2013 was an amazing year. It was a year of Deep House. 50% of the all DJs were spinning Deep House while the other 50% were complaining that the real “deep house” does not sound at all like the new deep house and kids should do their homework. But hey, things change and we kept dancing to the deep house, no matter if the genre definition is right or wrong. It was the year of Maceo Plex, Adana Twins, The Climbers, El_Txef_A and The Culprit crew.
2013 was the year of vinyl, with vinyl sales hitting all time high since 1996 and likely to rise even higher in 2014.
2013 was the year of DIY. So many producers kick starting their own labels, releasing their own tracks, getting cheap vinyl cuts, doing their own distribution and using tools like CD-baby and SpinnUp do get their music straight out and all over Spotify, Amazon, Deezer, Beatport, etc.
2013 was the year of Techno. The year of Richie Hawtin, TM404, Nicole Moudaber, Len Faki, Blawan, Boddika, Adam Beyer and the Drumcode lot taking us back to the industrial party settings, smoke machines and stroboscopes at 135 flashes per minute.
2013 was the year of commercial house / arena house / arena pop / whatever you call it. The genre growing stronger then ever with global successes of Avicii, Nicky Romero, Style of Eye, John De Sohn and many more. All in all it only affected our (the real?) house scene in a good way bring attention to the underground artists and making people look for music elsewhere than at Beatport Top 100. As Marshall Jefferson told me over a phone call – “I have Swedish House Mafia and Avicii to thank for everything this year. Everybody is going back to the roots of house music and there they find me”.
2013 was a Swedish year. A year of successes for Swedish producers and labels like TM404, Jonsson / Alter, Fishermen, Axel Boman, HNNY, Adam Beyer, Jesper Dahlbäck, Edgar Ariza, Abdulla Rashim, Patrich Siech, Per Hammar, Kontra Musik, Drumcode, Studio Barnhus, Local talk, Skudge and Geography records.
Without any further ado, here are the best tracks of 2013 according to the HMWL writer team:
20. Jonsson / Alter – En Melodi (Kontra Musik)
One of the best tracks off one of the best albums of the year.
19. Pawas – Blue Dub (SOVA001) 12″
18 Sek – Fauxpology (BTY008) 12″
17. Space Echo – Soulpower
CaTekk and Lee Stevens take back the 70s sound of the soul, funk and disco.
16. HVL – Ions
Really nice harmonic track from georgian producer. rough house rosie is a label to watch.
15. Oake – Tenough Rah Zan
An example of downwards records being – once again – at the forefront.
14. Daniel Bortz – Spend the night
We interviewed Daniel just before the release of his debut album on Suol. This is the best track off that pack.
13. Gerstaffelen – the old villagers
Crunchy arpy baseline fused with those sparkling percussions is bound to be a future classic.
12. ‘Clouds – Chained to a dead camel’
‘Chained to a dead camel’, released on Overlee assembly in May, is the track with the strange name but with such a majestic sound that gives you goose bumps. The talented young duo really knows how to build up a masterpiece.
https://soundcloud.com/overlee-assembly/clouds-chained-to-a-dead-4
11. Jay Daniel – I Have no name
Young detroit-based producer who we suspect will become the next leader with Kyle hall in the new generation of Detroit producers.
10. De Sluwe Vos – O.G Anthem (Alb002)
9. Michelle Owen, Kruse & Nuernberg feat. Isis Salam – We Find Deep
Rejected does it over and over again. This is one of the their best releases so far
8. Fishermen – Rise
A banger. I’ve been waiting for skudge records to stop beating the dead horse.
7. Paranoid London feat. Paris Brightledge – Paris Dub 1
6. Untold – Targa
Uplifting bleepy sounds contrasted nicely with a deep bassline which really takes me places.
5. Edu Imbernon & Los Suruba – Fayer (Adriatique‘ Deeper Vibe Remix)
2013 being was the year of both Adriatique and the Culprit label. Even though the LA based label kept releasing 5 star tracks one after another, this very remix on this very release stands out the most. Rocks any dancefloor you can find.
4. The Third Man – Pipes at Helios Canyon
I can’t see this ever getting old, and the legowelt-remix on the flipside is also a gem.
3. Dungeon Meat – The fuck off track
Less is more.
2 ‘Nicole Moudaber – Movin’ on’
With her album ‘Believe’, released on Drumcode, Nicole showed that she is not only one of the top techno artists at this time; she is an excellent techno producer as well. One of the tracks, ‘Movin’ on’, has that great flow, a lot of bass and it consists of many interesting dimension which makes it better and better, every time you listen to it.
1. ‘Ninetoes – Finder’
Nothing sounds like Ibiza 2013 as ‘Finder’, released on Kling Klong records in April. It has that funky warm sound that is so easy to love and so hard not to dance to. Nearly no one knew who Ninetoes was before, almost everyone know who he is now after creating that fabulous summer track ‘Finder’.
See you in 2014. It will be an amazing year full of good tunes.
/Niclas P Andersson, Therese, Rimbaudian & Alex
