ABSTRACT
On the cover of Artificial Intelligence, a robot reclines in a comfy armchair, blowing perfect smoke rings in the air and chilling to the atmospheric sounds wafting from a sleek hi-fi unit. In his left hand, there's a fat joint; extra long Rizla rolling papers are strewn on top of an album sleeve on the carpet. Two other LPs are clearly recognizable as classic "head" music: Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and Kraftwerk's Autobahn. With no little wit, Artificial Intelligence's cover tableau of domestic bliss-out heralds the birth of a new postrave genre, which Warp Records christened "electronic listening music." Other names followed - armchair techno, ambient techno, intelligent techno, electronica - but all described the same phenomenon: dance music for the sedentary and stay-at-home.
