Best Tracks of 2014: Part 1

Trends come and go, but good music is forever. While there are a great deal of unique producers who will always plough their own furrows, it’s interesting to note when a scene as a whole takes an interest in a certain sound: less the result of imitation than a group of like-minded people walking in sync (well, sometimes imitation). We saw it with the rise of lofi house, industrial techno, instrumental grime and jungle revivalism over the past couple of years, and 2014 has brought its own sounds to the fore. The icy future-funk of electro found a place in a lot of the year’s techno output, a range of producers started exploring ambient textures off the dancefloor, and a number of producers known for their darkness put out tunes that were surprisingly bright and – dare we say it – pretty.

Whether you’re into dark or light, revival or futurism, dance fans have been spoiled in 2014. Here are White Noise’s 50 top tracks.

50. Person Of Interest – Call This Number [LIES]

It’s got all the trappings of a classic LIES release: clattering percussion, waves of tape hiss, melodies buried in the mix, but this tune’s simple synthline proved devastating, while its intrepid structure more than justified the ten minute runtime.

49. Deadboy – Return [Numbers]

Deadboy is an interesting case: his tracks always tap into current trends and forward-thinking sounds, but their quality and shelf-life far outlasts most contemporaries. On his wonderfully varied Return EP for Numbers it was this dramatic ambient intro that proved most transportative, a rousing space hymn for the digital age.

48. Gesloten Cirkel – Submit X [Murder Capital]

Gesloten Cirkel’s superb debut LP  brought techno and electro with a healthy dose of humour, showcased on the title cut which loops a pitchbending vocal over a taut electro snap that brings the dance despite its brevity.

47. Even Tuell – Precious Cloud [Latency]

We’ve been keeping an eye out for Even Tuell since hearing the superb B2 of his collaboration with Midnightopera on Workshop. The producer’s ear for subtle melancholy is unparalleled, typified on Precious Cloud from this year’s Longing Way EP. It’s a deceptively simple affair where the melody twinkles with yearning, a muted bassline appearing halfway through to carry us off to the stars.

46. An-i – Kino-i (Mix) (Cititrax)

This is about the most destructive track we grew to love this year. A study in chaos dressed up as peak-time techno, Kino-i  runs a corrosive acid line over a field of dense kicks, scrapes and bangs, all leading to what can only be described as a mindfuck of a breakdown: the track’s parts falling away, grinding to a halt, churning and whirring like the inner workings of some infernal machine, before the kick slams back into place and some semblance of order is restored (for now).

45. Austin Cesear – 1 Year [Proibito]

Cesear turned to woozy house with aplomb for his outing on Anthony Naples’ Proibito imprint, including this epic on the B-side, a hazily addictive cut drenched in nostalgia and warmth.

44. Marquis Hawkes – Can’t Find A Reason [Houndstooth]

We thought we knew what to expect from both Marquis Hawkes - lofi house on Dixon Avenue Basement Jams – and Houndstooth, who seem concerned with the darker fringes of the dancefloor. So what a surprise for Houndstooth to sign his latest, a flat-out banger where an RnB vocal is looped ad infinitum over a crunchy beat and classic bass stabs. The level of polish is unexpected, and it may all bring back bass music circa 2012, but there’s no debating how this one can tear a dancefloor apart.

43. Mike Dehnert – En Outre [Delsin]

This bouncy closer to Dehnert’s Lichtbedingt LP shows the German at his straightest and funnest, an elastic bassline reigning supreme with a gently swung rhythm and laser-gun synth fire. The only problem is the length. Extended mix, anyone?

42. Pender Street Steppers – Openin’ Up [People’s Potential Unlimited]

PPU has been upping their game year on year, but the signing of Mood Hut-affiliated Pender Street Steppers was inspired even by their standards – and also a perfect fit. Openin’ Up is a lazy Sunday jam, twisting the sounds of worn-out house and syrupy instrumental funk into a deliciously odd soup. We couldn’t get enough.

41. R-Zone – Down You Go [R-Zone]

Crème’s semi-anonymous R-Zone series continued to impress in 2014, and this nocturnal cut brought the drama. There’s a distinctly religious vibe to this one, the bell tolls and serene vocals contrasting with serrated drum patterns and corrosive static which become increasingly frenetic as the track goes on. Wicca rave.

40. Ondo Fudd – Harbour [Trilogy Tapes]

Call Super (aka JR Seaton) shot to techno stardom this year with a singular LP and a dangerous club-tooled 12” for Houndstooth, but we never forgot this EP from earlier in the year which showcased his playful side. Harbour is a blistering slice of electro, its scifi sinews flexing restlessly, with a healthy dose of muscle in that elastic bassline.

39. NGLY – Speechless Tape [LIES]

Newcomer NGLY knocks it out of the park on this threatening cut. The first thing you’ll hear is that menacing bassline, but the uneasy synth wash and disaffected vocal add to the B-movie horror vibe, while rattling percussion and punishing hi-hats make this one as danceable as it is moody.

38. DJ Metatron – Rave Child [Traumprinz]

Traumprinz takes to a new alias and a new style as DJ Metatron, producing 90s throwback with the emotions turned up to 11, but it’s the modern details that make this one: the intricate percussion never content to just loop, the subtle bass blips that lend substance to the drama of its vocal and melody.

37. Floorplan – Never Grow Old (Re-Plant) [M-Plant]

Robert Hood’s update to last year’s techno-gospel anthem Never Grow Old was one of the year’s most universally played and adored tunes, and with good reason. This new version strips the original of some of its warmth, with an urgent church organ taking centre stage, blurring the lines between religious and drug-induced frenzy, taking hold of you and not letting go.

36. Delroy Edwards – Always (Edit) [Gene’s Liquor]

Delroy breaks into filtered house with this rugged roller, a crushed synthline abruptly giving way to an unreservedly joyous piano line and an unexpectedly euphoric disco climax. Shame it’s over so soon.

35. Head High – Hex Factor [Power House]

Shed’s generous double-pack of techno weapons continued to show a producer at the pinnacle of his career, our favourite being this raw confection of breaks and kicks with its galactic synthwork playing like a dazed version of his anthemic Rave (Dirt Mix).

34. Terekke – Untitled A1 [LIES]

LIES’ most singular producer amazed us yet again with this slice of dubby house, letting a new brightness and energy into his sound as a longing vocal and shimmering synthwork brushed up against his signature percussive work.

33. Kangding Ray – Amber Decay [Raster-Norton]

This is techno at its blackest, a jackhammer kick and skittering percussion threatened by blasts of static noise. Yet there’s more there: the buried choir-like melody gives the track a hint of the profane, while those brighter synth blips deep in the mix shine out bravely, weakly against the darkness. The devil’s in the details.

32. Eduardo De La Calle – Somewhere In Your Arms [Cadenza]

The percussion on this one is effective but simple enough, but it’s in De La Calle’s melody that genius shines: the way those synths flutter and distend, gently, sometimes alone, sometimes accompanied by melancholic pads and elastic stretches reaching to the sky. It’s subtle, it’s quiet, but little evokes heartache and longing like Somewhere In Your Arms.

31. Shackleton – Freezing Opening Thawing [Woe To The Septic Heart]

Shackleton continued to follow no one’s lead but his own with Freezing Opening Thawing, his synthwork colourful and polished yet oddly physical, borrowing from African rhythms with a restless inventiveness that impresses more with every melodic shift the track undergoes.

30. Art Crime – Release [W.T. Records]

Art Crime’s excellent self-titled debut certainly had its eye on the past with its euphoric piano house style, but there was a liquid quality to the keys and an unusual sense of pace to the drum patterns that made this one stand out from the pack.

29. Fatima – Biggest Joke Of All [Eglo]

It’s hard to pick just one tune from Fatima’s gorgeous Yellow Memories LP, but this Floating Points production stood out because of its simplicity. A simple boom bap rhythm and a jazzy organ melody allows Fatima’s warm, nuanced voice to stay centre-stage, exactly where it deserves to be.

28. Millie & Andrea – Stay Ugly [Modern Love]

Andy Stott and Miles Whittaker reached new heights on their debut collaborative album Drop The Vowels, and Stay Ugly was our favourite cut. Everything here is broken, from the serrated beats to the uneven, glassy synthwork that, despite its brightness sounds worn, trampled and lost.

27. Minor Science – Hapless [Trilogy Tapes]

One of the year’s best mind-benders came courtesy of music journalist Angus Finlayson, whose Hapless offers a sluggish kick-clap combo held in the thrall of a rippling, unpredictable synthline which warps the fabric of the track. When the melody burst into brightness around the three-minute mark we were hooked. You’d have to brave to play this in the club, but for us it hits all the right buttons.

26. Anthony Naples – More Problem [Trilogy Tapes]

Naples’ 2014 was not as prolific as last year, but if he keeps getting better than you’ll hear no complaints from us. More Problem takes the piano house banger and flips it on its head, with technoid percussion and dubbed-out keys that are more eyes-down propulsion than hands-in-the-air euphoria.

Join us next time for our 25 top tracks of the year!

Best of 2014:

* Best Albums

* Best Tracks: 50-26

* Best Tracks: 25-1

Shed - The Dirt / Fluid67

Label: 50Weapons

Across many names, Berlin’s René Pawlowitz has more than earned his position as the German techno monarch. His tracks play out a resolved conflict: in equal parts subtle and pounding, oneiric and mechanised. They move irrepressibly forward yet are locked in place, building pent-up energy like jammed machinery. After an excellent recent outing under his Head High moniker, Shed now returns to Modeselektor’s 50Weapons, the label which released his latest full-length.

While Pawlowitz will often stick to one of his established styles on a release, here we’re given two different sides of Shed. The A-side, The Dirt, is a classic, as misty, detuning synths and frantic hi-hats build up to a momentous kick. It’s a rather contained affair, hypnotic rather than frenetic, yet Shed still predictably pulls it off with style. The B-side is a rather more striking affair. We’ve seen him play with breakbeats before, but Fluid67 remains a compelling composition, as rugged breaks thrash out over dubbed, aquatic synthnotes. Just as he did on the phenomenal Rave (Dirt Mix), the blend of dream-like melodics and pounding, earthy percussion makes for a winning combination, concluding Shed’s latest donation to the techno world with a bang rather than a wimper.

7.5/10

Head High – Burning

Label: Power House

The music of René Pawlowitz, aka Shed, Head High, WK7, Wax, EQD (or whatever else you want to call him) has for several years been synonymous with Berlin’s world-class techno scene. While some other countries are now vying for a stake in the techno game, particularly Canada through the style of the Turbo imprint and the UK’s increasing focus on the industrial sound, few single producers have attained Shed’s levels of  renown and consistency. Indeed, Pawlowitz puts out essential records year after year, particularly the singles under his housier, ravier Head High guise, which include last year’s ubiquitous Rave (Dirt Mix) and 2010’s It’s A Love Thing.

Burning (Keep Calm Mix)

Now with typically minimal fanfare another Head High release has appeared on the shelves, just as muscular and floor-focused if not quite as strikingly anthemic as last year’s 12”.  Burning (Keep Calm Mix) kicks off the package with flair, a particularly brawny locked groove giving way to clean, powerful piano chords, a beacon of euphoria within the murky percussive field. As is common with Shed’s work, the simple set of layers is so immaculately crafted that little progression or change is necessary across the track’s course; it’s rich body-music that won’t fail to move a crowd. On the flipside Burning is given a (Keep It… Mix) in which the keys are more subdued, restrained by frequent filter sweeps and a beat pattern which appears to fold in on itself rather than progressing forwards, creating a lurching momentum reminiscent of Head High’s remix of Joy O’s Ellipsis.

Sandwiched between the two piano cuts is Keep On Talking (Dirt Mix), a more familiar but no less efficient slice of crunchy techno. A stammered kick and terse vocal clips play out a call-and-reply with aquatic synthwork, before the track takes off with a sequence of jangling hi-hats. Each one of these three tracks could easily find a place in the crates of all manner of DJs, a testament to the adaptability of Pawlovitz’s muscular sound and to the confidence with which he reconfigures and revitalises his style with each consecutive release.

8/10

Summer Mixes

Now that we're finally getting some real sun, there's no time like the present to share a couple of fresh  mixes featuring a load of the tracks that have been on repeat at White Noise HQ.

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First up is the Sun & Soul mix: 80 minutes of joyous disco and house cuts, shot through with soulful samples. One for the sunshine.

Tracklist:

Romare - Hey Now (When I Give You All My Lovin')
Tito Wun - The Way U Do it

Genius of Time - Love Thang

Laszlo Dancehall - Gave Up

Damiano von Erckert - The Dude Loop

Wbeeza - Billy Green Is Ded

Anthony Naples - Faceless

Chesus - Special

Johnick - C'mon Give It Up

Kyodai - Breaking

Lucretio - Want

Andrés - New For U

Floorplan - We Magnify His Name

Damiano von Erckert - Housem

Jacques Renault - Searching For Some Real Love

John Swing - Always At Night

Floorplan - Untitled

Murat Tepeli - Forever (Prosumer's Hold Me Touch Me Remix)

Murat Tepeli - Workinstrugglin

MCDE - Raw Cuts 6

Nina Simone - See Line Woman (Kerri Chandler & Jerome Sydenham Remix)

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Next we have the Short n Sweet mix, a quick party mix that's only 30 minutes but jam-packed with new and forthcoming tracks.

Tracklist:

Omar S - Skynet 2 B
Head High - Burning (Keep Calm Mix)

Wildchild - Renegade Master (Applebottom Power Remix)
Huxley - Lost Love
Danny J Lewis - Spend The Night (H Man Mix)
DJ Haus - Cold As Ice
Innershades - That Girl
Tweet feat. Missy Elliot - Oops (Palace Raw Version)
Kerri Chandler - Rain
Morgan Geist - 24K

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Remember you can click on the 'Mixes' button at the top of screen to access all of our mixes at any time.

May Roundup

It’s that time of the month again, here are some of my favourite releases from May, in one handy playlist. This month I've included a couple I missed from the end of last month and a couple that come out at the beginning of June. Enjoy!

Tracklist:

Omar-S feat. L’Renee – SEX (Constant Gardens Posse Remix)

Leon Vynehall – Picture Frame (Clip)

West Norwood Cassette Library – Coming On Strong (Clip)

Jimmy Edgar – U Need Love

Boddika & Joy O – Dun Dun

Girl Unit – Ensemble (Club Mix)

Head High – Rave (Dirt Mix)

Guy Andrews – The Wait

XI – Joy / Fear

Swindle –If I Was A Super Hero

Hackman – Forgotten Notes (free download here)

Bo Saris – She’s On Fire (Maya Jane Coles Remix)

Fantastic Mr Fox – Yesterdays Fall feat Alby Daniels

Bondax – Wet Summer (free download here)

Friendzone – Chuch

How To Dress Well – Ocean Floor for Everything (free download here)

Here are a couple of top quality releases from earlier this year well worth checking out:

Storm Queen – Look Right Through (MK Don’t Talk To Me Dub)

Body Double – My Life / Be Strong

Enjoy!

Feature: Guest Mix

I'm very pleased to post a guest mix by a mate of mine, London-based DJ Gully Moreland. Moving from garage to house to the bassier side of dubstep, this is a live all-vinyl mix that includes loads of White Noise's favourite tracks from the last year, as well as some old classics.

 

Here's the tracklist:

Tuff Jam - Key Dub
Kim English - Nite Life [Armand's Retail Mix]
Head High - It's A Love Thing [Island Mix]
Happy Clappers - I Believe [12" Master]
MZO Bullet - Casablanca [Hot City Remix]
Seiji - Easy
Unknown - Sicko Cell
Addison Groove - Work It
Pearson Sound vs. Rob Lee - Let Me See What U Workin With [Pearson Sound]
Breach - Fatherless
Breach - Fatherless [T. Williams Remix]
Omar and Zed Bias - Dancing
T. Williams - People's Choice
Altered Natives - Oh My Zipper

The mix is downloadable from Soundcloud, and if that isn't enough then check out his other excellent mix Jack Yo' Body, which was mixed for my birthday this year and includes a great selection of Acid House classics.

This is really hot stuff, so get listening and enjoy.