2017 Best of | Best songs | Best albums | Irish albums | Irish songs | Club tracks | Guest selections
Berlin-based American producer Avalon Emerson released this evocative track on the Whities label. It’s a building slice of arpeggiated magic, a rush as the title suggests.
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29.
Run The Jewels – ‘Call Ticketron’
The sickest beat on RTJ3. ‘Call Ticketron’ is a 21st century take on ‘It Takes Two,’ a thrill ride with El-P and Killer Mike.
28.
Lo-fi house producer DJ Seinfeld’s debut album Time Spent Away From U is a triumph of musical talent and the closer is a big one. ‘U’ samples Bob Geldof talking about grief and is a cathartic beautiful piece of music that could induce tears on the dancefloor.
The atmosfolk duo of Morgan Macintyre and Gemma Doherty’s ‘Causing Trouble’ expands the duo’s core sound with more instrumentation than before, while keeping their melodious intent intact. “The song is about transitioning, from Belfast to Dublin, from an old love to a new, and the gaps that can be found between you and another person or place when people transition at different paces and in different directions,” says Morgan. There’s such a lilting beauty to this song, a textured sway that Saint Sister have mastered in their relative infancy.
![Saint Sister - Causing Trouble [Live at the National Concert Hall]](https://nialler9.com/wp-content/cache/flying-press/Sc2DiVH-CVs-hqdefault.jpg)
26.
Syd – Nothin To Somethin’
From the excellent debut album from The Internet’s Syd, who makes sensual modern R&B feel easy.
Kildare duo Mix & Fairbanks’ first original track is an absolute dancefloor stomper, a synth-rush tune that melds the bouncing pinging synth of ‘Inspector Norse’ with a Daft Punk style vocoder robot vocal. This has been on constant play at home and during DJ sets since it came out.
24.
The Blaze – Territory
Not only is this French’s duo’s music video that they made themselves, the best video of the year, but the song’s emotive and cinematic sonics will also stay with you for days
23.
Floating Points – Ratio
Sam Shepherd’s productions fall somewhere between jazz and house music before they are picked up from the floor and given a dancefloor cap. The neuroscientist by trade is methodical in his creative process but Floating Points’ music always retains a pressing excitement that most studio boffins can’t hold onto. Case in point, the 18 minutes of Ratio (edited to 3 if you’re running for a bus) offers shuffling jazz percussion, a deep arp bass line, an ambient breather and an unfolding rhythm that makes 18 minutes feel like a short lift to nirvana.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT5wjeAaaN0
22.
Childish Gambino – Redbone
Hot buttered falsetto soul from an unusual source but an unusually talented man. Donald Glover’s Atlanta TV show was also a big surprise hit this year.
21.
Drake – Passionfruit
Drake’s More Life dropped the shoulder-resting weariness in favour of a lighter collaborative touch and it was all the better for it. ‘Passionfruit’ is the sweetest song about a dissolving relationship you could imagine.
