January 1- 7, 2004

music

Top 10 Dance/Electronic 2003

by Sean O'Neal

Matthew Dear

Leave Luck to Heaven

(Ghostly)

Microhouse and minimal techno are my thang. This guy is young, fresh and one step ahead of the rest. Perfect for both home listening and the dancefloor, this album pleasantly punctures the inner depths of my digital-loving brain with its quirky percussion, shuffling rhythms, geeky vocals and bugged-out static.

V/A

Superlongevity 3

(Perlon)

This unmixed compilation showcases 13 tracks by Ricardo Villalobos, Luciano, Dandy Jack, Akufen, Pantytec, Markus Nikolai and others on Berlin's notorious microhouse label. Perlon clearly continues to advance its artistic sophistication to where I'm overwhelmed (and near-jealous) by each track's minimal complexity, refined psychedelia, polished bleeps and incomparable tech-house rhythms.

Ricardo Villalobos

Alcachofa

(Playhouse)

The prolific Chilean producer Ricardo Villalobos submerges my head with a mesmerizing minimal tech-house dose of light 4/4 pulsations, snappy syncopated rhythms and sparse, reverberated vocoders. Like the Berliners, Villalobos swims through gurgling bliss with a subtle undertone of '80s pop music. Melodies are delicate, and the construction is meticulous.

Mark Farina

Air Farina

(Om)

The Mushroom Jazz-maestro delivers an unusual deep-house album packed with pleasantly annoying airport/pilot/B-movie samples. It's quirky, riveting, funky and oh-so-groovy -- like the Freaks or Derrick Carter having a sampling session with Thomas Brinkmann in a Soul Center kinda way. It chugs with minimal grooves and abstract moodiness.

Jan Jelinek (avec The Exposures)

La Nouvelle Pauvreté

(Scape)

The laptopper (a.k.a. Farben and Gramm) fuses a love for jazz with minimal glitch-techno through the use of pops, crackles, hisses and sampled artifacts from the '70s soul and post-bop eras. But you must dig deep to hear it. Each heady tune pulsates within an acoustic space that seems to be from another universe.

Pete Moss

In Your Dreams

(Alola/System)

Absolutely solid. It's not only a house DJ's wet dream, but also a gem for zoning to when, say, taking a long drive. Moss tastefully sculpts each slightly tech-y, oh-so-danceable house tune with crystal clarity while the soulful vocal licks and snippets caress your fluttering, metronomic heart.

Jay-J & Miguel Migs

In the House

(Defected)

Two of the greatest names in deep house dish out a two-disc DJ-mix session that bumps with rich soulfulness and powerful melodies doused with heart-numbing vocals. It's a sophisticated, laid-back joy ride with a West Coast feel and a Naked Music vibe -- with tracks by Swirl Peepz, Spettro, Gene Farris and Blaze, plus several of their own.

Luomo

The Present Lover

(Forcetracks/BMG)

Finland's Vladislav Delay continues to leave the glitchy, Berlin-style techno behind so he can spill out the cooing, heart-oozing dub-house. It deeply gushes with emotion, smooth male and female vocals, percolating bass and cleansing glitch-sounds. It's like making love to your honey on ecstasy and acid in the middle of a dark, sweaty European dancefloor.

Pole

Pole

(Mute)

Abandoning his trademark laptop-driven glitch-dub (that good ol' hissy, dissonant byproduct of sound), Stefan Betke gently molds a translucent minimal head-trip that is clean and up-front this time around -- featuring collaborators like rapper Fat Jon and saxophonist Thomas Haas. It's practically the opposite of what he's always been famous for. And it's fucking great!

Josh Wink

Profound Sounds v2

(Ovum/System)

The local superhero challenges conventional DJ methods -- remaining a genre-less median somewhere between techno, house and electro. Wink created PS2 by "retailoring" each featured track and mixing everything live using Final Scratch, effect units and samplers -- acting as both DJ and producer at the same time.