Best of 2011: Tracks #1.

12 Dec 2011 — Henning Lahmann

There's a good case to be made that no one really needs to know what random bloggers believe their top whatever songs/albums/videos/releases of a certain year are, however, here at NFOP HQ, we simply love lists. As we're well aware that our tastes and opinions do not really match, and to avoid a mess like this, we've agreed to continue our cherished tradition to make separate lists for the two of us. So tomorrow, Tonje will unveil her favorite tracks of 2011; our album lists will follow next week. A few words on the top entries - the track "Take 1/Leaf" is a perfect collaboration of two of this year's most interesting and convincing projects of the new hip hop underground (and in any case more compelling than most of the stuff the Odd Future folks have dropped in 2011), but above all it perfectly encapsulates why Clams Casino is by most considered this year's most important hip hop producer, and it once again shows in which context his beats works best, his very worthwhile Rainforest EP notwithstanding. The pretty and joyful lo-fi summer jam "Dear Les Friends" by Hotel Mexico, aside from its own stunning qualities, may also represent (alongside Jesse Ruins' "Dream Analysis") the entire electronic underground from Tokyo. The Japanese capital has really been put on the map in the past twelve months with a whole bunch of amazing artists, most loosely gathered around the Cuz Me Pain label/artist collective. Holy Other and Inga Copeland have, briefly speaking, delivered two of this year's most compelling EPs (both long out of stock), each compiling only a few tracks that nonetheless had a massive impact on our shores, the latter showcasing the Hype Williams member's unironic, infatuating pop sensibilities, the former bluntly handing in 2011's most terrific bass drop with EP standout "Touch". However, since June there was no real question that "Hour Logic" would top this list, Laurel Halo's intricate masterpiece that was released by Hippos In Tanks as part of the EP of the same name. In fact, the nine-minute marvel is one of the best tracks we've come across in years, revealing new details and depths with each listen. Though built on a straight beat and strictly speaking techno, "Hour Logic" feels less like a proper dancefloor anthem but rather a philosophical exercise on the conditions of the possibility of dance music in general, even a Prolegomena to any future electronic music. And albeit undeniably reverential to the past, the piece is the creation of an earnestly avant-garde mind, thus in a way serving as an anti-thesis to this year's most feverishly discussed book on music, Simon Reynold's Retromania. But to be clear, "Hour Logic" does not only serve the intellect: When, after seven and a half minutes, Laurel's faint vocals briefly set in for the tracks finale, the listener also witnesses one of 2011's moments of true aural magic. Check the whole list below: 30. Kuhrye-oo - Old Son

29. Brusque Twins - What Else Is There to Say? 28. Jesse Ruins - Dream Analysis

27. Raw Thrills - Both Ways 26. Yuck - Shook Down

25. Boy Friend - Egyptian Wrinkle

24. Grimes - Vanessa

23. Octo Octa - I'm Trying

22. Clams Casino - Gorilla