The Top 50 singles of 2021 – 50-41

The best singles of 2021 – numbers 50-41

50

Zero T – Off Broadway (The North Quarter)

“Focusing on those tense and spacious jazzy samples that characterised drum & bass in the mid-90s (think Peshay, think Photek), tracks like ‘Drama’, ‘Fortune Green’ and ‘Off Broadway’ hit with that timeless, gritty, burnt soul vibe while cuts like ‘This Condition’ and KILLSWSH’s remix of ‘She Moves’ flex with more of a contemporary vibe. “

49

Low Standard Deviation – Bunker 4018 (Bunker)

“Every track, from the up-and-down opener ‘Transformation’ to the technostatic ‘Ja Se Passo…’, is reverberative yet somehow deadened by distortion and compression, as we should expect from a no-wave fusion project. “

48

CoFlo ‘A Warrior’s Dance’ (Ocha)

“Cody ‘CoFlo’ Ferreira returns to the loving embrace of NYC label Ocha with a breathtaking EP of spiritually-fuelled house epics – including a stunning remix from Chicago figurehead, Ron Trent. “

47

Tommy Rawson – Illusions (Bergerac)

“Here, he shows his A&R skills are as sharp as ever – pulling out all the stops to help bring this outstanding set of compositions into the world. A-side belter ‘Illusions’ very nearly didn’t see the light of day as an official release, and what a dreadful loss to dancers that would have been. The origins of the piece extend way back to 2008, when a demo version of the track burnt onto CDR emerged as an unofficial anthem of the chalet parties of the year’s instalment of Southport Soul Weekender.”

46

Zygos – ENV 002 (Encrypted Audio)

“There’s a proper sense of freedom, originality and experimentation running through the three tracks here from Belgium’s Zygos, who swaps the walloping brutality more commonly – or at least previously- associated with the genre for what might better be described as a palpable sense of creeping menace.”

45

Bell Towers – Territory 2021 (Public Possession)

“Unlike the his more minimal earlier EPs, these tracks sound like what might happen if Daft Punk touched down in a synaesthetic Dalt Vila… robotic voices reassure us of cryptic, axiomatic truths about the nebulous concepts of place and turf:”

44

Phuture Assassins – Back To The Phuture EP (Suburban Base)

“For those of us – and there do seem to be a lot of us around again – who love old hardcore and early jungle, the re-opening of the vaults of Suburban Base for re-issue and in many cases unheard rarity action is a bit like all our Christmasses coming at once. Take this stack of four mixes of their first ever release, which spans several generations of junglist/d&b history, each represented with effortlessly classy sounds.”

43

Low End Activist – Engineers Origins (Low End Activism)

“The rough cut breaks bring early Dillinja or Full Cycle productions to mind, only married with some wonderful high end frequency shenanigans that owe a debt to no-one. Top end music.”

42

Centry / Manasseh – Foot Pedal Dub (Partial Records)

“At the time, the dubplate received heavy play on the Jah Tubby’s soundsystem, handed down to and operated by the legendary dub producer Aba Shanti who tastefully selected the track on a regular basis…. Offbeat brass is a staple of the single, an infectious three-note trumpet melody weaving in and out of every track.”

41

Ray Hurley – Diggin In The Crates Vol 1 (Fresh Milk)

“This six track selection of oldies but very much goldies from the proverbial crate certainly hark back to the days when UKG was a close to relation to the US sounds of Roy Davis Jr,, with just a hint of the throbbing sub-basslines of jungle and drum & bass introduced to set it apart.”