Best electronic albums of 2019: fourteen

14 – Mikron – Severance (CPU) 

In my review for Electronic Sound, I said that Mikron "take us to a beautiful place out in the country" on their second album. The knowing nod to a certain 2000 Warp Records EP is quite deliberate: Severance is Boards of Canada on uppers.

The melodic leanings towards Drexciya, Detroit and the aforementioned Dayvan Cowboys seem simplistic on the first couple of listens, but this is an album I returned to again and again throughout 2019. It's addictive, like crack or caffeine or Windolene.

With those past references in mind, I was a bit worried about including this in my top 20 because there is so much 1990s nostalgia on this website. But then there's the bounciness of Ghost Node, the boldness of NynIV, the (literal) breathiness of Lyre. This is a fine-sounding piece of work.

I must apologise, by the way, for the constant comparisons to Boards Of Canada when covering this album. It's not fair. People often compare me to Johnny Vegas. You play the cards you're dealt, I guess. Monkey.



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Best electronic albums of 2019: fifteen

15 – Karenn – Grapefruit Regret (Voam)

There's a fruity feel to this debut album by Karenn, the techno pear – er, sorry, I mean pair comprising Pariah and Radiohead remixer Blawan. Track titles include Lemon Dribble, Strawbs and Kumquat: put this lot in a cake and you'll win Bake-Off for the next 52 years.

I'm not a big fruit person, myself. So will this man go (mango) for it? Will me long (melon) for it? Is it as good as Buri(Berry)al? Hey, stop judging me. I've got a lot to write for this top 20 and I really haven't got time to come up with fruit puns that work. Wind your neck in, ta (nectarine).

If Grapefruit Regret was indeed fruity, this would be the hard stone rather than soft flesh. It opens with metallic hydraulics leading into grubby speedway techno, all covered in industrial rust while the bass drum reigns supreme. No-nonsense pile-driving techno.

The highlight is the hyper-charged warehouse stomp of Crush The Mushrooms, but there is a lot to admire in all of these spiky bangers. No compromise: a couple of men daring (mandarin) to do their own thing kumquat (come what) may. I am so sorry.



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Best electronic albums of 2019: sixteen

16 – Floating Points – Crush (Ninja Tune)

Apparently this new album by Mr Points (as his friends like to call him) arose from his improvisational sessions on tour with The Xx, armed only with a Buchla synthesizer, a Korg drum machine and a potted plant called Kenneth. On second thoughts, I may have dreamt the potted plant thing.

Crush is a corking album packed with micro-shuffles and the kind of yearning synths you'd want at your bedside in the darkest moments of your life. Listen to the filtered electronic cries of Anasickmodular before the whole thing descends into fractured chaos. Lovely.

The track Environments is a great example of Floaty (as his friends like to call him) at his best. It sounds so dang scratchy, your ears are likely to come out in boils. But he somehow pulls things back and launches into the bizarrest mini-siren rave crescendo.

This is only his second album, and it's a tough call to follow-up such an acclaimed debut in the shape of 2015's Elaenia. But Flo-Pee (as his friends like to call him) has done good: a skitterish triumph. Look at little Kenneth's leaves shaking — he loves it too. Bless.



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Best electronic albums of 2019: attacking electronic equipment with stationery

My top 20 list of the best electronic music albums of 2019 is well underway. But let's have a quick fag break and consider some albums that didn't make the final cut: my continuing longlist of the best-of-the-rest.

The press blurb for Jodey Kendrick's EDM Vol.2 (Dub Recordings) suggests listening to this album is good for your brain development. All I know is I loved this squiggly Rephlexian IDM. Meanwhile, Antwood based the stonkingly spangly narrative album Delphi (Planet Mu) around a fictional lovelorn girl who comes complete with her own theme tune. And while we're on Planet Mu, Rian Treanor diced club music to pieces on the choppy ATAXIA (Planet Mu), and it sounded like someone attacking a computer with a hole-punch. In a good way.

Lisbon's Photonz added a queer Balearic flavour to house music in the strong debut album Nuit (Dark Entries). New York label owner Anthony Naples impressed with expensive house on Fog FM (ANS) while Bristol producer Shanti Celeste evoked the spirit of dub techno on Tangerine (Peach Discs): brisk house cuts meet blunted ambience.

Ooo, I must mention WH Lung whose wonderful and psychedelic Incidental Music (Melodic) evoked early Verve when Verve were just Verve without the "The". Aleksi Perala's Sunshine 3 (Dub Recordings) was so bright and cosmic, you could feel the stars twinkling in appreciation.

And two final mentions for this slightly genre-ambivalent section. The titanic techno twiddler Bogdan Raczynski returned to us with Rave 'Till You Cry (Disciples), which was as fun and as daft as I had hoped. And I hold a special place in my heart for the unique Lee "Scratch" Perry. Adrian Sherwood brought out the best in ole scratchy on Rainford (On-U Sound).





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Best electronic albums of 2019: seventeen

17 – Barker – Utility (Ostgut Ton)

I once went to a Leisure System night at Glasgow's ill-fated Art School and a pilled-up Glaswegian shouted at me and my mate for what seemed like 92 minutes. We didn't catch a word amid the thick accent and pumping beats, bar the phrase "do you like heavy metal".

So Leisure System's great. Its co-founder Sam Barker held off releasing anything for ages, but finally he's plopped out an album. And not for the last time in this top 20 (expect this to become a theme), it's not the club stormer you'd expect.

On Utility, the drums are hardly noticeable, and instead it's down to Barker's exacting synthesis to prove the rhythms. This is a slow album. It's not so much music you dance to, rather it's the echo of the music still ringing in your ears as you leave the dancefloor to go for a widdle.

Stop a moment and let the descending shakes of Paradise Engineering cover you, or succumb to the growing Global Communication-esque fuzzy patches of Models Of Wellbeing. All in all, this is an enchanting work, and a bold step for someone who could have just laid out some fat drums and let his Leisure System reputation do the talking.



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Best electronic albums of 2019: eighteen

18 – J Majik – Full Circle (Infrared)

J Majik made his name with Metalheadz, which contrary to popular belief is not a Cyberman sex club but is instead one of the leading jungle music labels co-founded by everyone's favourite classical music conductor Goldie.

And that pretty much sums up what's on offer. Full Circle offers superbly retro drum ‘n’ bass noises: there are tingly bits which sound like heaven and busy drums that sound like hell and sassy vocals that sound like somewhere inbetween.

As with LTJ Bukem back in ye olden days, this has all the energy of those smoke-filled d'n'b clubs. The chords swell, the amen breaks spiral, the bass shudders, and the result is gorgeous. The beautiful break-down and beat drop in Red Circle is worth the price of the stream alone.

You might not be into drum 'n' bass. This is an excellent starting point because, to slightly misquote Tricky, it's brand new, it's retro. And yes, I am also wondering how Cybermen have sex. Must be something to do with pipes.



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Best electronic albums of 2019: nineteen

19 – Move D – Building Bridges (Aus Music)

You know when you bump into someone outside the post office and you can't immediately place the face because it's Geoff from skydiving club and you've never seen Geoff without his flying cap never mind with a first-class envelope in his hand?

I had a similar experience with Move D. Building Bridges, a nifty collection of light-touch house music, reminded me that perhaps I'd come across ole D before. And as it turns out, I had. Move D had a track on the seminal 1990s compilation series Trance Europe Express. Of course. I remember now.

This all makes sense, because this album, recorded in Heidelberg over the past 20 years, shows all the skills of a veteran producer. The machines don't just run, they dance: the patterns they create will slowly seep under your skin. It's house music for techno fans.

And despite the breezy pace on display, there's something melancholic left in the spaces. Just listen to those echoes on Dots. Or the pause for reflection on Transit. Check out the album's continuous mix if you can, because that's going to be some journey. All the way to the post office and beyond.



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Best electronic albums of 2019: twenty

20 – Cain – The Collection 2014-2019 (Highlife)

I've been anticipating Cain's debut album since this blog post in 2015. "More of this playfulness!" I demanded like a spoilt king firing chicken bones at a jester's feet. And finally, the former bagpipe playing highlander has dropped that much-anticipated debut.

Except it's not what I expected. The Collection, as its title suggests, is a collection of his pan-global dance music that's been piling up over the past few years. I'd rather be reviewing a proper studio album rather than a compilation, but I'll take what I've been given — because this is great.

The beats are metronomic, such as the 4/4 clonks on Eshu. This could be alienating, but a ghostly African chant or a shashaying sitar is never far away. It's a globe-hopping experience, and yet when a snaking acid line drops, such as on Gordito, it never seems out of place.

There's no-one else out there like Cain: it's so damn fun. The jester is dancing and I like it. Now can I get out of these king robes, please? There's some serious chafing going on here, and the crown doesn't match my eyes.



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