Best electronic albums of 2020: perky special mentions and a P45

*ring ring*

Hello?

"It's Fat Roland here. There has been a terrible administration error."

Okay. How can I help fix it?

"Why have you left Four Tet out of the Top 25? Four Tet is meant to be in the Top 25."

It's not an error. It's just that there were so many good albums, and it got squeezed out.

"This is unacceptable. You cannot leave Four Tet out of the Top 25. You're sacked."

What? You can't...

"Clean out your desk. Gross dismissal. Never darken my doors again."

But I'm you. You're sacking yourself. You've just lost your own job working for you.

"Er... Forget I said that. Here, have a promotion. Excellent work, Fat Roland."

Thanks, Fat Roland.

I did feel bad for only including Four Tet's Sixteen Oceans (Text Records) in my special mentions section, but that's how my sorting hat sorted things when compiling my final list. I loved this album: so many zippy earworms and such glistening oomph. I've not had a chance to listen to the two (two!) albums he dropped over Christmas, Parallel (Text Records) and 871 (Text Records).

Here are even more special mentions, referred to as "perky" in my notebook. 

In Electronic Sound (yeah, I mention them a lot), I praised Moses Boyd for Dark Matter (Exodus Records) as he "pinballs around his ever-present drum kit like an oiled whippet". Kruder & Dorfmeister finally released their debut album 1995 (G-Stone Recordings), originally scheduled to be released in the year 1995 then, er, slightly delayed. The trip hop comeback you never knew you were waiting for.

You want the best? You want the pin-sharp house energy of Omar S's You Want (FXHE Records): sassy, straightforward, and superbly executed, despite that overused sample. Improvised in a cave, Capitol K's mini-album Birdtrapper (Faith And Industry) was a delightfully curious mix of driving organic rhythms and bamboo. Wajatta released second album Don't Let Get You Down (Brainfeeder), with the irrepressible Reggie Watts performing vocal acrobatics (and whistling) over John Tejada's fast and funky house.

Finally for this section, Black Nationalist Sonic Weaponry (Planet Mu), released under DeForrest Brown Jr's Speaker Music alias, sounded like the fierce heart of BlacKkKlansman pulsing to the rhythm of distended and shattered jazzy percussion experiments. An important album, but I've no idea why it's in this section: it's anything but "perky". Stupid notebook.

 

Browse the rest of the Best Electronic Albums of 2020

Best electronic albums of 2016: house music also-rans

Here’s a handful of house music artists that didn’t make the top 20.

I enjoyed the dialled-back mechanics of Factory Floor’s 25 25 (DFA Records), while in contrast there was soul aplenty amid the religious zeal of Floorplan’s Victorious (M-Plant). Surely, Floorplan’s Robert Hood was an influence on Bookworms’ warming Xenophobe (BANK Records NYC).

Pantha Du Prince made his comeback on The Triad (Rough Trade), with all the tinkling electronics you’d expect. The horrendously-named Convextion made techno feel spacey on 2845 (a.r.t.less). Meanwhile, the co-founder of Hessle Audio released the sparky In Drum Play under the name Pangaea on his own label – and did a good job of it.

 Top Japanese DJ Fumiya Tanaka appeared after a long album absence with You Find The Key (Perlon): he kept the jazzier elements under control, unlike Kornél Kovács’ The Bells (Studio Barnhus). Sorry, Korny, a little too corny. And there was an old-school feel to Omar S’s Detroitian The Best! (FXHE Records). Honestly, Mr S, you can’t call your album The Best and expect to be in the top 20. It didn't work for Tina Turner and it won't work for you.

More commendable house music also-rans later on in this top 20.





Scroll all of the best 2016 electronic albums by clicking here.