Calvin Harris

I Created Disco appeared in 2007. Recorded and produced by Harris, the album has a compact electronic character, with Acceptable in the 80s and The Girls among its defining introductions. The sounds are knowingly synthetic, and the vocal delivery is part of that slightly awkward charm. The arrangements do not try to disguise the mechanics of the beat; the repetition itself is one of the pleasures.

Ready for the Weekend followed in 2009, opening the sound into a more expansive dance-pop setting. I’m Not Alone and the title track approach that expansion differently, one through atmosphere and a gathering electronic lift, the other through a brighter, more extrovert chorus. The change makes the first two records an interesting pair rather than simply a beginning and an improvement.

18 Months, released in 2012, developed a particularly effective collaborative model. Florence Welch, Ellie Goulding, Ne-Yo, Kelis and Example bring very different vocal characters to songs that still share a recognisable production language. Sweet Nothing and I Need Your Love make the relationship between an exposed voice and a large electronic release especially clear. The space before the chorus is as important as the impact after it. This period belongs naturally in YGEN because it connects the melodic dance music of the 2000s with the broader pop sound that followed. Harris’s records show how much can change around a song when the producer alters the scale, the texture or the kind of voice at its centre.