Electronic music is a huge tent with many diverse approaches, and it's more international than ever with producers around the globe pushing music forward. The year's best albums featured returns from established talents, as well as ground-breaking newcomers.
Shiver is Jónsi but not as we know him. The Sigur Rós frontman teams with avant-garde electronic producer A. G. Cook to create a new sound and direction in the veteran experimentalist's career.
London producer Rival Consoles uses unorthodox approaches on his latest record, Articulation, resulting in a stunning, beautiful collection.
As an artist who loves surprises, Photay ensures no two tracks sound the same. Pick a random track from his discography, press play, and let the love of it all sweep through you.
The most impressive thing about Nahash's Flowers of the Revolution is that it's so unabashedly political despite being almost devoid of vocals. The politics come through in the struggle of contrasting elements.
Because it occasionally breaks new ground, Daniel Avery's Love + Light avoids being an afterthought from start to finish. The best moments here are generally the hardest-hitting ones.
Drew Daniel: "Trump has weaponized a kind of insincere, smarmy trolling manner. I didn't want music that similarly relied upon that stance. I wanted something that was, in a way, the opposite. Something that felt affirmative and warm."
Matmos' Drew Daniels rebrands his solo work to meet the trying times, offering up an ambient techno classic for the ages under his Soft Pink Truth moniker.
Electronic music of the sort that Photay creates doesn't typically have much to say lyrically, but on Waking Hours, Photay has a message, and he gives the human voice much more space than ever before.
Apparat's (aka Sascha Ring) re-imagined score from Mario Martone's 2018 Capri-Revolution works as a fine accompaniment to a meditational flight of fancy.
