Issue v0.12 – Music, provided by 22tracks

The Internet’s best music: 5 Handpicked tracks by the curators of 22Tracks

Though 22tracks usually provides you with the best new music, we now do a Best of 2012 special, so this will be our take on what tracks you shouldn’t have missed in 2012. Here’s a small special for TNW Magazine with 5 tracks, but starting on monday the best tracks per genre can be seen in a dedicated 22tracks playlist in our iOS app (https://itunes.apple.com/nl/app/22tracks/id397202887?mt=8) and on the website.

Todd Terje – Inspector Norse

2012. Besides being the year of the apocalypse it has also been the year of Todd Terje and his space disco music. The Norwegian proved that a. Dance music doesn’t always need pumping basses to be danced to and b. that producers can still produce modern and perfect sounding music on machines that are over 30 years old, as he did with the ARP2600 for his EP titled It’s The Arps. His most successful track of 2012 has certainly been Inspector Norse and it’s plain to see why. Having the most catchy and beautiful spacy disco melodies and, as you’d expect from someone that produces a whole EP on a damn old synth, great synthesizers, it’s probably one of the most fun tracks of 2012.

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Miguel – Adorn

Together with Frank Ocean, and the Weeknd a tad earlier, Miguel was in the front lines of the alternative, new R&B ‘movement’, which meant R&B’s revival in 2012. Miguel’s album Kaleidoscope Dream has been on pretty much every end of the year round-up and it’s clear to see why. Just like Frank Ocean does, though he does it a little more minimalistically, Miguel takes R&B to 2012, modernizing the genre and staying away from comparisons with the likes of R. Kelly. The most beautiful track in 2012’s R&B field must be Adorn, a song that is probably also 2012’s most listened song in bedrooms worldwide.

George Fitzgerald – Child
In house music, 2012 was probably the year in which the good 90’s house finally became the main source of inspiration for house worldwide. One name that certainly managed to leave his marks on 2012’s house field is George Fitzgerald. With Child this UK producer certainly managed to make one of the most played house tracks in clubs worldwide. A simple vocal line that everyone pretends to know the exact words to (uh babe baby, like a child), old school drum machines and a synth line, is all it takes, but George Fitzgerald certainly makes it work.

ScHoolboy Q – Hands On The Wheel (Feat. A$AP Rocky)

Perhaps you have forgotten about this track already, it was released in January on ScHoolboy Q’s Habits & Contradictions and if you have forgotten it most probably means you didn’t go to any hip-hop parties this year. ScHoolboy Q is part of Top Dawg Entertainment, the succesfull stable of even more successful rapper in 2012 Kendrick Lamar. Forgetting Hands On The Wheel is a shame, as it’s probably one of the best hip-hop tracks of the year, with another 2012 tastemaker A$AP Rocky doing a verse as well. The sampled vocals of Lissie’s cover of Kid Cudi’s Pursuit of Happiness add the euphoric touch and make it perfect for singing along enthusiastically.

I Octane – L.O.V.E. (I Love You)

Some might think that reggae is listened to less and less with the uprise of genres like dancehall and such, but the opposite is true. Some others might think that good reggae is limited to everything from the Bob Marley era, but again, the opposite is true. In 2012 the reggae world has seen some great releases and one that certainly shouldn’t be overlooked is L.O.V.E. by I Octane, a beautiful upbeat love song and let’s be honest: which girl wouldn’t come back after hearing a song like this?