It's not so easy to find an artist album made of, let's say, pure (whatever it means) progressive. But even if so, it would be still difficult to make us interested in such an album. That's why our "Best Artist Album" category became an electronic hotchpotch. It contains some of those unique works we consider to be above genre classification. One of such work is definitely last year's masterpiece from Way Out West. "Don't Look Now" seems to have no weak points and can give a fancy even to some pop music fans. But there are no cheap tricks here. Instead there is "Bonus disc" - good enough to be, in other circumstances, honoured as one of the best compilation. Beautiful vocal work by Omi is one of the album's strongest suits. Hiwever, she's not the only woman we'd like to mention here.

Michalea Dippel aka Ada committed an incredible album released on Germany's Areal Racords. A bit of techno, handful of tech-house, great melodies and some really nice singing done by the artist herself are the most significant trump cards of that exceptional work. But it's not only because of Ada's "Blondie" that we have a fascination for the German scene.

Michel Mayer's "Touch" proved to be a subtle, warm and sometimes even danceable creation that can serve as an excellent platform between progressive and minimal.

Infusion on the other hand made a journey into the rockland where we could see them making real songs. And so we have Depeche Mode-esque "Careless Kind" for home listeners as well as dancefloor-smashing hit "Love And Imitation".

A former progressive stronghold, Global Underground, had managed to release only one album that has truly riveted our attention. Andrew Archer's and John Elliot's (Trafik) artistic work is diverse but, at the same time, organized and consistent. Singing, melodious, romantic, sublime - these are the words to describe what's inside "Bullet".

• Ada - Blondie
  [Areal]
• Infusion - Six Feet Above Yesterday
  [BMG]
• Michael Mayer - Touch
  [Kompakt]
• Trafik - Bullet
  [Global Underground]

Finding at least a few extraordinary titles in this category caused us a big problem. Is Hernan Cattaneo's "Renaissance" unique and exceptional? Undoubtedly it's not that kind of compilation you'd fall head over heels in love with. Nevertheless, the Argentinean should be marked out for his DJ skills and craftsmanship. There was no other DJ in 2004 that deserve praise more than Cattaneo.

Andy Weatherall on the other side stands out above the others, according to his ability to play tracks that don't seem to have much in common with dance music. But who told that electronic music has to be danceable? You can absorb "Fabric 19" in every other way.

On the contrary, James Zabiela is heading the opposite direction. His latest album "Alive" is an easy challenge even for a rookie listener. We're a bit worried about that but it's not that much of a pity as long as it's of the highest quality.

Desyn Mansiello's musical aptitude was not the fact to delight us that much. It was rather his ability to find truly original house tracks, which is indeed quite an achievement.

Chris Salt on the other hand worked a wonder. Being limited to Silver Planet's releases only (which are mostly up to the mark but still it's "only that") he managed to create a double CD compilation that is one up on Pappa's "Balance 006" for example.

• Andrew Weatherall - Fabric 19
  [Fabric]
• Chris Salt - Fear III
  [Silver Planet]
• Desyn Masiello - OS_0.1
  [Bedrock]
• James Zabiela - Alive
  [Renaissance]

It's not the first time we mention Nathan Fake in our comparison. His "Outhouse" was the one we marked out in "Best of 2003". But it's the year 2004 that we could call Fake's time. His "Watlington Street EP" speaks for itself. It's the brightest star in the (how we call it) future-funk-prog-techno galaxy. The two vinyls containing, among others, dancefloor hits like "Underberg" and "Adamedge" or a massive electronic thrash metal track "Overdraft". If you'd like to enjoy the latter dancing we recommend you to do pogo stuff.

So called "flowing" would be advisable while listening to the second part of Dousk's EP on Bedrock. Giannis Douskos is the last year's godsend. His "Pa Dida" became one of the best known progressive hymns AD 2004 and we could easily put it among other Best Original Productions if not "The Novel" on the vinyl's flipside, which is quite good as well.

But still, it's only one side that holds the importance, whereas Michael Burns' productions seem to be evenly provided with power. Well, except one - "Forwards" - which is the most unique, the other three tracks are mighty as well which makes that EP a nice titbit for every DJ interested.

The same applies to Pig & Dan's production. They managed to find enough room for techy "The DJ Took Pills", buzzing "Addiction" and slow "Plump" that completes the whole.

We didn't hear much form our "2003 Best Producer" Yunus, but he also managed (in cooperation with Subsky) to weave two dance music gems. And no matter if we'd consider "Erotic Sumo" and "Airfuzz" as an EP or as single tracks - these two are always the high-class works.

• Dousk - EP (disk 2)
  [Bedrock]
• Michael Burns - North EP
  [Little Mountain]
• Pig & Dan - Addiction EP
  [Sadie]
• Yunus & Subsky - Step One
  [Red Flag Collective]

This category is a newbie considering our summary, but a vital one. In comparison to Best Production, where we looked through the original mixes only - here we also examined its remix(es) which had to be at least as good as the prototype. Last years unquestionable winner in this field was "Elektrify" released recently on Pissed Off Recordings owned by the author - MOS. This young Argentinean employed a Turkish "big gun" by the name of Subsky, who delivered a remix of equal quality.

Aidan Lavelle achieved almost the same in remaking Salt's "Atmospheric Graffiti". Chris recorded a lot of superb tracks last year, but this single is the most absorbing of all. We still find difficulties in pointing out which side is better. Next in the alphabet is G.Pal with his majestic, far-east-sounding "Ophra". Many of you may be surprised that we included it in our juxtaposition, as it was shaking dancefloors quite a long ago - but the release date is what matters to us. The medal goes only to G.Pal who's responsible for both sides of this exceptional single.

Same rules apply for Peter Martin, whose "Perfect Wave" (what an adequate title) is an piercing trance, with a smooth breakbeat on the flip.

When we talk about the title and content interaction then "Pacifier" would be a contradiction. The original written by David West and Andreas Hermansson of Inkfish is a riot starter rather than peace-bringer. Flash Brothers did not cope with such a stunner, but their version fills the release in a decent manner.

• Chris Salt - Atmospheric Graffiti
  [Silver Planet]
• G.Pal - Ophra
  [Swift]
• Peter Martin pres. Anthanasia - Perfect Wave
  [Electronic Elements]
• Synergy - Pacifier
  [Blue Planet]

It seems that we had so many pretenders in this category that we would easily build a chart full of hits. Thus we decided to look for unique tunes from the progressive borderline. Our winner is Petter with "All Together" - a young Swedish talent discovered by James Holden in 2003. His uplifting, symphonic song is only one of the splendid tracks contained on his great "Six Songs" EP.

In turn Soulshift was dug up by Cube, who seems to be the only promoter of the French-sounding killer - "Intule". In this case author, Antonin Barrea aka Southsoniks can't be called a freshman on the scene though.

Quivver, in spite of a modest year, has created something really original. "Space Manouvres" part 3 is what we have in mind - it's the deepest track in our annual round-up.

We're ready to confess that for a reason we could possibly forget to include a piece called "Higher Thoughts". The reason was we placed the track in our minds in year 2003! Luckily we finally managed to put our thoughts back on track in order not to miss this excellent work.

The presence of Infusion on the list proves that sometimes all you need is a good idea. Make it happen and you're on your way. "Love And Imitation", based on few notes is a prime example.

• Infusion - Love And Imitation
  [Polaroid]
• Matthew Dekay - Higher Thoughts
  [Little Mountain]
• Quivver - Space Manoeuvres pt. 3
  [Boz Boz]
• Soulshift - Intule

[Adrenogroove]

There are many patterns of reworking someone else's productions - from a face lifting to "There's Something About Miriam" change. In this category we promote excellent remixes done from weaker originals. "Girls Can Be Cruel" is one of few Infusion tracks that don't appeal to us at all. But the Australian trio's self remix is surely one of the most powerful steamrollers unleashed to the dancefloors in 2004.

Magic has to be singed under Bill Hamel's name - as he somehow managed to turn Michael Burns' vocals from unpleasant to decent. A rather impossible manipulation if you familiarize yourself with past singing tunes of this producer.

Ethan had less work on his self remix - he took out the vocal from the original and rearranged the whole piece. Still we heard "Instrumental Mix" as the first one - so after listening to the original we were kind of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde.

From an ordinary "Peaks Of Destiny" Naveen G constructed a solid tune in which he proved that synths ain't no new to him. We don't have anything against the original mix of "Rezin", nevertheless with Valentino remix it just faints. This breakdown is not to be forgotten.

• Blue Haze - Into Nothing
  [Bill Hamel's Last Time For 9 Vox Mix]
  [SAW]
• Ethan - In My Heart
  [Instrumental]
  [Back Yard]
• Brahma - Peaks Of Destiny
  [Naveen G Remix]
  [Toes In The Sand]
• Sultan & The Greek - Rezin
  [Valentino Remix]
  [Shinichi]

Here you'll find artist who:
a) were admired by us on multiple occasions,
b) had never let us down.
Nathan Fake had to win! His original productions as well as remixes are constantly opening our jaws in ecstasy. Who would think that such a kid...

Two other rookies emerged into the scene from out of nowhere in unknown time and space. Canadians - Shiloh, who with their productions and DJ sets turned out to be life jackets for passengers of the sinking progressive boat.

Dousk and Pig & Dan were also involved in this operation, although the duo mentioned could be put into a box with "techno" label on it. Thanks to the first name - Greece is in our summary for the second consecutive year. The music of all three flows around dark and deep, even narcotic moods.

Let's hit back to a trio from the other side of the great pond - Australia's Infusion. Making headlines and collecting awards on their home soil - they are now to be highly valued in Europe. A band of unlimited possibilities, both on the scene and in the studio, which has been proven by splendid album, great Essential Mix and cracking tour, of which we've seen one gig ourselves.

It's a pity that we are lacking great producers such as Yunus Guvenen, Moshic and G.Pal here, but hopefully they will manage to come to their shape from over a dozen months before.

• Dousk [Greece]
• Infusion [Australia]
• Pig & Dan [Spain]
• Shiloh [Canada]