This year, when us editors got together to figure out how we were going to lay out the categories for this year’s wrap-up posts, we made what some might call a bold choice. We decided to abandon all notion of genre and categorization for trap, dubstep, glitch and drum and bass, and everything in between, and lump them all under one, substantial list. While much of electronic music suffers from blurred genre lines, it’d be hard to argue that it is no more apparent than in the “bass music” category.
Unlike the seemingly formulaic sound that plagued much of the electro-house genre this year, bass music saw a lot of innovation and change. Diplo had one of his biggest years yet, releasing more infectious and diverse tracks than ever, both as himself and with his supergroup Major Lazer. Artists like RL Grime, Baauer and DJ Snake exploded onto the scene with a long list of amazing originals and remixes that pushed boundaries. Drum and bass, with the help from artists like Rudimental, Camo & Krooked and Sub Focus, finally got its deserved time in the US electronic scene limelight. And dubstep, despite being on life support, stayed afloat thanks to several quality efforts from Flux Pavilion, Griz, Crizzly and others. This list sums up what we believe were some of the most influential, creative, addictive and groundbreaking productions from 2013. Be sure to check out the Continuous Mix Below from EASTablished!