London based curator Paul Purgas has sent us his records of 2010, here’s the run down.

Click the titles to listen

1. Kangding Ray – Pruitt Igoe (Raster-Noton)
Militant super-modernist electro with inimitable Raster-Noton details, an impeccable proposition completed with Ben Frost and Alva Noto on remix duty.

2. Claro Intelecto – New Life (Modern Love)
Tod Terry’s Chicago sweatbox classic re-tooled in the workshop of slow slung Mancunian bass-boss Claro Intelecto.

3. Paperclip People – The Throw / LCD Soundsystem remix (Planet E)
The DFA head takes on Carl Craig’s hypnotic house anthem and injects it with the spirit of a late 70’s psychedelic Broadway loft meltdown.

4. MMM – Nous Sommes MMM (MMM)
The Berghain brethren construct an inexplicable post-rave bastion. Easily one of the most bombastic pieces of electronic music of the early 21st century.

5. Konono No.1 vs. Mark Ernestus –Masikulu Dub (Congotronics)
Basic Channel co-founder and dub techno pioneer goes head to head with the Congotronics troupe in what can only be defines as this year’s dream double act.

6. Roll the Dice – Roll the Dice (Digitalis)
Contemporary classical meets synth horror in this spellbinding collaboration by the Stockholm based studio wizards Peder Mannerfelt and Malcolm Pardon.

7. Deadboy – If You Want Me (Numbers)
The debut release from the Glasgow consortium label behind the legendary Numbers clubnight. Future garage with a heavy nod to house music past and present.

8. Andy Blake – Cave Paintings 1 (Cave Paintings)
Precision engineered primordial jackers from the man responsible for the cult Dissident project. Forged lovingly in a New Cross analogue steampit and strictly vinyl only.

9. Zola Jesus – Stridulum II (Souterrain Transmissions)
Effortless nightmare pop from avant-garde vocalist Nika Danilova. A masterful piece of production drenched with a thick gloss of darkwave chic and a bedrock of haunting EBM rhythms.

10. Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross – The Social Network (Null Corporation)
The surprise hit of the year by the NIN front man and British composer Atticus Ross. A synthetic hybrid of pumping digital house, textured drones and experimental metal. It really shouldn’t work…but it does.

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D/R/U/G/S are pretty much free and easy on the sea of hype at the moment, gliding effortlessly towards a sunny port called ‘cross-over’ on the good ship dance music. At least in my own mind, anyway, which is what matters. D/R/U/G/S sound pretty fantastic, a glittering electronic El Dorado, heard through a neighbour’s wall at 8am on Sunday morning, soundtracking a party that’ll never end; or your own midnight epiphany, finding a spiritual déjà vu on a rooftop that so quickly disappears along with your other extra-senses; with a pulsing house 4/4 worked over, like a methodical and merciless boxer, until its left broken nosed to stare at streetlights from the kerb outside the Dog and Duck.

All very vague yes, but then D/R/U/G/S’ music is vague, slithering as it does out of generic A, B, Cs and into its own corner, a little safe haven of wonder and bliss in depressed north-western England. I caught up with Callum, one half of D/R/U/G/S, for a little chat.

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