A Review: Gavin's 2016

Release:
Etapp Kyle - Ahora [Ost Gut Ton]

Looking back over a whole year, it’s difficult to select a favourite release. I’m normally most excited by recent finds, and few tracks have enough staying power to stick with me. Etapp Kyle’s Ahora is an exception to this. I first heard it dropped by Function in the summer, and i’m still in love with it. The combination of the warm synths, eerie melody, pulsating kick arrangement and punctuating claps is about as close to musical euphoria as I’ve come.

Buy here…

Mix:
SNTS - 455 - Electronic Explorations

I’ve yet to hear an artist drive music to its emotional potential as well as SNTS. The way he expertly builds sets from eerie, ambient cuts to industrial leaning hammers is stunning. This mix in particular is littered with tracks from my favourite artists, and introduced me to Codex Empire’s remix of The Soft Moon, which is well worth a nomination by itself.

Event:
Modular Festival, Rotterdam

The most impressive event I’ve attended this year, based on the environment built, has to be Nachtduik NYE. A combination of incredible lights, a wall of projections that seemed to stretch to the horizon, and Cloud’s “Chained To A Dead Camel” pummelling my brain was astounding. Despite this, Function and Luke Slater’s sets at Modular in the summer completely redefined the way I listened to techno, and heavily influenced my direction from there. In terms of profound impact, Modular takes the glory.

To read more click on the links below to read some of the Mantissa crew’s take on 2016:

• Jambo
• Kish
• Tom Allman
• Ben
• Frank
• Max