1.
Canyons - When I See You Again (Modular)
This is taken from an album i've been telling all my friends about in an evangelical fashion - it's the best thing I've heard in years. This is just one of a mass of incredible songs on 'Keep Your Dreams' which channels loads of my favourite artists: It's Immaterial, The Smiths, Prefab Sprout, The Cure,Peter Gabriel are all synthesised into one big psychedelic stew with bizarrely and brilliantly - large slabs of vintage chicago house drum programming and acid tweaks plopped on top for good measure. It's a truly blissful ride that is totally immersive and takes you somewhere all together out there....deep space music for horizontal headphone dancing.
2.
Factory Floor - Two Different Ways (DFA)
One of THE club records of 2011 - reminds you how simple synths and drum machines hammering hard can do voodoo on a room full of people. check the genius video too:
3.
Trickski - Beginning
With the whole slo-mo thing getting a little formulaic - Trickski comes correct with a detroit beatdown / J Dilla influenced bomb - drums that just ooze character and a ballsy 'simple as fuck' arrangement that milks every piece of drama out of the show... crystalline synths are dusted on top and bend your head up further.... Then a whole slab of the classic sample 'My Lady' by The Crusaders arrives.... and we are slain.
4.
Death in Vegas - Medication (Fearless Nightcrawlers Remix)
File next to Factory Floor for lessons in dancefloor voodoo. Mr Fearless strips back and toughens up one of the many highlights from his brilliant new album, and locks us in for a nightride, coming on all Com Truise in the breakdown like some sleazy 80's B video and then straight back in to the ACID THROB - this woozy barbiturate banger is the sonic equivalent of a handful of Quaaludes and a sniff of ether.
5.
Moodymanc - Father (Rick Wade Daddys Disco mix) (Landed)
Grooving like a classic piece of 90's disco loop action (think Ian Pooley not fucking Eric Prydz) and sounding to these ears like the long lost brother of Norman Connor's space disco anthem 'Life On Mars'. This is one for deep into the dj set, when the proper house dancers start to flex their muscles, form a circle, and let their battles commence.
6.
Gerd - Palm leaves (Deetron Remix)
Deetron has excelled once again on this brooding techy detroit house number, he's someone who obviously knows the art of a fine arrangement... making the dancers eb and flow with the incredibly emotive grooves he creates... a great vocal rounds of this dreamy classic techno ride....look out Theo Parrish and Dennis Ferrer you have competion - we have a new king of the slow burn floor destroyer and his name is Deetron.
7.
The Black Crowes - I Aint Hiding (Ashley Beedle's heavy disco edit) (Modern Artifacts 12")
The Black Crowes do cock-rock cocaine-disco in the same vien as The Stones 'Miss You' and pull it off with real Jazz.... but only after Ashley Beedle has stretched and teased out a proper 12" dancefloor version. Ashley was one of the first DJ's I followed as a teenager, he's one of the greatest remixers of all time, with an inbuilt talent for mashing genres - Afro/Punk, Dub/Disco, Techno/Jazz Ashley just has fun with it all. I learnt what remixing is all about from this man's adventures. BIG RESPECT.
8.
The Unknown Cases - MaSim MaBelle (Headman Mix) (Leo Trax)
I'm very proud to be releasing this on my own label, the original is a stone cold balearic classic that I licensed for my Strut compilation 'Disconnect' last year. I managed to get the original studio masters for it
and after a night gassing about this and other 80's90's leftfield classics with him, I realised I'd found the perfect remixer in Mr Robi 'Headman' Issinia - a man who knows all about that special midtempo dancefloor CHUG factor. I've backed it up with my own take on this classic - out early 2012 on Leo Trax.
9.
Emiliana Torrini - Jungle Drum (Jai Paul Remix)
I've been following Jai Paul since he surfaced in 2010 - now signed to XL and soon to be crowned king of the postmodern, post genres, post everything approach to music making - It sounds like he doesn't give a fuck what you think and is throwing it all in just the way he likes it. I can't wait to see how he evolves into a fully fledged artist with XL behind him - let's hope he's gonna take the baton and run with what M.I.A. has done for beautifully random global beat pillaging. His music's got the balls, style, and sense of humour to charm all the mainstream punters. Watch this space.
10.
Kate Bush - Wild Man (Full Length) (EMI)
Kate seems to have got more Balearic with age... maybe she's been listening to old Baldelli tapes out in her country pile.... this one sounds like it would have gone down a storm with a load of stoned italian kids at the Typhoon or Cosmic club back in the day - all we need now is Matt Edwards to do a Radioslave re-rub like his masterful take on 'King of the Mountain'.
Friday, December 23, 2011 at 04:32AM 
