Track of the Year
ANNA & Kittin – “Forever Ravers”
I first heard “Forever Ravers” at ANNA’s set at EDC Las Vegas, and it was the only song I racked my head over not knowing what it was. I was beside myself. Out of the sea of music I encountered over the course of that weekend, I couldn’t find the one track that struck me the hardest. That is until ANNA teased it several months later. It was my anthem for that weekend, and for the rest of the year, and my mantra “Dancing Til We Die†came with it.
Honorable Mentions:
Victor Ruiz – “Nimbus”
SebastiAn – “Sober ft. Bakar”
Zamilska – “Hollow”
Best Remix
Perc – “Look What Your Love Has Done to Me (Perc VIP Remix)”
Every time I hear this song a fit of dance surges out of me and I can’t help contain it. The best thing that this remix does is layer simplest sounds and injects a dose of energy in them that came unparalleled for me this year.
Honorable Mentions:
Adam Beyer, Layton Giordani, Green Velvet – “Space Date (Pleasurekraft Remix)”
EP of the Year
Amelie Lens – Little Robot EP
Four tracks of straight techno goodness. Each song on Little Robot gives a different flavor of techno, with the minimal “Man Over Machine” being the highlight.
Honorable Mentions:
ANNA – Galactic Highways
SCB X Wehbba – Red Planet
LP of the Year
Zamliska – Uncovered
With standouts like “Blind” and “Hollow” (which was featured in an edition of Feedback Friday), Uncovered tops my list as the best EP of 2019. The constancy of the vibes this LP gives off is astounding. I could not stop listening to it on its release, yet I still find subtleties that I had not heard before on subsequent listens. Uncovered is so unique tonally and rhythmically, it sounds like no other album I listened to this year.
Honorable Mentions:
Paula Temple – Edge Of Everything
Floating Points – Crush
Richie Hawtin – CLOSE COMBINED
Favorite Live Show of the Year
Jon Hopkins @ 9:30 Club [April 24, 2019]
Jon Hopkins’ style of ambient techno is done with the utmost justice in his live shows. The basics of each track are present, but the level of improvisation and the way Hopkins blended each track together was utterly masterful. However, don’t think you’ll be swaying back and forth to the music. Hopkins brings his music with another level of danceability exceeding most DJ sets. The visuals were amazing as several music videos playing on a projector with their respective tracks. Accompanying Hopkins on stage were two dancers equipped with two led light sticks each that were programmed in an interactive manner that, while simple in nature, paired so well with the audio. The complete package was a next-level experience any music fan should witness.
Honorable Mentions:
Jungle @ 9:30 Club [March 21, 2019]
Anderson Paak @ MGM National Harbor [February 20, 2019]
Favorite DJ Set of the Year
Black Coffee – U Street Music Hall [March 28, 2019]
Black Coffee’s performance at U Hall was flawless and so effortless. I had not experienced a set that touched me on another level, until that night. It left me with a high, which I only get after dancing from start to finish. There were no lulls nor bad transitions. Everything was perfect.
Honorable Mentions:
ANNA @ Flash [March 16, 2019]
Pan-Pot @ Flash [February 28, 2019]
Helena Hauff @ U Street Music Hall [October 10, 2019]