16 Best Albums of 2010

Well, at least those that deserve in my eyes some special attention in the end of the year perspective.Totally subjective criteria indeed.

1.Daft Punk - Tron Legacy Soundtrack

A Soundtrack , not a studio album for the french duo but what can i say, i love Daft Punk and i love Hans Zimmer and for December i got them both in the Tron Legacy (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack).

2.James Holden - Dj Kicks

James Holden never disappoint in terms of mix compilation.Since his 'At The Controls' in 2006 that guy has my infinite respect.This dj kicks mix is more slow pace and kind of weird at first but after a few listens you begin to fully appreciate what was done here.Gratz.

3.Agoria - Balance 016

New installement of Balance by Agoria is also a reminder of 2010 electronic music : slower, more thoughtful and closer than ever to other genres.Listen to 'Emilia Torrini - Gun' to see what i'm talking about.

4.Ewan Pearson - We Are Proud Of Our Choices

One of the sweetest and smoothly electronic ballad of the year.

5.Seth Troxler -Boogy Bytes Vol.05

Well that one cames early in 2010 but i had listen to it many times.Partly because the intro was such a good party mood inducer with Dinky's satirical lyrics."Don't try to act smart, quit trying to be big"
(horrible sound)

6.We Have Band - WHB

Nice short electro-pop album.Need to see them live to be more enthusiastic but 'Hero Knows" is a perfect ending tune for anything.

7.Groove Armada - Black Light

You could ask what is electro in that synth-rock loud waves of riffs and melodies.But yeah there is definitely something of the 80's here but in a good way.Two vocals : one female (and good) one male (hmmm...) alternatively on each tracks.One sure thing : listen to it very loud or don't.

8.The Chemical Brothers - Further

Talk about 'back to the roots".Weird 7h album for 'Les Freres Chimiques'.Lots of good stuff , Escape Velocity is quite the hit for me but unfortunately his length (11'56) cannot be compromise in a single 3'mn radio edit.We'll wait for the remixes.

9.Caribou - Swim

It's the hype of the season; Caribou trust reviews and made first 2010 album in the Resident Advisor Selection.As it is quite good, i think it may be overrated.

10.Underworld - Barking Deluxe

Well that's my weak point, i deeply discover electronic music with them and i can't avoid put their 6th studio album, especially when it has good reviews.Classic big trancey anthem but really find 'Moon In Water' unique and enjoyable repeatedly.

11.Bot'Ox - Babylon By Car

That's french, that's a melting pot of rock/electronic genres and that's awesome; that is all you need to know.

12.Michael Mayer - Immer 3

If you don't know Michael Mayer and his hugely acclaimed first Immer mix compilation then you know what you need to do.This modern iteration keeps the feeling of a soft cotton pop candy environment with a large touch of Mayer's usual melancholia.And no it's not placed here because of the Charlotte Gainsbourg remix by Superpitcher (really ? yeah seriously!)

13.Susumu Yokota - Kaleidoscope

Of course an ambient album is not recommended if you're not used to those long repetitive loops of infinite echoes and sound patterns.But 'Her Feminineness' , a track by an unknown Japanese producer with a loop of European church bells is worth the effort.

14.Sebastian Mullaert aka Minilogue - WaWuWe

2 Mixed Cd's from one of the duo behind Minilogue.And that does what you expect : it's deep, really deep, progressive, well mixed and perfect for home listening in a rainy day.

15.Apparat - Dj-Kicks

Apparat is talented, that we all agree.But i think his Dj Kicks is going in too many ways too many times.It's still very good with a selection of fine surprising tunes.A bit demanding.

16.Pantha Du Prince - Black Noise

I needed a 16th and Pantha Du Prince second album is absolutely well crafted and charming.Like a sorceress spell.



That's all folks.Next coming is Xmas Mix post.
Happy New Year!

5 Spring Albums You Need To Listen

Here's some forthcoming and released albums to give a listen to.

1.Groove Armada - Black Light (Cooking Vinyl)

Tracklist:

01. Look Me in the Eye Sister
02. Fall Silent
03. Just for Tonight
04. Not Forgotten
05. I Won't Kneel
06. Cards to Your Heart
07. Paper Romance
08. Warsaw
09. Shameless
10. Time & Space
11. History

Great pop electro tunes with a massive production.

"If you took the title Black Light at face value, you might think that this album would be filled with contradictions, clashing styles and conflicting aesthetics. That couldn't be further from the truth. Cato and Findlay have perfected their art by focusing on tighter songwriting and warmer, fuzzier production. Early fans might not recognize what defined the Groove Armada sound in the first place anymore, but there is still plenty of stylish ass-shaking to be had on here."

(RA)




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2.Ewan Pearson - We Are Proud Of Our Choices (Kompakt)


Tracklist:
01 . Lemonade - Bliss Out (Gold Panda Remix) / Pitch And Hold - We Have Come To Bless Dave Smith
02 . A Ldric - Birds On Tree
03 . Rmnvn - Uno
04 . Lusine - Cirrus
05 . Wah Chu Ku - T Times Too
06 . Yukihiro Fukotomi / Foog - Open Our Eyes (12 Inch Version)
07 . KiNK & Neville Watson - Full Flight
08 . Taron-Trekka - Shiroi
09 . Hot Natured - Equilibrium
10 . DXR - Fader Pushing Sunday
11 . Yosa - Margaret
12 . Gregor Tresher - The Life Wire (Petar Dundov Variation)
13 . Xenia Beliayeva - Analog Effekt
14 . Chris Fortier - Sunday Is A Travel Day (Ink & Needle's Skybed Remix)
15 . Al Usher - Silverhum (John Talabot's Wilderness Remix)
16 . B.D.I. - City & Industry (World Balloon Dub Mix)
17 . Little Dragon - Fortune (World Of Apples' Cosmic Edit)
18 . Bot'ox - Blue Steel

A really nice mix with a slow paced and progressive intro that brings you softly through the entire deep melodic tech-house selection.Kompakt did a good job leaving the controls to Ewan Pearson.

"But Pearson's tracklist also eschews both songs and pop remixes, the two choices that still guarantee a look-in from an audience with limited time for instrumental techno. Vocals surface mostly as ghostly shudders and robotic punctuation on tracks like Hot Natured's "Equilibrium" and Xenia Beliayeva's downright spooky "Analog Effekt". Perhaps true to his nature as a regularly gigging DJ, Pearson affirms himself as a drums man here, a fan of gleaming Euro-techno snares, static-ridden electro kicks, deep house woodblocks, and beyond. Pearson manages to choreograph rhythms of all sorts-- both rigid and fluid, ugly and beautiful, straight banging and downright delicate-- into one slowly unfolding dance."

(Pitchfork)


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3.Booka Shade - More! (Get Physical Music)

Tracklist:
01. Havanna Sex Dwarf
02. Donut (Interpretation)
03. Regenerate
04. The Door
05. Teenage Spaceman
06. Divine (feat. Yello)
07. Scaramanga
08. L.A. tely
09. Bad Love (feat. Chelonis R. Jones)
10. No Difference
11. This Is Not Time

Their Fifth album will be released in a few days.Haven't much listened to it right now, but it feels like it's a bit more dancefloor-oriented than "The Sun & The Neon Light" their last one.Hope it's for the best.
You can already check the single but i don't think it's one of the best track from the album :

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4.Agoria - Balance 016 (EQ Recordings)

Tracklist

Disc 1: Aller Retour
01. Gregg Kowalsky – Ashes From Evermore
02. Alva Noto – Monophaser 2 ++ DJ Koze – Lords of Panama
03. Mark Pritchard – ?
04. Manvoy de Saint Sadrill – Soeheniona
05. Tosca – Joe Si Ha
06. Emiliana Torrini – Gun
07. Agoria – Parasite 2
08. Arandel – inD#5
09. Justin – Columpnam
10. 19.454.18.5.25.5.18 – When I Think Of
11. Pom Pom – 10
12. Agoria – Altre Voci
13. Glimpse – Train in Austria Part 2
14. The Field – Over the Ice (Live mix)
15. Olibusta – La Pazz
16. Cubenx – Mis Dias Y Tus Noches
17. Felix Laband – Whisitling in Tongues (Todd Terje remix)
18. jozif – Back 2 My Roots (jozif’s 5o’clock Fabric Shadow edit)
19. Bibio – Jealous of Roses
20. LCD Soundystem – 45:33 (Trus'me remix)
21. Boozoo Bajou feat. Rumer – Same Sun (Prins Thomas Diskomiks) ++ Oxia – Less Time
22. Hatikvah – Synchronicty (Block Barley & Engin Ozturk Holmby Hills Remix)
23. Rio en Medio – The Last Child’s Tear
24. Tipper – Just as the Sun Went Down
25. Gregg Kowalsky – Ashes from Evermore ++ Alva Noto – Monophaser

Disc 2: Rising Sine
01. Sylvain Chauveau – Hurlements En Faveur De Serge T.
02. Aphrodite's Child- Loud Loud Loud
03. Taron Trekka – Shirol ++ Suedmilch – We Were
04. The Same – Szarpiesz Minerwa
05. Ogris Debris – G-Thong (You and Me remix)
06. Francesco Tristano – Knee for Thought
07. Different Gear – One Thing More (Dub mix)
08. Michael Forzza – Abstractor 2.0
09. Chris Carrier and Jef K – Morning
10. DVS1 – Running
11. Drama Society & Vladislav Delay – Almodrama
12. Agoria – Libellules
13. Avril – French Kiss
14. Gadi Mizrahi- I Know
15. Jonny Greenwood – Tehellet
16. Avril – French Kiss
17. Mark Broom – Twenty Nine (Broom 09 mix)
18. Einmusik – Atlantis
19. Perc & Passarella Death Squad – Temperature’s Rising
20. Aufgang – Sonar (Spitzer remix)
21. Shit Robot – Simple Things (Work it Out) (Serge Santiago remix)
22. Efdemin – Acid bells (Martyn remix)
23. 3 Chairs – No Drum Machine part 2
24. Kid A – Lonely
25. Sylvain Chauveau – Hurlements En Faveur De Serge T.

Well that one is huge!Definitely worth checking out, even if it received mixed reviews (from RA).Balance is a great series (remember Balance015 by Will Saul and Balance 014 by Joris Voorn last year).

"Yet Agoria's ability to elegantly, effortlessly mix song for song is key, and hearing the way he builds the mix track for track from pure calm to understated microhouse/glitch to celebratory grooves is its own reward. By the time beats are first quietly introduced on Manvoy de Saint Sadrill's "Soecheniona" he's already set the stage superbly, and when his own "Altre Voci" fully brings the mix up to its first moment of full exultance and release, he's earned the moment. The breakdown of the track listing itself is less relevant than the overall flow of the selections; this is a mix to digest as a piece, not as a formal list."

(Allmusic)

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5.MGMT - Congratulations (Columbia)

Tracklist:
1 It's Working
2 Song For Dan Treacy
3 Someone's Missing
4 Flash Delirium
5 I Found a Whistle
6 Siberian Breaks
7 Brian Eno
8 Lady Dada's Nightmare
9 Congratulations

The new MGMT is here!Quite weird but what's more sping/summerish than these gentle post-hippy new yorkers guitar riffs ?

"They're in love with 1970s art-rock, and they've immersed themselves in uncool subgenres like pop-psych and prog. And despite the lack of marquee songs, they've made, top to bottom, a more interesting and even better record this time out."

(Pitchfork)

Here you go!Five albums to listen to at least one time.Trees are blooming, we are warmer together under the sun, and pheromones is in the air, be sure to give these tunes a try by walking outdoor!

[Label :004:]Fabric (London)

Fabric est a la fois un club et un label.Le club est un des plus estimés au monde autant pour son plancher d'infra basses :

A popular feature of the club is its vibrating floor in Room 1. Known as a "Bodysonic" dancefloor, sections of the floors are attached to 400 bass transducers emitting bass frequencies of the music being played, allowing clubbers to feel the music through bass frequencies transmitted into their bodies via their feet.

que par sa sélection de guests.

Crée en 1999 par Keith Reilly et Cameron Leslie , l'idée de commercialiser une série de Mix CDs se concrétise en novembre 2001 avec Craig Richards sur le Fabric 01.Parallèlement voit le jour FabricLive , plus axé drum and bass, hip hop, electro et breakbeat.
De nombreux dj réputés vont s'y retrouver;citons simplement Slam,Swayzak,Michael Mayer,Akufen,John Digweed,Ivan Smagghe,Tiefschwarz,Ellen Allien ou encore Ricardo Villalobos.
La qualité de certains de ces mixs accroit la popularité du concept grâce également a un design soigné sur chaque pochettes.







En 2007 , plus que jamais eclectique , la série a connu avec le Fabric 35 d'Ewan Perason, le Fabric 36 de Ricardo Villalobos et le Fabric 37 de Steve Bug un franc succes tant critique que public.
L'année 2008 commence sur le duo plébiscité par Tsugi ce mois ci : M.A.N.D.Y (patron de Get Physical Music avec Booka Shade et DJ.T).
A noter que Justice prévue pour le FabricLive 37 s'est vue rejeter son mix par le prestigieux club anglais :

We didn’t want to do just another boring mix, so we put together a selection of tunes we absolutely love, mainly weird disco tracks and French novelty acts. But Fabric turned it down. They weren’t ready for something like this. Maybe we’ll put the mix out ourselves. People should really hear it, they’d be surprised.

En même temps si l'article de poptronics dit vrai ca parait un poil normal :

Mais là, gros hic, le mauvais goût est avéré à la lecture (édifiante ou drolatique, selon l’humeur) du tracklisting de ce Fabriclive 37, que poptronics s’est procuré en avant-première. On y retrouve le pire des eighties, Rondo Veneziano ( !), Korgis ( !), Sheila époque disco ( !), mais aussi Daniel Balavoine (« Vivre ou survivre ») ( !), Julien Clerc ou encore le hit de « La Boum » (« Reality ») (re !)…

Bref,Fabric devrait a nouveau être incontournable cette année a n'en pas douter.

Links :
http://www.fabriclondon.com/
http://www.poptronics.fr/
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/
http://www.residentadvisor.net/
http://tsugi.over-blog.com/