Best LP/EP
Washed Out, Mister Mellow
He may be overstated as the man behind the chillwave theme music for Portlandia, but Ernest Weatherly Greene Jr. balances conventional dance with electronic ambience perfectly in his third full-length outing. What makes Washed Out’s Mister Mellow stand out from other releases this year is simply the ease of picking up and listening to this record. Clocking in at just under 30 minutes, it’s an amazing yet brief listen with standout tracks like “Burn Out Blues” and “Hard To Say Goodbye.” Washed Out continues to prove himself a worthy one-man chillwave act with a consistent discography.
Track of the Year
Fisher, “YA KIDDING”
I heard this song twice in one night over the summer and I wasn’t upset about it. But I didn’t know what the track was, so it was driving me mad all night. One hungover computer search later, I found out that it was the Dirtybird label that put this heavy club-primed track out. “Of course it was Dirtybird,” I thought to myself, “I heard Justin Martin playing it.” This track had the catchy heavy lead, and dancefloor familiarity of their previous releases. Dirtybird seems to be pretty consistent with their releases, and I hope to hear another instant classic from Fisher soon.
Label of the Year
TREKKIE TRAX
Celebrating 5 years in 2017, Tokyo-based Trekkie Trax has gone from great to excellent over the past year. With releases this year from Americans like Maxo, Lil Texas, Holly, and Foxsky (who released The Whip on Mad Decent back in ’13), on top of incredible releases from their unique veteran artists like Native Rapper, Masayoshi Iimori, Carpainter, Trekkie Trax has proven themselves a diverse net-label with an artist roster that circles the globe. Their range of genre in electronic is wide and still growing, and their commitment to new and experimental music styles and forward-thinking genres is something to marvel. Trekkie Trax will only get better in 2018, and should be watched closely.