>I suppose it might help to know who you are thinking of in
>terms of the talented who aren't recognized?

no one person in particular, just the popular (but not so much as to have commercial radio rotation a la prodigy, fatboy slim, chem bros, moby, the crystal method, etc.) artists of the '90s and into the early '00s before the backlash (not even restricted to "IDM" but any music that dared appeal to the intellect instead of or even *as well as* the feet). i feel like they're being marginalized now in favor of icky bloghouse/fake electro and now this wonky/beat generation/instrumental hip-hop influx, which all has its place but isn't as original, creative, challenging, or, comparatively speaking, innovative. if i had to pick a moment when everything changed i think i'd pick the commercial success of daft punk's 'discovery' album.


>There is surely
>a niche or sub-niche that does recognize them?

of course, but it should be as big as it was. i think some people who were exposed to it back then felt ashamed of either not ever "getting" it or getting it while so many others didn't or remained oblivious.


>Do you think
>that time will not bear them out?

in the present and immediate future, the way things are going, no. in the long term, yes, judging by my experience. when i wrote my term papers for music theory and then music history class, the professors were unaware of but totally won over the artists (of the above ilk) i wrote about; the latter professor even ordered a bunch of aphex twin cd's for the school library. i think i influenced each of them to take and listen to the genre seriously, and, as they're professors, i can't help but think they'll influence others in kind, just as i know i myself through conversation and my old radio show have influenced dozens of if not far more people in my lifetime to listen and become fans of this music. so although things may not look good right now, the powers that be won't be able to keep these talented artists marginalized forever.


>How does it relate to
>unsung heroes throughout music history?

it's in tradition, but even the people we see as unsung heroes today weren't unknown in their time. foolishly i believed, when i first heard nick drake, that he was some unknown musician in his lifetime who died only to be discovered decades later; not so, i later learned. no one who is an unsung hero now was completely unknown before except for rare exceptions like the tramp singing on "jesus' blood never failed me yet" and maybe the singer on dj shadow's "this time (i'm gonna do it my way)," although the topic starter has implied that he knows who he is; regardless, unsung heroes are really just underrated, not unrated. i don't think the greats in electronic music were underrated, and certainly not unrated, until recent times. likewise, there are underrated major figures in jazz and classical, but they were still popular in their time (i'm not talking about orchestral musicians and sidemen here, rather composers, band leaders, and signed recording artists).


>The niche, insider
>audiences of jazz and classical do recognize their own heroes,
>but how is this not true of electronic music?

i'm talking more about the niche and beyond. maybe not to the scope of millions of sales, but what is a niche when it comes to classical and jazz when those were the prevailing genres for so long? *instrumental* electronic music could never compete with vocal pop music, but it became it. comparing instrumental to vocal (electronic and otherwise) music doesn't make sense, so in that regard, i am only talking about people who listen to and are interested in instrumental music that is electronic, regardless of whether the listener would call it that (the term is a nonstarter for many, who consider it gay, weird, white, nerdy, unfunky, etc.). it used to be that, for these people, the most popular and known artists were truly talented. less so now.