First Floor #16 – My Favorite Electronic Music Albums of 2019
a.k.a. I told you I was going to wind up making an end-of-year list.
Hello everyone.
In lieu of the usual essay, I wanted to kick off today’s newsletter with a bit of housekeeping. First of all, after this week, I’ll be taking a little hiatus from First Floor during the holidays. The regular weekly publishing schedule will resume on Tuesday, January 7.
That being said, before I disappear, I’m actually going to being doing an extra edition of the newsletter (more on that in a bit) and will also breaking away from my usual format. Instead of assembling the usual array of links, news items and music recommendations from the past week, I’ve decided to join the crowd and put together some lists of my favorite music from 2019. For what it’s worth, I did wrestle with that decision; as many of you already know, I have mixed feelings about the annual barrage of listmaking. My thoughts on the topic haven’t changed, but I also figure that a big part of the reason people subscribe to First Floor is for the music recommendations, so I’m hoping that at least some of you will find my lists useful and/or interesting.
To be clear though, I’m not using the word “best” to describe my selections. Although it’s something I’ve done in the past when putting these lists together for various publications—after all, superlatives like “best” are great for SEO and driving web traffic—I’ve now reached a point where I think it would be a bit silly for me to proclaim my picks to be the “best” of anything. First of all, the concept of “best” is totally subjective, and even if an objective rubric could be established, it’s not like I’ve thoroughly listened to every single electronic music release that’s come out this year. While I do my best to listen to as many things as I can, I’m limited by the absurd volume of new releases, not to mention the fact that there are certain swaths of electronic music that I just don’t like all that much. I don’t mean to imply that those sounds / styles / genres are bad, but I’m happy to admit that some things just aren’t for me. Given that, how could I possibly refer to my list as the “best electronic music of 2019” with a straight face?
Anyways, below you’ll find a breakdown of my favorite electronic music albums of 2019. I’ve also put together a separate list of my favorite tracks from the past year, but in the interest of keeping the newsletter to a somewhat reasonable length, I’ve decided to put those selections in a separate (i.e. extra) edition of First Floor, which will arrive later this week.
Before we dive in, I also just wanted to give my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has been reading and supporting the newsletter. It’s only been going for a little more than three months, but the response has far exceeded my expectations. Just last week, Hype Machine gave First Floor a quick shoutout, right after Resident Advisor’s Maya-Roisin Slater was kind enough to mention the newsletter during the annual “Year in Review” episode of their Exchange podcast series. (If you’re curious, it happens about 44:00 into the show.) And if those two things weren’t surreal enough, I was also interviewed recently by Ina Plodroch for a segment on newsletters that aired on German public radio’s Deutschlandfunk Kultur. (Just FYI, that one is all in German.) I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging—rest assured, my audience is still relatively small—but after putting so much time and effort into First Floor, it’s honestly thrilling to me that the newsletter has been connecting with people.
Alright, that’s enough emoting for now. Let’s get to those end-of-year picks. We’ll begin by seeing what my wife has to say…
MY WIFE HAS BETTER TASTE THAN I DO
My wife Dania is a wonderful person, but she has little regard for my taste in electronic music. As the head of the Paralaxe Editions label, she often describes the music I like with words like “cheesy,” “simple,” “predictable,” “boring” and, worst of all (in her mind), “happy.” In contrast, I think she has a fantastic ear, and I’m constantly amazed by the obscure gems she unearths, both from record bins and the dark corners of the internet. Given that, I’ve asked Dania to share some of her finds with the First Floor audience. This week, she’s even been kind enough to put together a list of her favorite albums from 2019.
When Shawn asked me to write this list, I originally thought I'd have maybe 10 albums to share. I do a lot of digging of old music, and it always seems like I'm discovering more things from the past than the present, but then I started putting this list together and quickly surprised myself with all the great releases I listened to this year. Once I got going, the list just started ballooning; I kept having the feeling that I was missing something important, but eventually I had to cut myself off, which is why I ended up with an odd number.
This year, my listening habits took a darker, more cerebral turn; there was a lot of dub, dark ambient, drone and sound collage and I also welcomed the return of spoken word and its various manipulations. Before I get to my picks, I do want to shout out the Where to Now?, Primitive Languages, V I S and iDEAL labels, who all consistently release forward-thinking records. There were also some fantastic reissues this year, such as Robert Ashley's Automatic Writing, which has a special place in my heart.
(Note: You can click on each title to check out an album individually, or you can find them all in one place at this Buy Music Club list. This Buy Music Club list is for Dania’s selections only, and unfortunately doesn’t include the releases that aren’t available on Bandcamp.)
Philip Thomas Morton Feldman Piano (Another Timbre)
Kallista Kult Kallista Kult (Colourful Storm)
Ka Baird Respires (RVNG Intl.)
John T. Gast 5GTOUR (5 Gate Temple)
Wilted Woman Tropical Malaise (Primitive Languages)
Perila Irer Dent (Sferic.)
Hiro Kone A Fossil Begins to Bray (Dais)
Herron Yield/Wield (V I S)
Clarice Jensen Drone Studies (Geographic North)
Myriam Bleau Lumens & Profits (Where to Now?)
Félicia Atkinson The Flower and the Vessel (Shelter Press)
Rupert Clervaux After Masterpieces (Whities)
Kim Gordon No Home Record (Matador)
Low Jack Jingles du Lieu-dit (Les Disques De La Bretagne)
Johanna Knutsson Tollarp Transmissions (Kontra)
Ondness Not Really Now Not Any More (Holuzam)
Robert Worby Factitious Airs (Electronic Music) (Persistence of Sound)
Ossia Devil's Dance (Blackest Ever Black)
Caterina Barbieri Ecstatic Computation (Editions Mego)
Maria W. Horn Epistasis (Hallow Ground)
Kali Malone The Sacrificial Code (iDEAL)
Reissues:
Miguel A. Ruiz Climatery (Abstrakce)
Robert Ashley Automatic Writing (Lovely)
Laurie Spiegel The Expanding Universe (Unseen Worlds)
Follow Dania on Twitter, or check out her monthly radio show on dublab.es.
MY FAVORITE ELECTRONIC MUSIC ALBUMS OF 2019
Now that Dania has had her say, let’s get to my selections. As promised, I’ve assembled an unranked list of my favorite full-lengths from the past year. If you’d like to hear the music, you can click on the title to check out each album individually, or you can also just head over to this Buy Music Club list to find them all in one place.
Hiro Kone A Fossil Begins to Bray (Dais)
How is this album not on every single Best of 2019 list? It’s downright baffling to me. Regardless, as I’ve said before (both here and on Pitchfork), the latest LP from NYC modular wizard Nicky Mao is an exhilarating—and moderately terrifying—trek through industrial crunch, razor-sharp sound design and dense existential dread. Although it’s not techno, it’s certainly her most techno-influenced effort to date, and the album’s menacing stomp is fully fortified with window-rattling bass drops that would leave even the grouchiest of Croydon dubstep fiends nodding in approval.
Barker Utility (Ostgut Ton)
This one is admittedly on just about everyone’s 2019 list, but Sam Barker’s debut solo album really is that good. And while his decision to remove the kick drum from his production toolkit may have grabbed all the headlines, what truly makes Utility such a compelling journey is Barker’s willingness to brazenly indulge in the sort of lush, dreamy melodies that were once strictly confined to the trance realm. Still, the LP isn’t a genre experiment or a nostalgic exercise; as Barker himself told me in an interview earlier this year, he ultimately just wanted to make something as pleasurable as possible. Given all the enjoyment this album has brought people—including folks longing for classic ’90s trance in the vein of Sasha & Digweed—it’s safe to say that he succeeded.
Rian Treanor ATAXIA (Planet Mu)
In all honesty, my appetite for hyperactive club music is somewhat limited these days, but I found the debut LP from this UK producer to be downright irresistible. The album’s title literally refers to a degenerative disease of the nervous system that results in a loss of control over voluntary bodily movements, and Treanor apparently sought to prompt something similar with this record. The drums are the star here, and at times it feels like there’s an all-out swarm of percussion clapping and snapping its way across the album. ATAXIA owes a lot to footwork, but Treanor has slipped in plenty of nods to UK garage too, which is great because all the glossy synths and clever vocal cut-ups keep things light and fun.
CFCF Liquid Colours (BGM)
Who else but CFCF would devote an entire album to the seemingly unholy combination of new age and jungle? Inspired by what he describes as inauthentic pop jungle (the late ’90s were rife with the stuff), he purposely—but seriously—approached the music the “wrong” way and came up with a stunningly gorgeous journey that’s somehow appropriate for both the dentist’s office and your local afterparty. I honestly don’t know how this album didn’t receive more accolades this year—perhaps because it’s essentially presented as a continuous, 42-minute-long mix—but if you need additional incentive to check it out, know that CFCF has categorized the LP as a sequel to his similarly excellent 2015 full-length, The Colours of Life.
Special Request Offworld (Houndstooth)
I know that Vortex is supposed to be the best of the three albums that Paul Woolford released this year, but I got a lot more enjoyment out of Offworld, a conceptual effort that began with a simple question: “What if Jam & Lewis signed to Metroplex?” Hopefully, it would sound a whole lot like this LP, which takes the infectious bounce of ’80s R&B, boogie and electro-funk into outer space, where it mingles with the spacey sounds of Detroit techno from the late ’80s and early ’90s. There’s a lot of soul amongst the soaring synths, wiggly basslines, snappy drums and diva vocal turns; all that’s missing is a guest appearance from Janet Jackson, and whoever’s on the mic on “Shepperton Moon Landing” is certainly channeling a bit of her spirit.
Yamaneko Spirals Heaven Wide (Local Action)
Somehow, the year’s best post-rock album was created by an ambient grime producer out of the UK. That’s not a complaint, as this cinematic LP tickles all of the same nerve centers that used to light up in my brain when a new Mogwai or Explosions in the Sky record came out. Alternating between epic swells and thoughtful introspection, the music here has only the most tenuous of connections to the UK hardcore continuum, but it’s absolutely engrossing, even in its weepier moments. Moreover, the album is just one of several fine releases from Local Action this year, which has proven to be a unique and wonderfully adventurous outpost for new club (and club-adjacent) sounds.
Anthony Naples Fog FM (Incienso/ANS)
Fog FM isn’t Anthony Naples’ first album—just last year, he released the fantastically hazy Take Me with You on Good Morning Tapes—but it’s the first time that the NYC producer and Incienso co-founder has focused one of his full-lengths squarely on the dancefloor. In truth, there aren’t a lot of bells and whistles here, as the album is essentially a collection of focused, workmanlike club tracks. Fog FM is a bit lo-fi, but it’s also soulful, and there’s a lot of charm in its fuzzy textures and chunky basslines. Moreover, the music’s rough edges never detract from its effectiveness. I feel like Anthony Naples figured this out a long time ago, but it’s worth mentioning anyways: when it comes to electronic music, sometimes no frills are needed.
Topdown Dialectic Vol. 2 (Peak Oil)
Perhaps this is a crass way to describe the album, but Vol. 2 is dub techno, only it’s not boring. (Sorry dub techno fans. Don’t worry, I still love Rhythm & Sound.) In a way, Topdown Dialectic has deconstructed the genre; while the music is full of smudgy textures and gloomy atmospheres, it’s also surprisingly lively. Beneath the waves of reverb and static, there are gently undulating rhythms and brief bursts of colour, yet these flourishes are ultimately fleeting. These tracks have been built to disintegrate, and even the album’s sturdiest drum patterns tend to collapse upon themselves. Topdown Dialectic doesn’t really sound much like Burial, but there’s something similarly melancholy about the music, which feels like the soundtrack to a melange of half-remembered rave memories. I’m not a huge fan of nostalgia, but when dance music’s glory days are filtered through a warped prism like this one, I’m happy to come along for the ride.
Efdemin New Atlantis (Ostgut Ton)
I know I wasn’t the only one surprised by this record. No offense to Efdemin, but when New Atlantis was announced, I expected it to be… fine. It’s not that I didn’t rate Efdemin as an artist—the man has an incredible catalog that goes back 15 years. However, I just thought of him as something of a known quantity, a competent producer who was established enough to simply coast on his reputation and deliver something that was adequate, albeit unremarkable. Well, I was wrong. It’s not often that a techno producer’s fourth album is their best one, but New Atlantis is fantastic, particularly when Efdemin goes long; the title track is more than 14 minutes long, and it’s glorious. Deep, loosely psychedelic and full of color, the LP is a refreshing contrast to the dominant “darker and faster” ethos that dominates so much of today’s techno.
HONORABLE MENTION
The albums listed above are all in what I’d call my “top tier” of 2019 releases, and while I considered just leaving the list at that, I also realized that those nine records don’t really provide a complete picture of what I liked this year. Given that, I’ve also put together this list of “honorable mention” releases. Don’t get me wrong, these albums are also great and I very much enjoyed them; they just didn’t make it into my personal “no doubter” category.
Just FYI, some of the releases listed here are EPs, not albums. As I mentioned earlier, a separate list of my favorite tracks is already in the works, and I didn’t want to add an extra EP list on top of that. The line between albums and EPs is pretty fuzzy these days anyways, so I imagine you’ll all be fine with this.
If you’d like to hear any of these releases, you can click on the title to check out each one individually, or you can also just head over to this Buy Music Club list to find them all in one place (along with the top tier selections from above).
Sofia Kourtesis Sofia Kourtesis (Studio Barnhus)
A dreamy, melody-driven debut EP from this Peruvian house producer.
Nikolajev LEL (Incienso)
One of many great releases on Incienso this year, this Estonian artist flaunts genre boundaries while flexing his love of ’80s synths and ambient drift.
Martyn Odds Against Us (Ostgut Ton)
The veteran producer shows that last year’s Voids album was no fluke, and continues his hot streak while tapping into various parts of the hardcore continuum. This EP even has a jungle track on it, which might be the first time that’s ever happened on an Ostgut Ton record.
Mark Integriert Euch Nicht (Unterton)
Fantastic and wildly intense jungle experiments from this Berlin-based artist. Don’t miss the jump-up collab with Wilted Woman and Silvia Kastel.
Ana Roxanne ~~~ (Leaving)
Breathtaking ambient R&B creations from a bold new voice out of Los Angeles. Get the tissues ready before you put this record on.
J Majik Full Circle (Infrared)
A jungle legend—who’d at one point stepped away from the scene for several years—drops his first album in more than 20 years and reanimates some of his ’90s magic.
Caterina Barbieri Ecstatic Computation (Editions Mego)
There are lots of synth wizards out there, but Italy’s Caterina Barbieri should be recognized as their queen. If you like epic arpeggios, grab this album.
Holly Herndon PROTO (4AD)
Despite all the talk about the A.I. element of this record, PROTO also feels like one of the most nakedly human electronic albums of the year. This is what I hope pop music will sound like in the future.
ELLLL Glisten (Paralaxe Editions)
Yes, this record came out on my wife’s record label, which means it’s a journalistic faux pas for me to include it here, but who cares? Regardless of who put it out, this EP is beautiful. I want more orchestral flourishes in my electronic music.
Simic Atwater Dance (Secondnature)
In a time when so much techno is alarmingly formulaic or downright boring, the Secondnature label / crew just keeps blessing us with amazing records. Simic strikes the perfect balance between drive, groove and mood.
Ondo Fudd Eyes Glide Through the Oxide (Trilogy Tapes)
Call Super doesn’t really make bad records, but this was arguably his most straightforward, dancefloor-focused effort in years. Plus, I love all the chimes on it.
Floating Points Crush (Ninja Tune)
Sam Shepherd gets back to basics with his fleet of machines and turns out a compelling collection of crunchy club tracks, IDM flirtations and introspective modular experiments.
Response & Pliskin We’re All Disturbed (Western Lore)
Western Lore is electronic music’s most intriguing jungle / drum & bass outpost, so of course they released an album full of breakneck jungle-techno hybrids. Not one for the faint of heart.
John Beltran Hallo Androiden (Blue Arts)
A wildly underrated Detroit veteran bridges the gap between techno and ambient, with stunningly alluring results.
Aurora Halal Liquiddity (Mutual Dreaming)
Blistering machine techno from one of NYC’s best exports, whose first solo record in years also includes a couple of incredible remixes from Japanese talent Wata Igarashi.
Steve Moore Steve Moore (L.I.E.S.)
Even though it largely flew under the radar, L.I.E.S. had itself another great year, and Steve Moore’s return to the label resulted in this EP of colorful synth excursions that sounds something like a lost Tangerine Dream record.
rRoxymore Face to Phase (Don’t Be Afraid)
On her phenomenal debut full-length, rRoxymore continues to sound like… well, really there’s no comparison. She sounds like no one but herself, and Face to Phase is a sonically diverse and compellingly organic record that feels like an intimate peek inside her psyche.
Alessandro Cortini Volume Massimo (Mute)
The LP isn’t on Bandcamp, but this modular master and Nine Inch Nails collaborator delivered what is probably the year’s best synthgaze record.
Ronan Radical Acceptance (Budget Cuts)
Easily one of 2019’s most exciting new artists, Ronan actually dropped three great EPs this year, but Radical Acceptance best captured his sense of flair and love of fast tempos. The rave vibes are strong with this one. (The trance vibes too.)
Blawan Many Many Pings (Ternesc)
While his work on the long-awaited debut Karenn album has received more attention, I think this solo EP from Blawan was even better, offering up more of the raw, churning techno he’s known for.
Anunaku Whities 024 (Whities)
After busting out in 2018 with his work as TSVI, this UK-based Italian producer adopted a new moniker, began experimenting with Middle Eastern drum sounds and delivered this belter of an EP for the excellent Whities label.
Relaxer Coconut Grove (Avenue 66)
Having left his Ital project behind, NYC shapeshifter Daniel Martin-McCormick takes a deep dive into dreamy, immersive techno on this highly personal full-length from his Relaxer project.
Kerrie Before Calm (Don’t Be Afraid)
Top-notch techno and acid on the impressive debut EP from this Irish-born, Manchester-based artist. Machine music with a serious attitude.
Shanti Celeste Tangerine (Peach Discs)
Few artists know how to keep things breezy better than Shanti Celeste, and her debut album offers up a great mix of bouncy bangers, light-hearted beat experiments and surprisingly deep forays into ambient bliss.
Leif Loom Dream (Whities)
Speaking of bliss, Freerotation resident Leif serves up a lot of it here, the first time he’s gone fully ambient on an album.
DJ Python Derretirse (Dekmantel)
Deep reggaeton is no joke, and the narcotic Derretirse showcases this Queens-based producer at his mesmerizing best.
Carla dal Forno Look Up Sharp (Kallista)
The Australian has cleaned up her sound a bit on this album, but even without the shadowy textures and analog crackle, her post-punk grooves and haunting voice still make for some truly beguiling music.
Moodymann Sinner (KDJ)
Kenny Dixon Jr. is a true original, and this LP finds the Detroit OG demonstrating the range of his talent, offering up raw funk grooves, deep house, woozy jazz, soul excursions and more.
Nathan Micay Blue Spring (LuckyMe)
There’s no trance shame here, as Nathan Micay indulges in booming beats and ’90s progressive tropes across a anime-themed concept album that tackles data mining, illicit raves and the police state. This one goes big, and it also contains some of 2019’s biggest tunes.
Karamika 2.0 (Offen)
It’s a shame that this LP isn’t on Bandcamp, as the second album from this duo is a spellbinding collection of slow-motion chuggers and simmering synth excursions.
96 Back Excitable, Girl (Central Processing Unit)
Sheffield’s past was an important piece of dance music history, but 96 Back is shaping up to be an important part of its future. The young producer’s debut album is brimming with energy, melding electro and bass music with glowing neon synths, frantic percussion and the intensity of a boss level video game soundtrack.
No Moon Where Do We Go from Here? (Craigie Knowes)
Scottish label Craigie Knowes had a great 2019, cementing itself as a key outpost for electro, breakbeat and various forms of broken house and techno. Amongst a lot of great records, this EP from No Moon was the best of the bunch, employing dreamy atmospheres and bubbling electro with a cracking drum palette straight out of the 1990s.
Upsammy Wild Chamber (Nous’klaer)
Sitting somewhere between ambient, IDM and electro, Upsammy continues to be utterly unique, but her debut album on the severely underrated Nous’klaer imprint is warm, inviting and often at its best when it ignores the dancefloor altogether.
Stenny Upsurge (Ilian Tape)
The mighty Ilian Tape has a knack for shattering tired techno tropes, and Stenny’s debut album taps into the wondrous spirit of post-dubstep while moving between patches of thoughtful introspection and relentless drum workouts.
Shed Oderbruch (Ostgut Ton)
One of dance music’s most mimicked producers changes things up. Inspired by the rural tranquility of his childhood stomping grounds, Shed dials back the ’90s-era breakbeats, brings in a whole lot of color and explores plush ambient soundscapes.
That was a lot of recommendations! Looking back, 2019 had lots of great music to offer. If you’re still with me, thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed my selections.
Don’t forget, I’ll be back later this week with a special bonus edition of the newsletter, which will include a rundown of my favorite tracks of the year.
Back soon.
Shawn
Shawn Reynaldo is a freelance writer, editor, presenter and project manager. Find him on LinkedIn or drop him an email to get in touch about projects, collaborations or potential work opportunities.