The Black Dog

Long out of print, this 1993 album might be the Black Dog's masterpiece. Made when the Sheffield group was still a trio -- two members would go on to make their side project, Plaid, a full-time job -- TOTB offers the missing link between Detroit techno's early, melodic sides and the more abstract fare that would become known as IDM (intelligent dance music). Crystalline drum machines carve through spongy synthesizers like a bread slicer; harpsichord-like arpeggios give the music a stately, baroque sensibility, while rough breakbeats nod in the direction of then-nascent drum'n'bass.