Part 4 of our 2010 review brings you arguably the most anticipated of all our features so far: our top 25 tracks. Similarly to our remixes feature, many of those in this list picked themselves, but others caused considerable debate and disagreement between me and Chris. After plenty of acquiescence and negotiation, we settled on something we both are very happy with, each track thoroughly deserving to be in there for reasons we will again do our best to describe. It's worth mentioning as a more general reflection that 2010 was once again a magnificent year on the production side of electronic music. In all honesty we were spoiled for choice picking just 25 as it could easily of been 50, but those we selected represent the very best of 2010 in house, techno and electro. I'm sure there are massive tracks we've missed out, but we thought long and hard about the tracks we simply loved personally- not what everyone else loved, or what DJ's, critics and other personalities loved, just us. Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, Sweat On The Walls' top 25 tracks of 2010...
25. Kebacid - Jack The Potato
A surging, squelching, sizzling electro classic from
Kebacid, who kicked off our year with vintage rave material. We loved
Jack The Potato for its undeniably aggressive confidence. Ruthless bassline, layer upon layer of filthy synths, and that lovably random vocal that cues the most chaotic moments throughout the track.
24. Boy 8-Bit - The Keep
You would have struggled to avoid
Boy 8-Bit's blistering hit The Keep at any electro night in 2010. Why? Because it was a simply irresistible track for DJ's to use in their set. Bubbling and bouncing with unrelenting intensity from start to finish, it was the perfect peak-time choice and it never failed to get me and Chris feverishly soaking up that instantly recognizable build-up and devastating bassline.
23. Kaiserdisco - Aguja
Kaiserdisco was one of 2010's most consistent producers without doubt. I can't think of one record the German laid down last year that didn't get my attention, but by far the most gripping of all was
Aguja, and many others agreed. A simply dazzling tech house adventure, with all the frolic, tribal, percussive morsels you could ever wish for, it sent dancefloors into wild frenzies wherever it was dropped.
22. Round Table Knights - Calypso
Calypso just appeared out of nowhere around late Spring, and its huge reception was entirely understandable.
The Round Table Knights didn't re-invent the wheel with the concept of having their tech-house bassline laced with steel drums, it had been done before, but it felt incredibly new and organic. What perhaps was different about it was that those Caribbean touches were the main body of the track, delivering the bulk of its rhythmic qualities, instead of just being a quirky decoration. It worked perfectly, and was one of those genuine stand-out tracks of the year that everyone loved.
21. Santos - Matinée
Fabric, 10.30am, Ricardo Villalobos has been spinning for just an hour in a crowded Room One and is gradually mixing in a psychedelic house piece, drenched in delicate house notes that climb and climb with just as much character and mystery as the guy who is playing it. All of a sudden there is a breakdown after around six minutes of patient building and nothing but slightly distorted white noise screeches from above. Then it all comes crashing down and those pianos blissfully change in tone and pile on top of deeply seductive drums. The track I eventually discovered was
Matinée, by Latin-American producer
Santos, and I have been a fan ever since. Maybe it's just the associations I make with it being played by Ricardo Villalobos, but it's a delightfully trippy cut, with bags of dance potential but earthy enough to be strictly for only the most prepared dancefloors.
20. Congorock - Babylon
Right on the fence between underground electro filth and mainstream dancefloor bomb,
Congorock revolutionized so many dancefloors during the summer of 2010 with
Babylon. Another one of EXIT's favoured tunes, played by Busy P, DJ Mehdi and Crookers, it became an instant favourite among all club revelers who couldn't get enough of all those volatile squeeks, tears and slams.
19. Tim Green - Old Sunshine
Tim Green was arguably one of 2010's major players thanks to two tracks; his classic remix of Cassius's
1999, which came in at 15th in our top 25 remixes, and his very own
Old Sunshine which lit up dancefloors all around the world over the summer. From London to Ibiza, from Buenos Aires to Berlin it was a natural selection for all DJ's with any interest in tech house. A superbly groovy, summery bassline and fluid doses of teasing vocals made us all go mad for it and as we begin 2011 it now carries nostalgic qualities of the 2010 vintage clubbing season.
18. Carte Blanche - Gare Du Nord
Production-wise, 2010 was a relatively quiet year for Ed Banger. There was only one album released, that being the grossly belated
Sex Dreams & Denim Jeans from Uffie, and just a handful of EP's as the key figures of the label focused on various side projects. But without doubt the greatest success for the Parisian clan was
Carte Blanche's Black Billionaires EP that landed around late spring. The project that consisted of Ed Banger's own DJ Mehdi and the very British Riton seeked to promote a cleaner approach to House music than the distorted signature style of Ed Banger, but ironically the star piece on their debut EP,
Gare Du Nord is soaked in enough ear-ringing distortion to make Justice slightly envious, but that was all for the good. Sure it was noisy and abrasive, but it still felt fresh, not just another Ed Banger outing of unrefined electronic mishchief and it soon found itself as something of an icon among sets of that kind.
17. Pleasurekraft - Tarantula
UK tech house newcomers
Pleasurekraft demonstrated the perfect way to plant your flag in the tough EDM soil in 2010 with their instantly recognizable hit,
Tarantula. To call it an important track last year would be a gross understatement, it was adored by DJ's and fans alike for it's deeply sexy beat, but what made us all really fall in love with Tarantula was that notoriously mesmerizing vocal hook that doesn't emerge until around half way. We don't know quite what it is, that vocal always frustratingly out of touch, but we know it made 2010 a much more interesting year, especially when you knew what to expect.
16. SebastiAn - Threnody
Controversy is never usually an issue in our ever-loving bubble of electronic music. There are no irritating, narcissistic lyrics from gaudy, untalented wannabes, no abysmal music videos and the artists themselves are all relatively low key by nature (Seth Troxler an exception, Jay Haze maybe another). But if there's one artist and a record label so many just love to hate, it's
SebastiAn and Ed Banger, and fortunately for us, that's just how SebastiAn likes it. It's this constant criticism and general misunderstanding towards the entire Ed Banger style that inspires him to produce even more controversial music, seeing how far he can push his critics before they top themselves with disgust it seems. We like to think we understand SebastiAn, and as a loyal follower of both him and Ed Banger for years now, I can safely say 2010's
Threnody is arguably the most outrageous of all to come from Paris, but that is exactly why it lit up our lives last year. The concept wasn't exactly ingenious; have a 12 minute build up of nothing but rising white noise, followed by a drop less than two minutes long that bared close resemblance to the effects of Hiroshima, but it was stylistically brilliant. That drop, although so short, is both impudent and immensely satisfying, encapsulating in little over 90 seconds what SebastiAn is all about. Serious technical analysis of Threnody will yield little more than a few lines describing the two crude components of the track, and without looking at any reviews out there I can see 1/5 scrawled in every corner, but for us it was everything we expected and wanted from an artist who to be honest, has never disappointed us.
15. Lee Jones - Yoyo
There's no questioning
Lee Jones's influential role in shaping house and techno last year. Not only did he join the established list of artists selected by Berlin's Watergate to mix one of the club's CD's, he also invented
Yoyo, which twisted us, tripped us and kept us grooving with monumental ease whenever one of many DJ's weaved it into their sets last year. An absorbing 10 minute house cut, with delicate flakes of percussion and that signature looped horn sample, it left a lasting impression on us from the very first time we heard it, and for us was a stentorian mark of what was coming out of Berlin last year.
14. Kavinsky - Nightcall
Going all the way back to the chilly depths of last year's late winter,
Kavinsky had just released his third EP
Nightcall. This was cause for considerable excitement for us as we were, and still are, genuine fans of Kavinsky. Although not signed to Ed Banger, the affiliations are inextricable, with the Paris record label one of the main hype-machines prior to the EP's launch, and there's it's no surprise to us why Busy P et al were so firmly behind it.
Nightcall, the head track of four on the EP (including superb remixes from Breakbot and Dustin N'Guyen), was a striking divergence from the style we anticipated from Kavinsky. That notoriously visceral arcade-game/cheesy '80's action movie aesthetic was abandoned for something far less satirical, this time using bewitching vocals and a patiently surging house beat. But the old Kavinsky was remained entirely visible, regardless of the slightly more mature brush-up, and his eccentric taste for those retro synths and 'zombie driver' sub-plot to all his music only made us love
Nightcall even more.
13. Booka Shade - Regenerate
Booka Shade took 2010 by storm with their sensational live performances, but having a track like
Regenerate behind them made failure very unlikely, regardless of how striking their live set-up was. An exquisite composition of ghostly, hair-raising vocal samples, layered perfectly over a bassline scattered with flakes of intelligent, delicate sounds and a devastating mid-way crescendo not only created something marvelously ravey, but undeniably moving.
12. Storm Queen - Look Right Through (Vox)
It may have come late on, but
Storm Queen's Look Right Through was an anthem that soundtracked plenty of parties for the last couple of months of 2010, and will surely be doing the same for a while to come. Sexy and svelte with such a groovy, disco-house bassline, it was the perfect peak-time record for dancefloor revelers needing that little lift we all know of...
11. Tensnake - Coma Cat
Whether you hear music submerged in an East London warehouse or on radio in your car, you would have struggled not to hear
Coma Cat last year.
Tensnake's breakthrough track, it was the perfect amalgamation of tech house wizardry and disco delight, lighting up dancefloors everywhere but also tweaking the eardrums of those not actively involved in the underground scene. This isn't always a desirable transition, but in
Coma Cat's case, it made it all the more charming.
10. Simian Mobile Disco - Aspic
Simian Mobile Disco's failed attempt at vocal electro-pop with their second album
Temporary Pleasures was well documented by us and many others, and the pair's
Delicatessen venture last year almost appeared like a direct response to the criticism, which worrying for them came predominantly from their genuine fans. The concept: make a record label called 'Delicacies', hold a club night called 'Delicatessen' and a bunch of tracks that musically represent exactly what the gastronomic equivalent does- unique, often unpleasant flavours only for the most acquired palates. What a way to restore your fans faith and desires, and in
Aspic, their first of a series of 'Delicacies' released throughout the year, we were introduced for real what SMD had up their sleeve- uncompromising, unforgiving and for many, simply unpleasant techno. Of course, we lapped up every dirty morsel...
9. Lee Burridge & Mathew Dekay - Wongel
Simplicity so often proves to be the most wonderfully vivid, expressive and effective formula for electronic music production, and nobody demonstrated that better last year than
Lee Burridge and Mathew Dekay with
Wongel, which they pretty much swept the floor with when it emerged. At over 10 minutes long, it was never going to be a quick, breathless cut, but there is seldom more than just a drum beat to the entire record, and this was its beauty. That drum beat with its constant, buoyant order of bass, snare, kick is just so moreish. But to say that literally is what the entire track is built upon wouldn't be strictly true. Gradually, and patiently, it morphs itself towards a brilliant and slightly wacky bassless break of cow-bells, which after teasing for a minute or two are suddenly immersed back into a pool of thumping drums once again, and that simplicity is laid out in its full glory.
8. Jozif - Beats In Space
Jozif, now an established London-based producer, will forever look at 2010 as his breakthrough year, as a lot of others will do. Much in the same way as Maya Jane Coles with her huge deep-house hit
What They Say, Jozif's vinyl-only
Beats In Space, released on his newly found label Fist of Finger with Craig Richards, was the track that turned heads and planted his flag on the underground map. Brimming with various twisted little samples, it treads heavily and slowly before breaking down into a deep, hollow fissure. It is here where the deranged magic of
Beats In Space is conjured, gently shifting towards a devastating bassline that continues with all that wonderful, organic originality that the first half of the record kept us on our toes with.
7. Boys Noize - Yeah
Another year and another wonderful 12 months for
Alexander Ridha. Following the release of his second full album
Power the year previously, 2010 was a year of just having fun it seemed, with no album but a handful of hugely successful EP's, plenty of highly sought after remixes and dozens of explosive DJ sets all over the world. He was arguably the main catalyst for the rebirth of acid we witnessed, one of the most notable electronic music trends, but ironically his best production was far more classically electro house.
Yeah began blowing the roofs off nightclubs and the eardrums of ravers around May when Ridha first began slipping it in his sets. Despite being typically brutal in style, it was uplifting and refreshing, pieced together perfectly with a careful balance of hammering basslines and that epic vocal hook, which made it impossible to ignore. Ridha's production skills remain second to none, and in
Yeah he delivered something every dancefloor wants.
6. Maya Jane Coles - What They Say
We have 2010 to thank for the emergence of
Maya Jane Coles, who has firmly established herself as one of the UK's most exciting underground producers. Already with a string of excellent EP's under her belt, she's well on her way to passing the protigé stage and will almost certainly be one of clubland's most desirable names in the near future. Where did it all start? With
What They Say. MJC carved something so gorgeous, so elegant and so deep that we instantly fell in love with her, and before we knew it,
What They Say had become one of the years signature hits.
5. Boys Noize & Erol Alkan - Lemonade
Another flawless maximal collaboration from two of electro's most influential and important players. After their acclaimed
Waves/Death Suite EP in 2009, it seemed only a matter of when, not if,
Alex Ridha and
Erol Alkan would join forces once again, and they returned in blistering style with
Lemonade/Avalanche around Easter time. In all honesty, either track on the EP could have seamlessly slipped in at the lofty heights of number 5, both genuine masterpieces, but there was something irresistible about
Lemonade. It was at the memorable
Decked Out 10th Anniversary Party all the way back in February where I first tasted
Lemonade. At the time, its identity was unknown, and as so often is the case, those who heard it engaged in chaotic speculation in trying to pin down what the hell it was. How could we track down that fizzing, thumping, incredible banger? I had heard whispers, but nothing concrete, but then Erol Alkan told me, sort of. At a Friday night gig at the Thekla, Bristol, soon after
Decked Out!, he dropped it again. Being right at the front, as usual, I explicitly gestured 'what the hell is this tune?', and he kindly took the CD it came from, broke it in two and threw it on the stage. I grabbed a piece, and managed to make out the word 'Lemonade' scrawled on it, and then I knew. From then on, Erol and many others are still playing it, evoking the same frenzied reception as when we first heard it.
4. MMM - Nous Sommes MMM
'We Are MMM'. What a brilliant name for a record that could be described in no other way than
the techno A-bomb of 2010. My first experience of it came in fabric, monitored by no other than Ricardo Villalobos who stitched it into his epic 6 hour set of all things house and techno. The effect it had on us in that smokey, bassy, Room One was incredible, but the way
MMM constructed the record made such a reaction inevitable for any dancefloor in any club. Ravey, noisy and drenched in adrenaline, the entire track is almost like one big build-up, endlessly rising and teasing with thunderous bass seeping in and out at unpredictable moments. It's difficult to pin down when there is a climax. There seems to be so many, but there quite possibly could be none at all. It was this totally new approach to a synth-heavy techno that made us addicted to
Nous Sommes, and is probably why it will continue to be dropped to the same devastating effects for many years to come.
3. Butch - No Worries (Re-Cut)
Butch's 're-cut' version of
No Worries couldn't have delighted DJ's and dancefloors much more last year. This was hardly a surprise though, considering Butch's history making of making uncomplicated, floor-friendly tech house. His full length album
Eyes Wide Open continued to illustrate what he's all about, a portfolio of yet more rich, throbbing beats and percussion, the exact formula that made
No Worries such a memorable hit everywhere. That thumping pulse, those crafty little breakdowns and that incomprehensible vocal sample, flirting from the off is what made
No Worries so enjoyable. Again, far from a elaborate concept, but Butch knows just how to get bodies moving, so much that I would suggest it's impossible not to dance to something like
No Worries, and a record number of DJ's agreed when they allowed it to spill from their monitors last year.
2. Art Department - Without You
As far as labels go, 2010 belonged to Crosstown Rebels. Damian Lazarus's unique brand of tech-house was an unstoppable force all year, with everything coming from the London-based label irresistibly good. Top of the pile though was
Art Department, another one of the year's major breakthrough acts, who provided us with one of the finest examples of a house anthem for a long time.
Without You didn't just sound good, it made us
feel good. A bassline so deep, so groovy, it went beyond the simple realms of aural stimulation, it got under your skin, gripping you with every sluggish thump and trippy bleep. On top of all that, there was the effortlessly hazy chorus that got us all chanting through bleary eyes and slowly waving arms, "I just caaaaan't...."
1. Breakbot - Baby I'm Yours
Despite the general lack of activity, all the side-projects, the speculation (and often disappointment), Ed Banger still managed to leave their mark on 2010, a mark we believe was the most significant. If Busy P only has his signing of
Breakbot to show for last year, then he can rest assured that it was a major victory.
Thibaut Berland if anything rescued Ed Banger from widespread disillusion with Baby I'm Yours. Forgetting the loyal stalwarts (i.e, like myself), for many, Ed Banger was still just an uber-cool, party-mad bunch of posturing Parisians, with a reputation propped-up only really by Justice and Mr. Oizo. Their signature, buzzsaw electro sound began to grate for many, but then along came Breakbot who injected elegance, freshness and a whole new aura of modesty to the whole Ed Banger phenomenon. Languid, quiet and bearing an uncanny resemblance to a certain Sebastien Tellier, we liked Breakbot straight away, and his music was just as distinctive and charming as his physical demeanor. Forget any coarse synths, stomping bass or of those wacky idiosyncrasies that have shaped Ed Banger's identity, Baby I'm Yours was an exquisite blend of retro disco and feel-good house, with lyrics. Actual lyrics, courtesy of Irfane who sings as impudently as you would expect on a reality show final, but makes the record oh so memorable. The future of Ed Banger? We're not sure, but we couldn't think of a track that had more of an impact on us last year.
