CD Album Recommendations Best Of 2012

Review: Regular cohorts and Disco Deviance mainstays Pete Herbert and Dicky Trisco have provided disco DJs with some killer re-edits, reworks and remixes over the year. Their style is groove-heavy and dubwise, teasing listeners with just a whisper of vocal or singalong chorus here and there. The 10 revisions on this collaborative edit collection certainly fit into that category, offering a mix of heavyweight electrofunk (see "Exodus"), horn-heavy disco (the delightful, low-down stomp of "Jump On Your Feet") and clandestine boogie dub ("Everyone Can Do It", "Happy State"). For those seeking floor-friendly disco interpretations, it should be an essential purchase.

Review: Originally produced exclusively for the Japanese market, this one-off, limited CD contains the elusive Burial's two most recent EPs for Hyperdub - Street Halo and Kindred. By now these should need no introduction, but those unable to appreciate the vinyl versions of the aforementioned EPs should waste no time in snapping up a physical copy of the producer's strongest work to date.

Review: Last year's excellent Drexciya retrospective, Journey Of The Deep Sea Dweller, was rightly heralded as a must-buy for anyone with even the smallest interest in the history of underground dance music. This second volume offers more of the same, conclusively proving - though few would argue otherwise - that Drexciya remain one of the most forthright, intriguing and forward-thinking acts ever to emerge from Detroit. The material here largely centres around their own peculiar take on proper electro, from the liquid synths and bouncing grooves of "Anti Vapour Waves" and "Journey Home", to the excitable, steel-hard rhythms and naked funk of "Positron Island".

Review: 2012 marks 20 years since the formation of Jeff Mills' Axis imprint, and two decades since the release of his first album. The Messenger, his 17th full-length excursion, is the fourth in the Detroit techno great's continuing series of faux sci-fi soundtracks. Underpinned by a complex, far-fetched storyline - we won't bore you with the convoluted details - the 14 tracks that make up The Messenger veer from cybernetic Detroit techno-funk to crystalline ambience via stargazing grooves and, of course, classic Mills loop techno masculinity. As with last year's equally admirable 2087, The Messenger is true to the original ethos of Detroit techno. It's emotion-rich, ambitious, melodic, far-sighted and laden with meaning.

Review: By his legendary standards of messiness, Ricardo Villalobos seems to have calmed down a bit of late. Perhaps it's related to spending more time in the studio, because Dependent & Happy is his first solo full-length for four years. It's a pretty good set, all told, delivering warmer, groovier minimal tracks than we've come to expect from the skeletal, perma sweating Chilean. Notably, there are more melodies, looser drums - some of which have a smooth swing that suggests he's rediscovering his Mojo - and even the odd track featuring rolling electric pianos and a fuller sound (see the devilishly funky "Samma" and Clavinet-boasting "Tu Actilud").

Review: This is the third album from Barnet-based drum and bass producer Luke "Utah Jazz" Wilson. Like his two previous sets (released in 2008 and 2010 respectively), Groove Therapy delivers a fluid, liquid take on drum and bass that frequently touches on soul and jazz. Check, for example, the bluesy Alex Reese collaboration "Everything Is Everything" (one of the album's highlights), or the jazz pianos and steppin' beats of "Conrad Funk"; both tracks are typical of Wilson's intoxicating and admirably grown-up take on D&B. See also "Crossing Frontiers", an impressively atmospheric cut whose haunting chords recall the Pet Shop Boys' breakthrough hit, "West End Girls".

Review: Although he's been an integral part of the Detroit deep house scene for nearly two decades, and commands the respect of his contemporaries, Marcellus Pittman has never really enjoyed the same level of acclaim as many of them. His long overdue first full-length Pieces may alter the perceptions of them that don't know. Formidably underground in its no-nonsense approach, it mixes raw, analogue house jams with the sort of spacey deepness most often associated with Motor City acts. In the latter category, the fluid "If The Earth Could Talk" and springy "Loneliness Leave Me Alone" stand out, while the "anything goes" synth jam "Random Acts of Insanity" shows his rarely seen playful side.

Review: Mala's album project comes to light with a healthy amount of expectation. The DMZ / Deep Medi Musik main man has always carried a reverence amongst the dubstep scene for his unfussy approach, staying true to the sound he helped forge in the nascent days of the genre while avoiding over-exposure or buckling to hype and trend where so many of his peers succumbed to change. As such this project sees the man well outside of his comfort zone as he tackles a specific album project whilst sticking his head more clearly overground to work with Gilles Peterson on an adventure in Cuba working with local musicians. This is most definitely Mala's music, and the spiritual, tribal nature of his productions to date only gets enhanced by the influx of Cuban folk sounds. This is no simple case of ripping samples and dropping them for token effect though; the percussive patterns and licks of piano, guitar, horns and voice are completely interwoven into the South London pressure as if they were always meant to be. It's testament to the pure approach Mala takes in the studio that he manages to balance these unlikely bedfellows to such fluid effect. Undoubtedly there will be naysayers who will argue that in doing an album of this nature Mala is diluting his purist vision for dubstep, but in truth the approach and end results he has managed to conjure up bring a revitalising, fresh angle to the genre, which is what it needs in abundance. There's maybe a lack of the "shock of the new" factor as Cubano music is not exactly a stranger to UK dance music forms, and Mala isn't exactly switching his own stance too drastically, but ultimately that doesn't matter. The whole album is direct and immensely satisfying to listen to, capturing the alluring spirit of South American folk tradition and empowering it with the transcendental nature of dubstep in its finest form

Review: "If you do not hear this" a distorted voice says at the start of Shed's third album, The Killer, before deploying a low bass frequency, "or that, you will not feel it". It's a statement of intent which is followed through with some of the heaviest material of the producer's career - whether it's the dense ambient of "STP3/The Killer", the tunnelling, waspish drone of "I Come By Night", or the screaming oscillations of "Day After". Despite being an album grounded by monolithic rave-era breakbeats, it's also an album of contemplative moments - the thermal current melodies of "Gas Up" and "The Praetorian" chief among them. The artwork says it all - this is an album made for the body, and our advice is to turn it up loud and let techno's greatest contemporary producer work his magic.

Review: There's something curiously likeable about this collaborative album from beardy former label manager and PR man Raf Rundell and equally hirsute Hot Chip man Joe Goddard. Musically, it's comfortable yet adventurous, offering a strobe-lit mix of warm, E'd-up revivalism, dewy-eyed fun and soft-centred, loved-up baggy goodness. Lyrically, it's also wonderfully irreverent, delivering both party-friendly silliness ("Ghosts & Zombies", "Be Strong") and Jilted John-ish mockney cheekiness. Given the stern and po-faced times we live in, it's exactly the sort of album that could well crossover; certainly, there's enough here to please both earnest DJs and casual listeners alike.

Review: Having already treated us to a trio of samplers, the German deep house duo Session Victim finally deliver their debut full-length for Delusions of Grandeur. Given their impressive credentials, it's no surprise to find that The Haunted House Of House is a bit good. Almost overflowing with ideas, it serves up 11 slabs of deep house that do their best to sidestep the genre's many pitfalls. Sure, there's plenty of comfy, melodic goodness (see "Push Comes To Shove" and "Zoinks"), but also forays into disco-flecked jazz-funk-house ("Alpine Glow"), slick disco-house ("The Haunted House"), groovy slo-mo electronica ("Bilson"), dewy-eyed Balearica ("The Light Scent of Decay") and even Clyde-ish broken hip-hop ("Fine"). Impeccable.

Review: Having previously explored the worlds of dub techno, minimal, ambient and experimental electronica (sometimes at the same time), Monolake's Robert Hencke casts his net even wider on this eighth studio full-length. Many of his usual sonic standards are present - spooky chords, dubwise atmospherics, creepy sound effects that sound like they were recorded in an echo chamber - alongside a new-found love for the rhythmic possibilities of dubstep and future garage. It's something of a masterstroke. While the resultant audio soup is every bit as intoxicating and out-there as his previous work, there's a strangely joyous looseness and flexibility to the beats that makes Ghosts a particularly pleasurable listen.

Review: After the brilliance of his intoxicating Themes From An Imaginary Film album, there's no doubt that Chromatics producer Johnny Jewel is on a roll. Here, he returns to his roots to helm the fourth full-length from the futurist crew, their first since 2007. In typical fashion, it's a beguiling set that draws on Jewel's usual cinematic influences. Musically, it sounds like a particularly heart-aching road movie, shuffling across the mid west via dark soundtrack moods ("Candy","11th Hour" and "Dust To Dust"), fragile balladeering ("Birds Of Paradise"), eyeliner-laden electronic moodiness ("A Matter of Time"), and Johnny Marr-goes-to-the-movies indie-pop (see "Kill For Love", "Into the Black" and "Back From The Grave").

Review: Those who follow the release schedule of the RVNG label will rightfully point out that the lion's share of tracks on Blondes self titled debut album are by no means new, having surfaced on a series of conceptual twelves over the course of 2011. However, the themes of duality that permeated those releases were loose at best, and there's a luxurious feeling to letting all eight tracks seep into your senses on a continual loop. The Blondes style can be seen as one dimensional in some respects, however it's obvious that Sam and Zach have matured their sound markedly from the tracks that made up their Merok released debut. You can't really compare the linear nature of tracks on Touched all encompassing devastation of tracks such as "Lover" and few people do hypnotic electronic music of this nature better. There is of course the small matter of the accompanying remixes, which are near perfectly chosen to tease out many different moods from the source material and include some truly excellent efforts from the likes of Stott, Bicep and Rene Hell.

Review: A studious understanding of DJ culture has emerged recently within the chameleonic career of Dan Snaith, and is exploited with aplomb on Jiaolong, the much anticipated album released under his nascent Daphni moniker. Apparently produced in deference to working on a follow up to Swim, Snaith's critically lauded Caribou LP from 2010, this nine track set derives from the swift productions and edits he has been making for the purpose of DJ sets over the past 18 months and it shows. Jiaolong is resolutely a set of tracks meant for the sweaty basements and concrete spaces, with previous Daphni emissions such as "Ye Ye", "Ahora" and "Jiao" surrounded by equally potent new productions - "Light" and "Pairs" being immediate favourites.

Review: There's something decidedly bleak, almost heartbreakingly sad, about this collaborative album from sometime D&B producers ASC (head honcho of Auxiliary) and Sam KDC. As with ASC's most recent full-length, the steadfastly ambient The Light That Burns Twice As Bright, it's a moody and atmospheric affair, dealing mostly in FX-laden drones, slow-burn melodies and near-endless chords. At times it sounds like a post-modern take on the drifting ambience of Pete Namlook, at others a weary comment on the current state of Western society. Throughout, there's an odd warmth and emotional resonance that belies its introspective approach. Closer "No Safety Zone", for example, seemingly shimmers with toasty warmth.

Review: Like many of Detroit's deep house and beatdown producers, Delano Smith has been an integral part of the city's musical landscape for nigh on 30 years - something amply demonstrated in the fascinating booklet accompanying this CD edition of his long-promised debut album. Musically, An Odyssey is typical of Smith's previous output, mixing smooth, hypnotic groovers and jazz-flecked deep housers with just the right amount of basement soul and melodic complexity. Given that the tracks - all previously unreleased - were recorded in the last two years, it's no surprise to find that the tracks sit together beautifully. Making a high quality deep house album is notoriously tricky, but Smith has achieved that feat - and with a style and grace that marks out house music's true masters.

Review: It's been nearly four years since Hans-Peter Lindstrom's last solo set, the decidedly grandiose Where You Go, I Go To. When Six Cups Of Rebel opens with a similarly soundscape composition, the spiraling "No Release", you expect more of the same. Yet it's something of a red (pickled) herring. In fact, Six Cups Of Rebel could be considered something of a return to his dancefloor roots - though it bears little resemblance to his clean, snappy early work. It's urgent, hurried, psychedelic - even a little fun (recent single "Deja vu" and the bonkers "Magik" being good examples). In that regard, it sounds a bit like an LSD-influenced take on fellow Norwegian disconauts Mungolian Jet Set - a strange and intoxicating brew that delights and confuses in equal measure.

Review: Is Jus-Ed the hardest-working man in house? Certainly, he seems to be making a strong case. Following numerous mix CDs, singles and doublepack vinyl EPs in 2011, he begins 2012 with a typically impressive collection of soft-focus deep house with a rugged, floor-friendly edge. As ever, there's a high musical content (see the haunting acid bass and twinkling pianos of "Confused Passion"), alongside rougher cuts that explore the darker recesses of early morning deep house. Take, for example, the dreamy synths and ice-cold acid of "Trip To Hamburg" or liquid atmospherics of "Mr Pete's Cribby". Like the rest of Endurance, they're inspirationally melodic without losing dancefloor focus.