The Attack Magazine team round up their favourite electronic music of 2021.
This list of fifty releases has been put together by the Attack Magazine team and contributors. Each member of the team was asked to nominate their favourite tracks of the year. So this list – containing both huge bangers and underground stalkers from drum and bass, techno, house, Balearic and more – reflects the many varied tastes of the Attack team and is a snapshot of where we think dance and electronic music is currently at.
It’s often tricky to find trends in the vast world of club music, but we can make some generalizations. This year has been outstanding for albums, as artists who have previously spent much of the year on the road have devoted more time to producing music. 2021 saw quality album releases from artists like Loraine James, Posthuman, Eris Drew, DJ Seinfeld, Joy Orbison, Saint Etienne, Lou Hayter, Baltra, Sunjunkie, Greentea Peng, Ross From Friends, Nightmares On Wax, Lone, Chrissy, Róisín Murphy/Crooked Man, Galathea, Dusky and Another Chemical Love Story, ranging from experimental electronics to rave revival to dub disco and more.
Here’s the full Spotify playlist:
The UK classic house sound made a strong showing with producers like Ashley Beedle and Bruise having a particularly good year. Perhaps the most interesting trend is the continual dissolution of genre boundaries which reflects contemporary listening habits. This year we saw more artists and DJs producing music that struggles to fit neatly into one genre and inevitably leading to more open, free and fun DJ sets. All in all, it was incredibly difficult to narrow this list down to 50 tracks and there is much more great music that we had to leave out.
So, in no particular order, here is Attack Magazine’s favourite music of 2021. Make sure to follow Attack on Spotify also.
Enjoy!