Villalobos: “I Try To Live (Can I Live)” (Alcachofa, Playhouse 2003)

Alcachofa is probably Ricardo Villalobos’s most accessible album I’ve heard, starting off with “Easy Lee,” one of the closest things to a pop song you’ll likely hear from this man. I really like how it splits the difference here between his more abstract, wayward techno of recent years and his more tightly wound beats from the earlier part of his career. And that bouncy synth bass might just rival Luciano’s “Orange Mistake” for best infectious minimal hook of 2003.