1. Track unavailable



This poll is decided by the votes of RA staff members and current contributors.

Let's be clear about this: the bassline on Objekt's "Ganzfeld" is the reason it was our favourite track of the year. It was the sort of simple, life-affirming riff that shoots goosebumps across your arms. It only hit every eight bars, so the sense of anticipation for its return was immense. It's the element that tipped the track over from "great" to "incredible." But as with most of TJ Hertz's music, the stuff going on in the background was arguably even more impressive. Hertz told us earlier this year that his tracks go through as many as 80 different versions before completion; listen to the first 30 seconds of "Ganzfeld"—the wonderful multi-tracked pads, the complex layers of synthesis—and you could tell he wasn't exaggerating."Ganzfeld" was the B-side on a spilt 12-inch with Dopplereffekt, and it was released in the same month that Richard D. James returned with his first new music as Aphex Twin in years. Hertz would probably cite both artists as key influences, but it was telling that "Ganzfeld" and, his debut album, which was released the following month, felt in no way overshadowed. 2014 was the year Hertz emerged as a major force in electronic music, and "Ganzfeld" was his crowning achievement.