Rolling Stone's 20 Best EDM, Electronic and Dance Albums of 2014

A sonic collage artist with a great sense of flow, Flying Lotus (real name Steven Ellison) is the king of instrumental hip-hop. *You’re Dead*, a shape-shifting album with a sense of story, is best listened to from beginning to end. Virtuoso electric bassist and vocalist Thundercat cowrote several tracks. Pianist Herbie Hancock, rappers Kendrick Lamar and Snoop Dogg, violinist/arranger Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, singer Angel Deradoorian (who’s worked with The Dirty Projectors), and others also contribute to this expansive effort. Jazz, prog-rock, fusion, funk, and other elements are bent and stretched; the intriguing result dissolves genre borders.

Four years after his EP *Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites* remade the music landscape—introducing \"the drop\" to mainstream pop audiences and the visage of its ragamuffin purveyor to nervous parents the world over—Skrillex releases his debut album. In the years since *Scary Monsters*, Skrillex (a.k.a. Sonny Moore) has become a global phenomenon, and his sound has expanded accordingly: *Recess* is a dizzying tour through the sonic palette of global dance music. K-Pop stars CL and G-Dragon show up on the sputtering \"Dirty Vibe,\" legendary jungle MCs The Ragga Twins light up the album opener \"All Is Fair in Love and Bro Step,\" and Chicago\'s astral-traveling MC Chance the Rapper drops a verse on the standout track \"Coast Is Clear,\" which references drum \'n\' bass with its feather-light beat. Dubstep scholars will drool over “F\*\*k That,\" a fathoms-deep speaker-melter that recalls the genre\'s early days. But lest anyone think Skrillex is here to teach a history lesson, a song like \"Recess\" delivers the supple sonic textures and quizzically catchy hooks that have earned him his stripes. As erudite as it is pleasurable, *Recess* was worth the wait.

Following the liquid beats of his 2010 breakout, *Swim*, Caribou’s Dan Snaith has fallen further in love with the dance floor. In his entrancing follow-up, *Our Love*, Snaith blends house, hip-hop, garage, and vintage soul. On “Can’t Do Without You,” Snaith flips a slowed-down soul sample into a vocal mantra that eventually bursts amidst rave-ready synths, while on late highlight “Mars,” he mixes intricate drum patterns, hip-hop samples, and one very nimble flute melody.

On his first album in 13 years, Richard D. James, the godfather of cerebral electronic music, is in top form. This isn\'t a comeback, nor a departure of any kind: *Syro* sounds like highly concentrated, classic Aphex Twin, a singular aesthetic that dates all the way back to 1982: beat patterns wiggle into the foreground, then disappear; analog synths snap, crackle and pop; moods vacillate between aggressively percussive and smoothly melodic. These tracks – they work together like one long set -- demand to be listened to with excellent headphones, the better to discern their highly intricate sequencing, arguably some of James\' most ambitious. Each tune is teeming with juicy noise, all of it gleefully arranged. What comes through most is joy: it sounds like James is having so much fun. 

Genre lines dissolve as Bunji glides across EDM and trap beats.

2014’s *Just Be Free* showed that even after being discovered by a national audience, Big Freedia could still turn out ultra-raw distillations of the New Orleans style in the form of “N.O. Bounce,” “Where My Queens At,” and “Explode.” Bounce music has always been manic, but it’s never been so muscular. The rest of the album envisions an outrageous melding of bounce, techno, and Dirty South hip-hop. “Turn Da Beat Up” puts the force of a parade band behind its break beats. You’d be hard-pressed to find another album with as much unbridled physicality.

DJs Armand Van Helden and A-Trak have been spiking EDM\'s punch bowl as Duck Sauce since 2009, intoxicating revelers with party-hearty bangers like the disco-sampling \"aNYway\" and the sinfully catchy \"Barbra Streisand.\" For their long-awaited debut full-length, *Quack*, the duo\'s puckish abandon is in full swing. Joining the above tracks is the 2013 earworm \"It\'s You,\" here in all its quizzically catchy alien hoedown glory. The duo\'s record collection is as deep as their sense of humor is broad: \"Radio Stereo\" is a canny reworking of The Members\' 1982 postpunk sing-along \"Radio,\" while \"NRG\" samples Melissa Manchester\'s \"Energy\" for its ecstatic jazzercise vibe. In between the unapologetically exuberant beats are various sketches and snippets (sci-fi dialogue, prank calls, bird noises), which lend the album a retro variety-show vibe, like an EDM *American Bandstand hosted by Foghorn Leghorn.*

A-Trak & Armand Van Helden first splashed on the scene as Duck Sauce with the breakout hit "aNYway," a breath of fresh disco air in the distorted world of electronic music. Next up was "Barbra Streisand," a surprise global #1 smash and true pop culture milestone, complete with 70 million (and counting…) YouTube views, a Grammy nomination, and even a Glee cover! DS cemented their rep as dance music's official pranksters with MTV VMA-nominated clips like "It's You" (6 million views) and scene-stealing festival appearances accompanied by a 20-foot inflatable duck… yet all of this was just to set the stage for Quack, Duck Sauce's highly-anticipated full length studio debut. Fueled by the duo’s strong connection with New York hip-hop, Chicago house, disco debauchery, slapstick comedy and, of course, UFOs, no other group is capable of bringing the rich and visual tradition of sample-heavy music into the current pop and EDM trends of 2014. QUACK IS BACK!

It\'s telling that two samples on Lee Bannon\'s sprawling Ninja Tune debut album are from Darren Aronofsky films. Like those bar-setting breakthroughs—psychological thrillers that put mathematicians on the same horror-struck plane as heroin addicts—*Alternate/Endings* crackles with a kinetic energy that\'s full of style *and* substance. On the surface, it falls right in line with the recent jungle revival that\'s made skittish drum breaks vital again. If you crank it through crisp speakers, however, everything suddenly blooms into a bright, multi-channel meditation on what it means to make a mission statement. In Bannon\'s case, that amounts to a deliberate departure from the bold hip-hop beats he\'s cooked up for underground heads like Joey Bada\$$ and Smoke DZA. Rather than deliver a record full of MC-free instrumentals, the Sacramento native has honored his hometown\'s warehouse roots with heavily layered dance loops that are rooted in live bass parts (by The Mars Volta\'s Juan Alderete), cryptic field recordings, and a restless sampler. *Alternate/Endings* is a fresh, welcome chapter in a story that drum\'n\'bass purists closed years ago.

"It's after the end of the world, don't you know that yet..." With recent reports from various think tanks predicting we have somewhere in the range of 15 years left before the collapse of society begins, it would seem like Kevin Martin's sonic predictions of dystopian London that were set out on 2008's London Zoo were pretty accurate. And if we are in fact declining rapidly to chaos, there's no better time then the present to take the focus of that sonic assault from earthly domains and blast it to the netherworlds above and below. The aforementioned London Zoo is where Kevin Martin, found his true voice. Pulling the fringes into a collective, unilaterally hateful assault. A psychological warfare driven by bass that on one hand captured a moment of London, yet also encapsulated a global message influenced by years of timeless and classic out-music. The latest offering from the The Bug, Angels & Devils, escapes the London cage, drawing on it for influence yet blowing it up into a world-view now seen from Kevin Martin's new Berlin home. A record that simultaneously draws on London Zoo, completes a triptych cycle which started with his Bug debut Pressure, and fills the spaces between and inserts what was missing previously. Both a year zero re-set and a continuation of what has been. Like the Bowie/Eno classic Low, or Can's Tago Mago, the album is split into two distinct themes and explorations of light & dark. Bringing the angel & devil voices together under a single common banner. Antagonist at times, but not solely for the sake of being antagonistic, there's a beauty and lush sparseness to be found within, even when at its most chaotic. Truly only The Bug could find the common ground between Liz Harris (of Grouper) & Death Grips and make it seamless. Angels & Devils stretches the polarity of its predecessor in both directions simultaneously and is even more extreme for its new found seductiveness and added intensity. Deep space is explored, and physical assault is administered. In these days of YouTube quick fixes, and single tune memory spans, its a joy to witness Martin actually charting a cohesive narrative that rejoices in celebrating life through sonic sex and violence, beauty and ugliness. This is an audio thriller that delights in pursuing its own singular path/vision. With the Angel side(s) up first, things kick off with Liz Harris (of Grouper) in the submerged lushness that is "Void". Followed by contributions from ex Hype Wiliams half copeland ('Fall'), the blissed out patois of touring partner Miss Red (Mi Lost), two truly zoned Bug instrumentals, and rounded out by Gonjasufi on "Save Me". It's a collection of heady, dubbed out cinematic blissfulness with a lurking darkness before giving way to devils... Devils leads off with the return of long time collaborator Flowdan on the mic and the guitar of Justin Broadrick (Godflesh / Jesu) bringing a complete about face to the proceedings and setting the tone with "The One". Roll Deep's Manga steps up next with the instant Bug classic "Function", which is being currently smashed on dubplate, by Mala, Kahn and Logan Sama. Death Grips raise the antagonistic bar with Fuck A Bitch. Flowdan & Justin Broadrick come back for the cinematic death crawl of Fat Mac. Warrior Queen steps in for hands down the nastiest vocal she's ever delivered (which is saying a lot) for "Fuck You", and finally Flowdan steps up again to round it all off with a Devils battle cry of sorts "dirty, fuck that murky...". The concept is completed by the artistic expression it's packaged in, courtesy of Simon Fowler (Cataract). Known for his work for Sunn O))), Earth, and others, Simon has delivered a stunning hand drawn illustration, that sort that would make Bosch proud, showing the duality of the proceedings. Not one to ease anybody into the proceedings, first out the gate for first listen will be a California combo, misanthropes Death Grips with their first ever outside collaboration "Fuck A Bitch", and and the Warp Records mystic Gonjasufi with the heavy nod-out of "Save Me" Utopian/dystopian, black/white, complexity/singularity, negative/positive... Angels/Devils.

Following in the footsteps of David Guetta and Calvin Harris, EDM\'s new sensation, Dillon Francis, is as much populist as hedonist. On his debut full-length, he mixes neon pop anthems with surging EDM bangers. His collaboration with Martin Garrix, \"Set Me Free,\" features the kind of drop that sends dancefloors into conniptions, while \"When We Were Young\" and \"Love in the Middle of a Firefight\" are crossover tracks aimed squarely at pop radio. Those looking for the moombathon sound Francis made his name with will find it on \"I Can\'t Take It\" and the raucous DJ Snake team-up \"Get Low.\"