The Best Electronic Music of 2023

Jlin: Perspective ER

Perspective That's what happens if you leave Jlin with an entire percussion room to sample, courtesy of Third Coast Percussion Ensemble. It's bliss for her, perhaps the best drum programmer in modern electronic music, and heaven for us: The one-time footwork producer constructs puzzle-like assemblies that are as intricate in their construction as they are unbelievably heavy, like an anthill of titanium. Not everything on this six-track EP comes from the sound of sticks hitting objects – “Paradigm” has an absolutely wicked electronic bass line, “Derivative” a tortured synth protocol – but everything feels like wants to be, making this the most brilliantly drum-heavy release in Jlin's brilliantly drum-heavy career. – Ben Cardew

Julio Bashmore: “Bubblin'”

Bubbling, surging, rolling, funking – whatever you want to call it, Julio Bashmore's single back had it the in abundance, the lower part of the stomach, swelling with blood, somehow-I can't-not-Dance club energy that makes electronic music irresistible. “Bubblin” sits somewhere between modern, low-key 2-step shuffle and the equally modern filtered bubble of the French house revival. That would seem like smart decision-making for the Bristol maestro if “Bubblin'” sounded like a calculated move. Not so, though: Instead, “Bubblin'” is the echo of pure, visceral joy unleashed in the service of dancefloor havoc. – Ben Cardew

I hear: Julio Bashmore, “Bubblin'”

Kieran Hebden / William Tyler: “Darkness, Darkness”

As Four Tet, Kieran Hebden has been designing new possibilities for mixing beats and samples of acoustic instruments for more than two decades. Not surprisingly, this association with William Tyler, the virtuoso finger-picking craftsman, is a perfect fit. Centered on a thick slice of “Darkness, Darkness,” a 1969 soul-pop singer-turned-darkness Days of our Lives Actress Gloria Loring, the song is a 10-plus-minute slow-burn that builds from psych-folk meditation to mid-'70s Miles Davis-esque supernova, with Tyler channeling forefathers like Sonny Sharrock and Pete Cosey as the Hebden playing shells. rhythms. The producer says a full album is on the way. it should be a mind. –Will Mercury

I hear: Kieran Hebden / William Tyler, “Darkness, Darkness”

Lauren James: Gentle Confrontation

On Loraine James' latest album, Gentle Confrontation, the British producer is entering new personal territory. With her own vocals placed front and center, she infuses her slick, blaring electronic music with autobiography. On the chilling “2003,” titled after the year her father died, she teases a choral loop into infinity, taking stock of profound loss with aching precision. The similarly spare, tender “Cards With the Grandparents” tries laughter and shuffling decks as a source of found-sound texture. Elsewhere, James brings a detailed self-examination to genre-expanding exercises: The mercurial “I DM U” pairs soaring synth melodies with shadowy, melodic drumming from black midi's Morgan Simpson, while the gentle “One Way Ticket to the Midwest (Emo)” recasts the 90s rock genre complex, shimmering fretwork into a setting for a relaxing meditation. Gentle Confrontation it's both expansive and warmly comforting, with endless innovative – and deeply felt – angles to study. – Eric Torres