Done in during 1998-1999 by cash-hungry big-beat producers, electronica never became the next big thing, despite continuing artistry by hundreds of creative producers. Instead, the music fragmented into dozens of scenes, most of them mutually exclusive of the others.
Indietronica, put together by the highly respected Sonar label (an adjunct of the Barcelona festival of the same name), explores one of the most creative fringes of electronic music, a group of artists and labels most highly active in Germany, but also present in England and America. The inclusions are among the best possible, whether the artists are song-based (
the Notwist,
Atom Heart's
lb project,
Schneider TM) or generally experimental (
Múm,
Laub,
Lali Puna) or both (
Dntel,
Mouse on Mars).