Alex Smoke's Blog

So here's the rundown of my favourite tracks and albums of 2010....

a vintage year I think by anyone's standards.....genres are interbreeding and becoming blurred and the resulting bastard offspring are sounding better than ever.....I think I'm getting soft as well: there's a lot of pop elements floating my boat. 

And I'm not doing top 11's to be cool, it just so happens I had 11 favourites of each.

James Blake has been one of the standout artists for me this year, combining a subtle production touch with a cracking voice. I could easily have chosen any of his EPs on R&S, Hemlock or Hessle Audio from this year, but this takes the cup. He gets number one spot for a whole year of productions.

Such a strong EP...it has its own sound and for me, hits all the right notes straddling the sounds of cold wave, pop, hip hop etc. Pop music for people into underground electronics. Impeccable.

Dynamite remix from Autechre, stripping the original back to the bones and underpinning the gun-lover vocals with a deceptively straight AE beat. It kicks.

Future bass music of the first order. Tight, clicky and dense.

The word infectious could've been invented to describe Ramadanman's beats. Skittery production and a healthy dose of beautiful glacial strings make this one of my standout  tracks of the year.

Irresistible crunchy dub, taking his sound to the next level just in time for him to apparently drop the T++ moniker. Going out on a high.

Standout track for me from his 'Undeniable' album. Like bit-crushed grime forced to a house template, it bends and snaps in equal measure.

He's got a willfully rough aesthetic and a desire to buck expectation, and for this I applaude him. I've got a soft spot for all his EPs but this gets the most plays.

You'd never guess this was on Tiga's label....a lo-fi mixture of a multitude of influences, it's the sound of a producer making music they like the sound of. There's a number of great tracks in a similar vein of originality on the 'White Rainbow' album.

Simple, effective, one-note techno but it just sounds so gooood. One of the most played of the year.

I seem to be one of the few people who prefers the oOoOO EP to this one, but this is still stunning music and I am really looking forward to hearing what Tri Angle come out with next.

Only just out and so clearly my favourite album of the year already! Indescribably unique. Like R&B on Tramadol. Check 'Rescue Dawn' for a slice of gothic electro perfection.

And on the subject of gothic, this is immense. Like pop goth emo hip hop. Grindingly sinister, it sounds like it was made in a crack-den basement in Baltimore. And that's good.

Actress has long been one of my favourite artists to follow as he works to his own agenda and epitomises the outlook I respect, of making music with no clear genre in mind, and with scant regard to what else is happening in the scene. There are references of course but this is no one else's music. Wildly inventive and pulling in 20 directions, it will be referenced by those to follow, I guarantee.

Nice surprise this: you get 'Oversteps' and like it, then you get this a month or so later and it takes all those rhythmic elements that were missing from the first album and smashes them all over the place. Blinding invention as usual.

Effortlessly composed minimalism of the Raster Noton variety. Glitch, buzzing subs and a tonne of space to let it all breathe. Great album.

A complete minimalist symphony composed for 1 bit sound chip, it was originally released as a self-playing sound-circuit housed in a CD case. But it stands as great music too, even if it takes 

lo-fi to the extreme.

This is all over the end of year lists and rightly so. The comparisons with Sergio Leone scores are certainly deserved, containing all the pathos and atmosphere that the comparison suggests. Music for a sunday afternoon in the Mojave.

More pop-inflected joy from unexpected quarters. Proper songs referencing everything from New Order to Joy Orbison. Pleasantly indefinable. 

Ultra-stripped techno that can rightly be termed minimal!  With music like this it's all about the detail and the aesthetic, and this is authentically crushed and analogue, with every sound counting towards the whole. Totally underrated in my humble opinion.

It aint new music exactly but fuck it, it deserves proper appreciation. Shake's been pushing techno in new directions for years and years and this is his testament. Detroit futures.

Last but no means least, this falls into the home listening camp but if you do a lot of listening at home I really can't recommend this highly enough. Beautiful beautiful music.