Best Tracks of 2015 - Part 1

It's been another scorcher of a year for electronic music, and our year-end list is looking more diverse than ever. Here's the first helping of 2015's best cuts, as we run down from #65-40. 

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65. House of Doors – Starcave [Mood Hut]

Pacing burner from the Mood Hut camp, capped off with a catchy reedy synthline.

64. Lipelis – Weirdshit Xu Paelk  [L.I.E.S]

The best of Lipelis’ strong edits collection on LIES, a dangerous bassline and Thai vocals make for a scorching piece of wonky funk that lit up many a dancefloor.

63. Ekman – GMMDI (Breaker 1 2 Remix) [Berceuse Heroique]

One of the year’s darkest scorchers came from Breaker 1 2, who many will know better as Greg Beato. His flip of Ekman’s GMMDI is black as pitch, with a raw rhythm and lethal synthwork.

62. Palmbomen II – Leo Danziger [Beats In Space]

The affecting coda to Palmbomen’s LP on Beats In Space was short but heart-rending, a bittersweet dirge for a fantasy funeral.

61. Entro Senestre – Rosegold [W.T. Records]

ES’ neon-soaked outing on W.T Records came with this propulsive opener, a moody house roller to rival Detroit’s finest night-drive anthems.

60. Imaabs – Voy [Naafi]

Few tunes this year got dancefloors popping as surely as this one from Chile’s Imaabs. It may be short but its punchy drum section and pinch of dramatic synthwork would get your gran throwing shapes from her chair.

59. Kornél Kovács – Pantalón [Numbers]

Kovács’ discoid anthem with its tunnelling bassline and nonsensical Spanish vocal line is catchy, fun and huge.

58. Kirk The Flirt & Peter Pressure – Never Ever Give Up [1080p]

In another strong year for 1080p an LP from Berlin’s Physical Therapy stood out with a selection of prime club cuts. The strange whistling hook and deep pads made this cut the highlight.

57. Call Super – Migrant [Houndstooth]

JR Seaton’s ace two-tracker was another refinement of his elegant sound. Here the melodies and effects come to life as a dense rainforest, a sound that makes you want to crawl inside and nest.

56. Mark Barrott – Saviours Or Savages [International Feel]

The I-Feel label head put out one of his best balearic cuts to date with these swooning melodies and crystalline synthscapes.

55. Foreign – B1 [BAROC]

The edgy BAROC imprint came out with some real thunder on Foreign’s raw machine-driven outing. The A1 is dancefloor killer but it was with the ghostly ambience and lost animal cries of the B-side that he struck platinum.

54. Chaos In The CBD – Midnight In Peckham [Rhythm Section]

Bradley Zero continued to tease out the jazzier side of house on Rhythm Section this year, with a starring role played by this Kiwi duo. Trumpet and piano serenade each other over a dusty drumtrack in this timeless cut.

53. Andrea – Outlines [Ilian Tape]

It’s not easy to make a techno track that’s both epic and raw, but Andrea managed it with the soaring synths and canny rhythms of Outlines.

52. Adesse Versions – Pride [Numbers]

Deadly in its simplicity, here Adesse Versions paired a diva vocal with the most vicious piano line this side of Prosumer.

51. Local Artist – Feelings [Rhythm Section]

One of the wonkiest cuts to come out of Canada’s house scene in 2015, Feelings was an unlikely anthem whose curious effects and hazy ambience shone through a scene crowded with similar artists.

50. Kasra V – Last Order [Make Love In Public Spaces]

Heavyweight house that lopes along with a searing bassline and a cinematic sense of drama.

49. Obas Nenor – Change Got To Come [Mahogani Music]

Either side of Nenor’s ace 12” on Moodymann’s imprint could have made this list, but we favour the darker B-side, which shifts from a dirty dancehall riddim to catchy twilight disco in the blink of an eye.

48. Bleaker – Hype (Funk) [Unknown To The Unknown]

Another example of deadly simplicity was Bleaker’s flip of a classic on Hype (Funk). A propulsive rhythm track, a brief late melody and that loopy vocal make for raw dancefloor killer.

47. Sabre – Ghetto Prophet [Royal Oak]

Portugese duo Sabre knocked it out of the park with this maximalist house epic, masterfully building tension with operatic drums and polished synthwork to an enormous climax.

46. Suzanne Kraft – Flatiron [Melody As Truth]

The enormously talented Suzanne Kraft dropped some gorgeous ambience and guitar work on his Talk From Home LP, the centrepiece being this blissed-out cut, all smoky riffs and featherweight percussion.

45. PCK – Amen Garage [The Final Experiment]

Everything that Shed touches is gold, and this year we were particularly wowed by a high-octane slice of jungle under a new moniker, PCK. Lightning-fast breakbeat juggling and an urgent vocal meant that this one’s power more than made up for its brief length.

44. The Horn – Villager [Workshop]

The first reissue to enter our list is this ’96 synth piece that featured on Workshop’s ace mixed artist release early in the year. Why does it deserve to come back after twenty years? The reverb-drenched melody conjures a lingering nostalgia, the snappy electro beat the bittersweet need to move on. More emotions than your average album, all in seven minutes.

43. DJ Koze – XTC [Pampa]

Koze’s annual entry into the year-end list is unusually straight. On first listen it’s a normal (though subdued) deep house cut. Then you hear those jagged synths, the constant bass pressure, the misty ambience, and that ambiguous vocal that creeps under your skin. He’s got you.

42. Sound Stream – Bass Affairs [Sound Stream]

With his release rate of seven singles since 1999, any year that Sound Stream drops a release is a blessing. His is disco-house polished to perfection, oozing funk and charm, dynamite on the dancefloor.

41. Paxton Fettel – Dots On The Skyline [Greta Cottage Workshop]

One of the highlights of Paxton Fettel’s superb debut album was this elegant construction which fuses a hefty hip hop rhythm with delicate harp and a jazzy acid line.

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Come back for part two in a few days.

Best Albums of 2015

August / September Roundup 2015

Here's White Noise's favourite songs of the last two months, including a few that slipped through our net earlier in the year. It's a bumper package spanning all our favourite styles, get stuck in.

We kick off on the sunny side, with top soulful house from Damiano Von Erckert, Braque, Chaos In The CBD, and new blood Flørist. Things get deeper and stranger via new material from top producers John Roberts and DJ Richard, alongside new slices from 45 ACP and CAll Super. Bicep and Midland keep the heat up in darker waters, before we descend to full-on electro with Helena Hauff, Aurora Halal and intriguing new voice Rita Furstenhof.

Tracklist:

Leon Vynehall - Midnight On Rainbow Road [LP Review]

Damiano Von Erckert - We Flow ft Amalia

Flørist - Final Bounce

Laguna Ladies - Egyptian Bag (Moomin Remix)

Braque - Diners En Ville

Chaos In The CBD - Midnight In Peckham [EP Review]

Bell Towers - Hyper - Realised - Self [EP Review]

DJ Richard - Vampire Dub [LP Review]

John Roberts - Orah

45 ACP - Fjm

Call Super - Meltintu

Jayda G & Fett Burger - Velvet Vortex (Sleep D Rainforest Version)

Severed Heads - Greater Reward (Piano Power Edit)

Paradise 100 - Heat.Wav

Lipelis - Weirdshit Xu Paelk (ft. Simple Symmetry)

Khotin - Sorry Sequence

Midland - Stop (Don't Let The Beat)

Bicep - Carmine [LP Review]

Rita Furstenhof - Hadron Collider

Helena Hauff - L'Homme Mort

Aurora Halal - Shapeshifter [EP Review]

Andrea - Outlines

2 8 1 4 - 恢复

As ever, here's the one we couldn't find on Youtube:

Kasra V - Last Orders

April Roundup

This month we felt the first breath of summer so there are a lot breezy moodsetters and funked-out jams from the likes of Omega Supreme and Mood Hut, including the long-awaited returns of Andrés, Sound Stream and the Pender Street Steppers. Adesse Versions on Numbers takes us to peak-time territory, and we finish on the rough style of Ekman, 1080p's Surfing and Shed (as PCK), via some ultra-melodic house from Makam and Christian Loffler. So there's really something to suit all comers, so get listening.

Tracklist:

Ishmael - Time & Time Again

Midnight Runners - Cold Intimacy

Andrés - Believin'

Haydn - Booty Meat

Sound Stream - Bass Affairs

Local Artist - Feelings

Pender Street Steppers - The Glass City

Palms Trax - Sumo Acid Crew

The Cyclist - Hot House

Adesse Versions - Pride

Gonno - Obscurant (Inna Loft Mix by Call Super)

Makam - A Night at Trouw

Christian Loffler - York

Marquis Hawkes - Raw Materials

Massiande - The Future (Is Now)

DJ QU - Loveboxx

Mix Mup - Skip Intro

Surfing - bbc

Ekman - GMMDI (Breaker 1 2 Remix)

PCK - Amen Garage

Tapes Meets The Drums Of Wareika Hill Sounds - Datura Mystic

Best Tracks of 2014: Part 2

Here's our final rundown of the year's very best tracks.

25. DVS1 – Black Russian [Klockworks]

This tight slice of techno is as essentialist as you can get: propulsive forward momentum, a single showstopping synth that builds but never peaks, and the leanest of percussive tweaks to keep you on your toes. Engrossing and devastating.

24. Leon Vynehall – Inside The Deku Tree [3024]

There was so much to love about Vynehall’s Music For The Uninvited release on 3024, but it was this unusual opener really stood out from the bunch, from its Zelda-referencing title to its grand orchestral sweep. Another winner from one of the UK’s brightest stars.

23. Traumprinz – Messed Up Jam [Giegling]

The first cut from Traumprinz’ stellar All The Things EP was melancholy deep house par excellence (you may have noticed that we’re fans of the style here at White Noise). Meditative and moving, Messed Up Jam moves with pitch-perfect reluctance and grace.

22. Daywalker + CF – Supersonic Transport [LIES]

LIES’ best cut of the year came in the form of this galactic stormer, a propulsive journey comprised of an army of synths: twinkling, churning, swooning, stabbing, and an adamantine percussive skeleton.

21. Lnrdcoy – I Met You On BC Ferry [1080p]

The most emotional cut from Lnrdcroy’s sublime Much Less Normal LP was this 8-minute voyage into nostalgia, a skittering 2step beat tied to a hopeful synth line, its tune later echoed by a resonant bassline, the ghost of a melody.

20. Moodymann – Lyk U Use 2 (feat. Andres) [KDJ]

This dream collaboration worked as well as could be expected, albeit at an unusually high tempo. The heartache of Dixon Jr’s lyrics (narrated with his tongue firmly in his cheek – “eight and a half is not enough for you anymore?”) adds a certain melancholy to the buoyant production, with a deep soulful melody and some expertly chopped disco samples towards the close certainly courtesy of Andres.

19. Andy Stott – Faith In Strangers [Modern Love]

The most surprising cut on Andy Stott’s superb new album was its title track. Having chopped, distorted and generally abused the vocals of his ex piano teacher Alison Skidmore, here Stott lets her voice take centre stage, accompanying her pop-referencing melodies with twilit synths, a diving bassline and jittering percussion that never feels anxious. If this is Stott doing pop, we’re eager to hear more.

18. John Roberts – Ausio [Dial]

With his productions becoming increasingly knotty, it was great to hear a proper dancefloor track from Roberts. Ausio is superb for setting the scene: that harrowing bass threatens to break out for the 3 minutes, and when it finally does the track bristles, rather than bursts, into life: a field of searing synths, nervous atmospherics and insectoid chittering. Superbly moody and full without ever feeling crowded, this track showed Roberts back on fine form.

17. Call Super – Acephale II [Houndstooth]

This is one of Call Super's straighter tunes, but it’s a long way from simple. A hammering kick anchors an increasingly frenetic field of crystalline synths that jostle for attention alongside an impressive range of details and effects. Listen closely for the canny use of panning and the genuinely alive feel of the track’s melodic details, each sound individually minute but powerful when put together. There's a trick to Super's best productions: they move with an unhurried pace, a central motif slowly accruing more detail, adorned with more sounds, until the force is just about overwhelming. There’s some kind of alchemy going on in Call Super’s music, and this ‘floor-ready track shows it better than any other.

16. Pender Street Steppers – Bubble World [Mood Hut]

Another genius oddity from the Vancouver duo takes the titular bubble sounds as its inspiration, cooking up a delightful plate of loose-limbed percussion, warm synth glows and a bassline that’s essentially out for a stroll. Killer mood music.

15. #####.1 - ##### [No ‘Label’]

This ungooglable cut on Rush Hour’s No ‘Label’ didn’t need a name to sell: its perfectly tuned percussion, synthetic choir and crushed melody was utter bliss, taking us into a dreamworld with every listen. The track has since been sourced to Dutch producer Aroy Dee.

14. Vril – Torus XXXII [Forum]

The centrepiece of mysterious Vril’s debut album was this slow-burn techno number, where a subtle play of percussion provides the backdrop to a building, keening synthline, leading to an emotional climax which is more about the build than any sort of payoff.

13. Kassem Mosse – Untitled A3 [Workshop]

Our favourite cut from Mosse’s superb debut LP was an expert construction of articulated percussion, searing synths and that tumbling, showstopping melody like pebbles falling through crystalline water.

12. DJ Richard – Freydis [White Material]

After a busy, hype-fuelled 2013, White Material provided only one EP this year, but it might have been the labels best. On its closer, DJ Richard combined a low-slung rhythm with alarm-like synths, a swooning wash and dramatic cuts to an eerie, inviting string section.

11. Jamie xx – Sleep Sound [Young Turks]

Jamie xx’s tracks may not be the best for getting your groove on, but he certainly has a way with making beautiful music. Sleep Sound’s lush harp melody gives way to a light, shuffling beat for the early hours, with smart, emotive vocal snips. After a gorgeous breakdown the track picks up pace, lush and melodically complex, a joy time and again.

10. Kowton – Glock And Roll [Whities]

This one was a real curveball from Kowton, best known for melting bass and grime tropes into tough techno forms. Here he goes for something prettier, as a delicate chiming melody takes pride of place over a fortified rhythm section and a vocal looped to infinity. It’s a simple construction, but the contrast between fragility and strength helped this one destroy many a ‘floor.

9. Objekt – Ganzfeld [Leisure System]

The release of Objekt’s excellent debut LP Flatland clearly wasn’t enough for TJ Hertz, and he came along to offer us one of the year’s best singles on a split 12” for Leisure System with Dopplereffekt. Ganzfeld is a mind-bender full of sudden shifts and electro flourishes, stuffed with detail but destructive on the dancefloor. You couldn’t ask for more.

8. Barnt – Under His Own Name But Also Sir [Hinge Finger]

The only release this year on Will Bankhead and Joy O’s Hinge Finger imprint was a stunning one-two punch from man of the moment Barnt, both sides of which really deserve a place in this list. While the stark Chappell detonated many a dancefloor, it was on the brilliantly-titled B-side that he struck true gold, militant percussion cutting like knives through the mournful, swooning synthwork: a sound somewhere between danger and religion. One of the year’s most singular, inspired cuts.

7. Caribou – Can’t Do Without You [City Slang]

The first cut from Caribou’s Our Love LP may have been played to death by the time you read this, but there’s a reason for that. It’s a veritable anthem, that tune that brings everyone together on a dancefloor, singing and smiling. It’s no simple production, either: Caribou plays with volume to make the track’s drop all the more effective, it all builds to a veritable fireworks display of melody, while the simple, sincere vocal line is sure to strike a chord with even the most hard-hearted listeners.

6. Dan White – Death Flutes [Forbidden Planet]

This techno space odyssey from Montreal’s Forbidden Planet has been on extremely heavy rotation in White Noise HQ, its slow build of ambience, gurgling acid and steady thud conjuring adventures in a bleak, desolated terrain. That the titular woodwind adds perfectly to the distressed, wistful aesthetic rather than proving a cheesy misstep only reinforces this song’s strength.

5. Efdemin – Parallaxis (Traumprinz’s Over 2 The End Version) [Dial]

Traumprinz has a way of going for big, genuine emotion without ever overdoing it, and reviving sounds that you might belong in the past with flair. He’s unafraid, and that’s part of what makes his music so enchanting. This stunning remix of Efdemin starts off as a subdued house track, its desolate vocal and cinematic synths conjuring a powerful mood. It’s the unexpected addition, just after the three-minute mark and some rave sirens turned melancholy, of a snappy breakbeat that elevates this tune to near-perfection. By the time you get to the burbling chimes that bring the track to a close, your fingers will already be edging towards the repeat button, and you’ll probably be feeling a lot of things you don’t normally feel. Viva Traumprinz.

4. Leon Vynehall – Butterflies [Royal Oak]

Vynehall’s mini-LP was a wonderful collection of tunes, but for us his best single track of the year was this follow up on Clone’s Royal Oak imprint a few months later. It’s an unashamedly upbeat slice of filtered house, with a lush piano line and an introspective vocal just on the right side of cheesy, with a rhythmic backbone tough enough to keep bring even the most reticent to the dance. The word ‘organic’ is thrown around a lot when it comes to Vynehall, and with good reason: his instrumentation has a warm, live feel that sets him apart from contemporaries, and a sincerity that allows euphoric tracks like this one to really take off.

3. Daniël Jacques – End Of My World [Mistress]

This one casts a spell: synths flicker like candlelight, open hi-hats slice through the dust, and that enigmatic vocal line is cooed over and over, seemingly acquiring different meanings with every repetition. When we appear to be heading for a breakdown halfway through, the kick disappears, the vocal echoes off, and, abruptly, the kick returns - gratification is sudden and immediate rather than delayed. That’s what makes this track more than the disco loop it appears to be: a sense of mystery that lingers long after the tune ends.

2. Jack J – Something (On My Mind) [Mood Hut]

Mood Hut’s releases have a way of prioritising vibe over innovation or dancefloor power, and that’s just why we’ve come to love them. The gorgeous B-side of Jack J’s solo EP (he’s one half of Pender Street Steppers) was an absolute masterpiece, rolling on at an unhurried pace, funky bass bumps and a lazy sax line bringing a contemplative mood to the chill. There aren’t really the words for this one: you’ve just got to relax, close your eyes, and listen.

1. Floating Points – King Bromeliad [Eglo]

King Bromeliad opens with a recording of Floating Points playing it out at his (sadly closed) home, London venue Plastic People. The sound is tinny, filtered, we can hear the crowd chattering and the speakers rumbling. Then, a switch, and the groove continues in unadulterated form, Floating Points’ immaculate sound design all the more impressive for the contrast (a similar trick was memorably pulled in Slum Village's Dilla-produced anthem The Look Of Love). It’s an example of exactly the kind of ingenious (not to mention meta) touch and real care that Sam Shepherd brings to all of his productions, and the track that follows is, unsurprisingly an utter delight. It's a rich, jazzy house tune that shuffles along at its own pace, sounding a little like the dancier cousin of Myrtle Avenue, the opener to Shepherd's superb Shadows EP. Its elasticated chords are arranged spaciously, building and receding, while thousands of melodic and percussive details bristle beneath the track's surface: it takes a great deal of complexity to come up with something that sounds so effortless.

In any list like these, the top few entries will be ordered almost arbitrarily: what makes the second best track worse than the first? We gave Mr Points the top spot not just for this excellent jam but also for his peerless musical catalogue: each release, however infrequent they may be, refreshing and joyous, while even his older cuts sound as relevant and moving as they did on first release. He might just be the best producer we've got right now.

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Join us for more White Noise reviews and features in 2015, and while you wait you can listen to our resident DJ Moth's mix of some of our favourite techno tracks of the year, embedded below or here on Mixcloud.

Best of 2014:

* Best Albums

* Best Tracks: 50-26

* Best Tracks: 25-1

August / September Roundup 2013

September's Hardcore feature has led to hitherto unknown levels of busyness here at White Noise HQ, with the result that August's Roundup was left by the wayside. To solve this sorry state of affairs, we're repeating July's double extravaganza, cramming two months of superb music into a single youtube playlist. As usual, it starts off warm and housey, moves to weirder, technoid territories and finishes with some prime spacey material, including top picks from Forest Swords' AOTY contender Engravings and Andy Stott's unbelievable Tricky remix. Enjoy!

For daily doses of new tunes, make sure to follow White Noise on Facebook and Twitter!

Tracklist:

HNNY - Mys [EP Review]

Damiano von Erckert - Hollywood feat. Georgia Anne Muldrow [LP Review]

Jessy Lanza - Keep Moving [LP Review]

Space Dimension Controller - First Glance [EP Review]

Funkinevil - Ignorant (Igno) [EP Review]

D'Marc Cantu - Size & Shape 

Funkineven - The Joker

Leon Vynehall - Step Or Stone (Breath Or Bone) [EP Review]

Frank B - Chain Of Fools (Lumigraph's 909 Assassination Remix)

Shed - Fluid 67 [EP Review]

Call Super - Informer [EP Review]

Innershades - Nina At The Boiler Room [EP review]

Trevino - Twelve

CVNT - Feminine Destruction

De Sluwe Vos - OG Anthem

Jeremih - F U All The Time (Kowton Refix)

Etch - Hybrid [EP Review]

Visionist - Poison [EP Review]

Pev & Kowton - Vapours [EP Review]

Machinedrum - Gunshotta [LP Review]

Tricky - Valentine (Andy Stott Remix)

Forest Swords - An Hour [LP Review]

And the perennial 'one that wasn't on Youtube':

A Sagittariun - Clusters