This week we run down a few of the stand out producers of 2011, today with Boddika, Julio Bashmore and Nicolas Jaar.
6. BODDIKA Various Swamp81, Non-Plus
The advent of the technological revolution has undoubtedly born witness to a new wave of electronic producers; it’s a saturated music landscape, yet standing out from a sea of compressed and polished copycat quantising means that few have left that indelible stain of dexterity quite like Boddika has. Al Green’s side project (aside from his work as one-half of futuristic electro duo Instra:mental) relies heavily on a mixed bag of analogue equipment, giving Boddika’s sound that raw and full-bodied resonance that harks back to the glory days of Juan Atkins, Drexciya and Model 500, yet with a heavy dose of hard-nosed futurism.
Best Bit: Boddika and Joy Orbison’s collaborative track ‘Swims’, a juke-style frenzy of mind-altering proportions.
5. JULIO BASHMORE Various PMR Records / 3024 / Futureboogie
Bristol’s awkward house heir certainly isn’t new but he had a great year. His PMR released ‘Battle For Middle You’ was arguably the summer anthem in weird off-kilter bass. His restless and narcotic ‘Father Father’ featuring Javeon McCarthy carved out a slice of soul that we’re all still dining on. “In my head I have my own idea of how I want house to sound like,” he told Clash, “and it doesn’t really fit into any other templates. Grooving, with a lot of emotion and quite often a hefty amount of bass. It’s more about a vibe than genres.”
Best Bit: Reveling in hoards of bass freaks exulting the understated anthem of ‘Battle For Middle You’ from FWD>> to Outlook festival.
4. NICOLAS JAAR ‘Space Is Only Noise’ Circus Company
We’ve thrived on the recent void in dance music. Silence goes a long way, and the startling gaps purveyed from The xx, James Blake and into a new generation of producer’s like Deptford Goth or Greenwood Sharps fascinates Clash. One foreigner’s fixation with the same calm was Chilean / NY downtempo guru Nicolas Jaar. Ripping out high tempos and cluttered drums, Jaar pimped down rather than up, and the result is a lurching saga that’s as nocturnal and dark as a James Elroy novel that’s set on a space station. His album title nailed the idea, his hands hammered out the rest.
Best Bit: The title track’s warped, malfunctioning Android lust, reverbed to an inch of a black hole.
Follow the rest of our Top 15 Producers of 2011 across this week on ClashMusic.com.
