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Andy Stott
Passed Me By
Arguably the most alluring and atmospheric electronic album of 2011, and inarguably a masterpiece of dub techno intensity, Passed Me By fulfills all the promise of Andy Stott’s excellent 12-inches for the Modern Love label while smashing his legacy to pieces. Originally an above-average minimal techno musician in the steely, workmanlike style of mentor Claro Intelecto, Stott not only subverts the familiar dub palette, he achieves Jeff Mills’ highest honor by giving us something we’ve never heard before. The sound of Passed Me By is, to put it mildly, remarkable. Unremittingly dark, suffused with pressure and blackened in soot, it makes you feel as if you’ve been pitched down a well 1000-feet deep and are hearing the music from inside. Samples pop suddenly out of the darkness only to furl back on themselves and leave you to remember them. Yet Stott isn’t just creating sounds—he’s creating songs, each one haunting, confusing, and brilliant. In the reimagined lap-dance of “New Ground”, in the simultaneous serenity and paranoia of “Dark Details”, in the impossible blue depths of “Passed Me By”, not an inch of room is wasted, not a note is out of place, and every track presents itself as a vital piece of a monstrous whole. Records this good are one in a million. Blink and you’ll miss it, but if you don’t, it will suck you in, pulling you ever downward until all that remains is the thump-thump-thump of the kick drum, shaking you to your very bones. 
Mike Newmark
Additional Staff Selections
David Abravanel
Best EP: Raoul Sinier, The Melting Man
Best Single: Machinedrum, “Sacred Frequency”
Best Mix: FACT, Mix 276: SND
Best Reissue: Plastikman, Arkives
Timothy Gabriele
Best EP: Deadboy, Here
Best Single: Slava, “Dreaming Tiger”
Best Mix: MNML SSGS present Dash Forward Bravely
Best Reissue: Bruce Gilbert, This Way / The Shivering Man
Mike Newmark
Best EP: Ayshay, Warn-U
Best Single: Hackman, “Agree to Disagree”
Best Mix: Gold Panda, DJ-Kicks
Best Reissue: Boo Williams, Home Town Chicago
Alan Ranta
Best EP: Venetian Snares, Cubist Reggae
Best Single: Björk, “Crystalline”
Best Mix: Ghostly International, SMM: Context
Best Reissue: Black Moth Super Rainbow, Dandelion Gum
Dominic Umile
Best EP: Braille, A Meaning
Best Single: Holy Other, “Yr Love”
Best DJ Mix: Mala, XLR8R Podcast 200
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