The album format is one of the greatest challenges of any musical career. A format that has been going strong since the era of the Beatles, the album is often held in a high regard, as the pinnacle of a musician or producer's skill, vision and artistic clarity. Some people spend years crafting and honing their LPs; some people approach the album as a means to offload some of their work and get material out to fans. Whichever way you look at it, we are always offered up concepts, sounds and representative works in abundance. As different musical traits dissipate and reform to create new sounds and scenes, we’ve been treated to an exceptionally fruitful year of full–length records.
There’s been a huge resurgence in actual ‘dance’ music, blurring the boundaries between harmony, heavy–hitting beats and production. Choosing the top 20 albums this year has been particularly tough – from debut albums that have set the world on fire, to difficult sophomore efforts that have been completed with originality and grace, and from the cinematic and introspective, to the chaotic and downright mean, beat–driven sounds. Read on as Data Transmission shares our Top 20 albums of 2011 with you.
20 // Kode 9 and the Spaceape – Black Sun (Hyperdub)
Black Sun sees Kode 9 and his futuristic vocalist move away from the dubstep scene that they were pigeonholed in after their morbid, paranoid and sinister debut album Memories of The Future. For their new album, Steve Goodman wraps up the wealth of experience, sounds and cultures that Hyperdub has visited over the last few years – and though the first album was built with thick, flowing and occasionally beat–free sub–bass, this has been replaced with the a sound of accordion synths, slowly burning up and melting into futuristic synth stabs and half–step beats. From the marching, bent–up Kwaito sound of Bullet Against Bone, to the virtually beat–less Promises which gives more dancefloor flavour in the vein of previous tune Is This Insanity, Black Sun is based around a collection of fantastical situations, caustically outlined by the Spaceape who makes a call to arms, to wake you up from a sensory slumber. Check Am I? or Black Smoke for all the proof you need.
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19 // Andrew Bayer – It's Artificial (Anjunadeep)
It’s Artificial is the first work from the former sound design lecturer and student of the Berklee College of Music. Eschewing the hands–in–the–air and often optimistic vibes of other label mates, Bayer delves into a plethora of modern, cutting–edge music from around the world, with nods to the likes of Flying Lotus and Boards of Canada as well as Amon Tobin and Maetrix. Tinkling pianos, disjointed bass and epic and deep overtones centred themselves around a core progressive template, it still delivers peak time floor sensibilities that keep the crowd moving – or indeed anyone that chooses to listen to this interesting and diverse album, whether at home, in the car, or pretty much anywhere. Bayer's album is a journeyed venture, twisting and turning through many sounds and styles and never once repeating itself along the way.
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18 // Africa Hitech – 93 Million Miles (Warp)
Classic theories behind the ways that musical culture spreads across the planet dictate the taking of musical and historical influence and hybridising a fresh scene or sound from each culture point it arrives at. If these deep theories are to be taken notice of, then Africa Hitech is a prime example of the global spread of music in the 21st century and its ever–growing historical and aesthetic connections. Literally living up to their name, legendary producers Mark Pritchard and Steve Spacek (both from different circles and disciplines) took the sounds of classic African, Jamaican and European forms of beats and bass driven music and sent them hurtling into the future under a representative mash of accelerated culture and sound. Out In the Streets blasted through with precise clarity and sub heavy walls of sound, backed by a ticking and breakneck percussive tick straight from the juke circles of Chicago. Do U Wanna Fight casts Steve Spacek’s vocodered robotic vocals over tribal beats, sharp chimes and squelching bass. Cracking snares and more digital squelching of rumbling bass on the grime fusion of Future Moves awaits, the broken percussion beat and vocal chant on Light The Way offers positive tones as the rollercoaster begins to slow – the mystical, pipe tones and ambient refection of Don’t Fight It gently massages the frenetic album to a close. 93 Million Miles is sharp, invigorating and inventive music from two legends of underground music.
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17 // Bop – The Adventures of One Curious Pixel (Med School)
Bop’s album came as a huge surprise to fans of modern electronica everywhere not just fans of syncopated beats and heavy bass. Not only did this wild card producer impress those who listened with his extraordinary approach to production and beats (he’s quite handy with a beat machine or MPC), but also introduced the world further to a growing musical scene in Russia, that parallels our own creative and experimental scenes in London. Drawing from an eclectic range of influences including deep and minimal electronica, house and techno, the Saint Petersburg–based producer shows off his accurate and immense technical ability as he takes each track through an individually exciting journey. As a whole, the LP is a gorgeous mix of shifting BPMs and a plethora of styles, doused with emotional, intelligent edges, tweaks and a sense of isolated glory. If you’re looking for something loosely connected to drum and bass music – that is, the temp, the syncopated yet not in–your–face drum patterns and enough other–worldly effects and noises to induce a hallucinogenic trip within the sublime melodies.
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16 // Gang Gang Dance – Eye Contact (Warp)
Gang Gang Dance’s blend of instrumental, pop–hooked indie dance began as a free–for–all noise band – and Eye Contact is their most refined, honed and possibly biggest album to date. Opening with the synth and piano key marriage of Glass Jar (paying homage to the bands late bassist Nathan Maddox), through to mellow stomper Chinese High, you get the impression that this huge live band – known for their 'kick out the jams' approach to rocking the stage and the floor – go on a more intelligent and smooth ride that unfolds gently over the course of the album, whilst still containing their raw, and almost spiritual energy. They all bring in a different element to their new latest LP – the singer Lizzi Bougatsos brings Eastern melodic hooks, bassist Brian Degraw draws influence from the low growl of underground UK bass music, and it's all gelled together with some afro–beat guitar licks. Grooving, eclectic and somewhat restrained before outbursts of colour, sound and energy start washing through, their new album sees the band at their most experimental, intelligent and also their most curious as they magnificently explore the gaps between sounds and cultures.
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