The nineties were really an incredible decade – fast, inspiring, chaotic. Perfect for someone with a driven, twitchy and restless disposition like me. A lot of the music we made during this time was done in the flash of the night. We weren't thinking about eternity, posterity, longevity – there were just ideas that we wanted to work on, resolve, release – and to repeat the whole process with something new.Porter Ricks op Pitchfork:
There was a period when this utopian scenario was almost true—when we felt that you could do almost anything in a club, as long as it was any good. There was no rigid expectation from the audience as to how it had to be delivered. But this didn't last very long. It was almost palpable, the decline of this in the new millennium. I remember periods where we didn't even have beats in our club sets, but people kept dancing. The beat wasn't even necessary, because it was a biokinetic experience—that's our metaphor for the dance and the body and all its expressions. From today's point of view, this would be totally impossible.
De terugkeer van deze artiesten kon je een paar jaar geleden haast als een soort logische verplichting aan voelen komen. Maar de bovenstaande woorden plus het feit dat een paar favoriete albums dit jaar alweer 25 jaar oud worden, zetten mij aan het denken: waarom was dat decennium muzikaal zo speciaal?
Om het systematisch aan te pakken greep ik naar het geijkte middel: het lijstje. De tien beste platen. Die had ik zo gevonden. Maar er bleef zo veel ongenoemd, tien was een oneerlijke reductie. Twintig dan maar. Ook te weinig. Vijftig, al veel beter. Maar uiteindelijk voelt honderd gewoon het beste (en zelfs dan nog, heb er 104 van gemaakt want ik was Heaven or Las Vegas vergeten naast mij favoriete albums van 1999 plus een late ontdekking en had geen zin om nog iets te verwijderen.) Hier volgen ze dus. Eerst die tien beste en vervolgens de rest gesorteerd per jaar. Pure albums, geen mix-cd’s, compilaties of 12-inches die samen met optredens net zo belangrijk waren (en precies de reden waarom 1996 er hieronder wat magertjes uitziet), maar je moet ergens beginnen. Zo op het eerste gezicht lag het zwaartepunt meer op de eerste helft van de decennium met een reeks geweldige jaren en merk je vanaf 1995-1996 een soort omslag richting duistere ingetogenheid.
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless (1991)
Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works Vol.2 (1994)
The Orb – Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld (1991)
Jane’s Addiction – Ritual de lo Habitual (1990)
Spiritualized – Lazer Guided Melodies (1992)
Talk Talk – Laughing Stock (1991)
Goldie – Timeless (1995)
Porter Ricks – Biokinetics (1996)
The Genius/GZA – Liquid Swords (1995)
GAS – Zauberberg (1997)
1990
The Breeders – Pod
Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas
Happy Mondays – Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches
KLF – Chill Out
Lush – Gala
Public Enemy – Fear of a Black Planet
1991
Cypress Hill – Cypress Hill
Eon – Void Dweller
Mercury Rev – Yerself is Steam
Nirvana – Nevermind
Pixies – Trompe Le Monde
Primal Scream – Screamadelica
Saint Etienne – Foxbase Alpha
Spacemen 3 – Recurring
1992
Alice in Chains – Dirt
Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works 85-92
Beastie Boys – Check Your Head
Dr Dre – The Chronic
Faith No More – Angeldust
Juliana Hatfield – Hey Babe
The Lemonheads – It’s a Shame About Ray
Medicine – Shot Forth Self Living
Ministry – ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ
The Orb – U.F.Orb
Sonic Youth – Dirty
Stereo MC’s – Connected
Sugar – Copper Blue
Underground Resistance – Revolution for Change
X-102 – Discovers the Rings of Saturn
1993
AFX – Analogue Bubblebath Vol. 3
Björk – Debut
The Breeders – Last Splash
Cypress Hill – Black Sunday
Earth – Earth 2
Orbital – Orbital II
Plastikman – Sheet One
Polygon Window – Surfing on Sine Waves
Royal Trux – Cats & Dogs
Sandoz – Digital Lifeforms
Seefeel - Quique
Stereolab – Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements
Urge Overkill – Saturation
Wu-Tang Clan – Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
1994
Autechre – Amber
Biosphere – Patashnik
DJ Shadow – What Does Your Soul Look Like
Future Sound of London - Lifeforms
Jeff Mills – Waveform Transmission Vol. 3
Mouse on Mars – Vulvaland
Portishead – Dummy
Sabres of Paradise – Haunted Dancehall
Stereolab - Mars Audiac Quintet
Underworld – dubnobasswithmyheadman
1995
A Guy Called Gerald – Black Secret Technology
Aphex Twin – ...I Care Because You Do
Autechre – tri repetae.
Basic Channel – Basic Channel
The Black Dog – Spanners
The Cardigans – Life
Jacob’s Optical Stairway – Jacob’s Optical Stairway
Mobb Deep – The Infamous
Model 500 – Deep Space
Omni Trio – The Deepest Cut Vol. 1
Raekwon – Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...
Sun Electric - Live 30.7.94
Tricky – Maxinquaye
1996
Orbital – Insides
Lamb - Lamb
Tortoise – Millions Now Living Will Never Die
1997
Biosphere – Substrata
Björk – Homogenic
Daft Punk - Homework
The Dandy Warhols - ...The Dandy Warhols Come Down
Drexciya – The Quest
J Majik – Slow Motion
Jonny L – Sawtooth
Moodymann – Silentintroduction
Panasonic – Kulma
Photek – Modus Operandi
Reprazent – New Forms
Spiritualized – Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space
Various Artists – Decay Product
1998
Air – Moon Safari
Boards of Canada – Music Has the Right to Children
Killah Priest – Heavy Mental
Kruder & Dorfmeister – The K+D Sessions
Massive Attack – Mezzanine
Plastikman – Consumed
Pole – CD1
Royal Trux – Accelerator
1999
GAS – Königsforst
Innerzone Orchestra - Programmed
Peace Orchestra – Peace Orchestra
Source Direct – Exorcise the Demons
Death in Vegas - The Contino Sessions
