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Electronic music is designed for use by DJ’s. For this reason, electronic releases tend to be singles rather than full albums: for better or for worse. Full cohesive electronic albums are rare and special things. The format of an album supports so much more artistry and creative capacity than singles and EP’s ever will. Yet electronic genres like House and Techno are so dominated by singles and EP’s. I see a trend emerging; songs which have real lasting power come from brilliant full-length releases. For me, albums like Justice’s Cross, Digitalism’s Idealism and Daft Punk’s Discovery come to mind. I’m always excited when an artist decides to release a full-length rather than a slew of less meaningful individual tracks. Here are a few of my favorite full electronic albums from this year.
Anyone familiar with this blog shouldn’t be surprised to find this album on my list. With God as my witness, Wolfgang Gartner is an incredibly talented veteran producer; the excitement and energy of this record are tangible. The tracklist includes time-proven bangers including “Illmerica,” “Space Junk” and “Menage à Trois.” It’s uncommon to find a dance album which can hold your attention all the way through at a single tempo like this album does so expertly. The producers who are willing to experiment with tempo get a lot of respect from me. In the wrong hands this can be sort of gimmick though. The way some producers throw in their one dubstep or moombahton track is kind of like how rock bands in the 60′s were expected to include one folky acoustic song on their albums to show their versatility. Gartner shows this is not necessary by powering through 13 insane electro-house crushers.
Porter Robinson’s debut album Spitfire is hitter after hitter followed by massive remixes of those hitters. With the minor exception of that soulless moombahcore track who shall not be named, I totally got down to this album since it came out over summer. Porter Robinson is often looked at as a prodigy of the electro scene. To me, this album represents a window into the future of electro-house. Unlike Gartner, Porter Robinson chose to step out of the electro genre and tempo and into drumstep and dubstep with moderate to awesome success.
Gui Boratto is a Brazilian Techno master who has been killing it for years. Gui Boratto’s full length album III represents a foray into Techno with an indie sound. While it’s not his best, the album has remained one of my favorites of this year. Most probably know him for his more uplifting, cathartic releases like No Turning Back and Beautiful Life. III highlights the darker side of Gui Boratto; while soft and calming, the album has a definite sadness to it on tracks like. Songs like The Drill and Stems from Hell illustrate Boratto’s more rhythmic techno side.
Mustard Pimp is that wacky French duo that makes wacky Electro. This is another album which showed producers branching out into formerly untouched genres. It dropped at the end of October on Dim Mak Records and has been killing it for me ever since. Over the last few months several of the tracks on this album have become regulars in my DJ sets. Let me just say that these tracks murder dance floors. Between the sexy smooth melodies of ZHM and the pure silliness of Money Shot, you can find Mustard Pimp’s heavier metal roots. Catch Me is reminiscent of Rage Against the Machine and the hardcore rock scene. While I can’t really see it going down on a dance floor, that’s part of the charm of a full album. Mustard Pimp crafted a release meant to be heard as a whole not necessarily as singles played by a DJ.
Money Shot – Mustard Pimp feat. Jimmy Urine
Siriusmo’s 2011 debut album Mosaik showcases some of his best work. What is strange is that Siriusmo has been regularly pumping out dance tracks for close to a decade, without releasing a full-length. The album is 17 tracks long and shows some serious diversity between the vibes he creates. There is dark and ethereal with the opener High Together contrasted with pulsing and driven tracks like Feromonikon.
The Field is Swedish producer Axel Willner. True to its name, Looping States of Mind languishes in the beauty of repetition. The album features drawn out melodies and immense walls of synth harmony: ambient and uplifting Techno at its best. I found myself losing track of time as I got lost in the folds of each track. The songs just kind of unfold aimlessly before you and in that way its really aesthetically appealing. Vocals on this album are just soft touches of a few words here and there. Everything is drowned out and made indecipherable by heavy loads of reverb. It’s as if the actual meaning of the words doesn’t really matter. This album gets my award for most relaxing release of 2011. You might be surprised to find this album on my list, but goddamn Gartner and Porter and Mustard Pimp were stressing me the fuck out all year.
I’ve been blasting this album on repeat for months, but only in the last few days did I find out Jan is pronounced like yon. I now feel dumb and uncultured. Amatilda is Jan Driver’s debut album and it’s just awesome. It starts heavy and disorienting with an experimental intro sort of track called Blow followed by Dozer. The beginning of the albums pummels your ears with heavy tribal percussion and demands that your body move. It closes with the blissfully smooth track “Empathy” and then the groovy Disco-House track “Commercial.” The softer ending is sort of unexpected, but still seems appropriate. It’s all part of the journey that the album takes you on. The full album is a pleasure to listen to all the way through.
Welcome Reality is a very diverse album with tracks ranging in genre from Dubstep to Drum & Bass to Electro and even some Disco-House. Nero can do anything (please don’t take this as permission to make moombah-nonsense, please, please don’t fucking do that). This album contains some of Nero’s already classic tracks along with tons of fresh songs. The album is often symphonic and epic with soaring synths and crescendos. Every track on the album is a hitter. But the album is far more than a collection of good songs. It flows together seamlessly and shows the duo’s vision in creating one cohesive whole. Welcome Reality is bass driven evil in its most pure, distilled form. The duo immediately come out swinging on “Doomsday” and never let the energy fall until their outro track 19 songs later. Highlights are the 80′s inspired “Crush on You” and “Must be the Feeling.” If you haven’t heard Welcome Reality already don’t let the year end without you picking up a copy.
When Digitalism dropped I Love You, Dude this year, the 2008 version of me cried a single tear. When Justice came out with a prog-rock album instead of Cross II, “2008 me” almost seppuku-ed in disappointment. But then SebastiAn came out with Total and I decided it could be alright. SebastiAn’s “Walkman” was one of the tracks which first got me into electronic music way back at the turn of the blog century. Now, artists have every right to experiment and take their sound wherever they want. Even so, the fact that the SebastiAn I remember from 2008 is the SebastiAn on Total made me giggle like a little girl. Total features a dizzying number of tracks — each of them hammers in their own right. The best parts of Total are smoother groovy tracks. After a short intro (another nicety you’ll never find on an EP) is SebastiAn’s collaboration with Mayer Hawthorne. The track, “Love in Motion,” really shows his versatility and unstoppable sense of groove. If you missed out on Electro in 2008, you missed out on a very special time. The good news is that SebastiAn brought that feeling back for us to 2011 with his new album. If Total isn’t in your collection already you need to scoop this one up. Banger Banger Banger…
Love In Motion – SebastiAn feat. Mayer Hawthorne
With Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, M83 crafted an album which can only be described as epic. I imagine when I’m about to die and my life flashes before my eyes, this album will be playing softly in my head. It’s an insane 25 song long journey. No song on this album is worth skipping. The vocals and synths soar. Yes, obviously some are better than others (Midnight City, New Map, This Bright Flash come to mind), but those songs aren’t just spaces in between the good songs. If you get one more album this year make it this one.
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