{ "slug": "the-desk", "name": "The Waxonia Desk", "description": "The Waxonia Desk curates a list on Waxonia. Hand-picked records, each with a reason.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "url": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-desk/", "appearanceCount": 0, "distinctRecordings": 0, "years": null, "highestPlacing": null, "appearsOn": [], "tracks": [], "curates": { "bio": "The people who write the rankings on this site. We keep the lists honest, we argue about the order, and we get asked the same question more than any other: where should someone actually start. These are our answers.", "link": "https://waxonia.com/", "pickCount": 303, "selections": [ { "slug": "the-desk-chicago-in-the-room", "genre": "Chicago House", "genreUrl": "https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/", "brief": "Six records from the Chicago rooms themselves rather than from the documentary about them. Two of them are not house at all, which is the point: what a room plays and what a genre is later said to be are different lists.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 6, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "mr-fingers--can-you-feel-it", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/mr-fingers--can-you-feel-it/", "title": "Can You Feel It", "year": 1986, "label": "Trax", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The record most often used to explain house to people who were not there. What it did in a room and what it does in a documentary are two different things, and the room came first.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "chicago-house", "name": "Chicago House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-eighties", "name": "The Eighties", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-a-way-in", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — A Way In", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-chicago-looped-and-filtered", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Looped and Filtered", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-looped-and-filtered/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Mr.%20Fingers%20Can%20You%20Feel%20It", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=p2XxyBViBog", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Mr. Fingers", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/mr-fingers/" }, { "trackKey": "frankie-knuckles-and-jamie-principle--your-love", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/frankie-knuckles-and-jamie-principle--your-love/", "title": "Your Love", "year": 1987, "label": "Trax", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "It circulated on tape for years before anybody pressed it. A city's music is a strange object when its most famous song exists first as a cassette somebody made you a copy of.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "chicago-house", "name": "Chicago House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "sung-to-someone", "name": "Sung to Someone", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/sung-to-someone/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Frankie%20Knuckles%20%26%20Jamie%20Principle%20Your%20Love", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=M6LAE5ejrjg", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Frankie Knuckles & Jamie Principle", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/frankie-knuckles-and-jamie-principle/" }, { "trackKey": "marshall-jefferson--move-your-body", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/marshall-jefferson--move-your-body/", "title": "Move Your Body", "year": 1986, "label": "Trax", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Subtitled the house music anthem, and it earned the definite article. The piano is the argument: it opened the music to people who needed a tune to hold, and began the long business of making house respectable.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "chicago-house", "name": "Chicago House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-chicago-looped-and-filtered", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Looped and Filtered", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-looped-and-filtered/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Marshall%20Jefferson%20Move%20Your%20Body", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=RhKMMh4qOL8", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Marshall Jefferson", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/marshall-jefferson/" }, { "trackKey": "fingers-inc--bring-down-the-walls", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/fingers-inc--bring-down-the-walls/", "title": "Bring Down the Walls", "year": 1986, "label": "Alleviated", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Robert Owens singing gospel phrasing over a drum machine, in rooms most churches would not have admitted the congregation to. That tension is the whole record and nobody has resolved it since.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "chicago-house", "name": "Chicago House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Fingers%20Inc.%20Bring%20Down%20the%20Walls", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Fingers%20Inc.%20Bring%20Down%20the%20Walls", "exact": false } }, "artist": "Fingers Inc.", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/fingers-inc/" }, { "trackKey": "strafe--set-it-off", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/strafe--set-it-off/", "title": "Set It Off", "year": 1984, "label": "Jus Born", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A New York electro record that Chicago played as house. The line people draw between the two genres was not visible from inside the booth, and this is the record that proves it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "electro", "name": "Electro", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/electro/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Strafe%20Set%20It%20Off", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=z8wokfoyHf4", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Strafe", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/strafe/" }, { "trackKey": "loose-joints--is-it-all-over-my-face", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/loose-joints--is-it-all-over-my-face/", "title": "Is It All Over My Face", "year": 1980, "label": "West End", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Larry Levan's mix, and the disco record that sounds most like what came after it. Chicago inherited more from New York than the city's own mythology tends to admit.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "disco", "name": "Disco", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-what-the-djs-kept", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — What the DJs Kept", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-what-the-djs-kept/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Loose%20Joints%20Is%20It%20All%20Over%20My%20Face", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=hn27RiqRj7s", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Loose Joints", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/loose-joints/" } ] }, { "slug": "the-desk-chicago-looped-and-filtered", "genre": "Chicago House", "genreUrl": "https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/", "brief": "Three Chicago records built on a single idea held far past comfort — a loop, a filter sweep, a piano figure. The architecture French house took wholesale a decade later was already finished here.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 3, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "mr-fingers--can-you-feel-it", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/mr-fingers--can-you-feel-it/", "title": "Can You Feel It", "year": 1986, "label": "Trax", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "House at its most elemental — a bassline, a hi-hat and an enormous amount of patience. The patience is the part that carried: almost nothing happens here, and it happens for a very long time.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "chicago-house", "name": "Chicago House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-eighties", "name": "The Eighties", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-a-way-in", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — A Way In", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-chicago-in-the-room", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — In the Room", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-in-the-room/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Mr.%20Fingers%20Can%20You%20Feel%20It", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=p2XxyBViBog", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Mr. Fingers", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/mr-fingers/" }, { "trackKey": "lil-louis--french-kiss", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/lil-louis--french-kiss/", "title": "French Kiss", "year": 1989, "label": "Diamond / Epic", "isrc": "USSM18900036", "whyItMatters": "A record whose entire architecture is one filter sweep held past the point of comfort, and then held longer. Every filtered house record of the next decade is downstream of it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "chicago-house", "name": "Chicago House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Lil%20Louis%20French%20Kiss", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=rmOAVfEDyhA", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Lil Louis", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/lil-louis/" }, { "trackKey": "marshall-jefferson--move-your-body", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/marshall-jefferson--move-your-body/", "title": "Move Your Body", "year": 1986, "label": "Trax", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The piano house template, and the thing every producer who came after had to decide whether to inherit or refuse. Most of them inherited it and few of them admitted as much.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "chicago-house", "name": "Chicago House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-chicago-in-the-room", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — In the Room", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-in-the-room/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Marshall%20Jefferson%20Move%20Your%20Body", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=RhKMMh4qOL8", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Marshall Jefferson", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/marshall-jefferson/" } ] }, { "slug": "the-desk-chicago-on-a-machine", "genre": "Chicago House", "genreUrl": "https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/", "brief": "Three records made of almost nothing — a drum machine, a bass generator used wrong, a loop held until it becomes a song. The cheapest equipment in the shop, and a genre came out of it.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 3, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "steve-silk-hurley--jack-your-body", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/steve-silk-hurley--jack-your-body/", "title": "Jack Your Body", "year": 1986, "label": "Underground / DJ International", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A record made of almost nothing, which went to number one in Britain anyway. The clearest ancestor of the idea that a loop held long enough stops being a loop and becomes a song.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "chicago-house", "name": "Chicago House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Steve%20%22Silk%22%20Hurley%20Jack%20Your%20Body", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=_eDf8IGSh0Q", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Steve \"Silk\" Hurley", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/steve-silk-hurley/" }, { "trackKey": "phuture--acid-trax", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/phuture--acid-trax/", "title": "Acid Trax", "year": 1987, "label": "Trax", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The accident that became a genre. A bass machine nobody wanted, misused by mistake and then misused on purpose, and thirty years of records came out of the difference between the two.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "chicago-house", "name": "Chicago House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Phuture%20Acid%20Trax", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Phuture%20Acid%20Trax", "exact": false } }, "artist": "Phuture", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/phuture/" }, { "trackKey": "mr-fingers--mystery-of-love", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/mr-fingers--mystery-of-love/", "title": "Mystery of Love", "year": 1985, "label": "Alleviated", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The warm end of Chicago rather than the raw end. The city produced both in the same eighteen months, and the story that it was ever only one of them is a later invention.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "chicago-house", "name": "Chicago House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Mr.%20Fingers%20Mystery%20of%20Love", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=5tqErnknRsE", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Mr. Fingers", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/mr-fingers/" } ] }, { "slug": "the-desk-detroit-in-europe", "genre": "Detroit Techno", "genreUrl": "https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/", "brief": "Four Detroit records whose second life was European. Ghent, Berlin and Rotterdam heard them before most of America did, and a continental floor is audible in what happened to the music afterwards.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 4, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "rhythim-is-rhythim--strings-of-life", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/rhythim-is-rhythim--strings-of-life/", "title": "Strings of Life", "year": 1987, "label": "Transmat", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Obvious, and obvious for a reason. It was a Belgian and British floor record before Detroit had a market of its own, which is why a city's most famous export sounds nothing like the city that made it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "detroit-techno", "name": "Detroit Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-eighties", "name": "The Eighties", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-a-way-in", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — A Way In", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Rhythim%20Is%20Rhythim%20Strings%20of%20Life", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=vGFw2qeUp0s", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Rhythim Is Rhythim", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/rhythim-is-rhythim/" }, { "trackKey": "jeff-mills--the-bells", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/jeff-mills--the-bells/", "title": "The Bells", "year": 1996, "label": "Purpose Maker", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The other pole entirely: no melody, no release, just a riff tightening for six minutes. It was built for a very large European room and it has been closing them for thirty years.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "detroit-techno", "name": "Detroit Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-detroit-techno", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Detroit Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-techno/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Jeff%20Mills%20The%20Bells", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=S-BlgAQ7uRQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Jeff Mills", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/jeff-mills/" }, { "trackKey": "dj-rolando-underground-resistance--jaguar", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dj-rolando-underground-resistance--jaguar/", "title": "Jaguar", "year": 1999, "label": "Underground Resistance", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A Detroit label's politics turned into a continental hit and then into a fight over who owned it. The record outran its own scene, which is the thing Underground Resistance had spent a decade warning about.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "detroit-techno", "name": "Detroit Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records", "name": "Laurent Garnier — A Life in Twenty-One Records", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Rolando%20%2F%20Underground%20Resistance%20Jaguar", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=gw7vrBSBQwk", "exact": true } }, "artist": "DJ Rolando / Underground Resistance", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-rolando-underground-resistance/" }, { "trackKey": "drexciya--bubble-metropolis", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/drexciya--bubble-metropolis/", "title": "Bubble Metropolis", "year": 1993, "label": "Underground Resistance", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The strangest thing here and the one Europe held closest — the records found a home in Berlin as readily as in Detroit, and the mythology around them travelled better than any press release would have.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "detroit-techno", "name": "Detroit Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-a-way-in", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — A Way In", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-detroit-techno", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Detroit Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-techno/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Drexciya%20Bubble%20Metropolis", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=wdbf7-tlDV8", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Drexciya", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/drexciya/" } ] }, { "slug": "the-desk-detroit-techno", "genre": "Detroit Techno", "genreUrl": "https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/", "brief": "Where to go once Strings of Life has done its work. Four records that show the city arguing with itself about what the future was supposed to sound like.", "updated": "2026-08-28", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 4, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "model-500--no-ufos", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/model-500--no-ufos/", "title": "No UFO's", "year": 1985, "label": "Metroplex", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The map, drawn before anyone had agreed there was territory. Cold electro chassis and science-fiction distance, and the first record that is unambiguously techno rather than something approaching it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "detroit-techno", "name": "Detroit Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-eighties", "name": "The Eighties", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Model%20500%20No%20UFO's", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Model%20500%20No%20UFO's", "exact": false } }, "artist": "Model 500", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/model-500/" }, { "trackKey": "jeff-mills--the-bells", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/jeff-mills--the-bells/", "title": "The Bells", "year": 1996, "label": "Purpose Maker", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The other pole from Strings of Life entirely. No melody to speak of, no release, just a riff that tightens for six minutes. Techno as pure pressure, and still the most reliable weapon in the format.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "detroit-techno", "name": "Detroit Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-detroit-in-europe", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Detroit, Heard in Europe", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-in-europe/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Jeff%20Mills%20The%20Bells", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=S-BlgAQ7uRQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Jeff Mills", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/jeff-mills/" }, { "trackKey": "drexciya--bubble-metropolis", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/drexciya--bubble-metropolis/", "title": "Bubble Metropolis", "year": 1993, "label": "Underground Resistance", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Detroit techno as mythology, made by people who refused to be photographed and built an underwater civilisation instead. Play it after the Model 500 and hear the same city imagining a very different exit.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "detroit-techno", "name": "Detroit Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-a-way-in", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — A Way In", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-detroit-in-europe", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Detroit, Heard in Europe", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-in-europe/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Drexciya%20Bubble%20Metropolis", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=wdbf7-tlDV8", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Drexciya", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/drexciya/" }, { "trackKey": "carl-craig--at-les", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/carl-craig--at-les/", "title": "At Les", "year": 1997, "label": "Planet E", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The argument's resolution, if it has one. Craig lets the melody breathe for nine minutes and proves the machine funk was always capable of tenderness when nobody was trying to prove anything.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "detroit-techno", "name": "Detroit Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Carl%20Craig%20At%20Les", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=1lzLxbifln0", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Carl Craig", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/carl-craig/" } ] }, { "slug": "the-desk-what-the-djs-kept", "genre": "Disco", "genreUrl": "https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/", "brief": "Five records whose lives were decided in a booth rather than on radio — a closing ritual, a flop rescued by a mix, the first commercial twelve-inch, and a record a London sound system took its name from.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 5, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "chic--good-times", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/chic--good-times/", "title": "Good Times", "year": 1979, "label": "Atlantic", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The bassline that financed hip-hop's first hit, and the record a Ladbroke Grove sound system named itself after in 1980. Few records have been repurposed this many times and survived all of it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "disco", "name": "Disco", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Chic%20Good%20Times", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=iGKQapswGaY", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Chic", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/chic/" }, { "trackKey": "mfsb--love-is-the-message", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/mfsb--love-is-the-message/", "title": "Love Is the Message", "year": 1973, "label": "Philadelphia International", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The closing ritual of the Paradise Garage, played to the same room often enough to become liturgy. Some records are made by DJs years after they are recorded, and this is the clearest case.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "disco", "name": "Disco", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/MFSB%20Love%20Is%20the%20Message", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=7b1umcmfaXY", "exact": true } }, "artist": "MFSB", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/mfsb/" }, { "trackKey": "loose-joints--is-it-all-over-my-face", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/loose-joints--is-it-all-over-my-face/", "title": "Is It All Over My Face", "year": 1980, "label": "West End", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Disco at its strangest and least commercial, rescued by a mix. The rare groove tradition was never about obscurity for its own sake; it was about records that were better than their sales.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "disco", "name": "Disco", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-chicago-in-the-room", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — In the Room", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-in-the-room/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Loose%20Joints%20Is%20It%20All%20Over%20My%20Face", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=hn27RiqRj7s", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Loose Joints", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/loose-joints/" }, { "trackKey": "double-exposure--ten-percent", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/double-exposure--ten-percent/", "title": "Ten Percent", "year": 1976, "label": "Salsoul", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The first commercially released twelve-inch, which is a format question as much as a musical one. The extended mix changed what a DJ could build over the course of an hour.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "disco", "name": "Disco", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Double%20Exposure%20Ten%20Percent", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=rP0EPsS3OdQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Double Exposure", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/double-exposure/" }, { "trackKey": "funkadelic--one-nation-under-a-groove", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/funkadelic--one-nation-under-a-groove/", "title": "One Nation Under a Groove", "year": 1978, "label": "Warner Bros.", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The border case, and here as one. Funkadelic on a disco list is arguable, and a list nobody could argue with is a list nobody chose.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "funk", "name": "Funk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Funkadelic%20One%20Nation%20Under%20a%20Groove", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=gQw7b489DlE", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Funkadelic", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/funkadelic/" } ] }, { "slug": "the-desk-dubstep-goes-national", "genre": "Dubstep", "genreUrl": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dubstep/", "brief": "Five records from the January 2006 broadcast usually credited with taking dubstep national, and from the months either side of it. A few hundred people in a Brixton basement were given two hours of national radio.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 5, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "digital-mystikz--anti-war-dub", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/digital-mystikz--anti-war-dub/", "title": "Anti-War Dub", "year": 2006, "label": "DMZ", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Mala's case for space over impact, made on national radio. The restraint was the hardest part of the argument to get across at the time, and it is the part of it that lasted.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dubstep", "name": "Dubstep", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dubstep/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Digital%20Mystikz%20Anti-War%20Dub", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=nhyOzIiBv-o", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Digital Mystikz", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/digital-mystikz/" }, { "trackKey": "skream--midnight-request-line", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/skream--midnight-request-line/", "title": "Midnight Request Line", "year": 2005, "label": "Tempa", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The tune that converted people who had no idea what they were listening to. A scene needs one record everybody can hum before anything else it does is allowed to travel.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dubstep", "name": "Dubstep", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dubstep/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-bass-weight", "name": "Bass Weight", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-bass-weight/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Skream%20Midnight%20Request%20Line", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=lcMAbnZy8l8", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Skream", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/skream/" }, { "trackKey": "kode9-and-the-spaceape--sine-of-the-dub", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/kode9-and-the-spaceape--sine-of-the-dub/", "title": "Sine of the Dub", "year": 2004, "label": "Hyperdub", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A Prince cover reduced to a sine wave and a recitation, broadcast to a national audience. Nothing about that was a safe choice, and it is why the show is remembered as an argument rather than a playlist.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dubstep", "name": "Dubstep", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dubstep/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Kode9%20%26%20The%20Spaceape%20Sine%20of%20the%20Dub", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=xATku5_RL9U", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Kode9 & The Spaceape", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/kode9-and-the-spaceape/" }, { "trackKey": "burial--archangel", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/burial--archangel/", "title": "Archangel", "year": 2007, "label": "Hyperdub", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "From just after the broadcast, and the record that took the sound to people who would never go to DMZ. What a scene gains in reach it loses in the room, and this is the trade being made.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dubstep", "name": "Dubstep", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dubstep/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-ghosts", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Burial%20Archangel", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=E2qLD9c3Gq4", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Burial", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/burial/" }, { "trackKey": "benga-and-coki--night", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/benga-and-coki--night/", "title": "Night", "year": 2008, "label": "Tempa", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The other direction entirely — a bassline built to break a room. Everything people came to love and to hate about the next five years of dubstep is already audible in it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dubstep", "name": "Dubstep", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dubstep/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Benga%20%26%20Coki%20Night", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Ucr6nPQ3aYQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Benga & Coki", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/benga-and-coki/" } ] }, { "slug": "the-desk-french-house", "genre": "French House", "genreUrl": "https://waxonia.com/genre/french-house/", "brief": "Four records for anyone who thinks the French touch was one trick. It was, and the trick was good enough to survive being done four completely different ways.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 4, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "stardust--music-sounds-better-with-you", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/stardust--music-sounds-better-with-you/", "title": "Music Sounds Better with You", "year": 1998, "label": "Roulé", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The trick at its purest: one guitar figure, one filter, one line sung until it stops being a lyric. Start here, because nothing else in the genre is this complete.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "french-house", "name": "French House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/french-house/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Stardust%20Music%20Sounds%20Better%20with%20You", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=FQlAEiCb8m0", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Stardust", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/stardust/" }, { "trackKey": "motorbass--ezio", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/motorbass--ezio/", "title": "Ezio", "year": 1996, "label": "Different", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The trick done with taste. De Crécy and Zdar were making the sophisticated version before the scene had worked out there was a scene to be sophisticated about.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "french-house", "name": "French House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/french-house/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Motorbass%20Ezio", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=IFOzOp5Wolk", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Motorbass", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/motorbass/" }, { "trackKey": "alan-braxe-and-fred-falke--intro", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/alan-braxe-and-fred-falke--intro/", "title": "Intro", "year": 2000, "label": "Vulture", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The trick done with strings and no ceiling. Six minutes that only go upwards, and still the record DJs reach for when a room needs lifting off the floor.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "french-house", "name": "French House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/french-house/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Alan%20Braxe%20%26%20Fred%20Falke%20Intro", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=BR2kp7lMYdc", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Alan Braxe & Fred Falke", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/alan-braxe-and-fred-falke/" }, { "trackKey": "justice--d-a-n-c-e", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/justice--d-a-n-c-e/", "title": "D.A.N.C.E.", "year": 2007, "label": "Ed Banger", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The trick done wrong on purpose — filter distorted past clipping, children's choir on top. Divisive then, and the proof that the tradition could still produce something nobody expected.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "french-house", "name": "French House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/french-house/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Justice%20D.A.N.C.E.", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sy1dYFGkPUE", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Justice", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/justice/" } ] }, { "slug": "the-desk-the-accent-moved", "genre": "Funk", "genreUrl": "https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/", "brief": "Five records where rhythm stopped being the setting for a song and became the song. Every rhythm guitarist and every sampler of the last fifty years has been living off this tradition.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 5, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "james-brown--cold-sweat", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/james-brown--cold-sweat/", "title": "Cold Sweat", "year": 1967, "label": "King", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The moment the accent moved and harmony stopped being the point. Everything filed under funk since is an argument with the arrangement on this one record.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "funk", "name": "Funk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-roots", "name": "Roots", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-roots/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/James%20Brown%20Cold%20Sweat", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=qkgIoMuaoQ0", "exact": true } }, "artist": "James Brown", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/james-brown/" }, { "trackKey": "sly-and-the-family-stone--thank-you-falettinme-be-mice-elf-agin", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/sly-and-the-family-stone--thank-you-falettinme-be-mice-elf-agin/", "title": "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)", "year": 1969, "label": "Epic", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A bass technique invented to cover for a missing drummer, and imitated for fifty years afterwards. Limitations make signatures far more often than intentions do.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "funk", "name": "Funk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Sly%20%26%20the%20Family%20Stone%20Thank%20You%20(Falettinme%20Be%20Mice%20Elf%20Agin)", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=-T9vmaTI2LE", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Sly & the Family Stone", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/sly-and-the-family-stone/" }, { "trackKey": "stevie-wonder--superstition", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/stevie-wonder--superstition/", "title": "Superstition", "year": 1972, "label": "Tamla", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "One man playing nearly everything, at a moment when funk was supposed to be a band sport. The studio turned out not to be the enemy of the group after all.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "funk", "name": "Funk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Stevie%20Wonder%20Superstition", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ftdZ363R9kQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Stevie Wonder", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/stevie-wonder/" }, { "trackKey": "herbie-hancock--chameleon", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/herbie-hancock--chameleon/", "title": "Chameleon", "year": 1973, "label": "Columbia", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A jazz musician of the first rank deciding that the groove was the interesting problem. The traffic between jazz training and dance records ran both ways, and this is the busiest lane on it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "funk", "name": "Funk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-one-subject", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — One Subject", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-one-subject/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "twice-over", "name": "Twice Over", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/twice-over/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Herbie%20Hancock%20Chameleon", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=iqomTAiRnVM", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Herbie Hancock", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/herbie-hancock/" }, { "trackKey": "parliament--give-up-the-funk-tear-the-roof-off-the-sucker", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/parliament--give-up-the-funk-tear-the-roof-off-the-sucker/", "title": "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)", "year": 1975, "label": "Casablanca", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Enormous theatre over a bass part of complete discipline. The theatre is what everybody remembers and the discipline is the reason it still works fifty years later.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "funk", "name": "Funk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Parliament%20Give%20Up%20the%20Funk%20(Tear%20the%20Roof%20off%20the%20Sucker)", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=xNpNTkSkrU8", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Parliament", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/parliament/" } ] }, { "slug": "the-desk-gqom-out-of-durban", "genre": "Gqom", "genreUrl": "https://waxonia.com/genre/gqom/", "brief": "Six records tracing how a Durban sound left the city — the first one on national radio, the one that reached London before it was accepted at home, and the one that turned its rhythms into outright pop.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 6, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "babes-wodumo-featuring-mampintsha--wololo", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/babes-wodumo-featuring-mampintsha--wololo/", "title": "Wololo", "year": 2016, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The first gqom record on national radio, and the week a local secret stopped being one. Everything about how the scene made its money is different on the other side of it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "gqom", "name": "Gqom", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/gqom/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Babes%20Wodumo%20featuring%20Mampintsha%20Wololo", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=bu_hL0iBUmI", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Babes Wodumo featuring Mampintsha", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/babes-wodumo-featuring-mampintsha/" }, { "trackKey": "rudeboyz-featuring-td-snax--mercedes", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/rudeboyz-featuring-td-snax--mercedes/", "title": "Mercedes", "year": 2015, "label": "Goon Club Allstars", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The record that reached London first, on a British label. Being heard abroad before being accepted at home is the oldest distortion in dance music, and gqom got it early.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "gqom", "name": "Gqom", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/gqom/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Rudeboyz%20featuring%20TD%20Snax%20Mercedes", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=CuCPNuBzWBI", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Rudeboyz featuring TD Snax", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/rudeboyz-featuring-td-snax/" }, { "trackKey": "griffit-vigo--come-to-durban", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/griffit-vigo--come-to-durban/", "title": "Come to Durban", "year": 2016, "label": "Gqom Oh!", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The producer's producer, from the compilation that named the sound overseas. The export edition of a scene is always somebody's shortlist, and this is the record that makes the shortlist look right.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "gqom", "name": "Gqom", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/gqom/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Griffit%20Vigo%20Come%20to%20Durban", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=z-aonW6QHeI", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Griffit Vigo", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/griffit-vigo/" }, { "trackKey": "distruction-boyz-featuring-benny-maverick-and-dladla-mshunqisi--omunye", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/distruction-boyz-featuring-benny-maverick-and-dladla-mshunqisi--omunye/", "title": "Omunye", "year": 2017, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The genre's biggest hit, and a credit dispute the producers pursued and won. Both belong on the record: this is what it looks like when a scene's paperwork catches up with its music.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "gqom", "name": "Gqom", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/gqom/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Distruction%20Boyz%20featuring%20Benny%20Maverick%20and%20Dladla%20Mshunqisi%20Omunye", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=26-dVJa5Ejc", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Distruction Boyz featuring Benny Maverick and Dladla Mshunqisi", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/distruction-boyz-featuring-benny-maverick-and-dladla-mshunqisi/" }, { "trackKey": "sho-madjozi--john-cena", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/sho-madjozi--john-cena/", "title": "John Cena", "year": 2019, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Gqom's rhythmic ideas turned into outright pop in Xitsonga. Whether that is the sound escaping or the sound being spent is the argument the genre is still having with itself.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "gqom", "name": "Gqom", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/gqom/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Sho%20Madjozi%20John%20Cena", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=H9bGITkIHmM", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Sho Madjozi", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/sho-madjozi/" }, { "trackKey": "arthur-mafokate--kaffir", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/arthur-mafokate--kaffir/", "title": "Kaffir", "year": 1995, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Here for the inheritance rather than the moment. Kwaito is what Durban's producers were working after, and whether gqom continued it or replaced it has never been settled by anyone.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "kwaito", "name": "Kwaito", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/kwaito/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "dancing-to-bad-news", "name": "Dancing to Bad News", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/dancing-to-bad-news/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Arthur%20Mafokate%20Kaffir", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sep8mvPZW6s", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Arthur Mafokate", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/arthur-mafokate/" } ] }, { "slug": "the-desk-footwork-travels", "genre": "Juke and Footwork", "genreUrl": "https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/", "brief": "Five records tracing how Chicago's footwork reached a listening audience that had never seen the dancing — mostly through a British label that spent a decade putting it in front of everybody else.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 5, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "dj-nate--hatas-our-motivation", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dj-nate--hatas-our-motivation/", "title": "Hatas Our Motivation", "year": 2010, "label": "Planet Mu", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The first footwork signing a foreign label made, found by following YouTube uploads back to a contact address. The distance between hearing this music and being able to release it was the whole problem.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "juke-and-footwork", "name": "Juke and Footwork", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Nate%20Hatas%20Our%20Motivation", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=hMWOlHaDs-I", "exact": true } }, "artist": "DJ Nate", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-nate/" }, { "trackKey": "rp-boo--baby-come-on", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/rp-boo--baby-come-on/", "title": "Baby Come On", "year": 1997, "label": "Dance Mania", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The record usually named as the first of its kind, thirteen years older than the compilations that made the genre legible abroad. A scene is always much older than its export edition.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "juke-and-footwork", "name": "Juke and Footwork", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-160", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — 160", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-160/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/RP%20Boo%20Baby%20Come%20On", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=L17sHYmwTWY", "exact": true } }, "artist": "RP Boo", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/rp-boo/" }, { "trackKey": "traxman--footworkin-on-air", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/traxman--footworkin-on-air/", "title": "Footworkin on Air", "year": 2012, "label": "Planet Mu", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The crate-digger's answer to the accusation that footwork is only rhythm. This is the record you put on for somebody who has decided the genre has no melody in it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "juke-and-footwork", "name": "Juke and Footwork", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Traxman%20Footworkin%20on%20Air", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=LnunCPpdNzQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Traxman", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/traxman/" }, { "trackKey": "dj-rashad--feelin", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dj-rashad--feelin/", "title": "Feelin", "year": 2013, "label": "Hyperdub", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The one that went furthest, and it went out on somebody else's label. Opening a door and then watching other people walk through it is the standard fate of a scene's first champion.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "juke-and-footwork", "name": "Juke and Footwork", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-160", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — 160", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-160/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-ghosts", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Rashad%20Feelin", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=MC5zj4eLM3k", "exact": true } }, "artist": "DJ Rashad", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-rashad/" }, { "trackKey": "jlin--erotic-heat", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/jlin--erotic-heat/", "title": "Erotic Heat", "year": 2011, "label": "Planet Mu", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Footwork with the samples taken out and the battle taken out, by somebody who never made tracks for dancers. Whether it is still footwork is a fair question, and the answer is probably no.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "juke-and-footwork", "name": "Juke and Footwork", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Jlin%20Erotic%20Heat", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Jlin%20Erotic%20Heat", "exact": false } }, "artist": "Jlin", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/jlin/" } ] }, { "slug": "the-desk-krautrock", "genre": "Krautrock", "genreUrl": "https://waxonia.com/genre/krautrock/", "brief": "Four records for the reader who arrived here from a techno page and wants to know what a German band from 1972 has to do with anything.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 4, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "kraftwerk--autobahn", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/kraftwerk--autobahn/", "title": "Autobahn", "year": 1974, "label": "Philips", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The one Detroit heard. Derrick May's line about Kraftwerk and Parliament stuck in an elevator is the most quoted sentence in techno, and this is the record that put Kraftwerk in the lift.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "krautrock", "name": "Krautrock", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/krautrock/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Kraftwerk%20Autobahn", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=vkOZNJYAZ7c", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Kraftwerk", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/kraftwerk/" }, { "trackKey": "neu--hallogallo", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/neu--hallogallo/", "title": "Hallogallo", "year": 1972, "label": "Brain", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The one Britain heard. Every post-punk band that drives forward without swinging is playing Klaus Dinger's beat, usually without having been told whose it was.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "krautrock", "name": "Krautrock", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/krautrock/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-roots", "name": "Roots", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-roots/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Neu!%20Hallogallo", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zndpi8tNZyQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Neu!", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/neu/" }, { "trackKey": "tangerine-dream--phaedra", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/tangerine-dream--phaedra/", "title": "Phaedra", "year": 1974, "label": "Virgin", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The one ambient heard. A sequencer drifting out of tune for seventeen minutes, kept because it was better than the accurate take, and far more sinister than anything it went on to influence.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "krautrock", "name": "Krautrock", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/krautrock/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Tangerine%20Dream%20Phaedra", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=EhQpXD2Z9WQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Tangerine Dream", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/tangerine-dream/" }, { "trackKey": "manuel-gottsching--e2-e4", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/manuel-gottsching--e2-e4/", "title": "E2-E4", "year": 1984, "label": "Inteam", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The one the dancefloor heard, ten years late and via an Italian bootleg. An hour of one sequence, and the moment kosmische stopped being something you sat down for.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "krautrock", "name": "Krautrock", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/krautrock/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Manuel%20G%C3%B6ttsching%20E2-E4", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=pUfIqO5arq4", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Manuel Göttsching", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/manuel-gottsching/" } ] }, { "slug": "the-desk-the-soulquarians-room", "genre": "Neo-Soul", "genreUrl": "https://waxonia.com/genre/neo-soul/", "brief": "Five records from the two years around Voodoo, when a group of musicians in one New York studio argued a genre into existence — plus the sampled bar that the drumming on all of them is answering.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 5, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "dangelo--untitled-how-does-it-feel", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dangelo--untitled-how-does-it-feel/", "title": "Untitled (How Does It Feel)", "year": 2000, "label": "Virgin", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The band play so far behind the beat that it feels like a dare. Most of that feel is four people refusing to hurry each other rather than anything that was ever written down.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "neo-soul", "name": "Neo-Soul", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/neo-soul/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/D'Angelo%20Untitled%20(How%20Does%20It%20Feel)", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=SxVNOnPyvIU", "exact": true } }, "artist": "D'Angelo", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dangelo/" }, { "trackKey": "slum-village--guess-who", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/slum-village--guess-who/", "title": "Guess Who", "year": 2000, "label": "Barak", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Dilla's drums audibly and deliberately out of time: the single most imitated piece of programming of the last thirty years, released before anyone had a name for what it was doing.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "neo-soul", "name": "Neo-Soul", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/neo-soul/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Slum%20Village%20Guess%20Who", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Slum%20Village%20Guess%20Who", "exact": false } }, "artist": "Slum Village", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/slum-village/" }, { "trackKey": "common--the-light", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/common--the-light/", "title": "The Light", "year": 2000, "label": "MCA", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The same producer, the same year, aimed at a completely different target. Proof that the collective was a sound rather than just a building on Eighth Street with good equipment in it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "neo-soul", "name": "Neo-Soul", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/neo-soul/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Common%20The%20Light", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=OjHX7jf-znA", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Common", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/common/" }, { "trackKey": "lauryn-hill--ex-factor", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/lauryn-hill--ex-factor/", "title": "Ex-Factor", "year": 1998, "label": "Ruffhouse", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Made just outside the collective and unmistakably of the same moment. The competition between these records is audible on all of them, and it made every one of them better.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "neo-soul", "name": "Neo-Soul", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/neo-soul/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Lauryn%20Hill%20Ex-Factor", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=cE-bnWqLqxE", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Lauryn Hill", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/lauryn-hill/" }, { "trackKey": "james-brown--funky-drummer", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/james-brown--funky-drummer/", "title": "Funky Drummer", "year": 1970, "label": "King", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The bar underneath everything above it. A generation of drummers learned Clyde Stubblefield from a sampler rather than from the record, and played him differently as a result.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "funk", "name": "Funk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/James%20Brown%20Funky%20Drummer", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=7dtpj8qa1hQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "James Brown", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/james-brown/" } ] }, { "slug": "the-desk-garage-on-the-mix", "genre": "UK Garage", "genreUrl": "https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/", "brief": "Six records most people met in the middle of a mix rather than as singles. The canon this genre left behind was assembled on pirate radio and compilation CDs, and it is not quite the list the charts would give you.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 6, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "mj-cole--sincere", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/mj-cole--sincere/", "title": "Sincere", "year": 1998, "label": "Talkin' Loud", "isrc": "GBF080000103", "whyItMatters": "The most musically ambitious record the genre produced, made by a classically trained producer. Garage's reputation for glamour has always obscured how well built the best of it was.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "uk-garage", "name": "UK Garage", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-a-way-in", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — A Way In", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/MJ%20Cole%20Sincere", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=cy-djtiU5RE", "exact": true } }, "artist": "MJ Cole", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/mj-cole/" }, { "trackKey": "artful-dodger-featuring-craig-david--re-rewind-the-crowd-say-bo-selecta", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/artful-dodger-featuring-craig-david--re-rewind-the-crowd-say-bo-selecta/", "title": "Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta)", "year": 1999, "label": "Public Demand", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A record about the reload, which is a DJ's device rather than a producer's, turned into a chart single. The scene's own vocabulary went national before most of its records did.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "uk-garage", "name": "UK Garage", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Artful%20Dodger%20featuring%20Craig%20David%20Re-Rewind%20(The%20Crowd%20Say%20Bo%20Selecta)", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=M0wv_cQv8As", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Artful Dodger featuring Craig David", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/artful-dodger-featuring-craig-david/" }, { "trackKey": "sweet-female-attitude--flowers-sunship-remix", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/sweet-female-attitude--flowers-sunship-remix/", "title": "Flowers (Sunship Remix)", "year": 2000, "label": "WEA", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The remix, not the original, which is the correct answer and also the whole argument about who authored UK garage. Half this canon is somebody's second pass at somebody else's record.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "uk-garage", "name": "UK Garage", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Sweet%20Female%20Attitude%20Flowers%20(Sunship%20Remix)", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sv2Uu7NOPng", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Sweet Female Attitude", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/sweet-female-attitude/" }, { "trackKey": "double-99--rip-groove", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/double-99--rip-groove/", "title": "RIP Groove", "year": 1997, "label": "Ice Cream", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The dark end, and the reminder that garage was never only champagne. The split into speed garage and two-step reads cleanly in hindsight; on a night out in 1997 nobody in the room was choosing sides.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "uk-garage", "name": "UK Garage", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-bass-weight", "name": "Bass Weight", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-bass-weight/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Double%2099%20RIP%20Groove", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=8WZGUFGBPNQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Double 99", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/double-99/" }, { "trackKey": "dem-2--destiny", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dem-2--destiny/", "title": "Destiny", "year": 1997, "label": "Locked On", "isrc": "GBBKS9800304", "whyItMatters": "The most fragile thing on this list — a vocal cut into fragments that never quite reassemble. It is deliberately hard to hold on to, which is exactly why it still sounds like it was made last year.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "uk-garage", "name": "UK Garage", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Dem%202%20Destiny", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zz4U1B7enkM", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Dem 2", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dem-2/" }, { "trackKey": "so-solid-crew--21-seconds", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/so-solid-crew--21-seconds/", "title": "21 Seconds", "year": 2001, "label": "Relentless", "isrc": "GBBPF0100618", "whyItMatters": "Eight MCs, twenty-one seconds each, and the record usually blamed for the scene's collapse. Blame is the wrong frame: what it actually did was show where half the room had already gone.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "uk-garage", "name": "UK Garage", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/So%20Solid%20Crew%2021%20Seconds", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=g7VhofoV3qs", "exact": true } }, "artist": "So Solid Crew", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/so-solid-crew/" } ] }, { "slug": "dancing-to-bad-news", "genre": null, "genreUrl": null, "brief": "Eleven records, eleven of our rankings, thirty years. Every one of them gets a room moving while telling it something it would rather not hear, and most of the rooms never noticed.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 11, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "gilberto-gil--domingo-no-parque", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/gilberto-gil--domingo-no-parque/", "title": "Domingo no Parque", "year": 1967, "label": "Philips", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A funfair, a berimbau, an orchestra, and a man killing his friend and the woman between them. Gil sets a murder ballad to the most inviting three minutes in Brazilian pop, and Duprat's arrangement never once lets on.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "tropicalia", "name": "Tropicália", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/tropicalia/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Gilberto%20Gil%20Domingo%20no%20Parque", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=OztuGomczAo", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Gilberto Gil", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/gilberto-gil/" }, { "trackKey": "tobi-legend--time-will-pass-you-by", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/tobi-legend--time-will-pass-you-by/", "title": "Time Will Pass You By", "year": 1968, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Played at six in the morning to close Wigan Casino, to a floor of people who had spent the entire night doing precisely what it warns against. The strings lift, the message is that the lift does not last, and nobody has ever stopped dancing to it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "northern-soul", "name": "Northern Soul", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/northern-soul/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Tobi%20Legend%20Time%20Will%20Pass%20You%20By", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=F8gejqmgELA", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Tobi Legend", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/tobi-legend/" }, { "trackKey": "fela-kuti-and-africa-70--zombie", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/fela-kuti-and-africa-70--zombie/", "title": "Zombie", "year": 1976, "label": "Coconut", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Twelve minutes of the most physically irresistible band on the continent, spent calling the Nigerian army a column of unthinking bodies. The soldiers who burned his compound down had understood it; the dancefloor never had to.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "afrobeat", "name": "Afrobeat", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/afrobeat/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "nineteen-seventy-six", "name": "1976", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-seventy-six/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records", "name": "Laurent Garnier — A Life in Twenty-One Records", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Fela%20Kuti%20%26%20Africa%2070%20Zombie", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=RUSg31Ignw4", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Fela Kuti & Africa 70", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/fela-kuti-and-africa-70/" }, { "trackKey": "junior-murvin--police-and-thieves", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/junior-murvin--police-and-thieves/", "title": "Police and Thieves", "year": 1976, "label": "Island", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Lee Perry's lightest production and Murvin's falsetto floating over the top of it, describing armed men on both sides shooting at the crowd. It sounds like relief and it is a casualty report.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "reggae", "name": "Reggae", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/reggae/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "nineteen-seventy-six", "name": "1976", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-seventy-six/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Junior%20Murvin%20Police%20and%20Thieves", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=X5Z2M3VlB8E", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Junior Murvin", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/junior-murvin/" }, { "trackKey": "hector-lavoe--el-cantante", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/hector-lavoe--el-cantante/", "title": "El Cantante", "year": 1978, "label": "Fania", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Rubén Blades wrote it for Lavoe: the singer everybody comes to hear and nobody asks how he is. Full Fania horns, a floor-filler at every party since, and a man describing his own disappearance in the middle of it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "salsa", "name": "Salsa", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/salsa/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/H%C3%A9ctor%20Lavoe%20El%20Cantante", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=bT-3s4ZQEhs", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Héctor Lavoe", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/hector-lavoe/" }, { "trackKey": "righeira--vamos-a-la-playa", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/righeira--vamos-a-la-playa/", "title": "Vamos a la Playa", "year": 1983, "label": "CBS", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The purest case on this list. A summer singalong about a beach after the bomb, glowing water and all, and the whole of Europe danced to it for years without hearing a word.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "italo-disco", "name": "Italo Disco", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/italo-disco/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Righeira%20Vamos%20a%20la%20Playa", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=x0OMFm8FO90", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Righeira", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/righeira/" }, { "trackKey": "4hero--mr-kirks-nightmare", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/4hero--mr-kirks-nightmare/", "title": "Mr Kirk's Nightmare", "year": 1990, "label": "Reinforced", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A sampled police officer telling a father his son is dead from an overdose, looped over hardcore breaks at a rave. The most brutal use of the manoeuvre anyone has attempted, and the reason jungle inherited dread along with the tempo.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "drum-and-bass", "name": "Drum and Bass", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/drum-and-bass/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/4hero%20Mr%20Kirk's%20Nightmare", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/search?q=4hero%20Mr%20Kirk's%20Nightmare", "exact": false } }, "artist": "4hero", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/4hero/" }, { "trackKey": "pete-rock-and-c-l-smooth--they-reminisce-over-you-t-r-o-y", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/pete-rock-and-c-l-smooth--they-reminisce-over-you-t-r-o-y/", "title": "They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)", "year": 1992, "label": "Elektra", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A Tom Scott horn loop so warm it became the sound of the era, carrying a eulogy for a friend who fell from a moving train. Head-nod music built entirely out of a funeral.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "golden-age-hip-hop", "name": "Golden Age Hip-Hop", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/golden-age-hip-hop/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Pete%20Rock%20%26%20C.L.%20Smooth%20They%20Reminisce%20Over%20You%20(T.R.O.Y.)", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=1ut9spXrkDw", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/pete-rock-and-c-l-smooth/" }, { "trackKey": "bob-rum--rap-do-silva", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/bob-rum--rap-do-silva/", "title": "Rap do Silva", "year": 1995, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A boy shot by the police, told over the plainest baile beat there is, and it reached national radio before some stations banned it for the story rather than the noise. The party rhythm is what got it heard at all.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "baile-funk", "name": "Baile Funk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/baile-funk/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Bob%20Rum%20Rap%20do%20Silva", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=vlZ9MGgC1NI", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Bob Rum", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/bob-rum/" }, { "trackKey": "arthur-mafokate--kaffir", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/arthur-mafokate--kaffir/", "title": "Kaffir", "year": 1995, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A dance record whose hook is a plea not to be called a slur, released a year after the first free election. Half a million copies sold to people moving to it, and the first serious argument the new country had about its own pop music.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "kwaito", "name": "Kwaito", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/kwaito/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-gqom-out-of-durban", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Out of Durban", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-gqom-out-of-durban/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Arthur%20Mafokate%20Kaffir", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sep8mvPZW6s", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Arthur Mafokate", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/arthur-mafokate/" }, { "trackKey": "manic-street-preachers--a-design-for-life", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/manic-street-preachers--a-design-for-life/", "title": "A Design for Life", "year": 1996, "label": "Epic", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Written after their guitarist vanished, about libraries built by people who were then told they drank too much. Sung back by festival crowds as an anthem, which is either the point being missed or the point being made.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "britpop", "name": "Britpop", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/britpop/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Manic%20Street%20Preachers%20A%20Design%20for%20Life", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=TfEoVxy7VDQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Manic Street Preachers", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/manic-street-preachers/" } ] }, { "slug": "miami", "genre": null, "genreUrl": null, "brief": "Eleven records, three of our rankings, thirty years. One drum machine tuned in a Florida car park, and what became of it in Rio and on the South Side of Chicago.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 11, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "mc-a-d-e--bass-rock-express", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/mc-a-d-e--bass-rock-express/", "title": "Bass Rock Express", "year": 1985, "label": "4-Sight", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The starting point, and the clearest statement of what the city actually changed. The kick is not a drum here, it is the arrangement — tuned low, held long, and mixed to be felt through a car door rather than heard through a speaker.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "miami-bass", "name": "Miami Bass", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/miami-bass/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/MC%20A.D.E.%20Bass%20Rock%20Express", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=yGm5w_k79GY", "exact": true } }, "artist": "MC A.D.E.", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/mc-a-d-e/" }, { "trackKey": "2-live-crew--throw-the-d", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/2-live-crew--throw-the-d/", "title": "Throw the D", "year": 1986, "label": "Luke Skyywalker", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The template every record below is a variation on: an instruction, a call-and-response, and the 808 louder than the voice giving it. Luke Campbell put it out on his own label because no one else in the country was going to.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "miami-bass", "name": "Miami Bass", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/miami-bass/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-eighties", "name": "The Eighties", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/2%20Live%20Crew%20Throw%20the%20D", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=IMicDDXU-9c", "exact": true } }, "artist": "2 Live Crew", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/2-live-crew/" }, { "trackKey": "amos-larkins-ii--planet-rock", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/amos-larkins-ii--planet-rock/", "title": "Planet Rock", "year": 1986, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Not the Bambaataa record — a Miami producer's answer to it, and the single best demonstration of the criterion above. Everything received from New York has been thrown out except the drum machine, which has been retuned until it is the whole track.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "miami-bass", "name": "Miami Bass", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/miami-bass/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Amos%20Larkins%20II%20Planet%20Rock", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=qwwb8WkrdOM", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Amos Larkins II", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/amos-larkins-ii/" }, { "trackKey": "dynamix-ii--scarface", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dynamix-ii--scarface/", "title": "Scarface", "year": 1987, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The precise end of the city, and proof that the sound was a choice rather than a limitation. Vocoders and tight programming over the same low end, by people who could clearly have made a Kraftwerk record instead and did not want to.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "miami-bass", "name": "Miami Bass", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/miami-bass/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Dynamix%20II%20Scarface", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Olgn9sXNdl0", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Dynamix II", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dynamix-ii/" }, { "trackKey": "2-hyped-brothers-and-a-dog--doo-doo-brown", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/2-hyped-brothers-and-a-dog--doo-doo-brown/", "title": "Doo Doo Brown", "year": 1991, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A rhythm that stopped belonging to its makers almost immediately. New Orleans took it and built bounce out of it, which is the first time Miami's pattern left Miami and kept going under another name.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "miami-bass", "name": "Miami Bass", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/miami-bass/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/2%20Hyped%20Brothers%20and%20a%20Dog%20Doo%20Doo%20Brown", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=1zRb_WNEeaw", "exact": true } }, "artist": "2 Hyped Brothers and a Dog", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/2-hyped-brothers-and-a-dog/" }, { "trackKey": "69-boyz--tootsee-roll", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/69-boyz--tootsee-roll/", "title": "Tootsee Roll", "year": 1994, "label": "Rip-It", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The pattern reaching the top ten, and doing it without changing. Every Southern rap record that pairs an instruction with an 808 is downstream of this habit, which is why the theme cannot stop at the city limits.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "miami-bass", "name": "Miami Bass", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/miami-bass/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/69%20Boyz%20Tootsee%20Roll", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Do4GyqPnuug", "exact": true } }, "artist": "69 Boyz", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/69-boyz/" }, { "trackKey": "dj-marlboro--melo-do-tabaco", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dj-marlboro--melo-do-tabaco/", "title": "Melô do Tabaco", "year": 1989, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Miami bass arriving in Rio on cassette, which is a fact this site already publishes as a lineage arrow. Marlboro looped somebody else's drum programming and a national music came out of it — the same 808, the same shouting, a different language.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "baile-funk", "name": "Baile Funk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/baile-funk/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Marlboro%20Mel%C3%B4%20do%20Tabaco", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/search?q=DJ%20Marlboro%20Mel%C3%B4%20do%20Tabaco", "exact": false } }, "artist": "DJ Marlboro", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-marlboro/" }, { "trackKey": "cidinho-e-doca--rap-da-felicidade", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/cidinho-e-doca--rap-da-felicidade/", "title": "Rap da Felicidade", "year": 1995, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "\"I only want to be happy.\" Six years after Marlboro, over the most basic possible version of the imported beat, and it is the most quoted line in Brazilian funk. The pattern has stopped being borrowed and become local property.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "baile-funk", "name": "Baile Funk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/baile-funk/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Cidinho%20e%20Doca%20Rap%20da%20Felicidade", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=7pD8k2zaLqk", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Cidinho e Doca", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/cidinho-e-doca/" }, { "trackKey": "mc-joao--baile-de-favela", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/mc-joao--baile-de-favela/", "title": "Baile de Favela", "year": 2015, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "São Paulo, a hundred million views, and the drum still tuned the way a Florida producer tuned it in 1985. Included as the far end of the line: thirty years on, the most popular music in Brazil is running on Miami's kick.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "baile-funk", "name": "Baile Funk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/baile-funk/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/MC%20Jo%C3%A3o%20Baile%20de%20Favela", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=eR_Uy9fkz9Q", "exact": true } }, "artist": "MC João", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/mc-joao/" }, { "trackKey": "dj-deeon--freak-like-me", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dj-deeon--freak-like-me/", "title": "Freak Like Me", "year": 1994, "label": "Dance Mania", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Chicago's ghetto house takes the same overlong, tuned kick rather than the house records made in its own city — the lineage note on our footwork ranking says exactly that. A drum pattern, a bassline, a chant, and nothing that costs money.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "juke-and-footwork", "name": "Juke and Footwork", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "nineteen-ninety-four", "name": "1994", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Deeon%20Freak%20Like%20Me", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=PIpWP5gcPCw", "exact": true } }, "artist": "DJ Deeon", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-deeon/" }, { "trackKey": "dj-funk--run", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dj-funk--run/", "title": "Run", "year": 1995, "label": "Dance Mania", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The second Chicago record, at a pace Miami never played at, and the low end is still the point of it. Daft Punk and most of French house took their cue from this — a fourth city, one step further along the same line.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "juke-and-footwork", "name": "Juke and Footwork", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Funk%20Run", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=4I4A1ixsMYQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "DJ Funk", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-funk/" } ] }, { "slug": "nineteen-ninety-four", "genre": null, "genreUrl": null, "brief": "Twelve records, ten of our rankings, one year. Jungle, trip-hop, Memphis, kwaito, dub techno and Britpop all arriving at once, none of them aware of the others.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 12, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "goldie--inner-city-life", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/goldie--inner-city-life/", "title": "Inner City Life", "year": 1994, "label": "FFRR / Metalheadz", "isrc": "GBAAP9500462", "whyItMatters": "The record that proved a breakbeat could carry a song rather than just a dancefloor, and the reason drum and bass got taken seriously by people who had ignored it. Everything the genre did for the next decade is a response to this.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "drum-and-bass", "name": "Drum and Bass", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/drum-and-bass/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-a-way-in", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — A Way In", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Goldie%20Inner%20City%20Life", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=i-P98B2skts", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Goldie", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/goldie/" }, { "trackKey": "shy-fx-and-uk-apache--original-nuttah", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/shy-fx-and-uk-apache--original-nuttah/", "title": "Original Nuttah", "year": 1994, "label": "SOUR", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The other direction jungle took in the same twelve months, and the more influential one on the street. Thirty years later it is still the record a British MC has to know, which is the only test of load-bearing that matters.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "drum-and-bass", "name": "Drum and Bass", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/drum-and-bass/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-bass-weight", "name": "Bass Weight", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-bass-weight/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-160", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — 160", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-160/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-ghosts", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Shy%20FX%20%26%20UK%20Apache%20Original%20Nuttah", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sxbekgL4w7w", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Shy FX & UK Apache", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/shy-fx-and-uk-apache/" }, { "trackKey": "portishead--glory-box", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/portishead--glory-box/", "title": "Glory Box", "year": 1994, "label": "Go! Beat", "isrc": "GBAQT9400066", "whyItMatters": "Trip-hop had existed for a couple of years and had no centre until Dummy. This is the track that fixed what the genre sounded like — the Isaac Hayes loop, the slowed drums, a voice singing over both as if it were a torch song.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "trip-hop", "name": "Trip-Hop", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/trip-hop/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Portishead%20Glory%20Box", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=4qQyUi4zfDs", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Portishead", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/portishead/" }, { "trackKey": "nas--n-y-state-of-mind", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/nas--n-y-state-of-mind/", "title": "N.Y. State of Mind", "year": 1994, "label": "Columbia", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Illmatic reset what a rap album was allowed to be, and this is the track people quote when they explain why. Every East Coast record for five years afterwards is measured against it, usually by its own maker.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "golden-age-hip-hop", "name": "Golden Age Hip-Hop", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/golden-age-hip-hop/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Nas%20N.Y.%20State%20of%20Mind", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=hI8A14Qcv68", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Nas", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/nas/" }, { "trackKey": "the-notorious-b-i-g--juicy", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-notorious-b-i-g--juicy/", "title": "Juicy", "year": 1994, "label": "Bad Boy", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Released within months of the entry above, arguing the opposite case: that a hard record could be a pop record without giving anything up. Both were right, and hip-hop spent the rest of the decade splitting the difference.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "golden-age-hip-hop", "name": "Golden Age Hip-Hop", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/golden-age-hip-hop/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Notorious%20B.I.G.%20Juicy", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=_JZom_gVfuw", "exact": true } }, "artist": "The Notorious B.I.G.", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-notorious-b-i-g/" }, { "trackKey": "warren-g-and-nate-dogg--regulate", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/warren-g-and-nate-dogg--regulate/", "title": "Regulate", "year": 1994, "label": "Death Row", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "G-funk's crossover moment, and the template for the sung-hook rap single that has never gone away since. It is on this list because of what came after it rather than what it took from before.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "g-funk", "name": "G-Funk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/g-funk/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Warren%20G%20%26%20Nate%20Dogg%20Regulate", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=1plPyJdXKIY", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Warren G & Nate Dogg", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/warren-g-and-nate-dogg/" }, { "trackKey": "basic-channel--quadrant-dub", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/basic-channel--quadrant-dub/", "title": "Quadrant Dub", "year": 1994, "label": "Basic Channel", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Two Berliners running techno through dub's mixing desk and inventing a genre almost as a side effect. Nothing about it sounds like a founding document, which is usually how founding documents sound at the time.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dub-techno", "name": "Dub Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dub-techno/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Basic%20Channel%20Quadrant%20Dub", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=APH42GVgUTM", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Basic Channel", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/basic-channel/" }, { "trackKey": "autechre--flutter", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/autechre--flutter/", "title": "Flutter", "year": 1994, "label": "Warp", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Written so that no two bars share a tempo, specifically to be legal under the Criminal Justice Bill's definition of repetitive beats. A protest record whose protest is encoded in the rhythm programming, and it opened a door the genre went through.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "idm", "name": "IDM", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/idm/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "warp", "name": "Warp", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Autechre%20Flutter", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=mdhtm6qjmhU", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Autechre", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/autechre/" }, { "trackKey": "dj-deeon--freak-like-me", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dj-deeon--freak-like-me/", "title": "Freak Like Me", "year": 1994, "label": "Dance Mania", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Chicago ghetto house at the point where it starts to become the thing that becomes footwork. It is here because a whole subsequent genre is recognisably downstream of records like this one, made on almost nothing.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "juke-and-footwork", "name": "Juke and Footwork", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "miami", "name": "Miami", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/miami/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Deeon%20Freak%20Like%20Me", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=PIpWP5gcPCw", "exact": true } }, "artist": "DJ Deeon", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-deeon/" }, { "trackKey": "dj-paul--north-memphis-area", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dj-paul--north-memphis-area/", "title": "North Memphis Area", "year": 1994, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A tape sold out of a car boot that turns out to contain most of what trap would sound like fifteen years later — the tempo, the hi-hats, the atmosphere. The clearest case on this list of a record nobody heard being load-bearing anyway.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "memphis-rap", "name": "Memphis Rap", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/memphis-rap/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Paul%20North%20Memphis%20Area", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=cpzmsHB0INE", "exact": true } }, "artist": "DJ Paul", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-paul/" }, { "trackKey": "mdu-masilela--tsiki-tsiki", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/mdu-masilela--tsiki-tsiki/", "title": "Tsiki Tsiki", "year": 1994, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Made in the year South Africa first voted, by slowing house music down to a walking pace and making it local. A genre and a country changing at the same moment, and one of the few records on this list where the two are obviously connected.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "kwaito", "name": "Kwaito", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/kwaito/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/M'du%20Masilela%20Tsiki%20Tsiki", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zrhZHLbmw_o", "exact": true } }, "artist": "M'du Masilela", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/mdu-masilela/" }, { "trackKey": "oasis--live-forever", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/oasis--live-forever/", "title": "Live Forever", "year": 1994, "label": "Creation", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The least fashionable inclusion here and the hardest to argue away. It turned a scene of art-school records into something a stadium would sing, which is a change of kind rather than of scale, and Britpop dates from it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "britpop", "name": "Britpop", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/britpop/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Oasis%20Live%20Forever", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=TDe1DqxwJoc", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Oasis", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/oasis/" } ] }, { "slug": "nineteen-seventy-six", "genre": null, "genreUrl": null, "brief": "Eleven records, six countries, one year. Lagos, Kingston, Casablanca, Lusaka, Istanbul and Accra all having a better 1976 than anywhere with a music press.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 11, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "fela-kuti-and-africa-70--zombie", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/fela-kuti-and-africa-70--zombie/", "title": "Zombie", "year": 1976, "label": "Coconut", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Twelve minutes calling the Nigerian army a column of unthinking bodies, released in Nigeria while that army was in power. They burned his compound down for it and threw his mother out of a window. Nothing else here cost its maker as much.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "afrobeat", "name": "Afrobeat", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/afrobeat/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "dancing-to-bad-news", "name": "Dancing to Bad News", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/dancing-to-bad-news/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records", "name": "Laurent Garnier — A Life in Twenty-One Records", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Fela%20Kuti%20%26%20Africa%2070%20Zombie", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=RUSg31Ignw4", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Fela Kuti & Africa 70", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/fela-kuti-and-africa-70/" }, { "trackKey": "prince-nico-mbarga--sweet-mother", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/prince-nico-mbarga--sweet-mother/", "title": "Sweet Mother", "year": 1976, "label": "Rogers All Stars", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Reportedly the biggest-selling African record ever made, in a year when the British charts had no idea it existed. Highlife at its most untroubled, and the exact opposite of the entry above from the same country in the same twelve months.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "highlife", "name": "Highlife", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/highlife/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "sung-to-someone", "name": "Sung to Someone", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/sung-to-someone/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Prince%20Nico%20Mbarga%20Sweet%20Mother", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=CWmecBppkOQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Prince Nico Mbarga", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/prince-nico-mbarga/" }, { "trackKey": "osibisa--sunshine-day", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/osibisa--sunshine-day/", "title": "Sunshine Day", "year": 1976, "label": "Bronze", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Ghanaian musicians in London making a record that got played on daytime radio without softening what it was. Included because the traffic went both ways in 1976, and this is the year's best evidence of it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "highlife", "name": "Highlife", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/highlife/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Osibisa%20Sunshine%20Day", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=MeH3OdgGHso", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Osibisa", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/osibisa/" }, { "trackKey": "ngozi-family--nizakupanga-ngozi", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/ngozi-family--nizakupanga-ngozi/", "title": "Nizakupanga Ngozi", "year": 1976, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Zamrock at full volume — a Zambian band playing heavier than most of what was coming out of Britain that year, in a scene almost no one outside the country heard until reissues found it thirty years later.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "zamrock", "name": "Zamrock", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/zamrock/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Ngozi%20Family%20Nizakupanga%20Ngozi", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=OTNuku4mjis", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Ngozi Family", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/ngozi-family/" }, { "trackKey": "witch--waile", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/witch--waile/", "title": "Waile", "year": 1976, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The other great Zambian band of the same moment, and proof the entry above was a scene rather than an outlier. Two of the eleven records here come from a country with no export industry for music at all.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "zamrock", "name": "Zamrock", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/zamrock/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/WITCH%20Waile", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=2HCNRBnI4PA", "exact": true } }, "artist": "WITCH", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/witch/" }, { "trackKey": "nass-el-ghiwane--bouderbala", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/nass-el-ghiwane--bouderbala/", "title": "Bouderbala", "year": 1976, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Gnawa rhythm and Moroccan poetry played by a group Scorsese later called the Rolling Stones of Africa. Recorded with almost no Western instrumentation in a year when that was a choice, not a limitation.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "gnawa", "name": "Gnawa", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/gnawa/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Nass%20El%20Ghiwane%20Bouderbala", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Nass%20El%20Ghiwane%20Bouderbala", "exact": false } }, "artist": "Nass El Ghiwane", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/nass-el-ghiwane/" }, { "trackKey": "selda-bagcan--yaz-gazeteci-yaz", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/selda-bagcan--yaz-gazeteci-yaz/", "title": "Yaz Gazeteci Yaz", "year": 1976, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "\"Write it down, journalist, write it.\" Turkish folk melody over a fuzz guitar, sung by a woman who was imprisoned repeatedly for records like this one. The year's clearest case of a local form being used to say something dangerous.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "anadolu-rock", "name": "Anadolu Rock", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/anadolu-rock/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Selda%20Ba%C4%9Fcan%20Yaz%20Gazeteci%20Yaz", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ReKfCicUoRE", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Selda Bağcan", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/selda-bagcan/" }, { "trackKey": "augustus-pablo--king-tubby-meets-rockers-uptown", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/augustus-pablo--king-tubby-meets-rockers-uptown/", "title": "King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown", "year": 1976, "label": "Yard Music", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The most-cited dub record ever made, and it is a melodica line and a mixing desk. Kingston in 1976 was inventing the studio-as-instrument while London was still arguing about guitars.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dub", "name": "Dub", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dub/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-roots", "name": "Roots", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-roots/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-ghosts", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Augustus%20Pablo%20King%20Tubby%20Meets%20Rockers%20Uptown", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=oxAl3Jijs20", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Augustus Pablo", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/augustus-pablo/" }, { "trackKey": "the-upsetters--super-ape", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-upsetters--super-ape/", "title": "Super Ape", "year": 1976, "label": "Island", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Lee Perry's Black Ark at its peak, which means a four-track studio being pushed into producing something no larger studio could. Jamaica has three records on this list and could support ten.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dub", "name": "Dub", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dub/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Upsetters%20Super%20Ape", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=MTOomS0HfdA", "exact": true } }, "artist": "The Upsetters", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-upsetters/" }, { "trackKey": "junior-murvin--police-and-thieves", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/junior-murvin--police-and-thieves/", "title": "Police and Thieves", "year": 1976, "label": "Island", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Written about Jamaican election violence and adopted within months by a London that had just had the Notting Hill riot. The one record here whose journey out of its own scene happened immediately rather than in retrospect.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "reggae", "name": "Reggae", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/reggae/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "dancing-to-bad-news", "name": "Dancing to Bad News", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/dancing-to-bad-news/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Junior%20Murvin%20Police%20and%20Thieves", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=X5Z2M3VlB8E", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Junior Murvin", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/junior-murvin/" }, { "trackKey": "the-revolutionaries--kunta-kinte-dub", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-revolutionaries--kunta-kinte-dub/", "title": "Kunta Kinte Dub", "year": 1976, "label": "Well Charge", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A Kingston rhythm that would not stay in its decade: sped up and cut into jungle plates twenty years later, which puts it in the same story as several records on our 1994 list. 1976 is where that line starts.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dub", "name": "Dub", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dub/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-bass-weight", "name": "Bass Weight", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-bass-weight/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-ghosts", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Revolutionaries%20Kunta%20Kinte%20Dub", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=K6XDIje4vJU", "exact": true } }, "artist": "The Revolutionaries", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-revolutionaries/" } ] }, { "slug": "sung-to-someone", "genre": null, "genreUrl": null, "brief": "Twelve records, eleven of our rankings and thirty-eight years apart, all doing one thing: turning to a single person and saying it out loud.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 12, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "hank-williams--im-so-lonesome-i-could-cry", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/hank-williams--im-so-lonesome-i-could-cry/", "title": "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry", "year": 1949, "label": "MGM", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "It reads as a nature poem — a whippoorwill, a falling star — right up to \"did you ever see a robin weep\". Every image in it is being handed to somebody. He is not describing loneliness; he is telling one person what it is doing to him.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "country", "name": "Country", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/country/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Hank%20Williams%20I'm%20So%20Lonesome%20I%20Could%20Cry", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=4WXYjm74WFI", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Hank Williams", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/hank-williams/" }, { "trackKey": "lloyd-price--lawdy-miss-clawdy", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/lloyd-price--lawdy-miss-clawdy/", "title": "Lawdy Miss Clawdy", "year": 1952, "label": "Specialty", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Two lines in and he has stopped describing anything: \"girl, you sure look good to me.\" The whole record is aimed at one person standing in front of him, which is why it survives a test that throws out most of what gets called a love song.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "rhythm-and-blues", "name": "Rhythm and Blues", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/rhythm-and-blues/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Lloyd%20Price%20Lawdy%20Miss%20Clawdy", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=nYO263wui1w", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Lloyd Price", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/lloyd-price/" }, { "trackKey": "gloria-jones--tainted-love", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/gloria-jones--tainted-love/", "title": "Tainted Love", "year": 1964, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "An address delivered at a run. \"You don't really want any more from me\" is not an observation about love, it is an accusation with somebody on the end of it, and the two-minute sprint is a woman getting it said before she loses her nerve.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "northern-soul", "name": "Northern Soul", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/northern-soul/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Gloria%20Jones%20Tainted%20Love", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=WrAPgjcVDOc", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Gloria Jones", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/gloria-jones/" }, { "trackKey": "frank-wilson--do-i-love-you-indeed-i-do", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/frank-wilson--do-i-love-you-indeed-i-do/", "title": "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)", "year": 1965, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The title is a question somebody else asked, answered straight back at them. It qualifies on grammar as much as on feeling: the lyric is second person from first line to last, and there is nothing in it that would work said to a room.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "northern-soul", "name": "Northern Soul", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/northern-soul/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Frank%20Wilson%20Do%20I%20Love%20You%20(Indeed%20I%20Do)", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=1OvaglT9EB4", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Frank Wilson", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/frank-wilson/" }, { "trackKey": "the-miracles--the-tracks-of-my-tears", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-miracles--the-tracks-of-my-tears/", "title": "The Tracks of My Tears", "year": 1965, "label": "Tamla", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "\"Take a good look at my face\" is an instruction, given to one person, by a man asking to be examined. Smokey Robinson wrote the most-quoted metaphor in soul music and then pinned it to a request he needs somebody to answer.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "soul", "name": "Soul", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/soul/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Miracles%20The%20Tracks%20of%20My%20Tears", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=rNS6D4hSQdA", "exact": true } }, "artist": "The Miracles", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-miracles/" }, { "trackKey": "cream--sunshine-of-your-love", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/cream--sunshine-of-your-love/", "title": "Sunshine of Your Love", "year": 1967, "label": "Reaction", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The riff is what everyone remembers, and the reason it belongs here is the line underneath it: \"I'll be with you, darling, soon.\" The heaviest record on this list, and its actual subject is an appointment somebody intends to keep.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "psychedelic-rock", "name": "Psychedelic Rock", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/psychedelic-rock/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Cream%20Sunshine%20of%20Your%20Love", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=f3y8jf01UY8", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Cream", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/cream/" }, { "trackKey": "gal-costa--baby", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/gal-costa--baby/", "title": "Baby", "year": 1968, "label": "Philips", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Caetano Veloso wrote it as a list of things you need to learn — the swimming pool, the margarine, me. Gal Costa sings them to one person in the year Brazil's dictatorship closed its fist. Addressed to a lover, and every word of it is also addressed past them.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "tropicalia", "name": "Tropicália", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/tropicalia/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Gal%20Costa%20Baby", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=b7d6wnaRm2E", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Gal Costa", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/gal-costa/" }, { "trackKey": "bob-marley-and-the-wailers--no-woman-no-cry", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/bob-marley-and-the-wailers--no-woman-no-cry/", "title": "No Woman, No Cry", "year": 1975, "label": "Island", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Not a title about women in general, whatever fifty years of misquotation suggest. It is \"no, woman, don't cry\" — said to one person sitting in the government yard, and everything else in it is what he is telling her to remember.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "reggae", "name": "Reggae", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/reggae/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Bob%20Marley%20%26%20The%20Wailers%20No%20Woman%2C%20No%20Cry", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=IT8XvzIfi4U", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Bob Marley & The Wailers", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/bob-marley-and-the-wailers/" }, { "trackKey": "prince-nico-mbarga--sweet-mother", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/prince-nico-mbarga--sweet-mother/", "title": "Sweet Mother", "year": 1976, "label": "Rogers All Stars", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The criterion says one person addressing another. It does not say the other has to be a lover. One of the biggest-selling records ever made in Africa, and it is a grown man thanking his mother, directly, for the nights she did not sleep.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "highlife", "name": "Highlife", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/highlife/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "nineteen-seventy-six", "name": "1976", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-seventy-six/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Prince%20Nico%20Mbarga%20Sweet%20Mother", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=CWmecBppkOQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Prince Nico Mbarga", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/prince-nico-mbarga/" }, { "trackKey": "buzzcocks--ever-fallen-in-love-with-someone-you-shouldntve", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/buzzcocks--ever-fallen-in-love-with-someone-you-shouldntve/", "title": "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)", "year": 1978, "label": "United Artists", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The parenthesis is the entire song, and it is pointed at exactly the person it means. Pete Shelley asked one specific human being that question, then played it fast enough that everybody else could pretend it was about them.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "punk", "name": "Punk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/punk/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Buzzcocks%20Ever%20Fallen%20in%20Love%20(With%20Someone%20You%20Shouldn't've)", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=51OB2YoC4sg", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Buzzcocks", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/buzzcocks/" }, { "trackKey": "mariya-takeuchi--plastic-love", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/mariya-takeuchi--plastic-love/", "title": "Plastic Love", "year": 1984, "label": "Moon", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The most misread record here. It sounds like a city at three in the morning, and what it actually is is one woman telling someone not to take her seriously — which she only has to say out loud because he has started to.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "city-pop", "name": "City Pop", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/city-pop/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Mariya%20Takeuchi%20Plastic%20Love", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=T_lC2O1oIew", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Mariya Takeuchi", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/mariya-takeuchi/" }, { "trackKey": "frankie-knuckles-and-jamie-principle--your-love", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/frankie-knuckles-and-jamie-principle--your-love/", "title": "Your Love", "year": 1987, "label": "Trax", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Jamie Principle wrote it as a bedroom demo: one voice, speaking to one absent person. Frankie Knuckles kept that scale intact when he turned it into a record a warehouse could hold, and it never once stops being addressed to somebody.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "chicago-house", "name": "Chicago House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-chicago-in-the-room", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — In the Room", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-in-the-room/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Frankie%20Knuckles%20%26%20Jamie%20Principle%20Your%20Love", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=M6LAE5ejrjg", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Frankie Knuckles & Jamie Principle", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/frankie-knuckles-and-jamie-principle/" } ] }, { "slug": "the-desk-160", "genre": null, "genreUrl": null, "brief": "Six records that all live at or near 160 BPM, from Chicago and from every British rave that got there first. Four of our rankings share a tempo, which is the whole claim a 160 set makes in practice.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 6, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "origin-unknown--valley-of-the-shadows", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/origin-unknown--valley-of-the-shadows/", "title": "Valley of the Shadows", "year": 1993, "label": "RAM", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Two spoken words and an Amen break. The moment hardcore is unmistakably jungle, and a record old enough now that playing it is a reference rather than a rediscovery.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "breakbeat-hardcore", "name": "Breakbeat Hardcore", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/breakbeat-hardcore/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Origin%20Unknown%20Valley%20of%20the%20Shadows", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=B3FPYOou_Mg", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Origin Unknown", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/origin-unknown/" }, { "trackKey": "metalheads--terminator", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/metalheads--terminator/", "title": "Terminator", "year": 1992, "label": "Synthetic", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The time-stretch that changed what a break could be. The technical leap is what gets written about; the atmosphere is the part that has actually lasted thirty years.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "breakbeat-hardcore", "name": "Breakbeat Hardcore", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/breakbeat-hardcore/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Metalheads%20Terminator", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Knu-7A7BLtQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Metalheads", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/metalheads/" }, { "trackKey": "lennie-de-ice--we-are-i-e", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/lennie-de-ice--we-are-i-e/", "title": "We Are I.E.", "year": 1991, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Usually named as the first jungle record, two years before the word existed. Origin records are generally more use to writers than to DJs, and this one is the exception because it still works.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "breakbeat-hardcore", "name": "Breakbeat Hardcore", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/breakbeat-hardcore/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Lennie%20De%20Ice%20We%20Are%20I.E.", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=_gx7Uv3sl5A", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Lennie De Ice", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/lennie-de-ice/" }, { "trackKey": "dj-rashad--feelin", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dj-rashad--feelin/", "title": "Feelin", "year": 2013, "label": "Hyperdub", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Chicago arriving at the same tempo from a completely different direction. The overlap between footwork and jungle is the premise of this list, and this is the record that makes it undeniable.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "juke-and-footwork", "name": "Juke and Footwork", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-footwork-travels", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Footwork Travels", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-footwork-travels/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-ghosts", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Rashad%20Feelin", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=MC5zj4eLM3k", "exact": true } }, "artist": "DJ Rashad", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-rashad/" }, { "trackKey": "rp-boo--baby-come-on", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/rp-boo--baby-come-on/", "title": "Baby Come On", "year": 1997, "label": "Dance Mania", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The first footwork track, and rhythmically the least accommodating thing here. A European floor has to be taught this one, and the teaching is the reason it belongs.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "juke-and-footwork", "name": "Juke and Footwork", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-footwork-travels", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Footwork Travels", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-footwork-travels/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/RP%20Boo%20Baby%20Come%20On", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=L17sHYmwTWY", "exact": true } }, "artist": "RP Boo", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/rp-boo/" }, { "trackKey": "shy-fx-and-uk-apache--original-nuttah", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/shy-fx-and-uk-apache--original-nuttah/", "title": "Original Nuttah", "year": 1994, "label": "SOUR", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The crowd-pleaser, and included as the awkward one. A set built on this is a different set from one built on the other five, and both of them are honest.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "drum-and-bass", "name": "Drum and Bass", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/drum-and-bass/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "nineteen-ninety-four", "name": "1994", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-bass-weight", "name": "Bass Weight", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-bass-weight/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-ghosts", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Shy%20FX%20%26%20UK%20Apache%20Original%20Nuttah", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sxbekgL4w7w", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Shy FX & UK Apache", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/shy-fx-and-uk-apache/" } ] }, { "slug": "the-desk-a-way-in", "genre": null, "genreUrl": null, "brief": "Ten records that open ten doors. One way into each genre we cover, plus two that show what the deep end sounds like once you are through.", "updated": "2026-08-28", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 10, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "rhythim-is-rhythim--strings-of-life", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/rhythim-is-rhythim--strings-of-life/", "title": "Strings of Life", "year": 1987, "label": "Transmat", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Start here if you think electronic music is cold. There is no bassline and barely a kick for half its length, and it still empties a room into a dancefloor faster than anything made since.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "detroit-techno", "name": "Detroit Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-eighties", "name": "The Eighties", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-detroit-in-europe", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Detroit, Heard in Europe", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-in-europe/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Rhythim%20Is%20Rhythim%20Strings%20of%20Life", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=vGFw2qeUp0s", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Rhythim Is Rhythim", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/rhythim-is-rhythim/" }, { "trackKey": "mr-fingers--can-you-feel-it", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/mr-fingers--can-you-feel-it/", "title": "Can You Feel It", "year": 1986, "label": "Trax", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "House music at its most elemental: a bassline, a hi-hat and an enormous amount of patience. Every four-to-the-floor record made since is arguing with this one, whether or not it knows it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "chicago-house", "name": "Chicago House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-eighties", "name": "The Eighties", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-chicago-in-the-room", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — In the Room", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-in-the-room/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-chicago-looped-and-filtered", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Looped and Filtered", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-looped-and-filtered/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Mr.%20Fingers%20Can%20You%20Feel%20It", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=p2XxyBViBog", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Mr. Fingers", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/mr-fingers/" }, { "trackKey": "goldie--inner-city-life", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/goldie--inner-city-life/", "title": "Inner City Life", "year": 1994, "label": "FFRR / Metalheadz", "isrc": "GBAAP9500462", "whyItMatters": "The record that proves breakbeat music can carry grief. If drum and bass has only ever reached you as speed, this is the one that reframes the whole genre as something you feel rather than survive.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "drum-and-bass", "name": "Drum and Bass", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/drum-and-bass/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "nineteen-ninety-four", "name": "1994", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Goldie%20Inner%20City%20Life", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=i-P98B2skts", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Goldie", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/goldie/" }, { "trackKey": "massive-attack--unfinished-sympathy", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/massive-attack--unfinished-sympathy/", "title": "Unfinished Sympathy", "year": 1991, "label": "Wild Bunch / Circa", "isrc": "GBAAA9100034", "whyItMatters": "Strings, a slow breakbeat and a vocal that refuses to resolve. It sounds like a pop single until you notice nothing in it behaves the way a pop single does.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "trip-hop", "name": "Trip-Hop", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/trip-hop/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-sounds-like-a-single", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Sounds Like a Single", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-sounds-like-a-single/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Massive%20Attack%20Unfinished%20Sympathy", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWmrfgj0MZI", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Massive Attack", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/massive-attack/" }, { "trackKey": "my-bloody-valentine--only-shallow", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/my-bloody-valentine--only-shallow/", "title": "Only Shallow", "year": 1991, "label": "Creation", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Four snare hits and then a wall. Shoegaze is often described as vague; this is the record that shows how precisely engineered the vagueness has to be before it works.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "shoegaze", "name": "Shoegaze", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/shoegaze/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/My%20Bloody%20Valentine%20Only%20Shallow", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=nwfCoKNI5hs", "exact": true } }, "artist": "My Bloody Valentine", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/my-bloody-valentine/" }, { "trackKey": "eric-b-and-rakim--paid-in-full", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/eric-b-and-rakim--paid-in-full/", "title": "Paid in Full", "year": 1987, "label": "4th & Broadway", "isrc": "USIR28700020", "whyItMatters": "Rakim rewrote what a rapper could sound like — internal rhyme, conversational delivery, nothing forced to land on the beat. Almost every MC you like is downstream of this.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "golden-age-hip-hop", "name": "Golden Age Hip-Hop", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/golden-age-hip-hop/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Eric%20B.%20%26%20Rakim%20Paid%20in%20Full", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=E7t8eoA_1jQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Eric B. & Rakim", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/eric-b-and-rakim/" }, { "trackKey": "brian-eno--an-ending-ascent", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/brian-eno--an-ending-ascent/", "title": "An Ending (Ascent)", "year": 1983, "label": "Editions EG", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Four chords and an enormous amount of room around them. The best argument that ambient music is composition rather than absence, and the easiest one to hear on first listen.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "ambient", "name": "Ambient", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/ambient/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Brian%20Eno%20An%20Ending%20(Ascent)", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=OlaTeXX3uH8", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Brian Eno", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/brian-eno/" }, { "trackKey": "mj-cole--sincere", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/mj-cole--sincere/", "title": "Sincere", "year": 1998, "label": "Talkin' Loud", "isrc": "GBF080000103", "whyItMatters": "Garage at its most elegant: a two-step shuffle that never lands where you expect, under a vocal treated as an instrument. The genre's case that rhythm alone can be luxurious.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "uk-garage", "name": "UK Garage", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-garage-on-the-mix", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Garage on the Mix", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-garage-on-the-mix/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/MJ%20Cole%20Sincere", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=cy-djtiU5RE", "exact": true } }, "artist": "MJ Cole", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/mj-cole/" }, { "trackKey": "drexciya--bubble-metropolis", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/drexciya--bubble-metropolis/", "title": "Bubble Metropolis", "year": 1993, "label": "Underground Resistance", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Now the deep end. Detroit techno as science fiction, made by people who refused to be photographed and built an underwater mythology instead. Play it after Strings of Life and hear the same city thinking differently.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "detroit-techno", "name": "Detroit Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-detroit-techno", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Detroit Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-techno/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-detroit-in-europe", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Detroit, Heard in Europe", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-in-europe/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Drexciya%20Bubble%20Metropolis", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=wdbf7-tlDV8", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Drexciya", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/drexciya/" }, { "trackKey": "todd-edwards--saved-my-life", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/todd-edwards--saved-my-life/", "title": "Saved My Life", "year": 1995, "label": "i! Records", "isrc": "GBCPZ9619564", "whyItMatters": "The other deep end. Hundreds of vocal fragments cut to a sixteenth and rebuilt into a melody, decades before anyone called it a technique. Once you hear the method you cannot unhear it anywhere in dance music.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "uk-garage", "name": "UK Garage", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Todd%20Edwards%20Saved%20My%20Life", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=nk0LWxIBtis", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Todd Edwards", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/todd-edwards/" } ] }, { "slug": "the-desk-bass-weight", "genre": null, "genreUrl": null, "brief": "One line, five records, forty years: Kingston to Croydon by way of every British rave that treated the sub-bass as the point rather than the foundation.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 5, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "the-revolutionaries--kunta-kinte-dub", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-revolutionaries--kunta-kinte-dub/", "title": "Kunta Kinte Dub", "year": 1976, "label": "Well Charge", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A Kingston rhythm that would not stay in its decade. Sped up and cut into jungle plates twenty years later, it is the physical evidence that British bass music imported more than an attitude.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dub", "name": "Dub", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dub/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "nineteen-seventy-six", "name": "1976", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-seventy-six/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-ghosts", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Revolutionaries%20Kunta%20Kinte%20Dub", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=K6XDIje4vJU", "exact": true } }, "artist": "The Revolutionaries", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-revolutionaries/" }, { "trackKey": "shy-fx-and-uk-apache--original-nuttah", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/shy-fx-and-uk-apache--original-nuttah/", "title": "Original Nuttah", "year": 1994, "label": "SOUR", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The sound system and the sampler stop being separate traditions. A ragga vocal over an Amen break at 170 BPM, and nobody involved thought the combination needed explaining.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "drum-and-bass", "name": "Drum and Bass", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/drum-and-bass/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "nineteen-ninety-four", "name": "1994", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-160", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — 160", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-160/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-ghosts", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Shy%20FX%20%26%20UK%20Apache%20Original%20Nuttah", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sxbekgL4w7w", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Shy FX & UK Apache", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/shy-fx-and-uk-apache/" }, { "trackKey": "double-99--rip-groove", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/double-99--rip-groove/", "title": "RIP Groove", "year": 1997, "label": "Ice Cream", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Jungle's tempo halved and its aggression kept. Garage is usually filed as the friendly one, and this is the record that shows how thin that description always was.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "uk-garage", "name": "UK Garage", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-garage-on-the-mix", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Garage on the Mix", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-garage-on-the-mix/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Double%2099%20RIP%20Groove", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=uR3Vw8J8vUo", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Double 99", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/double-99/" }, { "trackKey": "skream--midnight-request-line", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/skream--midnight-request-line/", "title": "Midnight Request Line", "year": 2005, "label": "Tempa", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The same 140 BPM grid with the kicks taken out and the low end left to do the work alone. The record that made dubstep legible to people who had never stood in front of a proper rig.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dubstep", "name": "Dubstep", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dubstep/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-dubstep-goes-national", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Night It Went National", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-dubstep-goes-national/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Skream%20Midnight%20Request%20Line", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=lcMAbnZy8l8", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Skream", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/skream/" }, { "trackKey": "the-bug-featuring-killa-p-and-flowdan--skeng", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-bug-featuring-killa-p-and-flowdan--skeng/", "title": "Skeng", "year": 2007, "label": "Ninja Tune", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The line closes. A dancehall vocal over a corroded synth bass, thirty years and five thousand miles from where it started, and it still sounds like the same argument.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dubstep", "name": "Dubstep", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dubstep/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Bug%20featuring%20Killa%20P%20%26%20Flowdan%20Skeng", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zwmUOJR-GwA", "exact": true } }, "artist": "The Bug featuring Killa P & Flowdan", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-bug-featuring-killa-p-and-flowdan/" } ] }, { "slug": "the-desk-both-rooms", "genre": null, "genreUrl": null, "brief": "Six records split evenly between two rooms that were not supposed to talk to each other. Half guitars, half machines, and the point is that the division was always administrative rather than musical.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 6, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "new-order--blue-monday", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/new-order--blue-monday/", "title": "Blue Monday", "year": 1983, "label": "Factory", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The record that made the argument first and made every later version of it easier. A guitar band bought a sequencer, never explained itself, and sold it in a sleeve that lost money on every copy.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "madchester", "name": "Madchester", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/madchester/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records", "name": "Laurent Garnier — A Life in Twenty-One Records", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/New%20Order%20Blue%20Monday", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=9GMjH1nR0ds", "exact": true } }, "artist": "New Order", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/new-order/" }, { "trackKey": "bauhaus--bela-lugosis-dead", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/bauhaus--bela-lugosis-dead/", "title": "Bela Lugosi's Dead", "year": 1979, "label": "Small Wonder", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Nine minutes of dub delay recorded live in one take. The guitar records that survive on a dancefloor tend to be the ones that were secretly dance records all along, and this is the clearest case.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "post-punk", "name": "Post-Punk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/post-punk/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Bauhaus%20Bela%20Lugosi's%20Dead", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy9h2q_dr9k", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Bauhaus", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/bauhaus/" }, { "trackKey": "a-guy-called-gerald--voodoo-ray", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/a-guy-called-gerald--voodoo-ray/", "title": "Voodoo Ray", "year": 1988, "label": "Rham!", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Made in a bedroom on borrowed equipment with a sample truncated by accident. The most beautiful mistake in British dance music, and a standing argument against deliberation.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "acid-house", "name": "Acid House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/acid-house/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/A%20Guy%20Called%20Gerald%20Voodoo%20Ray", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=j7vxHOCeiQ4", "exact": true } }, "artist": "A Guy Called Gerald", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/a-guy-called-gerald/" }, { "trackKey": "the-stone-roses--fools-gold", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-stone-roses--fools-gold/", "title": "Fools Gold", "year": 1989, "label": "Silvertone", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "An indie band's biggest single is a groove with some singing over it. The exact point the two rooms merged, and they stayed merged for about three years before the doors went back up.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "madchester", "name": "Madchester", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/madchester/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Stone%20Roses%20Fools%20Gold", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=NSD11dnphg0", "exact": true } }, "artist": "The Stone Roses", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-stone-roses/" }, { "trackKey": "primal-scream--loaded", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/primal-scream--loaded/", "title": "Loaded", "year": 1990, "label": "Creation", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A remix that kept almost none of the original and handed a band a career. The clearest case in British music for a remixer owing the record they were given nothing whatsoever.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "madchester", "name": "Madchester", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/madchester/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Primal%20Scream%20Loaded", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3ixEzKA4k0", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Primal Scream", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/primal-scream/" }, { "trackKey": "daft-punk--da-funk", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/daft-punk--da-funk/", "title": "Da Funk", "year": 1995, "label": "Soma", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A deliberately ugly lead sound over a hip-hop tempo. Being wilfully awkward turned out to be a strategy rather than a temperament, and this is where it started paying.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "french-house", "name": "French House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/french-house/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Daft%20Punk%20Da%20Funk", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=PwILkY9gRrc", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Daft Punk", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/daft-punk/" } ] }, { "slug": "the-desk-ghosts", "genre": null, "genreUrl": null, "brief": "Six records tracing one continuous line from a Kingston mixing desk to a Chicago dance floor. The claim is that dub never stopped: it changed tempo, crossed an ocean, and kept going under other names.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 6, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "augustus-pablo--king-tubby-meets-rockers-uptown", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/augustus-pablo--king-tubby-meets-rockers-uptown/", "title": "King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown", "year": 1976, "label": "Yard Music", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The starting point for the argument every record below repeats: a mix is a composition. The debt the others owe is as much to the economics that made a B-side worth rebuilding as to the technique itself.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dub", "name": "Dub", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dub/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "nineteen-seventy-six", "name": "1976", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-seventy-six/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-roots", "name": "Roots", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-roots/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Augustus%20Pablo%20King%20Tubby%20Meets%20Rockers%20Uptown", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=oxAl3Jijs20", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Augustus Pablo", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/augustus-pablo/" }, { "trackKey": "the-revolutionaries--kunta-kinte-dub", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-revolutionaries--kunta-kinte-dub/", "title": "Kunta Kinte Dub", "year": 1976, "label": "Well Charge", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A Kingston rhythm that reappeared, sped up, in British jungle two decades later. The clearest single piece of evidence for a continuity that is usually asserted rather than shown.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dub", "name": "Dub", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dub/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "nineteen-seventy-six", "name": "1976", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-seventy-six/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-bass-weight", "name": "Bass Weight", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-bass-weight/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Revolutionaries%20Kunta%20Kinte%20Dub", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=K6XDIje4vJU", "exact": true } }, "artist": "The Revolutionaries", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-revolutionaries/" }, { "trackKey": "shy-fx-and-uk-apache--original-nuttah", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/shy-fx-and-uk-apache--original-nuttah/", "title": "Original Nuttah", "year": 1994, "label": "SOUR", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Jungle at the exact moment the sound system and the sampler stopped being separate traditions. Everything Kingston built into a rhythm arrives here at twice the speed with none of it lost.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "drum-and-bass", "name": "Drum and Bass", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/drum-and-bass/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "nineteen-ninety-four", "name": "1994", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-bass-weight", "name": "Bass Weight", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-bass-weight/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-160", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — 160", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-160/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Shy%20FX%20%26%20UK%20Apache%20Original%20Nuttah", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sxbekgL4w7w", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Shy FX & UK Apache", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/shy-fx-and-uk-apache/" }, { "trackKey": "wiley--eskimo", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/wiley--eskimo/", "title": "Eskimo", "year": 2002, "label": "Wiley Kat", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The coldest record here and the one with the least obvious Jamaican inheritance. It earns its place by testing the line: grime keeps the sound system and throws the warmth away.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "grime", "name": "Grime", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/grime/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Wiley%20Eskimo", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=u3rWH9pWkVQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Wiley", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/wiley/" }, { "trackKey": "burial--archangel", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/burial--archangel/", "title": "Archangel", "year": 2007, "label": "Hyperdub", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A label's most famous record, made almost entirely out of the residue of the others. Hauntology was a useful word for it precisely because the music is assembled from things that have already happened.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dubstep", "name": "Dubstep", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dubstep/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-dubstep-goes-national", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Night It Went National", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-dubstep-goes-national/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Burial%20Archangel", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=E2qLD9c3Gq4", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Burial", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/burial/" }, { "trackKey": "dj-rashad--feelin", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dj-rashad--feelin/", "title": "Feelin", "year": 2013, "label": "Hyperdub", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Chicago, not London, and still recognisably part of the same project. Either the argument ends here or it stops being about Britain, and the record is better evidence for the second.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "juke-and-footwork", "name": "Juke and Footwork", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-160", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — 160", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-160/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-footwork-travels", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Footwork Travels", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-footwork-travels/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Rashad%20Feelin", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=MC5zj4eLM3k", "exact": true } }, "artist": "DJ Rashad", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-rashad/" } ] }, { "slug": "the-desk-one-subject", "genre": null, "genreUrl": null, "brief": "Six records from Detroit, Lagos and Accra, offered as one subject rather than three genres. The distance between them is geographic and almost nothing else.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 6, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "marvin-gaye--whats-going-on", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/marvin-gaye--whats-going-on/", "title": "What's Going On", "year": 1971, "label": "Tamla", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The obvious one, and four decades of broadcasting have made it harder to hear rather than easier. A record everybody agrees about is a difficult thing to keep alive.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "soul", "name": "Soul", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/soul/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Marvin%20Gaye%20What's%20Going%20On", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=KDK7TiEiMOI", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Marvin Gaye", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/marvin-gaye/" }, { "trackKey": "curtis-mayfield--move-on-up", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/curtis-mayfield--move-on-up/", "title": "Move On Up", "year": 1970, "label": "Curtom", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Nine minutes of forward motion that works on a dancefloor and on daytime radio, which is a rare combination — and it is the long version that earns the claim, not the edit.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "soul", "name": "Soul", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/soul/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Curtis%20Mayfield%20Move%20On%20Up", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=A9RMr9KuVZo", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Curtis Mayfield", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/curtis-mayfield/" }, { "trackKey": "fela-ransome-kuti-and-africa-70--shakara", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/fela-ransome-kuti-and-africa-70--shakara/", "title": "Shakara", "year": 1972, "label": "EMI", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Fifteen minutes before the vocal arrives. Programming a record like this for an audience trained to expect a hook inside thirty seconds is the whole problem, and it is worth solving.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "afrobeat", "name": "Afrobeat", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/afrobeat/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Fela%20Ransome-Kuti%20%26%20Africa%2070%20Shakara", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=P2l7EPy1Svs", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Fela Ransome-Kuti & Africa 70", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/fela-ransome-kuti-and-africa-70/" }, { "trackKey": "manu-dibango--soul-makossa", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/manu-dibango--soul-makossa/", "title": "Soul Makossa", "year": 1972, "label": "Fiesta", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A Cameroonian B-side that a New York DJ turned into a disco hit. The clearest single case for the argument this list is making: the route mattered more than the origin.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "afrobeat", "name": "Afrobeat", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/afrobeat/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Manu%20Dibango%20Soul%20Makossa", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=PblSmVR7hCk", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Manu Dibango", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/manu-dibango/" }, { "trackKey": "ebo-taylor--heaven", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/ebo-taylor--heaven/", "title": "Heaven", "year": 1977, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Ghana rather than Nigeria, and looser than anything Lagos allowed. Much of what reached Britain as afrobeat was highlife that nobody had bothered to distinguish.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "afrobeat", "name": "Afrobeat", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/afrobeat/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Ebo%20Taylor%20Heaven", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=z54HkbHg8Ec", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Ebo Taylor", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/ebo-taylor/" }, { "trackKey": "herbie-hancock--chameleon", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/herbie-hancock--chameleon/", "title": "Chameleon", "year": 1973, "label": "Columbia", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The record where a jazz musician of the first rank decides the groove is the interesting problem. If acid jazz began as a joke, this is the thing the joke was about.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "funk", "name": "Funk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-accent-moved", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Where the Accent Moved", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-accent-moved/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "twice-over", "name": "Twice Over", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/twice-over/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Herbie%20Hancock%20Chameleon", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=iqomTAiRnVM", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Herbie Hancock", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/herbie-hancock/" } ] }, { "slug": "the-desk-roots", "genre": null, "genreUrl": null, "brief": "Five records from before the map starts. Everything else we publish is downstream of one of these, and most of it is downstream of several.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 5, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "james-brown--cold-sweat", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/james-brown--cold-sweat/", "title": "Cold Sweat", "year": 1967, "label": "King", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Start here. Brown tells the band to put the accent on the first beat and stop changing chord, and the next sixty years of dance music become possible in about eight bars.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "funk", "name": "Funk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-accent-moved", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Where the Accent Moved", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-accent-moved/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/James%20Brown%20Cold%20Sweat", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=qkgIoMuaoQ0", "exact": true } }, "artist": "James Brown", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/james-brown/" }, { "trackKey": "augustus-pablo--king-tubby-meets-rockers-uptown", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/augustus-pablo--king-tubby-meets-rockers-uptown/", "title": "King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown", "year": 1976, "label": "Yard Music", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The mixing desk becomes an instrument. Every record on this site built from the bass upward, with the vocal free to vanish for a bar, is working from the grammar King Tubby set here.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dub", "name": "Dub", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dub/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "nineteen-seventy-six", "name": "1976", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-seventy-six/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-ghosts", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Augustus%20Pablo%20King%20Tubby%20Meets%20Rockers%20Uptown", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=oxAl3Jijs20", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Augustus Pablo", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/augustus-pablo/" }, { "trackKey": "neu--hallogallo", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/neu--hallogallo/", "title": "Hallogallo", "year": 1972, "label": "Brain", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Ten minutes of a beat that never accents anything. The idea that a rhythm can drive without swinging is the one European contribution the Americans genuinely had to import.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "krautrock", "name": "Krautrock", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/krautrock/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-krautrock", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Krautrock", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-krautrock/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Neu!%20Hallogallo", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zndpi8tNZyQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Neu!", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/neu/" }, { "trackKey": "donna-summer--i-feel-love", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/donna-summer--i-feel-love/", "title": "I Feel Love", "year": 1977, "label": "Casablanca", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Eno reportedly burst into Bowie's Berlin session announcing that the sound of the future had arrived. Early by about six years, and wrong by about nothing.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "disco", "name": "Disco", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records", "name": "Laurent Garnier — A Life in Twenty-One Records", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Donna%20Summer%20I%20Feel%20Love", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=yEbaeLv-aOo", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Donna Summer", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/donna-summer/" }, { "trackKey": "public-image-ltd--public-image", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/public-image-ltd--public-image/", "title": "Public Image", "year": 1978, "label": "Virgin", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The guitar stops chugging and starts ringing, the bass takes the tune, and British guitar music spends the next fifteen years working out what to do with the space that left.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "post-punk", "name": "Post-Punk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/post-punk/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Public%20Image%20Ltd%20Public%20Image", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=rIAZ8unRm2c", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Public Image Ltd", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/public-image-ltd/" } ] }, { "slug": "the-desk-sounds-like-a-single", "genre": null, "genreUrl": null, "brief": "Three records that pass for pop singles until you notice that nothing inside them behaves like one. A sampled interview, a vocal that will not resolve, and a techno record with a tune it never apologised for.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 3, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "inner-city--good-life", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/inner-city--good-life/", "title": "Good Life", "year": 1988, "label": "KMS / Virgin", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Detroit techno behaving like a pop record and refusing to apologise for it. The genre spent the following decade deciding whether that was a betrayal or the entire point.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "detroit-techno", "name": "Detroit Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Inner%20City%20Good%20Life", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=KJxJxr9RlKM", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Inner City", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/inner-city/" }, { "trackKey": "massive-attack--unfinished-sympathy", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/massive-attack--unfinished-sympathy/", "title": "Unfinished Sympathy", "year": 1991, "label": "Wild Bunch / Circa", "isrc": "GBAAA9100034", "whyItMatters": "Strings, a slow breakbeat, and a vocal that refuses to resolve. It sounds like a pop single until you notice that nothing in it behaves the way a pop single is supposed to.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "trip-hop", "name": "Trip-Hop", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/trip-hop/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-a-way-in", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — A Way In", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Massive%20Attack%20Unfinished%20Sympathy", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWmrfgj0MZI", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Massive Attack", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/massive-attack/" }, { "trackKey": "the-orb--little-fluffy-clouds", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-orb--little-fluffy-clouds/", "title": "Little Fluffy Clouds", "year": 1990, "label": "Big Life", "isrc": "GBAAN9100004", "whyItMatters": "A sampled interview, a Steve Reich loop and a beat, assembled into something that should not work at all. The line between a remix and a record is nowhere to be found on it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "ambient", "name": "Ambient", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/ambient/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Orb%20Little%20Fluffy%20Clouds", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=KNfjpmvbQG0", "exact": true } }, "artist": "The Orb", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-orb/" } ] }, { "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "genre": null, "genreUrl": null, "brief": "Every genre we rank, distilled to a hundred records and ordered best first. If you only ever play one list from this site, play this one.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 100, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "rhythim-is-rhythim--strings-of-life", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/rhythim-is-rhythim--strings-of-life/", "title": "Strings of Life", "year": 1987, "label": "Transmat", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "No bassline, barely a kick, and it still empties a bar into a dancefloor faster than anything made since. The one record on this site nobody in thirty-eight years has argued with.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "detroit-techno", "name": "Detroit Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-eighties", "name": "The Eighties", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-a-way-in", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — A Way In", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-detroit-in-europe", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Detroit, Heard in Europe", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-in-europe/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Rhythim%20Is%20Rhythim%20Strings%20of%20Life", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=vGFw2qeUp0s", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Rhythim Is Rhythim", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/rhythim-is-rhythim/" }, { "trackKey": "marvin-gaye--whats-going-on", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/marvin-gaye--whats-going-on/", "title": "What's Going On", "year": 1971, "label": "Tamla", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A protest record that sounds like a conversation at a party. Its label tried to stop it, which is usually the sign.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "soul", "name": "Soul", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/soul/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-one-subject", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — One Subject", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-one-subject/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Marvin%20Gaye%20What's%20Going%20On", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=KDK7TiEiMOI", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Marvin Gaye", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/marvin-gaye/" }, { "trackKey": "donna-summer--i-feel-love", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/donna-summer--i-feel-love/", "title": "I Feel Love", "year": 1977, "label": "Casablanca", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The moment a machine takes over the rhythm section of popular music and nobody notices they have crossed a line. Everything electronic below here is downstream of it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "disco", "name": "Disco", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records", "name": "Laurent Garnier — A Life in Twenty-One Records", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-roots", "name": "Roots", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-roots/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Donna%20Summer%20I%20Feel%20Love", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=yEbaeLv-aOo", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Donna Summer", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/donna-summer/" }, { "trackKey": "james-brown--cold-sweat", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/james-brown--cold-sweat/", "title": "Cold Sweat", "year": 1967, "label": "King", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The accent moves to the first beat and the chord stops changing. Eight bars that reorganise the next sixty years.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "funk", "name": "Funk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-roots", "name": "Roots", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-roots/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-accent-moved", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Where the Accent Moved", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-accent-moved/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/James%20Brown%20Cold%20Sweat", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=qkgIoMuaoQ0", "exact": true } }, "artist": "James Brown", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/james-brown/" }, { "trackKey": "mr-fingers--can-you-feel-it", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/mr-fingers--can-you-feel-it/", "title": "Can You Feel It", "year": 1986, "label": "Trax", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A bassline, a hi-hat and an enormous amount of patience. House music explained in one record, and never bettered by the ten thousand that copied it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "chicago-house", "name": "Chicago House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-eighties", "name": "The Eighties", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-a-way-in", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — A Way In", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-chicago-in-the-room", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — In the Room", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-in-the-room/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-chicago-looped-and-filtered", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Looped and Filtered", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-looped-and-filtered/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Mr.%20Fingers%20Can%20You%20Feel%20It", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=p2XxyBViBog", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Mr. Fingers", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/mr-fingers/" }, { "trackKey": "sam-cooke--a-change-is-gonna-come", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/sam-cooke--a-change-is-gonna-come/", "title": "A Change Is Gonna Come", "year": 1964, "label": "RCA Victor", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "More weight per bar than anything else in this list. The strings are almost unbearable and the restraint in the vocal is the reason.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "soul", "name": "Soul", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/soul/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Sam%20Cooke%20A%20Change%20Is%20Gonna%20Come", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=wEBlaMOmKV4", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Sam Cooke", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/sam-cooke/" }, { "trackKey": "massive-attack--unfinished-sympathy", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/massive-attack--unfinished-sympathy/", "title": "Unfinished Sympathy", "year": 1991, "label": "Wild Bunch / Circa", "isrc": "GBAAA9100034", "whyItMatters": "A full string section over a hip-hop break, in 1991, made by people from Bristol with no permission to attempt it. Still sounds like it cost a fortune and meant it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "trip-hop", "name": "Trip-Hop", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/trip-hop/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-a-way-in", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — A Way In", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-sounds-like-a-single", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Sounds Like a Single", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-sounds-like-a-single/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Massive%20Attack%20Unfinished%20Sympathy", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWmrfgj0MZI", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Massive Attack", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/massive-attack/" }, { "trackKey": "afrika-bambaataa-and-the-soulsonic-force--planet-rock", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/afrika-bambaataa-and-the-soulsonic-force--planet-rock/", "title": "Planet Rock", "year": 1982, "label": "Tommy Boy", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Two German records, an 808 and a Bronx park. The most generative four minutes in this entire corpus — techno, electro and half of pop start here.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "electro", "name": "Electro", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/electro/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records", "name": "Laurent Garnier — A Life in Twenty-One Records", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Afrika%20Bambaataa%20%26%20The%20Soulsonic%20Force%20Planet%20Rock", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=SqS8X-5aIns", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/afrika-bambaataa-and-the-soulsonic-force/" }, { "trackKey": "augustus-pablo--king-tubby-meets-rockers-uptown", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/augustus-pablo--king-tubby-meets-rockers-uptown/", "title": "King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown", "year": 1976, "label": "Yard Music", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The record that proves an engineer is a composer. Everything on this list built from the bass upward is quoting it, usually without knowing.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dub", "name": "Dub", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dub/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "nineteen-seventy-six", "name": "1976", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-seventy-six/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-roots", "name": "Roots", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-roots/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-ghosts", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Augustus%20Pablo%20King%20Tubby%20Meets%20Rockers%20Uptown", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=oxAl3Jijs20", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Augustus Pablo", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/augustus-pablo/" }, { "trackKey": "public-enemy--fight-the-power", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/public-enemy--fight-the-power/", "title": "Fight the Power", "year": 1989, "label": "Motown / Def Jam", "isrc": "USDJ29000034", "whyItMatters": "The densest production in rap attached to the least negotiable lyric. Thirty-six years on, no record has managed to be this loud and this precise at once.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "golden-age-hip-hop", "name": "Golden Age Hip-Hop", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/golden-age-hip-hop/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Public%20Enemy%20Fight%20the%20Power", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=mmo3HFa2vjg", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Public Enemy", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/public-enemy/" }, { "trackKey": "chic--good-times", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/chic--good-times/", "title": "Good Times", "year": 1979, "label": "Atlantic", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A bassline so useful that hip-hop, post-punk and pop all took it within eighteen months. Rodgers leaves gaps, and other people's careers fit inside them.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "disco", "name": "Disco", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-what-the-djs-kept", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — What the DJs Kept", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-what-the-djs-kept/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Chic%20Good%20Times", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=iGKQapswGaY", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Chic", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/chic/" }, { "trackKey": "joy-division--love-will-tear-us-apart", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/joy-division--love-will-tear-us-apart/", "title": "Love Will Tear Us Apart", "year": 1980, "label": "Factory", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The bass carries the melody, a cheap synth carries the weather, and the lyric refuses every available metaphor. Guitar music's most perfect three minutes.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "post-punk", "name": "Post-Punk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/post-punk/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-eighties", "name": "The Eighties", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Joy%20Division%20Love%20Will%20Tear%20Us%20Apart", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zuuObGsB0No", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Joy Division", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/joy-division/" }, { "trackKey": "kraftwerk--autobahn", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/kraftwerk--autobahn/", "title": "Autobahn", "year": 1974, "label": "Philips", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Twenty-two minutes about a car journey that Detroit heard as the future and Britain heard as a pop tune. Both readings were correct and both built genres.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "krautrock", "name": "Krautrock", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/krautrock/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-krautrock", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Krautrock", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-krautrock/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Kraftwerk%20Autobahn", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=vkOZNJYAZ7c", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Kraftwerk", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/kraftwerk/" }, { "trackKey": "my-bloody-valentine--only-shallow", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/my-bloody-valentine--only-shallow/", "title": "Only Shallow", "year": 1991, "label": "Creation", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Four snare hits and then a guitar sound nobody has satisfactorily explained since. The loudest record here, and the most delicate.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "shoegaze", "name": "Shoegaze", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/shoegaze/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-a-way-in", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — A Way In", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/My%20Bloody%20Valentine%20Only%20Shallow", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=nwfCoKNI5hs", "exact": true } }, "artist": "My Bloody Valentine", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/my-bloody-valentine/" }, { "trackKey": "aretha-franklin--respect", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/aretha-franklin--respect/", "title": "Respect", "year": 1967, "label": "Atlantic", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Otis Redding wrote it and then conceded it was hers. The most complete act of reinterpretation in recorded music.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "soul", "name": "Soul", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/soul/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Aretha%20Franklin%20Respect", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=A134hShx_gw", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Aretha Franklin", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/aretha-franklin/" }, { "trackKey": "goldie--inner-city-life", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/goldie--inner-city-life/", "title": "Inner City Life", "year": 1994, "label": "FFRR / Metalheadz", "isrc": "GBAAP9500462", "whyItMatters": "Time-stretched breaks, a Diane Charlemagne vocal and an emotional register jungle was not supposed to have. The record that made an entire genre legible to outsiders.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "drum-and-bass", "name": "Drum and Bass", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/drum-and-bass/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "nineteen-ninety-four", "name": "1994", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-a-way-in", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — A Way In", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Goldie%20Inner%20City%20Life", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=i-P98B2skts", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Goldie", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/goldie/" }, { "trackKey": "fela-kuti-and-africa-70--zombie", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/fela-kuti-and-africa-70--zombie/", "title": "Zombie", "year": 1976, "label": "Coconut", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Twelve minutes calling the army a column of unthinking bodies, answered by the state burning his compound down. Few records have been taken this seriously by their subject.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "afrobeat", "name": "Afrobeat", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/afrobeat/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "nineteen-seventy-six", "name": "1976", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-seventy-six/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "dancing-to-bad-news", "name": "Dancing to Bad News", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/dancing-to-bad-news/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records", "name": "Laurent Garnier — A Life in Twenty-One Records", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Fela%20Kuti%20%26%20Africa%2070%20Zombie", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=RUSg31Ignw4", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Fela Kuti & Africa 70", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/fela-kuti-and-africa-70/" }, { "trackKey": "steve-reich--music-for-18-musicians", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/steve-reich--music-for-18-musicians/", "title": "Music for 18 Musicians", "year": 1978, "label": "ECM", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "An hour of pulsing marimbas that converts people with no patience for the theory behind it. The most seductive thing minimalism produced.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "minimalism", "name": "Minimalism", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/minimalism/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Steve%20Reich%20Music%20for%2018%20Musicians", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=1oOmUi4HGt0", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Steve Reich", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/steve-reich/" }, { "trackKey": "a-guy-called-gerald--voodoo-ray", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/a-guy-called-gerald--voodoo-ray/", "title": "Voodoo Ray", "year": 1988, "label": "Rham!", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A Manchester bedroom, borrowed equipment and a sample cut short because the sampler ran out of memory. British dance music's most beautiful accident.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "acid-house", "name": "Acid House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/acid-house/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-both-rooms", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Both Rooms", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-both-rooms/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/A%20Guy%20Called%20Gerald%20Voodoo%20Ray", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=j7vxHOCeiQ4", "exact": true } }, "artist": "A Guy Called Gerald", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/a-guy-called-gerald/" }, { "trackKey": "eric-b-and-rakim--paid-in-full", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/eric-b-and-rakim--paid-in-full/", "title": "Paid in Full", "year": 1987, "label": "4th & Broadway", "isrc": "USIR28700020", "whyItMatters": "Rakim changes what a rap verse can do — internal rhyme, conversational delivery, no shouting — and every MC after him is working from this template.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "golden-age-hip-hop", "name": "Golden Age Hip-Hop", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/golden-age-hip-hop/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-a-way-in", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — A Way In", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Eric%20B.%20%26%20Rakim%20Paid%20in%20Full", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=E7t8eoA_1jQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Eric B. & Rakim", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/eric-b-and-rakim/" }, { "trackKey": "model-500--no-ufos", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/model-500--no-ufos/", "title": "No UFO's", "year": 1985, "label": "Metroplex", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The first record that is unambiguously techno rather than something approaching it. Cold, distant, and completely certain of itself.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "detroit-techno", "name": "Detroit Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-eighties", "name": "The Eighties", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-detroit-techno", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Detroit Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-techno/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Model%20500%20No%20UFO's", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Model%20500%20No%20UFO's", "exact": false } }, "artist": "Model 500", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/model-500/" }, { "trackKey": "brian-eno--an-ending-ascent", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/brian-eno--an-ending-ascent/", "title": "An Ending (Ascent)", "year": 1983, "label": "Editions EG", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Four minutes that have been used to sell everything and still cannot be cheapened. The purest demonstration that music can be a place rather than an event.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "ambient", "name": "Ambient", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/ambient/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-a-way-in", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — A Way In", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Brian%20Eno%20An%20Ending%20(Ascent)", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=OlaTeXX3uH8", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Brian Eno", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/brian-eno/" }, { "trackKey": "portishead--glory-box", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/portishead--glory-box/", "title": "Glory Box", "year": 1994, "label": "Go! Beat", "isrc": "GBAQT9400066", "whyItMatters": "An Isaac Hayes loop, a broken-theremin guitar and the most desolate vocal of the decade. Grim, gorgeous, and nobody has repeated it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "trip-hop", "name": "Trip-Hop", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/trip-hop/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "nineteen-ninety-four", "name": "1994", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Portishead%20Glory%20Box", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=4qQyUi4zfDs", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Portishead", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/portishead/" }, { "trackKey": "sister-nancy--bam-bam", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/sister-nancy--bam-bam/", "title": "Bam Bam", "year": 1982, "label": "Techniques", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The most sampled record in this list by a distance, and its author was paid nothing for decades. Effortless in a way that cannot be manufactured.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dancehall", "name": "Dancehall", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dancehall/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Sister%20Nancy%20Bam%20Bam", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=a9OopCd1gpE", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Sister Nancy", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/sister-nancy/" }, { "trackKey": "stardust--music-sounds-better-with-you", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/stardust--music-sounds-better-with-you/", "title": "Music Sounds Better with You", "year": 1998, "label": "Roulé", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "One guitar figure, one filter, one line repeated until it becomes a mantra. The most perfect single-idea record dance music has, and the trio never made another.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "french-house", "name": "French House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/french-house/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-french-house", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — French House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-french-house/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Stardust%20Music%20Sounds%20Better%20with%20You", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=FQlAEiCb8m0", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Stardust", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/stardust/" }, { "trackKey": "talking-heads--once-in-a-lifetime", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/talking-heads--once-in-a-lifetime/", "title": "Once in a Lifetime", "year": 1980, "label": "Sire", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A looped Afro-funk bed and a man having a public breakdown on top of it. Post-punk's most joyful record is also its most panicked, which is why it lasts.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "post-punk", "name": "Post-Punk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/post-punk/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Talking%20Heads%20Once%20in%20a%20Lifetime", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=5IsSpAOD6K8", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Talking Heads", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/talking-heads/" }, { "trackKey": "stevie-wonder--superstition", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/stevie-wonder--superstition/", "title": "Superstition", "year": 1972, "label": "Tamla", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A clavinet riff so complete the arrangement is almost optional. One man playing nearly everything, at the exact moment that became possible.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "funk", "name": "Funk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-accent-moved", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Where the Accent Moved", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-accent-moved/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Stevie%20Wonder%20Superstition", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ftdZ363R9kQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Stevie Wonder", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/stevie-wonder/" }, { "trackKey": "mj-cole--sincere", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/mj-cole--sincere/", "title": "Sincere", "year": 1998, "label": "Talkin' Loud", "isrc": "GBF080000103", "whyItMatters": "The most musically ambitious record UK garage produced, by a classically trained producer who could have done anything and chose two-step.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "uk-garage", "name": "UK Garage", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-a-way-in", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — A Way In", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-garage-on-the-mix", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Garage on the Mix", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-garage-on-the-mix/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/MJ%20Cole%20Sincere", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=cy-djtiU5RE", "exact": true } }, "artist": "MJ Cole", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/mj-cole/" }, { "trackKey": "dangelo--untitled-how-does-it-feel", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dangelo--untitled-how-does-it-feel/", "title": "Untitled (How Does It Feel)", "year": 2000, "label": "Virgin", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Seven minutes played so far behind the beat that the track feels like it might stop. A masterclass in how much tension a band can hold by simply not hurrying.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "neo-soul", "name": "Neo-Soul", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/neo-soul/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-soulquarians-room", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Soulquarians Room", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-soulquarians-room/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/D'Angelo%20Untitled%20(How%20Does%20It%20Feel)", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=SxVNOnPyvIU", "exact": true } }, "artist": "D'Angelo", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dangelo/" }, { "trackKey": "neu--hallogallo", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/neu--hallogallo/", "title": "Hallogallo", "year": 1972, "label": "Brain", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Ten minutes of one beat played perfectly. The idea that rhythm can drive without swinging is Europe's single largest export to this list.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "krautrock", "name": "Krautrock", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/krautrock/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-roots", "name": "Roots", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-roots/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-krautrock", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Krautrock", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-krautrock/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Neu!%20Hallogallo", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zndpi8tNZyQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Neu!", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/neu/" }, { "trackKey": "burial--archangel", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/burial--archangel/", "title": "Archangel", "year": 2007, "label": "Hyperdub", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Rain, vinyl crackle and a pitched vocal grieving over percussion that never lands on the grid. The record that made club music legible to people who never go to clubs.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dubstep", "name": "Dubstep", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dubstep/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-ghosts", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-dubstep-goes-national", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Night It Went National", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-dubstep-goes-national/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Burial%20Archangel", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=E2qLD9c3Gq4", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Burial", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/burial/" }, { "trackKey": "frankie-knuckles-and-jamie-principle--your-love", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/frankie-knuckles-and-jamie-principle--your-love/", "title": "Your Love", "year": 1987, "label": "Trax", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "It circulated on cassette for years before anyone pressed it, which tells you what it did to a room. Still the most romantic record house has.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "chicago-house", "name": "Chicago House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "sung-to-someone", "name": "Sung to Someone", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/sung-to-someone/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-chicago-in-the-room", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — In the Room", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-in-the-room/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Frankie%20Knuckles%20%26%20Jamie%20Principle%20Your%20Love", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=M6LAE5ejrjg", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Frankie Knuckles & Jamie Principle", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/frankie-knuckles-and-jamie-principle/" }, { "trackKey": "dr-dre-featuring-snoop-doggy-dogg--nuthin-but-a-g-thang", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dr-dre-featuring-snoop-doggy-dogg--nuthin-but-a-g-thang/", "title": "Nuthin' but a \"G\" Thang", "year": 1992, "label": "Death Row", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A loop, a synth whine and two people sounding entirely untroubled. Delivered so completely on the first attempt that the genre spent five years elaborating it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "g-funk", "name": "G-Funk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/g-funk/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Dr.%20Dre%20featuring%20Snoop%20Doggy%20Dogg%20Nuthin'%20but%20a%20%22G%22%20Thang", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=8GliyDgAGQI", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dr-dre-featuring-snoop-doggy-dogg/" }, { "trackKey": "bob-marley-and-the-wailers--no-woman-no-cry", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/bob-marley-and-the-wailers--no-woman-no-cry/", "title": "No Woman, No Cry", "year": 1975, "label": "Island", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Seven minutes of a man consoling a room by describing a yard. The most widely loved record here, and it earns every bit of that.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "reggae", "name": "Reggae", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/reggae/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "sung-to-someone", "name": "Sung to Someone", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/sung-to-someone/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Bob%20Marley%20%26%20The%20Wailers%20No%20Woman%2C%20No%20Cry", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=IT8XvzIfi4U", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Bob Marley & The Wailers", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/bob-marley-and-the-wailers/" }, { "trackKey": "shy-fx-and-uk-apache--original-nuttah", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/shy-fx-and-uk-apache--original-nuttah/", "title": "Original Nuttah", "year": 1994, "label": "SOUR", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A ragga vocal over an Amen break at 170 BPM, with nobody involved thinking the combination needed explaining. Britain's two inheritances, fused without ceremony.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "drum-and-bass", "name": "Drum and Bass", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/drum-and-bass/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "nineteen-ninety-four", "name": "1994", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-bass-weight", "name": "Bass Weight", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-bass-weight/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-160", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — 160", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-160/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-ghosts", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Shy%20FX%20%26%20UK%20Apache%20Original%20Nuttah", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sxbekgL4w7w", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Shy FX & UK Apache", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/shy-fx-and-uk-apache/" }, { "trackKey": "this-mortal-coil--song-to-the-siren", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/this-mortal-coil--song-to-the-siren/", "title": "Song to the Siren", "year": 1983, "label": "4AD", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Almost nothing behind the voice but a treated guitar, and it is still overwhelming. A cover version that has effectively replaced the original.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dream-pop", "name": "Dream Pop", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dream-pop/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/This%20Mortal%20Coil%20Song%20to%20the%20Siren", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=6GFteqnmoxg", "exact": true } }, "artist": "This Mortal Coil", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/this-mortal-coil/" }, { "trackKey": "james-brown--funky-drummer", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/james-brown--funky-drummer/", "title": "Funky Drummer", "year": 1970, "label": "King", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Twenty seconds of Clyde Stubblefield alone, and then thirty years of other people's records. The most consequential drum break in existence.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "funk", "name": "Funk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-soulquarians-room", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Soulquarians Room", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-soulquarians-room/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/James%20Brown%20Funky%20Drummer", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=7dtpj8qa1hQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "James Brown", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/james-brown/" }, { "trackKey": "mfsb--love-is-the-message", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/mfsb--love-is-the-message/", "title": "Love Is the Message", "year": 1973, "label": "Philadelphia International", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Not a song so much as a structure that DJs spent a decade learning to use. The Paradise Garage closed on it, which is the highest recommendation available.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "disco", "name": "Disco", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-what-the-djs-kept", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — What the DJs Kept", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-what-the-djs-kept/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/MFSB%20Love%20Is%20the%20Message", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=7b1umcmfaXY", "exact": true } }, "artist": "MFSB", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/mfsb/" }, { "trackKey": "dizzee-rascal--i-luv-u", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dizzee-rascal--i-luv-u/", "title": "I Luv U", "year": 2002, "label": "XL", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Made at sixteen on a school computer, and nothing in British music had sounded that unmediated before. A row between two teenagers, and the beat sounds like the row.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "grime", "name": "Grime", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/grime/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records", "name": "Laurent Garnier — A Life in Twenty-One Records", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Dizzee%20Rascal%20I%20Luv%20U", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=YH0KWX2a8zY", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Dizzee Rascal", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dizzee-rascal/" }, { "trackKey": "jeff-mills--the-bells", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/jeff-mills--the-bells/", "title": "The Bells", "year": 1996, "label": "Purpose Maker", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Four elements, no development, total inevitability. The most recognisable DJ tool in techno, built out of very nearly nothing.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "detroit-techno", "name": "Detroit Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-detroit-techno", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Detroit Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-techno/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-detroit-in-europe", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Detroit, Heard in Europe", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-in-europe/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Jeff%20Mills%20The%20Bells", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=S-BlgAQ7uRQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Jeff Mills", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/jeff-mills/" }, { "trackKey": "basic-channel--phylyps-trak", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/basic-channel--phylyps-trak/", "title": "Phylyps Trak", "year": 1993, "label": "Basic Channel", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "One chord, a filter and eleven minutes, and it establishes that a techno record can consist almost entirely of the space around its own decay.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dub-techno", "name": "Dub Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dub-techno/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Basic%20Channel%20Phylyps%20Trak", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=6a4HlgmlMuw", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Basic Channel", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/basic-channel/" }, { "trackKey": "aphex-twin--windowlicker", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/aphex-twin--windowlicker/", "title": "Windowlicker", "year": 1999, "label": "Warp", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "An R&B pastiche processed into something inhuman and sold as a pop single. Proof that he could do the thing he spent a career refusing to do.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "idm", "name": "IDM", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/idm/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "warp", "name": "Warp", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Aphex%20Twin%20Windowlicker", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=go6-MliYCAs", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Aphex Twin", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/aphex-twin/" }, { "trackKey": "public-image-ltd--public-image", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/public-image-ltd--public-image/", "title": "Public Image", "year": 1978, "label": "Virgin", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A resignation letter from punk delivered as a single: dub bass, ringing guitar, and no interest whatsoever in the audience that came for the last band.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "post-punk", "name": "Post-Punk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/post-punk/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-roots", "name": "Roots", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-roots/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Public%20Image%20Ltd%20Public%20Image", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=rIAZ8unRm2c", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Public Image Ltd", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/public-image-ltd/" }, { "trackKey": "nas--n-y-state-of-mind", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/nas--n-y-state-of-mind/", "title": "N.Y. State of Mind", "year": 1994, "label": "Columbia", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A twenty-year-old writing at a level most novelists never reach, over a piano loop that never resolves. The best-written record in this list.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "golden-age-hip-hop", "name": "Golden Age Hip-Hop", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/golden-age-hip-hop/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "nineteen-ninety-four", "name": "1994", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Nas%20N.Y.%20State%20of%20Mind", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=hI8A14Qcv68", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Nas", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/nas/" }, { "trackKey": "the-stone-roses--fools-gold", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-stone-roses--fools-gold/", "title": "Fools Gold", "year": 1989, "label": "Silvertone", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "An indie band's biggest single is a groove with some singing on it, and a whole country followed them across the floor. The hinge record of British music.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "madchester", "name": "Madchester", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/madchester/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-both-rooms", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Both Rooms", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-both-rooms/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Stone%20Roses%20Fools%20Gold", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=NSD11dnphg0", "exact": true } }, "artist": "The Stone Roses", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-stone-roses/" }, { "trackKey": "kraftwerk--trans-europe-express", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/kraftwerk--trans-europe-express/", "title": "Trans-Europe Express", "year": 1977, "label": "Kling Klang", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A wistful song about trains that Bambaataa turned into hip-hop and Detroit turned into techno. No other record here has been quite so productive for people who misheard it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "krautrock", "name": "Krautrock", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/krautrock/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Kraftwerk%20Trans-Europe%20Express", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=i_85fUIRlmU", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Kraftwerk", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/kraftwerk/" }, { "trackKey": "lauryn-hill--ex-factor", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/lauryn-hill--ex-factor/", "title": "Ex-Factor", "year": 1998, "label": "Ruffhouse", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A Wu-Tang sample, a gospel structure, and a lyric with no interest in protecting anyone's dignity. 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Devastating, and the origin of phasing.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "minimalism", "name": "Minimalism", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/minimalism/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Steve%20Reich%20Come%20Out", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni-LmThfV6c", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Steve Reich", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/steve-reich/" }, { "trackKey": "sly-and-the-family-stone--thank-you-falettinme-be-mice-elf-agin", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/sly-and-the-family-stone--thank-you-falettinme-be-mice-elf-agin/", "title": "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)", "year": 1969, "label": "Epic", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A bass technique invented to cover for a missing drummer, and the most cheerful record ever written about being ground down.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "funk", "name": "Funk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-accent-moved", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Where the Accent Moved", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-accent-moved/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Sly%20%26%20the%20Family%20Stone%20Thank%20You%20(Falettinme%20Be%20Mice%20Elf%20Agin)", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=-T9vmaTI2LE", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Sly & the Family Stone", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/sly-and-the-family-stone/" }, { "trackKey": "omni-trio--renegade-snares", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/omni-trio--renegade-snares/", "title": "Renegade Snares", "year": 1993, "label": "Moving Shadow", "isrc": "GBAGN9300093", "whyItMatters": "Jungle's prettiest record and its most technically alarming, at the same time. The breaks are chopped past the point of sense and the piano does not care.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "drum-and-bass", "name": "Drum and Bass", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/drum-and-bass/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Omni%20Trio%20Renegade%20Snares", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Tzet6jYKQAU", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Omni Trio", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/omni-trio/" }, { "trackKey": "double-exposure--ten-percent", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/double-exposure--ten-percent/", "title": "Ten Percent", "year": 1976, "label": "Salsoul", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Walter Gibbons invents the job of remixer on the first commercially released twelve-inch. Extend, strip, delay the payoff — all of it is already here.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "disco", "name": "Disco", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-what-the-djs-kept", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — What the DJs Kept", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-what-the-djs-kept/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Double%20Exposure%20Ten%20Percent", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=rP0EPsS3OdQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Double Exposure", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/double-exposure/" }, { "trackKey": "my-bloody-valentine--soon", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/my-bloody-valentine--soon/", "title": "Soon", "year": 1990, "label": "Creation", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A dance beat under a guitar sound that will not hold still. Eno called it the vaguest music ever to have been a hit, approvingly.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "shoegaze", "name": "Shoegaze", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/shoegaze/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/My%20Bloody%20Valentine%20Soon", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=gU7tX5YJghc", "exact": true } }, "artist": "My Bloody Valentine", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/my-bloody-valentine/" }, { "trackKey": "fela-kuti-and-africa-70--water-no-get-enemy", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/fela-kuti-and-africa-70--water-no-get-enemy/", "title": "Water No Get Enemy", "year": 1975, "label": "Coconut", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A proverb, a horn line, and Tony Allen playing the most relaxed complicated drum part imaginable. The way in for anyone who finds the politics forbidding.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "afrobeat", "name": "Afrobeat", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/afrobeat/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Fela%20Kuti%20%26%20Africa%2070%20Water%20No%20Get%20Enemy", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=3Jx2qcKd1-0", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Fela Kuti & Africa 70", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/fela-kuti-and-africa-70/" }, { "trackKey": "new-order--blue-monday", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/new-order--blue-monday/", "title": "Blue Monday", "year": 1983, "label": "Factory", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A guitar band making a club twelve-inch on sequencers, in packaging that lost money per copy. Five years early and the reason so much else was possible.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "madchester", "name": "Madchester", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/madchester/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records", "name": "Laurent Garnier — A Life in Twenty-One Records", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-both-rooms", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Both Rooms", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-both-rooms/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/New%20Order%20Blue%20Monday", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=9GMjH1nR0ds", "exact": true } }, "artist": "New Order", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/new-order/" }, { "trackKey": "daft-punk--da-funk", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/daft-punk--da-funk/", "title": "Da Funk", "year": 1995, "label": "Soma", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A deliberately ugly lead over a hip-hop tempo, released on a Glasgow techno label. Two Parisians arriving already refusing to do the expected thing.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "french-house", "name": "French House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/french-house/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-both-rooms", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Both Rooms", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-both-rooms/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Daft%20Punk%20Da%20Funk", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=PwILkY9gRrc", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Daft Punk", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/daft-punk/" }, { "trackKey": "cajmere--percolator", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/cajmere--percolator/", "title": "Percolator", "year": 1992, "label": "Cajual", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "One bleeping figure repeated until it became a city's shared vocabulary. 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The most severe great record in this tradition.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "reggae", "name": "Reggae", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/reggae/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Burning%20Spear%20Marcus%20Garvey", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=JW0iPMG1ohc", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Burning Spear", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/burning-spear/" }, { "trackKey": "aphex-twin--xtal", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/aphex-twin--xtal/", "title": "Xtal", "year": 1992, "label": "Apollo / R&S", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A wordless vocal over a break that has been degraded until it sounds remembered rather than played. Ambient's most-loved record by someone who denies making ambient.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "ambient", "name": "Ambient", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/ambient/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Aphex%20Twin%20Xtal", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sWcLccMuCA8", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Aphex Twin", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/aphex-twin/" }, { "trackKey": "wu-tang-clan--c-r-e-a-m", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/wu-tang-clan--c-r-e-a-m/", "title": "C.R.E.A.M.", "year": 1993, "label": "Loud", "isrc": "USRC19300133", "whyItMatters": "A four-bar piano loop, two verses, and a hook that became a proverb. RZA proved that the cheapest possible production could carry the heaviest possible writing.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "golden-age-hip-hop", "name": "Golden Age Hip-Hop", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/golden-age-hip-hop/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Wu-Tang%20Clan%20C.R.E.A.M.", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=4yNQ7_7I5aE", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Wu-Tang Clan", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/wu-tang-clan/" }, { "trackKey": "artful-dodger-featuring-craig-david--re-rewind-the-crowd-say-bo-selecta", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/artful-dodger-featuring-craig-david--re-rewind-the-crowd-say-bo-selecta/", "title": "Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta)", "year": 1999, "label": "Public Demand", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A pop record about a DJ's device, sung by a teenager who then became the biggest star in Britain. Garage's moment of complete confidence.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "uk-garage", "name": "UK Garage", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-garage-on-the-mix", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Garage on the Mix", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-garage-on-the-mix/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Artful%20Dodger%20featuring%20Craig%20David%20Re-Rewind%20(The%20Crowd%20Say%20Bo%20Selecta)", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=M0wv_cQv8As", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Artful Dodger featuring Craig David", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/artful-dodger-featuring-craig-david/" }, { "trackKey": "dj-rolando-underground-resistance--jaguar", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dj-rolando-underground-resistance--jaguar/", "title": "Jaguar", "year": 1999, "label": "Underground Resistance", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The riff a major label tried to buy and the Detroit underground refused to sell. 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The technical leap that turned hardcore into jungle, audible as it happens.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "breakbeat-hardcore", "name": "Breakbeat Hardcore", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/breakbeat-hardcore/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-160", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — 160", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-160/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Metalheads%20Terminator", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Knu-7A7BLtQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Metalheads", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/metalheads/" }, { "trackKey": "marshall-jefferson--move-your-body", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/marshall-jefferson--move-your-body/", "title": "Move Your Body", "year": 1986, "label": "Trax", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Subtitled the house music anthem, and it earned the definite article. The piano that opened the genre up to everybody who was not already in the room.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "chicago-house", "name": "Chicago House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-chicago-in-the-room", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — In the Room", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-in-the-room/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-chicago-looped-and-filtered", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Looped and Filtered", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-looped-and-filtered/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Marshall%20Jefferson%20Move%20Your%20Body", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=RhKMMh4qOL8", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Marshall Jefferson", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/marshall-jefferson/" }, { "trackKey": "otis-redding--try-a-little-tenderness", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/otis-redding--try-a-little-tenderness/", "title": "Try a Little Tenderness", "year": 1966, "label": "Volt", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Two minutes of restraint and then the roof comes off. The best available argument that soul is a technique for controlling release rather than avoiding it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "soul", "name": "Soul", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/soul/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Otis%20Redding%20Try%20a%20Little%20Tenderness", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=pli44utBOwo", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Otis Redding", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/otis-redding/" }, { "trackKey": "wiley--eskimo", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/wiley--eskimo/", "title": "Eskimo", "year": 2002, "label": "Wiley Kat", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Cold, hollow and deliberately unwelcoming. An entire scene's emotional temperature set by one instrumental in ninety seconds.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "grime", "name": "Grime", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/grime/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-ghosts", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Wiley%20Eskimo", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=u3rWH9pWkVQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Wiley", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/wiley/" }, { "trackKey": "dj-rashad--feelin", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dj-rashad--feelin/", "title": "Feelin", "year": 2013, "label": "Hyperdub", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Soul samples and drum-and-bass warmth over patterns that refuse to resolve. The record that made the hardest rhythm in America hospitable without slowing it down.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "juke-and-footwork", "name": "Juke and Footwork", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-160", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — 160", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-160/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-footwork-travels", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Footwork Travels", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-footwork-travels/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-ghosts", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Rashad%20Feelin", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=MC5zj4eLM3k", "exact": true } }, "artist": "DJ Rashad", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-rashad/" }, { "trackKey": "slowdive--alison", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/slowdive--alison/", "title": "Alison", "year": 1993, "label": "Creation", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Shoegaze with the songwriting left in. Everything blurred except the melody, which is why this one survived the backlash that buried the rest.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "shoegaze", "name": "Shoegaze", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/shoegaze/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Slowdive%20Alison", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak43tAU5QuA", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Slowdive", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/slowdive/" }, { "trackKey": "arthur-mafokate--kaffir", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/arthur-mafokate--kaffir/", "title": "Kaffir", "year": 1995, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A dance record built around a plea not to be called a slur, and the first real argument of the new South Africa. Half a million copies, and a genre given its subject.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "kwaito", "name": "Kwaito", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/kwaito/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "dancing-to-bad-news", "name": "Dancing to Bad News", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/dancing-to-bad-news/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-gqom-out-of-durban", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Out of Durban", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-gqom-out-of-durban/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Arthur%20Mafokate%20Kaffir", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sep8mvPZW6s", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Arthur Mafokate", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/arthur-mafokate/" }, { "trackKey": "boards-of-canada--roygbiv", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/boards-of-canada--roygbiv/", "title": "Roygbiv", "year": 1998, "label": "Warp", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Two minutes of detuned warmth imitated for twenty-five years without once being equalled. An entire strand of electronic music descends from this tape hiss.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "idm", "name": "IDM", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/idm/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "warp", "name": "Warp", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Boards%20of%20Canada%20Roygbiv", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=SM4tQcUt_mQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Boards of Canada", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/boards-of-canada/" }, { "trackKey": "mandoza--nkalakatha", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/mandoza--nkalakatha/", "title": "Nkalakatha", "year": 2000, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A kwaito record adopted by rugby crowds and townships alike, which nothing else in the country's music had managed. The closest post-apartheid South Africa came to a shared anthem.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "kwaito", "name": "Kwaito", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/kwaito/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Mandoza%20Nkalakatha", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=b28vJvntyUM", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Mandoza", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/mandoza/" }, { "trackKey": "gang-of-four--damaged-goods", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/gang-of-four--damaged-goods/", "title": "Damaged Goods", "year": 1978, "label": "Fast Product", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A guitar used as a percussion instrument that mostly stays silent. The politics are in the arrangement, which is what separates this band from everyone who copied them.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "post-punk", "name": "Post-Punk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/post-punk/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Gang%20of%20Four%20Damaged%20Goods", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=F_7BVaDIAbA", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Gang of Four", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/gang-of-four/" }, { "trackKey": "dangelo--brown-sugar", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dangelo--brown-sugar/", "title": "Brown Sugar", "year": 1995, "label": "EMI", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A Rhodes, a hip-hop drum feel and a vocal arrangement borrowed from Marvin Gaye. Nothing on radio in 1995 sounded this unhurried, and a movement followed it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "neo-soul", "name": "Neo-Soul", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/neo-soul/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/D'Angelo%20Brown%20Sugar", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=H_WzjiTzZBA", "exact": true } }, "artist": "D'Angelo", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dangelo/" }, { "trackKey": "curtis-mayfield--move-on-up", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/curtis-mayfield--move-on-up/", "title": "Move On Up", "year": 1970, "label": "Curtom", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Nine minutes of unbroken forward motion. Optimism is the harder thing to write and this is the most durable example anyone has managed.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "soul", "name": "Soul", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/soul/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-one-subject", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — One Subject", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-one-subject/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Curtis%20Mayfield%20Move%20On%20Up", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=A9RMr9KuVZo", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Curtis Mayfield", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/curtis-mayfield/" }, { "trackKey": "sl2--on-a-ragga-tip", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/sl2--on-a-ragga-tip/", "title": "On a Ragga Tip", "year": 1992, "label": "XL", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Number two in the national charts with a Jamaican vocal sample and a hoover bass. British pop has rarely been this directly a dispatch from a field off the M25.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "breakbeat-hardcore", "name": "Breakbeat Hardcore", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/breakbeat-hardcore/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/SL2%20On%20a%20Ragga%20Tip", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=M6vgWFsKpdw", "exact": true } }, "artist": "SL2", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/sl2/" }, { "trackKey": "dj-lag--ice-drop", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dj-lag--ice-drop/", "title": "Ice Drop", "year": 2016, "label": "Goon Club Allstars", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Written at seventeen. Three elements, no resolution, and a low end that argues for a whole genre in ninety seconds.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "gqom", "name": "Gqom", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/gqom/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Lag%20Ice%20Drop", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=9ycr4BI8I94", "exact": true } }, "artist": "DJ Lag", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-lag/" }, { "trackKey": "can--halleluhwah", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/can--halleluhwah/", "title": "Halleluhwah", "year": 1971, "label": "United Artists", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Jaki Liebezeit holds one figure for eighteen minutes while the band comes apart around him. The strongest case that repetition is drama's cheapest fuel.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "krautrock", "name": "Krautrock", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/krautrock/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Can%20Halleluhwah", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=-ukhZgsC4vc", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Can", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/can/" }, { "trackKey": "warren-g-and-nate-dogg--regulate", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/warren-g-and-nate-dogg--regulate/", "title": "Regulate", "year": 1994, "label": "Death Row", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A Michael McDonald sample, a story told in alternating verses, and hooks nobody else could have sold. Perfect construction, beginning to end.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "g-funk", "name": "G-Funk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/g-funk/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "nineteen-ninety-four", "name": "1994", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Warren%20G%20%26%20Nate%20Dogg%20Regulate", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=1plPyJdXKIY", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Warren G & Nate Dogg", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/warren-g-and-nate-dogg/" }, { "trackKey": "the-orb--little-fluffy-clouds", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-orb--little-fluffy-clouds/", "title": "Little Fluffy Clouds", "year": 1990, "label": "Big Life", "isrc": "GBAAN9100004", "whyItMatters": "A Rickie Lee Jones interview, a Steve Reich pulse and a Pat Metheny sample, assembled into something oddly moving. Ambient house begins and mostly ends here.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "ambient", "name": "Ambient", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/ambient/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-sounds-like-a-single", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Sounds Like a Single", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-sounds-like-a-single/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Orb%20Little%20Fluffy%20Clouds", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=KNfjpmvbQG0", "exact": true } }, "artist": "The Orb", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-orb/" }, { "trackKey": "focalistic-featuring-vigro-deep--ke-star", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/focalistic-featuring-vigro-deep--ke-star/", "title": "Ke Star", "year": 2020, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Sepedi rap over a piano loop, and the record that made amapiano continental. The bassline does almost nothing, which is exactly why it works.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "amapiano", "name": "Amapiano", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/amapiano/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Focalistic%20featuring%20Vigro%20Deep%20Ke%20Star", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=a9_da2P5JjQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Focalistic featuring Vigro Deep", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/focalistic-featuring-vigro-deep/" }, { "trackKey": "the-bug-featuring-killa-p-and-flowdan--skeng", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-bug-featuring-killa-p-and-flowdan--skeng/", "title": "Skeng", "year": 2007, "label": "Ninja Tune", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Dancehall toasting welded to a bassline that sounds actively corroded. The point where British bass music stops being polite about its inheritance.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dubstep", "name": "Dubstep", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dubstep/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-bass-weight", "name": "Bass Weight", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-bass-weight/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Bug%20featuring%20Killa%20P%20%26%20Flowdan%20Skeng", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zwmUOJR-GwA", "exact": true } }, "artist": "The Bug featuring Killa P & Flowdan", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-bug-featuring-killa-p-and-flowdan/" }, { "trackKey": "sweet-female-attitude--flowers-sunship-remix", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/sweet-female-attitude--flowers-sunship-remix/", "title": "Flowers (Sunship Remix)", "year": 2000, "label": "WEA", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The remix, not the original, and everybody knows it. Two-step's warmest record, and a reminder that garage's canon is largely other people's rebuilds.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "uk-garage", "name": "UK Garage", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-garage-on-the-mix", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Garage on the Mix", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-garage-on-the-mix/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Sweet%20Female%20Attitude%20Flowers%20(Sunship%20Remix)", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sv2Uu7NOPng", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Sweet Female Attitude", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/sweet-female-attitude/" }, { "trackKey": "wayne-smith--under-me-sleng-teng", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/wayne-smith--under-me-sleng-teng/", "title": "Under Me Sleng Teng", "year": 1985, "label": "Jammy's", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A Casio preset becomes a rhythm hundreds of records are built on. The moment Jamaican music goes digital, and the template for every riddim scene since.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dub", "name": "Dub", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dub/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Wayne%20Smith%20Under%20Me%20Sleng%20Teng", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=H_STPoI_eoM", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Wayne Smith", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/wayne-smith/" }, { "trackKey": "skepta--shutdown", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/skepta--shutdown/", "title": "Shutdown", "year": 2015, "label": "Boy Better Know", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Thirteen years after grime began, its commercial peak is still built from almost nothing. Total confidence with no additional ingredients.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "grime", "name": "Grime", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/grime/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Skepta%20Shutdown", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=MQOG5BkY2Bc", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Skepta", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/skepta/" }, { "trackKey": "alan-braxe-and-fred-falke--intro", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/alan-braxe-and-fred-falke--intro/", "title": "Intro", "year": 2000, "label": "Vulture", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Six minutes that only go upwards, with a string line that never resolves down. The record DJs still reach for when a room needs lifting off the floor.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "french-house", "name": "French House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/french-house/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-french-house", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — French House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-french-house/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Alan%20Braxe%20%26%20Fred%20Falke%20Intro", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=BR2kp7lMYdc", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Alan Braxe & Fred Falke", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/alan-braxe-and-fred-falke/" }, { "trackKey": "808-state--pacific-state", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/808-state--pacific-state/", "title": "Pacific State", "year": 1989, "label": "ZTT", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A saxophone and birdsong over an acid bassline, which should not work. Proof that this music could be pretty without becoming polite.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "acid-house", "name": "Acid House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/acid-house/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/808%20State%20Pacific%20State", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv0UiQ5n7SM", "exact": true } }, "artist": "808 State", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/808-state/" }, { "trackKey": "the-jesus-and-mary-chain--just-like-honey", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-jesus-and-mary-chain--just-like-honey/", "title": "Just Like Honey", "year": 1985, "label": "Blanco y Negro", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A Ronettes drum pattern buried in feedback, with a love song underneath that nobody expected these people to have written. The template for the decade that followed.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "shoegaze", "name": "Shoegaze", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/shoegaze/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Jesus%20and%20Mary%20Chain%20Just%20Like%20Honey", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=9LoSpJF_YxE", "exact": true } }, "artist": "The Jesus and Mary Chain", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-jesus-and-mary-chain/" }, { "trackKey": "sueno-latino--sueno-latino", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/sueno-latino--sueno-latino/", "title": "Sueño Latino", "year": 1989, "label": "DFC", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "An entire record built by looping somebody else's hour-long guitar improvisation and adding birdsong. Absurd, beautiful, and the bridge from kosmische to the dancefloor.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "balearic", "name": "Balearic", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/balearic/" }, { "kind": "genre", "slug": "italo-disco", "name": "Italo Disco", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/italo-disco/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Sue%C3%B1o%20Latino%20Sue%C3%B1o%20Latino", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=EEXJuZ877OE", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Sueño Latino", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/sueno-latino/" }, { "trackKey": "roni-size-reprazent--brown-paper-bag", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/roni-size-reprazent--brown-paper-bag/", "title": "Brown Paper Bag", "year": 1997, "label": "Talkin' Loud", "isrc": "GBF089700307", "whyItMatters": "A double bass line, a breakbeat and a Mercury Prize. Drum and bass at its most musical without giving up an inch of its rhythmic difficulty.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "drum-and-bass", "name": "Drum and Bass", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/drum-and-bass/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Roni%20Size%20%2F%20Reprazent%20Brown%20Paper%20Bag", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=cwI0gbGEyuI", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Roni Size / Reprazent", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/roni-size-reprazent/" }, { "trackKey": "yellowman--zungguzungguguzungguzeng", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/yellowman--zungguzungguguzungguzeng/", "title": "Zungguzungguguzungguzeng", "year": 1983, "label": "Greensleeves", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A melody so contagious that half of hip-hop borrowed it without discussion. An unpronounceable title attached to dancehall's most recognisable hook.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dancehall", "name": "Dancehall", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dancehall/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Yellowman%20Zungguzungguguzungguzeng", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=X-tfYbRK2OA", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Yellowman", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/yellowman/" }, { "trackKey": "slum-village--guess-who", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/slum-village--guess-who/", "title": "Guess Who", "year": 2000, "label": "Barak", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "J Dilla programming drums audibly out of time and grooving harder for it. The single most imitated piece of programming of the last thirty years.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "neo-soul", "name": "Neo-Soul", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/neo-soul/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-soulquarians-room", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Soulquarians Room", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-soulquarians-room/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Slum%20Village%20Guess%20Who", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Slum%20Village%20Guess%20Who", "exact": false } }, "artist": "Slum Village", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/slum-village/" }, { "trackKey": "incredible-bongo-band--apache", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/incredible-bongo-band--apache/", "title": "Apache", "year": 1973, "label": "Pride", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A session-band cover of a Shadows instrumental, and the break on which hip-hop was physically assembled. Included for consequences rather than for intentions.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "funk", "name": "Funk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Incredible%20Bongo%20Band%20Apache", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=-Udnb6F1A0g", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Incredible Bongo Band", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/incredible-bongo-band/" }, { "trackKey": "basic-channel--quadrant-dub", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/basic-channel--quadrant-dub/", "title": "Quadrant Dub", "year": 1994, "label": "Basic Channel", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The rhythm dissolves into delay returns and never quite reassembles. Thirty years on it still sounds mastered underwater, deliberately.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dub-techno", "name": "Dub Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dub-techno/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "nineteen-ninety-four", "name": "1994", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Basic%20Channel%20Quadrant%20Dub", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=APH42GVgUTM", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Basic Channel", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/basic-channel/" }, { "trackKey": "tyler-icu-and-tumelo-za--mnike", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/tyler-icu-and-tumelo-za--mnike/", "title": "Mnike", "year": 2023, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Number one at home and unavoidable everywhere else within a month. A loop, a chant and a bending bass note — the oldest recipe in this list, working again.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "amapiano", "name": "Amapiano", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/amapiano/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Tyler%20ICU%20%26%20Tumelo%20ZA%20Mnike", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=IBOvTfcMfjY", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Tyler ICU & Tumelo ZA", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/tyler-icu-and-tumelo-za/" }, { "trackKey": "dj-shadow--midnight-in-a-perfect-world", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dj-shadow--midnight-in-a-perfect-world/", "title": "Midnight in a Perfect World", "year": 1996, "label": "Mo' Wax", "isrc": "GBAQH9600061", "whyItMatters": "Built entirely from other people's records and yet unmistakably one person's. The high point of sampling as a compositional discipline rather than a shortcut.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "trip-hop", "name": "Trip-Hop", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/trip-hop/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Shadow%20Midnight%20in%20a%20Perfect%20World", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=InFbBlpDTfQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "DJ Shadow", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-shadow/" }, { "trackKey": "manuel-gottsching--e2-e4", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/manuel-gottsching--e2-e4/", "title": "E2-E4", "year": 1984, "label": "Inteam", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "One hour, one sequence, one guitarist, one take. Ends this list because it is where half of it accidentally began.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "krautrock", "name": "Krautrock", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/krautrock/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-krautrock", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Krautrock", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-krautrock/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Manuel%20G%C3%B6ttsching%20E2-E4", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=pUfIqO5arq4", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Manuel Göttsching", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/manuel-gottsching/" } ] }, { "slug": "the-eighties", "genre": null, "genreUrl": null, "brief": "Thirteen records, ten of our rankings, ten years. The decade cheap machines and cheap pressings reached people with no access to a record industry, told through the labels they had to start instead.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 13, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "joy-division--love-will-tear-us-apart", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/joy-division--love-will-tear-us-apart/", "title": "Love Will Tear Us Apart", "year": 1980, "label": "Factory", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Factory gave its bands the copyrights and had no contracts to speak of, which was ruinous as a business and is the reason this record sounds like nobody was consulted. The decade's most covered song, released by a Manchester club with a design habit.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "post-punk", "name": "Post-Punk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/post-punk/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Joy%20Division%20Love%20Will%20Tear%20Us%20Apart", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zuuObGsB0No", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Joy Division", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/joy-division/" }, { "trackKey": "black-flag--rise-above", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/black-flag--rise-above/", "title": "Rise Above", "year": 1981, "label": "SST", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Greg Ginn ran SST out of his own electronics business and put out the records nobody would touch. American hardcore did not get signed; it built a distribution network out of vans and mail order, and this is the record at the front of it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "hardcore-punk", "name": "Hardcore Punk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/hardcore-punk/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Black%20Flag%20Rise%20Above", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=wDUYCyajDcs", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Black Flag", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/black-flag/" }, { "trackKey": "minor-threat--straight-edge", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/minor-threat--straight-edge/", "title": "Straight Edge", "year": 1981, "label": "Dischord", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Forty-six seconds, on a label the band started to release it, which still caps its record prices four decades later. The clearest case here of the economics and the content being the same argument.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "hardcore-punk", "name": "Hardcore Punk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/hardcore-punk/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Minor%20Threat%20Straight%20Edge", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=gsAu-nOg3Tw", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Minor Threat", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/minor-threat/" }, { "trackKey": "klein-m-b-o--dirty-talk", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/klein-m-b-o--dirty-talk/", "title": "Dirty Talk", "year": 1982, "label": "Zanza", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Milan working out what to do with a drum machine two years before anyone called it Italo. Made cheaply for clubs, exported by accident, and played in New York and Chicago by DJs who had no idea where it came from.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "italo-disco", "name": "Italo Disco", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/italo-disco/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Klein%20%2B%20M.B.O.%20Dirty%20Talk", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Klein%20%2B%20M.B.O.%20Dirty%20Talk", "exact": false } }, "artist": "Klein + M.B.O.", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/klein-m-b-o/" }, { "trackKey": "alexander-robotnick--problemes-damour", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/alexander-robotnick--problemes-damour/", "title": "Problèmes d'Amour", "year": 1983, "label": "Fuzz Dance", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A one-man record on a tiny Florentine imprint that outlasted most of the decade's budgets. Italo is the purest example of the criterion: no industry behind it at all, and it ended up under half of house music.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "italo-disco", "name": "Italo Disco", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/italo-disco/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Alexander%20Robotnick%20Probl%C3%A8mes%20d'Amour", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=oX1Vge8zAjw", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Alexander Robotnick", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/alexander-robotnick/" }, { "trackKey": "cocteau-twins--pearly-dewdrops-drops", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/cocteau-twins--pearly-dewdrops-drops/", "title": "Pearly-Dewdrops' Drops", "year": 1984, "label": "4AD", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "4AD was Ivo Watts-Russell's shop-front operation and it let a band invent a vocabulary — no lyrics anyone can transcribe, a guitar treated as weather. No A&R department in 1984 would have commissioned this and none had to.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dream-pop", "name": "Dream Pop", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dream-pop/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Cocteau%20Twins%20Pearly-Dewdrops'%20Drops", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=s-5Xgw6d3h0", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Cocteau Twins", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/cocteau-twins/" }, { "trackKey": "model-500--no-ufos", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/model-500--no-ufos/", "title": "No UFO's", "year": 1985, "label": "Metroplex", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Juan Atkins pressed it himself on his own label, in a city whose record industry had left for Los Angeles fifteen years earlier. Techno starts as a self-released twelve-inch, which is a fact about Detroit as much as about the music.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "detroit-techno", "name": "Detroit Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-detroit-techno", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Detroit Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-techno/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Model%20500%20No%20UFO's", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Model%20500%20No%20UFO's", "exact": false } }, "artist": "Model 500", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/model-500/" }, { "trackKey": "tenor-saw--ring-the-alarm", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/tenor-saw--ring-the-alarm/", "title": "Ring the Alarm", "year": 1985, "label": "Techniques", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Winston Riley's own Kingston label, a rhythm reused for the next thirty years, and no multinational anywhere near it. Jamaica had been running the model this whole list describes since long before the decade started.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "dancehall", "name": "Dancehall", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dancehall/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Tenor%20Saw%20Ring%20the%20Alarm", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=UpjLLw-cVzU", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Tenor Saw", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/tenor-saw/" }, { "trackKey": "2-live-crew--throw-the-d", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/2-live-crew--throw-the-d/", "title": "Throw the D", "year": 1986, "label": "Luke Skyywalker", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Luke Campbell named the label after himself because there was no other way to release it, and later took its obscenity case to a federal appeals court. The most literal instance here of a scene having to build its own way out.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "miami-bass", "name": "Miami Bass", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/miami-bass/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "miami", "name": "Miami", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/miami/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/2%20Live%20Crew%20Throw%20the%20D", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=IMicDDXU-9c", "exact": true } }, "artist": "2 Live Crew", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/2-live-crew/" }, { "trackKey": "mr-fingers--can-you-feel-it", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/mr-fingers--can-you-feel-it/", "title": "Can You Feel It", "year": 1986, "label": "Trax", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Trax pressed on recycled vinyl and paid almost nobody, which is a real part of the story and not a footnote. It also put out the record that defines house, made by one man in an apartment on borrowed equipment.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "chicago-house", "name": "Chicago House", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-a-way-in", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — A Way In", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-chicago-in-the-room", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — In the Room", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-in-the-room/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-chicago-looped-and-filtered", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Looped and Filtered", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-looped-and-filtered/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Mr.%20Fingers%20Can%20You%20Feel%20It", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=p2XxyBViBog", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Mr. Fingers", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/mr-fingers/" }, { "trackKey": "rhythim-is-rhythim--strings-of-life", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/rhythim-is-rhythim--strings-of-life/", "title": "Strings of Life", "year": 1987, "label": "Transmat", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Derrick May's own label again, and the record the rest of the decade gets measured against. No chorus, no bassline for most of it, and no committee anywhere that would have let it out at that length.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "detroit-techno", "name": "Detroit Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-a-way-in", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — A Way In", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-detroit-in-europe", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Detroit, Heard in Europe", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-in-europe/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Rhythim%20Is%20Rhythim%20Strings%20of%20Life", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=vGFw2qeUp0s", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Rhythim Is Rhythim", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/rhythim-is-rhythim/" }, { "trackKey": "mudhoney--touch-me-im-sick", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/mudhoney--touch-me-im-sick/", "title": "Touch Me I'm Sick", "year": 1988, "label": "Sub Pop", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Sub Pop was two men, a loan and a singles club, and this is the record that made the subscription worth having. Everything the next decade sold by the million was worked out here for the price of a session.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "grunge", "name": "Grunge", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/grunge/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Mudhoney%20Touch%20Me%20I'm%20Sick", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=_nGsT_qFMBs", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Mudhoney", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/mudhoney/" }, { "trackKey": "forgemasters--track-with-no-name", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/forgemasters--track-with-no-name/", "title": "Track With No Name", "year": 1989, "label": "Warp", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Funded by an enterprise grant, named after a steelworks, released by a Sheffield record shop. The decade ends with a public body accidentally paying for the first Warp single, which is as good a summary of the whole argument as exists.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "bleep-techno", "name": "Bleep Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/bleep-techno/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "warp", "name": "Warp", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Forgemasters%20Track%20With%20No%20Name", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ys9e2m0LTs", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Forgemasters", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/forgemasters/" } ] }, { "slug": "twice-over", "genre": null, "genreUrl": null, "brief": "Three artists, nine of our rankings. Everyone the corpus ranks in three different genres, and the records that got them in.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 9, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "herbie-hancock--maiden-voyage", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/herbie-hancock--maiden-voyage/", "title": "Maiden Voyage", "year": 1965, "label": "Blue Note", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Twenty-five years old and already writing the kind of tune other people would build careers on. This is the entry that makes the other two astonishing rather than merely eclectic: he was not a dabbler crossing over, he was a jazz composer at the top of the form.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "jazz", "name": "Jazz", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/jazz/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Herbie%20Hancock%20Maiden%20Voyage", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=EWC5x9G45yo", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Herbie Hancock", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/herbie-hancock/" }, { "trackKey": "herbie-hancock--chameleon", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/herbie-hancock--chameleon/", "title": "Chameleon", "year": 1973, "label": "Columbia", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Eight years later the same man writes a bassline that funk never gave back. Jazz musicians called it a betrayal at the time, which is usually the sound of a genre boundary being crossed by somebody who could see it was arbitrary.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "funk", "name": "Funk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-one-subject", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — One Subject", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-one-subject/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-accent-moved", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Where the Accent Moved", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-accent-moved/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Herbie%20Hancock%20Chameleon", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=iqomTAiRnVM", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Herbie Hancock", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/herbie-hancock/" }, { "trackKey": "herbie-hancock--rockit", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/herbie-hancock--rockit/", "title": "Rockit", "year": 1983, "label": "Columbia", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Ten years after that, at forty-three, he hands the record to a turntablist and lets the scratch be the lead instrument. Most artists get one genre. He got three, twenty years apart, and was decisive in each.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "electro", "name": "Electro", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/electro/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Herbie%20Hancock%20Rockit", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=GHhD4PD75zY", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Herbie Hancock", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/herbie-hancock/" }, { "trackKey": "the-beatles--she-loves-you", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-beatles--she-loves-you/", "title": "She Loves You", "year": 1963, "label": "Parlophone", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The most efficient two minutes in the ranking it sits in — a band still young enough to think the job was to make somebody scream. Nothing here predicts either of the next two entries, which is precisely why they are worth putting beside it.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "merseybeat", "name": "Merseybeat", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/merseybeat/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Beatles%20She%20Loves%20You", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=S302kF8MJ-I", "exact": true } }, "artist": "The Beatles", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-beatles/" }, { "trackKey": "the-beatles--tomorrow-never-knows", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-beatles--tomorrow-never-knows/", "title": "Tomorrow Never Knows", "year": 1966, "label": "Parlophone", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Three years on from a handclap-and-harmony single: one chord, a tape loop orchestra and a vocal fed through a rotating speaker. The gap between this and the entry above is the shortest distance any artist here travels between two of our rankings.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "psychedelic-rock", "name": "Psychedelic Rock", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/psychedelic-rock/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Beatles%20Tomorrow%20Never%20Knows", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=m4BuziKGMy4", "exact": true } }, "artist": "The Beatles", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-beatles/" }, { "trackKey": "the-beatles--revolution-9", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-beatles--revolution-9/", "title": "Revolution 9", "year": 1968, "label": "Apple", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A tape collage on the best-selling record of its decade, sitting in our musique concrète ranking beside people who spent their lives in institutional studios. Whether it is good is genuinely arguable. That it is the thing itself, in the charts, is not.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "musique-concrete", "name": "Musique Concrète", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/musique-concrete/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Beatles%20Revolution%209", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=SNdcFPjGsm8", "exact": true } }, "artist": "The Beatles", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-beatles/" }, { "trackKey": "nightmares-on-wax--dextrous", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/nightmares-on-wax--dextrous/", "title": "Dextrous", "year": 1989, "label": "Warp", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Two teenagers in Leeds with a sampler, making one of the records that established what a Warp release sounded like before anyone knew that was a category. The narrowest and hardest of the three entries here.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "bleep-techno", "name": "Bleep Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/bleep-techno/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "warp", "name": "Warp", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Dextrous", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=YiTL_HptsiY", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Nightmares on Wax", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/nightmares-on-wax/" }, { "trackKey": "nightmares-on-wax--les-nuits", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/nightmares-on-wax--les-nuits/", "title": "Les Nuits", "year": 1999, "label": "Warp", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Ten years later, the same act, and the sampler is being used to make something warm rather than something skeletal. It is the single most recognisable record in our trip-hop ranking and it was made by a bleep techno producer.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "trip-hop", "name": "Trip-Hop", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/trip-hop/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "warp", "name": "Warp", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Les%20Nuits", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0FdXIYxLbE", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Nightmares on Wax", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/nightmares-on-wax/" }, { "trackKey": "nightmares-on-wax--sueno", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/nightmares-on-wax--sueno/", "title": "Sueño", "year": 1999, "label": "Warp", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Released the same year as the entry above and filed by us in a different ranking again, which is the whole argument of this list compressed into one twelve-month span. Three genres, one person, no change of name.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "balearic", "name": "Balearic", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/balearic/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "warp", "name": "Warp", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Sue%C3%B1o", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Sue%C3%B1o", "exact": false } }, "artist": "Nightmares on Wax", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/nightmares-on-wax/" } ] }, { "slug": "warp", "genre": null, "genreUrl": null, "brief": "One label, five of our rankings, thirteen years. A shop in Sheffield that kept signing the thing that came next, and kept being right about it.", "updated": "2026-08-29", "ordered": false, "playlists": {}, "pickCount": 12, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "forgemasters--track-with-no-name", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/forgemasters--track-with-no-name/", "title": "Track With No Name", "year": 1989, "label": "Warp", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Catalogue number one, funded by a government enterprise grant, made by people who worked in the shop. Everything else here exists because this sold well enough locally to pay for the next one.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "bleep-techno", "name": "Bleep Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/bleep-techno/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-eighties", "name": "The Eighties", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Forgemasters%20Track%20With%20No%20Name", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ys9e2m0LTs", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Forgemasters", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/forgemasters/" }, { "trackKey": "nightmares-on-wax--dextrous", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/nightmares-on-wax--dextrous/", "title": "Dextrous", "year": 1989, "label": "Warp", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The bass frequency as the entire point of a record, which is what \"bleep\" meant before anyone had a word for it. It established that the label's taste was a taste and not just a postcode.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "bleep-techno", "name": "Bleep Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/bleep-techno/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "twice-over", "name": "Twice Over", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/twice-over/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Dextrous", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=YiTL_HptsiY", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Nightmares on Wax", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/nightmares-on-wax/" }, { "trackKey": "sweet-exorcist--testone", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/sweet-exorcist--testone/", "title": "Testone", "year": 1990, "label": "Warp", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Cabaret Voltaire's Richard H. Kirk making a club record, which is the moment Sheffield's industrial past and its rave present turn out to be the same story. The label's first sign that it would sign an idea rather than a sound.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "bleep-techno", "name": "Bleep Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/bleep-techno/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Sweet%20Exorcist%20Testone", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ooD4plDsO60", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Sweet Exorcist", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/sweet-exorcist/" }, { "trackKey": "lfo--lfo", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/lfo--lfo/", "title": "LFO", "year": 1990, "label": "Warp", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A top-twenty hit made of almost nothing but sub-bass and a voice saying the title. The commercial proof that the room was right, and the record that gave the label enough money to take the risks below.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "bleep-techno", "name": "Bleep Techno", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/bleep-techno/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/LFO%20LFO", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=s-1Y2EqThyQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "LFO", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/lfo/" }, { "trackKey": "aphex-twin--rhubarb", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/aphex-twin--rhubarb/", "title": "Rhubarb", "year": 1994, "label": "Warp", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Selected Ambient Works Volume II is where the label stops being a dance label without announcing it. Four minutes with no drums at all, released by the people who had just sold a lot of records made entirely of drums.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "ambient", "name": "Ambient", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/ambient/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Aphex%20Twin%20Rhubarb", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=75O11W5EZAU", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Aphex Twin", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/aphex-twin/" }, { "trackKey": "autechre--flutter", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/autechre--flutter/", "title": "Flutter", "year": 1994, "label": "Warp", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "No two bars at the same tempo, written that way to be legal under the Criminal Justice Bill. A label with a hit single putting out a piece of legislative protest, which is the clearest evidence here that the A&R was not commercial.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "idm", "name": "IDM", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/idm/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "nineteen-ninety-four", "name": "1994", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Autechre%20Flutter", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=mdhtm6qjmhU", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Autechre", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/autechre/" }, { "trackKey": "squarepusher--come-on-my-selector", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/squarepusher--come-on-my-selector/", "title": "Come On My Selector", "year": 1997, "label": "Warp", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Jungle played at a speed and density no jungle dancefloor asked for, by a bassist. The label's habit by this point is signing people who are obviously misusing a genre, and being right about it a few years early.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "idm", "name": "IDM", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/idm/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Squarepusher%20Come%20On%20My%20Selector", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=MWCSw_cNxKc", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Squarepusher", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/squarepusher/" }, { "trackKey": "boards-of-canada--roygbiv", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/boards-of-canada--roygbiv/", "title": "Roygbiv", "year": 1998, "label": "Warp", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Two minutes of warmth on a roster known for the opposite, and the most widely loved record the label ever released. It moved Warp somewhere it had not been: melancholy, and legible to people who did not care about electronic music.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "idm", "name": "IDM", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/idm/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Boards%20of%20Canada%20Roygbiv", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=SM4tQcUt_mQ", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Boards of Canada", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/boards-of-canada/" }, { "trackKey": "aphex-twin--windowlicker", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/aphex-twin--windowlicker/", "title": "Windowlicker", "year": 1999, "label": "Warp", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A genuine pop single, with a Chris Cunningham video on daytime rotation, made by the artist least interested in being one. The label's tenth year, and it is still signing off on things nobody could have planned for.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "idm", "name": "IDM", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/idm/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Aphex%20Twin%20Windowlicker", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=go6-MliYCAs", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Aphex Twin", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/aphex-twin/" }, { "trackKey": "nightmares-on-wax--les-nuits", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/nightmares-on-wax--les-nuits/", "title": "Les Nuits", "year": 1999, "label": "Warp", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The most recognisable record the label ever released to people who do not follow it, and the moment its catalogue acquires warmth. A bleep techno act from the label's first year making something you could put on at the end of a night.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "trip-hop", "name": "Trip-Hop", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/trip-hop/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "twice-over", "name": "Twice Over", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/twice-over/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Les%20Nuits", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0FdXIYxLbE", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Nightmares on Wax", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/nightmares-on-wax/" }, { "trackKey": "nightmares-on-wax--sueno", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/nightmares-on-wax--sueno/", "title": "Sueño", "year": 1999, "label": "Warp", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Released the same year as the entry above and filed by us in a different ranking again. Ten years in, the label's founding act is still moving it somewhere it had not been, which is the argument this list is making.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "balearic", "name": "Balearic", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/balearic/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "twice-over", "name": "Twice Over", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/twice-over/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Sue%C3%B1o", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Sue%C3%B1o", "exact": false } }, "artist": "Nightmares on Wax", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/nightmares-on-wax/" }, { "trackKey": "autechre--gantz-graf", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/autechre--gantz-graf/", "title": "Gantz Graf", "year": 2002, "label": "Warp", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The end point of the argument this list makes: music arranged past the point where a listener can hold the pattern, released by a label that began with a dance twelve-inch. Whether it is enjoyable is not the claim. That it was released is.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "idm", "name": "IDM", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/idm/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Autechre%20Gantz%20Graf", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=xNRPl0kA0a4", "exact": true } }, "artist": "Autechre", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/autechre/" } ] } ] } }