P.S: Im dying to know who did the vox on the number one tune, its soooo awesomeeeee, if anyone knows it share it!
30. Sebo K - Diva [Mobilee]
"'Diva' is a nice metaphor for what minimal producers often do with/to deep house: strip the track to its core and turn the female diva into either a fleeting memory, or a compulsive desiring-machine of tics and gasps. But with 'Diva,' Sebo K also goes fairly light on the vocal science, dicing female vocals into repetitive stammers, interjections that function texturally, and as punctuation."
29. Melchior Productions Ltd - Who Can Find Me (I Can't) [Cadenza]
"In an interview with RA earlier this year, Thomas Melchior spoke about the power of repetition and losing oneself. 'Who Can Find Me' is a perfect example, made concrete by a vocal line intoning its title. But while someone may have been spelling it out, it wasn't hard to think that perhaps they didn't want to be found at all."
28. Seth Troxler - Love Never Sleeps [Crosstown Rebels]
"'Love Never Sleeps' is a dark, atmospheric piece of redolent longing. Adept cutting and pasting of contrasting vocal snippets layered on top of chunky percussion are its main attraction, along with classic Detroit motifs that are reverentially pilfered from the bank of Robert Hood. More importantly, though, it's great electronic dance music—pure and simple."
27. Donnacha Costello - Trust [Minimise]
"'Trust''s descending melody, drifts into earshot around the two minute mark, glinting and glimmering like tears rolling down a porcelain doll's cheeks. It's undergirded by a hissy, insistent rhythm track reminiscent of Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works '85-'92. And while it's almost methodical in its plotting of slight variations on a theme, it's highly effective—almost hypnotic. A great single."
26. dOP - I'm Just a Man [Eklo]
"'I'm Just a Man' is a swooning anthem that's a paean to the limits of our solitary existence. Over a tribal African groove, Jonathan Illel sings "I've been to lands, where birds feel better than the man." It's a lyric with more gravitas than you usually find in house, a track that works just as well as a song."
25. Portable - Release [Perlon]
"A burbling pop hit on Perlon? Sure. Why not? Alan Abrahams had to know on some level that coming up to the mic in such a way would either be the smartest or dumbest thing he could do. Luckily, the insidiously catchy backing ensured that when he moaned 'releeeeeease,' it very much felt like one."
24. Martyn - Natural Selection [3024]
"Like his recent Apple Pips inaugurator and the remixes of TRG and Blackpocket, this 12-inch is evidence that Martyn has established a broad and lucid blueprint in which to refresh a range of influences from dubstep to 2-step to techno to house. It's yet another steady step in a headlong rush towards something utterly new and exciting."
23. Syclops - Where's Jason's K [DFA]
"'Where's Jason's K' is the bluntest Syclops release so far because it's basically an inspired and stupidly addictive bassline for most of the track's six-and-a-bit minutes. In the middle there's a crescendo of floaty effects, weird shit and an electronic organ all reminiscent of '70s funk wigouts, but 'K' is all about wilfully being hammered by the bassline."
22. Appleblim & Peverelist - Over Here [Skull Disco]
"When the beats arrive on 'Over Here,' they're clumped in clusters (with the bassline bossing round them like a sheepdog). Best of all is the atmosphere of the entropic slide as the mix slowly dissipates and the horn drone returns. Folks buying this as a tool might be disappointed—only the deepest of dancefloors are ready for this."
21. DJ Koze - Zouzou [Kompakt]
"It's rare that you get a track in RA's top tracks poll that never saw official 12-inch release, but DJ Koze had that kind of 2008. And 'Zouzou' was that kind of tune. Starry-eyed synths percolating in the background, chattering loops of organized madness and a melodic refrain that sounded utterly wrong…until you heard it inside this juddering jalopy of a framework. Ridiculous."
20. Invisible Conga People – Cable Dazed [Italians Do It Better]
"Justin Simon of Invisible Conga People has talked in interviews about his fascination with the area between house and noise music, but ICP better articulates the oft-fertilized ground between house and kraut. Both 'Cable Dazed' and 'Weird Pains' have an undeniable groove that is girded by the beautiful melodies of Neu! Whatever you do, just don't call it Italo."
19. Move D & Benjamin Brunn - Honey [Smallville]
"So then (of course) there's 'Honey,' which is close to Isolée's music, the Isolée of 'Lost.' The commonality comes from the burbling gulp of the synth line, the epic length of the reverb-widened corridor it opens, and the way the whole arrangement chases itself down it. However abstracted, this is still groove music, still house – albeit a house made for and by another species."
18. Appleblim & Peverelist - Circling [Skull Disco]
"The wonderful thing about 'Circling' is the way it makes space. Overhead are shifting elements reminiscent of early Pole, in the middle is a synth-bass nodding things along, while below are subs which shake the whole thing down. But unlike the aggro bombast of a lot of dubstep, here there's a gentle romance between all the elements."
17. Stimming - Una Pena [Diynamic]
"Possessed of a faultless groove, layering smart claps and snare fills atop a warm, circuitous bass, Stimming leaks scraps of the melody into the track as it builds before introducing the vocal hook. Without an ounce of aggression or any sharp edges at all really, Stimming's mix is an innocuous roller for dance floor frivolity. "
16. Dave Aju - Crazy Place [Circus Company]
"It isn't all that noticeable at first, but with repeated listens, the quirks of the lip-spitting cymbals, the swooning background vocals and the wobbly retro synths all take on a certain intangible feel simply not heard on other records. This isn't a new trick by any means, but Aju elevates the proceedings to a level far beyond mere gimmickry."
15. The Juan Maclean - Happy House [DFA]
"It doesn't come much more explicit than the title of The Juan Maclean's 12-inch teaser for his forthcoming full-length. 'Happy House' is happy. And it's house. Juan, it seems, has ditched the paranoid androidisms of 'I Robot' and come out of the darkness with a house anthem worthy of the spotlight. Simple, effective and absolutely brilliant."
14. Ricardo Villalobos - Enfants (Chants) [Sei Es Drum]
"Christian Vander celebrated the 25th anniversary of the founding of Magma by rewriting their classic album so that it could be performed by children. Ricardo Villalobos, on his newest 12-inch released on Sei Es Drum, takes approximately the first minute of this concert, re-edits it, adds a hi-hat and basically calls it a day. And, to be honest, it's pretty much awesome."
13. Sound Stream - "Live" Goes On [Sound Stream]
"More adventurous DJs are sure to have a lot of fun cutting this in and out of the preceding tune and teasing the crowd to breaking point before finally dropping the full groove in. Sprinkle some looped strings and heavy delay over the top…and voila! A discofied delicacy of retro futurism that will whip up a storm on dance floors."
12. tobias. - I Can't Fight the Feeling [Wagon Repair]
"Just as Wagon Repair finally consolidates a sound for itself, along comes Tobias Freund to put a noisy, trippy feather in their cap. 'I Can't Fight the Feeling' is a soundworld made of clean, taut drum patterns welded to lean, deep house atmospheres. It's a break after all that buzzing heat on this EP, but you can still hear the 'noise'."
11. My My - Everybody's Talkin' [Playhouse]
"'Everybody's Talkin'' emphasizes a soulful garage vibe, but avoids the garishness of so much stateside deep house via its subtle sense of grace. If one has a complaint it's that there is almost too much class and not enough ass, but there is so little of this type of modest house music around that it seems churlish to bitch."
10. Lawrence - Miles [Dial]
"'Miles' collects a few shreds of synth and a few polite but poised snares preface the kick. From there, the cold, warm, intimate and breathless melody unfurls, plunging further into itself. 'Miles' is that rare track that doesn't try for a second to telegraph what it's doing by wearing a badge on its sleeve, but rather just does it."
09. SIS - Nesrib [Cécille]
"Developing from a bed of choppy vocal samples that take on the effect of a riverside Babylon chant, 'Nesrib' begins to cling and bind almost immediately. It's an interesting example of mesmerism via subtle conflicts of sound, shifting from loose slurpy floor textures to moments that are almost too dizzying and transporting—sit me down or take me outside for a moment."
08. Move D - Drøne [Modern Love]
"Like Break SL's brilliant 'Flow', Move D's 'Drøne' is concerned with, well, flow and drone. Both tracks are patient works that unfold peacefully, unhurried by anything but their own internal sense of time, which is decidedly slower than the quick-hit world of techno. At 12 minutes, 'Drøne' is a mountain of a track that allows you the proper time to lose yourself completely."
07. Omar-S - Psychotic Photosynthesis [FXHE]
"One of the beautiful things about dance music is the way it can form an interlocking map of sounds and grooves, all of which play and build on one another. 'Psychotic…' does just that, drawing you into the fold with an atmospheric synth/bassline which is met by a counterpart that 'answers it' in a call/response pattern. 'Psychotic Photosynthesis' is a real trip."
06. Hercules & Love Affair - Blind [DFA]
"It's important that things like Basshunter not be the sole public face of dance music, but that people all over the world hear tunes that inspire them with what dancing can could be about. Ultimately who cares if some of the people involved come from a rock background? The world is already too ghettoised, let's not build any more."
05. Johnny D - Orbitalife [Oslo]
"What seems to get lost in all of the chatter about 'Orbitalife' is that this Eritrean-born producer included a sample from Ferris Bueller's Day Off in this otherwise po-faced Mannheim house track—something that shouldn't be underestimated in a genre that seems desperate to prove how authentic and serious it is. The point? Relax and enjoy the show."
04. The Mole - Baby You're the One [Wagon Repair]
"'Baby You're the One' rolls out a contagious loop, gradually adding heavier bass, a vocal sample and synth stabs to die for. More than thirteen minutes later, The Mole hasn't done much, but he doesn't have to. By modulating each throughout, there's little downtime; the moment that you think it's a bit long is the moment it ends."
03. Shackleton - Death Is Not Final [Skull Disco]
" Shackleton commands a percussive intensity and level of detail that not even Ricardo Villalobos can match. While the steady kick drum goes and the sub pulses, the percussion runs, dances, drops, fades out, fades back in, echoes and generally amazes. Atop this mastery sits samples and synths that make for Shackleton's most desolate piece since 'Blood on My Hands.'"
02. Ricardo Villalobos - Minimoonstar [Perlon]
"For a moment you're led into an almost conventional house groove on, but then a chorus of eerie synth voices pop in and, before you know it, 'Minimoonstar' has swerved into something that nothing in the first few bars even hinted at. It's the closing track for a dance party under the Aurora Borealis and one of the best tracks of the year."
In a year in which there seemed to be no real defining narrative in electronic music—but plenty of emergent ones—it seems fitting that an outlier like DJ Koze would come up with the year's best track. Sure, "I Want to Sleep" touched on the elegantly inert Mannheim sound with its insistently pulsating groove. And you could maybe even claim that having a woman cooing in a foreign language was one of the hot gimmicks of the year. (When is it not?) But "I Want to Sleep" was, as always, Koze sounding like Koze: Just when you think you've heard every last sound, you find an errant conga, shakers chattering like insects, a digital cough. Or, as Koze calls them, "the breakouts, the shocks." Here's hoping that 2009 provides plenty more.
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