Double up: Five surprising production collaborations we're delighted happened

Dance music history is dotted with production duos who have worked together to change the game. Acts like Daft Punk, Drexciya and Chemical Brothers have united in the studio to become one, slotting together like jigsaw puzzles building the image of a perfection production pairing. These are duos that feel like they were born to make music together.

But when producers who primarily work alone join forces, the results can be thrilling in a different kind of way, when you can hear each artist bring their distinct approach to the table and draw a new musical energy out of the other.

It happens behind the decks in B2B sets, and it happens behind the controls when collaborating. See below for our picks of some of the more compelling and unpredictable collaborations

While Ricardo Villaobos and Butch share some stylistic similarities, there’s a spectrum of floor functionality between them, so the outcome of these two working in tandem was always going to be intriguing. The result was more of a chaotic mindfuck than we could ever have anticipated. ‘Up’ from the duo’s 2013 EP on Sei Es Drum is one of the most playful, frustrating, humorous and tantalising records in memory. It surges to the sky, powering towards a drop that never comes. If you’ve ever heard this one in a club you’ll know the jarring impact it has, as hands raise and bodies tense in anticipation, but the track just keeps rolling up. It’s pure dancefloor confusion and eccentricity.

This collaboration was a cataclysmic event because it not only involved experimental pioneer and Planet Mu boss Mike Paradinas, but also legendary electronic figure Aphex Twin, who seldom works with others. For example, see the famous story whereMadonna begged him for a remix, and he agreed on the condition she make recordings of herself snorting like a pig for him to use in the track. The collaboration is also unusual for its childlike presentation. The duo released the album titled ‘Expert Knob Twiddlers’ under the name Mike & Rich, and the artwork depicted a crudely photoshopped image of them playing with the child’s game Downfall. As two of the more esoteric artists going (Aphex Twin’s solo track titles include ‘∆Mᵢ⁻¹ = −∂ ∑ Dᵢ[n] [∑ Fⱼᵢ[n−1] + F extᵢ[n⁻¹]]’ and ‘Kladfvgbung Micshk’), ‘Expert Knob Twiddlers’ (which is, let’s face it, a masturbation pun) offers a disarmingly silly insight into the pair. And this theme carries through into the music, which is reckless, giddy and ridiculously fun. It put the infantile into IDM.

We were respecters and appreciators of the work Skrillex and Diplo had done over the years before teaming up to form Jack Ü, but honestly we weren’t really expecting to enjoy the output of the project when it was announced. It’s always good to have prejudices humbled however, especially when it sounds as good as Jack Ü does. Their second single ‘Where Are Ü Now’ was a masterpiece in crossover dance music. It was fronted with vocals from one of the globe’s biggest popstars in Justin Bieber, while the production he crooned over was perfectly crafted, with intricately warped guitars and thumping bass-powered percussion. Banger.

One’s a former member of the haywire glitch duo SND, the other’s heralded among the world’s finest makers of ocean deep records that brim with an achingly beautiful emotional resonance. This collab could have gone anywhere. As it turned out on the ‘Fresh Insights’ EP, it sounds like Sprinkles set the formula, with twinkling piano and loosely cantering percussion at the fore, but Fell’s influence shines in the moving minimalist elements. The use of a Tony Benn sample in the mix of ‘Fresh’ adds to the emotive weight of the track, that impacts upon both feet and mind with equal power.

As two of the foremost figures in dubstep, this collaboration wasn’t so much unexpected musically, but we were surprised that a personality clash didn’t get in between these two working together. While they’re both elusive artists, with Burial this takes the form of almost total reclusion, having never played a live gig and rarely giving interviews, and with Zomby it transpires as maintaining anonymity by wearing an ostentatious golden mask, while being vocally outspoken and semi-regularly fighting people online and IRL. Regardless of the circumstances, we’re glad it came to be because they’re two of the best UK producers of the past decade and the resulting track ‘Sweetz’, which featured on Zomby’s 2016 album ‘Ultra’, is a brilliant cut, combining Zomby’s rude ‘arcdore styling with Burial’s unmistakable atmosphere.

Patrick Hinton is Mixmag's Digital Staff Writer, follow him on Twitter