[8Bit]

From time to time I check out Resident Advisor’s monthly Top 50 chart to see how wildly my tastes diverge from those of thousands of DJs who make up its voters. What caught my eye in October’s chart was the unusual sight of one producer, Oxia, holding court from the top two slots with both sides of his “Sun Step EP” for Nick Curly’s 8bit label. The French producer has been in the game since the mid-90s and can claim a handful of singles for Kompakt Extra among many others in his discography, so being a chart topper is not too much a stretch for the versatile, pop-attuned producer. But still I wondered, what would a single have to sound like to so handily grab the big brass stylus?

The “Sun Step EP” draws upon Oxia’s background making tribalized tech-house years before jangling hand drums would become this year’s tepid Rhodes chord. As such, his take on the tribal house sound feels fuller and more carefully executed than that of hordes of would-be peers. And yet his experiences don’t stop him from leaning heavily upon reliable tropes for his tracks’ defining features. The title cut ambles along to a hand drummed beat whose melodic counterpart consists of little more than a gloopy stock marimba riff and a few dramatic whooshes. “Whole Life,” October’s most charted track, is hardly a breath of fresh air either. A muffled “soul” vocal gradually ascends from a nest of bongos and tom-toms until its filter is pulled back and its looped babble takes center stage. Buttressed by a few complimentary chords and sustained synth strings, it’s hardly the worst thing you’ll hear in a club this year but its generic sound is unlikely to lodge itself your head long enough to consider later. How did such a trifling EP steamroller all its competition? It’s important to remember DJs’ charts are decided by far more than crowds’ reaction to a song’s quality or appeal and can be swayed by any number of factors. So while it’s a bit disheartening that bland tracks captured so many imaginations, we can all rest easily knowing that popularity contests are measures of quantity, not quality.