It was a year of weird hybrids and wily rhythms, of old-school tropes turned inside out and set on their ear. It seemed like everyone had a fuzzbox and they sure as hell were gonna use it. Noise artists started making techno, and techno producers succumbed to the pleasures of noise; R&B ran through club music like an underground spring, while a hint of post-punk menace lurked in the shadows. There were few common threads, and the motley tapestry that resulted was all the more exciting for it.