, which I always used with at least two effects, sometimes four. I also had the early Yamaha
