Illustration by Alex Solman
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You’ve read and raged over the 50 Best Albums of 2013, now it’s the turn of the singles.
If what constitutes an album is murky ground in 2013’s non-stop battlefield of mixtapes, mini-albums and 10-track plus EPs, then the definition of a single really is anybody’s guess. As we always emphasise on our weekly FACT Singles Club feature, a single in 2013 could be a 12″ (or 10″ or 7″, if you’re feeling particularly quaint) vinyl release, a Soundcloud album teaser, a mixtape cut or even an unintentional leak. The way that people consume music has become a free-for-all, and the way that it’s distributed and presented has merely followed suit. What follows is a list of the 100 tracks we couldn’t stop consuming this year – we’ll be running 20 entries a day, closing with the top 20 on Friday.
For more end of year mayhem, check out:
– The 50 Best Albums of 2013
– The 50 Best Reissues of 2013
– The 10 Best Record Labels of 2013
– The 30 Best Album Covers of 2013
– The 30 Worst Album Covers of 2013
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100. THE KNIFE
‘Full of Fire’
(Brille)
On an album that occasionally falters under the weight of its ambition, ‘Full Of Fire’ is the moment The Knife achieve complete lift-off, smashing alien dance shapes against diseased drums in a hellish, mind-frazzling bacchanal. Edge of madness stuff.
99. BLOOD ORANGE
‘You’re Not Good Enough’
(Domino)
Listen here
Dev Hynes is best when writing for and with female vocalists, and ‘You’re Not Good Enough’ continues the lineage of Sky Ferreira’s ‘Everything Is Embarrassing’ and Solange’s ‘Losing You’. A duet with Friends’ vocalist Samantha Urbani, the real-life couple illuminates a flawed romance over one of Hynes’ Jam and Lewis-reminiscent productions. Say what you will about his chameleon-like tendencies, but his hook-writing is undeniable.
98. MARQUIS HAWKES
‘I Want You ‘
(Dixon Avenue Basement Jams)
It didn’t quite pack the punch of 2012’s blustery ‘Sealion Woman’, but ‘I Want You’ – one of several cuts Hawkes released on the sterling Dixon Avenue label this year – still had plenty of impact in clubs this year, slowing the tempo and soaking the floor in soul. File next to Braiden’s ‘Paginini’.
97. MUMMZ
‘Opening Knell’
(Self-released)
Aureate horrorcore from Harlem MC Mummz and one-time FACT Free Agent Microdiamond. The former’s gutter baritone scrapes the same sort of depths as Flow Dan’s Karloff performance on The Bug’s ‘Skeng’; the latter’s beat is lithe and sun-dappled. A gore-drenched counterpart to Rome Fortune’s sleek digital fantasias.
96. HELIX
‘Whoosh (Ice Dispenser)’
(Night Slugs Club Constructions)
Listen here
Set the kicks to stutter and the claps to kill – Helix’s set for Night Slugs’ Club Constructions saw the Georgia-based producer in his element, with ‘Ice Dispenser’ at the EP’s spearhead.
95. OL
‘Cover’
(Faces)
Oleg Buyanov’s music seems to get faster as time goes on, and although ‘Cover’ starts as loping fat boy hip-hop, when those rushing hats come in there’s no doubt that you’ve reached peak time. 2013’s answer to Wbeeza’s ‘Billy Green’s Ded’, and by God we needed that at times.
94. RIZZLA & BLK. ADONIS
‘Battyjack’ (Club Mix)
(Self-released)
KUNQ is the catch-all for the aggro-queer, “voguing in a moshpit” dance tracks crafted by producers like Rizzla and Blk.Adonis. Hyperkinetic with global influences, the sound is exemplified by ‘Battyjack’, their tribute to dancehall queen Lisa Hyper and a throwback to 90’s ragga house. Practically three dance tracks in one, ‘Battyjack’ will make you forget Breach’s ‘Jack’ in a hurry.
93. TINK
‘When I’m Lit’ (The GTW Rework)
(Self-released)
Two of Chicago’s freshest voices come together on this booty bass remix. On the original, Tink flexed her singing and rapping muscles on a weed-laced ode to teenage romance. The GTW’s propulsive rework laces it with some So So Def rumble and a sample from Kenan & Kel, a double-dose of nostalgia for ’90s babies raised on Nickelodeon and Miami bass.
92. YUNG LEAN
‘Solarflare’
(Self-released)
Scandinavian rapper Yung Lean might take pride in moping, but ‘Solarflare’ closed his Unknown Death mixtape with one hell of a rush – the production effectively Friendzone doing footwork.
91. KING MIDAS SOUND
‘Aroo’
(Ninja Tune)
King Midas sound described ‘Aroo’ in April as “My Bloody Valentine in dub,” and they weren’t far off the mark. Blissful yet blessed with the bone-crunching force of tectonic plate movement and driven by Hitomi’s whirlwind vocals, it’s like being hit in the face with a breezeblock, and that’s nowhere near as painful as you might think.
90. THE-DRUM
‘Sirens’
(Audraglint)
Taking their moniker to heart, The-Drum layer on percussion like warm clothing during a Chicago winter. Haunting, tribal polyrhythms collide with shrieks and chants in one of the highlights of the duo’s cyberpunk concept album Contact.
89. LEVANTIS
‘See’
(The Trilogy Tapes)
Nobody’s quite sure who Levantis is exactly (if he is indeed, as many suspect, another artist working incognito), but it hardly matters when the material’s this good. Blurry and delightfully lo-fidelity, ‘See’ almost sounds as if someone’s raided Actress’s vaults and dubbed the spoils to tape without bothering to invest in a bottle of head cleaner. Just the way we like it, then.
88. FLAVA D
‘Hold On’
(Butterz)
It might not have been as visible, but Flava D’s jaunty 2-step anthem kicked seven shades of shit out of the weedy faux-garage posturing so prevalent in 2013. ‘Hold On’ is the real deal, with the gut-churning bass, commanding swing and the compulsory vocal chops offset by a light-headed sense of melancholy that just tips it over the edge.
87. RUN THE JEWELS feat. BIG BOI
‘Banana Clipper’
(Fools Gold)
Killer Mike, Big Boi and El-P? The quality of the track almost doesn’t matter with this trio involved, so it feels like a bonus that El’s beats slap harder than they have in years and all three of ‘em trade bars like it’s 1999. Rap music might have changed, but who said it couldn’t still aim right for the gut?
86. NGUZUNGUZU
‘Harp Bell’
(Fade to Mind)
As Nguzunguzu, Asma Maroof and Daniel Pineda have become leading proponents of Fade to Mind’s self-described “sad, sexy, scary” club music, and while instrumental grime had a resurgence in 2013, the LA-based duo have been cross-breeding grime riddims with various strands of electronic music for years. Their Skycell EP plays like the soundtrack for a techno-organic horror flick, and ‘Harp Bell’ is a standout thanks to its non-stop motor and minimalist John Carpenter melody.
85. LIL HERB & LIL BIBBY
‘Play They Role’
(Self-released)
Windy City duo Lil Bibby and Lil Herb had a banner year, and ‘Play They Role’ remains one of their most disarming anthems. Spine-chilling and urgent it’s surprisingly removed from the ferocious drill of their peers yet lacks none of its anger or resolve. Never has a chipmunked vocal sample sounded so terrifying.
84. TAGWELL WOODS
‘Spa’
(W.T. Records)
W.T. did a nice line in dreamy Apollo throwbacks this year (see also: Sabre’s ‘Nightdrive To Bolland’), and ‘Spa’, taken from Tagwell Woods’ debut 12″, snaffles the biscuit. Shoegaze house, situated somewhere between Amber-phase Autechre and Ulrich Schnauss, and liable to induce swooning (warning: not to be consumed when driving).
83. TIRZAH
‘I’m Not Dancing’
(Greco-Roman)
Duffed-up diva fare from Micachu and long-time associate Tirzah. Micachu’s a well-seasoned master at rickety pop, but ‘I’m Not Dancing’ is well up there with her finest instrumentals. Arguably the best thing Greco-Roman have put their name to, ever.
82. KELLY ROWLAND
‘Dirty Laundry’
(Republic)
Life after Destiny’s Child has hardly been a bed of roses for second-in-command Kelly Rowland as she details on this astonishing confessional, one of The-Dream’s strongest productions this year and one of the singer’s finest solo efforts yet.
81. BIG STRICK feat. ROCK STAR
‘Groove’
(7 Days Entertainment)
Propelled by the kind of “put your hands in the air” vocal that would sound hopelessly cliched in the hands of a producer less savvy, Big Strick’s ‘Groove’ is moody, mucky, strung-out house in a classic shade – an investment piece.
80. JAMES HOLDEN
‘Renata’
(Border Community)
The jewel in the crown of Holden’s mighty impressive The Inheritors, ‘Renata’ is a curious, shape-shifting beast – at once a krautrock-indebted head-nodder and a raging maelstrom of melting synths and exploding jazz drums. Tricky to deploy in a club situation, but pays dividends if done well.
79. POD BLOTZ
‘Die and Come Alive’
(Clan Destine)
Snotty goth from Detroit’s Suzy Poling. The Pod Blotz project has been around for a good decade, but it sounds particularly formidable on this ghoulish highlight from the Glass Tears LP – clattering industrial cut from the same black muslin as Zola Jesus’ The Spoils. We’ve not played it backwards yet, but we’re pretty sure there’s something malign lurking in there.
78. BUSTA RHYMES & Q-TIP
‘Thank You’
(Self-released)
Two of New York’s more sprightly rap veterans come correct on a team-up that’s at least twice as good as we were expecting. There’s an earthiness to ‘Thank You’ that points back to the Tribe/LotNS glory days, but it’s no throwback exercise, laying two great, breathless performances over zippy nitro-disco. A pair of blustering cameos from Weezy and Yeezy add a welcome peck of WTF.
77. ALDEN TYRELL & GERD
‘Luv Thang’
(4 Lux)
Dutch veterans Gerd and Tyrell both followed banner 2012s by stripping their sound down to the bare elements needed to make a dance floor tick, but in amongst the ruthless bangers (Tyrell’s ‘Wurk It’, Gerd’s ‘Jam the House’), the pair found time to collaborate on this tom-driven vocal stepper – something like the yin to ‘Touch the Sky”s yang.
76. VISIONIST & SAGA
‘10 Stamps’
(Self-released)
Instrumental grime was in the limelight this year, and never more than during September’s war dubs episode (more on that here). For all the pomp and bluster of some producers’ battles, it was Visionist and Saga’s Kahn diss that stayed with us longest, slipping between an apocalyptic club killer and ominous chamber-grime like a lucid dream.
75. LORD OF THE ISLES
‘Nustron’
(Little Strong)
Situated somewhere between the sea and the sky; between Soul Capsule and Selected Ambient Works, the Lord of the Isles project still sounds like nobody else around.
74. ROYAL-T
‘I Know You Want Me’
(Rinse)
It’s garage-meets-grime on ‘I Know You Want Me’, a standout track by the Southampton star that manages to out-everything his massive 2011 smash ‘Orangeade’. Simple elements — pitched diva vocals, smash-mouth basslines, build/drop dynamics — done extremely well.
73. REDINHO
‘Searching’
(Numbers)
The elusive producer finally returns with his first material since 2011’s ‘Stay Together’. Awash with synth, talkbox chatter, and layers that are more rewarding on each play, listening to this one is like sliding down a rainbow, and if it’s anything to go by, his long-awaited album will be a treat. Another notch in Numbers’ 2013 belt.
72. JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE
‘Mirrors’
(RCA)
A super-sized, sugar-coated, over-long power ballad it may be, but with Timbaland at the helm, ‘Mirrors’ is JT’s grandest pure pop statement yet (and not a white glove or a disco ball in sight).
71. SPOOKY
‘Baby’
(Unknown To The Unknown)
We don’t try and hide our unashamed love of bassline here at FACT HQ, and when we heard that grime don Spooky was tipping his hat to the Midlands’ favourite genre we had a feeling it might be a bit special. We weren’t wrong, and ‘Baby’ nails it, blending Spooky’s signature rudeboy shuffle with an industrial strength sawtooth riff nicked straight out of Mario 64. Oh, and the video’s almost as good, too.
70. YG feat. TEEFLII
‘Sprung’
(Self-released)
With ratchet music, the whole is often greater than the sum of its parts. ‘Sprung’ is no different: DJ Mustard’s identikit beat, YG’s laidback verses, and TeeFlii’s lithe hook are unremarkable on their own; together, they comprise one of the year’s best sex jams
69. THE CYCLIST
‘Visions’
(Leaving Records)
Helpfully described as “tape throb” by the Northern Irish producer, The Cyclist’s debut LP Bones In Motion might be regarded as the flamboyant cousin of this year’s ubiquitous monochrome techno grot. Fuzzy, febrile and fully dosed-up, ‘Visions’ is the highlight of the album’s off-balance machine music.
68. WALTER EGO
‘Military Mind’
(Coyote)
The depraved alter ego of A-side ‘Wavey’, ‘Military Mind’ lurches merrily along like a drunken sailor, its grimey one-finger melodies merrily crashing and bashing against martial snares and splats of white noise. Not one to introduce to your parents, mind.
67. MARIAH CAREY & MIGUEL
‘#Beautiful’
(Island Def Jam Music Group)
Mariah and Miguel together at last – even before hearing ‘#Beautiful’ we were pretty certain it was going be a good ‘un. Mrs. Cannon might not have had the most reliable run recently, but Miguel’s been on fire, and in a year when he achieved more notoriety for an on-stage acrobatic faux pas than any particular musical achievement, ‘#Beautiful’ is proof that his songwriting mettle remains unshaken. It’s 2013’s warmest ray of pop sunshine.
66. AARDVARCK
‘1990’
(No ‘Label’)
Aardvarck may be one of dance music’s hydra figures, but few of his singles bring together his many heads as effectively as ‘1990’. At times closest to hip-hop, at others dubstep, it’s heavy as stone, but its chords and vocal sample are straight out the soaring hardcore playbook.
65. FUTURE
‘Honest’
(Epic)
Future might not have unleashed his eagerly anticipated follow-up to last year’s earth-shaking Pluto, but the Atlanta Auto-crooner still managed to keep a steady stream of interest with some carefully timed singles. ‘Sh!t’ and ‘Karate Chop’ are also well worthy of a nod, but it’s ‘Honest’, with its soppy romantics and world-beating production from HPG boss DJ Spinz and 19-year-old Gucci collaborator Metro Boomin’, that takes the gold.
64. JABU
‘You & I’ (Kahn Remix)
(No Corner)
Tucked away on the B-side of a 7″ release by No Corner – the label behind Filter Dread’s excellent Space Loops – Kahn’s remix of ‘You & I’ slips around you like a ghost and doesn’t let go. If ever there was evidence that dubstep could’ve used more harp, this was it.
63. GREG BEATO
‘Respect The 78’
(Apron)
Funkineven-approved rough’n’tumble from Miami. Beato’s biggest, longest and strangest release sounds like Felix Da Housecat’s electro-house in tantalising free-fall, full of empty space and synth lines that float and cluster like bubbles piped through a straw.
62. TRC
‘Come Bring It’ (El-B Remix)
(Crazylegs)
Sure, he might not be in the untouchable form of his turn-of-the-noughties prime, but when El-B rolls ’em out like he means it, who can test the king of swing?
61. DJ NIGGAFOX
‘Hwwambo’
(Principe)
“This is our grime”, said Principe’s Pedro Gomes in our feature on the creolized dance music emerging from the Lisbon ghettos. True to form, listening to DJ Niggafox’s ‘Hwwambo’ reminds us of the sheer alterity of first-wave eski – a lo-fi, pressure cooked fusion of impossible rhythms, written for unborn dancers pulling shapes that don’t exist yet.
60. JAMES BLAKE
‘Every Day I Ran’
(Polydor)
On this Overgrown bonus cut, James Blake doesn’t simply sample Big Boi’s ‘Royal Flush’ as much as he warps it beyond recognition. Unafraid to stretch, submerge, and — in Big Boi’s words — “slow it down to a screeching halt,” Blake takes the rap hit and turns it into something more befitting his Harmonimix alias or early-career CMYK EP.
59. PUSHA T
‘Numbers on the Boards’
(GOOD Music / Def Jam)
A reasonable – if not extravagant – commercial success with a decent peak:trough ratio, My Name Is My Name neither made nor tarnished Pusha T’s name. Still, despite its deficiencies, there were a hamper’s worth of good ideas on his debut solo album, and few brighter than this Kanye-assisted belter – a herald of the abrupt cuts and suckerpunch sonics that would go on to make Yeezus such a force to be reckoned with.
58. TREE feat. DANNY BROWN
‘No Faces’
(Closed Sessions / Creative Control)
There might be something desperately unfashionable about Tree’s soul/trap combo, but don’t let that put you off: ‘No Faces’ is an indisputable standout on Sunday School II. Aided by the omnipresent Danny Brown, the Chicago rapper manages to shake the pervading melancholy that usually characterises his material, allowing himself to reflect on girls, cars and booze for a minute. Of course, this is Danny Brown’s specialist subject, and the two rappers’ head-to-head is one of the year’s low-key rap highs.
57. DJ KOZE
‘La Duquesa’
(Pampa)
DJ Koze might, as we’re constantly told, be an eccentric, but this year’s Amygdala found the Pampa boss on his best behaviour, dropping his most accessible and highest-profile LP yet. ‘La Duquesa’, its lead single, was a stunning slab of sunny-eyed minimal – we’d say micro-house, but let’s face it, in the hands of the right DJ this feels far too much like a major event. Don’t neglect searing B-side ‘Burn With Me’, either.
56. A MADE UP SOUND
‘Ahead’
(A Made Up Sound)
In the best possible way, ‘Ahead”s a total snafu – a jungle banger, painstakingly disassembled and laid out like bits and screws in an IKEA assembly manual. Muddled and addled, it’s certainly the most headspinning thing Dave Huismans has put one of his (many) names to, and a must for those smitten with Theo Parrish’s higher-concept efforts (remember this, gang?).
55. BEYONCÉ
‘Flawless’
(Parkwood / Columbia)
A track that divided fans when it first surfaced as Beyonce’s post-marriage, post-pregnancy comeback announcement (“Bow down bitches!”), the elongated ‘Flawless’ is as confused as it is exhilarating, placing Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s feminist speech smack in the middle of a Houston-inspired club jam. Queen Bey indulges in a ridiculous celebration of herself (one that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Jay Z verse, while we’ve got our feminist spectacles on) and by extension, every woman (“Ladies, tell ’em / I woke up like this / we flawless”). The whole thing is bookended by archive clips of her pre-Destiny’s Child group, Girl’s Tyme, losing out to a rival competitor in a talent contest. So there’s hope for us all, right?
54. GORGEOUS CHILDREN
‘Sour’
(Vase)
There are some things you can’t touch, not even when you have the best intentions, and Vangelis’ near-flawless Blade Runner soundtrack is one of those things. Clearly Colorado producer Gila Monsta didn’t get the memo, but thank fuck for that – he manages to flip a well-loved sample and turn it into one of the most unexpectedly successful underground rap tracks of the year. Sci fi and rap have historically been uneasy bedfellows (see also Deltron 3030), so it’s refreshing to see this young duo find a way to make it work.
53. FLOORPLAN
‘Never Grow Old’
(M-Plant)
After the fun-but-disposable Omega: Alive and Nighttime World 3, it was a treat to see Robert Hood back on form this year. A brace of 12″s for Music Man, a sublime remix of Contakt’s ‘Tessera 4’ and a corking FACT mix all hit the spot, but Hood’s finest moment of 2013 was surely ‘Never Grow Old’, the storming, soulful centrepiece of his Paradise album as Floorplan.
52. DANNY BROWN
‘Dope Song’
(Fool’s Gold)
The air horn that parps the arrival of Old’s deranged second half, ‘Dope Song’ is 24-carat insanity from two madcap geniuses at the height of their powers, with Rustie’s eccies-fuelled maximalism exploding like a confetti cannon around Danny Brown’s Adderall-addled helium voice. A dream collaboration come true.
51. DRAKE
‘Wu-Tang Forever’
(Young Money/Island)
It’s way too easy to begrudge Drake for his newly divulged allegiance to the Wu-Tang clan, but there’s more to ‘Wu-Tang Forever’ than might at first meet the eye. It’s not that Drake tries to mimic Meth’s flow or Rae’s subject matter, or that it contains such an ‘obvious’ nod (the sample from Wu-Tang’s ‘It’s Yourz’ is actually T La Rock) – it’s that 40’s production manages to sum up RZA’s isolated, tormented genius and imbue it with his unmistakable subtle melancholy. Maybe it’s 40’s Wu obsession that we’re hearing about, after all.
50. SAMENAME
‘Mishima Curse’
(Pelican Fly)
One of the stars of 2013’s wave of instrumental grime, Samename’s ‘Mishima Curse’ is ready for battle. Specifically, a Tekken battle, as the track adds samples from the video game to its manic synth arpeggios and body-blow percussion. Think there’s no room for an MC on this one? Don’t forget that we were able to persuade K Koke to give it a shot.
49. COPELAND & GAST
‘Strict’
(All Bone)
A late 2013 office favourite, Inga Copeland and John T. Gast’s white label 12″ trumped anything on the former’s enjoyable Don’t Look Back… EP. The great ‘UKMerge’ brought Copeland’s namesake Eric to mind, but the bit-battered dancehall of the flip is the keeper – a creepy mix of Basic Channel dub techno and ‘Pulse X’ fizz.
48. ROME FORTUNE
‘Ice Cream Man’
(Self-released)
Beautiful Pimp isn’t short on standout tracks, but if there’s one that represents the record better than any other, it has to be ‘Ice Cream Man’. Produced by 2013 success story Childish Major (trust us, if you’ve been following FACT in the last year, you’ve probably heard his beats), the track is anchored on an innocuous sample from Ghostly International snoozers Tycho – it’s how it’s flipped that makes the difference. Rockie Fresh rapped over the same snippet on ‘Thick Bitch (Hit My Jack)’, but the combination of Childish Major’s 8-bit countermelodies and Rome’s eccentric, throaty drawl puts ‘Ice Cream Man’ into a class of its own.
47. TINASHE
‘Vulnerable’
(RCA)
Boasting a sultry, syrupy beat from Canadian producer Boi-1da, ‘Vulnerable’ stands out a mile on Tinashe’s excellent Black Water mixtape. Darker than her usual material, the track positions Tinashe as a predatory good girl gone bad, and it works wonders. Tinashe might not yet have the profile of Cassie or even Jhene Aiko, but ‘Vulnerable’ states her case succinctly and with a great deal of elegance.
46. MURLO & FAMOUS ENO
‘Ariel’
(Mixpak)
Listen here
While Murlo’s tracks are still firmly rooted in tropical dancehall and soca vibes, the producer’s 2013 addition of icy eski touches has taken his songcraft to the next level. A collaboration with Famous Eno, ‘Ariel’ goes under the sea with synths that ping like sonar and martial drum rolls that keep things ready for launch.
45. FLORIAN KUPFER
‘Lifetrax (Version 2)
(L.I.E.S)
Sharp drum machines, a muffled bassline and a raw master – it’d be tempting to call ‘Lifetrax’ L.I.E.S. by numbers, but there’s nothing by-the-books about something this extraterrestrial. Schaffel in stasis.
44. WEN
‘Commotion’
(Keysound)
In a year of war dub volleys and instrumental grime ferment, this was one of the bigger anthems – a brooding airlock jam with the sort of catchy vocal tag that will inevitably get the snarky novelty tee treatment before the decade is out. Of all of Keysound’s rollers, this was the one that gathered the most moss.
43. KELELA
‘Bank Head’
(Fade To Mind)
Listen here
Originally appearing on producer Kingdom’s own Vertical XL EP, the handclap-powered ‘Bank Head’ turned up again on Kelela’s exceptional Cut 4 Me mixtape in longer, dreamier form, giving her gossamer soprano extra breathing room over Kingdom’s rumbling low-end. Is it a banger or a bawler? We think both.
42. JOEY ANDERSON
‘Above The Cherry Moon’
(Avenue 66)
Even in a year where some of house and techno’s biggest anthems were either oddly reserved (‘It’s You’) or simply plain odd (DJ Sprinkles’ remix of The Mole), ‘Above the Cherry Moon’ stood out as 2013’s most spannered floor-filler.
41. KING LOUIE feat. LEEK
‘Jeep Music’
(Self-released)
Chicago’s drill king softened his image with the Jeep Music mixtape, making a foray into Autotuned R&B like so many of his street rap peers. Taking R. Kelly’s ‘You Remind Me Of Something’ metaphor to its logical conclusion, Louie isn’t afraid to get meta (“Can we have sex to this song in my Jeep?”) or let Chicago star-in-the-making Leek get his due.
40. KANYE WEST
‘New Slaves’
(Roc-A-Fella / Def Jam)
One of two songs that Kanye West used to announce Yeezus’s arrival on SNL, ‘New Slaves’ is as close as one single track comes to representing the album as a whole. From the delayed dancehall sample at its opening (it’s easy to forget that dancehall plays a bigger part in Yeezus than any major rap album in years), it plays out like a vicious microcosm of Yeezus’s aesthetic and agenda.
As is custom on Yeezus, that sample is cruelly halted by a three-note riff designed to cut through any system, as lurid as it is grainy, while Kanye outlines his plans for the whole album over the backing of a hellish choir. Both blacks and white are in his line of fire here, not to mention the paparazzi, but at the track’s climax is that unforgettable, flailing assault on Hamptons family life. It’s vulgar, it’s messy, and you won’t forget it in a hurry – Yeezus in a nutshell.
Then, just when you think you’ve got a handle of the track, ‘New Slaves’ turns inside out with barely a drum roll for warning, closing with one of 2013’s most triumphant, heartstring-tugging passages of music. But like ‘Bound 2’, which eventually closes the album, it’s an ending of artificial hope – sure, we might still make it to the church steps, but a wedding never takes place far from a funeral.
39. MILEY CYRUS
‘Drive’
(RCA Records)
Believe what you want to believe, but Bangerz does have its fair share of, erm, bangers, and they don’t get much more explosive than ‘Drive’. We’re not quite sure why it hasn’t been released as a single yet – Mike WiLL Made It’s endearingly inept take on dubstep works surprisingly effectively, and Miley’s vocal performance here can bring grown men to tears. ‘Wrecking Ball’ might have (deservedly) snatched all the attention this year, but ‘Drive’ is the connoisseur’s choice.
38. TRUMPET & BADMAN
‘Love Keeps Changing’
(Unknown to the Unknown)
PR pablum is usually hyperbolic and rarely informative, but give it up for the copy on this one: “THUGGED OUT SEX JERSEY HOUSE AND GARAGE FOR THOSE SIZZLING SUMMER JAMS.” As Trumpet & Badman, DJ Haus and DJ Q provided exactly what it said on the tin, conquering body-jacking house nostalgia in the process.
37. SECRET BOYFRIEND
‘Summer Wheels’
(Blackest Ever Black)
Listen here
As the opening track from Ryan Martin’s Blackest Ever Black debut This is Where You’ve Always Lived, ‘Summer Wheels’ could hardly have set the album’s tone better: a creaky travelogue of obscured messages, static and one of the best haunting synth leads this side of Silk Flowers.
36. DJ FUNK
‘Three Fine Hoes’ (Sinjin Hawke remix)
(Bootycall)
A blizzard of drums, breathless vocals and a build that seems to last forever – future garage boys, this is how you remix the greats.
35. RANDOMER
‘Bring’
(Hemlock)
Randomer’s best known for his conniptions – toy-flinging temper tantrums like ‘Scruff Box’ and ‘We Laugh, We Scream’. His 2013 offering, ‘Ruffa’ and ‘Curtains’ among them, tended to seethe rather than snarl, and ‘Bring’ was the best example of this newfound restraint, offering menace without ever going full troglodyte. It’s just gorgeous – submerged techno, raised in Hazyville, resident in Detroit.
34. FKA TWIGS
‘Papi Pacify’
(Young Turks)
In which the oddball singer strikes gold with her co-producer and UNO NYC talent Arca, crafting a mercurial beast that’s as still as a frozen lake and as devastating as a tidal wave within the space of five minutes. Sure, it leans on the swinging bass and chopped rhythms of trip-hop, but the pairing of twigs’ ethereal coos and Arca’s production sorcery fling ‘Papi Pacify’ far into the future.
33. LIL DURK
‘Dis Ain’t What U Want’
(Def Jam)
Lil Durk’s ‘Dis Ain’t What U Want’ doesn’t need fireworks to hit hard. It’s a sober reflection of Chicago’s elevating street violence, narrated by one of the city’s most complicated rappers. Durk’s use of autotune might appear to mirror Future’s robotic croon, but that’s where the comparisons stop – his narrative is tense, pointed and stark. As he utters the immortal words “they say I terrify my city” there’s no mistaking his motives. ‘Dis Ain’t What U Want’ is a chilling addendum to last year’s anthemic ‘I Don’t Like’, and a grim reminder of suffering that can seem a million miles away.
32. DAFT PUNK
‘Get Lucky’
(Columbia)
Unavoidable, really. But think back, if you can, to a time before ‘Get Lucky’ was musical wallpaper for H&M, to when it existed as a pure and holy 15-second teaser clip that you could loop for an hour and never tire of hearing. By the time the bloated album version arrived, the song’s chrome-plated disco-luxe had spread like a virus, becoming one of those once-in-a-blue-moon tunes that remains cool as fuck even when every member of your extended family knows the words.
31. PAUL WOOLFORD
‘Untitled’
(Hotflush)
Woolford scooped a lot of plaudits for his breakbeat excursions as Special Request this year, but it was this single that served as his second ‘Erotic Discourse’ – a lovely piano-house nonpareil, and arguably the best thing to emerge from house’s 2013 commercial purple patch. Huge, obviously, but, unlike a lot of its nearest rivals, this one actually earned – and worked – the spotlight.
30. MIGOS
‘Versace’
(Self-released)
The year’s finest knucklehead rap anthem. If you weren’t in a club when Zaytoven’s knob-twirling beat and Migos’ triplet-heavy pronouncements came crashing through the speakers, you missed out. Nearly everyone in rap (including Drake, notably) tried to out-Migos Migos on this one, but the original remains unmatched.
29. TESSELA
‘Hackney Parrot’
(Poly Kicks)
Tessela dropped a number of great tracks this year (see fill-in-the-gaps stormer ‘Horizon’), but this breakout cut proved both unavoidable and, for the most part, undeniable. Junglish without quite going full-on ‘ardcore, it’s a stuttering breakbeat number with some ‘Hyph Mngo’ gloss; even the fairweather reveller will have seen this light up a room like a firecracker at least once this year. If our wildly speculative calculations are correct, it’s also the first and only club track dedicated to Clapton watering hole Biddle Brothers – now there’s a muse we can get behind.
28. KALLISTI
‘Arc of Fire’
(UNO NYC)
There’s something charmingly inept about ‘Arc of Fire’, and yet even though it manages to skip bars as the break trips over itself (we’re not even totally sure a sequencer was used at all), it still kicks like an angry mule with a Wale fetish. Drifting seamlessly from a soaring vocal sample into grubby breaks and a bassline that’s surely nabbed from a dusty Squarepusher minidisc this is exactly what electronic music is so often missing – fun.
27. RUSTIE
‘Slasherr’
(Numbers)
Moan all you like about ‘Slasherr’ simply being stadium EDM for bespectacled nerds, that’s exactly what it is, and there ain’t nothing wrong with that at all. It’s easily Rustie’s most bombastic track to date (which is no mean feat), and if you’ve heard it in club setting you should be well aware of what it’s capable of. Where’s the drop? Right here.
26. FUTURE BROWN feat. TINK
‘Wanna Party’
(Self-released)
The credits read like a roll-call of underground favorites — Nguzunguzu, Fatima Al Qadiri, J-Cush, Mike Q, Tink — but ‘Wanna Party’ never feels overwrought or overproduced. Lithe and portentous, it’s a stunning debut that blurs the lines between partying and brawling.
25. SCHOOLBOY Q feat. KENDRICK LAMAR
‘Collard Greens’
(Self-released)
While the internet got its panties in a twist over Kendrick’s ‘Control’ verse (and not even the good bit), his turn on Schoolboy Q’s ‘Collard Greens’ was just one of a dozen blinding guest spots K. Dot rattled off in 2013. THC and Gwen Bunn’s dreamy, staccato beat gives the Top Dawg rappers plenty to sink their teeth into as their rhymes swerve and skid like a stolen car on the freeway. With Oxymoron still in limbo months after its planned release date, ‘Collard Greens’ stands as Schoolboy’s best release of the year.
24. YOUNG THUG
‘Nigeria’
(Self-released)
Young Thug’s divisive wail might not be for everyone, but like any potent narcotic once it’s taken hold, it’s incredibly difficult to resist. ‘Nigeria’ is not your average weed anthem, and as hard as it is to believe Thugger actually beats Gucci at his own demented game. Gucci states his case in a quick verse but it hardly matters – while Thug admits to being “like a motherfucking baby” in the 1017 camp, there’s a sense that this ATL son’s just given papa Guwop the Skywalker treatment.
23. L-VIS 1990
‘Ballad 4D’
(Night Slugs)
The Night Slugs co-founder enjoyed a 2013 to remember, shedding memories of his shaky PMR album to take the Club Constructions aesthetic abroad (on Clone’s Circuits EP), team up with Massacooramaan as Vissacoor, and drop his most memorable Night Slugs release to date in the deep sea disco of ‘Ballad 4D’. Now we just need that damn ‘Icy Lake’ remix to come out.
22. RICH HOMIE QUAN
‘Type Of Way’
(Self-released)
While Future spent the year singing with Miley and popping up on over a dozen rap singles, fellow AutoTune addict Rich Homie Quan emerged with the best single from the “New Atlanta” scene. Its hook became a meme unto itself, with Quan’s gaspy, raspy croons and newcomer Yung Carter’s triumphant beat pumping out of car soundsystems across the States.
21. PEV & KOWTON
‘Raw Code’
(Hessle Audio)
Two thirds of the team behind FACT’s #2 label of 2013, ‘Raw Code’ saw Peverelist and Kowton bring the Livity Sound party to Hessle. For all the talk of “industrial” (read: loud and/or distorted) techno this year, ‘Raw Code’ felt like real industrial music – zone into the inner workings of a car crusher or factory furnace, and we dare say it’ll sound a little like this.
20. FAT TREL
‘Niggaz Dyin’
(Self-released)
For listeners accustomed to DC rapper Fat Trel’s brand of unrepentant firestarters (‘Respect Wit The Tech’, ‘Fuck The Fedz’, etc), ‘Niggaz Dyin’ was a pleasant surprise. A bit of street life truth-telling that doesn’t soften his machinegun flow, the track finds Trel thinking aloud (“dreams and drugs, which is you selling?”) over a smoky, ambient beat. Bonus points for the Lil Durk namedrop, who mined similar turf on ‘Dis Ain’t What You Want’.
19. JAM CITY
‘Worst Illusion’
(Night Slugs Club Constructions)
Jam City’s Classical Curves was one of 2012’s best albums, and would go onto prove one of 2013’s most influential. Although it’s a very different record, Logos’s Cold Mission inhabits a similar climate, and artists like Neana and the Her Records crew are clearly using Jam City as a key reference point. On ‘Worst Illusion’, Jam City stripped down the 90 degree machine music of Classical Curves even further, resulting in the shiniest Club Constructions single yet, one of 2013’s giddiest club tools, and a reminder that when he’s on form, there’s still very few better.
18. ROCKO feat. FUTURE & RICK ROSS
‘U.O.E.N.O’
(A1)
Boasting an ominous beat from Childish Major that has practically defined the year in rap, Rocko’s ‘U.O.E.N.O.’ might be best known for Rick Ross’s ill-advised contribution, but that doesn’t detract from its impact one iota. Few other tracks so concisely signalled the direction of Atlanta’s obsessions this year, and with such effortlessness. It would be hard to imagine Young Thug’s destructive ‘Stoner’ (which is currently tearing up clubs in ATL and beyond) would have been possible without ‘U.O.E.N.O.’ as its herald. To think that the beat could have gone to A$AP Rocky is almost enough to give you nightmares.
17. ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER
‘Chrome Country’
(Warp)
R Plus Seven’s epic closer, ‘Chrome Country’ is undoubtedly the most unashamedly beautiful track Daniel Lopatin has composed to date. He comically makes sure we’re well aware of that fact by shoehorning in plenty of cynical tropes – children’s voices, plastic MIDI piano, occidental chimes and even church organ (seriously). The inclusion of a few layers of synth feels less an endowment to listeners dismayed by the producer’s recent direction than a disinterested flip of the bird as he walks through the fire exit. Who said experimental music couldn’t have a sense of humour?
16. JOE
‘Slope’
(Hessle Audio)
Rare transmissions from Hessle Audio’s Joe are always worth the wait, and ‘Slope’ once again sees the quiet lad skirting the trends with something both fiercely original and colossally banging. What the hell is this nightmarish drone boring through your feet and out your ears, slipping over queasy strings until it mutates into a sickening siren blast? Fuck knows, but it’s hard to imagine club music any weirder than this. More terrifying fun than your first ride on Oblivion.
15. SKY FERREIRA
‘24 Hours’
(Capitol)
Ferriera’s ragged, adrenaline-charged debut LP belongs to that rare class of pop album where every (well, almost every) track is a stand-out. We could have happily plumped for ‘I Will”s Walkmen-meets-Blondie racket, karaoke confessional ‘I Blame Myself’ or snotty post-Strokes tantrum ‘Nobody Asked Me’ – but ’24 Hours’, with its glossy M83isms and burning adolescent yearning, was the one most of us could get behind the most of the time.
14. KEVIN GATES
‘Neon Lights’
(Self-released)
Of all the sensitive thugs following in Future’s Auto-Tuned wake, Kevin Gates is the most captivating, and while The Luca Brasi Story is filled to the brim with world-weary tales of hood life, ‘Neon Lights’ is perhaps its finest moment. Alternating between staccato barbs and full-throated pleadings, Gates lays out his frustrations (“Never had no love in this shit, pray to god, somebody please pray for me”) and fascinations (“She grippin’ the pillow with teeth, I wrinkle my lip, she wiggles her feet”) in such detail that we can’t look away, no matter how bright those lights.
13. RABIT
‘Wolf Spider’ (Epoch’s Soundboy Demolition Mix)
(Glacial Sound)
Listen here
Houston’s Rabit, to borrow a phrase from sometime collaborator Logos, is “dialling grime down to its utter, utter essentials. Further than anyone’s really ever dared to take it”. Double Dragon, Rabit’s second EP, was one of the most minimal grime records to emerge in a strong year for, well, minimal grime records, and that space was never exploited more effectively than by Epoch, whose remix of ‘Wolf Spider’ sounds more like flooding a club than flooring it.
12. MUTYA KEISHA SIOBHAN
‘Lay Down In Swimming Pools’
(Self-released)
With the OG ‘Babes now threatening to expire like a butterfly on the wing following the inexplicably poor performance of their comeback single, this muck-about Kendrick Lamar flip could stand as the trio’s best work since their reunion. Mutya’s spine-tingling opening bars and the group’s inimitable lacquered harmonies lift their effort far above the realms of cheesy Live Lounge-esque covers and into properly original territory. And given Kendrick’s habit of dumping a guest verse onto anyone who stands still for five minutes, we’d like to take this opportunity to request a full collaboration in 2014.
11. THE MOLE
‘Lockdown Party’ (DJ Sprinkles’ Crossfaderama)
(Perlon)
On this year’s Where Dancefloors Stand Still compilation, Terre Thaemlitz tacitly criticised Japan’s no-dancing-after-1am fukozu laws. A good offence is the best defence, though, and his Crossfaderama mix of The Mole’s ‘Lockdown Party’ was an even stronger attack on dancefloor fascism – a remarkably funky invocation to move. Thaemlitz’s extended edit takes The Mole’s block party jam and deliciously strings it out with the occasional cut or abrupt bit of mixer mischief. As ever with Thaemlitz, there’s an academic undercurrent if you look for it, but really this is just grade A house music – minimal means, maximal effect.
10. YOUNG SCOOTER
‘Colombia’
(Self-released)
One of the year’s most unorthodox breakouts, Young Scooter’s drug anthem ‘Colombia’ seems like a hard sell on paper. Lil Lody’s innovative beat is so stripped bare there’s barely even a kick, but it offers a stark and refreshing alternative to the year’s endless glut of Mike WiLL Made It pastiches. With its blank chimes and casual assertion “I can make cocaine,” it’s the polar opposite of ‘Bugatti’, yet carries enough latent thump to lay waste to dancefloors on both sides of the Atlantic.
09. FCL
‘It’s You’ (San Soda’s Panorama Bar Acca Version)
(Defected / We Play House)
Released on a limited vinyl run last year but not granted a full release until 2013, it’s incredibly difficult to pin down why ‘It’s You’ is so addictive. For a start, almost nothing happens for the majority of its six and a half minutes. There’s a voice – a gentle, anti-diva voice that sounds a bit like someone singing along to something playing in their headphones; casual, easy – and a handclap, doing what a handclap does. Much, much later, once the voices are swimming around themselves in an ecstatic soup, a blob of bass appears, threatens to trigger something big, but the moment never comes. Instead you’re left floating, feet an inch off the ground, feeling the heat. A stungun for frazzled minds.
08. MUMDANCE & LOGOS
‘Wut It Do’
(Keysound)
There was no shortage of top-grade product from these two producers in 2013, but for our money the biggest, showiest fireworks came when they put their heads together on collaborations like this brutish, bull-in-a-china-shop slammer. Burying breakbeats under a barrage of woodpecker drums and blathering vocal snippets, ‘Wut It Do’ lurches forwards on a tide of growling sub-bass, threatening to cannibalise itself at every moment. Cursed is the music writer who reaches for the hackneyed phrase “it’s like X on acid”, but… it’s completely off its head.
07. SOPHIE
‘Bipp’
(Numbers)
From its Kidz Bop vocals down to its bouncy-ball synths, there’s nothing about ‘Bipp’ that we’d enjoy on its own. Yet somehow, Numbers mysteryman Sophie figured out to keep this one from collapsing in on itself, creating the sonic equivalent of its cover art: an otherworldly waterslide made out of neon bubblegum.
06. DEMDIKE STARE
‘Collision’
(Modern Love)
Trust Demdike Stare to offer up a fractured vision of jungle that was a damn sight more crucial than this year’s glut of retro revivalism. A gob of saliva in the face of the competition, ‘Collision’ throws together familiar elements but presents them on a bed of nails. Sean Canty and Miles Whittaker slather their breaks in white noise, and allow ‘Collision’ to rise slowly and surely before building to a satisfying howl. It’s a track that demands patience, and rewards the worthy.
05. GUCCI MANE
‘Hell Yes’
(Self-released)
Gucci Mane’s tragicomic 2013 saw the release of close to 15 album-length projects, the severance of ties with various former allies, and a Twitter meltdown that exposed the Atlanta icon’s drug problems like never before. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, and at the heart of it was ‘Hell Yes’, the highlight of a year of warped, weird music from someone for whom the recording booth seemed the only sanctuary.
‘Hell Yes’ is something like Gucci’s ‘Runaway’: a downward spiral of Autotuned half-thoughts, loosely tied around an anonymous love interest but taking in everything from Gucci’s crumbling world, from drugs to friends to clothes to more drugs to going platinum in Australia – surely one of the year’s weirdest rap boasts? Even stranger: for a long time the only version of ‘Hell Yes’ available was a clean edit, the censored words smeared into slurry, which as Joe Muggs pointed out in the FACT Singles Club, felt “like holes you can see the void through.” Staring into the abyss never felt better than with Gucci as our guide.
04. CIARA
‘Body Party’
(Epic)
Borrowing the hook, synth pads, and general high-school-dance vibes from Ghost Town DJ’s classic ‘My Boo’ is practically cheating, but if anyone could pull it off, it would be Ciara, Mike Will Made It, and Future. Everyone is in fine form here, as three of Atlanta’s finest pay tribute to their forebears with the most undeniable R&B jam of 2013. This is ’90s nostalgia done right.
03. BURIAL
‘Come Down To Us’
(Hyperdub)
We’ve been on record wi
02. DJ RASHAD
‘Let It Go’
(Hyperdub)
The interaction between US and UK dance music finally found a balance in 2013 (see also our #1 pick), and at the heart of that was the relationship between footwork and jungle – two distant cousins working at the same tempo who, for the most part, simply didn’t know each other existed. Whether it was Om Unit (whose Philip D. Kick edits were some of the first tracks to exploit this sweet spot) and Machinedrum working as Dream Continuum, or Teklifer DJ Earl crowbarring jungle breaks into his recent tracks, jungle and footwork enjoyed a honeymoon period that lasted all year, and we couldn’t turn away from their frequent PDAs.
For all the producers working at the centre of this Venn diagram, however, none made anthems quite like DJ Rashad. Even back in the Ghettophiles days Rashad had an uncanny ability to turn samples into tear-jerking hooks, and this was never showcased with more heart than on ‘Let It Go’, the centrepiece of his Rollin’ EP and a track that felt like a modern classic from the very first listen. 2013 may have been Rashad’s most experimental year yet – from the minimal assault of ‘Drums Please’ to Double Cup‘s explorations of acid house and beyond – but the moment we’ll always return to was one of his most simple.
01. MSSINGNO
‘XE2’
(Goon Club Allstars)
In a year that saw underground dance music focus on stripping back, ‘XE2’ was the year’s best cheap trick. On paper, it’s little more than a pitched-up R. Kelly sample, pads, bassline and a simple drum track – how many channels are on this thing, five? – but nothing else ascended to more than the sum of its parts in 2013. An anthem for the resurgent instrumental grime scene, and a track perfectly balanced between the US and the UK; the trap kit and the Triton rack, ‘XE2’ captured the year’s key trends in dance music without actually being a dance track. We’ve seen people sing along to it in clubs, we’ve seen people have proper moments to it, but dance? It almost feels crude.
The List in Full (Plain Text):
01. MssingNo – ‘XE2’ (Goon Club Allstars)
02. DJ Rashad – ‘Let It Go’ (Hyperdub)
03. Burial – ‘Come Down To Us’ (Hyperdub)
04. Ciara feat. Future – ‘Body Party’ (Epic)
05. Gucci Mane – ‘Hell Yes’ (Self-released)
06. Demdike Stare – ‘Collision’ (Modern Love)
07. SOPHIE ‘Bipp’ (Numbers)
08. Mumdance & Logos ‘Wut It Do’ (Keysound)
09. FCL – ‘It’s You’ (San Soda’s Panorama Bar Acca Version) (Defected / We Play House)
10. Young Scooter – ‘Columbia’ (Self-released)
11. The Mole – ‘Lockdown Party’ (DJ Sprinkles’ Crossfaderama) (Perlon)
12. Mutya Keisha Siobhan – ‘Lay Down In Swimming Pools’ (Self-released)
13. Rabit – ‘Double Dragon’ (Glacial Sound)
14. Kevin Gates – ‘Neon Lights’ (Self-released)
15. Sky Ferreira – ‘24 Hours’ (Capitol)
16. Joe – ‘Slope’ (Hessle Audio)
17. Oneohtrix Point Never – ‘Chrome Country’ (Warp)
18. Rocko feat. Future & Rick Ross – ‘U.O.E.N.O’ (A1)
19. Jam City – ‘Worst Illusion’ (Night Slugs)
20. Fat Trel – ‘Niggaz Dyin’ (Self-released)
21. Pev & Kowton – ‘Raw Code’ (Hessle Audio)
22. Rich Homie Quan – ‘Type Of Way’ (Self-released)
23. L-Vis 1990 – ‘Ballad 4D’ (Night Slugs)
24. Young Thug – ‘Nigeria’ (Self-released)
25. Schoolboy Q feat. Kendrick Lamar – ‘Collard Greens’ (Self-released)
26. Future Brown feat. Tink – ‘Wanna Party (Self-released)
27. Rustie – ‘Slasherr’ (Numbers)
28. Kallisti – ‘Arc of Fire’ (UNO NYC)
29. Tessela – ‘Hackney Parrot’ (Poly Kicks)
30. Migos – ‘Versace’ (Self-released)
31. Paul Woolford – ‘Untitled’ (Hotflush)
32. Daft Punk – ‘Get Lucky’ (Columbia)
33. Lil Durk- ‘Dis Ain’t What U Want’ (Def Jam)
34. FKA twigs – ‘Papi Pacify’ (Young Turks)
35. Randomer – ‘Bring’ (Hemlock)
36. DJ Funk – ‘Three Fine Hoes’ (Sinjin Hawke remix) (Bootycall)
37. Secret Boyfriend – ‘Summer Wheels’ (Blackest Ever Black)
38. Trumpet & Badman – ‘Love Keeps Changing’ (Unknown to the Unknown)
39. Miley Cyrus – ‘Drive’ (RCA Records)
40. Kanye West – ‘New Slaves’ (Roc-A-Fella / Def Jam)
41. King Louie feat. Leek – ‘Jeep Music’ (Self-released)
42. Joey Anderson – ‘Above The Cherry Moon’ (Avenue 66)
43. Kelela – ‘Bank Head’ (Fade To Mind)
44. Wen – ‘Commotion’ (Keysound)
45. Florian Kupfer – ‘Lifetrax (Version 2) (L.I.E.S)
46. Murlo & Famous Eno – ‘Ariel’ (Mixpak)
47. Tinashe – ‘Vulnerable’ (RCA)
48. Rome Fortune – ‘Ice Cream Man’ (Self-released)
49. Copeland & Gast – ‘Strict’ (All Bone)
50. Samename – ‘Mishima Curse’ (Pelican Fly)
51. Drake – ‘Wu-Tang Forever’ (Young Money/Island)
52. Danny Brown – ‘Dope Song’ (Fool’s Gold)
53. Floorplan – ‘Never Grow Old’ (M-Plant)
54. Gorgeous Children – ‘Sour’ (Vase)
55. Beyoncé – ‘Flawless’ (Parkwood / Columbia)
56. A Made Up Sound – ‘Ahead’ (A Made Up Sound)
57. DJ Koze – ‘La Duquesa’ (Pampa)
58. Tree feat. Danny Brown – ‘No Faces’ (Closed Sessions / Creative Control)
59. Pusha T – ‘Numbers on the Boards’ (GOOD Music / Def Jam)
60. James Blake – ‘Every Day I Ran’ (Polydor)
61. DJ Niggafox – ‘Hwwambo’ (Principe)
62. TRC – ‘Come Bring It’ (El-B Remix) (Crazylegs)
63. Greg Beato – ‘Respect The 78’ (Apron)
64. Jabu – ‘You & I’ (Kahn Remix) (No Corner)
65. Future – ‘Honest’ (Epic)
66. Aardvarck – ‘1990’ (No ‘Label’)
67. Mariah Carey & Miguel – ‘#Beautiful’ (Island Def Jam Music Group)
68. Walter Ego – ‘Military Mind’ (Coyote)
69. The Cyclist – ‘Visions’ (Leaving Records)
70. YG feat. Teeflii – ‘Sprung’ (Self-released)
71. Spooky – ‘Baby’ (Unknown To The Unknown)
72. Justin Timberlake – ‘Mirrors’ (RCA)
73. Redinho – ‘Searching’ (Numbers)
74. Royal-T – ‘I Know You Want Me’ (Rinse)
75. Lord Of The Isle – ‘Nustron’ (Little Strong)
76. Visionist & Saga – ‘10 Stamps’ (Self-released).
77. Alden Tyrell & Gerd – ‘Luv Thang’ (4 Lux)
78. Busta Rhymes & Q-Tip – ‘Thank You’ (Self-released)
79. Pod Blotz – ‘Die and Come Alive’ (Clan Destine)
80. James Holden – ‘Renata’ (Border Community)
81. Big Strick feat. Rock Star – ‘Groove’ (7 Days Entertainment)
82. Kelly Rowland – ‘Dirty Laundry’ (Republic)
83. Tirzah – ‘I’m Not Dancing’ (Greco-Roman)
84. Tagwell Woods – ‘Spa’ (W.T. Records)
85. Lil Herb & Lil Bibby – ‘Play They Role’ (Self-released)
86. Nguzunguzu – ‘Harp Bell’ (Fade to Mind)
87. Run The Jewels feat. Big Boi – ‘Banana Clipper’ (Fool’s Gold)
88. Flava D – ‘Hold On’ (Butterz)
89. Levantis – ‘See’ (The Trilogy Tapes)
90. The-Drum – ‘Sirens’ (Audraglint)
91. King Midas Sound – ‘Aroo’ (Ninja Tune)
92. Yung Lean – ‘Solarflare’ (Self-released)
93. Tink – ‘When I’m Lit’ (The GTW Rework) (Self-released)
94. Rizzla & BLK. Adonis – ‘Battyjack’ (Club Mix) (Self-released)
95. OL – ‘Cover’ (Faces)
96. Helix – ‘Whoosh (Ice Dispenser)’ (Night Slugs Club Constructions)
97. Mummz – ‘Opening Knell’ (Self-released)
98. Marquis Hawkes – ‘I Want You’ (Dixon Avenue Basement Jams)
99. Blood Orange – ‘You’re Not Good Enough’ (Domino)
100. The Knife – ‘Full of Fire’ (Brille)
