10 Best Electronic Albums of 2014

What do you think?

I'm trying to keep an open mind, but the majority of these tracks are virtually unlistenable to my ears.

The tracks are either experimental to the point of showing no concern for melody or musical narrative, or are not even electronic music (some tracks are funk or some other genre). Poor form, National Public Radio.

BBC reporting is dry and impartial to a fault, but at least they have Radio 1 with Pete Tong and the Essential Mix and they can talk credibly about the scene.

Leon Vynehall, 'Music For The Uninvited' was tolerable, as was Steffi, 'Power Of Anonymity', and Planningtorock, 'All Love's Legal', but none of these really strike me as enduring works worthy of the top 10 list.

I'd be interested to hear your reviews.

tbh solid list from NPR

On Syro:

"... here we are, fêting that devilish grin one more time. James lived up to expectations the only way he could: by exceeding them."

LOL

It sure is a good thing Aphex Twin and Moodymann released albums this year, otherwise journalists would have to try harder in their selections. Few artists grant instant credibility to a Best Of list like seeing those names.

___________________
Everyone has an opinion. Mine just happens to be a little more informed than most.
Electronic Music Critic: Near-Daily Ruminations Of Music I Own, In Alphabetical Order!

These lists increasingly feel foolish in the digital age when thousands of albums are released every month and there's no chance of creating anything close to a definitive list. The inevitable result is the same few albums with the right PR connections get passed around the big websites and then re-reviewed by all the smaller members of the blogosphere who want to have "their say" on a hyped release in order to generate search engine hits and maintain a facade of relevance. And then at the end of the year you get a po-faced write-up as all the unpaid music critics of the Internet attempt to justify why their silly little list is somehow definitive, which usually results in undergraduate level intellectual overreach as some amateur hack searches in futility for glimpses of profundity in a techno record nobody will remember in five years.

___________________
Mixes:
> Maximum Elevation [Progressive House]
> DI.FM 26th Anniversary Guest Mix [Progressive House]
> Live @ Dance:Love:Hub London, 11.10.2025
> Higher Peaks [Progressive House]
> Dance:Love:Hub Afterparty (The Return) 23.11.24

Like these sets? Come see me play live at Kibosh in Manchester: https://www.instagram.com/kibosh.mcr/

What a complete snoozefest.

___________________
Yunus Guvenen Tracklist Archive

/Does anyone actually own the Kassem Mosse album? It sounds like sketches rather than full drawings but I dont own it...just heard the samples.

Do I really need to hear this thing?

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J These lists increasingly feel foolish in the digital age when thousands of albums are released every month and there's no chance of creating anything close to a definitive list. The inevitable result is the same few albums with the right PR connections get passed around the big websites and then re-reviewed by all the smaller members of the blogosphere who want to have "their say" on a hyped release in order to generate search engine hits and maintain a facade of relevance. And then at the end of the year you get a po-faced write-up as all the unpaid music critics of the Internet attempt to justify why their silly little list is somehow definitive, which usually results in undergraduate level intellectual overreach as some amateur hack searches in futility for glimpses of profundity in a techno record nobody will remember in five years.

While I agree that the result is inevitably the same albums being discussed everywhere with little discussion of merit, I still enjoy these end of the year lists, as I normally find a few albums I hadn't heard of. I can then add the album to my gigantic list of albums I've never heard and probably never will!

___________________
Quarantine Classics Brunello di Montalcino (In Transit) Edition [Progressive Classics] (August 2020)
Quarantine Classics - Puligny-Montrachet Edition [Progressive Classics] (April 2020)
What Is Progressive Anyways? [Progressive House Classics] (November 2019)

Happy to see Leon Vynehall getting a lot of praise.

quote:

Originally posted by Lews While I agree that the result is inevitably the same albums being discussed everywhere with little discussion of merit, I still enjoy these end of the year lists, as I normally find a few albums I hadn't heard of. I can then add the album to my gigantic list of albums I've never heard and probably never will!

I like the lists you get from smaller and more specialised sites that can show you stuff you would never otherwise hear. You also get more of "This is why you should give this record a try" write ups rather than the strained "This is why this record is significant and profound" angle of the bigger sites.

___________________
Mixes:
> Maximum Elevation [Progressive House]
> DI.FM 26th Anniversary Guest Mix [Progressive House]
> Live @ Dance:Love:Hub London, 11.10.2025
> Higher Peaks [Progressive House]
> Dance:Love:Hub Afterparty (The Return) 23.11.24

Like these sets? Come see me play live at Kibosh in Manchester: https://www.instagram.com/kibosh.mcr/

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J These lists increasingly feel foolish in the digital age when thousands of albums are released every month and there's no chance of creating anything close to a definitive list. The inevitable result is the same few albums with the right PR connections get passed around the big websites and then re-reviewed by all the smaller members of the blogosphere who want to have "their say" on a hyped release in order to generate search engine hits and maintain a facade of relevance. And then at the end of the year you get a po-faced write-up as all the unpaid music critics of the Internet attempt to justify why their silly little list is somehow definitive, which usually results in undergraduate level intellectual overreach as some amateur hack searches in futility for glimpses of profundity in a techno record nobody will remember in five years.

...Sykonee, you gonna let him talk to you like that?

___________________
He traded sands for skins, skins for gold, gold for life. In the end, he traded life for sand. Afari, Tales

I avoid doing such lists because I know I'd never hear the end of it from J' for 'selling out', or something.

___________________
Everyone has an opinion. Mine just happens to be a little more informed than most.
Electronic Music Critic: Near-Daily Ruminations Of Music I Own, In Alphabetical Order!