Yes, we’re almost two weeks into 2015, so please forgive the lateness of this list—we’re just now recovering from a great New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day spent with the Bunker and 718 Sessions crews. But it’s never too late to support the home team, right? In the underground-clubbing realm, the fact that there’s been so much great music created by Gotham artists and/or released on local labels over the past twelve months is another sign of the scene’s strength—and really, we would could have made this a Forty Fave NYC Tracks list without breaking a sweat. But, for now, let’s go with the five below—click on the images to hear the tracks. Enjoy!

Siren
“Gauntlet”
Compost
There’s a windswept feel to “Gauntlet, ”the long-awaited first fruits of a studio partnership between Metro Area’s Darshan Jesrani and the Disques Sinthomme label’s Dennis Kane. It might be the majestic guitar chords, or the wailing vocals (from Apollo Heights’ Daniel Chavis), or the cut’s spacious arrangement and willingness to take its time to get wherever it’s going. Whatever it is, the song is something of an overlooked modern classic. And holy crap, does that pumping bassline hit the spot! There’s a fine remix from London groove machine Ray Mang that tightens up the song’s feel a bit—he basically houses it up, toughening up the rhythm and accentuating the acid bleep, giving it an added sense of urgency. But for our money, the sprawling original does the trick just fine.

New York Endless
“Benefits Arrive (Life Goes On)”
Golf Channel Recordings

We first reviewed the debut EP from New York Endless, otherwise known as the veteran DJ and Acute Records ruler Dan Selzer, back in September. Months later, we’re still in love with all three of the release’s beautiful tunes, all imbued with gently percolating synths, rich melodies and moody vibe. But the cut that’s stuck with us the most is the 16-minute ““Benefits Arrive (Life Goes On),” a song that conveys a cascading array of emotions—heartache, delight and all the rest—via a gentle house groove and gorgeous, ever-shifting arrangement. Click  on the EP cover’s image to check out the sumptuous song.

Frank & Tony featuring DJ Sprinkles
“Companion”
Scissor & Thread
A song off of Francis Harris and Anthony Collins’s You EP—itself a part of the duo’s larger You Go Girl project, which is well worth owning—“Companion” is as beautiful and heartfelt any deep house we heard in 2014. Teaming up with the veteran producer and gender-politics theoretician (for reals) Terre “DJ Sprinkles” Thaemlitz, “Companion” works its magic through plaintive sampled-vocal coos floating within a warm sea of muted aurals, held together by a barely-there percussive throb. A stunner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWz35CHtju8

Reagenz
“Db”
The Bunker New York
NYC techno institution the Bunker’s new label capped off a fabulous first year with the release of The Periodic Table, an album from electronic-music lifers Move D and Jonah Sharp, together known as Reagenz. In truth, we could have included the whole of the LP on this list. Not only is it breathtaking from start to finish—an analog reverie of dubbed-out techno emerging from pulsating washes of ambience—but the album is essentially one long track, recorded live and divided into six cuts for the sake of concision. If we’ve gotta choose one of those tracks, though, we’ll go with the final segment, “Db”—it’s one of the most enchanting ten minutes of blips and bleeps that we’ve come across in ages.