Recap of 2007

Words: Adam Slowinski

What was 2007 like? For some, it was a boring year devoid of any real breakthroughs, while others will argue that it was filled with many exciting and noteworthy events. Agreeing with Mix Mag, which proclaimed to the world that last year was the best year for dance music in its history on one of its more recent covers, would be going a little too far, but this doesn’t in any way mean that 2007 was the worst and dullest of years. What was most interesting to observe was the ever-changing way in which we purchase music, and where we actually buy it. The Internet Revolution – which is still is full swing in case any of you have managed to forget – changed the industry to an even larger extent than it did in previous years. Vinyl records more than ever are stuck playing second fiddle to much cheaper and easily accessibly digital formats. Beatport has become the number one source for hot new tracks for music lovers, DJs and producers from all four corners of the globe, which in many cases is accessed on a daily basis. This shouldn’t really come as a surprise really, as never have we been able to purchase such a plethora of both good and terrible music in one place at the click of a mouse. Regular music heads were the obvious beneficiaries of this state of things, while all the labels and distributors that couldn’t manage to adapt to this new found reality went bust at very alarming rates throughout the year.

As far as the music itself was concerned - there weren’t any revolutions. However, a few things did catch our attention. First off, dubstep extended its reach even furher beyond London’s city limits not only thanks to brilliant productions from Shackleton and Burial, but also, in part, to – in the case of the former at least – remixes from techno’s biggest stars. Berlin seems to be slowly but rather surely paving a new musical road for itself by substituting stripped down, futuristic techno – the dreaded “m“ word is supposedly uncool nowadays – with more conventional, warmer and more accessible varieties of both techno and house. The latter even underwent yet another slight metamorphosis last year, and turned the Innervisions crew and Efdemin into some of the most talked about names in the business. Finally, the tech house regions of electronic dance music managed to sail into broader commercial waters for the very first time thanks to a track called ‘Heater‘, which along side ‘Ribcage‘ had people divided the most in 2007.

We also have to mention the artistic accomplishments of our fellow countrymen this time around. Poland’s top producers - Jacek Sienkiewicz, SLG, 3 Channels and Marcin Czubala – released nothing but highly rated music on some of the world’s most renowned labels, and we hope that 2008 is just as successful for our homegrown talent.

Best Artist Album
	Words: Lukasz Napora Among all the artist albums released in 2007, we mainly looked for ones that did not toe the line in respect to style and form. We searched for artists who did their best to refresh a slightly stale atmosphere and pointed to new and interesting directions for the evolution of dance music. Only one exception found its way into our Top 5. Troy Pierce’s album took the well known minimal path, but we couldn’t help not appreciating the grace with which he took his steps. The main prize goes to the brilliant ‘This Bliss‘. Soft techno with beautiful melodies is obviously nothing new, but where most producers torture the same ideas over and over again leading their listeners towards weariness, Pantha Du Prince surprises with the unusual structure not only of the tracks themselves, but also the album as a whole. Andrea Sartori and his debut on Persona Records placed a very close second. ‘Il Tagliacode‘ is a perfect album which mixes styles and arouses admiration among people who have their ears and eyes open to something more than just the world of electronic music. We’ve heard plenty combinations of pop and dance – some are light and catchy songs, others are electro-crap-trend-followers. The list goes on, but we have to admit that Matthew Dear went far beyond the standards we have managed to get used to. ‘Asa Breed‘ is not just a stupid attempt to move away from minimal and techno in order to reach broader, commercial waters. The artist‘s alternative spirit raised on Detroit is present in every minute of the album. The production master Gui Boratto showed everyone what perfection is. The cristal clear sound, diversity of styles and the producer‘s excellent touch when it comes to building beautiful melodies can be attributed to his vast studio experience. In short, ‘Chromophobia‘ is a complete album in every way.
Pantha Du Prince - This Bliss
Andrea Sartori - Il Tangliacode Gui Boratto - Chromophobia Matthew Dear - Asa Breed Troy Pierce - Gone Astray

Best Compilation
	Words: Sebastian Napora “Agoria just ran me down like a drum roller” – that’s how my co-chief suggested which album should land on top of the best compilation category, and the whole editorial staff supported this idea unanymously. I have to admit that I had been waiting for another spectacular success from Agoria since he produced one of the best techno tracks ever made, 'La 11-eme Marche'. The fact that it came in the DJ-category makes no difference. The manner in which he combined contemporary club music, British rock, folk and top-notch intelligent electronic music goes far beyond what can be classed as usual DJ's work. The second installment of the 'Get Lost' series stands out from the commonly accepted directions as much as Agoria's record does, and the Crosstown Rebels label, thanks to its innovative approach to both music production and DJing, has already drummed up a great number of fans. All in all, it pays off to serve clubbers something they normally won't find at the club. Tobias Thomas, an icon of techno, proved with his 'Please Please Please' record that a combination of heavy-sounding tracks, warm deep house and ambient can form an epic and timeless whole. The leading Kompakt artist returned last year in great trim. Ewan Pearson seemed to do everything not to bore a listener. 'Fabric 35' brings surprise after surprise, which in no way breaks the smoothness of his album. We can easily say that his experiment with crossing genres was very successful. 'Detached Works' from Jeremy Caufield is the only compilation of the recap made entirely on the canvas of the already easing hype of minimal. The Canadian, by joining 30 energetic productions into one coherent entirety, successfully overthrew the notion that musically varied albums are better than ‘onestylers’.
Agoria - At the Controls
Ewan Pearson - Fabric 35 Jamie Jones - Get Lost 2 Jeremy P Caulfield - Detached Works [01] Tobias Thomas - Please Please Please

Best Original Production
	Words: Piotr Paterski Something unprecedented occurred this year - we decided not to award top spot to any of the tracks in our top five. And the reason for this decision was not an abundance of nothing but majestic cuts. 2007 just didn't bring with it any productions that in anyway stood out from the "just" excellent ones, and, all in all, there weren't all that many first rate numbers in the first place. Despite the difficult working conditions we were faced with, we managed, after much heated debate, to agree upon 5 tracks, while keeping things quite diverse at the same time. 'Elephant's Parade' and 'White Geishas' are prime examples of dancefloor oriented tracks that are also perfectly capable of captivating in a home listening environment. The first of the two has traits typical of a Wagon Repair release and from the very beginning grabs your attention with its aggressive bassline, only to later launch you into the stratosphere after the forward thinking and somewhat mysterious guitar-synth solo. On the contrary, Banford's production surprises in many ways by combining a heavy beat with a distinct melody and sounds straight from the Far East. It is also worth mentioning that 'White Geishas' was one of the most memorable pieces of music on Lee Burridge's 'Balance 12'. The Italian 'La Fotografia' seamlessly brings together two dissimilar genres - minimal and progressive - and offers delicate and outright romantic sounds that seem as if they come out of nowhere. By far the darkest number in the top five is False's techno sledgehammer 'Fed On Youth', which, with its psychedelic sirens, crushes every single bone in an unsuspecting listener's body from its first seconds. It would also make a very fitting soundtrack for a trip to the gates of hell. Matzak showed the world that upbeat music with a positive message doesn't have to be crappy in any way. Although his first album didn't quite have what it took to make the cut in the artist album top five, we decided to select one track from 'Life Beginnings' so as to welcome the Frenchman into the elite of the world of electronic music.
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Alex Neri - La Fotografia Allan Banford - White Geishas False - Fed On Youth Matzak - Real Fusion Minilogue - Elephant's Parade

Best Remix
	Words: Lukasz Napora In this category dubstep took the crown thanks to Burial who strongly marked his presence in 2007 with his amazing album ‘Untrue‘, among other highly praised accomplishments. Burial took a pretty good, calm song by Jamie Woon and transformed it into a dark and thrilling beauty. Wahoo also got the best of us with the wonderful metamorphosis they fixed Ben Westbeech with. In the hands of Georg Levin and Dixon, pleasing funk and sweet vocals got some destructive power which tore many dancefloors apart and filled many compilations with the rework‘s immense light. On the other hand, Jeff Samuel and 3 Channels are examples of a remixers‘ job well done. They showed their art and talent by improving on the originals without turning them inside out, which is a skill that is also worth singling out. MOS, who tansformed the mediocre ‘Shh‘ into a surprise bomb, did the exactly the same, thanks to which he is making his third appearance in Sound Revolt’s annual summary. Congratulations!
Jamie Woon - Wayfaring Stranger (Burial Remix)
Ben Westbeech - Hung Around (Wahoo Remix) Claude Von Stroke - Who's Afraid Of Detroit? (3 Channels Remix) Fefo - Shh (Manuel Sofia aka MOS Louder Remix) Stewart Walker - We Welcome Utopia!!! (Jeff Samuel Remix)

Best Producer
	Words: Piotr Paterski 2007 would not have been the same quality-wise had it not been for Mathew Dear. Two excellent and completely different artist albums by one artist in the same year isn't something that is accomplished very often. Add to that some rated singles and remixes that worked dancefloors all over the world into a frenzy, and you've got a pretty good picture of Dear's creativity and versatility. He's capable of writing a minimal fairytale as False on the one hand, only to treat and surprise fans with his new wave pop side under his own name on the other. The aforementioned remixes were the work of yet another of his guises (Audion) and they, yet again, greatly differed in respect to genre from the rest of his output last year. It was with great pleasure that we welcomed SLG into our summary. Each and every one of Lukasz Seliga's EPs in 2007 turned out to be a volcano of emotions perfectly suited for the dancefloor, thanks to which his nationality made no difference whatsoever in the end. Moving on, Boratto and Gerber impressed us with their very strong debut albums. The two also worked hard on their many remixes throughout 2007, and by doing so enriched their artistic resumes a great deal. However, quantity did not subtract from the quality of their efforts. Both Gui and...Guy proved that catchy music has a place among the most ambitious of electronic music. Villalobos is undeniably the most charismatic DJ in the top 5. However, his DJ sets wouldn't even be half as impressive if they lacked his own productions. And it is precisely for this reason that 'Fabric 36' was one of the series' most important installments. The mixed CD, which can just as well be treated as a truly unique and well built artist album, went a long way in proving that Ricardo is in top form.
Matthew Dear
Gui Boratto Guy Gerber Ricardo Villalobos SLG