Rephlex coined 'braindance' as an artist-side alternative to the externally-imposed IDM label

Aphex Twin’s label Rephlex Records adopted ‘braindance’ as its overarching genre name, partly as a counter to IDM — critic Dave Segal asked whether it was ‘a snide dig at IDM’s mockworthy Intelligent Dance Music tag’. The key contrast is the direction of naming: IDM was a descriptive label applied externally by fans and press, whereas braindance was coined internally by the artists and their own label. Braindance also carries a different, more playful connotation — tuneful, acid- and breakbeat-informed, mischievous — versus IDM’s cerebral, elitist baggage, though the two terms overlap heavily in the artists they cover. The teachable point is that artists sometimes coin their own counter-terms to reclaim naming from outside labellers.

Examples

Rephlex (co-founded by Aphex Twin) released compilations under the ‘braindance’ banner; its roster (Aphex Twin, Luke Vibert, early Squarepusher) defines the braindance sound, largely overlapping the IDM artist list.

Assessment

Explain the relationship between ‘braindance’ and ‘IDM’, including who coined braindance and how the direction of naming differs from that of IDM.