Summer Sessions: Bass

Regular readers will know that White Noise is primarily interested in house and techno, considering that today's 'bass music' scene rubs shoulders all-too-often with pop's most derivative iterations, yet the scene does not deserve to be written off altogether. This playlist serves up some of the genre's finest summer tunes, the funkier the better. Along the way, a few reminders that the likes of Disclosure and George Fitzgerald once deserved rather more underground cred than they do today. Enjoy!

Make sure to check out all of our summer playlist series, and to follow White Noise on Facebook and Twitter!

Summer Sessions:

Classic House

Funk and Soul

Hip Hop 

Chill
House

Bass

Tracklist:

Star Slinger - Mornin'

Pomrad - Pomslap

Bondax - Baby I Got That

Girl Unit - Ensemble (Club Mix)

Bwana - Baby Let Me Finish

Groove Theory - Tell Me (George Fitzgerald Remix)

Jacques Greene - Another Girl

SBTRKT - Pharaohs

Arkist - Fill Your Coffee

Disclosure - I Love ... That You Know

Jamie xx - Far Nearer

Hackman - Forgotten Notes

Sophie - Bipp

Coki - Ruff Lovin'

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

Follow White Noise on Facebook and Twitter!

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.

Best Breakthrough Artists of 2012

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

Follow White Noise on Facebook and Twitter!

It gets harder every year for new artists to rise up and gain prominence through the fickle hype machine of the internet, in a world where every other Soundcloud user is an anonymous figure copying tired genre tropes. But it's clearer than ever that the one thing that will really get you noticed is quality tunes.

Not all of these are new artists, but for all of these producers this was the year where they truly broke into the limelight, capturing our hearts and imaginations here at White Noise. Because these artists have such diverse tastes and sounds, they will be listed alphabetically to save having to place them in a meaningless order. Without further ado, here are our favourite breakthrough artists of the year. Enjoy!

Bicep

 

Vision of Love

90’s house revivalism reached its peak (so far…) this year, but Northern Irish duo Bicep’s astonishing rise to prominence in the dance scene this year was more than a case of being in the right place at the right time. Coming from the success of their Feel My Bicep blog, the pair put out the excellent $tripper white label on Love Fever, where deep New Jersey pads and a jackin’ beat put the pair firmly on the map. They continued the thread in style with the inaugural release on their own Feel My Bicep label, Vision of Love, which offered three massive slices of feelgood throwback, and spawned the ubiquitous title track. But let’s not forget the duo proved themselves a cut above a simple throwback outfit with the superb You / Don’t EP on Aus, which offered two strikingly modern collaborations that explored more contemporary strains of the UK House sound.

Bondax

Baby I Got That

Young UK duo Bondax came to our attention at the beginning of the year with sugar-sweet bass numbers All Inside and Wet Summer. But it was their September release Baby I Got That which cemented the pair’s talents, an infectious bass / disco hybrid that was one of the year’s essential summer tunes. With a perfect synthesis of clipped vocal snips with longer hooks and bubbling, upbeat melodies, the pair have so far managed to conjure catchy tunes without ever venturing into total Pop territory. With the upcoming release of Gold on Just Us / Relentless in January, it looks like there’s a lot more to be excited about for Bondax in 2013.

Disclosure

 

Flow

Guy and Howard Lawrence couldn’t have possibly predicted the rise to fame that their Disclosure outfit has brought them in the space of a single year. Fusing garage and classic house tropes with bass trappings and more than a touch of pop, the duo’s productions have achieved a crossover success that’s perhaps not that surprising given the sheer quality of their tunes. While Latch and some of their Face EP were a little poppy for White Noise’s tastes, there was no arguing with their Jessie Ware Remix or the brilliant Tenderly / Flow single from the beginning of the year.

Dusky

Flo Jam

The Dusky duo of Alfie Granger-Howell and Nick Harriman have been producing together for years now, including an album as Dusky on Anjunadeep in 2011. But this year, thanks to some killer tunes and being played by the right DJs, the pair have broken into the big leagues. Dusky produced more bangers than almost anyone else this year, including the emotive epic Lost Highway, Flo Jam’s irresistible bounce and the bassy garage swing of No More. The pair pluck equally from house and garage but the end product is always polished and unpretentious, precision-built for the dancefloor. With their great new release Calling Me on Loefah's School imprint, there are surely big things to come.

Huxley

 

Let It Go

Huxley scored a high place on our Top Tunes of 2011 with the fantastic Shower Scene, but this year the house magician from Tring showed his true colours, prolifically putting out a series of unashamed big-room house numbers, with the sharp beats and big basslines to match those fantastic vocal hooks. He opened up the year with the ridiculously large Let It Go and didn’t let up, with an onslaught of other great tunes like Box Clever on the Out Of The Box EP.  With clear production chops and the consistency to match, Huxley nimbly stepped into the big leagues this year, and he doesn't look like he'll be leaving anytime soon.

Indigo

Symbol 7.1

The Mindset boss put out his first release back in 2008, but this year has really marked a breakthrough for Indigo. With a history of tasty collaborations with like-minded producer Synkro, Indigo put out a series of stellar releases for Exit, Hype Ltd and Apollo that showed a unique talent for combining twitchy beatscience with lush ambient soundscapes. Nowhere was this more evident than on his White Noise Picked Symbol 7 EP for Auxiliary, where the producer hopped nimbly between Oriental strings, impeccably precise drum patterns and pure ambient dread.

Leon Vynehall

Picture Frame

Brighton’s Vynehall turned quite a few heads recently, shining out amongst the legions of upstarts who were toying with the House formula. His debut EP, Mauve on Well Rounded, set the scene with warm soundscapes and slow beats that referenced classic House without ever seeming like pure throwback. But it was over the summer on his superb single Gold Language / Don’t Know Why for ManMakeMusic that Vynehall showed his true colours, producing a lush and genre-defying dance track on the A and one of this year’s most supremely chilled dance cuts on the B. With a return to WRHP due in the new year with the Rosalind EP, the future is looking very promising.

South London Ordnance

Trojan

Appearing out of nowhere, SLO has had a monumental first year. A prolific release schedule didn’t stop every tune from being of the highest quality, releasing big House numbers on Well Rounded and deeper Bass numbers for the likes of Teal Recordings. Wherever he turned, SLO’s productions all paid careful attention to the lower frequencies, with a keen bass-focus adding flavour to his elastic rhythms. Some slave for years on a single tune, in 2012 SLO was making superb music straight out of the box.

Tom Demac

Critical Distance Pt. 2

Although his debut was as far back as 2004, Tom Demac turned it up a notch in 2012. The producer put out an insane amount of releases this year, often on Hypercolour or its offshoots. He proved himself a versatile House producer, with highlights ranging from the lush Obstructing the Light EP on Glass Table to the monstrous Critical Distance Pt. 2, which was considered at White Noise HQ one of the year’s very best tunes.

Vessel

Court of Lions

As the only producer on this list who isn’t dedicated to the dancefloor, Vessel stands out about as much on this list as he did from his peers over the course of the year. White Noise has taken an interest in Sebastian Gainsborough since the beginning, but it appears the Wax Dance and Standard EPs were paving the way for something very special indeed. The producer’s debut album for Tri Angle, Order of Noise, touched a nerve for us, as Vessel experimented with an embarrassment of styles to stellar effect.

Honourable Mentions:

These artists are definitely ones to watch for 2013, but didn’t quite release enough quality material to make the list this time round.

Citizen

 

Room Service

GoldFFinch

Funky Steppa

Happa

Freak

Helix

Honig

Locked Groove

Rooted

Lorca

Can’t See Higher

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)

Disclosure – Tenderly / Flow

Label: Make Mine

Tenderly

Flow

Guy and Howard Lawrence, aka UK duo Disclosure, have been firm White Noise favourites since their emergence last year, and since I last covered them in an Artist Spotlight feature, it looks like they’ve been continuing to exceed expectations. Although almost unbearably young, on their second 12” release the pair has upped their game once again, producing a pair of exuberant and polished tracks and steaming ahead of the UK bass crowd.

Getting straight down to business, it’s clear that these are Disclosure’s slickest and most mature productions to date, but they continue to craft their compositions with the same broad palette. You won’t be surprised to hear emotive, finely wrought vocals pushing ahead of bouncing, hyper-active synthwork and skipping, barely-there percussion. Although you may have heard these base elements before, here the final result is more accomplished and club-ready, as can be heard on the first track of the double A-side, Tenderly. A fantastic vocal line (“There’s something about you / you just give me that feeling”) builds to the energetic release of big, bright synth chords, while a second layer of deep vocal grunts accent the sound along with low-key percussive touches. Although they always do their vocals and basslines well, it’s always Disclosure’s synthwork that stands out; bristling with pent-up energy and a sincere sense of fun, perfect for any dancefloor in need of a shot of energy.

The flipside is just as strong, building more slowly through a warm ambient hum and rising vocal snippets to an ecastatic payoff, with bright synth stabs contrasting with a rolling melodic line. The vocal sample here commands more attention, demanding the listener ‘get on the floor / move your body’ with a voice dripping with breathy need.  The breakdown is a complex synth sequence perfectly complimented by big classic-House cry, before the tune bursts  back into life, leaving Flow perhaps Disclosure’s strongest composition to date. The two tunes on offer are admittedly not worlds apart, and it’d be nice to see Disclosure venture a little further from their established sound on their next release, but when the tunes are as excellent as Tenderly and Flow, it’s really hard to complain; the boys really knocked the ball right out of the park on this release.

8/10