BEST OF 2009: Röyksopp ft. Robyn - The Girl And The Robot

It's been a huge year for dance music. Over the next ten days we're going to look back at the largest tracks of 2009, as featured on Large Weekend.

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Röyksopp have been producing musical mastery for a long time now but this record really took my breath away. You expect a certain standard from such seasoned musical and technical wizards, but this raises the bar. The chord structure that opens the track is simply masterful - it takes musical expectations and plays with them - each chord in the phrase is as unexpected as the next. This creates an intriguing tone that keeps you wondering what's going to happen next. In a way, playing with expectations is the theme of this track. Next, vocals are added to the mix. They dance effortlessly over the unusual harmonics, building in intensity as further instrumentation is included. The digital production is also interesting, choosing to bury the vocals in a sea of sound.

Truly great music transmits a feeling, an emotion, that the composers are able to transfer from themselves to their listeners through their selection of the right notes, the right instrumentation, and in most cases still utilizing the conventions of the genre they're working in. And I guess that's what impresses me most about The Girl And The Robot, it has that x-factor, an emotion while still checking the "dance music" box. It's a true masterwork.

rating: *****
url: www.myspace.com/royksopp
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