The best Electronic Music of 2024: EPs and Singles

My top 30 EPs and singles of 2024, in no particular order

2024 is now drawing to a close, so here’s the annual Infinite Speeds list of my 30 favorite EPs and singles from this year, arranged in no particular order. Some of the blurbs have been taken from my Q1/Q2 round-up, while others are new. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to do a post for Q3 in the fall, but I have spent the last few weeks digging deep into this year’s release catalogue to make sure I’ve fully caught all the good stuff from the last twelve months for this list. The albums list will follow tomorrow! — Vincent

C3D-E & Hashman - Understood [bug_241]

Another obscure side project from the Acting Press posse is kicking things off with a real killer here. "Understood" is a dubby late-night burner, all smokey and hazed-out, with a deep burrowing bassline, skittish hats and percussion loops with a slight disco flair and the murmuring echoes of granulated vocals. The track's lead comes in the form of a degraded chord loop that is sweeping further into murky delay throws, decaying into the vast and hazy depths below. A simple track, but there is really no one else out there making them quite like this.

Snad - Bubblescope [Smallville]

"Bubblescope" is a fourteen minute long atmospheric tech house bomb centering on satisfyingly swinging drums, wide pad scapes and a variety of lush arp and chord licks. During its middle part, the track even goes for a little breakbeat intermezzo, only to re-emerge and drop back into its killer 4/4 groove.

"Lukewarm Lava" plays with similar tricks, employing an airy breakbeat rhythm for the first few minutes, until it switches things up and goes into straight house territory with a great groove and a real killer of a bassline. Closer "Tanni" is a lighter number, with light piano fragments reverberating over a soft kick, a deep worming bassline and organic percussion layers.

Gyrofield - The B [VISION]

I tend to not be the biggest fan of hyper-modern sounding drum & bass, since it often seems to me that producers will get lost in the neuro-bass sorcery sauce with this stuff, leading to tracks that are technical marvels but lack any kind of memorable hook. Gyrofield (aka Kiana Li from Hong Kong) stands out in this field since she — aside from also being skilled at all the tricks of the trade — really knows how to craft a proper earworm. "Femme Fatale (Rolling Mix)" is simply one of the most fun drum & bass tracks I've heard in a long time with its lean, stepping breaks, addictive reverb-drenched vocal chops, massive walls of bass, satisfying reese licks and dramatic FX fills.

2302 - Untitled [Heaven Smile]

This appears to be the new project of the low-profile Dutch producer Mammo, who was also behind the mysterious Nduja label. "- -" is a ghostly number that sounds like the skeletal remnants of a disco-house track that had half of its tracks deleted. "Aliasing" hones in on a digitally degraded loop with a gritty bassline, skittish noise figures and quirky chord fragments. "Hold 3" is quiet and haunting, with a faint, inharmonic FM pad and howling noise that evokes gusts of wind sweeping over majestic cliffs. The closer "Windmill" oozes with warmth over a pitch-black ground with sparse, yet lush pads, worming basses and high-pitched bleeps that recall some species of fantastic birds.

Antraum - Mata [Antraum]

More perfect uplifting vocal house dubs from Traumer and Anton on their latest EP for the Antraum project. "Mata" is driven by a dry and swinging rhythm section that dances tango with snappy, reduced filter-chord substrates and playfully romantic vocals. Just all the right ingredients you need for a timeless house number.

Convextion - R-CNX2 [A.R.T. less]

Another recent must-have reissue. This double-pack combines two of the most sought after Detroit techno EPs of all time and makes them available digitally for the first time ever. Even thirty years later, a track like "Miranda" sounds as fresh as ever, having lost absolutely none of its luster. This is music that exists in its own time, an eternal realm outside of trends and hype cycles.

Carmen Villain - Nutrition [Smalltown Supersound]

Carmen Villain's latest EP hones in on the strange and deep with three murky and reduced subterranean dubs that consist of little more than bass, percussion and noise. "Disig" layers ghostly and warbling pads over a steaming bed of noise and a scenery of adorning glitches. "Nutrition" is more quick-footed, spinning labyrinthine, snake-like patterns through agile bass and percussions rhythms, while "Marka" goes slow, almost tripping over its own churning mid-tempo groove in the process. Props to any DJ who dares to play these in a club setting.

Obscure Shape - Tsubasa [Mitsubasa]

The title track wastes no time here and goes straight for the uber-classic, playing with a variation on that Inner City stab over a throbbing bassline and slamming drums. "Matsuyama" recalls early 00s Kanzleramt with tribal-ish drums, dramatic vocal fills and lush, resonant stabs that are transposed up and down the sampler. "Kisugi" comes in with a massive reverb rumble, fluttery 909 drums and mournful, string-like chords, while the closer "Genzo" is a misty early morning track that draws velvety filter shapes over a lean rhythm section.

Yetsuby - b_b [all my thoughts]

This kind of reminds me of some of the stuff coming out on PAN maybe six or seven years ago — a sound I was never that fond of, because a lot of it felt kind of haphazard in its production and songwriting. However, that is hardly the case for this record, which has been excellently written and produced, constructing an IDM-tinged experimental pop soundscape that is satisfying to listen to all the way through and never breaches into the gimmicky. There's a lot of great musical ideas here, but if I had to pick a favorite, it'd be "Poly Juice", a strange, but almost anthemic track that layers trance-y pitch-shifted vocals, glistening rotating arps and ornamental string fragments over a massive, room-shaking dubstep bassline.

ADMNTi - Vibrations [FUSE London]

Proper modern tech house with a strong Detroit-y feel here. "Infinite Function" starts out thick and pumping, with a meaty bassline and snappy organ stabs. The breakdown opens things up, enveloping the mix in glassy, widely traversing pads that contrasts nicely with the rather lean rhythm section. "Original Sin" really ramps up the Detroit factor with a warbly 303, drama-heavy strings and resonant key swells. Malin Genie’s remix of "Vibrations" goes straight into uber-classic house territory with a phased vintage rhodes, an FM organ lead and a richly saturated 303.

Cv313 & Federsen - Skyspace [Alt/Dub]

On this split EP, Chicago dub techno legend Stephen Hitchell (Cv313, EchoSpace) meets SF's Federsen aka Chris Kelly, who in recent years has made a name for himself with his classy, textural takes on dubbed out grooves. The original "Skycrossing" is a classic Cv313 number, all watery and filtered into oblivion, with delay and filter lines flowing and streaming across the track's many floating waterways. Federsen's dub treatment goes in a more dry and reduced direction with a simple pumping groove and a concentrated focus on a few selected fragments from the original mix.

On the flip, the Federsen original "Skyway" is chunky on the rhythm, with a massive kick and thumping bassline contrasted by dusky chord swabs that make for a nocturnal, slightly melancholic mood. Finally, the Cv313 dub then turns the effect sends all the way up, enveloping the mix in an icy storm of noise and delay.

Olof Dreijer - Coral [AD 93]

After surprise-dropping one of the best EPs of last year, Olof Dreijer's new EP follows up with a similar sound, although subtly nudged into a more ambient direction. "Flora" is a gentle, slowly flowing track with percussive plucked string sounds, warbling haunted pad lines and thick bass licks. On the flipside, "Hazel" is downright cinematic, creating its own fantastical electro-acoustic world of sound in which it is not clear what is acoustic and what is synthesized.

Chronicle - Time + Space [Curvature]

Yes, it's retro, yes, it pretty much sounds like something you'd find on Good Looking ca. 1997 ... but can you really blame anyone for riffing on the greatest sound on earth? It's all here, the fat and frantic amens, the glassy ROMpler-style licks, the big 808 bass sweeps, the wide, enveloping pad atmospheres ... everything's right there, all ready to go, en route towards the rings of Saturn!

GiGi FM - Movimiento [Sea~rène]

These tracks remind me of the Canadian Cobblestone Jazz techno-jazz trio, insofar as they are surprisingly jazzy for technically being straight-forward 4/4 techno tracks. "Gabriella" puts a lengthy and unusually expressive piano improvisation over lean, percussive techno drums. "Tempelhof" is dubbier, with a nice gritty bassline, shimmery synth fragments and great use of saturated 909 rides. "Awakening The World's Heart" goes all atmospheric with wide, glassy pads, little arp fragments and loose and swinging drums, while “Lucid Dreaming” is a deep driver with resonant, 303-ish arps and shimmery swathes of pads.

Janeret & Miroloja - Expoz [Yoyaku]

"Vertu" is a gorgeous and ethereal zero-G floater that marries deep dub house chords and reverb-soaked drums with a subtle trance-y flair in the form of gated vocal chops and hints of ghostly arps that lend the track a haunting, weightless feel. Like walking on water.

Talismann - Kliniek 2 [Talismann]

Talismann (aka Makam) continues to explore the outer edges of techno on his latest EP Kliniek 2. "De La Tourette" flirts with some seriously bad taste by channeling terrible mid-90s hard trance. But somehow, the cheese factor is kept in that sweetspot where things sound both ridiculous and ascetic, creating something that sounds quite weird out of well-worn tropes.

The second track "Lolabo" keeps things trance-y, albeit in a more stripped down and purist fashion, with a killer deep roller of a drifting bassline, a single hypnotic riff and a few occasional strings. "Tuco" comes with a rave riff that is phased and warbled to the point of disintegrating, evoking a deranged nightmare version of classic hardcore where nothing quite sounds like what it should sound like, again pushing and distorting classic tropes to the point where they give way to something more novel and interesting.

Burnski - Break Me / On Your Mind [Constant Sound]

"On Your Mind" sounds like a reduced version of some forgotten 2003 progressive house anthem. Despite bearing all the right hallmarks — a dark buzzing melodic reese, shimmery delayed arps and even the occasional trance lick — things stay controlled and never quite kick into full-on euphoria, instead staying locked into a solid thumping house groove and those yearnful melodic fragments that look towards the wide, glassy horizon.

Paul St. Hilaire & René Löwe - Faith [Kynant Records]

What can I even say ? Two legends at the absolute peak of their powers. A record that perfectly marries Paul St. Hilaire's unique voice with René Löwe’s singular chord design. One of the greatest dub techno records ever made, now freshly remastered and made available digitally for the first time ever after twenty years.

Plus One - Wonder / Llamada Romantica [First Second]

"Llamada Romantica" starts out dark and reduced, with thick and dusty garage drums and misty vocal atmospheres. After a relatively subtle start, what then reveals itself in the breakdown is big and downright glorious, sounding like a successful latin producer travelling back in time to 2011 to make a Burial-style emo future garage anthem, with a massive buzzy reese laying the foundation for layers upon layers of harmonized and pitch-sliced vocal chop mourning. "Wonder" on the flip is equally strange, sounding like a mix between mid-90s 4/4 garage and early Anjunadeep.

Dold - Rider [Fuse Imprint]

"Smile" is a deadly track, a lean techno grinder centered around a churning, slightly acidic riff that perfectly captures the earnest, but quick-footed attitude of early Downwards. On the flip, "Rich String" goes deeper while still keeping the tempo high with wide, saturated chords and loosely improvised 909 programming.

Nondi_ - Tree Festival [HRR]

Nondi_ is currently one of the most uncompromising and idiosyncratic figures among the younger generation of Gen Z producers. On this little two-tracker, "tree festival" combines melancholic IDM arps with a wildly degraded SoundCloud lo-fi beat, sounding equally mournful and manic. "broken future 175" is a bizarro jungle track that contrasts its sonic degradation with a soaring sense of emotion in the form of dramatic strings and aching keys.

Fantastic Man - The Axis Of People [Axis Of People]

Real killer euro-tech-trance-house Win95 euphoria phantasmagoria here — quick, pretend it’s 1995 and you’re on Netscape and this internet thing is going to save the world once we just get everyone connected!

X-Altera - Groundswell [Bopside]

Tadd Mullinix (aka James T. Cotton) is back on his X-Altera alias with an EP of deadly neo-retro jungle tracks. "Run" starts out lush and Detroit-y with warmly oozing pads and flanged breaks, then fades to near silence and breaks down into a killer amen workout, only for the pads to eventually reemerge and bring things home. "Groundswell" is a darker track with lean drum & bass breaks, a massive sub line, scattered remains of disintegrated neuro reeses and shimmering, microtonal synth licks. "Eye Saw It" combines classic half-step tropes with a modern jungle beat, sounding like Loefah ca. 2006 having a go at jungle. Closer "Citybound TV" rounds things off with a downtempo number that reminds me of ca. Artificial Intelligence era Warp.

fka boursin - You Just Give In, Giving it All to the Wind [Accidental Meetings]

Bristol producer Henry Murray is dropping two excellent extended ambient house soothers here. The A-side gently floats pitched-down vocals and phased rhode chords over airy, reverberant percussion and cavernous low-end, while on the flip, the eleven minute long "decoupled" ventures deep into dangerously "lounge-y" territory, but somehow manages to fend off the cheese by channeling a mournful, Sprinkles-like atmosphere.

1Morning - Magnum Opus [Character]

If you would have told me a few years ago that there would be a revival of full-on-samba-techno, I probably would have laughed. But here we are, it's 2024 and we have records like Magnum Opus, which sounds like it’s been taken straight out of Jeff Mills' ca. 2002-2004 record bag. The appropriately titled "Samba De Verão" is a warm slammer with an entire carnival of percussion, samba samples and piano-like chord stabs. "Flux" goes in a similar direction, with its pressurized rolling bassline, manically chopped vocals and disco string stabs, while "Push" goes all in on the French Touch.

Mantra - Schemes & Dreams [SYSTEM]

Over the last couple of years, there's been a small, but steady revival of the late 00s "post-dubstep" sound. Schemes & Dreams recalls Tectonic or 7Even ca. 2009 with lean, bass-heavy dubstep/garage hybrid rhythms, jazzy chords and atmospheric pad treatments. The title track rotates a punchy and melodic 808 over organic percussion, shimmery pads and dubby throws. "Reshma" opens with classic garage keys, then drops into a large bed of vibrating sub-bass, jazzy progressions and delay-drenched vocals. The last track "Walk Of Shame" goes a bit darker, with the occasional misty pad serving as the only source of melody amidst the track's lean and pressurized garage skip.

Pye Corner Audio - Acid 1 [Emotional Response]

On this little 303-homage EP, Pye Corner Audio goes straight for those classic acid tones, drenched in reverb and surrounded by a supporting cast of dusty, reduced drums. My favorite here is "Wanna Show U Acid", an oddly heartwarming track that stages a romantic duet between the little silver box and a moody, pitched-down vocal.

Smooth & Simmonds - The Pariter Collection [Sushitech]

Smooth & Simmonds was a 90s project made up of the prolific, but fairly low-key UK producers Chris Simmonds and Ron Wells. What's been assembled on this 2024 reissue pack for Sushitech is absolutely prime material — house really doesn't get much better than this. Even just the occasional organ licks on the mid-90s cut "Climax (Remix)" are better than some people's entire discographies … and that's not even getting into the perfect, swinging drums, the fat bassline, the haunting strings, the soulful vocals, or the lush chords ... this is the kind full-fat, uber-classic house that would almost sound like a pastiché if it weren't the real thing.

"The Four Seasons (Factory Mix)" from 1990 is a Detroit-y builder that takes all the time in the world to get started, but then finally drifts off towards the sky above with those eternally haunting strings that can only ever be found on tracks from that era. The last two sides "Vertigo Part 1" and "Part 2" are cold and misty morning-dew dubs, with an almost Icelandic, Thule Records style feel to them. Get on this if you like house.

Dialog - DOT 2 [DOT]

The second EP on Finland’s DOT label comes with four more perfectly crafted Rhythm & Sound styled dubs. The basslines are heavy and nimble, the rhythm is skanking in all the right places, the chords are deep and seductive, the vocal performances expressive and mournful. Over the past two decades, many have tried their hands at this sound, but few have done it as well as it’s been done here.

Knopha - Water Play [Mule Musiq]

I first wrote about the music of Shanghai-based producer Knopha for last year's round-up. On his latest EP for Japan’s Mule Musiq, he ventures further into ambient/downtempo territory. The blurb on the Bandcamp page even calls it "oriental beautiful new age music" — words that could signal danger in the hands of a lesser producer, but what Knopha has delivered here are really wonderful tracks that evoke the soundtrack of a yet-to-be-developed video game set in some mythical and far away land.