Dance & Electronic 2011: 20 Best Albums (Page 3) • Year In Review • exclaim.ca

Features > Year In Review > Dec 2011

3. SBTRKT (Young Turks)
While bass music continued to splinter into dozens of sub-genres, 2011 saw dubstep break through to the mainstream, at least in terms of name recognition ― most people are still a little hazy on what exactly the term means. So while purists argued about the music's parameters, London DJ and producer Aaron Jerome dropped his self-titled debut, blending elements from across a broad spectrum of both past and current underground dance. Some producers are quick to show off their technical skills, but Jerome kept it simple, delivering a single amalgamated sound that forms the basis of one of the most easily enjoyable dance records of the year. That Drake remix (and appearance at one of Jerome's Toronto shows) certainly went a long way to breaking SBTRKT to a wider audience, but high profile collabs are meaningless if there's nothing behind them. The track in question, "Wildfire," was already the album's standout single before Drizzy ever got his hands on it, with Little Dragon's Yukimi Nagano delivering a fantastic vocal performance overtop Jerome's subtle wobble. But it's frequent vocal collaborator Sampha, who pops up on a number of the album's tracks, who really shines. Jerome has rightfully been praised as a producer who's able to mould his own sound to his collaborators. With the smooth-piped singer at the mic, Jerome creates funky, futuristic R&B in a year when David Guetta's house sound has all but killed the genre in the mainstream.
Ian Gormely

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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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