SBTRKT / Jamie xx
House goes R&B, dubstep goes subterranean, panic goes to the disco, Justice goes to space, and moombahton does whatever moombahton wants. Groove, however, is still in the heart. Presenting our picks for the 20 best dance records of 2011.
SPIN's Best of 2011:
• One Fucked Up Year: SPIN's Best of 2011 Issue
• SPIN's 50 Best Albums of 2011
• SPIN's 20 Best Songs of 2011
• SPIN's 40 Best Rap Albums of 2011
• SPIN's 10 Best Reissues of 2011
• SPIN's 25 Best Live Photos of 2011
• Endless Bummer: 30 Ways 2011 Was a Drag
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20. Four Tet- Fabriclive 59
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With the memory of 2010's blissful There Is Love in You still fresh, Four Tet's Kieran Hebden spent 2011 expanding the brand. There was a string of tech-house singles, a collaboration with Thom Yorke and Burial, a free-jazz double album, and all of it was capped with this catholic mix for London's famed Fabric superclub. Rather than simply link together the latest club tracks, Hebden wove vintage garage 2-step, minimalistic drone, deep dubstep, and his own bubbly compositions. He even sprinkled in some sounds recorded outside the club, resulting in an adventurous collage that considers both what's inside the walls and beyond. ANDY BETA
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19. Africa Hitech- 93 Million Miles
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Named for the distance between the Earth and the Sun, Africa Hitech's 93 Million Miles travels an unusual path through the bass music galaxy, with elements of grime, dubstep, juke, and dancehall reggae ringing a core of shuddering drums and molten synths. Rather than falling prey to the post-everything doldrums, the duo (Global Communication's Mark Pritchard and Spacek's Steve White) infuses its shape-shifting forms with a rare vitality, whether it's the apocalyptic, Ini Kamoze-sampling "Out in the Streets" or the uncharacteristically sweet closer "Don't Fight It." PHILIP SHERBURNE
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18. Mark E- Stone Breaker
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After building his reputation as a master of slo-mo house — syrupy-sweet, low-100 bpm edits of Janet Jackson and Grace Jones — Birmingham's Mark E proved that also he could craft studious-yet-pistoning tracks on his own. Taking cues from the deep end of Detroit and Chicago electronic music, this debut full-length moves from the deliberate stomp of "Black Country Saga" and soul-flecked "The Day" into the darker acid of "Belvide Beat," taking us on a trip without ever leaving second gear. A.B.
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17. Justice- Audio, Video, Disco
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For those about to rock…well, perhaps you should dance instead. So goes the motto of Justice's sophomore album, Audio, Video, Disco. Fans of AC/DC and Yes might not approve of the French duo's prefab progginess or their showy union of '70s-era power chords with come-hither electro rhythms. But this bombastic, bold album is as fit for a middle-school mixer as it is for a sold-out stadium. And we salute them. PHOEBE REILLY
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16. Theo Parrish- Uget
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An "edit" is often a self-indulgent tool for DJs and producers to alter a track — prolong a drum break, cut out undesirable vocals, tweak the EQ — all to make other people's music better fit their own aesthetic. That said, Theo Parrish's Ugly Edit 12-inches from the early '00s are infamous, with the Detroit techno luminary reinventing soul, funk, hip-hop, and house tracks to be even more eminently danceable. This two-disc comp makes his edits available to the masses: Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes stripped of all vocals save a deep-toned Teddy Pendergrass; a smooth reinvention of Kool & the Gang's "Hot Hot Summer Day"; and four-on-the-floor renditions of the Dells, Jill Scott, and Funkadelic. On a more fleshed-out plane is the reissue of Parrish's self-released 2000 debut, Parallel Dimensions, a collection of meditative techno infused with jazz, African drums, hazy dub, and melodic, bluesy inflections serving as a foundation for the producer's signature dance hypnosis. PUJA PATEL
