Best of 2013: Top 100 Tracks, EPs and Singles

Pépé Bradock was on typically inspiring form this year; take for example his first online mix in years for the Roof.fm site which featured a wonderfully soothing selection of jazz, soul and an immense Asa-Chang & Junray track, or the splendid remixes of Webster Wraight Ensemble that slipped out with little to no fanfare. Bradock’s most high profile release this year was of course Lifting Weights, the 12” for Absurd’s Acid Test series that caught the ear of Actress amongst others. But let’s not forget the short lived Imbroglios series which ended in typically distinct fashion last month with the fourth and final edition. Much like the previous three editions, it’s hard to condense just how much music is explored within the six tracks on Imbroglios 4/4 as Bradock veers through moments of sultry Gallic funk, outright psychedelia, crazed percussive house rich with gleeful detail and more, sometimes within the duration of one track. A fitting finale to a series that could only have come from Bradock.

In terms of achievements for Rabih Beani, 2013 will largely be seen as the year where he led the way in challenging, thought provoking electronic music through the material from Metasplice, Container and Charles Cohen issued on his Morphine Records label. But let’s not discount the music Beaini made himself this year, issuing an album of post folk on the Lebanese label Annihaya and serving up this delicious double pack for Honest Jon’s. It says much of Rabih Beani that despite the high standing he’s held in by the electronic community, he chose to issue Dismantle/Music For Vampyr with the minimum of prior fanfare. His first substantial work as Morphosis in over a year, the double pack saw Beaini lead the way once more and it’s intriguing to retroactively spot the trace lines of influence between the various approaches shown here (“Dismantle” especially) and in the material from Charles Cohen issued on Morphine.

There’s always one record that arrives in the first few weeks of December that upsets the end of year applecart, and this year it came from Hotline Recordings, who did a similar thing with last year’s late entry from Kahn & Neek, “Backchat”. The label’s third record came from Rachael, an anonymous producer whose Idle Hands debut last year straddled the line between spiralling techno and Theo Parrish-style house. “Okada” is a completely different beast, with a broken rhythm and string lead that hints at a grime influence but offers something with a little more crafty funk. Hotline’s choice of remixer proved inspired, with Sex Tags Mania co-founder DJ Sotofett drafted in to provide one of his now legendary jungle reworks. He’s done a few of these – his effort for SW on Sued this year is another highlight, but his version of “Okada” is even more off the wall, throwing the original’s thick bassline into the mix with synth trills, spinbacks and euphoric pads for the most genuine piece of jungle revivalism this year.

Given that Karen Gwyer describes her music as “labyrinthine plasmic pulsations” and she has previously contributed to patten’s Limited Dubs series, it made for little surprise when that Redcar’s finest Opal Tapes tapped her for this Kiki the Wormhole cassette release. Answering questions from us as part of her excellent podcast, Gwyer hinted her next album project after the excellent debut LP Needs Continuum would be “something a little different!” It’s not clear whether she was referring to Kiki the Wormhole, but the three extended productions here demonstrated the Ann Arbor native had no interest in merely repeating the same musical steps taken on Needs Continuum. Notably more cosmic in tone, Gwyer used the long form format to draw deeper on her experimental urges and delivered one of this year’s defining slow burning delights with “Hippie Fracca”

Stanislav Tolkachev is somewhat of a wildcard to this year’s top 100. A large part of the Ukrainian’s discography remains digital, with his 2009 Remine for Spanish label Subsist the pick of the bunch. Whilst by no means prolific this year, Tolkachev still put his name to some impressive labels, gracing both Svreca’s Semantica and Mike Parker’s Geophone. Both were overshadowed by the Depth Of Light EP for Italian label M_Rec LTD which provided the best insight into Tolkachev’s Detroit-inspired techno that is left of field, fast paced, acidic, and off the grid.

It was hard to ignore Powell’s Diagonal label when it launched back in late 2011 with an EP from the producer himself, even more so when his original material stood shoulder to shoulder with the included Regis remix. With an aesthetic firmly in place, Powell has set about transforming Diagonal into one of the most compelling UK labels currently operating independently, channelling a punkish spirit similar to Downwards in their early days but very much tuned in with the towering producer’s own tastes. EPs this year from Blood Music and Cleveland noise veteran Prostitutes are fine examples of this, as was the Death Comet Crew album released deep into December. For us however, Diagonal’s crowning achievement was the self-titled EP from Shit & Shine, which saw band leader Craig Clouse forgo the skewed combination of primitive techno, industrial, noise and classic garage rock of their live shows for a quartet of tracks that sounded like the essence of disco, sleazy funk and post punk distilled into one swollen, throbbing whole.

In terms of contemporary grime, nobody has owned this year more than Slackk. With his monthly Soundcloud mixes, NTS and Rinse slots, as well being one of the foremost figures behind London’s grime-focused Boxed night, Paul Lynch has arguably done more to represent the scene and a new generation of up and coming producers. He’s also turning into a highly accomplished producer, as Failed Gods, his second EP for Local Action proved. There was more than a hint of the baroque in the Eastern melodies of tracks like “Silk Robe” and “Room Made Vague”, as well as a healthy amount of drama in “Algiers” and “Shogun Assassin”. Although the intricate melodic matrix of these tracks made Failed Gods some of the most listenable contemporary grime around, most importantly, as anyone who has heard these tracks in a club will attest, they go off pretty hard in the dance as well.

Going almost completely under the radar at the time of its release, A Luminous Veil was easily one of Blackest Ever Black’s best short releases of the year. Six tracks of one take power electronics in the Prurient vein, it simmered with a menace not seen in any other BEB release this year, with the sense that these tracks had started out life as techno before having their rhythmic guts ripped out. It’s such an impressively realised collection of tracks that when Alexander Lewis was unmasked as Avian boss Shifted later in the year, it came as little surprise, proving the producer had the noise credentials to back up his bleak vision of techno.

While last year’s Clutch EP saw David Kennedy stripping back his sound to almost skeletal levels, the pure rhythm-based constructions on show felt at times like they lacked some character. It’s what made the self-released REM EP such a breath of fresh air, providing one of the producer’s best records since Work Them. There was a real sense on REM that Kennedy had managed to marry dance floor mechanics with a more expressive, even experimental palette than before; the title track’s eerie musique concrète-like tones could easily have been mistaken for something on PAN were it not for the telltale percussive snap, while “Gridlock” provided a satisfyingly mechanical take on jungle, and the beatless “Figment” had an abstract Actress-like quality to it. However, it was “Crimson (Beat Ritual mix)” that really impressed, an endlessly cycling drum loop that nailed his trademark weightless rhythmic energy, merging jungle and grime with consummate ease.

Without doubt Ali Wells was one of the busiest people in electronic music this year, adding two dedicated sub labels to his Perc Trax empire as well as engaging in collaborative projects with both Pole Group and Adam X, and, it seems, polishing off a second album. Although it arrived late into the year, Submit has promised much and seemingly allows Wells the creative freedom to satisfy his more esoteric urges. Take this debut release on the label for example, which features four reinterpretations by the producer of German act Einstürzende Neubauten, focusing on the group’s 1981 album Kollaps. Having previously cited the industrial legends as an influence on his own hard-edged sound, you could really sense the fun Perc had working with dub mixes and out-takes from Kollaps with the results the pinnacle of contemporary industrial techno.

Mica Levi is possibly one of the most under-rated producers to have emerged from the UK in recent memory, possessing that rare talent for making unique and distinctive pop music out of the ramshackle, recycled remnants of UK club culture. Her charmingly lo-fit debut set as Michachu, 2009’s Jewellery, remains a firm favourite here at Juno Plus, as does Micachu’s impromptu set on the Boiler Room last year, with a raft of her own indescribable music crammed into twenty seven minutes. It’s likely that Levi cares little for whatever represents stardom these days, instead opting to work with the London Sinfonietta or compose soundtracks to critical acclaim (look out for her OST to Under the Skin). 2013 saw Levi charm us once more in a production capacity, teaming up with school mate Tirzah on the EP I’m Not Dancing. Released via Greco Roman, the title track saw Levi effortlessly try her hand at club music, building a near perfect two minutes from imperfect elements, which was made all the more memorable by Tirzah’s raw vocal delivery.

Some records come along and almost stink of quality and the One 12” from Seven Davis Jnr most certainly fell in this category. A Los Angeles based singer, songwriter and poet who overcame drug addiction and depression, Seven Davis Jnr was first introduced to the wider world by Kutmah, picked to feature on the Brownswood compilation pulled together by the respected selector last year. 2013 saw Davis Jnr and Kutmah work together again with the latter’s Izwid label issuing a killer selection of archival material called The Lost Tapes which demonstrated Seven was a uniquely soulful talent capable of producing some really bugged out material. Released just prior to that was One, which saw this bugged out style played at a house tempo with glorious results. Genuine soul and musicality is rare in house music these days but Seven Davis Jnr has it on lockdown.

The experimentally minded Monad series has proved a continued success for Stroboscopic Artefacts since it was established back in 2010, with a premiere roll call of contributions that has included Perc, Dadub and Kangding Ray. This year saw both Irish duo Eomac and Italian group Plaster excel after answering the Monad call, yet it was Rrose who really stood out on Monad XVI. The release represented a debut proper on Stroboscopic Artefacts for Rrose, having remixed Dadub at the turn of the year and the four tracks demonstrated the enigmatic producer had embraced the conceptual dancefloor-not-dancefloor aesthetic of the series to its fullest. The bleepy, low end ambience of “Kneeling” were complemented by three slabs of the most tasteful big room techno that evoked feelings of vintage Plastikman.

Looking back it’s safe to say that 2013 was the most prolific year for Ostgut Ton. Both their Panorama Bar and Berghain mix series cemented their placement as anticipated annual events on the release cycle, whilst high profile debut albums arrived from Function, Fengler and Luke Slater’s L.B. Dub Corp and Marcel Dettmann discharged a hotly anticipated sequel. Len Faki (seemingly) launched the new Basement Trax series, Nick Höppner enjoyed his first release since stepping down as label manager, and other EPs came from Rolando, Ryan Elliott and Atom TM & Tobias – not to mention Ostgut Ton’s opera MASSE. But wait, there’s more – Manhooker put the Wheels in Motion for Unterton, and The Black Dog also used the sub-label to springboard their Darkhaus series, but despite all the aforementioned releases on the Ostgut empire, their most intriguing release came in the form of Kobosil’s low-key – —– EP for Unterton. Not intriguing because it’s abstract or different, but intriguing because it is what it is. Techno.

Kahn & Neek’s Bandulu label looked outside their own productions for the first time this year to a trio of fresh Bristol-based producers alongside one more well established name. Planet Mu and Tectonic veteran Gemmy’s swaggering “Roll on Tips and Toes” was expectedly solid, but the new school put in even more impressive offerings, with the driving 8 bar mayhem of Oatz’s “Untitled”, the half-time swagger of Boofy’s “Since When” and the confrontational strings of Breen’s “Hooded Up” all offering some of grime’s most visceral moments this year. Much of the noise regarding grime this year may have been in relation to producers from London, but this releases showed the Bristol scene has just as much potential.

Phil South’s Golf Channel label enjoyed another twelve months of wilfully disregarding the release schedules, with the long promised Spike retrospective Orange Cloud Nine perhaps the most obvious example. Amongst the clutch of Golf Channel twelve inches released this year, the one record that took us pleasantly by surprise was the Downtown Nubian EP from Mind Fair. The British disco house project of veteran Chicken Lipper Dean Meredith and pal Ben Shenton, this was the sixth Mind Fair EP and contained a shimmering highlight of recent disco music memory in lead track “So Strong”. Given Meredith’s production heritage, it’s little surprise that the arrangements on this track were simple yet devastatingly effective with a swoop into a bassline and vocal hook that immediately evoked visions of Levan entrancing the Paradise Garage. It was complemented by three further Mind Fair tracks that showcased how avant-garde Golf Channel can be,

You wouldn’t necessarily expect a house track whose lyrics comment on gender politics to be one of the best pop tracks of the year, but that’s exactly what Planningtorock’s “Misogyny Drop Dead” is, albeit an underground pop classic in the vein of The Knife’s earlier material. Despite Jam Rostron having released her debut album as Planningtorock on DFA Records in 2011, nothing on that LP sounds quite as DFA as “Misogyny Drop Dead”; its plucked bassline has as much angular funk as anything on The Rapture’s Echoes album, while the mushy chords and synthetic flute give the track that same lopsided organic quality as Caribou’s “Odessa”. But it’s Rostron’s vocals that really make the track what it is, that meld together no wave tendencies and pure pop into something totally beguiling.

Arriving out of nowhere in February with a self-titled debut EP on his own Maslo label, it seemed almost impossible to believe that it was the first release of Vester Koza, who arrived with a sound so fully-formed it put many veterans to shame. Occupying the same space between murky house and weighty as Levon Vincent and Kassem Mosse, his productions swing with the same stately sheen, but with a sombre mood and rhythmic flutter that is all his own. Maslo 3 was his most impressive record with the A-side delivering a heady mix of swirling synths and dense low end, and the B-side containing some plaintive techno with that rare balance of brute force and delicacy. With a compilation forthcoming on his Maslo label in 2014, Koza’s star will only continue to rise.

Kevin McAuley was always going to have a hard time following last year’s Release EP, and he largely succeeded by doing what he does best – confounding expectations with another revision of his sound. While Release looked to jungle for inspiration, Viaduct – the inaugural release for his own Hadal imprint – felt more indebted to dancehall, with the title track’s celebratory melody and the sampled MC present on “Mission Creep” both giving these tracks their unique flavour. It was also an EP heavily influenced by the techno which has been making up a lot of his recent DJ sets, with the pounding broken 4/4 of “Razz” going harder and faster than most of his peers this year. Of course, being Pangaea, this material still had that trademark swing and forward-thinking nature that keeps him several steps ahead of everyone else.

The phrase “outsider house” may have been everywhere this year, and there’s an argument for Ital falling under this banner thanks to his work with 100% Silk, but in being accepted onto the esteemed Workshop label – known for its particularly austere vision of house and techno – Ital showed that the distinctions between “outsider” and “insider” probably never really existed in the first place. The three tracks from the producer on Workshop 18 feel like music made to enrich both body and soul; “Ice Drift (Stalker mix)” sees jittery percussion glide across a simple chords that nevertheless gleam with emotion, while the hypnotic “Pulsed” unfolds its rippling soft focus chords across a backbone of dusty drums. “Slower Degrees of Separation” is the most striking however; seemingly operating on several different BPMs at once, it struggles to splutter itself to life, but when it does, it feels like you’re floating round the producer’s percussion in zero gravity.

Jordan ‘Jordash’ Czamanski’s Off Minor Recordings was launched with the promise to act as a conduit for the vast spools of Magic Mountain High material that was sitting around waiting for some room in the Workshop release schedule. The first fruits of that are due out in January as the label’s third release and they have a lot to live up to, as Off Minor really scored a highlight of 2013 with the The KM20 Tapes from Move D. Given Czamanski’s close relationship with Dave ‘Move D’ Moufang, it shouldn’t have been a surprise that the German granted Jordan the freedom of his unreleased archives. Named in honour of his KM20 studio in Heidelberg, this collection of Move D tracks dated between 1992-96 was wilfully experimental in its tone, touching on both ambient and crunchy moments. In “March of the Cheesecrackers” The KM20 Tapes also provided one of this year’s best track titles. With an apparent ton of archival Move D material to work through, Off Minor has the potential to become one of our favourite labels.

Some eye catching comparisons to Burial and Actress were thrown about this year when people talked about FIS, and it feels like people are ever more will to indulge in the fluttery, experimental, and dubby sound that Olly Perryman’s music is based around. This one-sided Homologous EP, laser-etching and all, preceded his lauded four-track Preparations on Tri Angle and broke the seal of what sounds to be the next step in the cultivation of FIS’ unique and undefined aesthetic. The one-sided 12” is a bold statement, and although it’s not as gimmicky as the picture disc, it tends to be an extravagant way to massage a producer’s ego. For FIS and Void Coms, this wasn’t the case, harbouring enough quality and musical durability to make Homologous a memento for the artist, label, adventurous DJ and vinyl collector. Where FIS goes next on a reported album for Tri Angle will be most intriguing to witness.

L-Vis 1990’s productions can be frustratingly inconsistent, but when he gets it right, there are few other members of the Night Slugs family that can achieve that same sense of unadulterated dance floor joy. After his experiments with a ghetto house-influenced sound on last year’s Club Constructions Vol 1 and an EP for Clone’s Jak For Daze, Ballads saw him looking to grime for inspiration, and delivered some of the most brilliantly twisted club tracks Night Slugs have put out since Jam City’s Waterworx EP. Both “Not Mad” and “Signal” took the influence of classic synth boogie and paired them with the kind of irregular rhythms that created the sound of futuristic grime turned inside out, but it was “Ballad 4D” that was most astonishing – part drum track, part sinking submarine, it was characterised by a siren motif that sounded like the precursor to a watery grave.

Both William Burnett’s Black Deer project and Luke Wyatt’s Torn Hawk were seemingly everywhere this year, releasing their respective blends of analogue fuzz and Balearically-inclined melody across a vast array of labels. However, it was this entry to the L.I.E.S. white label series that collected the finest moments of these projects. According to an interview with Resident Advisor, Burnett’s Black Deer material was originally made years ago for an aborted release on Legowelt’s Strange Life Record label; if true, then the bubbling analogue techno of “Apex Break” predate Dan Snaith’s similarly organic material as Daphni by several years. Wyatt’s “Born To Win (Life After Ghostbusters)” on the other hand is just the most gorgeously realised of Wyatt’s output to date, stretching his blissful guitar solo and motorik synth pulse over 15 joyous minutes.

Last year’s Impossible Symmetry LP saw Luke Younger’s Helm deliver a blend of noise and drone that also explored more subtly rhythmic corners, and this year’s Silencer EP continued that theme with more explicit overtones. The title track could easily be mistaken for one of Demdike Stare’s recent Testpressing tracks, where desolate gusts and squealing radiophonic tones collided with rhythms that sounded like zombified jungle breaks. Though the pulse at the heart of “Mirrored Palms”, “Bergamo” and “The Haze” were more suggestive than tangible, they gave a rich sense of three dimensional space to his productions which made this one of PAN’s most irresistibly gritty releases of the year.