The Best Electronic Music Of 2023

 

 

As every year we select our favorite music, so these are the records that made an incredible year 2023 for us !

We gratefully thank all those who have collaborated with our project. Special thanks to you who listen to us and read our blog, without you none of this would be possible.

There’s so much music that we’ve probably forgotten about or haven’t discovered yet or maybe it’s coming out next week 😛 What record would you add to our list?

Love you ♥︎♥︎♥︎

Esencia

 

• 25 – VC-118A – Waves Of Change [Delsin]

On his fifth album as VC-118A, Samuel van Dijk is using his evolved electro practice to explore the notion of change – a universal constant which keeps us barrelling towards unknown futures.

With 2021’s Spiritual Machines, van Dijk presented a new approach which took his established (and celebrated) sound into downtempo and experimental pastures. Now the Dutch artist builds on that premise with a clear-sighted focus on the idea of change, as forces and factors in our present moment accelerate the states of flux within our lives.

 

• 24 – Kosh – Get It Done EP [Casa Voyager]

The moroccan wizard is back once again with 4 efficient club cuts! Tested and approved!

 

• 23 – Regal86 – Low Riders Vol. 2

Electronic music producer from Monterrey, Mexico!

Complexities sampler! by Source Direct.

 

• 22 – a.s.o. – a.s.o. remixed [Low Lying Records]

Following from a.s.o. ‘s self-titled LP, we have a set of remixes taking their trip-hop torch songs in new and different directions.

 

• 21 – Bliss Inc. – Mind 2 Mind [Magicwire]

Second release from Bliss Inc. on the Magicwire label founded by the amazing DJ Gabriola & Lone.

 

• 20 – Mu Tate – They’re With You Always (ft. Igor Dyachenko & Mathilde) [Utter]

They’re with you always inspired by a true story.

 

• 19 – Soos – Mundo Cute [Mule Musiq]

We are proud to announce the debut release of Mexico city base DJ & Artist “Soos”. He is a resident DJ of Mexico city’s best party “Sunday Sunday”.

This release is his first physical release A side is unique mixture of 90’s ground beat, break beats and obscure sound. B side is 90’s underground vibe deep house. Hope you dig this new artist!

 

• 18 – Skee Mask, MJK, Riko Dan – Patchworks vol . 1 [Obligated Records]

Oblig’s imprint ‘Obligated Records’ returns with the 3rd drop of their vinyl/digital EP series: Patchworks Vol.1. With versatile Münich-based producer Skee Mask joining forces with Rinse FM’s MJK, the pair bring two distinct flavours to the table. Side A features Grime-veteran & longstanding member of Roll Deep, Riko Dan; with Side B closing with 2 heavy floor-filling instrumentals.

 

• 17 – Parallelograms – Artificial 

Extracts from my first live set created for Solstice x terminalxnctv on June 18, 2022.

 

• 16 – Cousin – HomeSoon [Mood Hut]

On New Year’s morning, Cousin took a weary-eyed walk… ‘HomeSoon’ he thought, whilst cutting to the path by the Angophora Forest. As he made it down to the overgrown sidewalk, he caught a sudden sense of warmth from the surrounding flora. On closer focus, it was as if the plants and flowers had come alive…pulsing forward down the path as they bounced, smiled, and sneered all around him. Against logic, he was struck by an almost Garsonian desire to communicate with them.

This feeling lingered, persisting through several studio sessions. The music written over this period makes up this EP. How directly this experience informed the music is hard to say. What effect it had on the surrounding plant life is even harder to tell… we do hope, however, through listening to it, you’re a little more tuned in to them.

 

• 15 – Fantastic Man – Spiritual Guidance [Basic Spirit]

Basic Spirit welcomes the first out-of-house artist to the label, our dear friend Fantastic Man.

A household name at this point, FM hedges the Basic Spirit catalogue into a deeper, more euphoric territory, with four tracks that quite frankly melted our hearts and minds when we heard them. It’s a big heads-down record, which gets a big thumbs up from us.

 

• 14 – Special Guest DJ – Panoramic Deep Love Story

I swear I can listen to this ambient music for hours, so beautiful <3

 

• 13 – The Soulscaper – Inside Voices [Cirrus]

Animalia’s exploration of the lesser known artists of Melbourne continues with the launch of new sublabel, Cirrus, focusing on non-club, downtempo, ambient and otherworldly sounds from local Australian artists.

The first release comprises of dreamy, non-linear modular improvised soundscapes from Melbourne/Naarm local The Soulscaper, a sideproject of Eugene Pascal, member of Animalia’s electronic trio Menage.

The Inside Voices LP offers a sentimental, familiar musical journey, evocative of the distinctive charms of life in Australia’s south-eastern hub. All produced in the northern suburbs of Melbourne/ Naarm, the tracks provide an open window into the studios of the city’s deeper side. The LP is a poignant follow on from the musical outputs of Animalia, staying true to the label’s deep, cinematic and melodic style.

All tracks produced in the North Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, on the traditional land of the Wurundjeri (Woiwurrung) peoples of the Kulin Nation.

 

• 12 – Work The Peripherals – Like Lava [Companion]

Guiding weary travellers through an enchanting interdimensional odyssey, WTP’s debut long player ‘Like Lava’ finds a treasured home on Companion. Building on the foundation of four exceptional self-released EPs, WTP continues his exploration into the world of ambient trance. ‘Like Lava’ unfolds across nine tracks that expand and contract through imagined astral landscapes, showcasing WTP’s deft ability to create deep and absorbing techno trips.

Hypnotic in manifold ways, ‘Like Lava’ is a release made for getting lost in. Each track referencing the next, this hour-long journey glides through blissful realms of trance, ambient techno and house – deep basslines, muted breaks and spacious subdued percussion are unified by WTP’s characteristic ubiquitous and sparkling atmospheres.

This is an expert expression of the Companion ethos. By drawing inspiration from the likes of Robert Leiner, Speedy J and Index ID, WTP wields the language of tripped out 90s electronica to allow spellbound listeners the time to contemplate, space to travel and a place to dream.

 

• 11 – Purelink – Signs [Peak Oil]

The latest by Chicago trio Purelink unspools an alchemical suite of fractal ambient, dusted dub tech, and interstitial electronica, born from a spirit of unity and flux: “All hands on the mixer, forever finding the sound.” Since forming in 2020, Tommy Paslaski (aka Concave Reflection), Ben Paulson (aka kindtree), and Akeem Asani (aka Millia) have convened regularly in a shared studio to workshop, swap samples, and hone their collective muse via “the endless possibilities of a laptop,” seeking “something different than we would make on our own.”

Distilled from extended compositions prepared and performed across 2022 in Chicago, Kansas City, New York, and Los Angeles, Signs captures their chemistry at its most liquid and immaterial, mapped in mutating systems of glitch, glass, rhythm, and space. It’s music alternately subdued and subterranean, elevated and remote, attuned to the flickering sentience of outer spheres.

 

• 10 – A Visiting Link – 0-9 [A Visiting Link]

«The Emergency Declaration has been issued, so… past iron up… between iron chan… it is commonly known as the limited express… the chill system (Red Belt) + (Blue Belt) formation crab-crab. Limited operation @ Sultan Al Sham, Magnetic Dress, and Dedicated Computer Realm.»

https://www.discogs.com/release/26821796-A-Visiting-Link-0-9

 

• 09 – DJ Spence – Fan Needed [Doo]

Excellent house drop from Montreal’s Doo crew.

 

• 08 – p1LL – The Other Side EP [Serenity Now Recordings]

First ever release on the brand new label Serenity Now kick things off presenting the first ever EP by p1LL!

Even though this is the first EP as a solo artist, p1LL is very far from a newcomer.
In the mid 90s p1LL kept himself busy dj:ing and producing a lot of electronic music from his bedroom studio out of Santa Monica, where he even produced two tracks for an unreleased album by Seal. Most of this music stayed on hard drives and never came out.

Today, Serenity Now presents “The Other Side EP”, which consist of four songs produced between 1996-98.
Versatile and quirky, yet straight forward club music that really do have a stand out sound, while at the same time a sound so contemporary that it’s hard to think they were actually made almost thirty! years ago.

A new record label based in Stockholm, Sweden by Doc jay. 

https://www.discogs.com/release/26514101-p1LL-The-Other-Side-EP

 

• 07 – Head Level – El Tiempo [Melodykrafter]

A new EP by mexican producer Amauri Hernandez signed on his own label. 

Without a doubt, one of the best releases we have heard all year! stay tuned for its vinyl release soon!

 

• 06 – ANF – Costly Blooms On the Eve Of Collapse [DustWORLD]

ANF is back and the chemistry is real. Dust-e-1 & Priori present 4 tracks by dreamers for dreamers. ‘Costly Blooms on the Eve of Collapse’ is out now digitally and on Sept 25th physically. Let us sooth and evoke, something for the lightly melancholic folk.

 

• 05 – Maara – The Ancient Truth [Step Ball Chain]

Montreal’s sapphic mixxtress, the elusive mogul Maara, unveils her debut full length LP via Step Ball Chain. A pairing written in the stars, with twelve dynamically diverse and emotive soundscapes of downtempo bliss, spine-chilling drum and bass and elevated electronica – timeless anthems for sonic indulgence and reflection. 

Take a deep dive into the sensually charged inner workings of the already prolific producer’s mind.

 

• 04 – Boundary – Hummingbird

Experimental electronic music artist from the Dominican Republic.

 

• 03 – Thurlow Joyce x Regularfantasy – Lemon Citrus [NAFF]

A split EP pairing two euphoric dance anthems by Thurlow Joyce with a spellbinding roller by Regularfantasy and Priori.

 

• 02 – 2301 – Untitled [Heaven Smile]

A new project by Mammo from Nduja <3

 

• 01 – PLO Man – anonymousmaterial [Acting Press]

Wonderful, slightly 90s leaning, Ambient to Dub Techno celebrating sublimeness.

https://www.discogs.com/release/27581604-PLO-Man-anonymousmaterial

 

With Love ♥︎

Gerardo