Best of 2009 (Electronica/Pop/Techno/Dance)

1. 

   1. Dan Deacon: Bromst

   Bromst is one hour of the most thrilling and exuberant pop we heard all year, as well as one of the most fresh, exciting and inventive in the electronic-pop field. Deacon, of Baltimore’s aptl...read more

2. 

   2. Bibio: Ambivalence Avenue

   What a year for the UK artist known as Bibio, a.k.a. Stephen James Wilkinson. Not long ago he hovered just under the folktronica radar as a Boards of Canada acolyte. This year he jumped from Mush t...read more

3. 

   3. Broadcast & the Focus Group: Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age

   Across the almost 50 minutes and 23 tracks of this experimental “mini-album,” Birmingham’s suave mod-futurists Broadcast trade snippety notions with longtime album artist and Ghost Box Music ...read more

4. 

   4. Cold Cave: Love Comes Close

   Philadelphia’s Cold Cave channels a Joy Division-recalling style of ominous synth-pop on their debut—but update it with coed vocals, a fierce electronic backbone and icy-hot sexual tension. For...read more

5. 

   5. v/a: 5 Years of Hyperdub

   At the zombie dance nobody moves, but at the zombie rave implied by much of Hyperdub’s innovative and occasionally dubstep seminal releases over the past five years, movement feels constant. Clat...read more

6. 

   6. Desire: II

   More disco-inspired electropop bliss from the Italians Do It Better label, a criminally little-known outfit that consistently puts out the most interesting dance music around. Desire is the brainch...read more

7. 

   7. 2562: Unbalance

   From the dark, mysterious club world of the … Netherlands! OK, I kid, I kid, but the latest from 2562, Unbalance is perhaps the year’s finest dubstep album (excluding all those recent c...read more

8. 

   8. Etienne Jaumet: Night Music

   After stints in Zombie Zombie, Married Monk, and Flop, French electronic producer Etienne Jaumet went solo two years ago. This is his first album as such, barring a well-received 12”, and on it J...read more

9. 

   9. Annie: Don't Stop

   Annie-maniacs already know the bumpy road the Norwegian pop star’s second album has followed to get to its “proper” release—label issues, tracks released on 12-inch and the ...read more

10. 

    10. Gui Boratto: Take My Breath Away

    At this stage of the game—which is to say after dozens and dozens of 12-inches, albums and compilations—Cologne’s techno HQ Kompakt really needs artists like Gui Boratto, who can ...read more

Tags: dance , disco , dj , dubstep , electro , electronic , electronica , experimental , folk , indie , pop , techno