Dance & Electronic 2011: 20 Best Albums (Page 10) • Year In Review • exclaim.ca

Features > Year In Review > Dec 2011

10. Africa Hitech 93 Million Miles (Warp)
It's a descriptive name and Mark Pritchard and Steve Spacek more than deliver on it. In a year that the second coming of dubstep produced so many bro-like sounds, 93 Million Miles delivered both hard and smooth beats. There's no mistaking the pulse of this music ― if you want to dance, here's a case where the syncopations are as important as bedrock 808 sounds. Some three decades plus after their invention, these synthetic rhythms have the feel of folk sounds that have been around for centuries. The stuff you might fear from such a project is largely absent ― that is, piles of pounding, multitracked hand percussion, majestic voices calling out the spirits and grand pronouncements of "we are all one." Instead Spacek's versatile voice croons subtly and a very deft and restrained soul mood pervades everything, especially in the beatific album closer "Don't Fight It." At the other end of the spectrum, "Out In The Streets" absolutely lacerates Damian Marley and Ini Kamoze and its footwork style rhythm is serious dance floor business. The complex polyrhythms of Future Africa reveal traces of the South, East and West parts of the continent's rhythmic languages but reconfigured into android rhythms.
David Dacks

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14Comments

December 03, 2011Ranta9652

Nice to see Amon Tobin and Zomby on there. Their new albums are kindred spirits, IMO.

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December 03, 2011Nameless Poseur9654

any chance of a Spotify playlist? Rdio isn't available in my country (Spain).

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December 05, 2011Nameless Poseur9667

not the greatest list.... very safe easy choices, missed a lot of great albums like Clams Casino, Machinedrum, 2562,KODE9 & SPACEAPE, JAMIE XX & GIL SCOTT-HERON,ARAABMUZIK,Sepalcure,Martyn Ghost People, OMAR S,Motor City Drum Ensemble - DJ-Kicks to name a few... katy b sucks btw

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December 05, 2011Nameless Poseur9670

Katy B does suck... I like a lot of the list, but agree that Kode9&Spaceape, Jamie XX & Gil Scott, and Araabmuzik coulda/shoulda made the list and I know they did receive votes, just not enough. Thanks for the additional suggestions though, more music to check out is always a good thing.

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December 05, 2011TheChief9680

Jamie XX and Gil Scott-Heron are featured in the Groove (soul & world) list.

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December 05, 2011Ranta9682

Yeah, I have my doubts that anyone who openly admits to being a fan of electronic music would have voted for Katy B. She's more for pop fans who want something a little more underground than Lady GaGa but not quite as challenging as Emika (who released a significantly more interesting and beautiful dubstep-ish album on Ninja Tune this year).

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December 06, 2011Nameless Poseur9738

where's pictureplane or jessica 6 on here?

bad list, bad list....

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December 07, 2011Nameless Poseur9750

Rustie @ 5? wow. ballsy.

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December 07, 2011Nameless Poseur9756

Toddla T is so underrated! Glad to see him included

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December 07, 2011Nameless Poseur9759

hey where's that thing that i like?

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December 08, 2011Scott9775

Hmm, Ninja Tune usually means I'll give it a shot, so I'll have to check out the Emika album mentioned above. For other albums that didn't make the list, I really dug Gold Panda's Companion and Grouper's Alien Observer.

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December 08, 2011Nameless Poseur9783

kuedo - severant

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December 08, 2011Nameless Poseur9785

Yay! Wallpaper Music

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December 09, 2011Ranta9808

I can also vouch for Kuedo, a stellar record placed somewhere between the new Boxcutter and Com Truise.

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