Dec 31, 2015

Best electronic albums of 2015: house for sale

Another brief respite from the top ten shenanigans as I look at some house music that didn't get through to the final stages. Roll up, roll up, all this house music is going for a song. Half a monkey to the weirdo in the tank top, deal done, sorted, job's a good 'un.

It was nice to see Four Tet produce something so different with the Hindustani-themed Morning / Evening (Text) alongside his usual excellent fayre on Percussions - 2011 Until 2014 (Text Records). There wasn't much better in 2015 house music than Matrixxman's Homesick (Ghostly International) with is rich, developing minimalist themes. I was quite bewitched by Neu Balance's warm Rubber Sole (1080p), a curiously microscopic long-player of vocal blurts and dancefloor friendly mid-tempo rhythms.

Hat doff too for a whole load of sampletastic disco Vibert-style on Kerrier District's 4 (Hypercolour), and to the punchy offering on John Tejada's Signs Under Test (Kompakt) which felt like a fuller, more analogue Pantha Du Prince. Romare's Projections (Ninja Tune) was quite a neat release that gained some rave reviews, and the Hauntologists' Hauntologists (Modular Cowboy / Honest Jon's Records) had some delightful bitty house and fussy minimalism that felt like a close relation to Factory Floor.

So much house music. Surgeon's pounding Tresor '97 - '99 (Tresor) really did feel like the best of 90s techno, while it was fun watching Model 500 's Digital Solutions (Metroplex) express all that is Detroit in 2015. Pearson Sound's eponymous album (Hessle Audio) was a huge debut this year, although nothing on it matched Untitled for me. Finally, all hail the power techno on Head High's Home. House. Hardcore. (Power House) and the rediscovered space disco on Bjørn Torske's Nedi Myra and Trøbbel (Smalltown Supersound). Phew.

Back to the top ten shortly, I promise. If you're behind with all of this, catch up on the link below. Can you guess what the number one might be?

-----> Best electronic albums of 2015 <-----

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