M83’s epic 2-disc LP, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, was my most anticipated release of the year and it didn’t let me down one bit. Anthony Gonzalez is an electronic virtuoso. From the very start, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming grabs you and holds you until the very end. Zola Jesus’ guest vocals on “Intro” makes an already good track great. The dreamy ballad “My Tears Are Becoming A Sea” gives me goosebumps every time I hear it. The innocence and fun that swirls throughout “Raconte-Moi Une Histoire” makes me smile and wish I was a kid again. But since I can only pick one, I have to go with “Midnight City”. This track is a great representation of the album as a whole, the production is amazing, it makes you want to dance (even if you hate dancing), you can’t help but turning the volume up when this song plays, and it happens to be the year’s best use of saxophone. I should also add that M83 was the best show I saw this year and “Midnight City” is incredibly good live.
♪ M83 – Midnight City (from Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming)
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Big Black Delta is the solo project of Mellowdrone vocalist/bassist Jonathan Bates. I was introduced to Big Black Delta earlier this year and was lucky enough to catch one the residency shows at The Satellite in LA (big thanks to Stephanie at the Planetary Group btw). The debut LP, BBDLP1, was a really cool record and I highly recommend it. THE CULTURE OF ME puts it best, “Big Black Delta makes some of the noisiest and most fun pop music you’re likely to hear for a long time coming”.
♪ Big Black Delta – Huggin & Kissin (from BBDLP1)
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This last track is actually a combination of the first two. Last year, Daft Punk put out one of the best (and most overlooked) movie scores in a long time. This year, a remix album was released and featured a plethora of electronic artists (Moby, Paul Okenfold, Teddybears, The Crystal Method, Pretty Lights…to name a few) and TRON: Legacy R3CONFIGUR3D was born. One track in particular caught my eye more than the others, as it featured one of my favorites, M83, and then unknown to me, Big Black Delta.
♪ Daft Punk – Fall (M83 vs. Big Black Delta Remix) (from TRON: Legacy R3CONFIGUR3D)
