Beatport Awards name three songs 'Track of The Year'...Music Times decides who wins: Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Breach, or Martin Garrix

Established electronic music publication Beatport gives everybody something to like when it comes to awards season. There's no awards ceremony, nor is there just one way of establishing who's best among the EDM scene. Rather, awards are broken down into three categories: Community Choice, Best-Selling, and Editorial Staff and Expert. Fans get to vote on the first category, Beatport establishes its choices in the latter category, and sheer sales statistics determines the last.

There's something vaguely unsatisfying about the technique however: The Community Choice and Staff and Expert categories feature largely different awards. The Community chooses "Artist of The Year" and The Staff decides "DJ of The Year." Community chooses album of the year, and Staff doesn't.

There is one award that directly throws the (so-called) experts against the fans: Track of The Year. The fans opted for Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike's "Mammoth," the Staff/Experts picked Breach's "Jack," and sales suggested Martin Garrix's "Animals" was top. So which track is actually best? Beatport kind of takes sides by selecting "Jack," but we've taken it upon ourselves to play tiebreaker.

03) "Mammoth" by Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike (featuring Moguai)

Both the Community choice and the Best Sellers option indicated the popularity of electro house this year (as did the music of Avicii et al). This is a decent jam to be sure, but the synthesizer chords are too laid back to match the thump of the bass. We feel like dancing, but then again, we don't. Moguai guests on the track as well, but the song could use some Mogwai-type aggression more.

02) "Animals" by Martin Garrix

This Dutch DJ feels what we're saying above. The synth is just as happy as "Mammoth," but its faster pace gets us on our feet. The bass doesn't feel the need to thump, but walks briskly enough along with the melody to remind us that it's there. The buildup and drop into a minimalistic woodblock is icing on the cake. The only downside: Garrix adds few lyrics and when he does he censors himself ("motherf----g animals"). Say it or don't, dude.

01) "Jack" by Breach

The experts were right in this case. DJ's occasionally use lyrics to make songs sound better than they are, but the one line repeated throughout "Jack" serves as an instrument until itself. "I Want your body, everybody wants your body so let's jack" serves as a simple rhythm on top of the funky jazz-bass line and an equally low-key 808 line. You've forgotten that the song contains lyrics, because the vocals are part of the beat.

Tags

Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Martin Garrix