Dance & Electronic 2011: 20 Best Albums (Page 2) • Year In Review • exclaim.ca

Features > Year In Review > Dec 2011

2. Nicolas Jaar Space Is Only Noise (Circus Company)
Over the course of 2011 this album gained momentum despite being swamped upon release by the hype surrounding not-dissimilar James Blake's debut. Somewhat after the fact I like the directness of Jaar's songs as opposed to the less continuous grooves of Blake's album, though both are super creative in their own ways. This album has so much love to give. Revisiting Space Is Only Noise many months later reveals quite a few more layers to the delicate sonic constructions I so loved. Now, however, I'm drawn to out and out jams like the doomy title track and the electronically warped R&B of "Problems With the Sun." I'm no longer sure whether I'd classify this as a the perfect example of a downtempo album; songs have terrific momentum and don't hang on one rhythm when there's always someplace new to go. Jaar has continued on an upward trajectory this year, even receiving NPR's stamp of approval for his excellent new EP Don't Break My Love. I hope Jaar gets a larger proportion of year-end love than he did at the year's beginning.
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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