2009 Top Songs
An odd year for me and music. Perhaps it’s a sign that I’m getting old and crotchety, but for every week that I spent dipping into the new release bin or enjoying the full-throttle output of Wolf+Lamb and Ghostly International (easily the two most interesting imprints of the year), I would retreat further into the past, binging on Chain Reaction and Studio One records before sinking into comfy music from the 1960s and 1950s. Doo wop, ballroom music, and druggy reverb. Hell, I even started appreciating Elvis. There weren’t any brand new sounds that grabbed me this year (I’m still not falling for dubstep) — but as electric music continues to become more atomized, some favorite genres were refined, a few envelopes were pushed, and several promising new corners were staked out.
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False – ‘Love Letters’ from Love Letters, M-inus As the auto industry bleeds out, it’s heartening to see Michigan get some love on the cover of Matthew Dear’s latest dispatch. ‘Love Letters’ is a timely reminder of the state’s role as the perennial proving ground for new American techno products. This strange track lopes into your speakers and sets up shop with a few squeaky hinges and clanking gears. It’s a rusty machine powered by a complicated vocal engine that plays the role of bassline, hook and chorus, throwing off disorienting helium moans and rib cage-rattling groans…(full review here) Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. |
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Intrusion – ‘Seduction (CV313 Morning Dub)’ from Seduction of Silence, Intrusion Stately winter music via another epic slab of lunar dub techno from Steve Hitchell. Cold atmospheric hiss rises and falls against a persistent melancholy note that weaves through a shifting landscape of drums, delays, and filters. Profoundly calming. Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. |
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Lee Curtiss – ‘What’cha Need’ from The Mantra, Cityfox An odd departure from Curtiss’ trademark brand of paranoid techno murk, “What’cha Need” opens with a pleasant ticking-clock beat that’s basically just keeping time until the two minute mark: that’s when a wide-grinning big-muscled groove lumbers into the mix and reminds you that, in the end, music is all about the hook. Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. |
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Burial & Four Tet – ‘Moth’ from Moth/Wolf Cub, Text Records Possibly one of the most hyped records of the year, the collaboration between Burial and Four Tet delivered on its promise, merging scruffy electronic quirks and emotional vocals across one of the catchiest loops of the year. Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. |
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Ben Klock – ‘OK’ from One, Ostgut Ton Further proof of the power of simplicity. Berlin’s Ben Klock delivers a thundering drum, some high-hat hiss, and one emotional vocal loop: Ain’t no happiness . . . ain’t no sadness. Although this diva snippet is credited to Elif Bicer, I swear it’s Diana Ross. The more that I listen to “OK”, I hear a direct line out of Motown to Berghain, starting with The Supremes’ “Reflections,” one of the most perfect pop songs ever made, from the urgent tambourine beat to the cosmic synthesizer squiggles that punctuate the track. This is the heavyweight factory version. Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. |
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Soul Clap – ‘Conscious’ from Soul Clap Edits, Wolf+Lamb Cribbing a few loops from Womack & Womack’s ‘Conscious Of My Conscience’, the Boston duo transformed a piece of 1988 R&B schmaltz into a perfectly tuned minimal house machine that occasionally rushes right up the line of full-tilt chintz and never blinks. Catchy as hell. And their new edits of Fleetwood Mac and Chris Isaaks are just as potent… Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. |
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Quantec – ‘Melted’ from The Landing, Snapshot Records Some big-throated metallic dub techno that snakes and coils around the stereofield, working the reverb filters hard and burying the beat into a tinker toy afterthought. Beautiful production that carries the Chain Reaction torch a few steps forward (see also #2). Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. |
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Gadi Mizrahi – ‘I’ll Set Your House’ from Significant Others, Wolf+Lamb Another Wolf+Lamb record. I could fill this entire list with them. This record from Mr. Mizrahi is as smooth as smooth can be: druggy slow-motion basement house with a vocal hook that’ll leave you nodding like a junkie. Oh, and it has lasers. Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. |
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STL – ‘From a Distance’ from Silent State, Smallville Classy as hell. STL drags dub techno kicking into the light: imagine a Basic Channel track spending a sunny Sunday afternoon at the park and actually enjoying itself. This is one of those rare songs that I can loop on the hi-fi for days. Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. |
 Unknown – ‘Hubble’from Thriller I fell in love with techno because it boils down to one beautiful thing: the thrill of the bold new record that appears in the middle of the night without any explanation. At its core, electronic music is about the mysterious frequencies issuing from a speaker in a concrete basement: anonymous, diffuse and cloaked in mythology. This is how records like “Losing Control” and “Phylyps Trak II” made the rounds 15 years ago and it’s heartening to see this approach is still alive in today’s age of digital chatter. This record from the clandestine Thriller outfit is filed under ‘Unknown Artist’ and this applies to the genre, too. Techno, lounge, dubstep – I can’t figure it out. What I can tell you is that I haven’t been this excited about a record since Jichael Mackson’s Breitling Orbiter 8 or, going further back, Thomas Brinkmann’s entry into the 20′ to 2000′ series. At eleven minutes, “Hubble” is an unwieldy machine that sounds like an old disco 45 slowed down to 33 revolutions per minute. You can hear the plastic cracking and the needle jumping as it spins you into a slow narcotic haze… (full review here) Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. |
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Sehr interessanter Artikel den du da geschrieben hast. Endlich hab ich das gefunden was ich gesucht habe. Ich wuerde auch gerne den RSS Feed von deinem Blog abonieren aber leider finde ich diesen nicht. Wo muss ich denn danach suchen?