Without a doubt, it’s been a tough year for our friend the “Genre”. Scenesters and critics alike have had a field day coining new and outlandish terms for bands and DJ’s that either find themselves on the cusp of a genre or, in some cases, simply unclassifiable -- names such as Herbert, Fujiya & Miyagi and Claude Von Stroke spring to mind. But this article will not comply to constriction. What it will advocate, however, is artists who adhere to fundamental electronic sounds and ambitions. To this extent, the likes of Hot Chip and Junior Boys sit appropriately alongside Booka Shade and Venetian Snares - Pop, IDM, techno, et al, have never had it so good: stunning individually, and breathtaking when combined. 2006 has undoubtedly been the year of convergence.

So what is Electronica and what is Electro? What’s Minimal and what is inherently Techno? The answers, unfortunately, are not as clear cut as they used to be. And why is this the current state of affairs, you may ask? - the answer, is undeniably straightforward: innovation. That’s right - simple, unabashed innovation. The blurring of genre boundaries, the crossover of time signatures... it’s all back. We’re looking at you Ricardo Villalobos, you and the half hour “Minimal Techno” dance floor rejuvenation; we’re looking at you James Murphy for essentially the same trick (albeit with less of the minimalism and techno and more of the 4/4 electro punk/funk we love LCD Soundsystem for). But also, we’re looking at The Knife. Never has brooding, dark-as-fuck electronica sounded so essential. Without a doubt it’s one of the best records of the year. Staggering in terms of scope and originality, the sound is galvanized by a digitalism and synthetic edge that compliments the record’s open, malevolent humanity.

Of course not every genre will last the test if time, most are merely fads for journalists and record companies to get far too excited about. “New Rave,“ for example, was essentially a throwaway term to describe the Klaxons, but it morphed into some god-awful genre that doesn’t really exist. Thanks to the NME pushing it at every conceivable opportunity after they got bored of calling upbeat indie ‘punk-funk’ or ‘angular,’ “New Rave” seems to have caught on with the uneducated. Now straight-up indie bands like CSS and Datarock have hordes of impressionable, 16 year-olds flocking to their gigs en masse with glowsticks. Worst of all, this coinage is ruining our musical heritage; apparently you can’t like bands such as The Rapture and Hot Chip without being “New Rave“…I mean, it’s not like they existed before this year is it? New bands will start chucking sirens over the top of their tracks and wearing neon to gain some attention and the new !!! and LCD Soundsystem albums will be hailed as the return of “New Rave Kings," or some bullshit like that. And that’s great - so now we like “New Rave” because we have ‘Yeah’ on 12 inch? Bullshit. And we really don’t have the time now to comment on the sickening promotion and drug endorsement by new rave bands and the NME. Pray it‘s just a new craze...

But right now we find ourselves marooned in January with a whole new year to look forward to - but before looking forward, it’s necessary to look back so that The Silent Ballet can introduce its essential Electronica Albums and Remixes of 2006. The debate starts here:

The Top Albums

25. Herbert – Scale
The Silent Ballet Wiki:Matthew Herbert

Although problematic, and undoubtedly controversial, the decision to file Matthew Herbert’s Scale under ‘Electronica’ was one not taken lightly. As astonishing a piece of work as the record is, its inherent disposition to avoid thematic constrictions is troublesome.

Enveloping innumerable samples and field recordings, vocal harmonies and programmed rhythm sections, to say there’s a lot to offer here would be a drastic understatement - there’s a plethora, from the shuffling samba of ,Down', the vocal delights of 'Something Isn’t Right' and 'Birds Of A Feather'; the faultlessly arranged strings on 'Moving Like A Train'. I could go on and on, but you get the picture. It’s possibly the most stylish and refined record on this list, and is yet another reminder Mr Herbert is an institution by himself.

24. Jimmy Edgar – Color Strip
The Silent Ballet Wiki:Jimmy Edgar

Something of a musical genius, Jimmy Edgar first started experimenting with music when he was only 10 years old, and was signed to Warp Records at the age of 20. Way back in February he released Color Strip, his first full length release, and it did not disappoint. The album ranges from minimal techno of ‘My Beatz’, to the harsh IDM of ‘Pret a Porter,’ all the way through to sample based ambience, and is everything you’d expect from a typical Warp artist.

23. Claude Von Stroke – Beware Of The Bird
The Silent Ballet Wiki:Claude Von Stroke

Claude Von Stroke is in fact Barclay Crenshaw, and he runs San Francisco’s hottest house label Dirtybird. Thankfully, Claude isn’t worried about a bit of self-promotion and released this avant-house monster on his own label, and thank god he did. Beware Of The Bird is a house record, but it’s the good kinda house: all thumping bass, looped samples, and catchy instrumental melodies, and with tracks like ‘Who’s Afraid of Detroit’ and ‘The 7 Deadly Strokes,’ you know you’re onto a winner.

22. Trentemoller – The Last Resort
The Silent Ballet Wiki:Trentemoller

If you’re familiar with any of Trentemoller’s remixes, you’d expect this album to be jam packed with filthy electro tunes and thumping basslines. Well, you’d be wrong, as The Last Resort is somewhere in between ambient and trip-hop, and very good at it too. There’s a perfect mix of live instrumentation and samples to offer, especially during ‘Nightwalker,’ which sounds like it should have been on Leftfield’s Leftism album, which is high praise indeed.

21. Kid 606 – Pretty Girls Make Raves
The Silent Ballet Wiki: Kid 606

Over the last 8 years Miguel Trost Depedro, under the guise of Kid606, has been on of the most inventive musicians going, turning his hand to almost every electronic genre you could think of. IDM, Ambeint, Drone, Gabba…he’s done it all, and in 2006 Kid606 turned his hand to techno with Pretty Girls Make Raves, and what a splendid job he made of it. If this album doesn’t get you throwing your hands in the air, especially when choice cuts like ‘Chicken Fight’ and ‘Let It Rock’ are dropped, you need to check your pulse and call an ambulance.

20. MSTRKRFT – The Looks
The Silent Ballet Wiki: MSTRKRFT

When they weren’t making some of the best remixes we’ve heard this year, Canadian duo MSTRKRFT decided to make an album of their own, containing some storming electro monsters and providing the missing link between Daft Punk and Justice. The Looks is not the most original piece of electro you’ll ever hear, but that really doesn’t matter when it’s done so well. ‘Neon Nights’ is a heavy early 90s rave tune, ‘Work On You’ is a glitched up dancefloor smash, and ‘Easy Love’ is just really fucking good.

19. Belong - October Language
The Silent Ballet Wiki:Belong

Mourning a blissful and poetic landscape, Belong’s debut is a serene soundtrack to a movie never made. Constructing an ambience of divine imagination, the record’s dynamic is undoubtedly entrenched in the cinematic. Its aesthetic only wavered at the moments when the lightweight production perhaps undermined the scale and ambition of the music, but you’d be forgiven for overlooking such moments; 'I’m Too Sleepy…Shall We Swim' would make up for grievances on most records - such is the song’s intensity. And it’s this vigour, Belong’s absolute dogma, that renders it utterly vital. It may have sneaked out early in the year, but if you found October Language, cherish it. Really cherish it - like clinging to an unseen and fantastical hope, you’ll wonder how you’d ever survive if you lost it.

18. Isolee – Western Store
The Silent Ballet Wiki:Isolee

It’s great when surprises occur. A new Isolee record for 2006? Yes, please. A collection of early, rare vinyl-only singles? That’s just spoiling us, Rajko. Dragging minimal dub and house arrangements onto gregarious dancefloors, Western Store was as progressive and resonant as its predecessor, the magnificent We Are Monster, and was equally essential. Tracks ached with a Parisian flair and contemporary cutting-edge, whilst simultaneously upholding their mantra to shake asses and nod heads -- see the squelched funk of 'Initiate II' or the shattered IDM of 'King Off' for examples. With these eloquent melodies and stabbing breaks, it is, ultimately, the record Cassius should have made... And this is Muller’s old shit. Staggering, isn’t it?

17. Ochre – Lemodie
The Silent Ballet Wiki:Ochre

Chris Leary has always been a man who knows his way around a laptop; his brand of IDM is indebted to a staggering talent for programming. On past form this has been particularly apparent due to the flowing and decadent nature of his work - A Midsummer Nice Dream, for instance, exuded a sophisticated panache that was fused with its subtle melodies. Lemodie, however, instils an antithesis borrowed from his contemporaries - namely Plaid and Autechre - that galvanises the record to such an extent that it feels less like an Ochre record and more like a Warp release. Like a wheel in perfect balance, turning, the record’s cyclical rhetoric of memorable melodies is, indeed, wondrous. The result is categorically exquisite; an abstract hymn to intelligent composition.

16. Squarepusher – Hello Everything
The Silent Ballet Wiki:Squarepusher

Everybody’s favourite slap bass connoisseur Tom Jenkinson returned in 2006 with his much anticipated album Hello Everything. What sounded like a massive let down on first listen soon transformed into the sound of Squarepusher moving on. In came a more experimental and tuneful set of tracks, with an occasional nod to the ‘old school’ creeping in. Opening track ‘Hello Meow’ is a melodic jazz funk odyssey, ‘Croneker King’ is Four Tet in disguise, while ‘Planetarium’ and ‘The Modern Bass Guitar’ prove that Squarepusher is still a master of turning up the tempo and mashing things together. Hello Everything wasn’t the album we all hoped for, but at least it’s something meaningful.

15. Mouse On Mars – Varcharz
The Silent Ballet Wiki:Mouse On Mars

It’s pretty much a given that MoM like loud music. Well, apparently anyways. So it's somewhat of a surprise that its taken neigh on twelve releases for them to make Varcharz. The fact that it was made avoiding the use of traditional instrumentation isn’t so much of a shock. Playing with the intensity of a fully fledged rock ensemble, the record is an eclectic mix of broken electronics and pummelling hardcore propensity. Having said that, if you’re a seasoned metal enthusiast you probably won’t find much to enjoy here; 'I Go Ego Why Go We Go', for instance, teeters on European house. If you can open your mind for just one listen, though, take the record at face value; a devastating example of what can still be done on machines.

14. Helios – Eingya
The Silent Ballet Wiki:Helios

With the aid of just a guitar, some electronics and a whole lotta talent, Keith Kenniff perhaps produced the most ambitious record of 2006, as it encompasses genres and trespasses soundscapes with a verve that many of his peers have still to master. The eclectic beauty of his third album, Eingya, is testament to this versatility; ambient in it’s approach, though yawning and profound in its purpose, the record’s heart is set to overkill - not in spite of its simplicity, but, ultimately, because of it. How this principle unfolds is testament to Helios’ aptitude; the execution is serene. It’s astonishing that one man’s vision can resonate so vividly. The opener, 'Bless This Morning Year', is worth the price of admission alone…

13. DJ Medhi – Lucky Boy
The Silent Ballet Wiki:DJ Medhi

French dance music is undergoing a bit of a renaissance at the moment, with Justice, Sebastian, Kavinsky, and Ed Banger Records all harking back to the glory days of Homework, Roulé and Alan Braxe. The honour of releasing the first album to come out of the Ed Banger stable falls to DJ Medhi, and he doesn’t disappoint. Lucky Boy fuses electro synths with hip-hop beats and pop melodies, and is as refreshing a listen as you’ll hope to hear. ‘I Am Somebody’ feat. Chromeo is one of best pop songs of recent times, ‘Signature’ is a glitched up masterpiece, and ‘Boggin’ is so French it should come with a beret. You really can’t afford to ignore this album.

12. Clark – Body Riddle
The Silent Ballet Wiki: Clark

When you’re an electronic artist and you sign to Warp Records, certain things are expected of you. You’ve got to be at the forefront of your genre, making some weird and wonderful electronica, and you’ve got to be very, very good. Fortunately, (Chris) Clark ticks all the right boxes. After his breakthrough Empty The Bones Of You album, Clark returned with a more complete and grown up album in Body Riddle. Opener ‘Herr Bar’ sets the tone, with it’s beautiful, yet haunting, melody soaring over the top of various beats and glitches, cramming influences of Plaid, Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin into just one song. Thankfully, the other ten songs on Body Riddle are just as good.

11. Venetian Snares – Cavalcade of Glee and Dadaist Happy Hardcore Pom Poms
The Silent Ballet Wiki:Venetian Snares

In a year bursting with a staggering array of IDM albums, Aaron Funk’s precursor to the lightweight Hospitality was undoubtedly the most adventurous. On first inspection Cavalcade… offered little to the Venetian bow - punishing and off-kilter rhythms, erratic time signatures, distorted samples --basically everything we’ve come to expect from the Canadian’s output. So what made Cavalcade so special? Simple. The production. The flawless, watertight production. Somehow, in the midst of drum machines ploughing into one another, Funk’s laptop fanaticism became unbearably addictive. It boggles the mind how he’s done it, but it’s sickeningly catchy. I don’t want to think about it, to be honest. It hurts.

10. Booka Shade – Movements
The Silent Ballet Wiki:Booka Shade

You gotta know where you’ve come from to know where you’re going, right? That’d be an ‘Amen’ from Booka Shade, then. Depicting a hacienda-filled soiree circa 1995, Movements came on like an Orbital ‘best of’ - all staccato synths and rising/falling key changes, just like you remember them. It instilled TFSOL’s progressive sensibilities and furthered them by shrugging their primitivisms and elaborating on their own contemporary influences - namely European techno. With this simplicity in mind, Booka Shade created the archetypal dancefloor record; urgent, vital and above all else - memorable. Amid a glut of standout tracks, 'In White Rooms' perhaps lingers as the defining moment - totally mesmerizing in its abject simplicity.

9. Ellen Allien and Apparat - Orchestra of Bubbles
The Silent Ballet Wiki: Ellen Allien and Apparat

Collaborating with a musician that, apart from city of residence, has very little in common musically with yourself is always going to be challenging. Thankfully, this challenge is something Ellen Allien and Apparat have excelled at with Orchestra of Bubbles.

For those unaware, Apparat specialises in IDM, Ellen Allien specialises in minimal techno, and both influences come together on this album to create a very good electro album. At times, the more minimal side of Ellen Allien comes through on tracks like ‘Jet’ whereas other tracks like ‘Edison’ and ‘Retina’ sees the random instrumentation of Apparat shine through, but it’s when both of these influences come together perfectly on ‘Turbo Dreams’ and ‘Way Out’ that Orchestra of Bubbles really makes its mark.

The Silent Ballet Wiki:Fujiya + Miyagi

Coming on like Junior Boys’ hipper, older cousins, Transparent Things is perhaps 2006’s quirky undiscovered treasure. Progressive beats and hi-hats relay infectious !!!-esque funked-out-chant vibes that almost transcend categorisation. Prime examples include 'Collarbone', which probably couldn’t be less cool if it tried (“Knee bone connected to the thigh bone/ thigh bone connected to the head bone” etc); 'Photocopier'even more so, “I collected a cappella’s/and filled them into genres”. But it’s with “Ankle Injuries”, however, that the Bristol trio unleashed their conceptual utopia; with swelling synths erupting amid a collage of monotone vocals and pulsing rhythms, the genre is barely describable - post-everything will probably have to do.

7. Alex Smoke - Paradolia
The Silent Ballet Wiki: Alex Smoke

Set against a palate of pulsating algorithms, the follow up to 2005’s Incommunicado, Paradolia is a sweeping and succinct example of how to negotiate the bubbling and ambiguous sub-genres of electronica. Encompassing dub, minimal arrangements of trance, and techno, the record is a melting-pot of ingenuity and precise artistry. Although the album’s namesake pertains to the psychological uncertainty that we perceive in random events and objects, the cohesion that somehow infuses this music is nothing short of remarkable; 'Meany' certainly embodied this ideology, with shivering synths exploring tightly woven soundscapes. It’s a persuasive treatise for the perseverance the genre demands.

6. Nathan Fake - Drowning In A Sea Of Love
The Silent Ballet Wiki: Nathan Fake

It must be hard being 23 year-old Nathan Fake. You’ve just released your debut album, Drowning In A Sea Of Love and the whole of the electronica community has fallen at your feet. You’ve got gigs lined up in Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam and Barcelona. Tiefschwarz wants you to remix some of their tracks. But there’s no reason to get down, as you’ve just made as quite fantastic record that is the missing link between m83 and Four Tet, and is a record that highlights immense potential of what is to come. You’ve done really well Nathan, give yourself a pat on the back.

5. LCD Soundsystem - 45:33
The Silent Ballet Wiki:LCD Soundsystem

4. Tim Hecker - Harmony In Ultraviolet
The Silent Ballet Wiki:Tim Hecker

In a blissful, hypnotic vision of ambience, Harmony In Ultraviolet is like sailing into a white light and not knowing anything about the destination or the journey, but understanding that at the end of this passage is perhaps the most important goal imaginable. At times harrowing in its simplicity, yet never less than compelling in its beauty, this is sound that heaven makes while it’s waiting for you. Split equally between live instrumentation and programming, Hecker’s visage floods the senses with skewed, drone soliloquies - comparisons with Fennesz are both apt and accurate, such is the measure of the material. Show me another downtempo release from 2006 that is Hecker’s equal, and I will show you its comparative mediocrity.

3. Junior Boys - So This Is Goodbye
The Silent Ballet Wiki:Junior Boys

Again aiming somewhere between chart-savvy pop and dancefloor-ready-electro, in 2006 Junior Boys landed themselves somewhere they wouldn’t have thought possible: overshadowing their superlative debut, Last Exit. In accomplishing such a feat, the Bristol duo made an astonishingly realised, mature and intelligent record. Through simple melodies and exaggerated synth lines, So This Is Goodbye epitomized their futuristic ambitions. Furthermore, its delivery, again entrenched in the contemporary, exudes a style and a playful inclination that surpasses their aforementioned debut.

Embodying many of the traits from the year, Junior Boys have always been hard to nail down into a genre. Flipping seamlessly through guitar-infused funk and into whispered, ambient chants, the result is an energetic and classy record, colourful and exciting. Permeated by a understanding for the capricious aspect of electronic music, if anyone guesses where they’re headed next, just remember - you’re probably wrong.

Back in 2004, London collective Hot Chip released an astonishing breakthrough album called Coming On Strong. For some reason this album was largely ignored by the public and press alike, but that didn’t dent Hot Chip’s confidence. Instead of wallowing in a sea of self-pity, Hot Chip began work on bigger and bolder songs, and the end result was one of the albums of the year in any genre. The Warning is essentially a pop album with an electro undertone, and there isn’t a song on it that you won’t find yourself tapping your feet to. ‘Boy From School’ is a heart melting slab of pop-funk, ‘No Fit State’ is dark and brooding electro, and the sheer beauty of tracks like ‘Colours,’ ‘The Warning,’ and ‘So Glad To See You’ could bring smiles to a morgue. Don’t believe us? Well, just listen to the brilliant ‘Over and Over,’ then you’ll understand what all the fuss is about...See, we told you so.

1. The Knife - Silent Shout
The Silent Ballet Wiki: The Knife

Blimey. Thought you knew The Knife? I’m willing to wager the first few bars of 'Silent Shout' probably changed your perceptions. Lone gone were the halcyon days of the crystallised pop that graced Deep Cuts, and Sony Bravia ads for that matter, and in its place only a startling and menacing ode to arpeggiated techno remained, ominous in its fervent abandon of the hooks and structure that littered their sophomore breakthrough. This was the sound of the bar being raised.

What was perhaps the most surprising aspect of the record, however, was how the band managed to mix mournful arcadia - the poetic, yet downtrodden digital aesthetic - with its dancefloor-ready sensibilities. The feat is emphasised emphatically by the manner in which each note and each melody appears entirely detached from the piece they permeate. The result is such that the electronica produced feels otherworldly, as if they’re in on a secret about what sounds synthesisers are capable of producing that no one else knows about. To say there wasn’t another album like this out in 2006 wouldn’t do it’s candour justice. It is, indeed, a masterpiece. Just feel sorry for the “Yeah, they did that ‘Heartbeats’ song” listeners. They never stood a chance.

The Top Remixes

What exactly qualifies a good remix? Well, it’s hard to say, as each person will differ in their opinion - some will want everything to become a filthy electro stomper, and others will want some down-tempo minimal affair. The original track must be transformed to a certain extent, enough for it to be different, but not so much that the original track loses it’s emphasis. Soulwax and Erol Alkan manage to pull this off with ease every time they remix a track, as do Switch and MSTRKRFT, although the latter appear to adhere to certain stylistic pre-emption’s on every occasion. Our top remixes of 2006 cover all the bases, from electro filth to minimal rework, and from well known indie staples to obscure samba artists.

15. Daisy Daisy - Michelle Plays Ping Pong (Vicarious Bliss remix)

French electronica is making a long-awaited comeback, with artists and producers like DJ Feadz, Surkin and Myoko, and labels like Ed Banger and Institubes, at the forefront of this revolution. Add producer and DJ Vicarious Bliss to this list, and it’s easy to see why. Here, he takes a lo-fi electro pop song, and turns into a filthy, bass driven acid house stomper, improving the original no end.

14. The Knife – We Share Our Mothers Health (Ratatat remix)

Construed by many, perhaps only the cynical, as merely recycling the same sound for each remix, Ratatat are undoubtedly talented programmers. Their esoteric is entrenched in their digital sound, and not unsurprisingly, it works perfectly with The Knife’s menacing lyricism and delivery.

13. Junior Boys – In The Morning (Alex Smoke remix)

By choosing to deconstruct one of the most joyous and stylish tracks of the year, Smoke was certainly going to have his hands full. The result, however, was beguiling; with the vocals remaining in their entirety, and only the instrumentation changing, the purpose and soul of the song changes completely. For this reason alone, the mix warrants attention.

12. Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom – Revelee (Carl Craig remix)

To be commissioned to remix a track from the DFA Records stable, you need to be pretty well respected in dance community, so Carl Craig fits the bill . Cited as one of the most important musicians in the second coming of Detroit techno, Craig transforms ‘Revelee’ into bubbling tech-house, arpeggiating the bassline from the original and adding a thumping beat. It’s incredibly simple, but that’s why it works so well.

11. Madonna – Get Together (Thin White Duke remix)

Providing a pulsating rhythm section via an ominous and brooding bassline, Stu Price believes in keeping remixes simple. Curious acoustic breakdown aside, the 6 minute behemoth offered an insight into his dancefloor-ready inclinations sending the track into the stratosphere with 4/4 backing. And thus, Madge was cool again - albeit very briefly.

10. Franz Ferdinand - The Fallen (Justice Remix)

While they may be considered by many as the hottest DJ duo going, and part of the ‘oh so cool’ Ed Banger stable, Justice haven’t really made a massive impression with their remixes, though it’s not through lack of talent, as ‘The Fallen’ proves. Glitched and warped vocals combine with distorted guitars and hi-hats, resulting in easily the most random remix of the year.

09. Para One - Dudun Dun (MSTRKRFT Remix)

While not being vastly different from the original, the MSTRKRFT remix does up the ante and gives ‘Dudun Dun’ a more rhythmic feel. A relentless pounding beat and disorientating looped synth combine with cowbell, whistles and an euphoric breakdown to create the best acid house rave song we’ve heard all year.

08. ¡Forward, Russia! - Eleven (65 Days of Static remix)

This one is a b it of a surprise entry, but we’re an webzine that closely watches the instrumental rock world, so we have a soft spot for 65 Days of Static. This is essentially a typical 65 DOS song with heavy guitars, glitches galore, IDM beats, and melodic pianos a plenty, but add to that the vocals of Tom Woodhead from ¡Forward, Russia! and you’ve got a winner.

07. Metric – Monster Hospital (MSTRKRFT remix)

The original track is indie rock for the skinny jeans NME cool list generation, but it does possess a rather good vocal. MSTRKRFT know this, and follow a simple equation to success. Good vocals + handclaps + beats x deep resonating synth riffs = the 7^th best remix of the year.

06. The Gossip – Standing In The Way of Control (Soulwax Nite Version)

Apart from emphasising the funky bass riff and adding some electro glitches and handclaps, you won’t notice too many differences from the original track. That is until the 3 minute mark, where you’ll notice a rising electro bassline, and around the 3 minutes 30 mark this explodes into a gargantuan riff that turns a standard indie band into Justice, which can only be a good thing.

05. Daft Punk – Prime Time Of Your Life (Para One remix)

If you’re a DJ and you get asked to remix Daft Punk, it must be pretty daunting. If you’re a French DJ, you must feel like curling up in a corner and crying. Thankfully, Para One is made of sterner stuff, and, with a sly nod to Thomas Bangalter’s ‘Spinal Scratch’, this glitched up cut n’ paste rework is magnifique.

04. Klaxons – Atlantis To Interzone (Crystal Castles remix)

From the comedy Third Eye Mafia refit to the plain disappointing Digitalism remix, many an artist tried their hand at the only decent Klaxons song, and all but Crystal Castles failed. Right from the start, this remix is a straight out four-to-the-floor mash up, with 1980s arcade sounds and warped vocals to boot, it’s possibly even better than the original.

03. Hot Chip - Boy From School (Erol Alkan's Extended Rework)

Always known for more of a party DJ than a remixer, Erol Alkan turned the tables in 2006 with his reworking of ‘Boy From School.’ Alkan keeps the funk guitar and vocals, throws the rest of the original out of the window and replaces it with rising synth lines, random bleeps, woodblocks, glockenspiels and handclaps. Subtlety is an art, and it’s something that Erol Alkan is obviously very well practiced in.

2.Antena - Camino Del Sol (Joakim remix)

Quite why Joakim Haugland decided to remix a samba song from 1982 by Isabelle Antena into is beyond us. Quite how he turned it into the most blissful piece of melodic minimal techno I’ve heard absolutely stuns and delights us.

01. Robbie Williams – Lovelight (Soulwax ravelight dub)

Who’d of thought that Robbie Williams would top this list? Soulwax turn a poor attempt at electro-pop into an unnerving, dirty synth driven rave with looped vocals and a full on 2 minute siren breakdown, which causes more ‘hands in the air’ moments than a rollercoaster convention. This song destroys the dancefloor.

-James Ould and Alex Bradshaw