Dance music is still very much a singles game. And in 2012, the field felt especially wide open. Memorable music seemed to trickle out from the moment the calendar turned, leaving us with no shortage of anthems. With once disparate genres continuing to cozy up to one another, there was no telling whose sets those big tracks might turn up in. A number of new producers turned in exceptionally auspicious debuts this year, but 2012 also found artists who have come up these last few years making good on their early promise by continuing to push things forward. So rather than just a round-up of what slayed the clubs this year, our list of 2012’s best tracks is a testament to how much we have to be excited about right now—and how bright the future looks for dance floors.
Top 5:
There’s really nothing better than a song that gives you goosebumps. Peak-time bombs are great, and it’s hard to argue with a perfect afterhours tune, but it’s that rare emotional track, executed at just the right moment, that’s still seared into your memory years down the line. “Time,” the best track yet from Pachanga Boys (Superpitcher and Rebolledo) is one of those tracks. Hypnotic, starry-eyed and just a little bit sad—not to mention 15 minutes long—this is the kind of thing you can’t get away with often, but when you can, it’s pretty much unbeatable.
“Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage?” had Blawan pushing the same type of demented techno beat as last year’s smash “Getting Me Down.” This time, though, the lyrics seemed to fit. In one of the macabre singalongs in recent memory, the UK producer had crowds across the world asking the titular question. (Kudos to anyone who can name a more ridiculous juxtaposition than RA’s boat party at Dimensions Festival in Croatia.) Blawan’s thrilling, wonky and raw rhythms seem to work with just about anything he throws over them, which is why we’re so curious (and worried) to see what he comes up with next.
http://youtu.be/1mR6zmSTDNE
03. Joy O – Ellipsis [Hinge Finger]
It probably says something about the way dance music works these days that one of the most inescapable tracks of 2012 was also ubiquitous last year. It’s easy to see why the popularity of “Ellipsis” endured, and even had a slight renaissance upon its much-awaited release: this one’s all about giddy anticipation. The oddly indelible speech snippet is all the more exhilarating because it predicts the speed demon bassline, which in turn precedes probably the only piano breakdown this year that could cause whole crowds to break out into spontaneous air piano.
Listening to “Inspector Norse,” you have to wonder: does anyone ever actually feel this good? The song is pleasure delivery on an epic scale—its strutting beat, soaring melodies and Big Bang-style climax all suggest a moment far superior to anything most of us will ever experience. It’s this kind of moment we chase when we go out, or (like the young Norwegian in the song’svideo) dream about as we dance alone in our bedrooms. Terje’s obviously got a knack for this—let’s not forget last year’s double-top-five-coup—but he’s never done better than “Inspector Norse.”
01. Andres – New For U [La Vida]
Those strings. It was impossible to escape those strings in 2012. Detroit’s Andrés began a new imprint, La Vida, in February of this year. The first track from the first 12-inch was “New For U.” Eight bars of eroded house drums gave way to a simple string loop. Like Pépé Bradock’s “Deep Burnt” before it, you could sense an instant classic taking shape right there in front you. And that’s exactly what transpired.
Dez Andrés has been releasing classically-informed house, soul, hip-hop and funk since 1997. Moodymann is his closest contemporary. Like Kenny Dixon Junior, a knack for smart sample manipulation has been a theme in his work—it was Dexter Wansel’s 1978-released “Time is the Teacher” in this case—although nothing in his mostly excellent back catalogue has “borrowed” with quite the same impact. Nick Höppner ended his Panorama Bar mix with “New For U,” and you suspect countless other DJs also chose to go out on this timeless high note in 2012. As someone put it in the RA forums: “new for u makes everything feel alright.”
Source: RA
* The complete list of the Top 50 tracks of 2012 is available on Resident Advisor.