The Daily Swarm

Little White Earbuds:

01. STL, “Silent State” (Smallville Records)

This year has brought us peak time tracks, deep interlude tracks, decrepit warehouse tracks, sweat-dripping basement tracks, ticklish warm-up tracks, amygdala-twisting afterhours tracks, Sunday barbecue tracks, Tuesday night bedroom dance party tracks — and then there was STL’s “Silent State,” a track with the capacity to be any of these, all of these, or none of these. While I only need a cursory glance at blogs and charts to confirm my suspicion that this masterpiece constitutes a high watermark for Stephan Laubner, the Smallville imprint, and very likely contemporary house and techno as a whole, I’ve yet to hear two DJs play that elliptical bass line, whipcrack hi-hat and gossamer melody to exactly the same effect. So much dance music these days suffers from interchangeability, but “Silent State” thrives on it, albeit interchangeability of a different sort: I’ve heard it make as much sense as a massive, euphoric vamp (as Lawrence used it in a brilliant set at what turned out to be the final House n’ Home party in Brooklyn) as it does as a trippy ambient sinew between tough techno jams (as exhibited by Marcel Dettmann at his second Bunker appearance this summer). Lacking an obvious hook or carbon-dateable production technique to grow tired of, I suspect we’ll be pondering its delicious elusiveness — not to mention watching it pop up in crafty DJ sets like some dub techno “Where’s Waldo,” or at least a latter-day “Trespassers” — for years to come.

02. Pépé Bradock, “Path of Most Resistance” (Atavisme)
03. House of House, “Rushing to Paradise (Walkin These Streets)” (Whatever We Want Records)
04. Bruno Pronsato, “The Make Up the Break Up” (Thesongsays)
05. Peter Van Hoesen, “Attribute One” (Time To Express)
06. Joker, “Digidesign” (Hyperdub)
07. Walter Jones, “Living Without Your Love” (DFA)
08. Rainer Trueby, “To Know You” (N/A)
09. LCD Soundsystem, “45:33″ (Theo Parrish Remix) (DFA)
10. Black Jazz Consortium, “New Horizon” (Soul People Music)
11. Kassem Mosse, “Workshop008A” (Workshop)
12. Wax, “No.20002-B” (Wax)
13. Kode9, “Black Sun” (Hyperdub)
14. Santiago Salazar, “Arcade” (Macro)
15. Prosumer & Murat Tepeli, “U&I” (Ostgut Tonträger)
16. Margaret Dygas, “Invisible Circles” (Perlon)
17. Shake, “Indagoo” (Morphine Records)
18. Ben Klock, “Subzero” (Ostgut Tonträger)
19. Floating Points, “Love Me Like This” (R2 Records)
20. Ben Klock ft. Elif Biçer, “OK” (Kenny Larkin Remix) (Ostgut Tonträger)
21. Kassem Mosse, “Workshop008B1″ (Workshop)
22. Moritz Von Oswald Trio, “Pattern 1″(Honest Jon’s Records)
23. Wax, “Dub Shed” (STP Remix) (Subsolo Records)
24. Omar-S, “Blown Valvetrane” (Sound Signature)
25. Isolée, “A Nightingale” (Diynamic Music)