How ironic it is that the initial popularization of synthesizers happened with Bach music [0][1].
Also, see [2] at that specific time. The motif in this case being played at the end is an explicit rendering of the theme that occurs throughout the song. Erez Eisen [3] had classical training before moving to the Electronic Music genre.
[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switched-On_Bach
[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx5_c4Azn4E
I really like Todd Terje, which you linked, but I wouldn't call it subtle in any way (it's just generic italo-disco updated to sound like 21st century dance music). It's something I'd play to dance on a night out, not to listen and enjoy as art.
> It's a common thing in electronic music, sampled drumbeats
Well, both links feature live drum beats so... ;) Amongst other instruments (Shpongle's flute is analog, Younger Brother features analog instruments both at the studio and live).
Here's Younger Brother rehearsing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIYH6SXdjE0
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As I expected it's a matter of taste (as expected) more than medium.
I can see you like funk influenced music full of harmonic complexity. You might like some 70s electronic music I guess? Try https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LF438wbUTI (Beaver & Krause, pioneers on electronic music). There are literally too many productions to chose from until I hit the key that tingles your own personal taste :P
We'll never agree but I'm glad we exchanged opinions (and I'll keep an eye on that Redinho guy!)
Terje beat is subtle, other than that it's as simple as it can get.
It does influence my needs though, Funk, and Jazz have a swing, a tension that I often need in music, unless it's displaced by classical crescendos.
ps: I wonder if Redinho peaked on his first album, I expected more things to come since but .. anyway.
pps: I'll have to relisten to younger brother now
- https://floatingpointsluakabop.bandcamp.com/album/elaenia
- https://www.discogs.com/Floating-Points-Elaenia/master/90855...
Another suggestion is Azymuth, a brazilian cult band that blends funk, latin, fusion and electronic music. They have a very long discography but their most recent album is a very good starting point:
- https://azymuth.bandcamp.com/album/f-nix
- https://www.discogs.com/Azymuth-F%C3%AAnix/master/1094986
Let's stay in brazil: Music From Memory, a fantastic re-issue label, recently released a fantastic compilation that collects brazilian electronic, avant-garde music from the late 70s to early 90s. It's more on the experimental, difficult end of the spectrum but very rewarding with repeated listenings:
- https://music-from-memory.bandcamp.com/album/outro-tempo-ele...
- https://www.discogs.com/Various-Outro-Tempo-Electronic-And-C...
More than you might think. Some, like Isao Tomita, built their careers on electronic versions of classical music, including Bach in Tomita's case (though I don't care much for his adaptations). Others, but many others, like Jean-Michel Jarre has an education in classical music, and took a long time to "break free" from classical formats in his composition.
What do you expect from Western classical music? ;)
Maybe Chopin was the last of the western classical music (I'm not that knowledgeable on this)
I tend to prefer electronic music that is relatively melodic but at the same time uses electronic instruments to do effects you can't easily do with analog instruments, e.g. like these, which are synth "classics":
* Jarre: Oxygene II: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD4KMp22jBg
* Jarre: Arpegiator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzAui_gcdhM
At the same time as they play with the synth capabilities of the time, they show Jarre's classical background - more so if you see the scores, and just how structured they are (especially if you look at a whole album; especially his earlier albums were thematically consistent, with very structured progressions from piece to piece).
For music that spans the genres, this is one of my all time favourites: [2] Final Rendez Vous (Ron's Piece), also by Jarre, which mixes electronic music with sax.
It was meant to be played for Jarre's Houston concert by Ron McNair while in space. He was due up on Challenger. The concert was almost called off, but people from NASA convinced Jarre to go ahead with it, and it's taken on an extra dimension beyond the already haunting melody...
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, on the other hand, I also have a soft spot for chiptunes - 8 bit game and demo music, which ranges from trying to emulate classical music, but which are often very inaccessible if you don't know the technical constraints, to going all out with doing weird stuff with the available hardware.
So to give you a taste of something quite different from most modern electronic music:
E.g. this is one of the great triumphs in simulating real instruments on a Commodore 64 [3] (Monty on the Run, by Rob Hubbard). I won't be surprised if you're not impressed, but look at the oscilloscope and consider that it's three voices made on an 8-bit home computer.
Or this "album length" set of tracks from Last Ninja [4]... Both of these are constrained by hardware to 3 voices, no proper samples (sine, triangle, square waves and noise, with some added pulse modulation and lots of dirty tricks).
It does take some effort to look past the tinny sound and limited "instrument", and is probably a greatly acquired taste given that I grew up with it.
But to take two more: Lightforce (C64), by Rob Hubbard [5]. One of the pieces that probably sold more copies of the game than the gameplay did (the game itself was shit), yet which exhibits a lot of similar geometric progressions that the first two Jarre pieces do.
Which brings me to one of the most interesting game music compositions of the era:
Delta (also Rob Hubbard) [6]. It's not really casual listening, but it is extremely fascinating to meditate on. You can really see the limitations in that oscilloscope view: Those are what the other pieces have to work with, stripped bare. In most of the other pieces the composer has worked hard to try to bend it into a richer sound (and sometimes succeeded surprisingly well, like in the case of Monty on the Run - compare the oscilloscope for the middle voice in particular), but in Delta the simplicity is the main feature.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xnt_8bUXVpw
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AublfrOW578
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIA_0cvS2gQ
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_miL3Kd6E6w
More than you might think. A.G. Cook and Danny L Harle are arguably the most influential figures in contemporary pop and are both classically trained composers. Harle has worked with Carly Rae Jepsen and produces some obnoxiously saccharin pop music, but he has also released an album of harpsichord duets.
The heart and soul of electronic music isn't melody or harmony, it's timbre and rhythm. There's a grammar of timbre which completely eludes most classical musicians.
I'm sure there are many. That sort of thing doesn't generally make it to the popular circles. The first one I thought of was an artist named Igorrr. It is quite possibly not your style, as some of the stuff might be difficult to listen to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PmUQU8Mk4o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKp30C3MwVk
You should know that the first record of electronic music to be a hit record, was a record full of Bach music... by musician Walter Carlos (now Wendy Carlos).
The link you gave are not bad, but they lack soul, feel, weight. It's a common thing in electronic music, sampled drumbeats, tiny vocals, steady and fragile melodic rhythm.
ps: other electronic sounds that I found a bit more telling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-k7QhOVl4M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgGNZABDqZA
These two are simplistic but have a strong rhythmic backbone and are surprinsgly twisted at times https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4r_94EvDZ4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebjXsc0UjdQ
I'd love to keep on but I have to leave, I'll be back in an hour