Best of 2013: 16 Labels

In 2013 we were given more reasons than ever why record labels really matter. The glut of new producers needed sorting and supporting, the ever-oscillating sales of vinyl needed bolstering, and dance music’s tentative re-entry into the mainstream needed careful managing. Luckily, it seemed that there were more great labels and label-heads on hand to deal with these problems than ever before. It’s been a phenomenal and varied year in the world of dance, and here White Noise wants to pay tribute to the people behind the artists who make it all happen.

A good label can be many things: it can be a stamp of good taste, a reliable source of fresh tunes which earns the trust of the listener. A label can also be brought success by a discerning A&R man, who diligently picks out talented fledglings and nurtures them to greatness, or spots the glittering gem in a mire of soundcloud also-rans. A good label can be a stable which defines a style, whether local or global, better than anyone else – or even creates a home for exploring brand new sonic territory. It doesn’t even have to be all about the music: some labels are appreciated because of the care they put into their packaging and cover art, marrying great music to bold aesthetics. In 2013 more labels opened their doors than ever, while a few stalwarts clung to their positions among the industry's very best.

Before we begin, it’s worth spreading the word about a few labels not on the list that are looking promising for next year: the likes of Argot and Nous have been offering quality releases with a tight grip on quality control, while Sued has upped its output of superb techno EPs. Elsewhere new imprint Berceuse Heroique has had a memorable first year, with excellent slices from MGUN and Gesloten Cirkel pressed onto high quality 12”s. Another new label which attracted our attention was Fifth Wall, a Brooklyn-based imprint whose steady stream of roughneck techno has carved out a singular sound, demonstrated memorably on Divvorce’s Used Experience EP. Finally props go to Berlin’s Leisure System, who scored two home-runs this year with Visionist’s grime-trip Snakes and the blistering Tetrahymena, which marked the welcome return of electro vets Dopplereffekt.

Following from those worthy runners-up, we now present WN’s favourite labels of 2013:

16: R&S

Tessela - Horizon

‘In order to dance’. Many will recognise the slogan emblazoned on R&S’ vinyls, a statement of intent which has held true across the label’s lengthy career. R&S held onto its reputation as a dance institution this year by branching out, offering a more diverse range of records than ever before. While not all of these hit the mark (albums from Vondelpark and the promising Airhead proved blandly sentimental), R&S’ year was still far more hit than miss. They excelled in the singles department with superb offerings from Lone, Tessela and Paula Temple, while Welcome To Mikrosector-50 gave the delightful Space Dimension Controller some room to really let his imagination run wild. It was the most impressive year since the label’s recent relaunch, proving without a doubt that the old horse still has legs.

Essential Releases:

Tessela – Nancy’s Pantry

Lone – Airglow Fires

Space Dimension Controller – Welcome To Mikrosector-50

15: Mister Saturday Night

Dark Sky – In Brackets

After a debut release as impressive as Anthony Naples’ anthemic Mad Disrespect, many labels would spend the rest of their time desperately playing catch-up. Not so with Mister Saturday Night, a label run by the men behind Brooklyn’s popular loft party of the same name. The imprint showed their versatility through an impressive second year, with Lumigraph, Hank Jackson and a returning Naples demonstrating a tougher, noisier side of MSN, while Dark Sky and Alex Burkat’s releases plied an unparalleled softness.

Essential Releases:

Anthony Naples – Moscato

Dark Sky – In Brackets

Lumigraph – Yacht Cruiser

14: Wicked Bass

Innershades – That Girl

Kiev’s Wicked Bass stepped their game up a notch in 2012 with the release of Huerco S’ sublime No Jack EP, but all three of the label’s 2013 offerings show an imprint going from strength to strength, summoning the rawness of the lofi house scene without ever sacrificing a fierce lust for the groove. Two of this year’s releases come from big new talent Innershades, whose Dancemania-indebted That Girl turned into one of the year’s most compelling anthems. Elsewhere newcomer Raw Music Theory pumped out a scintillating debut EP, backed with ace remixes from fresh blood Greg Beato. Wicked Bass’ year was all about new talent, and they clearly had it in spades.

Essential Releases:

Innershades – That Girl

Raw Music Theory – Raw M.T.

Innershades - Gravure

13: Tri Angle

Forest Swords – Thor's Stone

The inimitable Tri Angle may have had a quieter year than last year’s musical masterclass, but each of the imprint’s releases was still a compelling invitation to the enigmatic darkness of Tri Angle’s sound. Genre-defying newcomer Fis closed the year with an intriguing offering alongside The Haxan Cloak’s heavyweight Excavation LP, yet Tri Angle’s biggest coup of 2013 was undoubtedly the return of the singular Forest Swords, whose album Engravings surpassed even our lofty expectations.

Essential Releases:

Forest Swords – Engravings

The Haxan Cloak – Excavation

Fis - Preparations

12: 100% Silk

Les Level – Fever Baby

Amanda Brown’s 100% Silk released an awful lot of music in 2013, perhaps too much, but the hit-rate was still more impressive than almost any other stable. Not Not Fun’s little sister is a dream for fans of retro house and synth-fed live jams, and this year gave us some gorgeous albums by Octo Octa and Coyote Clean Up, while Les Level, Bobby Draino and Bobby Browser were responsible for just a handful of the imprint’s run of ace EPs across the year.

Essential Releases:

Octo Octa – Between Two Selves

Les Level – House Of Need

Bobby Draino – Brain Drain

11: Opal Tapes

Patricia – Plural

Teeside’s Opal Tapes continued their unrivalled dominance of the cassette game in 2013, with an enviable slew of releases that straddled the worlds of noise, ambient and techno. OT’s quality control is always admirable, but some of its releases this year shone particularly bright, including those of Lumigraph, Karen Gwyer and Shapednoise, alongside a stellar debut for the more floor-focused material of Patricia. The latter garnered so much praise that label-head Stephen Bishop is launching the new Black Opal vinyl run next year, which sets expectations high for another bumper release schedule in 2014.

Essential Releases:

Patricia – Body Issues

Manse – Lying In Wait

Karen Gwyer – Kiki The Wormhole

10: Warp

Oneohtrix Point Never – Chrome Country

Sheffield’s venerable music outpost has surfed electronic music’s vanguard for almost fifteen years, and in 2013 it was the imprint’s ability to welcome talent both old and new which secured its ever-growing reputation. New albums from electronic legends (and label stalwarts) Boards of Canada and Autechre were worthy standard-bearers of the Warp tradition, but it was new work by the likes of Mark Pritchard and Oneohtrix Point Never which proved the imprint’s most exciting new releases.

Essential Releases:

Oneohtrix Point Never – R Plus Seven

Boards of Canada – Tomorrow’s Harvest

Mark Pritchard – Lock Off

9: White Material

White Material EP Clips

While Brooklyn’s White Material have released less this year than any other label on this list, their position is secured by the quality of those two EPs and the strength of the label’s aesthetic. Starting out peddling self-described ‘working man’s techno’ in 2012, this year saw WM come to prominence in the underground scene, their limited-issue releases quickly reaching exorbitant prices on discogs (though a series of represses is apparently on the way). It’d be easy to pass it off as a case of the hype machine gone wild if it weren’t for the brilliance of their records: this year saw Galcher Lustwerk follow a superb mix with a debut EP that twinned gorgeous deep house grooves with languid spoken word accompaniment. Later came White Material, a collective statement that defined the label’s sound in four concise, compelling excursions into 4/4 territory.

Essential Releases:

Galcher Lustwerk – Tape 22

White Material – White Material

8: Keysound

Wen – Commotion

After almost fading away for a few years, grime has been on a very exciting upswing of late. The fresh new producers are undoubtedly to credit – free to produce without making sonic space for an MC’s vocals, the likes of Beneath, Wen, Logos and more have been charting strange, seductive territory in their lethal new grime hybrids. Yet these disparate producers are brought together by a few key voices in the scene: one is undoubtedly Slackk, whose Grimetapes blog continues to be an inspiration, while the other is Dusk and Blackdown’s dependable Keysound imprint. Keysound has been on ruder form than ever this year, with great EPs from Etch and Wen bookending the year and debut albums from E.M.M.A. and Logos. The latter’s Cold Mission was a particular triumph, and alongside the label’s vital This Is How We Roll comp, capped off what might just be the best in the label’s six year history.

Essential Releases:

Logos – Cold Mission

Wen – Commotion

Various Artists – This Is How We Roll

7: ava.

Damiano Von Erckert – The Dude Loop

You might have guessed from our recent label profile that we love Damiano Von Erckert’s ava imprint. In 2013 ava sailed through another beautiful year, pushing their signature house sounds all drenched in soul. Murat Tepeli spun gold on his Fee Fi Foe Funk For Me EP (backed by a monster Prosumer remix), but ava’s year belonged to label-head Von Erckert, who released not one but two stellar albums: his misty-eyed collaboration with beatmaker Tito Wun and his debut proper, the sublime Love Based Music.

Essential Releases:

Damiano von Erckert & Tito Wun – Mr. Pink, What Have You Been Smokin’?

Murat Tepeli – The Fee Fi Foe Funk For Me EP

Damiano Von Erckert – Love Based Music

6: Trilogy Tapes

Anthony Naples - Busy Signal

Will Bankhead’s impossibly tasteful Trilogy Tapes imprint completed its transition to vinyl this year, with stunning leftfield releases drawn from old talents and new. Tuff Sherm and Anthony Naples produced two of the label’s most compelling listens since MM/KM, while the likes of Eomac, Levantis and Rezzett brought that crunchy lofi sound in inimitable style. 

Essential Releases:

Anthony Naples – El Portal

Tuff Sherm – Burglar Loops

Levantis - Believe

5: Crème Organization

D’Marc Cantu – Alternate Frequency EP Clips

DJ TLR’s fantastic Crème label ran through a kaleidoscopic 2013 with all guns blazing, never once letting slip either their wild energy or their strict quality control. Almost all of Crème’s 2013 offerings were gold, with Willie Burns, D’Marc Cantu, Xosar and Simoncino peddling their distinct brands of off-kilter house, while floor-focused work came courtesy of Legowelt and Innershades. As if that wasn’t enough Crème went further– christening Orgue Electronique’s addictive Henry Saiz remix with a white label release, and offering a searing EP courtesy of The Exaltics. Then of course there’s R-Zone, the Crème-affiliated imprint which let out a quickfire schedule of top-notch ravework across the year under its own anonymous banner. Every year we think that TLR can’t possibly keep up the pace, and each year he proves us wrong. Here’s to an even madder 2014.

Essential Releases:

D’Marc Cantu – Alternate Frequency

Innershades – No Stopping

R-Zone – R-Zone 06

4: Hyperdub

DJ Rashad - Every Day Of My Life

In its nine year history, Kode9’s Hyperdub has yet to have a dull year. The label has managed to hold onto the bleeding edge of electronic music for nearly a decade, and its enviable position was held fast in 2013. The last twelve months were particularly bountiful on the album front, with superb long-players coming from talents as diverse as DJ Rashad, Jessy Lanza and Walton. It’s not just Hyperdub’s forward-thinking music which deserves plaudits, but also its dedication to showcasing female talent. Alongside Lanza’s sterling debut, this year saw great LPs from label-stalwarts Laurel Halo and Ikonika, who, alongside the likes of Inga Copeland and Cooly G, show that Hyperdub is interested in breaking more than just sonic boundaries.

Essential Releases:

Walton – Beyond

Jessy Lanza – Pull My Hair Back

DJ Rashad – Double Cup

3: Livity Sound

Pev & Kowton – End Point / Vapours

Pev, Kowton and Asusu have been quietly building their Bristol stronghold for the last two years, but it took this year’s superb compilation for us to take stock and realise just how brilliantly consistent the label’s output has been. Each club-tooled release seems better than the last; a blend of raw dancefloor know-how and inventive textures which never fail to hit the sweet spot. Besides four of the label’s best singles coming quick and strong over the year, their eponymous compilation showed just how singular Livity’s vision is: three distinct voices combined in a raging, vital roar.

Essential Releases:

Various Artists – Livity Sound

Pev – Aztec Chant

Pev & Kowton – End Point / Vapours

2: Houndstooth

Akkord - Hex_ad

No label in recent memory has had a stronger first year than Houndstooth. Helmed by Fabric and Rob Booth, what Houndstooth lacked in anonymous underdog appeal it more than made up for in quality releases, with a staggeringly impressive collection of records coming over the last twelve months. Houndstooth’s guiding vision is a dark, vigorous vein of dance that mines the UK’s rich tradition while never taking its eyes off the future. Call Super offered two EPs of sublime techno that kept us dancing through the cold, while UK dance history was dealt two monumental tributes in the hi-def dread of Akkord’s self-titled debut album and the raucous grit of Special Request’s Soul Music.

Essential Releases:

Call Super – Black Octagons

Special Request – Soul Music

Akkord - Akkord

1: L.I.E.S.

Florian Kupfer – Feelin

Like it or not, Ron Morelli’s L.I.E.S. is here to stay. The Brooklyn imprint released over twenty records in 2013, and while they weren’t all to everyone’s taste, the label released more music we loved than any other this year. Whether it’s the expanding scope of their lofi aesthetic, the compelling fusion of experimental sounds and dancefloor muscle or the label’s dedication to pushing new talent, L.I.E.S. undoubtedly ruled the roost in 2013.

The wonderful Music For Shut Ins compilation closed a year which, somewhat hypocritically, actually saw L.I.E.S. aim more for the dancefloor than ever before, with sterling EPs from Voiski, Legowelt, Delroy Edwards and Terekke among many, many others. The year also saw a new dedication to the long-player in the L.I.E.S. camp, with brilliant work from Gunnar Haslam and Marcos Cabral, all capped off by KWC 92’s phenomenal Dream Of The Walled City. And then there are the anthems: Kupfer’s blissful Feelin, the excellent title track from Samantha’s Vacation, Greg Beato’s murky Gimme A Light – any label would be hard pressed to have a better year than L.I.E.S. did in 2013. Despite the enormous amount of hype surrounding the label, in our view there’s no imprint currently more worthy of attention.

Essential Releases:

KWC 92 – Dream Of The Walled City

Florian Kupfer – Lifetrax

Various Artists – Music For Shut Ins

Terekke – YYYYYYYYYY

Voiski – IAI Movement 

Best of 2013:

* Best Labels of 2013

* Best EPs of 2013
* Best Tracks: 85-26
* Best Tracks: 25-1

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Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest

Label: Warp

Brian Eno, Kraftwerk, Aphex Twin: there are very few electronic acts who can be said to have unalterably changed the landscape of machine music. These artists, often great technical innovators in their field, are frequently regarded as near-sacred figures by the wider music community, and rightly so. Yet there are some artists who, while not technically revolutionary, still occupy an eminent position in the musical canon. Scottish electronic duo Boards of Canada, aka brothers Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin, are a perfect example. While there was little groundbreaking about their technical ability, the pair’s first two albums, instant classics Music Has The Right To Children and Geogaddi, defined an era of electronic music, coining a distinctive sound whose influence can be heard in a wide array of contemporary genres.

This sound, a mixture of heady trip-hop beats, richly textured ambience and glittering synth melodies, was a world unto itself; nostalgic and otherworldly, playful yet frightening. During their first active years, Boards of Canada produced a series of superb albums and EPs steeped in references to the occult, numerology and digital-age mysticism. Each release was both an immersive musical experience and a code, to be explored and unlocked given time and space. With such an uncompromising modus operandi, it was perhaps surprising (and certainly testament to the duo’s masterful sense of musicality) just how much of the world was listening. Seven years on Boards of Canada have achieved near-legendary status despite a long period of silence, and after one of the most sophisticated publicity campaigns in recent memory, their new album has landed.

 

Reach For The Dead

Expectations were unfathomably high, but the pair have risen to meet the challenge. Is Tomorrow’s Harvest the instant classic that the pair’s first albums were? Possibly not. But it’s a damn fine piece of work which demands a dedicated listener who will approach it slowly and patiently. Given this time, Tomorrow’s Harvest slowly unfurls to reveal a wealth of detail and depth that could so easily be missed by the casual listener.

The core Boards of Canada sound has not really changed, but Tomorrow’s Harvest takes on a darker hue; a paranoid, concentrated work where only an occasional ray of irradiated sunshine penetrates the darkness. While the core sonic elements may seem the same, the pair have never before sounded so lush; the unsettling melodies are painted with cinematic grandeur, while richly textured percussion signals the pair’s meticulous attention to detail and love of old hardware.

So Tomorrow’s Harvest is a sophisticated, immersive musical experience in classic BoC style. But it also remains curiously difficult to pick apart. Tracks bleed into one another or stop suddenly in disorientating fashion, and the lack of variation in the sonic palette means that it can prove difficult to distinguish one song from the next. Here is an album that demands to be listened to in its totality, but as a result there is something daunting about it, and it can be difficult to gain a comprehensive grasp over the piece as a whole. In some senses this all makes sense; the album’s structure is defiantly cryptic in its way, yet it is also probably makes for the duo's least accessible album to date.

New Seeds

That said, when tracks do stand out from the crowd, they tower impressively over the nebulous melodies and glassy ambience which make up the album’s bulk. Lead single Reach For The Dead is stunning; deep atmospherics, equal parts sci-fi and spiritual, slowly build to a magnificent plateau as a single synth arpeggio snakes around a twitching field of dusty drum hits. Later both Cold Earth and Sick Times stand out from the album’s middle section, each harking back to the duo’s early days with stirring melodics and updated drumkits.

While some of the album may prove imposing, even difficult, Boards of Canada still know how to end an album as well as anyone else in the industry. The five-song closing suite easily stands as the LP’s extended highlight, from the cloud-parting brightness of Nothing Is Real to the beautiful off-kilter journey of New Seeds, by way of some of the pair’s best ambient work on Sundown and bleak closer Semena Mertvykh.

There’s a lot to be loved in this album, but there are also a fair few aspects of the duo’s sound which feel somewhat missed. Gone are the playful touches that counterbalanced the pair’s forays into sonic darkness, as are the accessible, rewarding melodies which marked much of their early output. As a result the sounds of Tomorrow’s Harvest feel somehow less memorable, less easy to hold onto.

Boards of Canada ask a lot of their listeners with their first album in seven years. Dedicated fans will be rewarded with a cryptic and fulfilling experience, but the album is also likely to alienate or merely puzzle the more casual listener. The brothers’ early work finely balanced its mystical depths with a concrete, satisfying musicality which at times feels absent here. Yet ultimately it’s hard not to feel that in a musical landscape increasingly populated by disposable me-too efforts, an album that not only asks a lot of its listener, but bountifully rewards those who are willing to take up the task, is a rare, powerful thing indeed.

8/10

Flying Lotus – Until The Quiet Comes

Label: Warp

If you survey the last decade or so of electronic music, few producers have been as universally lauded and appreciated as LA-based producer Steven Ellison, aka Flying Lotus, and it’s easy to see why. He's been an important frontrunner of the LA beat crew, who have been making a name for themselves spinning deranged hip hop experiments out of their home, LA’s Low End Theory club, and has kept up a steady train of dependable releases through his own Brainfeeder label. The great nephew of legendary jazz harpist Alice Coltrane, one can hear the strains of black musical history rebounding through FlyLo’s increasingly taut productions. Some have gone as far as to call Ellison the spiritual successor to J Dilla, and he has been justly acclaimed for his last 3 LPs, where he fused elements of jazz and electronic music into thrilling hip hop hybrids; and every album so far has been a powerful and individual statement.

Through his last three albums; 1983, Los Angeles, and Cosmogramma (all of which should be required listening); Ellison’s sound has accelerated, becoming more paranoid and frenetic while also becoming increasingly concerned with sonic texture. The only direction he could justifiably pursue after the twitchy heights of Cosmogramma is deconstruction, and in Until The Quiet Comes he explores the dreamy underside of his sound, while proving that he’s still willing to innovate and sidestep expectations. In this LP he continues to eschew conventional song structure (much like Dilla) in terms of track length, but to say FlyLo’s tracks are sketches would be to miss the point; each of his albums is an impressionistic collage of moods and textures, and best enjoyed as a whole.

See Thru To U feat. Erykah Badu

Yet unlike its predecessors, UTQC will not be lauded for its big beats and wonky experimentation; Ellison really impresses here with his subtlety and restraint. In Heave(n), sampled harps and far-off vocals reach skyward but are brought down to earth by a glitchy locked groove. Later in the aptly-titled Tiny Tortures, jazzy guitar lines are pitted against jittering percussive clicks, but it is all done with such delicacy that the whole comes across more introspective contrast than jarring juxtaposition.

Here we also see a continuation of FlyLo’s vocal collaborations, a little more high profile this time; Erykah Badu and Thom Yorke are the big names here while others such as Thundercat have made a name for themselves in between this release and the last. While the guests aren’t treated quite as they were in Cosmogramma; where Yorke’s voice was warped and distilled to be merely another one of Ellison’s melodic playthings, they still never pull undue attention away from the gorgeous instrumentation. On Electric Candyman Yorke pulls off a particularly restrained performance, singing in a dreamy croak, his voice swathed and eventually engulfed by ambient mist and a vast array of shifting percussive textures.

While there are perhaps less tracks here that stand out from the whole than on previous releases, Until The Quiet Comes marks a new level of compositional sophistication for Flying Lotus. Here he creates intricate and surprising patterns of both melody and beats which play out simultaneously, meaning that it is a true delight to give a close listen to the intricacy of these productions.

Putty Boy Strut

An early standout is the bizarre Putty Boy Strut, where a wind-up toy melody is set alongside a faltering bass loop that is more than a little unnerving, before the whole thing gently unspools to gorgeous effect with the arrival of a pitch-perfect guitar line. The Nightcaller is another excellent highlight, where syncopated claps are the only thing anchoring searing synths and mutated basslines to earth before it all comes crashing down in spectacularly funky fashion for its final minute. Nor is this the only track to pull off a stunning shifty midway through- in Hunger the tune breaks loose from its gritty beats to unveil a nakedly beautiful guitar melody and celestial vocal cries.

As stated earlier, the tracks on UTQC don’t stand out from the whole as much as individual tunes did on previous FlyLo albums, and this is both a blessing and a curse. It certainly makes for a smoother, more accessible listen, but attentive listeners might be a little disappointed searching for the jagged standouts scattered across his last two LPs. Ultimately it proves to the album’s advantage however, one doesn’t need to listen intensely here, just put the album on and music will seep into your brain, rewarding enormously across repeated spins.

Until the Quiet Comes does an excellent job of continuing FlyLo’s spirited venture into the delightfully strange corners of instrumental hip hop and electronic music, but ultimately perhaps does not bring as much innovative material to the table as previous efforts. At the same time, this album is a more ambient, wistful experience than any of his past releases, and Ellison truly does excel in using his music to access some of the furthest, spaciest reaches of the subconscious.

7.5/10