RA Poll: Top 50 tracks of 2013
Artist VA
Title RA Poll Top 50 Tracks of 2013
Genre Deep House / Tech House / House / Minimal
Released 2013
MP3 Download Source WEB
Play Time 327:19min
Total Tracks. 50
Bitrate 320 kbps
The RA staff finishes the polls season with the tracks of the year.
50. Dusky – Careless [Aus Music]
With its irresistible stuttering vocal, “Careless” stood out among Dusky’s bumper crop of bouncy house bangers.
49. SOPHIE – Bipp [Numbers]
“Tastes so good, sweet like whipped cream / soft and smooth.” “Bipp” made us feel better in 2013.
48. Axel Boman – Klinsmann [Hypercolour]
“Klinsmann” commands your attention immediately, but not for the reason you’d expect. A perfectly-sculpted Boman beat, the track builds with airy pads and layered percussion until it feels like it’s floating on clouds, with the “I know you’re looking down from heaven” vocal only adding to the subtle euphoria. Throw in some killer synth interplay and a prominent placement on John
Talabot’s DJ-Kicks and you’ve got something monumental.
47. Soundstream – Julie’s Theme [Sound Stream]
Shimmering disco-house goodness from a master of the form.
46. Laurel Halo – Throw [Hyperdub]
Marking Laurel Halo’s turn to techno in 2013, “Throw” sounds like grand pianos sitting on a fault line.
45. Planningtorock – Misogyny Drop Dead [Human Level]
With fiery lyrics and a bizarre instrumental behind it, “Misogyny Drop Dead” hit as hard as its message.
44. Pearson Sound – REM [Pearson Sound]
The delay effects and growling basslines on “REM” were catnip for adventurous DJs.
43. Trade – Positive Neckline [Works The Long Nights]
This is everything a Blawan and Surgeon collaboration should be: distorted, barrelling and uncivilised.
42. Stephen Encinas – Disco Illusion [Invisible City Editions]
An obscure disco gem from Trinidad & Tobago that was thankfully discovered this year.
41. Funkineven – Mars [Broadwalk Records]
Funkineven has a knack for finding poppy pizazz in the most challenging sounds. “Mars” set a new standard for the London producer, hurtling forward at a ridiculous tempo on a rhythm that clips and drops out like chewed-up tape. But the background synths created an important contrast for the lo-fi aesthetic, lighting up the track like shooting stars and elevating it beyond your average hardware workout.
40. Nils Frahm – Says [Erased Tapes]
Floating electronics, pianos and one enormous swell comprise a genre-less track of epic proportions.39. Anthony Naples – Busy Signal [The Trilogy Tapes]
The Brooklyn producer had an enormous 2013–almost as enormous as “Busy Signal”‘s booming kick drum.
38. Koreless – Sun [Young Turks]
Can a breakdown last the whole track? “Sun” went ahead and did that, melting innumerable dance floors in the process.
37. Floating Points – Wires [Eglo]
Equal parts soul ballad and Steve Reich-style avant-garde journey, “Wires” is Sam Shepherd’s most haunting and ambitious track yet.
36. Joey Anderson – Press Play [Latency]
At times brazenly abstract, Joey Anderson’s music shouldn’t work in clubs. But that’s part of what makes him so impressive, with “Press Play” his most inspired hallucination yet. The bulk of the arrangement–psychedelic synths, a barely intelligible voice, a syncopated piano line chosen seemingly at random–is baffling, but Anderson’s a genius for pinning all that weirdness to a beastly techno scaffold and rolling with it.
35. Jessy Lanza – Keep Moving [Hyperdub]
The track’s synths feel like they’re jumping out of your headphones, but Lanza’s confident vocals keep everything in orbit.
34. Isolee – Allowance [Pampa]
“Allowance”‘s haunting Rhodes and impeccable sound design show Rajko Maller still does house music like no other.
33. KMFH – Crushed [Wild Oats]
It might be rough around the edges, but “Crushed” forms a catchy and surprisingly smooth whole.
32. KH – The track I’ve been playing that people keep asking about and that Joy used in his RA mix and Daphni on Boiler Room [Text Records] You sense Kieran Hebden–everyone’s favourite jazz-drumming, SendSpace-evangelising, yellow-t-shirted superstar–likes to let his music speak for itself. How else to explain what’s probably the year’s only 100% literal track name? The sprawling title may have turned heads and sparked tweets, but those sweating it out in the dance couldn’t have cared less–its clanging, unquantized drums and riotous sample are virtually impossible to scratch your chin to.
31. James Holden – Renata [Border Community]
“Renata”‘s twirling synth and pounding drumkit added up to something way bigger than the sum of its parts.
30. Radio Slave – Repeat Myself [Work Them Records]
Matt Edwards evoked the spirit of DBX’s “Loosing Control” and wrote his best recent track in the process.
29. Dense & Pika – Colt [Hotflush Recordings]
Pianos + grit = Dense & Pika’s latest club destroyer.
28. Mr. Tophat & Art Alfie – I Want You To See (That You’re In Love With Me)[Karlovak]
It’s easy to see why Ricardo Villalobos was so drawn to “I Want You To See (That You’re In Love With Me).” Like the Chilean artist, Mr Tophat & Art Alfie’s productions mess with dynamics. Look at the track’s waveform and you’ll notice that its intensity builds slowly. Each drop is bigger than the last. What initially feels like an understated, funk-tinged house track morphs into something enormous.
27. Objekt – Agnes Demise [Objekt]
TJ Hertz’s singular aesthetic continued to evolve with this overdriven masterpiece.
26. Black Sites – Prototype [PAN]
Newcomers Helena Hauff and F#X gave the ever-impressive PAN an outsider anthem.
25. Motor City Drum Ensemble – Send A Prayer Pt. 2 [MCDE]
Danilo Plessow doesn’t release much, but when he does it’s always at the quality level of this classy house cut.
24. DJ Rashad – I Don’t Give A Fuck [Hyperdub]
A paranoid episode at 160 beats per minute.
23. Tale Of Us – Another Earth [Minus]
On their debut for Minus, Italian duo Carmine Conte and Matteo Milleri teased out one of the year’s most distinctive synth lines. It was a laser-guided, space-age type of lead that didn’t lose its impact as the track became ubiquitous over the summer. “Another Earth” joined a growing list of Tale Of Us productions that have helped propel them to the scene’s top tier.
22. Pev & Kowton – End Point [Livity Sound]
One of the year’s standout production duos show their reflective side.
21. Omar-S – Thank U 4 Letting Me Be Myself [FXHE Records]
House music’s most consistent producer turns in his latest anthem.
20. Stingray313 – NKKK4_2 [[NakedLunch]]
Sherard Ingram is a complete badass: Detroit-bred, balaclava-clad, a former Drexciya tour DJ–and he goes by the name of DJ Stingray. But really, none of that even matters if you make tracks like this. Jacking, sinister and futuristic, with a euphoric melody that pushes it over the edge, “NKKK4 2” is techno-electro perfection.
19. Maurice Fulton – Jump Bugs [Running Back]
File under “tracks that make the crowd go mental in eight bars and then continuously more mental until it’s over.”
18. FCL – It’s You (San Soda’s Panorama Bar Acca Version) [Defected Records]
Long after the brouhaha died down, this sultry cover of ESP’s classic still had people making out on dance floors around the world.
17. Dopplereffekt – Gene Silencing [Leisure System]
That Dopplereffekt still sound this fresh is proof, if any was needed, of Detroit electro’s timelessness.
16. Midland – Trace [Aus Music]
Midland’s biggest tune yet, and easily the year’s finest example of druggy, gibberish vocal hooks.
15. Terekke – Amaze [L.I.E.S.]
As sexy and haunting as an old Portishead track, this muffled ballad is L.I.E.S. at its best.
14. Floorplan – Never Grow Old [M-Plant]
What you’ve got here is a brilliant play of contrasts. On the one hand, there’s Aretha Franklin singing about heaven (a place where “we will never grow old”); on the other, a pulverising techno beat. But when Franklin hits her climax–“never, never, never!!!“–suddenly the two energies feel the same. If anyone knows the qualities that techno and gospel share, it’s Robert Hood.
13. Mano le Tough – Primative People (Tale Of Us remix) [Permanent Vacation]
Like it or not (one of our writers certainly didn’t), it’s hard to deny the spine-tingling effect this one had in clubs.
12. Todd Terje – Strandbar [Olsen Records]
After dishing out the feel-good track of 2012, Todd Terje kept up his momentum with this unstoppable summer smash.11. Levon Vincent – ??? [Novel Sound]
Levon Vincent can do serious damage with his grainy drum sounds alone, so when he throws a monster bassline in the mix, you know it’s gonna be huge.
10. Joy Orbison – Big Room Tech House DJ Tool – TIP! [NonPlus+]
Like Timo Mass’s “Dooms Night” remix before it, Joy Orbison’s latest banger showed the power of the “womp!” It’s the type of sound that stops you dead in your tracks, turning to the nearest person and asking, “What the heck is this?” The deal was sealed by the track’s clever R&B vocal sample, something of a knack Joy O has developed across his peerless catalogue.
09. Daft Punk – Get Lucky [Columbia]
Yeah, we know: you’re sick of it. Maybe you hated it to begin with. But a few years from now, will any song transport you back to summer of 2013 as vividly as “Get Lucky”? For anyone not turned off by the hype, its A-list pop status or the mere presence of Pharrell Williams, “Get Lucky” was a potent reminder of Daft Punk’s position among dance music’s greats.
08. Paul Woolford – Untitled [Hotflush Recordings]
Released while Paul Woolford was busy re-tooling jungle and hardcore as Special Request, “Untitled” proved his mind hadn’t wandered from house entirely. The rubbery bassline and brass-knuckle kick drums borrowed an aggressive streak from his side project, but the rest is classic house ecstasy, with a ’90s vocal that burrows deep into your mind and a piano break for the most universal hands-in-the-air moment since “Ellipsis.”
07. Galcher Lustwerk – Tape 22 [White Material]
Was there a more exciting new artist in 2013 than Galcher Lustwerk? The White Material producer only put out a couple of releases, but they were each exceptional. There was 100% Galcher, the hour-long mixtape that topped our 2013 chart, and Tape 22, his debut 12-inch. Its four tracks dealt in the art of restraint, a less-is-more approach colouring sparse beats and Lustwerk’s signature vocal delivery. The title track took the cake, an eight-minute late-night epic that was both silky and tough.
06. The Mole – Lockdown Party (DJ Sprinkles’ Crossfaderama) [Perlon]
DJs went apeshit for “Crossfaderama” this year, and why shouldn’t they? Putting it on the turntable was the equivalent of letting Terre Thaemlitz man the decks for a dozen minutes, cutting and grooving and engendering hysterics. The cherry atop Sprinkles’ massive 2013, the remix is as artful as tools come, a functional tune that stitches together sets while stealing the show.
05. Pev & Kowton – Raw Code [Hessle Audio]
As we’ve come to expect from a certain breed of UK club tune, “Raw Code” was coveted for months before its official release. It was a highlight of Pangaea’s RA podcast last year, while Ben UFO used it on January’s Fabriclive 67. The track combined the best elements of Peverelist and Kowton’s solo productions: grime-influenced strings, bass swells and swinging percussion, making for one of the most addictive and forceful additions to the Hessle Audio catalogue.
04. Ten Walls – Gotham [Innervisions]
Like the best Innervisions hits, “Gotham” is anthemic but carefully poised–Ten Walls teases at a climax through bubbling arpeggios and quasi-orchestral synth lines for a gripping nine minutes. Instantly recognizable, it’s easy to see why it was one of summer’s biggest hits in Ibiza and everywhere else. Frankly, it was impossible to get sick of.
03. Florian Kupfer – Feelin [L.I.E.S.]
L.I.E.S. exploded in 2012, but took until this March to score an anthem. L.I.E.S. being L.I.E.S., it didn’t sound much like one. But when you blew the dust off Florian Kupfer’s debut, the ingredients were all there: a devastating bassline, a warm melody and a vocal you couldn’t stop humming. Heard amongst throngs at sunrise or alone on a night in, “Feelin'” was magic, pure and simple.
02. Tessela – Hackney Parrot [Poly Kicks]
“Hackney Parrot” is the sort of track that makes you want to DJ in a sweaty, windowless club. If you don’t DJ, it’s the sort of track that makes you want to party in a sweaty, windowless club. It shouldn’t be overlooked how tough it is to make a track that invokes mayhem–in 2013 Tessela produced several. “Hackney Parrot” was his best, though. And it’s still making us crazy a year after we first heard it.
01. Matthew Herbert – It’s Only (DJ Koze remix) [Pampa]
As you may be tempted to point out, DJ Koze’s remix of “It’s Only” by Herbert actually came out at the end of 2012, just missing the cut off date for last year’s polls. That we’re still hung up on it 12 months later tells you everything you need to know. “It’s Only (DJ Koze Remix)” is an absolute monster of a tune, but not in the usual sense. Its drums are understated, its mood is sombre, it has none of the hallmarks of a club anthem. It’s simply an amazing song, one that grabs you and doesn’t get old.
If you fell in love with the original back in 2001, you’ll marvel at how Koze’s production riffs off Dani Siciliano’s voice–both are sensual in a deadpan kind of way. If you’re hearing it for the first time in a club, those quivering chords suck you in, especially the way they descend at the end of each phrase. Hearing it at home on repeat, you’ll remember how Koze and Herbert are truly in a league of their own.
