Recommended Dose: Our Favorite Dance Tracks Of 2015

For those paying attention in 2015, some of dance-music's traditionally safe spaces were disappearing almost as rapidly as the great records (or Bandcamp downloads) to play inside them were being released. I don't know what Future and Drake meant by "what a time to be alive." But it certainly felt creepy hearing the phrase come out the mouth of a loudly self-acknowledging banker at a club past 2:00 a.m., high on [something, but not too extreme], while throwing his weighty frame around to "a great jackin' beat." Not that there's anything wrong with bankers — in theory.

This year, the old paradigms of "experimental" and "underground" were at best shifting and at worst mutating into false positives. And the ones that were coming into light had their own ethos, values, cultures. What a time, indeed ...

Here at Rx Dose, @Sami_Yenigun, @spotieotis and I have spent a lot of our waking hours discussing what these terms mean, and whether or not the very notion of a scene built on 40 years of 4/4 forms can have the same power in the changing landscape. Read honestly, history is a bitch, yet it also contains multitudes — myths and deceptions, but stories and solutions as well. Listened to without the prejudice of audience, the beat serves all those same qualities.

Rx Dose has always been — and always will be — about the beat: for people to gather themselves around it, and aspire to their best selves while in it. Be it in the club or a warehouse, at an after-hours or at day-break, hell even at home or at the gym. This is the idea behind our year-ending 2015 mix. After all, "what a time" should always be "now," in all its clear-eyes/full-heart variants. Here's one version of the last 12 months.

Chaos In The CBD
"Midnight In Peckham"
(Rhythm Section International)

Timestamp: 1:30-5:49 / Buy on Bandcamp

The Maghreban
"Wonder Woman"
(Versatile)

Timestamp: 5:50-9:14 / Buy on Bandcamp

Pépé Bradock
"Abul Abbas"
(Atavisme)

Timestamp: 9:15-13:49 / Download on SoundCloud

Dan Shake
"To The Love"
(Lumberjacks In Hell)

Timestamp: 13:50-18:14 / Buy on Discogs

X
"Untitled B1"
(Rush Hour 'No Label')

Timestamp: 18:15-20:59 / Buy On Discogs

K2
"126BPM No Name"
(Detroit Underground)

Timestamp: 21:00-24:14 / Buy on Bandcamp

PLO Man
"Rare Plastic"
(Acting Press)

Timestamp: 24:15-28:29 / Buy on Discogs

Philou Louzolo
"Afrofuturism Dance"
(Banoffee Pies)

Timestamp: 28:30-31:54 / Buy on Discogs

Shanti Celeste
"Moods"
(BRSTL)

Timestamp: 31:55-37:09 / Buy on Discogs

Cooly G
"Horrors In The Dance"
(Hyperdub)

Timestamp: 37:10-40:59 / Buy on Beatport

dJJ
"Just A Lil (Extended Mix)"
(Crazylegs)

Timestamp: 41:00-44:24 / Buy on Bandcamp

Randomer
"Juju"
(L.I.E.S.)

Timestamp: 44:25-48:19 / Buy on Discogs

Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia
"War Chant"
(Sacred Summits)

Timestamp: 48:20-50:59 / Buy on Discogs

Ge-Ology
"Moon Circuitry (feat. Mark de Clive-Lowe)"
(Sound Signature)

Timestamp: 51:00-56:44 / Buy on Discogs

Black Meteoric Star
"Unearthed Arcana"
(Bossa Nova Civic Club/Sisterjam)

Timestamp: 56:45-1:00:59 / Buy on Beatport

Levon Vincent
"Anti-Corporate Music"
(Novel Sound)

Timestamp: 1:01:00-1:07:05 / Buy on Discogs

DJ Sotofett and Karolin Tampere
"Nondo (feat. Maimouna Haugen)"
(Honest Jon's)

Timestamp: 1:07:06-1:12:10 / Buy on Discogs

Repetentes 2008
"Professor Antonio Carlos"
(40% • Foda/Maneiríssimo)

Timestamp: 1:12:11-1:15:41 / Buy on Bandcamp

Insanlar
"Kime Ne"
(Honest Jon's)

Timestamp: 1:15:42-1:23:19 / Buy on Discogs

Physical Therapy Presents Kirk the Flirt & Peter Pressure
"Never Ever Give Up"
(1080p)

Timestamp: 1:23:20-1:28:12 / Buy on Bandcamp

Pender Street Steppers
"The Glass City"
(Mood Hut)

Timestamp: 1:28:13-1:33:24 / Buy on Discogs

Mix Mup
"Seaweed"
(Meakusma)

Timestamp: 1:33:25-1:36:59 / Buy on Bandcamp

C'est Life
"New Years Eve 2013"
(Future Times)

Timestamp: 1:37:00-1:40:49 / Buy on Bandcamp

Fit Siegel
"Carmine"
(Fit)

Timestamp: 1:40:50-1:47:59 / Buy on Bandcamp

Willow
"Feel Me"
(Workshop)

Timestamp: 1:48:00-1:51:19 / Buy on Beatport

Person Of Interest
"What You Think You Want"
(L.I.E.S.)

Timestamp: 1:51:20-1:58:14 / Buy on Beatport

Hunee
"Hiding The Moon"
(Rush Hour)

Timestamp: 1:58:15-2:03:09 / Buy on Bandcamp

Henry Wu
"Croydon Depot"
(Rhythm Section International)

Timestamp: 2:03:10-2:06:42 / Buy on Bandcamp

For more year-end stories, visit our Best Music Of 2015 series page.

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