Who does them best? What do they mean?
Techno dudes IMO, predictably. (I like Eno’s ambient work but his titles are so contemporary classical.) Villalobos’ or Wighnomy’s or Hawtin’s track names are punnish, syllabic plays reminiscent of French philosophical texts, almost goofy - but on some level, programmatically (synaesthetically) evocative. This actual Tumblog o’ mine is named after a Ricardo Villalobos instrumental, though, so what do you want… When it was first released the name reminded me of a favorite toy of my 80s childhood, a foot-long glass rod with snowglobe insides, filled with glitter and silvery tinsel suns and moons, bits of glow-in-the-dark paper gently spinning, suitable for fairy wand or sword or flagstaff at a pinch. That’s what the track sounds like to me too, tiny intricate sparks suspended in dark viscosity. Its own enclosed cosmology.
…Glancing at Discogs now, I think I may never have heard the full 31:43 version (ahahahahahaha oh V-lobos). Or did I just forget?
I like Autechre’s track titles as well. I always have the vague feeling they’re both agglomerative and acronymic; as in, dudes have systematized the naming of MIDIs and samples and folders and working versions with one or more alphanumeric codes, and however the end missive they happen to be satisfied with is named, that’s the title under which it’s sent out to the world. But maybe I’m completely wrong and they’ve talked in interviews about making track titles intentionally meaningless, I dunno.
