Annnnnnd relax. It;s all over folks, loosen that bow-tie, or slip off those high heels, and finish off the Moet, it’s time to go home. Some go home clutching a golden Keytar Axeman, some go home clutching the remains of their broken dreams. Lives have been changed here tonight people. Changed forever!

Let’s take one last moment in 2013 to reflect on the proceedings winner, and the runners up, and remember how lucky we all have been, the music listening public, to be part of such a creative year.

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The electronic rumors Awards: BEST SONG –electronic rumors’ top 20 songs of 2013

Winner: Blende – Rikki

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The electronic rumors Awards: HALL OF FAME– electronic rumors’ Hall Of Fame inductee 2013

Inductee: Cabaret Voltaire

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The electronic rumors Awards: BEST ALBUM – electronic rumors’ top 20 albums of 2013

Winner: Chvrches – The Bones Of What You Believe

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The electronic rumors Awards: READER’S CHOICE

Winner: Ellie Goulding – Burn (Leo Kalyan reMix)

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The electronic rumors Awards: BEST VIDEO

Winners: Starcadian – Chinatown

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The electronic rumors Awards: BEST REMIX – electronic rumors’ top 20 reMixes of 2013

Winner: Chvrches – Lies (Ikonika reMix)

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The electronic rumors Awards 2012: ELECTRONIC RUMORS’ 2013

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The electronic rumors Awards 2013

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Right then, Move along, nothing to see here. We’re all done. Catch you in 2014.

Peace!

Here’s the big one! In a year that was shifted in favour of excellent albums, there were still a heap of songs that stood out from the pack. The top songs of the year came from a multitude of genres, so if you’re looking for ‘the best of Disco’ or ‘the best of ElectroPop’ you’re not going to find it here, but these outfits were making some standout, human, emotional electronic music this year.

Twelve months is a long time, so, as ever, we probably missed something rounding up the year. Apologies to the missing, or the overlooked. But what’s done is done, and we’re happy with the end result.

So, our winner, London based Disco master Blende, came as a surprise to ourselves as much as anyone. Unlike last year where we had out big tunes in out head, this year our attention was taken mostly by albums, so we didn’t have any definite choices in mind when reviewing the year’s singles. However, as soon as 72 tracks were whittled down to 20, and then put in order, like a ray of light it became glaringly obvious that Blende’s Rikki was the tune we rocked hardest to, and had on repeat the longest, in the last twelve months. An utterly infectious, funky as all hell, Rikki combined a dancefloor compulsion with Pop catchiness. Which is absolutely perfect for us. It couldn’t have been anything else really.

01: Blende – Rikki

♫ Blende – Rikki

…and the rest of the list:

02: Katy B – 5am

♫ Katy B – 5am

03: Goldroom – Embrace

♫ Goldroom – Embrace

04: Monsieur Adi (Feat. A*M*E) – What’s Going On?

♫ Monsieur Adi (Feat. A*M*E) – What’s Going On?

05: Ronika – Search Siren

♫ Ronika – Search Siren

06: Alex Metric & Jacques Lu Cont (Feat. Malin) – Safe With You

♫ Alex Metric & Jacques Lu Cont (Feat. Malin) – Safe With You

07: Adeyhawke – Kodachrome Sundae

♫ Adeyhawke – Kodachrome Sundae

08: Kate Boy – In Your Eyes

♫ Kate Boy – In Your Eyes

09: Grum – The Theme

♫ Grum – The Theme

10: Avec Sans – Shiver

♫ Avec Sans – Shiver

11: Du Tonc – Rise

♫ Du Tonc – Rise

12: Marcus Marr – The Music

♫ Marcus Marr – The Music

13: Curxes – Avant-Guarded

♫ Curxes – Avant-Guarded

14: Marina And The Diamonds – E.V.O.L

♫ Marina And The Diamonds – E.V.O.L

15: GotSome (Feat. The Get Along Gang) – Bassline

♫ GotSome (Feat. The Get Along Gang) – Bassline

16: Queen Of Hearts – United

♫ Queen Of Hearts – United

17: Ben Macklin (Feat. Yota) – Controller

♫ Ben Macklin (Feat. Yota) – Controller

18: Punks Jump Up – Fairlight

♫ Punks Jump Up – Fairlight

19: Com Truise (Feat. Joel Ford) – Declination

♫ Com Truise (Feat. Joel Ford) – Declination

20: Strangers – No Longer Lost

♫ Strangers – No Longer Lost

As always, you should definitely pick up some of this music, it all comes highly recommended and most can be purchased here:

Follow @electronicrumor

Long-time readers will be very aware that we make no secret of our love of electronic music pioneers Cabaret Voltaire. It was only a matter of time before they joined Kraftwerk, The Human League and Daft Punk in the electronic rumors Hall Of Fame. Cabaret Voltaire seem to have been with me my whole life, whatever music we have been into at any given time, all roads lead back to the Cabs.

Hailing from that electronic music mecca, Sheffield, Cabaret Voltaire were always on the cutting edge of production. From their inception in 1973 as a Dada-influenced art group to their early 90s experiments with House and Techno, Richard H. Kirk and Stephen Mallinder always had a place in musical royalty. Their early, experimental electronic material, for example, is massively influential on everything from Industrial to SynthPop to Electroclash. Their journeys through the world of Dub spawned untold Techno and Ambient outfits and they rode the club wave on the cutting edge of the UK House scene. Not just genre chameleons though, the Cabs were technical innovators too, using synths and electronics in ground-breaking ways that would become commonplace years later. But, on top of it all, though all the noise and acclaim and abrasion, Kirk and Mallinder always seems to know how to write a really good song. It’s hard to be catchy when everything sounds like a distorted machine gun, or when everything is hypnotic synth loops, but these guys managed to do it. It feels odd trying to write about the Cabs, they have been academically studied to death and we can’t do any better, suffice to say that without them there would be no electronic rumors.

♫ Cabaret Voltaire – Sensoria (12” Version)

♫ Cabaret Voltaire – Just Fascination

♫ Cabaret Voltaire – I Want You

Buy Cabaret Voltaire’s music from:

Follow @electronicrumor

This was a no brainer for us. If you follow us on Twitter or Google+ you’ll have a pretty good idea of who’s taking home the award right here. We did gush about it quite a bit just before it was released. Still, it’s not like the competition was weak, we recently took to Twitter to call the runner up here ‘one of the greatest living producers today’.

In fact, the result of this category just goes to show that 2013 really was the year of the album. Some stunning full-length records were releases too. The entire top ten on this list are all absolutely essential bodies of work. Any fan of electronic music should without question own each of these records. They say the album format is dead, 2013 begs to differ.

So, what haven’t we already said about Glaswegian ElectroPoppers Chvrches’ début album The Bones Of What You Believe? You can read our full review of the record here, where we just harp on and on about how they don’t make records like this anymore. Our review pretty much sums up how we feel about this album, and in the four months it’s been out barely a day has gone by when we haven’t dipped into it. No album in recent years has moved us musically, and emotionally, anywhere near the amount The Bones Of What You Believe has. To quote our review; “Chvrches’ album is fucking stunning!”. From the first play, there was never any doubt who would top of the Best Album list.

01: Chvrches – The Bones Of What You Believe (Virgin/Glassnote)

♫ Chvrches – The Mother We Share

…and the rest of the list:

02: Starcadian – Sunset Blood (Self Released)

♫ Starcadian – Chinatown

03: Tesla Boy – The Universe Made Of Darkness (Gorby)

♫ Tesla Boy – Fantasy

04: Charli XCX – True Romance (Asylum)

♫ Charli XCX – You’re The One

05: Marnie – Crystal World (Self Released)

♫ Marnie – The Hunter

06: Little Boots – Nocturnes (On Repeat)

♫ Little Boots – Motorway

07: Jensen Sportag – Stealth Of Days (Cascine)

♫ Jensen Sportag – Hidden, Hunted

08: Holy Ghost! – Dynamics (DFA)

♫ Holy Ghost! – Dumb Disco Ideas

09: Maya Jane Coles – Comfort (I Am Me Recordings)

♫ Maya Jane Coles (Feat. Karin Park) – Everything

10: Shook – Shook (Epicentre)

♫ Shook – Love For You

11: Disclosure – Settle (Universal Island Records)

♫ Disclosure – When A Fire Starts To Burn

12: Fenech-Soler – Rituals (Republic Of Music)

♫ Fenech-Soler – Magnetic

13: AlunaGeorge – Body Music (Island Records)

♫ AlunaGeorge – Attracting Flies

14: Cut Copy – Free Your Mind (Modular Recordings/Republic Of Music)

♫ Cut Copy – Free Your Mind

15: Bastille – Bad Blood (Virgin)

♫ Bastille – Overjoyed

16: Sally Shapiro – Somewhere Else (Paper Bag Records)

♫ Sally Shapiro (Feat. Electric Youth) – Starman

17: Classixx – Hanging Gardens (Innovative Leisure)

♫ Classixx – Holding On

18: St. Lucia – When The Night (Sony Music)

♫ St. Lucia – Elevate

19: Hot Natured – Different Sides Of The Sun (Hot Creations/Warner Music)

♫ Hot Natured (Feat. Róisín Murphy) – Alternate State

20: Daft Punk – Random Access Memories (Daft Life/Columbia)

♫ Daft Punk (Feat. Panda Bear) – Doin’ It Right

As always, you should definitely pick up some of this music, it all comes highly recommended and most can be purchased here:

Follow @electronicrumor

Wow, our optimistically titled Reader’s Choice award is getting harder and harder to compile. It’s always been a bit vague but as the years go by it’s getting tougher.

So, as you know by now, this isn’t the result of a poll. Back when we started it was the most downloaded tracks from the year. But as more and more tracks shifted to SoundCloud, and then our download links went 90% SoundCloud based it’s harder to glean from our state what people have been clicking on. Also, purely streaming tracks, track downloadable in exchange for a Tweet or a Like, video, mostly didn’t make the list. So if you could call this list anything, you can call it the Tracks-We-Can-See-From-Our-Stats-Were-Most-Clicked-On-Award. Reader’s Choice is rolls of the tongue better though.

The top tune was a total surprise. It was actually a track we’d forgotten about, but a good track nonetheless. It can to us via one of our favourite publicists as the work of her next-door neighbour, but turned out to be deservedly popular. A unique reMix that doesn’t conform to any one genre but works in so many areas.

01: Ellie Goulding – Burn (Leo Kalyan reMix)

♫ Ellie Goulding – Burn (Leo Kalyan reMix)

…and the rest of the list:

02: Chromeo – Over Your Shoulder

♫ Chromeo – Over Your Shoulder

03: The Sound Of Arrows – There is Still Hope (Fear Of Tigers reMix)

♫ The Sound Of Arrows – There is Still Hope (Fear Of Tigers reMix)

04: Pet Shop Boys – Vocal (Jack And Joy Radio Mix)

♫ Pet Shop Boys – Vocal (Jack And Joy Radio Mix)

05: Perseus – Shadow Of The Beast

♫ Perseus – Shadow Of The Beast

06: Ayer – Circle Down

♫ Ayer – Circle Down

07: Goldroom – Embrace (Kelek reMix)

♫ Goldroom – Embrace (Kelek reMix)

08: The Clash – Rock The Casbah (Wolf Saga reMix)

♫ The Clash – Rock The Casbah (Wolf Saga reMix)

09: Shit Robot – Feels Real (Figure Of 8 reMix)

♫ Shit Robot – Feels Real (Figure Of 8 reMix)

10: Fear Of Tigers – Dream Of Love

♫ Fear Of Tigers – Dream Of Love

As always, you should definitely pick up some of this music, it all comes highly recommended and most can be purchased here:

Follow @electronicrumor

This is the fifth annual electronic rumors Awards, so with five years under our belt we’re pretty sure we can go ‘woah’ when someone taken an award two ears running. But the man Starcadian is back to rule the Best Video category with his clip for Chinatown.

Chinatown has the same stunningly professional, yet actually DIY, vibe that we loved from last year’s winner Hea^rt. Once again Starcadian himself teams-up with Rob O’Neill to give us a tiny, tantalising, taste of the imaginary movie Sunset Blood (who’s soundtrack Starcadian released this year and Chinatown is taken from). A neon drenched dystopia, like a Disco version of BladeRunner’s LA, serves as the black drop for Sgt. Tagowski’s hunt for the mysterious Starcadian cyborg thing and his digitising floppy disk. The video has both a narrative and slick Pop video direction, that leaves you wanting more. Also, there’s a cameo from Hea^rt’s star-traveller too,

As always, you should definitely pick up some of this music, it all comes highly recommended and most can be purchased here: