The best Electronic Music of 2022: Albums
My top 30 albums this year, in no particular order
As already promised in my EPs and singles list, here's my favorite electronic albums this year. Again thirty picks, in no particular order. Enjoy, and I hope you might find something you like!
Caterina Barbieri - Spirit Exit [Light-Years]
My album of the year. Why? Because today, I often feel that, on one hand, you have electro-acoustic and experimental records that have new concepts but sound dull and, on the other, you have "popular" electronic music that sounds exciting but lacks fresh concepts. The beauty of Barbieri's music is that it marries sonic excitement with strong compositional concepts, bringing together the adventurous composer and expert modular synthesis nerd in a single figure. Not only do these tracks sound stunning, but they are astonishingly agile and elastic in their form, driven by perpetually morphing, reverberant sequences that ebb and flow, constructing a vast sonorous space that is itself alive and modulating. The use of vocals compliments her modular synthesis and symbiotically lends a human touch to the machinic sequences. Barbieri's music has long been interested in the connections and relations between body and mind, scientific cognition and spirituality. Spirit Exist blurs the lines and constructs something novel, both utterly human and relentlessly machinic at the same time. A true sonic cyborg, synthetic and natural, embodied and abstract, practical and conceptual.
Logos - North Vol. 2 [Logos]
This is Logos' second tape centered around the Nord Modular, an early 00's digital modular synthesizer. Employing a single machine, this record tends towards radical reductionism, with the most obvious influence being Sleeparchive, who in turn was influenced by the seminal Finnish Sähkö label. North Vol. 2 is permeated by a similar sense of coldness, sterility and stasis. These tracks are loops that mercilessly play from beginning to end without any discernible modulation or change in arrangement. They are little self-contained formalisms, en-coded structures that play themselves. Still, Logos squeezes plenty of funk out of his loops. The pure sine bleep sequences contrast nicely with the noisier FM sounds and basslines, and in their interactions, new emergent properties appear. Logos compresses the vast freedom of modular signal routing down to small, self-contained sound sculptures. As a result, the connections between the molecular building blocks become audible in a way they wouldn't within bigger and more complex musical structures. Techno as the art of patching, of forming connections.
Printiig - Contact [The Collection Artaud]
I don't know much about Printiig, except that he also releases under his real name Shubharun Sengputa, hails from India and makes smart, yet playful computer music. On Contact, chaotic, hectic and jazzed out IDM-patterns are grounded by sleek, technoid programming and looping. Rather than full-blown tracks, the twenty one pieces here are little proof-of-concepts that stubbornly follow their own immanent logic, usually ending just as abruptly as they began, often changing into unexpected directions. This album feels properly structuralist in the same way that Beatrice Dillon's great 2020 album Workaround did: Toying around with the logic and morphology of musical structures while still having heaps of fun.
Tetelepta - Veldhuizen [ESHU]
Ivano Tetelepta is an underrated Dutch producer. His latest album Veldhuizen is a deep, wintery dub techno journey. Slow, cold and cozy tracks that take their time and don't rush for anything. Admittedly, none of the tracks here particularly stand out by themselves, but that's fine; Veldhuizen is one of those records that's all about conjuring a single, continuous atmosphere.
Sofie Birch - Holotropica [Intercourse]
Under its pleasant, New Age-y surface, this record has a conceptual, speculative core: What would a new, artistically invented nature sound like? Sofie Birch invents a new sonic nature and muddles the line between the natural and synthetic; not by going out and collecting field recordings, but by constructing synthetic sound with its own organic, vitalistic life force. Holotropica demonstrates the fallacious nature of the all too common nature-culture distinction. There is no other, first primal nature - all is already second nature, shaped and synthesized.
DJ Stingray - Aqua Team [Micron Audio]
This one's a reissue originally released on the enigmatic Belgian WéMè label. Prime electro in the long Drexcyian tradition, albeit with a distinct, more modern sound. Already the opener "Serotonin" is pure electro bliss. On the remaining eleven tracks, DJ Stingray makes his way through expertly programmed and designed futuristic, romantic, and sometimes dark electro landscapes. A must have for the heads.
Huerco S. - Plonk [Incienso]
Every producer knows what kind of sound a plonk is. Oh, that's a plonking sound! Fittingly, on Plonk Huerco S. is plonking all over the place, lending this album a percussive character that wasn't there on his previous album. Smart, lush and addictive.
Skudge - Soundworks [Skudge]
After over a decade on the scene, Skudge aka Elias Landberg is still at it, working on his trademark organic, reduced techno sound. This is a formula that doesn't need to be drastically changed, because it hones in on the very essence of the machines, the basic structure of techno: Kicks, hats, claps, a good bassline and the right sequence. When they come together to form a great groove, all is already there.
Cv313 - Depths Of Perception [Echospace Detroit]
Echospace's Steven Hitchell goes deep here - well, he always goes deep, but he goes even deeper than usual here, many miles under the ocean, turning synthesized sound into endless dispersed aquatic flows and gaseous streams. Chords, pads, noises and FX melt into a single liquid substance that ebbs and flows across the vast sonic ocean. Only the rhythms of modulation and deep, meditative sub-bass pulses provide a gentle, guiding rhythm. Perfect for daydreaming, sleeping and meditating.
Beatriz Ferreyra - Senderos de luz y sombras [Recollection GRM]
New material from the grande dame of musique concrète. Despite the fact that this approach has been around since the 50's, it can still offer new experiences because, more than any other kind of music, it centers around the practice of listening; the act of always listening anew with fresh ears. Composition with concrète sound objects can create new and alien soundscapes because it plays with the indeterminacy between the familiar and alien, the identity and non-identity of sound objects. Does one of the passages here that sounds like a car passing by mean a car passing by? Or is it just sense-less noise with no connection to the outer-musical object of a car, a pure sound that lost its "car-ness" after having been re-contextualized as a sound object? These are the kind of questions that Ferreyra keeps asking us, and she does it better than just about anyone in the contemporary.
OCB - Transhuman X-Press [Casa Voyager]
An album of melodic, break-y funkers from electro don OCB on Morocco's Casa Voyager label. Even though this album's basic material is coming from dance music's early and proto- history, the way they are combined and re-combined here feels decidedly contemporary.
Actress - Dummy Corporation [Ninja Tune]
On Dummy Corporation, Actress looks towards Detroit techno, but makes it sounds as if it had gone through thirty generations of cassette duplication. The results have a blurry, hazy and dreamlike quality to them and sound as if they could be coming from either a distant past or a distant future. Fog, dusk and noise flutter in the front of the tracks, while the drums and synths only faintly operate behind the thick layers of veiling patina. And somehow, that makes them sound all the more intense. Fifteen years into his career, Actress is still capable of channeling lo-fi magic.
Jim O'Rourke - Steamroom 60 [Steamroom]
Sixty entries in, Jim O'Rourke's Steamroom continues to be ever-reliable. This one mixes live and field recordings with studio-generated sounds, switching back and forth between the synthetic and acoustic domains, often leaving you unsure of what exactly it is that you are hearing right now. As always, a keen and careful hand for structure and composition is what makes O'Rourkes work stand out.
Keith Fullerton Whitman - GRM (Generators) [NAKID]
This is a techno record from an alternate dimension in which the Roland TR-X0X drum machines came with a bug that made all the patterns messed up and out of time. On GRM, precise, metric and fast synth sequences are juxtaposed with slow and wonky drum machine beats. Somehow, as the sequences keep repeating, the ear eventually gets used to listening in accord with this odd scenery. Fun, smart and slightly weird constructions from the veteran KFW.
SHXCXCHCXSH - Kongestion [Avian]
Another weird one from techno's least pronounceable act. Kongestion messes around with canonical hardcore sounds - especially the famous hoover - but transmutes them into something that sounds more like burnt plastic. A track like "Tion" has all the ingredients of a straight club banger with a big, distorted kick and a nervous, energized hoover riff; yet, the sparse, unapproachable rhythm and degraded timbre will make it unlike that anyone will ever drop it at peak time. Kongestion arrives at the experimental, through the club.
Serwed - III [ANWO]
More, uhhh - I'm not quite sure what to call it - “post-ambient”? Serwed's III skirts the conventions of the genre by infusing and mutating it with concrète-y textures, manic IDM beats and even hints of trap and hip-hop. A myriad of textural micro-sculptures that play around with their own morphology and slot together like a labyrinthine 3D puzzle. Sonic architecture.
Talismann - Percussion Part3 [Talismann]
Talismann's (aka Makam) Percussion series continues with a collection of smart, off-kilter techno bangers. On Part 3, he strays into gabba territory with the occasional screaming kick drum and rave riff, but still keeps the overall vibe reduced and technoid. Equally heavy on percussion as they are on atmosphere, these tracks explore the outer, alien edges of the contemporary dancefloor.
Stefan Goldmann - Vector Rituals [Macro]
Stefan Goldmann is the rare conceptualist in techno. His albums usually hone in on a specific idea or theme. On Vector Rituals, he explores the concept of percussive inharmonicity over a series of experiments in metallic and wooden timbres that resemble bells, hand-drums and occasionally plucked strings. Imbued with a techno veteran's sense of construction and form, this record blurs the line between electronic dance music and experimental computer music to create something novel. Now, if we only had a club where people would rave to something like this!
Pretty Sneaky - PRSN6 [Pretty Sneaky]
The singular Pretty Sneaky, whoever they may be, continue venturing into strange and unexplored lands. I honestly don't know what genre this could be classified as, and that's probably a good thing. What I can tell you is that there's loads of live acoustic percussion here, underlined by earthy basslines and accentuated by lush keys. On PRSN6 it all comes together to construct wild, free-form music that still manages to maintain a hypnotic, technoid energy. Smart and sneaky tracks.
Kali Malone - Living Torch [Portraits GRM]
Over at Tone Glow we voted for Living Torch as the record of the year. What is it that sets it apart from the large pile of other drone records? Above all, it's the sheer intensity of the sonic experience; the exhilarating manner in which the purity of the fundamental and the chaotic richness of the overtone series interact, the way the spectrum morphs and develops over time. I don't think that it is a coincidence that Kali Malone cut her teeth on the church organ, an instrument that demands skillful and precise calibration of individual tones and partials. This album applies the same techniques to the synthesizer, conjuring a gripping, sacral sonic experience. Isn't this just more proof that the synthesizer is the modern age's church organ?
Ryoji Ikeda - Ultratronics [Noton]
Ryoji Ikeda is still obsessed with the interplay of the high and low edges of the audible frequency spectrum and the contrast between the harmonically pure and rich. Ultratronics throws together pure, beeping sine tones, deep basses, noisy clicks and harmonically rich FM sounds. It's all about disjunctions and opposites. Ikeda’s compositional skill shows in the fact that, despite its stern commitment to sonic extremes, this album remains an exciting and engaging listening the whole way through. "Ultratronics 04" even slots in a little lush, chord-driven SND homage. Ultra-tronic, ultra-fun.
Kelly Lee Owens - LP8 [Smalltown Supersound]
Kelly goes techno. Judging by the lack of LP8's presence on end-of-year-lists, this move appears to have not been a hit with either the poptimist or the techno crowd. But I think it works quite well. Over hard-edged drum machine beats, Kelly turns herself into a vocal-machine through intense repetition. The only thing dragging the album down are the beat-less tracks that just lack teeth and energy in comparison to the beat-driven tracks.
NUG - Napping Under God [Bblisss]
There's recently been an increasing amount of records looking towards 90's "chill-out room style" downtempo. This one fuses slow, fat trip-hoppy beats with West Mineral style ambient atmospheres and occasional hints of jungle and IDM. Lush and deep, with just enough rhythmic energy to keep you awake.
Sote - Majestic Noise Made in Beautiful Rotten Iran [Sub Rosa]
Majestic Noise is majestic indeed. Grand, loud, chaotic and sprawling, this record demands attention. What holds it all together - and saves it from the self-indulgence of many similar records - is Sote's keen sense for composition, carefully balancing complex sounds with simple ones, leaving enough space for the grand moments to do their thing without overstaying their welcome.
Melchior Productions - Vulnerabilities [Perlon]
Usually, house isn't really an album-oriented genre, but every once in a while, something that works well in the format emerges. Vulnerabilities doesn't try to play any tricks and sticks to straight up house cuts, yet still manages to build a consistent emotional and narrative arc over its eleven tracks. As always, at the center lies Melchior's unique touch for the human in the machine, house's appeal to universal emotions; the track as a song.
Ryu Hankil - 3 [Dingndents]
Ryu Hankil is a veteran of Korea's experimental computer music scene. What is most impressive about 3 is how fun it is despite being such an uncompromising record. Whereas a lot of music in this style sounds dull and random, Hankil draws plenty of sonic pleasure from modulated clicks, bloops and noises and sends them sputtering, and uttering all over the place. A form of travel with no need for narrative; here, sound is nothing but sounding sound and it doesn't want or need to be anything else.
DeepChord - Functional Designs [Soma]
Rod Modell's latest album is less dubby than you might have come to expect from him. Functional Designs concentrates on buildings thickly layered worlds of pads, noise, field recordings and background atmospheres. These tracks reflect the color, ambience and emotions of the night, its vast darkness interspersed by neon signs and flashing lights. Like no other artist working today, DeepChord makes the vibrant and vital force of the nocturnal haptic and sensible, through sound.
Pontiac Streator - Sone Glo [West Mineral]
Sone Glo is one of the most gorgeous ambient records I've heard all year. What elevates it above the usual ambient fodder is the skillful addition of beats and vocals into the mix, transforming the pads and atmospheres into something more than mere sonic wallpapers. The sonic equivalent of a heated blanket, with just enough rhythmic energy and sonic mystery to keep it interesting.
Steffi - The Red Hunter [Candy Mountain]
Techno-electro-house queen Steffi - who also happens to be one of my favorite DJs ever - has made a new album that looks towards the late 90's / early 00's IDM and electro sound. The Red Hunter is chock full of thick, slowly developing pads, crunchy synthesized electro drums and shimmering keys and arps. These tracks do their thing without ever begging for attention, because they don't need to.
Romeo Poirier - Living Room [Faitche]
Romeo Poirier has a certain knack for making concrète-informed compositions sound lush. He squeezes an immense warmth out of his array of diverse samples; suggesting the sound of a summer vacation rather than a scientist's laboratory. These tracks crackle, hiss and breathe like a small coastal town’s seafront. Blurry, old-timey samples that sound like they could be from a 40's record lend the album a nostalgic, hauntological touch. As the title suggests, it feels lived-in. Yet, when we visit someone else's living room, there are always little oddities and idiosyncrasies awaiting us.