Pitchfork Forkcast: Words Into Sound: Various Artists: The Month In: Techno

Words Into Sound: Various Artists: The Month In: Techno

Photo by Timothy Saccenti

In his current The Month In: Techno dispatch, Pitchfork's Philip Sherburne has assembled a list of the 10 house and techno tracks he considered most important in 2007. Here is his top five (three Villalobos remixes tied for fourth; we present one), along with Philip's thoughts. The rest of the list and additional commentary can be found in his column.

1. Nôze: "Remember Love" [My Best Friend]
The top slot has to go to this song, if only because no other track came anywhere near giving me this much pleasure this year. Propulsive piano chords, barroom romance, copious shuffle, organ solo, weird French accents, a riff ripped from Technotronic: what doesn't this song have? Plus, best closing-time singalong ever.

2. Dave Aju and the Invisible Art Trio: "Be Like the Sun" [Circus Company]
Hearing the Wighnomy Brothers play it early in their outdoor set at MUTEK was one of the musical highlights of my year, and seven months of playing it out have, if anything, only deepened my appreciation for this oddball house anthem from the Bay Area's Dave Aju. This, to me, is everything that dance music should be: linear and focused in the groove department; hooky without choking on its own riffs; and sonically eccentric as all get-out. Those trumpet blasts are the icing on the cake.

3. Junior Boys: "Like a Child (Carl Craig Remix)" [Domino]
It took me forever to get used to the way that Junior Boys' vocals and Carl Craig's synth additions seemed to be in entirely different keys, but now I couldn't hear the two together as anything less than inevitable. Craig at his most elegant.

4. Chica and the Folder: "Angelus Novus (Ricardo Villalobos Remix)" [Monika Enterprise]
Keeping up with Villalobos felt like a full-time job in 2007 (good work if you can get it!). [This remix] saw him at the height of his powers, carving out a lean, elliptical rhythm and infusing it with a dark melodic sensibility, spitting color like an oil slick on fire.

5. Supermayer: "The Art of Letting Go (Ewan's Art of Getting Low Remix)" [Kompakt]
Ewan Pearson closed out a ridiculously good year-- releasing both one of the year's best mix CDs, Fabric 35, and also a double-CD compilation of his remixes-- with this out-of-nowhere mindfuck of a remix for Superpitcher and Michael Mayer's Supermayer project. Favoring Radio Slave-styled builds, he digs into a lithe, percussive groove and discards the original's wonky funk, preserving only a few unhinged shouts and a strange, major-key bridge to remind you that this ain't just another minimal track. The best thing about Pearson? Whatever he does, he does with gusto.