Best New Tracks

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  Doc Daneeka

  Doc Daneeka: "Walk On In" [ft. Ratcatcher]

  Numbers

  By Gabriel Szatan; November 11, 2013

  On "Walk On In", Berlin producer Doc Daneeka goes for the jugular, creating a fierce house anthem that manages to retain gracefully poised even while hammering you into the ground. Enlisting fledgling Wales producer Ratcatcher to add a palpably vintage feel to the track, the glazed synths, emulated vinyl imperfections and an elliptical percussive rhythm are all buried deep underneath thick effects that afford maximum clarity to the track's enormous hook, one that has been inescapable for anyone within touching distance to the likes of Ben UFO, Joy Orbison, and countless others this past summer.
  
  From the strangled opening notes to the runaway momentum as the track tips over the precipice, the vocals are straight out of the Ce Ce Peniston textbook. The smokey, soulful adlibs that wash along of the surface of the filtersweep beneath give way to something much grander, serious diva material assuredly peacocking over the welting thump. As the gently shifting chords rise once more from the swamp, the titular refrain sounds less like a distant nag and more a dominant command, backed by a militant stomp and earthy bass as it struts off into the distance.

  Doc Daneeka: "Walk On In" [ft. Ratcatcher] (via SoundCloud)

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  Raum

  Raum: "Blood Moon"

  Glass, house

  By Ian Cohen; November 8, 2013

  The music Liz Harris creates as Grouper is often positively described as something to which the listener submits; through their song titles and deep blue, shimmering ambience, Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill and The Man Who Died in His Boat encouraged a lot of well-deserved comparisons to the experience of voluntary drowning. Raum, her collaboration with Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, doesn't stray too far from her own experimentations with vocal loops and heavily effected guitar from a compositional standpoint—it's all decay and release, with only the impression of attack and sustain.

  On "Blood Moon", from the duo's debut (out November 15 via Glass, house), the same surrender is achieved, but Raum are making the first move. Over five minutes, Harris and Ledesma layer distortion and unearthly vocals that create their typical immersive effect without drawing attention to how loud it is. And it's all the more absorbing for its eerie control of a redlining sonic assault. Even if the churning feedback could've popped up on the latest My Bloody Valentine record, it's nothing you'd wake the neighbors with, but rather something meant to subdue an audience of one. In other words, deafening silence.
  
  

  Raum: "Blood Moon" (via SoundCloud)

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  Blood Orange

  Blood Orange: "You're Not Good Enough" [ft. Samantha Urbani]

  Domino

  By Jamieson Cox; October 31, 2013

  Dev Hynes doesn't seem like the vicious kind. Whether writing/producing brooding pop cuts for Solange and Sky Ferreira with titles like "Losing You" and "Everything Is Embarrassing" or releasing misty, meditative R&B—like last month's excellent "Chamakay"—under the name Blood Orange, Hynes has consistently shown a knack for talky self-examination. But "You're Not Good Enough", the second single from his upcoming Cupid Deluxe, takes that sensitivity and crushes it under the heels of his glossy black dancing shoes. This is an eviscerating kiss-off, the light funk of Prince c. 1979 given a shot of venom and a slippery female duet partner in Friends' Samantha Urbani. Playing the jerk can be a tough sell, but Hynes delivers lines like "I never was in love / You know that you were never good enough" with a chilling, compelling even-handedness. It's always the self-identified nice guys who pack the cruelest, most vindictive punches; with "You're Not Good Enough", Hynes is breaking bad in style.

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  Disclosure

  Disclosure: "Apollo"

  self-released

  By Jamieson Cox; October 29, 2013

  Disclosure's masterful debut Settle amalgamated recent trends in British dance music into sharp, chart-friendly packages, with spark-plug vocal performances that seamlessly slotted into Howard and Guy Lawrence's gleaming pop-house compositions. It's a surprise, then, that Disclosure's first major post-Settle release is a return to straightforward house, but fear not: "Apollo" is a ruthlessly catchy slab of club fodder, and proof that Disclosure's compositional growth isn't necessarily tied to their use of talented collaborators. A propulsive 4/4 throb, floating vocal samples, click-thrust percussion: these aren't novel dance floor ideas, but the song's sense of pace and sheen lends "Apollo" a degree of craftsmanship without feeling stale. It's a victory lap taken at a sprint, a stellar cap on a year that found Disclosure rising to the peak of contemporary dance music's Mount Olympus.

  Disclosure: "Apollo" (via SoundCloud)

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  Mutual Benefit

  Mutual Benefit: "Advanced Falconry"

  self-released

  By Ian Cohen; October 11, 2013

  Gather round and I'll tell you about these things called "mix CDs": plastic circles that shy, young men and women filled with the words and sounds of others to convey sentiments they couldn't bring themselves to say out loud. Did you receive one of these things during their steady decline from 2002-2004?  If you heard a song similar to "Advanced Falconry" on it around that time, there's a 100% chance that person really, really liked you. They still might, since Boston band Mutual Benefit are dealing with the most basic form puppy love here. Jordan Lee has a terrycloth voice that allows him to soak up some gushing avowals about the object of his affection: "To look into her eyes/ Will make a fool of anyone...I won't forget the way she flies." 

  It lands softly within the arrangements he creates on Mutual Benefit's new album, Love's Crushing Diamond; it's a lush, lo-fi, and proudly analog sound that unified the disparate aims of turn-of-the-millennium auteurs such as the Microphones, Animal Collective, and early Sufjan Stevens (note the sheepish reclamation of the banjo as an indie rock appliance here). Does "Advanced Falconry" sound totally naïve in 2013?  Perhaps, but so is sending a hand-written note instead of a text message—and besides, who doesn't want someone to think they're this pretty?

  Mutual Benefit: "Advanced Falconry" (via SoundCloud)