Top Tracks 2015 Part VII 40–31

40. Majical Cloudz – Are You Alone? (Are You Alone?)

This song is just pure bliss. It´s descriptive power, it´s intricate message of human sadness and the interpersonal longing for understanding and being understood. What Majical Cloudz have crafted here is more then just a simple song, it´s a glittering questioning of what feeling sad and forlorn means and views this through the lens of an onlooker, a close friend seeing the pain of his loved one. In its sweet melodies and hazy atmosphere, the words will hit you the hardest. Are You Alone might be one of the best example of crafting a song with as few elements as possible and of writing a deep song with the simpelst words there are without becoming cheesy or redundant.

39. Humeysha – Burma Between You And Me (Humeysha)

This is one artists, you´ll just have to check out this year! The approach of mixing, in the widest sense, Indian music with western "rock" music has been around for quite sometime. But if one, Humeysha, for being "Other", is able to reconfigure this notion as someone from the different view points. His music – and Burma Between You And Me is just an example – is the sound of transculturalism, a person knowing the structures and dynamics of all the hemispheres and ceasing to distinguish between them. If that description takes to much thinking, just think of an Indie-Ravishankar doing the best psychedelic shit you´ll hear all year.

38. Portico – Brittle (Living Fields)

Portico or formerly known as Portico Quartett are a band close to being instrumental avant-garde. For Living Fields they didn´t hold back on electronic flutters played in the mindset of a big band, but, as many bands doing the instrumental thing, shifted their weight on vocal performances by Jono McCleery and Joe Newman. The latter is best know from being the boundary pushing (other might say gibber-jabber) voice of the Alt-J. While the vocals performances of McCleery are very solid and don´t take away from what Portico is, every song with Newman blows the previous out the wind. The last track with him, Brittle has Newman at is most longing and trance inducing, his voice really breaking point of making sense and becoming a pure top layer of the ticking electronic ensemble.

37. Drake – Company / Hotline Bling / Change Locations feat. Future (If You´re Reading This It´s Too Late / What A Time To Be Alive)

Yeah, it had to be three songs by Drake this year. Because if there was one artists presenting good music throughout the year, it was him.

Company: There isn´t that much to say on the lyrical content of this track. Drake does his usual, and Travis Scott does whatever it is he is doing. But here we find the finest moments of production on If You´re Reading This, It´s Too Late. Beat switches are a thing now and the whole album features some gripping changes of pace. Here Drakes verse is slow moving and nightly until the gothic organ sounds overtake the songs and turn Scott´s verse into a diabolic evocations. A suberb aural experience.

Hotline Bling: With “Hold On, We´re Going Home” Drake proved how he can go full pop and still be better then any of his contemporaries. Hotline Bling, with it´s Super Mario inspired, floaty beat is a highlights that surfaced casually in-between some sparse diss-tracks aimed at the biggest loser of 2015, Meek Mill. And this is the greater diss and show of force than "Charged Up" or "Back To Back". Drake has no need to rap, to show his manliness or anything that is considered standard in hip hop music. He can deliver the heartbroken, love drunk r´n´b tracks and have greater success and credibility in the genre than any of the other generic rappers.

Change Locations: Crooning raspy Future and singing Drake is a great combination throughout every track of What A Time To Be Alive. Never for any lyrics or intellectual content, but for the sheer affective power of vocals and beats. Change Locations is a lucid, airy tune with a mechanic drum line captivating enough to create no need for great experimentation. Undeniably, the whole album was put together in a short period of time, but the immediacy and effortlessness of the songs don´t try to hide this in any way. Drake and Future might not be respected, wordy MC´s, but they very much always succeed in relating the listener: Not lyrically, but aurally.

36. Holly Herdon – Unequal (Platform)

On her debut album Movement Holly Herndon had to prove that her deeply conceptual and experimental EDM could still move people to dance, or better said, be enjoyed by people not searching to be totally engaged with what they are listening to on an intellectual level. With Platform, Holly Herndon didn´t have to pry for the ears of the listeners and critics anymore and she went totally over board with themes and concepts of the whole thing. Unequal is no short of being minstrelsy and choir music combined under an electronic umbrella. The lyrics of collaborator Colin Self fit these spiritual and humanistic forms of linguistic expression perfectly well and can be quoted in full: "Honesty, sing prayer to save / The human form / Dignity, cannot be broken / Our language is power / The action we’ve chose / Refuse, repose / Honesty. Fight for each other. For one, As one / Why? Why are we unequal? / Honest, parity, why are we? / To change the shape of our future, to be unafraid, to break away / Dignity, identity, why are we? / A louder fight, a harder fight / For one, as one".

Since there is no link to Unequal in the web, listen to Herdon´s Mix Minnesang: A Tale Of Bits And Atoms instead:

35. Public Service Broadcasting – GO! (The Race For Space)

The theme of space music, music about space or music sounding as if from space is something worth thinking about. With the synthesizer, the limit wasn´t the sky anymore. This instrument seemed to open up the scopes of what was out there, what was not human in a sense, extra-musical. Since these days, it´s pretty much just another instrument between the others. But what a powerful one. What Public Service Broadcasting do is not as much a complete recreation of space music, but more or less a little play on history and the aural expression of what was never heard. Because what could be heard, were the broadcasts, great speeches and communication from space or even the ground team. As in every song, GO! is able to use these elements and transport the feeling of that time, of what is aptly titles the "Race For Space" with all the expectations and setbacks. Can´t really craft any better music delivering the feeling of exploration than this.

34. Wolf Alice – Your Loves Whore (My Love Is Cool)

Few songs capture the vibe of falling in love better than this. Not just are Wolf Alice great instrumentally, from cool start-stops on the verses over blooming distortion to a spacious and delicate whispered mid-section before bursting into the climax, the lyrics fit the feeling of intensity, stupidity and self-abandonment that falling in love and being in love includes.

33. Awake In Sleep – I Burnt My Home (Heights)

If you were missing the sludge-metal, the harsh tones and the bleek feeling in this list, bear with me as we get closer to the top. One entry that will satisfy your need is I Burnt My Home from the french doom outfit Awake In Sleep. Everything is on point, the slow, post-rock infused lead into distant reverb-soaked guitar backs the pained vocals, that move so slowly, they come off, almost as spoken word. The track only grows more frustrated and heavy from there, picking away with every hard riff until everything dissipates into a sorrowful leadout, without screams or distortion, just a icy guitar and drums showcasing a band that is able to hurt you with whatever they pick up.

32. Recondite – Pass Up (Placid)

Recondite might be on his way to becoming one of my favorite electronic music producers. He is one of the most hard-working with the steady output of good work for sure. Placid is what I might call the essence of groove and with his best work seated in the region of Acid House, Pass Up is the prime example. The hollow drums turning more artificial with continuous hits, wobbering and clingy, being companioned by the steady moving beat and then the ghostly melody joining in and tingeling into a song like hum; just incredible. I´ve been running about hearing this bass line in my quiet moments for over two months now and there is no end in sight.

31. AQSTIK – Monolog (XORBITANT)

View my review for the XORBITANT EP and you´ll find that this is maybe the most underground release to make this list this year. A German MC might not come to mind for the most people thinking about rap music, but AQSTIK shows that the craft of rap and hip hop lies in the talent and urge of storytelling and revealing thoughts and emotions through words. Monolog is an uplifting joint at first, the rapper telling us that life might not be beautiful all the time, but that things usually turn out ok and more importantly that music and these lyrics will help with life´s struggles. Seeing that AQSTIK is talking to himself, we get a striking example of self-convincing within the thoughts of life being a downward spiral. Just as beautiful as it is smashing. Give this one a try and be sure to drop some bucks on his bandcamp if you can!