Best Tracks of 2015 - Part 2

Following on from part one, here are some fantastic tunes that just missed out on the top spots. Running down from #40-21.

40. Jack J – Thirstin’ [Future Times]

While it may not be edged with the same melancholy as last year’s anthem, Jack J’s Future Times outing had all the ingredients for summer killer: effortlessly lazy vibes, an irresistible groove, milky keys and a catchy vocal line.

39. Unknown Artist – A Jazz Thing [Uniile]

While it may not be worth the extortionate prices currently on discogs, new label Uniile delivered the finest anonymous release of the year from a young French artist. All four tracks are fire, but the undisputed highlight is this low-slung jazzy number which strolls by with a seedy sax and a heaving reggae bassline.

38. Florian Kupfer – Discotag [WT Records]

The best thing Kupfer’s put out since Feelin, this slice of techno is both spare and raucous. A funky vocal struts out over a tunnelling acid workout to destructive effect.

37. The Galleria feat. Jessy Lanza – Mezzanine [Environ]

Alongside her solo work, Jessy Lanza put out a stunning series of guest vocalist spots in 2015, most notably with legend Morgan Geist on freestyle project The Galleria. Lanza’s voice flexes with pure-pop allure atop Geist’s titanium electro skeleton. This is how pop music should sound.

36. Porn Sword Tobacco – Kristallisering [Aniara]

PST made his name on a series of experimental/ IDM albums in the late 2000’s, but the past couple of years his sound has been refined and reborn on Kontra-Musik and with the trendy SVN crew. Kristallisering is one of his most appealing cuts to date, a breezy piano riff fluttering over a taut electro snap, a composition of air and joy.

35. Rita Furstenhof – Hadron Collider [Optimo Music]

This one seems to have flown under everyone’s radars. Out in September on JD Twitch’s reliable Glaswegian outpost, this is electro at its soaring zenith, with a cheeky malfunctioning breakdown and an unashamedly epic synth motif.

34. Matthew Herbert – Earthenware [Concrete Music]

Herbert may have put out an album this year, but our favourite cut of his in 2015 was this melodic house tune buried on a V/A release from Parisian clubnight Concrete. A sawtooth bassline and bright keys give way to a genuinely moving breakdown, fusing jazz and house as only Herbert can.

33. Hodge – I Don’t Recognise You Lately [Hemlock]

Any number of Hodge’s excellent techno/grime hybrids could have made our 2015 list, but it was this oddly subdued cut that ultimately impressed us most. By dialling down the energy Hodge makes the listener focus on the little things: that haunting glockenspiel melody, garbled voices and washes of static, a spare rhythm and near-constant bass pressure.

32. Paranoid London - Lovin U (Ahh Shit) With DJ Genesis [Paranoid London]

The debut album from this all-analog crew was as uncompromising as acid gets, yet firmly floor-focused. One tough-as-nails throwback acid workout. One ethereal synth melody. One fiery diva vocal. Built up, broken down. What more could you ask for?

31. Hunee – Rare Happiness [Rush Hour]

Deep at the heart of Hunee’s lush debut on Rush Hour was this aptly-titled gem, which wriggles infectiously around a clipped vocal, textured percussion and a re/de-tuning synthline. Pure bliss.

30. Asusu – Serra [Impasse]

Once the Livity Sound newcomer, Asusu has marked out a real unique spot of late. Nowhere was this more clear than on his first step outside the Livity stable with Serra, a masterclass on the tone, timbre and propulsion of rhythm.

29. Mosey – Tuff Times [Future Times]

Some dance tracks tug at your heartstrings in a way that you can’t even explain. This is certainly the case with Tuff Times, a relaxed house outing from newcomer Mosey. The rhythm is simple, as is the new-age melody, leaving just an eccentric bassline that hops through the frequencies to guide us each through our own tuff times.

28. Damiano von Erckert – We Flow ft. Amalia [ava.]

The centrepiece of Damiano’s sophomore album was this breezy cut of joy, with jazzy keys perfectly accompanying Amalia’s effortless vocal performance.

27. Aurora Halal – Shapeshifter [Mutual Dreaming]

Aurora Halal went through quite a stylistic shift from her first to her second EP, yet the new sound fits her like a glove. This is slinky Detroit techno par excellence, all twinkling keys, pacing percussion and an all-important sense of mystery.

26. Sparky – Signals [Numbers]

After delivering a lost anthem in 2013, Sparky’s new material this year was just as powerful. Translating pop-grade melodies to an electro format, Signals is unashamedly huge, with an unstoppable bassline and a cornea-searing melody.

25. Luca Lozano & Mr. Ho – Dripbox [Crème Organization]

Luca Lozano has been responsible for a number of heavyweight tunes this year, and our favourite was this pitch-black collaboration with Mr. Ho. A storming kick underpins two duelling grime-inflected melodies that’ll detonate the dancefloor.

24. DJ Richard – Vampire Dub [Dial]

So much of DJ Richard’s superb debut LP could’ve made this list, but final cut Vampire Dub just edged out the competition. A grand slice of deep house in a classic vein, its starry keys and martial stomp soundtracked us gazing mistily at many a sunset.

23. Domenique Dumont – L’Esprit de l’Escalier [Antinote]

Dumont’s lovely debut came out of nowhere, and this breathless appeal is sustained on its catchiest highlight. A mighty range of influences are handled with a light touch, resulting in a buoyant stoner-pop cut with a bridge that won’t quit and a chorus that’ll have you singing along even if you can’t make out the words.

22. Basic House – Cones [Opal Tapes]

The head of Opal Tapes issued a limited cassette at the end of 2014 with the mighty Cones hiding within. A venomous rhythm track with a melody like afterimage from a strobe, it didn’t leave our playlists in 2015 and it’s unlikely to in the year to come.

21. Floating Points – Peroration Six [Pluto]

The restless conclusion to Floating Points’ wonderful Elaenia album, Peroration Six has a whole jazz group building intensity to terminal velocity. You keep expecting it to boil over, something has to give, it’s too heavy – and then the track cuts out, leaving only a deafening silence. A brave and challenging finale to an uncompromising LP.

***

Come back in a few days for the twenty best tunes of the year.

Best Albums of 2015
Best Tracks of 2015 Part 1

Guest Mix

Fresh guest mix from WN resident Moth, here serving up a whole party in 90 minutes, from sultry summer slow jams to raucous rave and techno via footwork, salsa and acid. So many of our favourites in here we've lost count.

Exclusively on White Noise, here's the tracklist:

Linkwood Family – Miles Away

Pender Street Steppers – The Glass City

Ishmael – Time & Time Again

Hidden Spheres – Waiting

Mosey – Tuff Times

D-Ribeiro – Down You Will Get

Cool Peepl – Free

Damiano von Erckert – We Flow 

Harvey Sutherland – Bermuda

Matthew Herbert – Earthenware

Obas Nenor – Change Got To Come

La Pesada – Cumbia y Tambo (En La Lluvia)

Paradise’s Deep Groove – I Love

Adesse Versions – Pride

Todd Terry – Bounce To The Beat

TXC – Dream Is Alive

Luca Lozano & DJ Fett Burger – Telegronn

Luca Lozano & Mr. Ho – Dripbox

Henrik Bergqvist – Caballo Blanco

Paxton Fettel – Lift Off

Foreign – B1

Paranoid London – Lovin U (Ahh Shit)

AFX – VBS.Redlof.B

Jessy Lanza, DJ Spinn & Taso – You Never Show Your Love

July Roundup 2015

Lots of wonderful releases this month, as ever. We chart the smoothest, sunniest waters with Lobster Theremin offshoot Distant Hawaii and our new favourite Harvey Sutherland, alongside a lovely Borrowed Identity edit we missed a few months back. Things get deeper and tougher on Obas Nenor's ace new Mahogani 12" and some classic-referencing trax from Bermuda Triangle and Life's Track, before Matthew Herbert's Earthenware, one of the bossman's best club tracks in years. 

Moving into techno terrain there's a textured stomper from Levon Vincent-students Terriers, some typically crushed scifi rhythms from Legowelt and a spacey breakbeat exercise from PLO Man on Acting Press. After an ace collab with Morgan Geist Jessy Lanza shows off her versatility over the spartan footwork production of Spinn and Taso, Japanese oddity Yoshinori Hayashi offers some bewitching noodling, and we end with the recently re-released final recording of late, great Zimbabwean Mbira player Chiwoniso Maraire. 

Tracklist:

Hidden Spheres - Waiting

Harvey Sutherland - Bermuda

Borrowed Identity - You Can't Change A Man

S3A - Theuz Hamtaak

Obas Nenor - Change Got To Come

Life's Track - Freak With Us

Mary Celeste - The Bermuda Triangle

Matthew Herbert - Earthenware

Terriers - Octagon

Legowelt - Tondalayo

PLO Man - Rare Plastic

Jessy Lanza, DJ Spinn, Taso - You Never Show Your Love

Yoshinori Hayashi - Geckos

Chiwoniso Maraire - Zvichapera

And a techno killer not available on Youtube:

June Roundup 2015

The summer is certainly beaming now, and our roundup reflects this, evenly divided between colourful club joints and smoky deep house numbers for those sultry evenings. Here we have a couple of superb remixes and edits courtesy of Maurice Fulton (a reissue of a bona fide classic) and Samo DJ, alongside some top-quality material from Morgan Geist's Galleria project (with WN favourite Jessy Lanza on vocals) and the bizarrely catchy French pop of Domenique Dumont. We then venture into jazzier territory with the Mood Hut crew following up last month's PSS outing with a superb Jack J single on Future Times and an ace new House of Doors single. Finally we take it way deeper with Arnaldo, Session Victim's Matthias Reiling and Raw M.T, closing with the seductive melodies of Nicolas Jaar and John Roberts. To say that this month is an all-star line up would be an understatement. Get listening.

Alice Smith - Love Endeavour (Maurice Fulton Remix)

Domenique Dumont - L'esprit de l'Escalier

Jack J - Thirstin'

Ben Sun - Seven Sisters

Samo DJ - Flyer Edit

The Galleria feat. Jessy Lanza - Mezzanine

A.A.L. - I Never Dream

Kornél Kovács - Malon

House Of Doors - Starcave

J. Albert - We Know

Unknown Artist - Une Ile

Steve Murphy - UK Treatment
Martyn - EF40

DJ Koze - XTC 

Matthias Reiling - Silverhope Rd

Raw M.T. - Falling Into Nowhere

Arnaldo - With You By The Lake

Nicolas Jaar - Swim

And the inevitable couple we couldn't find on youtube:

Best of 2013: Albums

25: Horror Inc – Briefly Eternal [Perlon]

 

  Dans La Nuit

Marc Leclair (aka Akufen)’s debut as Horror Inc on Perlon wasn’t a timely record. In fact, his brand of precision-edited microhouse would’ve sounded positively archaic in any hands but his own. Yet something timeless tugged at the corners of Briefly Eternal, beyond the beautiful instrumentals and the noir atmosphere. Beneath the immaculate surface lurked a rich, intruiging story, just waiting for the listener to draw it out.

24: Maxmillion Dunbar – House of Woo [RVNG Intl]

 

Woo

Max D’s assured second outing was a joyous record, melding his loves of house, boogie and hip hop in a colourful new-age rush. His melodic range was impressive, with heavenly woodwind coming as easily as fine-tuned synthwork, yet it was the record’s live-style drums and kaleidoscopic pacing that kept us coming back time and again.

23: Fishermen – Patterns And Paths [Skudge]

 

  Album Clips

Talk about stopping the presses: we only got our hands on this late 2013 release the day before this list was to be published. This turned out to be quite the stroke of luck: Fishermen followed their promising Skudge White EP with one of the year’s most diverse and vital techno records, ably hopping between ambient atmospherics and gritty dancefloor muscle, as at home with humid tribalism as they are with distorted industrialism.

22: Boards of Canada – Tomorrow’s Harvest [Warp]

 

Reach For The Dead

In retrospect, it probably wasn’t possible for BoC to put out an album that would have lived up to our preposterous expectations. Tomorrow’s Harvest was more dark, knotty and cryptic than any of the Scottish duo’s work to date, yet the pair’s unique touch still lurked beneath these evocative compositions. We may not have loved it straight off as with the pair’s first two albums, but rest assured that we’ll probably still be listening in ten years, trying to work it all out.

21: Omar S – Thank You For Letting Me Be Myself [FXHE]

 

  Thank U 4 Letting Me Be Myself

Omar S is one of the most revered of Detriot house’s new school, and everything great about the man’s music found a place in this album. Amalthea and Air Of The Day brought the funk in inimitable style, we got not one but two anthems in the form of The Shit Baby and Thank U 4 Letting Me Be Myself, I Just Want and Helter Shelter took lofi to the warehouse, and after-hours was catered for on the sweaty soul of Rewind and Its Money In The D. For a comprehensive survey of today’s Detroit sounds, you need look no further.

20: DJ Rashad – Double Cup [Hyperdub]

Every Day Of My Life

Footwork was granted its best album to date on kingpin Rashad’s debut LP for Hyperdub, taking juke hybrids from their soul and hip hop homes to the future breeds of acid and abstract menace.

19: Floorplan – Paradise [M-Plant]

Baby Baby

Critics often bemoan dance albums being little more than a collection of dance tracks, but that’s because these albums are almost never as good as Robert Hood’s Paradise. This record contained ten muscular house outings veering from euphoric vocals and piano to dubby technoid mutations, a dream for both DJs and the listeners at home.

18: Akkord – Akkord [Houndstooth]

 

  Hex AD

Akkord’s debut LP showed the duo maturing considerably, shaping their hi-def dread meditations into a brilliant album which allowed the pair’s atmospheric talent to really shine. The menace of the UK’s hardcore tradition was given a futuristic update at once polished and rugged, while the album’s thoughtful structure lent it a narrative of emotion and tension often lacking in techno full-lengths.

17: Perfume Advert – Tulpa [1080p]

Swamp Star

One of the year’s best debuts came out of nowhere on 1080p. Perfume Advert’s live house jams are dense yet funky, loose-limbed grooves skipping across humid atmospherics on a lean LP which eschewed filler, leaving just the good stuff.

16: Walton – Beyond [Hyperdub]

Amazon

Walton’s excellent debut album showed a restless creative mind effortlessly hopping across genres and styles, fusing light and darkness with grooves plucked from the UK’s rich dance tradition. Whatever style Walton touched turned to gold, from the low-slung stomp of Amazon to the loved-up slink of Every Night.

15: Medlar – Sleep [Wolf]

Tides

Another fantastic UK debut came courtesy of Medlar, whose jazz-infused Sleep was a triumph of mood and organic production. Grooves stop and start according to some twisted dream logic, while a kaleidoscopic array of samples colours the productions in vivid strokes.

14: Dadub – You Are Eternity [Stroboscopic Artefacts]

 

Full Album

Sonic engineers Dadub were responsible for the year’s most immersive techno experiences on the taut monochrome trip of You Are Eternity. The mixed tracks trade in muggy atmospheres and impeccable beatscience, building to an unholy crescendo before returning to restrained ambience. The overall effect is involving, at times overwhelming, and as a whole verges on the spiritual.

13: Nils Frahm – Spaces [Erased Tapes]

Says

Germany’s unbelievably talented pianist decided that instead of a solo album of new material he would release live recordings of his performances and improvisations in concert. This stroke of brilliance allowed the full range of Frahm’s musicality to be proudly displayed, from beautiful reinterpretations of old favourites (Familiar, For, Tristana) to stunning new material such as the fragile, powerful Says.

12: DjRum – Seven Lies [2nd Drop]

 

Album Clips

Seven Lies made good on the promise of DjRum’s superb Mountains EP, taking the listener on a cinematic journey from hip hop to house to drum and bass. His fluency across genres and moods was staggering, but it was the impeccable mastery over sample processing and song structure which made each of Seven Lies’ tracks glitter like gemstones.

11: Special Request – Soul Music [Houndstooth]

 

Album Clips

Paul Woolford’s Special Request project came into a league of its own this year, culminating on his furious debut album for Houndstooth. Channelling the vital energy of pirate radio and the lost hardcore generation, Woolford’s rugged hybrids were intense and vital, a big middle finger to today’s generation of polished pop-house practitioners.

10: Holden – The Inheritors [Border Community]

 

Renata

Holden’s wild sophomore album was a powerful statement: rejecting polished sounds and conventional dance structure, his organic compositions on The Inheritors were in turns savage and beautiful, raucous and meditative, often mystical. It was a large, at times unwieldy album, but few others attempted a release as ambitious with as much success in 2013.

9: KWC 92 – Dream Of The Walled City (OST) [L.I.E.S.]

Missing

KWC 92’s trip to Kowloon was one of the year’s most evocative records, fusing retro synthscapes with Oriental samples and ghostly ambience to singular effect. The pair ask the listener to devise her own story for this imaginary soundtrack, turning the passive party on the end of the speakers into an active collaborator, forming narrative for the mournful beauty and lurking threat which haunt this stunning album.

8: Logos – Cold Mission [Keysound]

 

Seawolf

Logos ran the banner for grime’s new generation on Cold Mission, an exercise in both power and patience which reconfigured the genre’s signifiers in new spacious arrangements while never forgetting the lethal power of expertly deployed bassweight.

7: Damiano von Erckert – Love Based Music. [ava.]

 

All Good

No album made us feel as warm and hopeful as von Erckert’s blissful Love Based Music, and we’re betting that was exactly the point of this funky slab of wax. Funk, soul, hip hop, disco and house all found their place on this beautiful album, each treated with the care and authentic spirit of those genres’ decades-old originators.

6: Jessy Lanza – Pull My Hair Back [Hyperdub]

 

Keep Moving

Hyperdub’s choice to release an RnB-influenced singer raised a few eyebrows, but few expected the restrained rush of Pull My Hair Back. A pop album par excellence, Lanza’s wonderful vocals brought catchy hooks to a series of brilliantly produced electro-pop vignettes, all mastered with a subtlety and quality control which contributed to an utterly infectious whole.

5: Forest Swords – Engravings [Tri Angle]

 

Thor's Stone

Since his superb debut Dagger Paths, Forest Swords has never sounded like anyone but himself. Those deep, dubby soundscapes, searing guitar riffs and mystical atmospheres made a stunning return in Engravings, beckoning the listener into a sonic world of mist, myth and pure wonder.

4: Roly Porter – Life Cycle of a Massive Star [Subtext]

 

Album Clips

Few electronic artists have attempted a feat as ambitious as soundtracking the life of an interstellar body. Yet Roly Porter more than achieved his goal, creating in the process a profound meditation on mortality and cosmic human significance. With a combination of heavenly strings, brutal noise and techno know-how, Porter conjured the sublime, a classic which deserves to echo for future generations.

3: Oneohtrix Point Never – R Plus Seven [Warp]

 

Zebra

Daniel Lopatin has the mind of a true original: ever restless, with each release he seeks to expand and shift his sound, to make some new comment or sonic fusion. R Plus Seven channelled a century of American contemporary classical and electronic music history into a vibrant album which sought the beauty in the West’s saturated digital present, and is utterly enchanting from the first listen to the hundredth.

2: Various Artists – Livity Sound [Livity Sound]

 

Pev & Kowton - End Points

While strictly a compilation rather than an album, the collection of Pev, Kowton and Asusu’s releases on Livity Sound was doubtless one of the year’s finest long-players. There is a unity to the three producers’ sound which came across more clearly than ever when presented as a whole, a club-tooled sound where nothing is superfluous: just the rhythm and a few expertly-deployed melodies were responsible for a host of brilliant, mind-bending dance tracks. It’s almost unheard of for an album of eighteen tracks to feature not a single dud, but if you can trust anyone to keep evolving while never letting the quality slip an iota, it’s the boys at Livity.

1: Jon Hopkins – Immunity [Domino]

 

Open Eye Signal

While ordering this list proved to be a logistical nightmare, there was never any question which album would take the number one spot. Hopkins’ phenomenal compositions were alive: breathing, growing and contorting before your ears. The wealth of sonic detail never distracted from a pure clarity of thought behind each individual track, and from the blistering techno of the album’s first half to its meditative close each song blazed with musical mastery and a soaring inner beauty.