February Roundup 2013

It's been a bumper month, here's White Noise's selection of Feburary's best dance singles.

Remember to follow White Noise on Facebook and Twitter to get daily doses of great tunes, old and new.

Tracklist:

Motor City Drum Ensemble - Send A Prayer Pt. 1

Leon Vynehall - Untitled 017 [EP Review]

Kyodai - The Scene [Single Review]

Garage $ale - Bump N Grind (Waze & Odyssey Mix)

Artifact - The Way It Do [EP Review]

Benjamin Damage - 010x [Album Review]

Call Super - Threshing Floor [EP Review]

Boddika & Joy Orbison - Mercy (Boddika's VIP)

Moiré - Lose It feat. Heidi Vogel [EP Review]

Powell - A Band

A Made Up Sound - Ahead [Single Review]

KH - The Track I've Been Playing...

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And here are a few other essentials we couldn't find on Youtube:

∆ ∆ - You [EP Review]

Youandewan - Disarray [EP Review]

Spare - Spare Room Offence

Jus Now - Tun Up

Enjoy!

Artifact – The Way It Do

Label: Somethinksounds

Bristol’s Artifact was one of 2012’s straight-out-of-the-box successes. With stellar EPs for the likes of Deadplate and Local Action, the fresh producer proved himself a deft hand at manipulating dark strains of dancefloor sound, with highlights including the storming Deserted and brutal acid roller Turtle Flight. The young producer’s first EP of the year is for the Berlin/ London-based Somethinksounds, a label known as much for its genre-defying output as for its tight quality control.

A lot of the Artifact staples are here; rugged technoid beat patterns, dark atmospherics and a dangerous handle over build-and-release mechanics. The striking difference on this powerful double A-side is the introduction of a pair of superb vocals, which add a welcome melodic hook to the threatening soundscapes. You can tell The Way It Do is going to be something special from the very first drop: a tough 4/4 and a toybox melody build up to a showstopping vocal line reminiscent of Blawan’s Getting Me Down (but much darker). This track isn’t all bout one element, though; chiming synths and a constantly-mutating percussive field mean this one will impress long after the first listen, as well as being a sure-thing for DJs looking for a secret weapon to get the floor to take notice.

As the press release so helpfully tells us, this release is a double A-side for a reason. We Trapped is an equally impressive powerhouse of a dance tune, with a skipping rhythm establishing a powerful groove: another impressively textured percussive field and another catchy, urgent vocal hook that’s sure to get the dancefloor moving. Remix duties are on Mancunian Damu, whose style has seen a dramatic shift from sugar-sweet bass tunes to the darkest acid rollers. The new sound suits The Way We Do to a tee, creating a muscular analogue workout that impresses in terms of craft but still feels like it lacks the original mix’s killer vocal hook.

Artifact’s impressive discography to date has been marked by a keen awareness of juxtaposing space with his big sounds; although there’s a lot going on these tunes still feel stripped to the core elements, allowing each note and beat to receive its due attention. Following on from a promising 2012, he’s come right out of the gate in 2013 with his best release to date, a pair of unstoppable peak-tracks that are sure to get a lot of play over the coming months on discerning dancefloors.

7.5/10

Best Tracks of 2012: 75 – 51

Year End Coverage

* Best Albums of 2012

* Best EPs of 2012

* Best Labels of 2012

* Best Breakthrough Artists of 2012

* Best Tracks of 2012 - 101-76
* Best Tracks of 2012 - 75-51
* Best Tracks of 2012 - 50-26
* Best Tracks of 2012 - 25-1

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Here's 25 more of our favourite tracks of the year. Enjoy!

75 – Jack Sparrow – Good Old Days feat. Ruckspin

Deep Medi shows there’s still life in the old 140 horse yet, with this sultry jazz-inspired number from the Author duo.

74 – Marquis Hawkes – Sealion Woman

Tough, analogue workout accompanied by a showstopping US folk vocal-line. Something special.

73 – Bicep – Vision Of Love

Pitch-perfect piano House from the Northern Irish duo. Literally cannot be overplayed. EP Review.

72 – Jack Dixon – Find Shelter

Polished House number shows Dixon has a few real surprises up his sleeve. Detailed sounds and a strong groove make this one essential. EP Review.

71 – Helix – Honig

Proper Techno workout from one of the year’s most talented breakthroughs. Bright synth streaks and hammering beats sure to murder the dancefloor.

70 – Kuedo – Work, Live & Sleep In Collapsing Space

Destructive future-sounds from one of the scene’s most unique voices. Otherwordly sci-fi soundtracking.

69 – Disclosure – Tenderly

Infectiously bouncy Bass number courtesy of Disclosure, one of the year’s mainstream crossover successes. EP Review.

68 – Daphni – Yes I Know

Caribou’s Dan Snaith offers a soul-injected House workout under his Daphni moniker. Worth the price for the vocal sample alone. Album Review.

67 – Presk – Nobody Makes Me Do

Wonky stepper with a couple of earworm vocals and some seriously polished production skills. EP Review.

66 – u-202 – Straightjacket

Pure strangeness from the L.I.E.S. camp. Takes its time to build into a loping House roller. 

65 – Artifact – Deserted

4am stepper deal in drama with monstrous drops and moody synthwork. EP Review.

64 – Dark Sky – Shades

Epic night stomper from the Dark Sky trio. Powerful grooves and an unstoppable bass bounce. EP Review.

63 – Downliners Sekt – Trim / Tab (part one)

Beautiful dance deconstructions from a White Noise favourite. Vocals, piano chords and haunted beats are consigned to the fragmented clicks and all-consuming vinyl hiss. EP Review.

62 – XI – Squeeze

Tough percussive Garage from Toronto on Orca. Stop-start rhythms and a de-oxygenated vocal cry make this one something special. EP Review.

61 – Swindle – Mischief

140 Jazz madness from the Deep Medi camp. Totally unique, genre-defying stuff.

60 – Boddika – Acid Jackson

A red-hot slice of future Acid from the man who probably sleeps tucked up next to his 303.

59 – Airhead – Wait

A track that polarized opinions, here at White Noise we loved Airhead’s Karen O collage. Atmospheric and emotive. EP Review.

58 – Akkord – The Drums

The most atmospheric of the shadowy Manchester group’s releases so far. Fantastic vocals and rugged beat patterns. EP Review.

57 – Mosca – Eva Mendes

Unstoppable Jersey House track from one of the scene’s most dependable producers. Guaranteed to get any club moving.

56 – No Fixed Abode – Indian Street Slang

Leftfield electronic tune from our favourite of the LHF collective. Cross-cultural, cross-genre, totally brilliant. Album Review and EP Review.

55 – NY Stomp – The NY House Trak

Gerd, one of the House scene’s worst-kept secrets, put out one of the genre’s most irresistible, no-nonsense stompers this year under his NY Stomp alias. Perfectly judged vocal snips and a great synthline make this one a surefire weapon at any party.

54 – Bondax – Baby I Got That

Poppy Bass/ Disco hybrid from the impossibly young duo. If any song gave us summer in four short minutes, this was it.

53 – Last Magpie – (Who Knows) Where The Love Goes

Chilled House number that we couldn’t stop playing over the last few months. Addictive vocal, lush chords, punchy beats and a deep ambient hiss kept this one on repeat long after the summer had gone.

52 – Boddika & Joy Orbison – Swims

Ubiquitous acid number from two of the scene’s biggest stars. Superb vocal and the best cowbell solo you’ve ever heard. EP Review. (Dun Dun was a close second).

51 – Dean Blunt – track 2 feat inga copeland

The Hype Williams duo stepped out from the cloud of weed smoke for this nakedly beautiful warped-Pop track. A simple piano loop and a dusty drum machine was all that was needed to create a career highlight.

November Roundup

You know the drill by now, all of November's top tunes in a tasty Youtube playlist. Enjoy!

Tracklist:

Chesus - Goodfoot feat. Didz & The Organ Grinder
Jessie Ware - No To Love (George Fitzgerald Remix)

Ejeca - Horizon

Swindle - Mischief

Gerry Read - Be Pushin (She)

Artifact - Turtle Flight (October release)

Ballistiq Beats & Jamakabi - Concrete Jungle (Yardman Riddim)

MPIA3 - Ridge Way

Also, here are some links to some of our top mixes from the internet and the real world in November:

JETS Fact Mix

October's RA mix

L-Vis 1990's NSMix

T. Williams' Rinse Mix

Artifact – Archaic Line

Label: Deadplate

Archaic Line

Deserted

Just as Dance genres cycle in and out of popularity (see the recent re-emergences of House and Acid compared to Dubstep’s bloated death), so the UK dance scene constantly moves between darker and lighter periods, with a hard-nosed grit or an airy euphoria generally signalling each respective change. It seems that Bass music, so inundated last year by fluttering synths and saccharine RnB vocals, is on the turn, and Artifact’s first big release on new imprint Deadplate is one of the best examples yet of this new, darker Bass sound. Artifact, hailing from Bristol, pulls out all the stops on this release, crafting two sublime pieces of Garage-inflected Bass that are not only powerfully atmospheric, but that would obviously be massive on the dancefloor.

Title cut Archaic Line is all sharp, scattered percussion and dangerous bass wobbles, with gorgeous details like the paranoid cowbell or the mutating clipped synth melody coming to the fore over a threatening soundscape. It’s a really impressive piece that I can tell you from experience is absolutely killer in a club setting, and remix duties are left to Graphics on the B-side. The remix keeps the ghostly ambience but speeds up the percussion, shifting certain elements like the cowbell to the front of the mix while introducing great additional touches like the indecipherable vocal sample and the big bouncing bassline that underpins the lot. While remixes added to 12” releases often seem to be lacking in imagination, Graphics really pulls it off by reconstructing the track to do something different enough to be worth an independent listen while remaining true to the sonic elements and mood of the original.

B-side Deserted is perhaps even better than the title cut, with some moody synthwork introducing the first violent drop, where a harshly bitcrushed bass bounce dominates the fleeting vocal lines. It’s an intense and atmospheric piece, made all the more spectacular by the spare breakdown three minutes in where the only element present is that stark bass stab. With both tracks proving rather spectacular and a top-notch remix, Artifact has certainly hit the big leagues running, and this is a must-have for any DJs who want to trade in that dark, moody sound.

8/10

January Roundup

So the first month of 2012 comes to a close, and it seems a strong start to the year. Here I’ve collected together some of my favourite releases of the month, moving from the biggest dance hitters through darker UK dance territory and back round to bubbly bass tracks, all topped off by a couple of slow and smooth electronic moodsetters. Enjoy!

You can click on some of the tracks to get to my original review.

 Pusherman - Shake It Off

 Boddika & Joy O - Swims (Alternate Mix)

 Jon Convex - Closer

 GoldFFinch - Point of Entry

 Sei A - Break The Pattern

 Dadub - Perseverance

 Kowton - Looking At You

 Artifact - Deserted

 XI - Squeeze

 Machinedrum - DDD

 Locked Groove - Rooted

 Cuthead - Brother

123Mrk - Untroubled 

 Jacques Greene feat. Koreless - Arrow

Disclosure - Flow 

 Benjamin Damage & Doc Daneeka - Halo feat. Abigail Wyles

 Lianne La Havas - Forget (Shlohmo Remix)