When LWE started its podcast series back 2008 it was impossible to tell how the series would progress; but its basis was in providing our readers with quality music, not just the handouts of the biggest names we could find. Now that we’re about to reach our 100th regular podcast it seems safe to say we achieved this goal, pleasing and challenging listeners and occasionally landing a few big name podcasts as well. In celebration of our fast approaching 100th exclusive podcast, LWE’s staff has taken a look back at the first 99 and showcased some of our favorites so far. What’s more, we’ve made all of the podcasts featured here available for download for one more week, so you can grab the archived mixes one more time. Because of the limits of the article we couldn’t possibly cover all of our favorite mixes, so we look forward to discussing your favorites in the comments as well.

LWE Podcast 01: Terrence Dixon
For me, Little White Earbuds’ first trip into the now-overfished seas of podcasting remains one of this site’s most memorable. Appearing at a time when “raw” and “Detroit” emerged as critical buzzwords in electronic music journalism, Terrence Dixon presented a spin on midwest retro that wasn’t dogmatic, but doggedly individual. Lo-fi and often abrasive, this tough, edgy mix sprawls from timeless cosmic techno to date-stamped acid house (see D-Mob’s “We Call It Acieed”). Uniting the selections is a snarling machine funk that mirrors Dixon’s own often-aggressive production work. Befitting an artist tipped by Clone as “maybe the last real Detroit techno innovator,” and whose track “Rush Hour” inspired the name of one of dance music’s most crucial institutions, Dixon’s LWE mix didn’t sound at all rote or trendy then and, even though melanges of prickly house and flickering techno are a dime a dozen today, this mix throws quite a few punches that still surprise. [Chris Burkhalter]

LWE Podcast 05: Tama Sumo
When LWE launched its podcast series, Tama Sumo was one of the first people I approached about doing a mix. Having seen her play the Panorama Bar garden not long before, I knew she was an ideal candidate for the task. But even that preview couldn’t prepare me for the mix she turned in. Weaving between multiple eras of house, silky deep joints (Agnes’ remix of “L’Aurora”) and more banging tech turns (Kerri Chandler’s “Hexadecimal”), Chicago jack tracks (DJ Funk’s “House The Groove”) and new wave torch songs (the “Innovative Mix” of Dee D. Jackson’s “Automatic Lover”), Podcast 05 is a thrilling ride that hits all the pleasure centers. For my money it’s an even better mix than her Panorama Bar 02 CD, even if the mixing is not machine tight. It’s one I’ve played when getting ready for parties, when I need cheering up, and when I’m just craving a reliable listen — because it’s just as fresh and enjoyable today as when it first hit my inbox. Tama Sumo quickly set the bar for LWE’s Podcast series as high as it could go, a benchmark only our best mixes since have been able to touch.
[Steve Mizek]

LWE Podcast 29: Black Jazz Consortium
“I woke up out of a deep sleep and started mixing out of a pile of records.” This is how Fred Peterkin begins to describe the recording of LWE’s 29th mix, and given his role as one of contemporary deep house’s foremost authorities it’s as fitting a situation as any. While deepness for deepness’ sake can seem to come out of one’s ears after awhile, with Fred it’s a different story all together. This mix is deep but never stagnant, slowly emerging out of REM cycles and perfectly escalating energy over its two hour runtime. The inclusion of movie quotes put it over the edge, turning an excellent mix into something truly special: a mix that stays with you past subsequent mixes and long after the unreleased material has been released. The era between its release in 2009 and now has seen house music become increasingly focused back to its roots (both geographically and temporally), and while Fred holds high the traditions of New York house, he makes pushing music forward a priority. Fred has only improved as a DJ since this mix emerged (indeed, his recent set at the Bunker remains a very bright highlight of the year so far), but I keep coming back to LWE’s 29th podcast and suspect that I will continue to for years to come. [Chris Miller]

LWE Podcast 42: Anthony “Shake” Shakir
For his fans, Shake just has the Midas touch. His mixes distill the same unstable, incandescent energy that inhabits each component in his own productions. How does Shake pull this off time and again? Within the last ten or twelve years, during which the dominant clubland aesthetics have called for mixes to have fabric-style edgeless polish, or Panorama Bar-esque unassuming functionalism, Shake has stuck to his guns. He revels in what can be created by jamming two partially compatible tracks together in a brightly kinetic collision. LWE 42 furnishes several good examples: exuberant mixing forces the bleeps and other midrange elements of the first three tracks to talk to one another – even though the frayed textures created when some of the other components combine would have dissuaded a DJ more obsessed with showman-like precision from hurtling them together. Perhaps even more importantly, Shake, like few others, creates mixes that work as a whole. Peven Everett’s “All The Time” is not a track I would reach for as a DJ, or even one for which I might muster much enthusiasm if it landed in my in-tray for review; and yet as the giddy counterpoint to the murkily psychological fare that entangles it on both sides in Shake’s mix, it works great. It’s these ecstatic moments that elevate Shake head and shoulders above the fray, and the fact that LWE 42 wonderfully conveys the rare (as hen’s teeth!) mix of physicality and narrative sensibility needed to create such moments makes it one of my favorites in the series. [Colin Shields]

LWE Podcast 59: John Roberts
Casual listeners to John Roberts’ debut album Glass Eights might have been surprised to hear the lascivious come-ons of KC Flight’s “Summer Madness.” But beneath the buttoned-up, wallflower appearance of Roberts’ own music is an house badass just dying to flex his muscles. The point is proved by his LWE mix which ploughs a furrow I’d like to christen “sensitive thug”: the aforementioned “Sex For Daze” mix rubs up against Robert Owens wittering on about how he’ll be your friend, while “Jack Your Big Booty” is frottaged by the DJ’s own elegant composition “Porcelain.” By the time Italo tearjerker “On and On” brings the mix to a close, one realises that it is in fact merely an extension of Roberts’ own perfect synthesis of rough-house drums and Dial aesthetics: this is what happens when thugs cry. [Peder Clark]

LWE Podcast 62: DJ Qu
While we’ve written countless words on this site about DJ Qu’s inimitable production style, we tend to gloss over the fact that DJing is no small part of what this guy does. And his Little White Earbuds podcast proved beyond all reasonable doubt that the front end of Ramon Lisandro Quezada’s production alias is no false signifier. Dude can mix, but what we got here was a good deal more interesting: where plenty of other producer-DJs let their club sets bolster their 12″ output, Qu’s beats on our 62nd podcast sound very much in the service of his obsessions as a house-head. Those beats — then-exclusives which would go on to assume highlight status on Qu’s long-in-the-works Gymnastics album — mostly rub shoulders with a tightly interconnected circle of like-minded producers, from globetrotters like Jus-Ed and Nina Kraviz to unsung Exchange Place heroes Joey Anderson and Nicuri. But rather than simply restate Underground Quality, this podcast traveled truly recast these now-familiar sounds: New York house found its dark side, and Qu’s signature swirling rhythms (to borrow his words, “Thump and Vibe”) emerged from their cocoons as the stuff of anthems. [Jordan Rothlein]

LWE Podcast 63: Silent Servant vs DVS1
I’ve been listening to techno for over twenty years; my musical education and explorations included huge doses of the purist Detroit and German variety, so it has always held a special place in my heart and ears. I frequently used to listen to a tape of Jeff Mills live at Liquid Room to lull myself to sleep in my mid teens and even though my tastes have mellowed slightly from the hard-as-nails techno I used to prefer, I love hearing techno played properly. Silent Servant and DVS1 bring all the right ingredients to this mix that make techno such a joy to listen to. The mixing is tight, the tracks sound both timeless and futuristic (classic techno like this could have been made any time in the last 15-20 years and still sound like it’s fresh out the box), and there is a raw, tribalistic energy conveyed that keeps things moving and interesting. I love how Silent Servant mixes up the old and new, introducing old cuts to new ears and vice versa, while DVS1 goes mostly for cold, steely look at more recent releases. To me this epitomizes late night, heads down techno and it’s my favorite in our series. [Per Bojsen-Moller]

LWE Podcast 70: Elgato
I’m not sure what it means that my favorite mix in the podcast series is one composed entirely of old tracks; a determinedly “retro” mix seems the kind of musical dessert that shouldn’t be held above perhaps more “adventurous” endeavors. But really, fuck it. Just listen to this mix. Maybe it’s the novelty of a podcast by one of 2010′s most audacious and universally acclaimed new kids on the block making deeply experimental house music turning out to be an orthodox set of old garage from both sides of the Atlantic. Maybe it’s the fact that the selection is unparalleled, mixing both realms of garageland into one cohesive singularity that feels as deeply, intrinsically UK as it worships at the altar of classic American house. Maybe it’s because it capitalized on what seemed like a looming trend of incorporating house and classic garage into bass music, predicting what would soon become the overarching theme of 2011. Maybe it’s… fuck it. Just listen to this mix. [Andrew Ryce]

LWE Podcast 72: Aroy Dee
Too often when a DJ uses their podcast to spotlight their own label/productions, it distracts from what could be a satisfying mix. And although Steven Brunsmann aka Aroy Dee’s podcast from early this year starts and ends with his own R-A-G trio and features several other M>O>S recordings, it never feels like he’s doing listeners a disservice. Brunsmann’s podcast, taken from a Panorama Bar DJ set late last year, offers a stirring journey through Chicago house and Detroit techno alongside equally significant modern productions. Pulling out lesser known older tracks from The H-Men, MD III and Reel by Real, he slips in and out of textured, moody techno from the likes of Soulomon, Paul Bennett and even the gloriously off-kilter “Bowls” by Caribou. Even when he groups two unreleased (at the time of publishing) tracks from M>O>S together, D’Marc Cantu’s “Set Free” and Brunsmann’s own “Beauty,” the quality of the tracks dispel thoughts that their placement is merely a sales pitch. This podcast is just what it is, a snapshot of Brunsmann’s DJing on one killer night. [Kuri Kondrak]

LWE Podcast 76: Anton Zap
I’ve been through probably 10 to 20 variations on “buses at dusk” trying to describe this Anton Zap podcast. That’s basically the wave it’s on. The Russian producer put together a bunch of unreleased (at the time, anyway) material from his Ethereal Sound label and a few other odds and ends, but the end result is a lot less about singular tracks than fluid, drifting atmosphere. It’s casually engaging but never boring, just subtly switching moods and shades — the BPMs are steady, there are lots of soothing pads — it’s like some kind of deep blue motor. Maybe try thinking of a ride down a post-twilight boulevard: blocks of muted light in apartment windows, closed businesses where the front is neon-lit and then fades off into blackness in the back, faceless people doing that downcast end-of-the-day trudge. It’s one of our moodier, more evocative editions. [Steve Kerr]

LWE’s 59th podcast featured an hour of propulsive vintage and contemporary house mixed by John Roberts. Be sure to add it to your collection before it’s archived this Friday, August 26.

[Aus Music]

As with almost any genre tag, describing something as “bass music” seems to mean much less now than it did when producers first tried to distance themselves from the name dubstep. Initially it was just a different umbrella to stand under, one not affiliated with the wobbling, laddish strain that trades as dubstep these days. By now many are chafing at the term. Others such as Joy Orbison, Lone, SCB, and George FitzGerald simply pen tracks as closely aligned with house music as their jungle/garage influences. Alongside Hotflush Recordings, Aus Music have tapped this vein of UK house, if you will, with great interest. Their latest record, the Silhouette EP, brings together a growing talent in this field, FitzGerald, and another fan of asymmetric house, John Roberts.

The title track is proof of how few boundaries actually exist in between these subdivided genres. FitzGerald again employs synth timbres that wash and reflect like dub chords found in more traditional dubstep, while its rhythmic frame reads as brisk, syncopated house not weighed down by an emphasis on bass. Misty pads and persistent chord stabs crash against androgynous vocals that provide levity and space as they float across drum breaks. John Roberts retrofits “Silhouette” with blown out, woozy parts for a memorable remix that could effectively be called bass music. The blitz of kick drums, clap clusters and tumbling, overdriven bass notes would be almost too much if not for his deft use of space. The differently pitched vocals, whether chattering over warped synth lines or slurring over a somber piano break, are an enormous asset as well. The EP closes on “Reset,” which with its looped vocal backbone is a direct descendent of FitzGerald’s Back and 4th contribution, “We Bilateral.” The interweaving patterns and warm, unobtrusive synth lines are a pleasing backdrop on which female vocals seeking “a new beginning” unfurl. Like the title track it’s an enjoyable fusion of well-explored sounds, although it might be the superior FitzGerald cut. Together with Roberts’ inventive remix, the Silhouette EP is a compelling record for a diverse crowd of house music fans.

[Dial]

A year or so after the release of Pawel’s self-titled debut LP, Dial are attempting to revive a few of its sleepy, mild-mannered tracks with a remix EP. The three contributors on The Remixes all manage to glean something from the originals, amping up core elements for club environments or adding some personal inflections. Not all of their efforts, however, are truly transformative.

Patrice Scott’s remix of “Crillon” is predictably drifting, giving Pawel’s overly tight elements a lot of room to breathe. Scott inserts a hulking, fathoms-deep bass line and swelling pads, sprinkling dubbed-out bits of the original in between. It’s a marked, if not totally resonant improvement, sounding a bit safe next to Scott’s solo catalog. With woodwind stabs and palpitating chimes, the LP’s lighthearted opening track “Panamerican” is a suitable choice for Osunlade, well-known for his interest in traditional African instrumentation and motifs. He leaves the aforementioned elements intact, brightening things with a swifter pace and cleaner sounds. The producer pushes the track farther into his own realm with the addition of talking drums and chanting, but like Scott’s effort, it’s ultimately a staid entry into his catalog.

John Roberts closes the EP with a remix of “Kramnik.” Unlike the preceding tracks, Roberts’ remix is not concerned with the dance floor, replacing the original’s surefooted 4/4 with emanations from an obscured, misfiring drum machine. Sub-bass plumes and a resigned, wistful piano melody are interwoven as the delicate synth pattern from the original loops on top, everything quivering fuzzily. It’s an elegant arrangement as is, but things become truly beautiful when a sweeping cello accompaniment is introduced after a pause. Roberts does a fantastic job of running with Pawel’s work, and his unconventional approach keeps the EP memorable.

10. Darkstar, North
[Hyperdub] (buy)
Darkstar’s debut LP, North, represented a sizable stylistic shift from music they had released up to that point, but when put to the test, transpired to be one of the year’s triumphs. Having evolved from a production duo to a live trio, Darkstar were likely to find themselves trapped between identities, and this album finds comfort in curling up inside the space between old and new. In one sense stepping away from their more obvious dubstep inclinations, the album’s dark, intimate atmosphere simultaneously hearkens back to the early, moodier roots of the genre, huddling in the middle-ground between the electronic and organic as demonstrated on the fizzling beats and sorrowful overtones of “Deadness” and the title track’s machine-gun ballad. However this is a record of cohesion, not conflict; North presents such a introspective train of thought that the spark of brightness injected by earlier hit “Aidy’s Girl’s A Computer” almost seems out of place. However, this isn’t an album that seeks to depress. The mournful strains ebbing throughout are colored with a melancholic hopefulness rather than despondency; and while closing track “When It’s Gone” is just a few black-clad mourners short of a funeral march for the technological age, North christens the promising future in store for Darkstar’s fledgling sound. (Jack Scourfield)

09. Urban Tribe, Urban Tribe
[Mahogani Music] (buy)
Even though the main contributors (Kenny Dixon Jr, Anthony Shakir and Carl Craig) to Urban Tribe are well known, there is still an air of mystery that pervades this year’s Urban Tribe album. Combing through several interviews with founding member Sherard Ingram won’t make it any clearer who did what. In a way, not knowing only adds to the fantastical realm the album inhabits. The industrial dub landscape envisioned in the landmark 1998 debut, The Collapse Of Modern Culture, is expanded upon as the tracks here cover plenty of new ground. Morphing from strange yet wonderful excursions into future soul dubstep (“Program 2″) and claustrophobic hip-hop (“Program 7″) to more straight-ahead deep electro (“Program 5″) and melancholic deep house (“Program 12″), Urban Tribe is provocative in a way that haunts you long after the record stops.
(Kuri Kondrak)

08. Autechre, Oversteps
[Warp Records] (buy)
Autechre’s place in electronic music has often been slightly ahead of everyone else. From the gestational IDM of Tri Repetae to the proto-glitch of Envane and Draft 7.30 all the way through to Confield‘s controversial noise excursions, they’ve had a knack for sneaking up on emerging sounds. The post-dubstep bass textures coupled with beautiful melodies on Oversteps find Autechre with their ear to the ground in 2010 even while continuing their career trend of constantly looking a step beyond. Certainly, opener “R Ess” is rides the resurgence of deep and dark dubstep from artists like Kryptic Minds and Horsepower Productions, even while it sounds uniquely like their handiwork. Even on more standard experimental productions like “Illanders” and “Treale,” the steady thump and deep low-end easily makes these contenders for speaker-rattling choices in the club. In amongst the modern beats and bass are some of the boldest forays into melody Autechre have produced in years. “Known(1)” and “See On See” are both heavily focused on melody, with baroque sounds and structures weaving throughout seemingly abstract backgrounds. Yet here’s no doubt this is an Autechre album, as strange, bubbling music-scatters like “D-Sho Qub” and “St Epreo” clearly show the producers have not emerged from the rabbit hole to aim for dance floor stardom. In an exciting and varied years for electronic music, Sean Booth and Rob Brown prove that songs can be experimental, sound beautiful, and bump heavily all at the same time. (Keith Pishnery)

07. Peter van Hoesen, Entropic City
[Time To Express] (buy)
The second law of thermodynamics states that the entropy (“disorder”) of the universe tends to increase. Peter van Hoesen was wise to choose this as the subject of his first techno full length — not only to capture the hearts of nerds like myself but also because his work seems to embody the concept. His tightly wound tunes, alive with texture and warmth, seem to break down and disintegrate or coalesce around a cloud of synth-born matter. We’re treated to plenty of sweaty 6 AM jams often associated with PVH, but Entropic City stands out as one of the years best because he tempers the tempo and energy with languid, atmospheric cuts. It’s on these slower tunes where van Hoesen’s attention to detail and trance-inducing powers are on full display, where the cliches of techno albums break down. Entropic City is hardly just a collection of tracks: it’s a living, breathing ensemble, with each part’s motion tied into the larger whole — not unlike a city. (Chris Miller)

06. Jon McMillion, Jon McMillion LP
[Nuearth Kitchen] (buy)
Jon McMillion’s debut album didn’t so much appear out of nowhere as it did slowly take shape amongst the fog of other long players this year; in fact for many it was heralded by the stellar collection of remixes that succeeded it. With little to no fanfare to the Seattle producer’s past efforts, he released his imperforate self titled album in September on CD and digital formats, unwittingly turning in the sleeper album of the year. Densely packed with intricate melodies that owe as much to progressive rock and free jazz as conventional house music, McMillion’s album seeps into your senses like a rising tide. The familiar emblems of house are present throughout the album, but it’s the free-form embellishments that tip this long player over the edge into rarely explored territories and mark its uniqueness. McMillion’s voice is a constant presence throughout, but as it coaxes the listener into aural hypnosis with heavy delays he also patches in to sampled elements, making for some of the most familiar-fresh sounds you’ve heard of late. With the digital release of the album clocking in at nearly two hours (and not a scrap of any filler), this is without a doubt one of the most rewarding start to finish albums you’re likely to hear in a long time. (Per Bojsen-Moller)

05. Mount Kimbie, Crooks & Lovers
[Hotflush Recordings] (buy)
On their early EPs, Mount Kimbie sounded like they’d shattered the vase of futuristic dubstep and were trying to figure out how to superglue it back together. By the sound of their debut album, however, the group decided to shatter the vase once again, this time just for fun. Crooks & Lovers exists on the opposite end of the spectrum from Mala’s Return II Space, another one of this year’s finest, albeit for very different reasons: where the DMZ opus restated dubstep’s purpose, Mount Kimbie’s record — a jangly, flawed-to-perfection set not much longer than a Villalobos single — corrupted seemingly without remorse. This year of all years, though we’ve learned that dubstep can sound awesome when it’s all out of whack, and on Crooks & Lovers, there’s truly an art to Mount Kimbie’s nonchalance. Across 11 tracks, each scraggly drum hit, guitar twang, and shred of diva vocal sits mismatched and in precisely the wrong place. But I’m sure anyone who cherished this album shudders to think of what Dominic Maker and Kai Campos would sound like if they’d followed the directions. Other records might have evoked the music of tomorrow as much as Crooks & Lovers, but it’s safe to say that no other album envisioned the year 2100 as a world dominated by an elite of Etsy barons. High tech and handcrafted? Mount Kimbie has proved no one else does it quite like they do. Let’s hope they keep doing it.
(Jordan Rothlein)

04. Scuba, Triangulation
[Hotflush Recordings] (buy)
Forget dubstep for a second, forget its fruitful crossover with techno that’s been going on for years now, forget everything. Scuba’s second album, Triangulation, is just a beautiful piece of spatial sound design: that it comes packed with fantastically inventive beats is a lovely bonus. Triangulation picked up all the loose ends that have been poking out of UK bass music and enveloped each one in Paul Rose’s particular array of moods and sounds. As sensually humid as it was coldly industrial, its sounds had a habit of diffusing in and out the mix like warm breath in a frozen warehouse. It was sufficiently sleek to fulfill even the most extreme futurist fetishes but approachable enough to satisfy listeners looking for something more soulful and affecting. Scuba adeptly played with techno (“Heavy Machinery”), dubstep (“Three Sided Shape”), garage (“On Deck”), and crawling halfstep drum-n-bass (twin standouts “Before” and “So You Think You’re Special”) without ever moving beyond his (vast) comfort zone. However, the album’s best quality is that it made context needless even in the presence of multiple genre exercises: in providing a comprehensive survey of current dance music, he demolished dance music itself and rebuilt it with his own set of rules. Triangulation was a collective epiphany, the sound of an accomplished artist discovering what he needed to do and then doing it right before your eyes. It doesn’t matter what you think about “dubstep,” anyone who was interested in electronic music in 2010 needs this record to witness one of its most daring and inspiring events. (Andrew Ryce)

03. John Roberts, Glass Eights
[Dial] (buy)
After a string of laudable 12-inches and a few scattered remixes and compilation cuts, John Roberts made good on his promise as Dial’s next great album producer with his debut long player, Glass Eights. The album finds him coalescing around a more uniform aesthetic, sounding a bit like you’d expect the producer’s headspace would during a succession of ten sunless winter days. Gone are the overt ghetto-house references, that former swagger now drenched in piano reverb and twinkling bells, those eternal signifiers of electronic melancholia. Deeper listens divulge an intensive attention to detail, compositions so nuanced and personal it feels shameful to worry about their efficacy in a club setting. Roberts notoriously composes in bed, and Glass Eights bears its influence, using house music as a bridge between the openness of his own space and the claustrophobic rest of the world. To sound purely like oneself, especially on one’s debut album, is a high achievement, and this is precisely what Roberts has done. (Steve Kerr)

02. Shed, The Traveller
[Ostgut Ton] (buy)
If Shedding The Past, René Pawlowitz’s first album as Shed, was a personal manifesto then his sophomore long-player, The Traveller, was closer to a collection of short stories. Its 48-minute run-time belied how many styles and ideas Pawlowitz was able to execute, containing 14 tracks wherein the revered artist flexed his production muscles in almost every imaginable direction. Despite flitting from euphoric ambience (“Stp2″) and chunky, Detroit-influenced techno (“Atmo-Action”) to face-melting techno (“Hdrtm”) and grandiose junglisms (“Leave Things”), the sustained complexity and quality of the arrangements bind the album together. Its diversity recalled the genre-spanning albums that were once common in electronic music (think early LFO, The Black Dog or B12 LPs) and Pawlowitz’s ravishing slate of melodies echoes the timeless sonorities of early Richard D. James productions. The Traveller feels like a product of its circumstances — having been created at the behest of Ostgut Ton in a mere two months — and its maker’s curt personality, taking only the time necessary to make its case and then moving on. Standing in contrast with his first full-length, Pawlowitz’s sophomore album was sure to disappoint those who anticipated another grand treatise. Expecting as much missed the point: The Traveller was a potent dispatch from where Pawlowitz stood in 2010, one that found him still far ahead of the pack with plenty of ammunition to spare. (Steve Mizek)

01. Actress, Splazsh
[Honest Jon's Records] (buy)
Discussing the quest for his own little corner of the electronic music spectrum with The Wire, unabashed techno enthusiast Darren Cunningham spoke candidly on the anxiety of influence. “When you’ve got the Detroit shadow looming over you… you need to come with something quite decent. I took time to find what my sound was.” Splazsh is the stunning realization of that effort, a richly introverted hour whose modulated drones, anxious stop-start rhythms and swung funk distinguishes itself from forebears and contemporaries through what are, by now, Actress’ calling-card idiosyncrasies: the raw rumble of blown-out bass, the overdone EQ-ing and, of course, the security-tape rendering of compression and distortion. These tricks coalesce hypnotically in a twinning of the ominous and euphoric, but it isn’t sound design that made Splazsh one of 2010′s major events. It’s that Cunningham just seems to be viewing music from a markedly different vantage point than the rest of us. This is a guy who originally fancied 2009′s “Ghosts Have A Heaven” a good fit for Underground Resistance, and who described “Hubble” as a study of “Erotic City.” And his sophomore LP is every bit as eccentric, abstract and playful as we hoped to hear. Hopscotching from spectral haze to glassy R&B to nightvision garage to aggro glitch, Splazsh sometimes manages to roll and swing and swagger and coo all at once. But it regularly puzzles and surprises us too, never quite fitting the hybridized genre tags we lob at it. We’ll surely be listening closely to this one long after 2010 ends, clamoring for a glimpse of whatever it is that Darren Cunningham sees through his prismatic window to the world of rhythm music. (Chris Burkhalter)

++
Staff Lists:

Per Bojsen-Moller

01. Actress, Splazsh [Honest Jon's Records]
02. Mount Kimbie, Crooks & Lovers [Hotflush Recordings]
03. John Roberts, Glass Eights [Dial]
04. Jon McMillion, Jon McMillion LP [Nuearth Kitchen]
05. Scuba, Triangulation [Hotflush Recordings]
06. Four Tet, There Is Love In You [Domino]
07. Christopher Rau, Asper Clouds [Smallville]
08. Conforce, Machine Conspiracy [Meanwhile]
09. Peter Van Hoesen, Entropic City [Time To Express]
10. Caribou, Swim [City Slang]

Chris Burkhalter

01. Actress, Splazsh [Honest Jon's Records]
02. Arp & Anthony Moore, Today’s Psalter [RVNG]
03. Autechre, Oversteps [Warp]
04. Peter Van Hoesen, Entropic City [Time To Express]
05. Masayoshi Fujita & Jan Jelinek, Bird, Lake, Objects [Faitiche]
06. Digital Mystikz, Return II Space [DMZ]
07. Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh [Motown]
08. John Roberts, Glass Eights [Dial]
09. Lerosa, Dual Nature [Further]
10. Donato Dozzy, K [Further]

Steve Kerr

01. Actress, Splazsh [Honest Jon’s]
02. John Roberts, Glass Eights [Dial]
03. Urban Tribe, Urban Tribe [Mahogani Music]
04. DJ Roc, The Crack Capone [Planet Mu]
05. Shed, The Traveller [Ostgut Tonträger]
06. Salem, King Night [IAMSOUND]
07. Autre Ne Veut, Autre Ne Veut [Olde English Spelling Bee]
08. Arp, The Soft Wave [Smalltown Supersound]
09. Lukid, Chord [Werk Discs]
10. Grimes, Halfaxa [Arbutus]

Anton Kipfel

01. John Roberts, Glass Eights [Dial]
02. Sandwell District, Feed-Forward [Sandwell District]
03. Shed, The Traveller [Ostgut Ton]
04. Brandt Brauer Frick, You Make Me Real [!K7]
05. Actress, Splazsh [Honest Jon's Records Records]
06. Scuba, Triangulation [Hotflush Recordings]
07. Jon McMillion, Jon McMillion LP [Nuearth Kitchen]
08. Mount Kimbie, Crooks & Lovers [Hotflush Recordings]
09. Ripperton, Niwa [Green]
10. Peter Van Hoesen, Entropic City [Time To Express]

Kuri Kondrak

01. A Guy Called Gerald, Tronic Jazz The Berlin Sessions [Laboratory Instinct]
02. Urban Tribe, Urban Tribe [Mahogani]
03. Lone, Emerald Fantasy Tracks [Magic Wire]
04. Red Rack’em, The Early Years [Bergerac]
05. Actress, Splaszh [Honest Jon's Records]
06. Jon McMillion, Jon McMillion LP [Nuearth Kitchen]
07. Fabrice Lig, Genesis Of The Deep [Fine Art Recordings]
08. Aybee, Ancient Tones [Further]
09. The Black Dog , Music For Real Airports [Soma]
10. Oneohtrix Point Never, Returnal [Editions Mego]

Chris Miller

01. Scuba, Triangulation [Hotflush Recordings]
02. John Roberts, Glass Eights [Dial]
03. Shed, The Traveller [Ostgut Ton]
04. Peter van Hoesen, Entropic City [Time To Express]
05. Actress, Splazsh [Honest Jon's Records]
06. Demdike Stare, Liberation Through Hearing [Modern Love]
07. Autechre, Oversteps [Warp]
08. Mount Kimbie, Crooks & Lovers [Hotflush Recordings]
09. Donnacha Costello, Before We Say Goodbye [Poker Flat]
10. Donato Dozzy, K [Further Records]

Steve Mizek

01. John Roberts, Glass Eights [Dial]
02. Actress, Splazsh [Honest Jon's Records Records]
03. Shed, The Traveller [Ostgut Ton]
04. Robyn, Body Talk [Konnichiwa]
05. Emeralds, Do You Think I’m Here? [Editions Mego]
06. Jon McMillion, Jon McMillion LP [Nuearth Kitchen]
07. Lindstrøm & Christabelle, Real Life Is No Cool
[Feedelity/Smalltown Supersound]
08. Tobacco, Manic Meat [Anticon]
09. Arto Mwambe, Live At Robert Johnson Vol. 4 [Live at Robert Johnson]
10. Brandt Brauer Frick, You Make Me Real [!K7]

Sarah Joy Murray

01. Reagenz, Playtime [Workshop]
02. Lerosa, Dual Nature [Further]
03. Shed, The Traveller [Ostgut Ton]
04. Space Dimension Controller, Temporary Thrillz [R&S Records]
05. Pantha du Prince, Black Noise [Rough Trade]
06. Redshape, Red Pack [Present]
07. Margaret Dygas, How Do You Do [Power Shovel Audio]
08. Peter Van Hoesen, Entropic City [Time to Express]
09. Virgo, Virgo (Reissue) [Rush Hour]
10. Aybee, Ancient Tones [Further]

Keith Pishnery

01. Rudi Zygadlo, Great Western Laymen [Planet Mu]
02. Ital Tek, Midnight Colour [Planet Mu]
03. Starkey, Ear Drums and Black Holes [Planet Mu]
04. Autechre, Oversteps [Warp]
05. Flying Lotus, Cosmogramma [Warp]
06. Terror Danjah, Undeniable [Hyperdub]
07. Four Tet, There Is Love In You [Domino]
08. Scuba, Triangulation [Hotflush Recordings]
09. Ikonika, Contact, Love, Want Have [Hyperdub]
10. Take, Only Mountain [Alpha Pup]

Jordan Rothlein

01. Mount Kimbie, Crooks & Lovers [Hotflush Recordings]
02. T++, Wireless [Honest Jon's Records]
03. Shed, The Traveller [Ostgut Tonträger]
04. Digital Mystikz, Return II Space [DMZ]
05. John Roberts, Glass Eights [Dial]
06. Tin Man, Scared [White Denim]
07. Scuba, Triangulation [Hotflush Recordings]
08. Sleigh Bells, Treats [Mom + Pop]
09. Actress, Splazsh [Honest Jon's Records Records]
10. Salem, King Night [IAMSOUND]

Andrew Ryce

01. Scuba, Triangulation [Hotflush Recordings]
02. Darkstar, North [Hyperdub]
03. Shed, The Traveller [Ostgut Ton]
04. Jack Sparrow, Circadian [Tectonic]
05. ASC, Nothing Is Certain [NonPlus+]
06. Sandwell District, Feed-Forward [Sandwell District]
07. Guido, Anidea [Punch Drunk]
08. Pantha Du Prince, Black Noise [Rough Trade]
09. Roof Light, Kirkwood Gaps [Highpoint Lowlife]
10. Terror Danjah, Undeniable [Hyperdub]

Jack Scourfield

01. Eleven Tigers, Clouds Are Mountains [Soul Motive]
02. Jimmy Edgar, XXX [Studio !K7]
03. Darkstar, North [Hyperdub]
04. Baths, Cerulean [Anticon]
05. Teebs, Ardour [Brainfeeder]
06. Four Tet, There Is Love In You [Domino]
07. Salem, King Night [IamSound]
08. Flying Lotus, Cosmogramma [Warp]
09. Terror Danjah, Undeniable [Hyperdub]
10. Dettmann, Dettmann [Ostgut Ton]

As the world continued to crumble in 2010, it was never easier to huddle in a solipsistic state with your favorite music, whether you were hiding in a corner of your bedroom or a dance floor. Musically, things weren’t always so rosy either: while some scenes stagnated, dance music continued to fragment, and it was the brave warriors who patched things together that endured as the most memorable. Indeed, 2010′s indelible and unforgettable artists were the ones who made broad reaches towards other scenes and styles, daring leaps of faith into the unfamiliar. The 4/4 world of techno and house was never more buddy-buddy with the sensual swing of dubstep and its many offshoots, and most of the artists below made their presence known with music that stood defiantly in between these borders, blurring divisive genre lines into a lush soft focus. These five artists and their unparalleled vision gave 2010 its definition: the proudly stubborn inability to be defined.

05. Actress
Actress is the musical pseudonym for London producer Darren Cunningham, whose impenetrable haze was, well, impenetrable. His dubstep fans tended to lump him in with techno, and techno fans might have considered him more aligned with dubstep. The truth lies somewhere else entirely, as Cunningham’s productions take the most from the weirdest extremes of Drexciya. His 2010 output was, like a few others on this list, composed of only a few releases, but their palpable impact was unparalleled. Actress’ second album Splazsh was released on the well-respected Honest Jon’s label, inhabited its own universe, and laid out a unique alphabet for house music and electro. It was a language that lasted only as long as the album’s running time but proved unshakable, not only demanding repeat listens but creating a psychological demand for them: never has addiction been so encompassed in a piece of music. Splazsh led the way through a year captivated by engineered nostalgia and alternate universe fetishization but was unmatched in its complete conception of something pure and new. He was also one of the few to coax new music out of the infamous Zomby in 2010, and like Kassem Mosse released an EP on NonPlus+ where his sound was fitted with sharp metallic edges. These other moments are ultimately peripheral: a statement as confident and engrossing as Splazsh needs nothing but itself to justify a place in 2010′s pantheon of greatness.

04. John Roberts
Sometimes it’s the traditional and predictable story arcs that are the most satisfying. Cleveland’s John Roberts (now based in Berlin) burst onto the scene with a cloud of hype already clinging to him for dear life, quickly inking a deal with Dial. But even as the legendary Hamburg label started its slow and sad decline into irrelevance, Roberts’ star shone bright, releasing brilliant EP after EP that only exhibited further refinement. Indeed, it was Roberts who provided many of the highlights of the Laid sub-label that began to outshine its parent: tracks like “White” and “Blame” were the work of an artist trying to find his voice and striking gold. Roberts’ debut album Glass Eights justhad to be great — and it was — but the way it united the fickle and difficult international dance music community was nothing short of astounding, never mind around a label that had already been dismissed in the minds of many. Roberts proved an adept master of the form, creating something with as much living room merit as dance floor functionality, a piece that flowed with silky ease. If there’s one thing that everyone should be able to agree on, it’s that Roberts owned house music, at least for the second half of 2010. Even bass music godhead Hyperdub gave a nod, tapping Roberts to remix of one of 2010′s other most talked-about electronic music prospects in brooding pop auteurs Darkstar. You should know by now that one was great too.

03. James Blake
It’s a rare occurrence when dance music producers turn into pop stars — perhaps thankfully, considering the dip in quality that usually results. That James Blake seems well on his way towards the limelight, after just over a year on the scene and without watering down his strikingly idiosyncratic sound, is an even rarer occurrence. Never mind that he doesn’t really make dubstep — his spectral seances are unclassifiable, his innate ability for vocal manipulation easily rivaling David Kennedy’s. Blake began his year with the Bells Sketch for Hessle Audio, where he explored spindly g-funk atop lurching beats, and continued with a breathtaking remix of Mount Kimbie’s “Maybes.” Then he signed to R&S as part of that label’s bass music campaign, releasing the R&B-saturated CMYK EP and the fragile and intensely personal piano dirges of Klavierwerke, both of which garnered praise from sectors all but removed from dance music. But Blake ended 2010 with the first salvo from his upcoming debut, a straightforward cover of Feist’s “Limit To Your Love” featuring drilling sub-bass and Blake’s own, (nearly) untouched baritone. Where he goes from there remains to be seen, but 2010 will likely remain his banner year, where he deconstructed trends and made surprisingly inviting and inclusive outsider art from the fragments.

02. Kassem Mosse
There’s something to be said for restraint in these heady days of internet-enabled greedy consumption, and German techno/house producer Kassem Mosse embodies it to a tee in both his work ethic and his singular music. Mosse had a paucity of releases this year but his influence was felt everywhere, seeping even into dubstep-dominated UK sectors. After taking the dance music world by quiet storm with his releases on Workshop, the labels Mosse chose in 2010 were unsurprising. Namely, the previously unconquered territory of Dial sub-label Laid and Instra:mental’s drum-n-bass-leaning NonPlus+ imprint. Neither seems a likely home for the producer who hews close to the Workshop aesthetic of decayed and sludgy deep house (something increasingly referred to as “narcohouse,” for better or for worse). But Mosse’s sound shifted as unpredictably as did his music’s home. The NonPlus+ release showed him exploring the electro-indebted side of his music, balancing a militaristic march with the drum machine wind tunnels of “Hi Res,” and fit himself comfortably with the label’s disparate roster. Of course, there was also “Untitled” on Laid, the 11-minute epic that to touched on the entirety of Mosse’s career without repeating anything. With a new groundswell of support emerging from the bass-addled corners of the UK, Mosse’s star is rising rapidly: but even if he manages to squeeze out more than a few releases in 2011, I’m not sure they could possibly live up to the greatness he embodied in 2010.

01. David Kennedy
If you’ve been watching closely enough, there haven’t been very many genres or scenes that Leeds’ David Kennedy hasn’t wickedly twisted into his own instantly recognizable signature style. There’s just no one who can do the same things with a few dry, ticking snares and vocal fragments: Kennedy flips, snaps, wheels, and spins, recklessly flinging sounds into scattershot regions. Beginning 2010 in full sprint after a strong 2009, Ramadanman triumphantly dropped a stunning self-titled doublepack EP. The EP saw him bare and clinical — stylistically similar to his pal Untold — the string of reductions culminating in exemplary junglist nostalgia with the slippery “Don’t Change For Me.” Then saw the long-awaited release of his drum-n-bass flirtation, “Down With You,” after which Kennedy turned his gaze to juke. The confounding “Work Them” was perhaps the only UK track that came close to rivaling the ubiquity and rhythmic invention of Addison Groove’s “Footcrab.” Of course, there was also “Glut,” in which Kennedy snuck the juke influence into something much more conventional, or the white label “Grab Somebody” which woozily spun in circles until its edges blurred, or the coup of his refix of Jamie Woon’s “Night Air,” a loping pop-house number that managed to overshadow Burial. You know that’s not easy. Oh yeah, and he made some house and techno on Aus too. As if casually brushing all of this off, he released a new Pearson Sound EP on Hessle at the very end of the year, one which interrogated classic house through his typical palette, and pretty well sums up a monolithic year for the producer: expert, effortless, and jaw-dropping.

There’s long been talk about podcasts usurping mix CDs, but that never felt as overwhelmingly possible as it did in 2010. It isn’t just that there were only a handful of convincing commercial mixes available, although that certainly didn’t help. What really made the influx of podcasts feel so intense was the sheer quantity of them. Plenty sit here on my computer unheard simply because of time constraints and there are hundreds more out there just waiting to be discovered. 2010 may have been stocked to the brim with WikiLeaks and anti-austerity protests, but some days it seems that neither compare to the glut of podcasts. That said, I cannot claim this is the definitive list of the best mixes from the second half of 2010, but these are the ten that hit me the hardest and still get regularly aired. If you want to know the soundtrack to this writer’s 2010, this list and the first half list should just about cover it.

Steffi – mnml ssgs labyrinth special
Steffi’s productions may tend towards deep, sometimes-vocal house (just check her latest “Reasons” for Underground Quality or “Kill Me” on Ostgut Ton), but as a DJ she’s nearly impossible to define. What’s most impressive about her mixes are the many moods and styles she manages to go through while keeping everything cohesive, and her mix for mnml ssgs in anticipation of Labyrinth was no exception. Her deft touch and always killer selection make her one of the most exciting DJs, and made this mix simply one of the best of the year.

Peverelist – RA.218
I can’t quite figure out Peverelist. On the one hand, he seems to be one of the only DJs around with a purist attitude towards dubstep, and on the other hand he pushes bass music further than almost anyone else. Both sides are on display in his killer contribution to RA’s podcast series, where Pev keeps true to dubplate culture while showcasing some of Punch Drunk’s finest 2010 emissions (of which there were many) and plenty of other big tunes the UK offered up this year. Essential.

reagenz – lunar landing live
David Moufang and Jonah Sharp’s recent releases on Workshop were excellent, but hardly the only reason the reagenz project has been so vital. This vast, immersive live set, made available at the beginning of this year on Soundcloud, has been on constant repeat for me. Kicking off with slowly moving textures and eventually encompassing more beat-driven pieces (climaxing with, of course, the indomitable “Keep Building”) resulted in an incredible, glowing set. As a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, nothing sent me to the moon quite like this.

Function – Promo Mix 009 /// Red Zone
Function: Sandwell Collective member, techno extraordinaire. But that would be selling Dave Sumner’s talents short, given that his Promo Mix representing New York’s Red Zone in 1991 was an incredible trip through the most classic of house music. This mix, and its explanation provide a top notch history lesson, from the use of rotary mixers to the decay of New York nightlife in the early 90′s.

Conforce – FACT mix 168
Conforce may have produced one of the best EPs of this year (the incredible, ethereal Grace EP on Delsin), but his sheer talent was probably best on display in this sterling live set. FACT’s podcast series can be a tough one to keep up with, but this mix shines brightly above the almost one hundred podcasts they offered this year. Melodic and swinging, this hit my techno pleasure zones every time.

Eli Verveine – bptchk! fanzine #03
I feel like Eli Verveine may be the most underrated DJ on the planet. Perhaps my perception of her popularity is a bit off, but if gigs were booked based on straight talent Eli would be traveling the world with the best of them. Her “Rawmance” mix for French website-cum-print-publication Boing Poum Tchak! is a perfect example of her warm and romantic style. To dance with fireside with a bottle of red wine.

Ramadanman – Bestimix 23
These days Ramadanman sets are almost unfair given that he can play so many of his own productions and dubs. The man’s 12″s and various unreleased goodies this year were like gold; giving any DJ who wielded them an incredible leg up. That’s not to diminish David Kennedy’s own DJing chops, as his Bestimix is an addicting mix of modern bass music. But when his own productions hit, watch out.

JD Twitch – Optimo Podcast 06: Acid Eyeful
Optimo may be known for their eclectic DJ sets, but when they focus on a singular sound the results can be staggering. Case in point: JD Twitch’s ode to acid house “Acid Eyeful” (cheeky name). Flurries of 808s and, of course, 303s are all here, sure to induce wild and jacking acid flashbacks. A great companion to their fabric 52 CD, released around the same time.

Autonomic Layer 11
The Instra:Mental/dBridge/Autonomic juggernaut has been near unstoppable this year. Their own label NonPlus+ reached well outside the confines of drum and bass (Kassem Mosse, Actress), and so do the Autonomic mixes. While 2009 saw a new one almost every month, the appearance of Layer 11 in October after an unfortunate drought was more than a welcome sight. Unsurprisingly it’s a destructive bit of modern drum and bass, electro, house, and everything in between, bookmarked by the always-enjoyable influences sections. If you want to hear the future, the Autonomic crew have you covered.

John Roberts – LWE Podcast 59
We’ve gotta give props to our own series, especially in a year where we felt with each Monday came a really killer listen. Picking just one LWE mix from the past couple months has caused many headaches, but I’ve got to give it up to John Robert’s magical set of dusty Chicago house. Classics from Trax, Robert Owens and others sat alongside future classics, especially Roberts’ own “Porcelain.”

[Hyperdub]

When you make as drastic a stylistic transformation as Hyperdub dubstep duo Darkstar did by turning into a synth-pop trio for their debut album North, how do you reconcile this change to an already-devoted fanbase? Why, you get one of the hottest names in deep house to remix the first single! Wait, what? It’s a typically provocative bit of A&R from Steve Goodman (aka Kode 9) and Marcus Scott, and in a way a logical sequel to Kyle Hall’s Darkstar remix on last year’s “Aidy’s Girl Is A Computer.”

The original “Gold” is one of the most straightforward tracks on North. A cover of an obscure 1983 Human League b-side, it offers a hauntological hum-and-buzz, tip-toeing over electrified panels and stumbling over a decaying piano enmeshed in the track’s scintillatingly throbbing structure. It’s this piano that provides the logical grasping point for John Roberts, whose own productions make prominent use of the instrument, but his remix of “Gold” isn’t just a would-be castoff from his recent (and fantastic) Glass Eights LP. The remix is grittier and rougher than any of his material since the Hesitate EP, the edges sawed off the soot-caked piano so it becomes a tangled, trampled underfoot melody daintily decorated with dulcet vibes and handclaps. Those claps quickly become the focal point, shooting out rapidly as if from a nail gun over the faint vestiges of James Buttery’s voice. They contort and pitch-shift in a way not unlike early breaks-driven jungle, and Roberts’ intriguing mix of desperate intensity and his classy jazz-influenced atmosphere proves a perfect foil for Darkstar’s defeated, forlorn machine pop.

[Dial Records]

One of many reasons why house music fans return to the genre’s founding documents so frequently is because they were created without rules or expectations. With only disco and new wave in their rear view mirrors, most early house producers had nothing to conform to and subsequently pushed their sounds and rhythms in every possible direction; it’s why so many of those records still sound remarkably fresh and relevant. But while many contemporary producers are content to inject “old school” signifiers into their slick productions, few dare to defy conventional thinking and draw outside the lines. From his first EP for Dial Records, John Roberts seemed to share this limitless approach to songwriting, folding an unusually dynamic array of timbres into unexpected percussion patterns that read as house almost incidentally. On Glass Eights, his debut album, Roberts embodies the unrestrained creativity of house music progenitors while offering an aesthetic that is wholly his own.

The tools and production methods Roberts uses are largely the same as those used by his peers and even house music’s forefathers: his sonic tapestry of vintage synths and drum machines, piano, and various string instruments is woven together with a steady if inconspicuous thread of samples. But besides a reverence for house music’s 4×4 time signature there’s little else tying the ten tracks on Glass Eights to any period in the genre’s past or present. What’s immediately evident is how much care Roberts poured into recording and processing each element, resulting in spine-tingling piano lines, radiant synth strains and phantasmal drones that are singular to his songs. His arrangements are equally well considered, affording melodies and Dance Mania-influenced rhythm patterns the clever timing and ample space required to resonate and compliment their surroundings. The album is propulsive and catchy enough to serve as grist for dance floors but so luxuriously detailed and cohesive it’s most rewarding when heard from start to finish.

Although Roberts proved capable of pulling off ambitious compositions on earlier tracks like “Pruned,” which appears on the album, Glass Eights is a bold step forward for the American-born, Berlin-based producer. Where earlier tracks dazzled listeners with canny drum programming and a few dabs of tone color, the album finds Roberts’ just as shrewd at writing memorable melodies and adding vivid synth vamps. On album opener “Lesser” he tangles a flurry of plucked tones around grainy piano chords that lift the mood and grow luminescent. Organ chords gyrate and flicker behind the cascading drum rolls of “Dedicated,” their tone growing sore as the progressions become restless. From its bed of primeval drones to the smeared tones rushing to keep up with warbling organ pitches, “Porcelain” feels like being pulled backwards through time as memories undo themselves in front of you. After the elegiac piano sonata, “Went” (co-written by Carson Chan), the title track concludes the album on a hopeful note, padding the dance floor in balmy notes and ringing piano runs for the delicate, swooping movements of a cello solo.

Perhaps the greatest success of Glass Eights is how Roberts places his songs in specific contexts that add flavor and purpose. He overtly references the vinyl listening experience through dusty crackles and on “August” bends the opening pitches as if someone had placed their finger on the record, making the medium part of the message. Backwards threaded progressions appear on several tracks as well, but never so effectively as on “Navy Blue.” The way its retrograde opening snaps into focus with the addition of deftly placed claps and slams into gear upon the kick drum’s arrival is brilliant, unexpected, and only the preface of a stunning track. “Ever Or Not” conveys a sense of place when its seductive piano chords ripple outward and evoke the serenity of a vast, empty room. By rooting Glass Eights in distinct contexts rather than historical nostalgia, Roberts imparted a timelessness sure to have artists and admirers revisiting the album for years to come.

In an era of heightened competition among dance music producers for the chance to be heard, it’s often not enough to quickly coalesce around a signature sound. Standing out is the reward for producers who develop an aesthetic that does more than echo bygone movements or contemporary trends. John Roberts has achieved both of these substantial goals with remarkable swiftness and positioned himself among house music’s most forward thinking minds. The American-born, Berlin-based producer made first piqued our interest in 2008 with quirky, intricate rhythms and demure melodies for Dial and Feel Music. Since then his prowess has only grown more apparent as he’s offered confident and melodically rich songs on Laid and Dial that reach stunning levels on his forthcoming debut album, Glass Eights. We were pleased to discuss with Roberts how his album took shape, the environs that influence his music, and what the future holds for him. He was also kind enough to compile LWE’s 59th exclusive podcast, more than an hour of propulsive vintage and contemporary house.

LWE Podcast 59: John Roberts (68:49)

Tracklist:

01. KC Flight, “Summer Madness” (Sex For Days Mix) [RCA]
02. Robert Owens, “I’ll Be Your Friend” (Dead Zone Mix) [RCA]
03. T. Kolai, “9.11″ [Ibadan]
04. Pop Stars, “Pop Goes The House” (Dub Instrumental Edit) [BCM Records]
05. Kerri “Kaoz 6:23″ Chandler, “Where Is Love” [Madhouse Records Inc.]
06. Trey Lorenz, “Photograph of Mary” (Moody Dub) [Epic]
07. Virgo Four, “Take Me Higher” [Trax Records]
08. Sfire, “Sfire #2″ [white*]
09. Virgo Four, “Take Me Higher” [Trax Records]
10. Mark Imperial & Co., “She Ain’t Nuthin’ But A Hoe” (Dissin’ All Hoes 46th Street Dub) [House Nation Records]
11. Jody “Fingers” Finch, “Jack Your Big Booty” (BHQ No Acid Vocal)
[Let's Pet Puppies]
12. John Roberts, “Porcelain” [Dial]
13. Bluejeans Regime, “Untrue Affection” (Dark Club Mix) [Brainiak Records]
14. MJB, “Seven Days” (Shelter Instrumental) [Underground Access]
15. Blackman, “Beat That Bitch With A Bat”
[Rush Hour Recordings/Trax Records]
16. G Strings, “Motivation” [G Strings]
17. Risqué Rythum Team, “122 House” [Chicago Connection Records]
18. Decadance, “On And On (Fears Keep On)” (Dub Version) [Proto Records]
* denotes tracks which, as of the time of publishing, are unreleased

Were you involved with music while growing up? In what ways?

John Roberts: I started playing the violin when I was five years old at The Cleveland Institute of Music. I went a few days a week to the school for private lessons, theory classes, group lessons, and orchestra rehearsals. I did this until I was 15, I think. Somewhere in the middle of that I started playing the drums which I really liked and continued with that for about six years. I also took guitar lessons for awhile during that time, maybe two years, but I was never very good at it and only wanted to learn how to play shitty punk songs. I’m really thankful to my parents for giving me the opportunity to take all of those lessons though.

You’ve cited hip-hop as one of your favorite styles of music and as source of inspiration for your own music. How then did you end up making house music instead of hip-hop instrumentals? Does making hip-hop instrumentals hold any appeal to you?

My relationship with hip-hop always existed on a very commercial level because I was just listening to it on the radio and cassettes when I was younger. For some reason I equated people who had music on the radio with people who were on TV — I thought of both as some sort of impenetrable, impossible to reach zone. So when I got interested in electronic music and realized there were local scenes in the areas I was living I guess it seemed more within reach to me. I think also just working within a house framework was something that I seemed to have more personal success at. I definitely tried to make instrumental hip-hop early on but what I was producing was sort of boring to me. Now the idea of producing some sort of commercial R’n'B or rap seems sort of appealing but I don’t know if I would ever actually end up doing it.

I know you enjoy making music in bed, but I can’t imagine you’ve got all your instruments at your disposal. What is your writing process like? Does producing in bed ever color the way you think about making dance music?

I usually start by going to used record stores and choosing things to sample. Sometimes I’m looking more for drum sounds and other times I look for something melodic to build a track around. This is one of my favorite parts of the process by far. After that I usually go to my studio and chop up the samples I want to use and record myself playing some things on synthesizers and drum machines. Then I do the actual sequencing of the tracks in bed at night or early in the morning when I wake up. I usually just do this on headphones, or if I’m completely depressed I just bring all of my equipment on the mattress with me and put monitors at the foot of the bed. I generally try to stay away from that, though. I think working in bed completely shapes that way I make music because when I’m there I feel the least vulnerable.

What has the change in environment from NY to Berlin been like for you? I imagine it can be tough to concentrate on work when there’s so much else to do.

I actually had a tougher time staying motivated due to the general attitude here originally. In New York I had the feeling that everyone was hustling all of the time, so I felt really motivated to work as hard as possible. In Berlin everyone is so relaxed that it can be easy to slip into that mindset too (which isn’t always necessarily a bad thing, but I prefer to stay busy). But I think it was good for me, ultimately. It taught me to be very self-motivated, which I never really was in the past.

Who are the people who serve as your musical sounding boards?

I really only ever play things that are unfinished for two of my close friends, Jeffrey and Eric. I’ve known both of them for years so they know what I’m trying to do, and I know how to properly gauge their responses. Then when things get to a more finished state I send them to Pete [Lawrence] and David [Carsten Jost] to get their opinions.

Editing is one of the most crucial and overlooked steps in the production. Who do you turn to for editing advice?

I try to rely pretty heavily on myself when it comes to editing. I think that ultimately only you really know why you chose to do something, and as long as you do everything for a reason you shouldn’t be too worried.

You’ve spoken before about your wish to convey imagery you have in mind when writing a song. Your music is in fact very conducive to mental imagery, but I wonder how important it is to you that listeners picture what you do? Do your titles disclose anything in that regard?

I’m really curious about what mental imagery is created for people who are listening, but I don’t think it’s important that what they see is similar to what I personally imagine. The titles do sometimes disclose a visual association that I have with a track, but sometimes they are just sort of arbitrary signifiers.

How much of Glass Eights is live recorded? Had you spent much time recording in this style before the album?

In the end, all of the tracks on the final version of the album use some instruments that were recorded live. I’ve been trying to do this type of recording since the first records that I released, but this was the first time that live instrumentation played a more significant role. In the past I was mainly recording synthesizers or my own voice, so this was the first time that “real” instruments were recorded and used.

You’ve said before you’ve used a lot of samples. What role did sampling play in shaping the album? Did you end up sampling more of your own performances?

Collecting samples is one of the most important parts of the process for me because I really use these as a foundation to build the rest of the track on. For the album I probably used about 60% collected samples and 40% live instrumentation. But in the end, I work with everything as if it were a sample because of the sequencer I’m using. Everything sort of has to be rendered as a usable part and placed in a sample bank, then triggered from that bank during the final sequencing of the track. So for each track I have around 50-100 different samples I’m working with.

Throughout the album there are overt uses of vinyl as an aesthetic — crackles, noticeably manipulated vinyl samples. Why is it important to you that the medium becomes part of the listening experience?

I choose to use these sounds for the same reason that I sample other types of music or audio — because there are feelings associated with them I want to be able to relive in some way. What I mean to say is, if I use a rimshot from a 707, I’m using it because I have some sort of positive mental association with it (it’s used often in a lot of my favorite Chicago house tracks) and this is exactly the same with sound elements from vinyl, or from physically manipulating records. I don’t take the best care of my records and a lot of them are covered in dust, but I prefer to listen to them this way. I can also be really cheap, so if I have the choice between a scratched up copy of a record for $1 and a pristine copy for $15, I will usually choose the cheaper copy, especially if i’m just buying it to sample a one second segment. Although, I have definitely also paid $25 dollars for a record with a five second rimshot that I had to have, so I guess it evens out.

Did you recruit other musicians to play on Glass Eights?

I did, yes. My friend Sam plays piano on a track, I co-wrote the ninth track “Went” with another friend Carson Chan, and my mother also plays piano on a track! Working with Carson was probably the most interesting because it was kind of the first time I’ve worked with anyone where the situation didn’t feel completely strained or forced. I gave him something I had been working on, sort of a piano composition that was made with just samples. Then the next week I went to his house and he had written some really amazing parts to go along with it. The best part was that he had actually annotated it on sheet music! I guess it was just nice to see that two people who work in completely different ways could make something together. We also had his piano tuned to match exactly the pitch of the sample that I used, which I thought was sort of interesting. That was his idea, I never would have thought of something that logical as a solution.

I’ve always thought of “Pruned” as one of your most advanced tracks. Is that why you chose it to be on the album of otherwise all new material?

I chose it for the album because it sort of provided me with a jumping off point in regards to the aesthetic I wanted for the rest of the tracks. I also wanted all of them to be slightly difficult to place time wise, and I felt this one had accomplished that already, for me at least. I didn’t really want someone listening to the album to be able to say for certain that it was made this year.

In your earlier work I found that your melodic elements were often in the service of your rhythms, but as you’ve progressed, and especially on the album, it feels the other way around: all of your rhythmic complexity is there but it’s the framework for complex melodies. Was that a planned transition or perhaps the mark of your growing experience?

I didn’t purposely set out to make something that was more musical than my last releases, but I really wanted to be sure that I made something that was personal. I think it’s much easier to create something that is a good copy of what someone else is already doing, but I didn’t want to make something unmemorable. So I grew up playing the drums and violin, listening to my parents play the piano, etc. so these are things I tried to borrow elements from.

What has the experience of trying to bring your music — especially elements from Glass Eights — into a live setting been like?

This can definitely be interesting! You want to find the best way to convey the intricacies of the music that you’ve made in a live setting, but at the same time you are dealing with tracks that took a long time to construct. So playing “live” you are sort of asked to reconstruct them piece by piece on stage or in a club, but this can be tough. So you are left trying to figure out what you can do with two hands that is interesting for the audience but also maintains the integrity of the original tracks. I am having a really great time doing it though and I’d like to think that with each show I’m getting better and better at making it more engaging.

What is next for John Roberts?

My first full-length album comes out on October 11th, so I’m really looking forward to that. Since finishing it I’ve just been working on some remixes for friends. I just finished one for Lauren Flax’s new project CREEP, which features Romy Madley Croft from The xx, and also one for Motor City Drum Ensemble that I’m really excited about! Right now I’m working on remixes for Pawel, Superpitcher for his new album, and one for Darkstar on Hyperdub. Besides that, I’ll be traveling around playing shows in Europe and the U.S. and hopefully trying to pay off my credit card.