‘Minimal Wave Tapes Vol. 2’

If you’re younger than, say, 30, you probably grew up thinking “electronic music” was synonymous with “mu- made on computers.” It’s easy to forget that that wasn’t the case for most of the genre’s history. From its early roots in avant-garde composition on synthesizers through the heyday of the MPC sampler, most electronic music was made on cumbersome gear with a huge learning curve. Artists often had to be as adept with a soldering gun as a guitar.

The esteemed L.A. hiphop / soul / funk imprint Stones Throw released the second volume of its “Minimal Wave Tapes” series in February, a compilation of ’70s-’80s primitive electronica and No Wave curated from the limited-run tape and vinyl vaults of the New York collector Veronica Vasicka. If today’s electronic music is all about big feelings and throwing hands in the air, this stuff is the victory soundtrack for the day the machines take over. The disco chill of Philippe Laurent’s “Distorsion” feels positively arctic, but there’s a vein of danceable house and freestyle frozen in all the reverb and echo while Subject’s trashy four-on-thefloor beats and android arpeggios feel as desolate as that 5 a.m. moment when the party turns very un-fun.

The collection may be difficult for casual listeners; but anyone interested in how we got from Stockhausen to Skrillex will find plenty that is impressive.