Urlaubshits

Top Tracks of 2010: Part 2
December 27, 2010, 9:54 pm

Part 2 of my round-up of my favourite tracks of the year is loosely devoted to house and dubstep, or more accurately, the point where the two genres have collided in the last year. It’s this category which has seen the youngest producers (there’s at least five names that I know of on this list under the age of 25) creating some of the most inventive music, picking the shiniest musical elements from these two genres like magpies, as well as from garage, UK Funky, techno, and grime. In a year that saw the traditional sound of dubstep breaking out into the mainstream (i.e Magnetic Man), a genre that was previously the underground split into an increasing number of disparate strands, with new underground movements forming. Night Slugs, a label born only this year out of a club night started in Camberwell in 2008 took their take on grime and house international with a string of high quality releases and finishing with a compilation that was nothing short of essential. Meanwhile the Belgian label R&S was reborn with a number of high profile 12″ EPs straddling the divide between techno and dubstep which didn’t just push the boundaries of dance music, but electronic music as a whole. Rush Hour cemented their reputation as one of the world best house labels with a re-release of Virgo’s classic album from 1989, while they looked to the future with a number of brilliant releases on their Direct Currents imprint from the likes of Cosmin TRG and Falty DL. Of course this only scratches the surface, but if 2010 taught us anything, it’s that any stagnation in the previously opposing genres of dubstep and house has been washed away by the influences of both trickling down into each other.

James Blake – CMYK [R&S]
Although James Blake has been lumped by many into the category of dubstep, his “sound” (if you can call it that) has more in common with Aphex Twin’s brand of experimentalism, and in that respect “CMYK” would be his “Windowlicker”, a pastiche of commercial 90s R&B that actually displays quite a degree of affection for the source material. To say the production is a little rough around the edges would be fairly kind; the stretching of the vocal samples has caused audible digital artifacts, but in a way that sort of adds to the charm, causing a quavering on the vocals that constantly reminds us of its reconstituted nature. I didn’t really quite “get” this track until I heard it on a proper soundsystem, but when I did I realised that as well as using samples in a clever way, it’s devastating frequencies actually pack a mean punch, both viscerally and emotionally.

Ramadanman & Midland – Your Words Matter [Aus Music]
Of all of Ramadanman’s productions this year, by far my favourite was this collaboration with Midland; employing the current cut up vocal technique (that is in real danger of becoming old very quickly) to briliant effect, this is one of the most brilliant love letters to house music released all year. Combining Ramadanman’s dark bass sound with an incredibly light piano melody and some garage tinged rhythms, this track is just one of many reasons why Aus are one of the labels of the year as far as I’m concerned.

Cosmin TRG – See Other People [Rush Hour]
Whatever the current sound of house music is right now, I’m fairly sure that Romania’s Cosmin TRG has managed to encapsulate all of the disparate strands into one uniform sound. This track, my favourite of his productions this year (narrowly beating his remix of Falty DL’s “St Marks” can be quite a difficult track to listen to; so many disparate elements vie for your attention that it can be difficult to pick out any one thing to focus your attention on. After a few listens however it becomes apparent that these elements have more of a rhythmic function than anything else; the vocals are even more dissassociated from their original function than those in “CMYK”, and serve as sweeteners for an already schizoid drum pattern. But it never loses cohesion, thanks mainly to the bass notes sitting just below the surface of everything, anchoring the momentum.

Mount Kimbie – Blind Night Errand [Hotflush Recordings]
I wasn’t as keen on Mount Kimbie’s album Crooks and Lovers as I think the majority of the world were (it just left me wanting for a little bit more of something) but this track demonstrated a harder side to their sound that I think should be explored further. Utilising only a very simple bassline that is somewhere between acid house and a very minimal version of bassline garage, the sparse handclaps and occasional vocal sigh which punctuate it lend the production a succinct yet cavernous sound. Only at the very end does the track move into the soulful territory that they are better known for; when it arrives it comes as an emotional relief from the bleak frequencies and goes to prove that when juxtaposed with darker textures, small doses of their melodic elements go a much longer way.

L-Vis 1990 – Forever You [Night Slugs]
Girl Unit’s “Wut” will probably be more people’s favourite Night Slugs track of 2010, but as far as I’m concerned it was “Forever You” by label co-runner L-Vis 1990 that really opened my eyes to their label’s fresh and unique curation of UK Funky, house and grime. The drums have that relentless forward momentum and slightly off-kilter rhythm of UK Funky, but fuses them with a Detroit bassline and a stupendously soulful vocal, which, not being cut up and sampled from something else, bucks the trend of most other music of its type released this year.

Lone – Once in a While [Werk Discs]
Despite the increasing influence of 90s UK garage sounds into house music over the last year, the most nostalgic record of all was one that looked back even further back into that decade. Combining the euphoria of early 90s rave music with the hazy radiophonic psychedelia of Boards of Canada, this was the track that actually made steel drums seem like an acceptable texture to use in dance music. It verges on almost complete melodic overload for the duration of the track, but at just under 5 minutes it never overstays its welcome.

Space Dimension Controller – Journey to the Core of the Unknown Sphere [Clone Royal Oak]
I have extolling the virtues of Space Dimension Controller to anyone who will listen for the last year or so, and in 2010 he has not disappointed with a double 12″ for R&S and a single for Clone. Probably the hardest choice in this list was actually deciding which of his tracks to include. Taking the tropes of cosmic disco, and fusing them space funk melodies and deep, buzzing bass, and a mature Detroit sound to create something completely unique. In terms of sound, SDC is undoubtedly one of the most instantly recognisable producers on this list, and this track demonstates why. Structurally complex, this track has a distinct narrative; just when you think you have the mood of the track sussed, it turns another corner, leading you eventually into complete zero gravity.

Actress – Lost [Honest Jon's]
To be perfectly honest, any of Actress’s tracks from Splazsh could have featured on this list, but it’s Lost that I found myself immediately drawn to on my first listen, and am in love with it still. Sounding like a bleak, dystopian sci-fi take on house music, the bass is murky yet simultaneously shimmers with a neon sheen. Every rhythmic element, from the lone woodblock snare at the beginning, to the compressed hi-hats and brief handclaps towards the end is carefully considered to bring in a completely different level of energy at every point, and the way that the track fades out rather then bringing the energy level down seems very apt, given that it feels as if it could stretch out into infinity.

Joy Orbison – So Derobe [Aus Music]
It was always going to be hard for Joy Orbison to go in to 2010 and follow “Hyph Mngo”, and while not everyone would necessarily think that he has managed to top it, his output this year has still left most other producers behind, his music steadily growing in maturity, whether that’s in his own material or his incredible remixes (the remix of Four Tet’s “Love Cry” being a case in point). Nowhere else is this maturity more evident than on this B-side to his EP for Aus Music. Rather than going all out as he usually does to hit the pleasure centres of you brain from the beginning with a synth wash, he builds it up, teasing the listener before taking it away and moving into deeper territory. Of course, the payoff comes eventually, but not in the sort of “hands in the air” way you would neccesarily expect from Joy Orbison, but rather in the form of a melodic bassline that is more house than dubstep.

Kyle Hall – Kaychunk [Hyperdub]
Kyle Hall may be lacking in life experience (he is the only person on this list who is not legally allowed to go to nightclubs in his home country) but that certainly doesn’t make any difference to his music. Like Joy Orbison his music displays a maturity far beyond his years, but his stylistic strength lies in his highly improvisational style, moving often into the realms of jazz. Usually his music is more house than anything else, but this track on his 12″ for Hyperdub has a tempo of 140bpm; simultaneously brutal and placid in it’s execution, it employs a pattern of white noise hi-hats and schizoid kick drums (that seem impossible to dance to) alongside some classic Detroit pads and a meandering arpeggio. With a track this good under his belt at the age of 19, one can only wonder where he’ll go next, especially when he is already displaying the same kind of rampant experimentalism as Flying Lotus.