"i"

In retrospect, "i" now seems like a crystal ball prophesying virtually every major musical development of the 1990s; from the shimmering techno of "A Love from Outer Space" to the liquid dub of "What's All This Then?," from the alien drone-pop of "Conundrum" to the sinister shoegazer miasma of "Supervixens" -- it's all here, an underground road map for countless bands to follow. Breathtaking in its scope and positively epic in its ambitions, the album is loosely organized into four sonic suites containing four tracks each, broken up by a series of wild-card noise interludes; the music shifts and mutates constantly, growing progressively deeper and darker with each passing song. Largely overlooked upon its original release, "i" is still an underappreciated masterpiece, but it's inconceivable to imagine that electronica and post-rock could ever have blossomed without it. ~ Jason Ankeny