so I was looking through a thread on ilxor about the best 90s electronic music duos which featured a poll, which was subsequently won by Autechre. people got on to talking about how Autechre's music has generally held up pretty well, and how the music of that other IDM heavyweight, Richard D. James, has actually dated kind of badly. post-SAW/II work specifically.

and it's kind of a jarring thought to think of music which sounded so alien and futuristic at the time sounding so dated only fifteen years later. even 'Windowlicker' sounds a tiny bit dated. fuckin' Windowlicker, guys.

I guess you could note this about a lot of electronic music of the time, due to limited CPU and stuff like that. but then Autechre had the same restraints as RDJ, so you have to take into account the stylistic factors. perhaps Autechre fare better because they had more in common with electro and hip-hop than drum and bass/jungle and acid techno, genres that perhaps had a more solid grounding. and RDJ was more openly flirting with pop music than the resolutely abstract Autechre.

IDK. what do you think?

do you agree that Aphex Twin has dated?

what other records have dated from the 90s and beyond?

have any records from the previous decade already started to date?

which records from recent years do you think will fare the worst?

what is that makes a record date badly?

- this one I'd like to wade in on. it's evolution, right? survival of the most adaptable. strong genres flourish, weaker genres fall away and become dated. example: garage goes from strength to strength, drill 'n' bass dissipates.

note that music that seems pretty out there in a futuristic way at the time also tends to end up sounding dated. I figure this is the double-edged sword of being the first to embrace contemporary technology.

also: once a record is seen as dated, is it actually done for, or will it not just become fashionable again when the more favourable tropes of the time have been worn thin?