Our Top 10 albums lists by genre continue with our staff picks for the best of dance and electronic music this year. Click next to read through the albums one by one, or use the list below to skip ahead to your favourites.
Top 10 Dance & Electronic Albums of 2014:
To see more of our Year-End Top Tens, head over to our Best of 2014 section.
10. Fatima Al Qadiri
Asiatisch
(Hyperdub)
Undeniably, music about music can be satisfying on a meta level, especially for music nerds, but Fatima Al Qadiri's intriguing Asiatisch this year stood out for having some deep content behind it. Conceptualised as a virtual tour through a future, dominant China seen through Western eyes, Asiatisch reads almost like a William Gibson novel in album form. As Al Qadiri was born in Senegal, raised in Kuwait and divides her time as an artist living between London and New York but has never been to China, the fact that she constructed an album about an imaginary China may seem surprising. But that's in essence what the album's about — Chinese motifs as absorbed by popular Western culture.
Whether it's the re-appropriation of an inappropriate song from the musical Lady and the Tramp or subtle references to colonialism found in Chinese restaurants, Al Qadiri digs deep into Western preconceptions of Asia and China. Asiatisch is also an excellently produced album that cleverly mines Hyperdub's short-lived sinogrime sub-genre, but its real coup is to remind us how much music, in the right hands, can inspire us to tap into and deconstruct preconceived notions of nationality and culture, all while moving us to tap our fingers. (Vincent Pollard)
9. Clark
Clark
(Warp Records)
Chris Clark's cerebral approach to techno is perhaps at its most freewheeling on his self-titled seventh album, but that's not to suggest that it's anywhere near just good fun. Rather, Clark is a moody, often gorgeous record that's focused, perhaps more sharply than any other artist in his field this year, on texture. There's a depth to these compositions that makes them feel almost tangible: the scraping of the sub-bass against gritty snares on "Winter Linn"; the sheer thickness of the synth slabs that close "Sodium Trimmers"; the dizzying vertical distance between the shuffling cymbal brushes and twinkling celeste on "Snowbird."
There are too many ideas here — all of them good ones — to make it a cohesive record, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a concept that unifies it, but few records this year offer the same immersive quality that Clark does so consistently across its 50-minute runtime. There are no singles here, and no hooks: Clark is a journey designed to get lost on along the way. (Stephen Carlick)
8. Arca
Xen
(Mute)
A slew of solid EPs and a production nod on Yeezus immediately put Venezuelan producer Alejandro Ghersi on everyone's radar. The 24-year-old Arca has already worked with Kanye West and FKA twigs, and is currently co-producing Björk's upcoming album, a collaboration that has the whole world buzzing right now. All that aside, 2014 saw the release of Arca's debut album Xen, a revealing work that swirls out of balance, mutating soundscapes and bridging new worlds that beautifully redefine the boundaries of electronic music. Subtle transitions carry the album through the first half, oozing the seething samples into a climactic rise and fall that drips into more liquefied, industrial hip-hop cuts like "Sister" and "Slit Thru."
Throughout the course of Xen, Ghersi triggers a distinct melodrama that slithers into different facets of the production, whether shrieking violins, lucid drones or the crunchy flurries of delirious blips that keep the more dance-forward tracks like "Lonely Thugg" and "Fish" loose, upbeat and frighteningly seductive. Xen finds Arca tapping into a realm uncharted, delivering an album that feels way ahead of its time. (Max Mohenu)
7. Actress
Ghettoville
(Werk Discs)
Actress's work has always had one foot planted in underground UK dance music, while the other has probed and prodded around, flinging up numerous mutant permutations in the process. Ghettoville is another prime example of this wonderful balancing act, and arguably Actress's best album to date. It's both a dense, beat-focused affair and a touchingly melodic and melancholic piece. The subtle stumbling drum machine work that streams throughout is firmly in service of texture rather than rhythm, while the crushed and crumbling sound palette effectively exudes sludgy weight while drawing on a seemingly scant range of sounds.
Still, Ghettoville's greatest asset is its refreshing nonchalance. From track to track, Actress drifts easily between grubby grey scale, far-off synth euphoria and distorted interludes of pure vocal emotion. Everything on Ghettoville feels in its rightful place, but the casualness of its progression vigorously shakes off any feeling of self-consciousness. With his deft touch, Actress has shown that an album doesn't have to take itself too seriously to be balanced and original. (Asa Thomas)
6. Ben Frost
A U R O R A
(Mute)
When Ben Frost released his last album, 2009's By the Throat, it seemed as if the Iceland-via-Australia noisemaker reached his brutal apex, as machinist rhythms and punishing melodic hues challenged even the most adventurous electronic music fan. But after a five-year layover that found him working within the musical constraints of composing movie scores (Stealing Beauty, In Her Skin), collaborating with dance companies (Wayne McGregor's Far) and directing musical theatre (The Wasp Factory), Frost's latest, A U R O R A, reshapes the emotional intensity of his music by moving inwards.
Eschewing his trademark cascading guitar and piano, Frost focuses on each song's fundamental core, utilizing rusted low-end effects and decaying drum rhythms (courtesy of Thor Harris of Swans and Greg Fox of Guardian Alien). In fact, much of the music found on A U R O R A is so well structured and contained that it somehow makes such cacophony sound primal and gorgeous. There's certainly beauty hidden within A U R O R A — you just have to travel through a few fiery levels of Hell to get to it. (Daniel Sylvester)
5. Todd Terje
It's Album Time
(Olsen Records)
From the artwork and title to the music, there's a sense of playfulness that inhabits It's Album Time, the debut from Norwegian DJ and producer Todd Terje (née Terje Olsen, his stage name a nod to American house pioneer Todd Terry). Just take a look at the cartoon lothario on the cover, his shirt unbuttoned, leaning on a piano surrounded by a bevy of tropical drinks. Then there's the producer's tongue-in-cheek description of infectious lead single "Inspector Norse," which first surfaced in 2012, as being "danceable elevator music."
Terje's greatest strength is his ability to not take himself too seriously while following his muses. It's Album Time is a potent batch of bossa nova, interstellar disco and lounge piano jazz, full of cheesy synths, regal arpeggios and Giorgio Moroder-style bass lines. The perfect soundtrack for a Balearic cruise or a lost '70s spy flick, the producer isn't afraid to let his music breathe, stretching the best tracks ("Delorean Dynamite," "Inspector Norse") out past the six-minute mark.
The album's only guest spot belongs to Roxy Music's Bryan Ferry, who serves as a spiritual advisor while covering Robert Palmer's ballad "Johnny and Mary," an aptly melancholy comedown to an album full of hedonistic peaks. (Max Mertens)
4. SBTRKT
Wonder Where We Land
(Young Turks)
SBTRKT's Wonder Where We Land showed significant improvement and exploration from London producer Aaron Jerome, both in the way he writes and produces his music. The beauty of the masked man's second studio LP lies within the vast sonic palette that Jerome decided to create with, blending the electro stylings he had already perfected over the course of numerous EPs and a debut full-length with hip-hop, soul and world music, among others.
These well-structured forays prove fruitful thanks to the inclusion of a variety of collaborators, on top of the return of prior guests Sampha and Jessie Ware. From the funky, infectious stomp of the Ezra Koenig-assisted "NEW DORP. NEW YORK" to the jazzy paranoia A$AP Ferg successfully conveys on "Voices In My Head," the features list is by no means short of star power. Some may be turned off by the record's tendency to jump between genres, but the variety of Wonder Where We Land does more than enough to captivate over the course of a listen. (Calum Slingerland)
3. Flying Lotus
You're Dead!
(Warp)
It took a man armed with a laptop to bring jazz back to the forefront of music. On You're Dead!, the latest studio album from future jazz legend Steven Ellison (more commonly known as Flying Lotus), the sumptuous sounds and spirituality of Miles Davis's Bitches Brew bash headfirst into Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz, with both influences being left for dead in favour of a more evocative and ornate version of the American art form, one that transcends traditional genre and technological limitations to create a sound distinctly rooted in the past but unlike anything we've heard before.
While Ellison clearly respects the creators that have come before him — his aunt and uncle Alice and John Coltrane, as well as post-bop mastermind Herbie Hancock (who guests on this album) among them — it's clear from the opening seconds of Thundercat's tricked-out bass on "Tesla" and Kendrick Lamar's frenzied vocal delivery on "Never Catch Me" that Ellison is no longer concerned with genre constraints or the sounds that have come before him.
The album is a sonic and symbolic game changer in the world of electronic music, its title alone acting as a warning and sly foreshadowing of the future ahead; once You're Dead!, nothing is ever the same. (Matthew Ritchie)
2. Aphex Twin
Syro
(Warp)
Aphex Twin's technique, the approach that makes him so revered, lies in his innate ability to make music that's dotted with familiar elements, but at its core is massively experimental. This is a tack that's perfectly executed on Syro. "It sounds same-y" you might say, "nothing I haven't heard before," but that's simply because the album is such a melting pot of sounds that you've come across: elements of house, techno, pop, classical, jazz and everything else you've ever held dear. Take "S950tx16wasr10 (Earth Portal Mix)" — it could easily be labeled as Aphex-tackles-a-jungle-track, but it's light years beyond that definition, or any definition for that matter.
What makes Syro such a wonder is its singularity — it's immune to anything contemporary, demonstrating blatant disregard for all that's changed since Aphex Twin's last release, and yet it somehow manages to sound fresh. Both a tremendous step forward and a good look back, Syro is amongst the cream of 2014 electronic releases. (Daryl Keating)
1. Caribou
Our Love
(Merge)
If 2010's phenomenal Swim was Dan Snaith showing us what he was capable of making, then Our Love is him showing us what he wants to make. While not a monumental sonic shift in sound, Our Love is imbued with an enveloping warmth that was only hinted at on his previous material. First single "Can't Do Without You" was a mission statement, an undeniably "Caribou" track that masterfully incorporated the sound of Swim with a new twist, lifting the fog at the 90-second mark to reveal a crisp, explosive and colourful climax, only to slowly ebb away and expand its lyrics in its final 20 seconds.
While his Daphni moniker grants him the freedom to explore his techno and house sensibilities, it also allows Snaith to make more pop-leaning material under the Caribou name. His vocals, while present on previous releases, are at their clearest and purest here, with minimal manipulation and multiple appearances throughout the album's ten tracks. But this isn't to say that Our Love doesn't include some truly experimental cuts, such as the brilliantly unpredictable "Mars" and the pulsating "Julia Brightly."
In our 2010 Year In Review feature we stated "Caribou will be remembered for Swim"; Our Love will be remembered as the album that establish Caribou's sound and brought it to the masses. (Scott Simpson)
Top 10 Dance & Electronic Albums of 2014:
- 1. Caribou - Our Love
- 2. Aphex Twin - Syro
- 3. Flying Lotus - You're Dead!
- 4. SBTRKT - Wonder Where We Land
- 5. Todd Terje - It's Album Time
- 6. Ben Frost - A U R O R A
- 7. Actress - Ghettoville
- 8. Arca - Xen
- 9. Clark - Clark
- 10. Fatima Al Qadiri - Asiatisch
To see more of our Year-End Top Tens, head over to our Best of 2014 section.
10. Fatima Al Qadiri
Asiatisch
(Hyperdub)
Undeniably, music about music can be satisfying on a meta level, especially for music nerds, but Fatima Al Qadiri's intriguing Asiatisch this year stood out for having some deep content behind it. Conceptualised as a virtual tour through a future, dominant China seen through Western eyes, Asiatisch reads almost like a William Gibson novel in album form. As Al Qadiri was born in Senegal, raised in Kuwait and divides her time as an artist living between London and New York but has never been to China, the fact that she constructed an album about an imaginary China may seem surprising. But that's in essence what the album's about — Chinese motifs as absorbed by popular Western culture.
Whether it's the re-appropriation of an inappropriate song from the musical Lady and the Tramp or subtle references to colonialism found in Chinese restaurants, Al Qadiri digs deep into Western preconceptions of Asia and China. Asiatisch is also an excellently produced album that cleverly mines Hyperdub's short-lived sinogrime sub-genre, but its real coup is to remind us how much music, in the right hands, can inspire us to tap into and deconstruct preconceived notions of nationality and culture, all while moving us to tap our fingers. (Vincent Pollard)
9. Clark
Clark
(Warp Records)
Chris Clark's cerebral approach to techno is perhaps at its most freewheeling on his self-titled seventh album, but that's not to suggest that it's anywhere near just good fun. Rather, Clark is a moody, often gorgeous record that's focused, perhaps more sharply than any other artist in his field this year, on texture. There's a depth to these compositions that makes them feel almost tangible: the scraping of the sub-bass against gritty snares on "Winter Linn"; the sheer thickness of the synth slabs that close "Sodium Trimmers"; the dizzying vertical distance between the shuffling cymbal brushes and twinkling celeste on "Snowbird."
There are too many ideas here — all of them good ones — to make it a cohesive record, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a concept that unifies it, but few records this year offer the same immersive quality that Clark does so consistently across its 50-minute runtime. There are no singles here, and no hooks: Clark is a journey designed to get lost on along the way. (Stephen Carlick)
8. Arca
Xen
(Mute)
A slew of solid EPs and a production nod on Yeezus immediately put Venezuelan producer Alejandro Ghersi on everyone's radar. The 24-year-old Arca has already worked with Kanye West and FKA twigs, and is currently co-producing Björk's upcoming album, a collaboration that has the whole world buzzing right now. All that aside, 2014 saw the release of Arca's debut album Xen, a revealing work that swirls out of balance, mutating soundscapes and bridging new worlds that beautifully redefine the boundaries of electronic music. Subtle transitions carry the album through the first half, oozing the seething samples into a climactic rise and fall that drips into more liquefied, industrial hip-hop cuts like "Sister" and "Slit Thru."
Throughout the course of Xen, Ghersi triggers a distinct melodrama that slithers into different facets of the production, whether shrieking violins, lucid drones or the crunchy flurries of delirious blips that keep the more dance-forward tracks like "Lonely Thugg" and "Fish" loose, upbeat and frighteningly seductive. Xen finds Arca tapping into a realm uncharted, delivering an album that feels way ahead of its time. (Max Mohenu)
7. Actress
Ghettoville
(Werk Discs)
Actress's work has always had one foot planted in underground UK dance music, while the other has probed and prodded around, flinging up numerous mutant permutations in the process. Ghettoville is another prime example of this wonderful balancing act, and arguably Actress's best album to date. It's both a dense, beat-focused affair and a touchingly melodic and melancholic piece. The subtle stumbling drum machine work that streams throughout is firmly in service of texture rather than rhythm, while the crushed and crumbling sound palette effectively exudes sludgy weight while drawing on a seemingly scant range of sounds.
Still, Ghettoville's greatest asset is its refreshing nonchalance. From track to track, Actress drifts easily between grubby grey scale, far-off synth euphoria and distorted interludes of pure vocal emotion. Everything on Ghettoville feels in its rightful place, but the casualness of its progression vigorously shakes off any feeling of self-consciousness. With his deft touch, Actress has shown that an album doesn't have to take itself too seriously to be balanced and original. (Asa Thomas)
6. Ben Frost
A U R O R A
(Mute)
When Ben Frost released his last album, 2009's By the Throat, it seemed as if the Iceland-via-Australia noisemaker reached his brutal apex, as machinist rhythms and punishing melodic hues challenged even the most adventurous electronic music fan. But after a five-year layover that found him working within the musical constraints of composing movie scores (Stealing Beauty, In Her Skin), collaborating with dance companies (Wayne McGregor's Far) and directing musical theatre (The Wasp Factory), Frost's latest, A U R O R A, reshapes the emotional intensity of his music by moving inwards.
Eschewing his trademark cascading guitar and piano, Frost focuses on each song's fundamental core, utilizing rusted low-end effects and decaying drum rhythms (courtesy of Thor Harris of Swans and Greg Fox of Guardian Alien). In fact, much of the music found on A U R O R A is so well structured and contained that it somehow makes such cacophony sound primal and gorgeous. There's certainly beauty hidden within A U R O R A — you just have to travel through a few fiery levels of Hell to get to it. (Daniel Sylvester)
5. Todd Terje
It's Album Time
(Olsen Records)
From the artwork and title to the music, there's a sense of playfulness that inhabits It's Album Time, the debut from Norwegian DJ and producer Todd Terje (née Terje Olsen, his stage name a nod to American house pioneer Todd Terry). Just take a look at the cartoon lothario on the cover, his shirt unbuttoned, leaning on a piano surrounded by a bevy of tropical drinks. Then there's the producer's tongue-in-cheek description of infectious lead single "Inspector Norse," which first surfaced in 2012, as being "danceable elevator music."
Terje's greatest strength is his ability to not take himself too seriously while following his muses. It's Album Time is a potent batch of bossa nova, interstellar disco and lounge piano jazz, full of cheesy synths, regal arpeggios and Giorgio Moroder-style bass lines. The perfect soundtrack for a Balearic cruise or a lost '70s spy flick, the producer isn't afraid to let his music breathe, stretching the best tracks ("Delorean Dynamite," "Inspector Norse") out past the six-minute mark.
The album's only guest spot belongs to Roxy Music's Bryan Ferry, who serves as a spiritual advisor while covering Robert Palmer's ballad "Johnny and Mary," an aptly melancholy comedown to an album full of hedonistic peaks. (Max Mertens)
4. SBTRKT
Wonder Where We Land
(Young Turks)
SBTRKT's Wonder Where We Land showed significant improvement and exploration from London producer Aaron Jerome, both in the way he writes and produces his music. The beauty of the masked man's second studio LP lies within the vast sonic palette that Jerome decided to create with, blending the electro stylings he had already perfected over the course of numerous EPs and a debut full-length with hip-hop, soul and world music, among others.
These well-structured forays prove fruitful thanks to the inclusion of a variety of collaborators, on top of the return of prior guests Sampha and Jessie Ware. From the funky, infectious stomp of the Ezra Koenig-assisted "NEW DORP. NEW YORK" to the jazzy paranoia A$AP Ferg successfully conveys on "Voices In My Head," the features list is by no means short of star power. Some may be turned off by the record's tendency to jump between genres, but the variety of Wonder Where We Land does more than enough to captivate over the course of a listen. (Calum Slingerland)
3. Flying Lotus
You're Dead!
(Warp)
It took a man armed with a laptop to bring jazz back to the forefront of music. On You're Dead!, the latest studio album from future jazz legend Steven Ellison (more commonly known as Flying Lotus), the sumptuous sounds and spirituality of Miles Davis's Bitches Brew bash headfirst into Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz, with both influences being left for dead in favour of a more evocative and ornate version of the American art form, one that transcends traditional genre and technological limitations to create a sound distinctly rooted in the past but unlike anything we've heard before.
While Ellison clearly respects the creators that have come before him — his aunt and uncle Alice and John Coltrane, as well as post-bop mastermind Herbie Hancock (who guests on this album) among them — it's clear from the opening seconds of Thundercat's tricked-out bass on "Tesla" and Kendrick Lamar's frenzied vocal delivery on "Never Catch Me" that Ellison is no longer concerned with genre constraints or the sounds that have come before him.
The album is a sonic and symbolic game changer in the world of electronic music, its title alone acting as a warning and sly foreshadowing of the future ahead; once You're Dead!, nothing is ever the same. (Matthew Ritchie)
2. Aphex Twin
Syro
(Warp)
Aphex Twin's technique, the approach that makes him so revered, lies in his innate ability to make music that's dotted with familiar elements, but at its core is massively experimental. This is a tack that's perfectly executed on Syro. "It sounds same-y" you might say, "nothing I haven't heard before," but that's simply because the album is such a melting pot of sounds that you've come across: elements of house, techno, pop, classical, jazz and everything else you've ever held dear. Take "S950tx16wasr10 (Earth Portal Mix)" — it could easily be labeled as Aphex-tackles-a-jungle-track, but it's light years beyond that definition, or any definition for that matter.
What makes Syro such a wonder is its singularity — it's immune to anything contemporary, demonstrating blatant disregard for all that's changed since Aphex Twin's last release, and yet it somehow manages to sound fresh. Both a tremendous step forward and a good look back, Syro is amongst the cream of 2014 electronic releases. (Daryl Keating)
1. Caribou
Our Love
(Merge)
If 2010's phenomenal Swim was Dan Snaith showing us what he was capable of making, then Our Love is him showing us what he wants to make. While not a monumental sonic shift in sound, Our Love is imbued with an enveloping warmth that was only hinted at on his previous material. First single "Can't Do Without You" was a mission statement, an undeniably "Caribou" track that masterfully incorporated the sound of Swim with a new twist, lifting the fog at the 90-second mark to reveal a crisp, explosive and colourful climax, only to slowly ebb away and expand its lyrics in its final 20 seconds.
While his Daphni moniker grants him the freedom to explore his techno and house sensibilities, it also allows Snaith to make more pop-leaning material under the Caribou name. His vocals, while present on previous releases, are at their clearest and purest here, with minimal manipulation and multiple appearances throughout the album's ten tracks. But this isn't to say that Our Love doesn't include some truly experimental cuts, such as the brilliantly unpredictable "Mars" and the pulsating "Julia Brightly."
In our 2010 Year In Review feature we stated "Caribou will be remembered for Swim"; Our Love will be remembered as the album that establish Caribou's sound and brought it to the masses. (Scott Simpson)