29.01.2010 RA Poll: Top 100 tracks and albums of the '00s
RA concludes its week-long look back with our round-up of the best tracks and albums of the past decade.
In his recent book, Berlin, Techno and the Easy Jetset, Tobias Rapp claims that techno in the '00s was in many ways a reaction to techno from a decade earlier. "The nineties were about rave and everything that went with it," he writes, "and then, after all the great successes and excesses, the whole thing collapsed as the end of the decade approached. Around the turn of the century, the music went back underground in order to revitalize itself."
Looking at the list of singles below, Rapp's assertion rings true. Electronic music went through a metamorphosis in the past ten years, taking on such a diverse and heavily niched form that it seemed to lack a singular identity. But as disparate as the sub-genres became, there were always tracks that managed to catch everyone's attention, like Burial's "Archangel," Claude Von Stroke's "Who's Afraid of Detroit?" or LCD Soundsystem's "Someone Great." It's tracks like these that make up our list: Tunes that transcend all the sub-genre titles, and stand out simply as the best electronic songs of the decade.
01. Metro Area - Miura [Environ Records, 2001]
It's no secret that the beat to "Miura" is basically a cover of "Funky Town." I was using a kick and a snare, and I thought it would be nice to put a little reference in. I felt no compunction about doing it because I was using the Stars on 45 version of the song. I was ripping off the rip off. So I left this part where you can barely hear the cowbell in the break. The best part, I think, is the bassline, though. I work to get really empty basslines, and "Miura" is probably the emptiest one I've ever done. It's just two of the same note in the verse. I really enjoy when there's no virtuosity involved, but it still comes across as expressive.
We finished the record as we usually did at Darshan's place, who had a real studio in a loft in Manhattan right under Sonic Youth at Murray Street. It sounded like God was vacuuming upstairs when they were working, it was so loud. It was there that we recorded the vocals of Dei Lewison, who was actually the daughter of Woody Cunningham, the drummer of Kleeer. It was completely accidental, but we were so excited to be working with someone related to this disco guy. Something felt really right about having her work on it with us.
It's a bit hard to talk about "Miura," because it's a track that came together in my bedroom. I think that's common to all bedroom producers. I'm thankful, of course, that it got big. It was the biggest record on the label. But, like any big record, we also grew to resent it. When we would DJ and people would ask us to play it, I'd think, "That's really nice...but it's going to sound exactly the same as when you play it at home."
– Morgan Geist
02. Metro Area - Metro Area [Environ Records, 2002]
Essentially a modern electronic take on the '80s boogie sound of yore, Morgan Geist and Darshan Jesrani's first and only full-length together is a landmark album in more ways than one. Largely responsible for the resurgence of the electronic disco sound, this collection of the previous Metro Area 12-inch singles is still played by DJs from all genres, building nu-jazz DJs a bridge to house and opening a door for techno heads into disco. The tried-and-tested dance floor anthem "Miura" will be the one that you know inside out, but from the bubbling funk of "Dance Reaction" all the way through to the slinky shuffle of "Caught Up," the New York duo didn't put a foot wrong. With its crisp sounds, clinical arrangements and ridiculously funky grooves, Metro Area truly is a timeless album.
– Richard Carnes
