2021 Review: Top Tunes (Part 3)
Third and final part of my Top Tunes of 2021 - this year, in a format where each entry comes with a bonus track that is somehow related (in my head at least). Previous parts can be found here: Part 1 / Part 2.
Click through the links to buy on bandcamp (where possible) and enjoy!
Computor Rockers – Boing Blaster [Casa Voyager]
It wouldn’t be an end of year list without a Casa Voyager EP so here’s this year’s favourite. I stuck ‘Boing Blaster’ on at pretty much every party from late September onwards and I’m still not sick of it, despite it being made from the most basic of electro elements – Kraftwerk samples and all. It says something about the enduring appeal of this narrowest of genres that something so outrageously formulaic can bear so many repeat listens. Shout out too to DMX Krew for an astonishing liveset at Dimensions, one of the highlights of my festival.
+ BONUS
Splitradix – 3350 Beach Electronic [CPU]
It also wouldn’t be an end of year list without a record on CPU. It was a toss up between this and Blackploid’s ‘Star Patrol’ (which is actually more of a piece with ‘Boing Blaster’). But in the end Splitradix won out for the beguiling and strangely bucolic harmonic progressions that he explores in ‘3350 Beach Electronic’. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on where it’s going next it slides up or down a few semitones, with each new synth line pinwheeling off in a delightful, whirling dance. You absolutely must see the youtube video of his studio ‘performing’ this song (above) – it’s astonishing even if you’re not a gear head (or especially so).
Ali Berger – all of it [Trackland]
One of my favourite email subject lines to see in the morning is ‘New release from Ali Berger added to your collection!’ and, thanks to his prolific output, it popped up quite a lot in 2021. That’s why Ali gets his own entry here, for the smorgasbord of treats he laid out for us all year long.
There were surefire party starters like ‘Car Park!!’ and ‘Track Elements’ (as someone commented on my Dimensions mix: “Bring me some fucking cocktails”); crafty meditative ballads like ‘Ancient Dreams’ and ‘1st Natural Aspect’ (the latter composed in a cemetery); Muzic Box bangers like ‘Azure Mind’; and in ‘AB Theme’ (the very first release of the year) a stonecold tearjerker. All of this wonderful music is available on trackland.bandcamp.com for an $8/month subscription – what are you waiting for?
(PS he doesn’t just make dance music either. If you go to Ali’s soundcloud you can listen to ‘Passing It Clockwise’, a mix of unreleased ambient/downtempo/piano sketches, which has become a go-to for moments of quiet.)
Anz – Inna Circle [Ninja Tune]
First I was going to choose ‘Unravel In The Designated Zone’, then ‘You Could Be’, but those two tracks have already deservedly received a huge amount of praise elsewhere. ‘Inna Circle’ is just as much of a triumph, but slower to work its magic. For almost three minutes it patiently builds up an 80s b-boy backbone complete with a full set of classic electro signifiers (fanfares, scratches, vocoder), cleverly inserting jungle breaks somewhere along the way to bring the sound up to date.
Then Anz peremptorily clears out the beat to introduce *that bassline*, four or five jaunty notes that hit like a truck. They do their thing for another minute before the final piece of the puzzle: those gorgeous ‘Sexual Eruption’ pads, which carry the track home in a blissed-out haze. As the vocal says, PURE ENERGY.
+ BONUS
Yakuza – Aileron Pt 2 (Remistura Diogo) [Infinita]
Another person who loves a good break sample is Portuguese producer Diogo. I could have chosen the Aaliyah-sampling ‘Try Again’ from his Ruff Trax EP but in the end I’ve opted for this taut remix of Lisbon band Yakuza. To be honest not much survives from the original, although its jazziness is preserved in the keys. What you get instead is angular breaks, swampy bass and a mid section that reaches the same blissful heights as the end of ‘Inna Circle’.
When I look back at this year barely a radio show or a set went past without me reaching for a Magic Carpet release, and I’m still playing 2020’s lead-off EP from Phyzikal Flex to this day. Beating out the others from 2021 is Ramu’s astounding vinyl debut Mist Or Cloud. ‘Rain’, in the clip above, was my first love on the EP and kept me company through the summer. Something about the space in the track, and the ease of the drum work, elevate it above similar stuff coming out right now. It’s one of those classic B2s that will surely go the distance.
Yet it’s the title track, ‘Mist Or Cloud’, occupying the whole A side, which is really something else. I didn’t use it for the clip here because I couldn’t bring myself to chop it up. I think I’ve played it at every gig since October and it just keeps getting better. At 11.30am on New Year’s morning, with light filtering through the Pickle Factory skylights and tired legs needing a bit of a midday boost, it slowly but surely set the dancefloor ablaze. “Sounds like trash cans being banged together” said G, beaming.
+ BONUS
Baby Rollén – Dirty Blonde [Magic Carpet]
The other Magic Carpet track I played the most this year, ‘Dirty Blonde’ by Baby Rollén is rather an odd one out on his Near Future EP. Where the rest of the tracks lean towards the breaksy-dreamy-deep side of the spectrum (to great effect), ‘Dirty Blonde’ just walks into the room with a Chicago swagger, drink in either hand, and heads straight for the floor.
One reviewer on discogs says: “Meh, rubbed me up the wrong way with its bright palette and annoying flirtations with disco”. I say: “Where do I sign up?”
Viewtiful Joe – Sweet Fifths [Casa Voyager]
I called it in December 2020 that this would be one of my records of 2021 and here it is. On the Squarewave Shurikens EP, Viewtiful Joe transcended the more conventional IDM formality of his previous tracks by dialling up the boogie factor to 100. Less navel gazing, more throwing shapes. Nowhere was this more apparent than on ‘Sweet Fifths’, the lead off track, which was the principal reason I contacted Jonas about releasing an EP on Welt Discos (see below).
From the emotional immediacy of those opening chords to the funk of the bassline to those huge sci-fi stabs…everything locks together so satisfyingly it’s unreal. On my to-do list in 2022 is see Jonas play live – please, promoters, book him!
+ BONUS
Viewtiful Joe – Cazelli’s Watch [Welt Discos]
The back-and-forth Jonas and I had about this release was not only about producing a record but, in the end, about getting to know each other. One thing we’ve learnt is that he’s much more comfortable at 140bpm than I am, though I’m slowly learning to live at high speed. Four out of five tracks on the EP run around that pace or higher, and while I love them I rarely find the opportunity to play them out.
‘Cazelli’s Watch’, by contrast, runs at a lazy 128bpm, so it’s been getting plenty of airtime from me. Also because it’s just as good as many of the mid-80s electro-funk records it reminds me of. It’s something a bit different that I’m not sure people realise they’re missing – in my mind it deserves to be the anthem of summer 2022.
Zhané – Groove Thang (P. J. Swerve Mix) [Self-released]
*The* anthem of the year. The tune that sparked the most smiles, the most shimmies, the most cathartic expressions of JOY – and that was just me behind the decks. Whenever I played this the dancefloor – wherever it was and whoever was on it – simply lit up. It’s pure garage, devastatingly concise in its arrangement but not averse to the odd bit of showmanship (the drum fills leading into each vocal break, for example).
Zhané’s lyrics – “We’re gonna give you want you want/Just as long as you’re around” – come off as a statement of intent from Huey Mnemonic himself, and when you consider that he released this P. J. Swerve edit in the same year as he led off the Tresor 30 boxset, it’s easy to believe him. This nevertheless promises to be just the beginning, and I feel lucky to be one of the rapidly growing number of people along for the ride.
+ BONUS
Ojerime – Give It Up 2 Me (SH Edit) [Unreleased]
Even though it’s unreleased, I couldn’t finish a 2021 round-up without mentioning this track, so it’s a good job it dovetails so nicely with ‘Groove Thang’. Earlier this year Stephen sent me a playlist of his tunes to listen to and my feedback on this one was: “BANGER. Insanely good. Absolutely nailed it.” I stand by that feedback now – it still sounds ridiculously fresh 6 months and many many MANY plays later. The memory of this tune coming in as the Dimensions boat skimmed around the bay at Tisno will stay with me for a long time (not least cos almost everybody on the boat enjoyed it so much they felt compelled to record it). Hopes for 2022? If we can’t reverse climate change I’ll settle for this getting an official release…Stephen?
That’s it for the 2021 roundup. Happy new year and here’s to what 2022 has to bring!