dance / electronic music EOY 2012 picks

there's almost no conversation between the tracks. might as well listening to the tracks unmixed.

the dub version of that tensnake track is awesome! the vocals i can't stomach as much, but that version is showing up on other people's lists too

xp kind of a narrow view of what a dj mix is or should be, imo

well, ok, maybe it's just a mixing style preference.

xpost: ah yes I realize now it's the dub version that was mentioned.

But to be clear, I'm not the one who prefers 2-minute prog-style mixing. I like myself some Ben UFOs and whatnot but this mix is really strong in the "quick fade in/out" / "start/stop" department.

that's okay for me, it has such a strong command of mood, feeling and pace that i don't think it suffers much at all from the hands-off mixing style

"hands-off mixing", that's probably the term I was looking for.

dont have a preferred style of mixing it really depends what the two records in question are

Agreed, for me It's all about the tension a mix can make. If that's through 64 bars of clinical EQing, or through hearing end-silence-start, as long as it makes narrative sense, and danceflor sense if in that situation, it's all good.

i think vahid is otm here. it does feel like a problem on the first run through but the tracks in themselves are so strong and it does actually flow in a strange way.

Yup, I won't argue about the tracks. They slay. Will have a couple more listens though to see if it'll grow on me.

andrés' "new for u" is one of the consensus EOY picks that's new to me and i don't really get it? those strings are kind of super-cheesy and not in a good way, in a sort of "disco on a car advert" way

well, not really anything to get besides why people would like it so much

i guess a wan gesture of classicism to rise above the terrifying prospect of nailing your flag to a hot mast

thing is it doesnt even have the pipecockian depths of hypnotic detroit parrish stuff, it sounds like any herby hiphop producer's first go at house, a pitched up dilla offcut, which it appears it more or less indeed is

where's this tune been this year is more the question, seems like none of us had heard it before

It's been huge! At least, in lots of mixes, written up as a tune of the year when it came out etc. pretty sure at e.g. Philip Sherburne wrote it up on his blog in glowing terms.

i hadn't even heard ABOUT it til last week

though i wrinkle my nose at the gap in awareness, i can only feel blessed not to travel in such dullminded circles

new for u was the jam of the summer, y'all are crazy.

i realize at least a few people here are contractually obligated to hate on things that they see at the top of more than one of these lists, but this track had a relatively organic rise to prominence for the last 6 months or so and as someone who's been paying attention it's totally surprising yet still pretty exciting to see it topping eoy lists. andres and dilla obv have a lot of similar features but i feel like going into the track expecting a prime example of "hypnotic detroit parrish stuff" is pretty misguided and kinda lazy

"New For U" is fine but I'd want to find better places to jam in that case.

Mind you I recognise my own personal jams of the summer barely exist outside of a very small ILM bubble.

i didnt go into it expecting anything, i was assessing it in the presumed terms of its exaltation, the vibe it taps into for people

if dudes are loving this simply like OMG YES THIS IS PERFECTLY PLEASANT then uh ok have a nice time i guess

Hasn't heard New for U before. Very retro, isn't it? I'll never turn my nose up at a solidly enjoyable house tune but I'm surprised to see it topping lists in 2012.

"Hadn't", sorry.

yeah i heard the andres this year - more the first part of year than second though I thought

I like it well enough but records like that have kind of a short shelf life imo

sorry that should read "heard it out a fair bit"

i am not exactly a huge stan for this track, mind you, but i always viewed it as a hip-hop producer's first, rough-take at turning a sugary soulful string sample into something a bit more uptempo and housey. it's definitely weird to talk about it as the foremost shining example of dance music in 2012 but i feel like it never had any pretenses as such, and it works for completely different reasons than something like a parrish or moodymann track (despite obvious stylistic similarities).

there is something far less 'heady' or 'deep' (or whatever you wanna call it) about "new for u", it just works and it's fun and it's simple and apparently a lot of edm listeners are craving those types of effortless-if-not-particularly-novel grooves

and Dexter Wansel samples have always been popular for sampling

it just works and it's fun and it's simple and apparently a lot of edm listeners are craving those types of effortless-if-not-particularly-novel grooves

If only people actually listened to the amazing music in 2012 that fits this description a lot more excitingly.

the dance lists are usually a reliable source of new-to-me fun/simple/hooky/euphoric jams, i was approaching it expecting something like that (or a "oh THAT tune" moment) and was just rather underwhelmed

fact mag chose it as their #1. personally don't love the track. it's too pleasant or something, I don't know..

i've been working my way through this thread in a scattershot kind of way and there is tons that does live up to my expectations though, so far ejeca's "horizon", still going's "d117", the finnebassen track, the dennis ferrer/nick curly remix, the maya jane coles remix of bo saris and the reboot track are all top discoveries

Yeah Ejeca's "Horizon" is great.

i am not exactly a huge stan for this track, mind you, but i always viewed it as a hip-hop producer's first, rough-take at turning a sugary soulful string sample into something a bit more uptempo and housey. it's definitely weird to talk about it as the foremost shining example of dance music in 2012 but i feel like it never had any pretenses as such, and it works for completely different reasons than something like a parrish or moodymann track (despite obvious stylistic similarities).

the "track of the year" is often like this, really, a sort of recognisable and more downtempo break from more structured or quintessential tracks. which by the end of the year becomes a kind of symbol for good vibe or happiness, with nobody actually really listening any more. don't mean that to criticise the andres track either, it's a bit like a "mumblin' yeah" or something of its time.

Yeah that's a good comparison, though "mumblin' yeah" felt more zeitgeisty I feel.

I never heard Mumblin' Yeah out at the time and I was similarly nonplussed to see it topping lists in 2007 or whenever it was. Without having been there for it I just couldn't understand the love.

I still haven't actually heard the Andres tune.

definitely I can see how both tunes win you over by constantly emerging out of other tunes in the mix.

"Mumblin' Yeah" had that whole longform damaged psychedelic house looseness that was really in back in 2007.

i completely forgot about "mumbling yeah"

records that top lists that you haven't heard yet feel like someone coming round your house at 8.30 in the morning when you just woke up and insisting you listen to The Clash

with the dance lists i usually end up shouting WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME ABOUT THIS EARLIER. i still can't believe how late i was to maya jane coles in general, eg

balcazar & sordo's "obsession" is FANTASTIC too

definitely I can see how both tunes win you over by constantly emerging out of other tunes in the mix.

It's a weird thing, I remember with Mumblin' Yeah when it was first out I was in Berlin, and it was played heavily, a few times a night, with big reactions each time. It really has that "taking a break" feel to it that New For U has.

I haven't really been to clubs much this year but I've heard New For U in loads of sets from quite a range of DJs. I sort of feel that a lot of big tracks like this are just more recognisable than the tracks that surround them in sets, without necessarily being better, though I think it takes a DJ or fanatic to get really excited about a particularly well done groove or functional thing.

I agree that with Mumblin' Yeah, at the time, it was the zeitgeist thing that Tim mentions, which made it quite exciting and the kind of thing you really back for a #1.

What I find weird and impressive about Inspector Norse, is how it seems to refuse to become just a symbolic "yay" tune, every time I hear it out I feel caught up by the quality of the groove, and I sense that around me. I've never known a hit to endure so stubbornly.

i can actually see it being underwhelming in the context of it being named BEST TRACK OF THE YEAR as opposed to it being some track you heard in mixes a lot over the summer that kept growing on you and never stopped.

the amazing music in 2012 that fits this description a lot more excitingly

i'm sure you mean jackin house or something far different than what i'm thinking of, but i'm not arguing it's the best of the music that would fit this description. that loop is just plainly likable in a sorta nonpartisan way and thus it tops these lists easily. i'm a sucker for the track but i doubt many voters had it as their actual #1

I sort of feel that a lot of big tracks like this are just more recognisable than the tracks that surround them in sets, without necessarily being better

otm

i can actually see it being underwhelming in the context of it being named BEST TRACK OF THE YEAR as opposed to it being some track you heard in mixes a lot over the summer that kept growing on you and never stopped.

otm. I only found it what it was by October or so, and that's not for want of hearing it. I knew it every time I heard it and can remember back in June or July thinking "what is this" and knowing it was obviously a really big tune as I'd heard it so often. it doesn't demand you to go and find out.

the amazing music in 2012 that fits this description a lot more excitingly

well yeah everyone's own favs whatever they might be fit that description better of course

would think tim means the double standard of being like "oh yeah but it's pop moodyman" and then being "ugh this just x" for everything else rather than whats best

The FACT list was kind of all over the place and their #2 was a Julia Holter album track so it's perfectly plausible there was very little in the way of consensus. The record that lots of people kinda like that is no one's #1 tends to do well in that sort of scenario.

Really surprised by the level of love for the Andrés 12". His '97-'03 releases do much more for me.

i am getting the feeling that "howling" is going to place pretty high on the RA list, and i hope i'm wrong. i just don't get that track.

like why would you want to make a second-tier coldplay song last for eight minutes

with the dance lists i usually end up shouting WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME ABOUT THIS EARLIER. i still can't believe how late i was to maya jane coles in general, eg

― lex pretend, Monday, 17 December 2012 12:38 (12 minutes ago) Bookmark

just for future ref what is it you imagine "telling you" involves if reading ilm is apparently too abstruse? standard-bearing emissary ringing your doorbell?