Artists/albums/tracks that marked the first time you realized a thing could be done in music

For example, I have a distinct memory of listening to Autechre's "Kalpol Introl" for the first time on a train platform at night in college and thinking "I didn't know electronic 'dance' music could be melancholic and introspective"

I also remember hearing DJ Shadow's Endtroducing in high school and realizing for the first time the possibility of cutting up samples of drums in that way rather than just looping beats.

seems not all that mindblowing now, but as an 18 year old whose music tastes, including those of the metallic persuasion, were very 'linear', hearing Meshuggah open for Slayer in 1999 was kind of insane. djent wasn't really an established subgenre at the time, and I loved them when I saw them, but I didn't really understand why I did. I bought Chaosphere later that week, and on first listen, thought perhaps I might have made a mistake.

"they're playing the same chord over and over, wtf is this". then I realized that the polyrhythms were serving the 'melodic' aspect of the song in that they were the hook, not traditional chord progressions, traditional melodies, etc. rewired my brain to listen to it that way and by third listen, the "Rhythm" as the actual hook won me over and I acquired the rest of their discography (which, at that point in time, was pretty small, lol).

I remember trying to play alongside them on my guitar, which granted proves little as I was very green, but it was like "Daniel Russo trying to trap a fly with a chopstick" levels of failure on my part.

Until my friend Matt put on Alice Coltrane’s Transfiguration when we were hanging out one afternoon, I didn’t know an organ could be played that way. (I was also high as f***, which significantly enhanced the revelation.)

yea that last part is pretty key when it comes to this. I've had a lot of cool revelations of stuff I never would've noticed otherwise

Autechre is responsible for a lot of these - the rising & falling bass lines in "Foil", the tempo fuckery on "Rae", a bunch of stuff on their latest releases. they mess with things that other artists even in their own genre would never think of so they're pretty ripe for this thread.

Aphex's RDJ Album screwed with my head a lot at 18, like I almost felt violated the first time I heard it.

well before that you had "Jumbo" by Underworld which I first heard at 13, completely changing what I thought electronic music could do. it singlehandedly made me reject that "techno ain't real music!" narrative that had been spun around a lot

suspect it was Rockit by Herbie Hancock made me realise that messing around on record decks could be used as part of the music.

That first Oval album was the first time I realized that CD skips could be beautiful.

The Fall, probably No Xmas for John Quays, Peel Session, the first thing I heard by them in 78. Out-of-tune caterwauling, repetitive, almost non-music, but inspired, genius.

David Sylvian's "Blemish" made me realize that I could love music with random static intertwined.

e'40's "i get down" made my lung collapse

Chief Keef made me realize rapping on beat was no longer necessary

suspect it was Rockit by Herbie Hancock made me realise that messing around on record decks could be used as part of the music.

― mark e

There was a documentary on scratching years ago (I think it was called "scratch") where a lot of the most famous turntablists of the day cited this same moment, specifically seeing Grandmaster DST do it live on the grammys, as a formative moment.

Of course this also led to every 90's band thinking they had to have a DJ on the payroll.

Camping with an uncle who brought a radio that was tuned into a classic rock station. Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love came on and he told me to pay attention to which speaker the guitar was coming out of. The hard stereo panning blew my wee mind.

Velvet Underground and Nico. Bought it as a freshman in high school and was immediately put off by the production. Didn’t know that music could be poorly produced. Wound up coming around though.

When i was a kid i had no idea death vocals were humanly possible so i thought everyone of them was just like regular vocals pitchshifted (of course, some actually ARE, but)...

100 Percent That Grinch

OMG, dying

Great question. The most recent one I can think of was 'Cosmic Gloss' by the band Zorch.
It sounded the way my own songs sounded in my head before I edited them into songs. I realized that pop music didn't need to be structured or edited for presentation. It could be presented exactly as it unfolds in the mind's ear at the initial moment of inspiration:
Just endless repetitions of a hook. That go on theoretically forever, with variations and tangents occurring wherever they may.

That record was a direct line from the imagination to the listener, totally unencumbered by the medium.

Spacemen 3: the vibrato/tremolo guitar amplifier effect can be used rhythmically and structurally.

Aphex Twin - Bucephalus Bouncing Ball was my ‘wow I didn’t know electronic music could do THAT’ moment.
I was at an older friend’s house smoking weed for maybe the third or fourth time in my life.
Already I was having my mind blown by the first three tracks on the Come To Daddy EP but that tune was the final axe blow. I rushed out and ordered it from HMV the next day and still think it’s an astounding hit of music

for me it was archcarrier by autechre. Just seemed so alien to me and couldn't imagine how someone could come up with something like that.

Being genuinely surprised by music happens so rarely these days. Last time I remember it happening was "Les Jeux To You" by Julia Holter.

impossible nothing's phonemenomicon impressed me a lot, like enough that i listened to the whole thing even though it's 26 ten minute tracks.

unfortunately his work since lexemenomicon has been berlin-school volume and too patchy, i can listen to one four hour 20 minute record but not three a year

listening to the zorch now and loving it

when i listened to loveless for the first time in the winter of 1991/1992 i realised two things i hadn't realised before. micro speed change did not have to be a default like when tape recorders couldn't hold a constant speed and the tape began to wow but it could actually sound good. before the universe had benn linear, suddenly it became warped and that weird sound made sense in this setting. additionally for the first time i heard a melodic beauty out of this world hidden behind all the muddy noise. it was like opening an oyster at the dark ground of the sea and being totally overwhelmed by the shining pearl.

The Cramps' early records, especially "Human Fly," were a kind of strange lesson in minimalism for me. I'd already heard the Ramones, but they were fast; the Cramps were slow, and seemed to be doing even less than the Ramones - "Human Fly" felt like it only had one or two notes, and one beat, for its entire length, except for the "guitar solo," which was not at all the kind of squiggling-and-screaming outburst I was used to from AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen et al. And Lux Interior, on that track and more often than not back then, was creepy rather than unhinged. It was like he was wrapping his arm around your shoulder and murmuring the song in your ear as the band played that one-note throb, and it seemed to last forever. I'd never heard anything like that, and their early records - basically Gravest Hits through Psychedelic Jungle - are still a unique and unsettling/thrilling listen for me.