To understand how IDM became whatever it is, The Black Dog is as good a place to start as any. They’re from Sheffield, like Warp, and absolutely demonstrate how producers began in the mode of making dancefloor records and then quickly faded into some other thing entirely. Originally Ken Downie, Ed Handley and Andy Turner, The Black Dog only retained its original lineup for a few years. In that time, though, they sketched out a lot of what IDM came out of and went into. Book of Dogma is maybe their most unpretentious and fun album, a collection of their first six EPs. They haven’t even decided what they are doing, and flirt with hip-hop and house—they even sample Stevie Wonder. By the end of the album, they’re making music closer to something like ambient and they’re naming their tracks  with vaguely Authechre-ish titles: “Vir2l” and “Vanttool.”

– Sasha Frere-Jones