maxi

people have been pointing out some earlier examples of maximalist dance - in the original baggier (maxi-er) version of the piece I had a reference to "psy-trance's Mandelbrot-mandala curlicues"

but in terms of 90s examples I clean forgot about Sven Vath



not just the critically acclaimed Accident In Paradise LP

but the critically not-acclaimed (un-acclaimed? anti-acclaimed??) The Harlequin, the Robot, and the Ballet Dancer which was bloody awful by all accounts





Jam & Spoon's big album whose album i title forget also veered prog-wards

there was also a house/trance hybrid in the mid-90s called "epic house" which if i recall meant BT

then while jungle and drum'n'bass generally was minimalist and tracky or anthemic, and even when bombastic it was bare-bones bombast (No U Turn), you did have quite a few exceptions

Hyper On Experience had a fussy, busy-busy orchestrated sound that was thrilling on their classic run of singles

obviously Goldie with Timeless and then, jeepers, the prog'n'bass orchestral epic "Mother" on Saturnz Return

this is just the radio edit i guess! the full length is 40 minutes or so



christ on a bike i've never seen that video!

IDM by the late 90s had maximalist tendencies, through its misunderstanding of drum'n'bass actually i.e. drill'n'bass. Squarepusher had some Jaco Pastorius style bass noodle in there

also Max Tundra was pursuing a sound that was pretty max at the turn of the millenium, albeit on the very outer edges of electronica in the dance/post-dance sense

when dance producers decide to do an album, they do quite often go for an ALBUM in the big sweeping overblown/prove my versatility sense and it does tend to head towards that proggy maximal zone

you could probably collate a list of these vanity projects, ranked according to utter uselessness, with the effort by Paul Oakenfold seeing off most if not all comers