EDM.com proudly publishes four installments of annual year-end coverage: Industry Leaders, Performances, Music Producers and Songs. To honor their creativity and deeply influential work to challenge the boundaries of performance, we’ve recognized 10 of the year’s best sets from around the electronic music world. Alison Wonderland Alvarado Laundry, Los Angeles If you asked us to think of a rarer show than a rave with Alison Wonderland in a laundromat, our hands would be Tide. In celebration of her remarkable third album, Loner, the superstar DJ and singer-songwriter rinsed out a slew of filthy tracks live from a vacant L.A. laundromat. Organized by Brownies & Lemonade, the pie-in-the-sky performance was attended by less than 100 people, who raved away as strobe l...
“Petra” – Bedouin After a jaw-dropping hybrid set at Al Khazneh (The Great Treasury) in Petra, Jordan—one of the seven wonders of the modern world—melodic house duo Bedouin cemented the momentous performance with a track in the city’s namesake. Evoking mystery and awe, Bedouin’s “Petra” offers a striking parallel to the historic tomb it pays testament to. “Balsame” – Xinobi Turkish baglama plucks, an infectious bassline, and Arâm’s fierce vocals bring “Balsame” to life. The titular track off Xinobi’s latest album is “about healing using the metaphor of the wine as a healer,” Xinobi explains. “Although here the wine represents a quick fix for the erratic person [or] creature Arâm is giving voice to, it should represent a bigger objective: healing permanently or at...
“Yahudky” (Bedouin Reworks) – DakhaBrakha Bedouin’s latest EP is a tribute to the Ukrainian folk band DakhaBrakha. “Back in 2012, we heard DakhaBrakha’s music for the first time and were immediately drawn to their authenticity and beautiful sound,” the melodic techno duo shared on the inspiration behind the tribute EP. “Their masterpieces inspired us and led to years of reworking and reimagining them into our own sonic perspective” Off The Bedouin Reworks DakhaBrakha EP, “Yahudky” is mystic and melancholic. While a steady beat creates a dance-focused sound, DakhaBrakha’s yearning vocals and Bedouin’s wistful instrumentation ground the song, creating a hypnotic ambivalence that holds the ear through the track’s eight-minute length. “Safe” (Hunter/Game Remix) – Øostil, USHNU Tens...