I sometimes think probably some appreciation comes from listening to the music in computer games as a kid. (And, maybe, for the more experimental stuff, the screech of the tape loader on the Amstrad… And the dial-up modem later on…)
The first electronic songs that I can remember? I remember my brother had a tape called ‘The Ultimate Rave‘, from 92. So that would have been around when I was 10. I remember the Charly song from that, although the album version is way better. I listened to Experience a lot. He also had ‘Rave 92‘, I still remember a bunch of tracks from that fondly… On A Ragga Tip, The Bouncer, Ravin’ I’m Raving.
So then The Prodigy, The Shamen, a bit later the Chemical Brothers. I have a distinct memory at some point of watching No Limits by 2 Unlimited on some music programme when at my grandparents house.
My Mum liked Orbital, so we had a bunch of their early albums around – Snivilisation, Insides, the brown one.
At some point (around college time I guess?), I started getting into IDM. Warp (Autechre, Boards of Canada) and Skam (Jega) being the labels that kicked me off. Where did that come from? I think that was me going off into my own territory at that point, possibly with some assist from Michael. I distinctly remember teaching myself how to make websites while listening to Tri Repetae on repeat. College? Pre-uni?
It’s mostly been the more IDM side of things since then.