“Monolake’s ‘Alaska/Melting’ 12” is militarily regimented and quite staggering. The sounds and programming are as pedantic as ever, but the force by which it's all powered is undeniably overwhelming. A-side ‘Alaska’ is marked by a crisp rat-tat-tat drummed out on a paint tin functioning as hats, around which kicks and claps are aggressively punched out in neat house time. The rest is all clamour: a bassline of beaten sheet metal, screeching subway trains, and machine gun salvos fired into brick walls. There's no melody to speak of, but the sounds remain cohesive as more piles in and it all surges forward. A fine track and proof that Henke and Pröfrock can charm a discotheque when the mood suits, though perhaps it’s more suited to a cavernous warehouse or a white art space.” - Joshua Meggitt

“This is a joyous amalgam of just about every dance music troupe of the last few years. We get hip-hop samples, about fifteen different riffs and a jaunty electro bassline all thrown together with bags of attitude and energy. If you've had a few ales and are dancing lackadaisically and this one comes on, all caution is thrown to the wind, all normal genre antipathies are abandoned and your shower face will give way to a grin. Quite why this was never a massive pop hit utterly escapes me - it's got that same gleeful pick and mix approach that Junior Senior and Basement Jaxx have used so successfully. You could never look cool while dancing to this but you could never not enjoy it either. Hate on this and you'll never escape the Hatrix.” – Jacob Wright

“'Advance' is interesting because it gives us a peak where none was expected. Beginning with a lone rhythm – slow, stomping and disarmingly simple – the half-speed kick and monotonous two-note bassline certainly don't demand that you dance, but luckily Justus understands that dancefloor impact is as much about tension and release as it is about the basic groove. Just as attention is starting to waver, the track pulls the rug out by dropping the bassline even deeper and ripping the track wide open with a glorious breakdown. Huge luminescent Detroit stabs descend from the heavens, casting the rhythm section in an entirely new light. ‘Advance’ is not a track that obeys the normal rules – there is no build, no warning – this is rather a track of stark contrasts - the mundane and the euphoric separated by a single moment of clarity.” – Julian Parker

"When Kompakt hits the bullseye the results can be spellbinding, reminding you why you got into this music in the first place. Axel Willner’s working method is to take tiny audio fragments and extend them into long, thick slabs of ambient wash, and lead track from his ‘Sun and Ice’ EP is his best experimental results yet. 'Over The Ice' is made from glorious high/low end drones, duelling female moans and a chorus of sorts culled from sixteenth-note acid pulses to complete the joyous effect. It’s right on the mark." – Joshua Meggitt

“While genre artists scribble, tinker and ‘produce’, Isolée’s music remains a careful creation of storytelling and illustration. The title track ‘Hermelin’ sounds for all the world like ‘Rest’ or transitional period Isolée, with its straight, open structure and oddly tuned and effected synths. If it seemed a little shy of the shiniest stars on ‘We are Monster’, three months of high rotation have failed to exhaust it. This isn’t a track, or even a song, but a treasure that yearns to be kept and cared for, and passed on.” – Peter Chambers

“’Snakes & Ladders’ originally appeared in 2003 as a limited run, Japan-only release on the Locarno label. Three years down the line, with disco back where it belongs at the forefront of DJs and dancers’ attentions, Mule Musiq have picked it up for re-release, and while the original still impresses with its robust, horn-draped live funk, it’s the sparkling new re-edit from NYC’s Rub-N-Tug that makes this 12” essential. The dubby disco intro soon gives way to an outrageously joyous piano riff that recalls 1930s music hall as much as 1980s proto-house, before all the original’s elements – chugging and chiming guitars, stomping drums and a lorry-load of exotic percussion - are chopped up, beefed up and extended to fashion a bona fide nu-disco bomb. The psyched-out Balearic breakdown with its withering theremin and raucously virtuoso piano solo, all contribute to what is perhaps the most unusual and unashamedly optimistic record of 2006.” – Kiran Sande

“Tobias Freund shelves the techno experimentalism of NSI and Pink Elln for the moment and strikes out with an EP “purely for the dancefloor.” The result might not be as spinechilling as his remix of Monne Autome’s ‘Teco’ with Pier Bucci from 2005, but all four tracks breathe a fresh point of view into the classic house template. Three are deep and one is uptight: Opener ‘Street Knowledge’ is six minutes of highly functional, and unforgettable, jabs and rolling bass – I don’t have much street knowledge at all, but walking round the city with this on my walkman and I swear I’d be swaggering and bumping into people on purpose. Tough.” – Jeremy Armitage

“'Soul in a Bottle' is a brilliant riposte to the minimal explosion (and backlash) of 2006. A heavy kick drum, some old-school Chicago styled chords, and an evocative vocal deliver one of the more personal and refreshing singles of the year. From the hazy afternoon I first heard the track at a friend's villa in Ibiza, to dark Sunday afternoons in the T-Bar and Rob Mello's podcast, the naturalness of this record stands out like an afro in a sea of combovers. Until Prince starts making techno records, Jay Haze's debut on Kindisch is as good as it gets.” – Richard Chinn

“Something of a novelty this one, and a bit of an unlikely choice to be considered as one to remember from this year as most people would have foggy memories of hearing it in its rightful milieu: post 5 a.m. in the club. The title track from Houle’s album 'Bay of Figs' sends the listener into the eye of a manic mosquito storm. Not a record to be played around any war veterans, its drone quite possibly sounds like an old B-52 passing overhead. It’s such a simple yet useful track which seems to have haunted a few floors since its release in September although it reminds me of some of those silly hard house tracks that stay in your head for a five-minute eternity.” - Dave Noonan

“It’s been a big year for Ricardo Villalobos – over the last twelve months, he’s cemented his position both as ‘superstar’ DJ and as visionary (and at times infuriating) producer. While it’s his languid, shapeshifting double-pack for Cadenza, ‘Achso’, and outlandish, 30+ minute ‘Fizheuer Zieheuer’ 12” on Playhouse that have caused the biggest stir, it’s arguably this shimmering remix of Depeche Mode’s pop-noir classic ‘The Sinner in Me’(still awaiting a proper release after apparently disapproving reactions from the band) that constitutes Villalobos’s finest 2006 work. Driven by a sticky, undulating kickdrum and woodblock rhythm, Dave Gahan’s voice is given vast space to breathe, and it’s the voice itself which provides the breakdowns and builds while the beats beneath mutate subtly and unexpectedly into floor-filling thump and snap. This is minimal house music at its finest – coaxing few, sparse elements into maximum effect.” – Kiran Sande

“Last year Border Community led the way with melodic, trancey house records that married the pop sensibility of 90s prog to the complex edits and explorations of contemporary miminal techno, but Holden’s label has been pretty quiet and inconsistent in 2006. Thank god, then, for Sweden's Minilogue, who have been making 4x4 records for over six years but seem only now to have really hit their stride - ‘Girl From Botany Bay’ is a revelation. Epically, psychedelically structured, it flits between – before triumphantly merging – floaty pads, gushingly melodic synths and tough, bass-driven 4x4 drops, skillfully incorporating elements of acid, minimal and trance along the way. The result is an instant classic which defies easy categorization and which seems to stretch the outer limits of modern techno while delivering straightforward, arms-aloft euphoria.” – Kiran Sande

“For me, Ricardo Villalobos is like Michael Jackson: the older stuff is better. I like melodies, I like Rhodes keyboards, I like 808 The Bass Queen. I had to give up his bizarre new direction because, like Michael, he was making me feel queasy, but then damned if I didn’t hear this brilliant track on the radio and then I found out it was…Ricardo Villalobos. Still, no huge surprise, because it’s a rejigging of a Frisbee track from way back in 2000 when he was still obeying conventions I understand: Here Villalobos is riffing on art rock: a Nico-esque tune rises out of the murk to do battle with Ricardo’s rhythmic squiggles over twelve minutes. Maybe the radio is the right place to hear this: this is less a club track than a haunting, beguiling pop song.” – Jeremy Armitage

“Dial has often tended to be mainly a place for Lawrence to showcase his considerable talents, but 2006 was a year when the label’s other talents shined. While Pantha has been around for a while, it was his ‘Lichten/Walden’ EP of this year that caused people to take notice, with DJs like Michael Mayer and Tania Vulcano using this piece of vinyl in their sets. The A side, ‘Lichten’, is a brilliant track, but it is the other A side, ‘Walden’, that RA fell for. ‘Walden’ is a beautiful number – precise, deliberate and perfectly weighted. For those who find much of the minimal records a bit too cold, ‘Walden’ is the perfect antidote. It remains icey, but reminds one of the end of winter as the ice is melting away, each bar of this record dripping with emotion. His new hotly-tipped album, ‘This Bliss’, is due at the beginning of 2007, so keep an eye on Pantha Du Prince.” – Chris Hobson

“‘Doppelwhipper’ is what gyms should play loud on repeat for the fat folks. All elements are precise and accurate here, the keys crunchy, the melody compact, the production no-frills. Then the ‘Doppelwhipper’ arrives with an immense build-up into the brunt of the track, which hurricanes along before easing out slowly with a ping-pong melody. Like Chicken Lips ‘He Not In’ or ‘Body Language’, the ‘drop’ is what makes the track. Contender for the best of the summer, I first heard this when Luciano dropped it in August. The Fabric crowd just, well, cheered, like someone had shouted free bar for ten minutes. This is so tight most tracks played after it will sound shit.” – Mohson Iqbal

“Released in February, ‘Silent Shout’ was an early contender for both 12” and album of the year. Loosening their grip on the pop elements that saw the Swedish siblings find fame with ‘Deep Cuts’ and ‘Heartbeats’, ‘Silent Shout’ the track exposed a darker, more disturbing side of the duo’s aesthetic. Lead by a haunting bassline, pulsing appregiated synths and affected vocal, Silent Shout is both insistent and captivating. And therein is the challenging proposition of The Knife: it's easy to get lost in the rich melodic texture, but at its root is an unease, a weighty subject matter, albeit delivered through powerful hooks and delicately fractured vocals.” – Richard Chinn
Video: Silent Shout

“‘Where We At’ was one big peak in a wave of appreciation for the tight production and song-based arrangements of deep house this year. With clubs rocking so much less-is-more minimal madness, ‘Where We At’ reminds us that it’s nice to hear a vocal, and a decent one that means something at that. Built around a Derrick Carter sample, this is a production that sounds good on a big system: Horns build the intensity, the percussion uplifts and the buildup is warm and well orchestrated enough to lure drunk the drag queens to the dancefloor. This is where we were at in March 2006.” – Mohson Iqbal

“Who wants to go clubbing on the comedown? Obviously some: Troy Pierce’s ode to withdrawal was an odd, albeit original, club hit in 2006, even finding its way onto Tiefschwarz’s ‘Fabric 29’ and Chloe & Smagghe’s ‘The Dysfunctional Family’. The lyrics set the moodometer way low: ‘I gotta take my mind off me’, ‘I can’t sit still, anxiety’, delivered through the requisite minimal garbling and phasing, though this time the effect is thematically tight: the sound of ‘Grace (Anxiety)’ will make you want to hide under the sheets. Bugged out.” – Jeremy Armitage

“As a child, it was never until my parents asked ‘what’s wrong’ that the tears finally overwhelmed me. On Efdemin’s gorgeous elegy ‘Bergwein’ (mountain wine), the parallel moment occurs after the melody slides and fades away, leaving a field recording of a school and the sound of children playing. A Derrick May-esque synth plays around soft gamelan chimes until the main melodic refrain (sounding for all the teary world like the depressed cousin of Booka Shade’s ‘Body Language’) cuts in, first raw and high in the mix, then blunted and echoed, then in canon, then reversed, then slipping away. It’s a simple track, but the interplay of the melodic elements and Efdemin’s exquisite ear for the emotive effect of specific sounds make this eight minutes of the sweetest sadness.” – Peter Chambers

“Michael Mayer reckons that if this one came out before the summer, it would have been an "uber-hit". He's right – surfacing in late August, Joakim's exciting rework of the 1983 electro-samba original sounded like a cross between Martin Buttrich's 'Full Clip' and Ame's remix of Rodamaal, only better than both, thanks to the canny Frenchman's restrained approach and italo leanings. One of those records that managed to cross a surprising number of genres and not piss every one off, don't rule out this becoming next year's 'Rej'.” – Barry O'Donoghue

”In my original review I said that if this track sunk without a trace, I would eat my sandals. Does the fact that it’s turning up at number eleven mean I don’t have to? Phew. But it wasn’t much a risky bet anyway: When you hear this out, it fills up the club with water and all the notes swim around. Gerber and Aber kept the best things about prog (e-moments, atmosphere) and melded them to brighter melodic impulses which weren’t just copying bad electro or techno: a way forward for the genre? This is the music that greets you when you open the Cocoon website these days, and I can see why they’re proud of it. Bodes well for Shlomi Aber’s new tracks on Ovum too.” – Jeremy Armitage

“Berlin techno producers Apparat and Ellen Allien's get-together for their album 'Orchestra of Bubbles' was arguably the year's best collaborative work in dance. 'Jet', featured in comps from Dave Seaman and Jimmy Van M, is a gauzy, gossamer slice of techno with a hugely emotional buildup that's simultaneously depressing and uplifting. Lots of Holden-esque synth work that lifts you up, drops you down, catches you back and flies you over a gorgeous sonic landscape. Tender as the night, for sure, but supple enough to leave a ‘bubbly’ impression on you the next day.” – Dave Rinehart

“In a dance music world dominated by lone auteurs and studio whizkids, Cobblestone Jazz are something of an anomaly: their tracks are not preconceived, but rather the result of a series of live improvisations. But where previous releases were jazzy, loose takes on minimal house, 'India in Me' abandoned the blueprint in favour of a more exotic, eastern-influenced sound. The overall effect is mesmerisingly organic: the group slowly ramps up the tension over the course of thirteen minutes, carefully tweaking the low end before bringing the track to its peak with an unexpectedly straight acid line. The balance between looseness and detail that the group's working method produces is a rare thing in dance music. I look forward to hearing how they develop it further.” – Julian Parker

“Thomas Schumacher sounds like the name of someone who should be racing F1 cars, but instead he's an old hand of the German techno scene, who together with engineer Stephan Bodzin has been reinventing electrohouse in a bigger and woozier fashion this year. 'Rotor' raised its head above the many twelves released by the pair this year - it's done the business for Tiefschwarz and Ryan Elliott to name a couple – though surprisingly, perhaps, because it's so dark and understated. Maybe it's the sound of its hiss blasting out from club speakers that appealed to clubbers, but ‘Rotor’ is akin to sticking your head out of a speeding car window in a winding dark tunnel. With Thomas Schumacher not Michael at the wheel. There's no build-up, big drums or shimmering synths like the EP title track 'Red Purple', but those air compressor gasps sure do sound great through a big system. Scary but a helluva ride.” – Tami Fenwick

“Looking back, 'Seeing through Shadows' was one of the year’s biggest tracks, but, oddly, it doesn't feel typical at all. On the one hand we had a clutch of 'minimal bangers' (Gaiser’s mix of '25 Bitches') and on the other we had neo-Detroit classicism ('Full Clip', 'Mouth to Mouth' and a clutch of Carl Craig remixes), but Loco Dice's definitive track was neither. ‘Seeing Through Shadows’ has a subtlety that really creeps up on you: its use of soft, rounded kicks and conga-ish sounds to build up its gently lolloping groove is an approach which seems totally at odds with its anthem status. The track has a warmth to it that makes you want to hug the speakers and give them a big wet kiss, and a humanity that shows that minimalism doesn't have to be cold. What's so great about this is that is firstly that we have producers like Loco Dice and Buttrich who can create something so idiosyncratic (and get it released on M_nus!) and secondly that we have an open-minded enough scene to celebrate them for it. Indeed, the true measure of the track is that despite its popularity, it has not been successfully imitated yet, which says a great deal about the talent that went into its production.” – Jacob Wright

“Hella popular this one: The lead track off ‘min2MAX’ lumbered into the centre of the room, parked itself, and declared minimal techno was not leaving anytime soon. Both elephantine and funky, ‘Baby Kate’ is built around signature 2006 pitchshifts and a deep gruffness that’s enough to get your swagger on in a club, but there’s something else at work here too: synth melodies that are good enough to hook, and an overarching swirl to sell you the concept. But it’s not enough to sit at home and review this on your bum: Through big speakers M_nus records sound like they mean business. If you were to post a clip of 7 a.m. clubbing in 2006 on YouTube, this would be on the soundtrack.” – Jeremy Armitage

“Motor City's Carl Craig goes deep and very electronic, electro synth lines patiently building for an eon before a limb-shaking kick drum joins in to make it apparent that Craig’s made another monster akin to his 'Falling Up' remix. Beautiful, tinkly pianos offset the mounting tension, heavy claps create a sense of vastness, but Craig still manages to upset the applecart in his trademark jazzy style. Like his remixes of Garnier’s 'Barbiturk Blues' and Masekela's 'The Boys Doin it', here Craig is proving his recent form, and long may it last. This is nothing short of groundbreaking.” – Dave Noonan

“We all want to hate on those artists that are this utterly consistent. But I honestly don’t care if Booka Shade are formulaic or not because their music gives me such pleasure. ‘In White Rooms’ is one of those tracks that is mathematically perfect at what it’s trying to do, like ‘Plastic Dreams’, ‘Halcyon’ or ‘Knights of the Jaguar’. The strident marching melody and the bass riff carry the song, slyly tweaking your nipples but never quite reaching the intensity of genital contact. Although there’s no explosive moment, the track is so sweet and loving that people will be dancing hard anyway. It doesn’t sound like much on first listen but you won’t be able to get it out of your head. Buy on sight, and play it before everyone else does.” – Jacob Wright

“San Fran man Claude VonStroke is one of the finds of the year - it's a little surprising his debut LP 'Beware of the Bird' hasn't caused more of a fuss, being crammed to the gills with his very playable John Tejada-meets-electro house nuggets. But curiously, the one that stands out the most is the one that sounds least like his signature sound. 'Who's Afraid Of Detroit' left little impression on first listen, but rooted itself firmly in the brain after a few plays. From the opening moody pads to the instantly recognisable bleepy synth via the deep sub and neat drums, this was a subtle surprise that picked up plays from the likes of Tiefschwarz and Hawtin. Put your hands up for '…Detroit'. (I'll get my coat…)” – Barry O'Donoghue

“Audion's 'Mouth to Mouth' is so unsubtle, so grossly, hedonistically perfunctory it seems like a parody. A repetitive 4/4 stomp of drums, clicks and sirens, it locks into an ultra-simple pattern early on and, satisfied, keeps it coming for thirteen club-dominating minutes. Being this long, two minutes have elapsed before things really get kicking, but by then the pounding drums and squeaks have fallen subservient to the clincher: a series of deafening rocket-ship takeoffs that’ll turn clubbers into awestruck tourists at Cape Canaveral. Further action comes from a two-note conga riff which bobs unsteadily like an off-centre spinning top, but it's the excitement wrought by the sirens that push this skyward. Played by everyone, everywhere.” – Joshua Meggitt

“Martin Buttrich started 2006 as a name unfamiliar to most, but he ends the year crowned as king. Loco Dice’s silent studio partner on ‘Seeing Through Shadows’ struck gold for a second time with his debut on Carl Craig’s Planet E, subtlely evolving and mutating a one-note Detroit riff into one of the biggest, and most defining, club peaks of the year. The B-side builds beautifully too, but perhaps it was the intensity of ‘Full Clip’ that won clubbers over: As the acidic bassline rises up halfway through, it feels like you could dance to it forever, and when the drums drop back in after the achingly intense breakdown, even the most minimal of scarves were in full swing. ‘Full Clip’ is pure class from start to finish.” – Jacob Wright