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Desert Scores by Ian O'Brien album cover
Number 142 on The 250 Best Electronic Albums of the 20th Century20th Century

Desert Scores

Ian O'Brien

1996 · Detroit techno · techno · downtempo · jazz

Ferox Records · FER-LP3

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Why it's here

Ferox's Englishman doing Detroit jazz-fusion better than most Detroiters

Ian O'Brien brings jazz-fusion musicianship into techno, and Desert Scores never sounds like a demonstration of chops. Harmonic movement and rhythmic detail stay inside the tracks instead of sitting on top of them, so the sophistication registers as feel before technique. You can hear the work without hearing him show off. A connoisseur's record and not a landmark, and it has never had the attention it earned.

Also ranked

Dancefloor
№ 83
Influence
№ 171
External poll

Tracklist

  1. A1Mad Mike Disease5:52
  2. A2Homeless7:09
  3. B3Dayride10:16
  4. B4The Man From Del Monte (A Fantasy Theme)7:10
  5. C5Dark Eye Tango9:52
  6. C6Video Games & Data Movements7:20
  7. D7Granpa's Drawers8:21
  8. D8Desert Scores & Fusion Daddies9:09