To follow up Billionaire’s massive bass assessment for ‘09 here are 10 pieces of pie that got my gullet greased this past year. In no particular order…
Renaissance Man
Spraycan was without a doubt one of the most innovative house tracks to hit wax this year, but what was most impressive about Renaissance Man was their ability to follow up its enormous success with such consistent creativity. With glowing bass lines chunkier than your grandma’s beef barley, it’s no surprise their cuts were so often sought after pre-release. I also have to credit them for opening my ears up to a lot of tech tunes that I would have otherwise missed; all of their mixes were gold.
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Buy Renaissance Man.
Joy Orbison
The jury is clearly out on this one…
Though Joy Orbison was definitely a mega-hyped phenom, it was for good reason. On top of bridging the many gaps that exist between the UK’s many schools of rhythm and bass in Hyph Mongo, the dude also managed to put together the BEST in 105-115 disco heaters with his BSRkR01 mix. This mix aptly showed the true depth of his influence and was hands down my favorite mix of the year.
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Buy Joy from Hotflush Recordings.
Thriller – Genie
Floating Points – Love Me Like This
C.O.M.B.I. – It A Late
Eddie C – Make It Better
The Revenge – Night Flight
B.W.H. – Stop
James Pants – We’re Through
Alicia Meyers – I Want To Thank You
Fudge Fingas – DinsDins4Dada
Bumblebee Unlimited – Lovebug (DK Edit)
Arthur Russell – Hop On Down
Nite Jewel – Weak For Me
The Samps – Traincummings…..
C.B. Funk – Subway To Cologne
Kate Bush – Cloudbusting
Big ups to Asian Dan for being on this early.
Sound Pellegrino
In less than a year, Teki & Co. turned their digital imprint into a taste maker’s wet dream. Running the gamut from 001’s Baltimore infused baile house banger by ZDS (Eurovision) to heavy hitting tech house treats and then onto L-Vis’ hard funky tunes or Solo’s midget house beasts, there was very little that wasn’t covered. Impressively on point for such variety. I’m really looking forward to what they’ve got in store for 2010.
Zombie Disco Squad – Esperanto
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Buy Sound Pellegrino.
Lusine
Lusine’s beautifully crafted downtempo soundscapes and experimental sonics were the cure to a bleeding eardrum after too much bass. A Certain Distance managed to emote something I haven’t heard since the great works of Jimmy Tamborello (Postal Service, Dntel).
Lusine – Two Dots feat. Vilja Larjosto
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Buy Lusine from Ghostly International.
Kenton Slash Demon
I looked at a decent number of year enders this year, and I have to say I was really surprised that KSD didn’t make it onto more lists. Their mid-summer release on Tartelet had heads turnin’, booties shakin’ and bodies jackin’ along with each track. All three of the tracks on the Khattabi EP stood high on their own with Khattabi getting the much mixtape love. However, I thought Brunn’s sneaky horn stabs made for the most serious head nodder.
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Buy Kenton Slash Demon from Tartelet Records.
Floating Points
If you’ve been with us for a bit then you’re aware that Floating Points are no stranger to PnT. There’s a certain sophistication in the simplicity of Sam Shepard’s slow step house that could only be present in the creations of a classically trained musician. If I had to pick a favorite of favorites this year or a record to take to a desert island, it would be the work of this man. Mind melting and smooth, these are nostalgic ruminations of your best love.
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Buy Floating Points from Eglo Records.
Gypsy Kings
I still have have so much fun listening to this track. Malente & Dex crafted what I thought to be the apex of the horn fad that so delightfully plagued house music this year. The Round Table Knights remix which we post a few months back was also sick.
Malente, Dex – Gypsy Kings feat Analogik
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Buy Malente & Dex from Exploited.
Schlachthofbronx
My interest in electro house dwindled immensely as the year progressed, but Schlachthofbronx crafted a most excellent funky drum crossover in their self-titled full length. There isn’t a ton out there that bangs as long and hard as these cats do without going stale. Wikkid. They also recently teamed up with Marina from Bonde Do Role for an interesting collabo that is definitely worth checking too.
Schlachthofbronx – We Run This
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Acid Kids – Big Foor feat. Marina (Schlachthofbronx Remix)
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Buy Schlachthofbronx from disko b.
Dirtybird
Claude Von’s own had an incredible year in releases. Along with his unbelievable second full length, dirtybird also managed to champion a slew of great new sounds the latest of which came in the form of Julio Bashmore’s Um Bongo’s Revenge/World Peace release. This will be a label to count on for the most innovative house tunes for years to come.
Mike Monday – Grace (Justin Martin Remix)
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Justin Martin & Claude VonStroke – Beat That Bird
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Buy dirtybird.
Major Lazer
It goes without saying, Major Lazer was the soundtrack to everybody’s summer… and fall. Though it was years in the making, somehow Diplo and Switch’s gold weaving is still impressive. If only the lovely folks at Mad Decent would finally release that delight of a Cash Flow remix by Subskrpt (check the vid @ 5:20 for a preview) featured on Diplo’s Essential Mix.
Club anthem of 2009: Pon Di Floor.
Major Lazer – Pon De Floor feat. Vybz Kartel
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Buy from Mad Decent.
Please feel free to agree or disagree with any of the shit I just talked above in the comments.
Just to say that your blog is badass! There is barely a song here that I’m not completely infatuated with.
Keep up the excellent work.
That Malente & Dex song is uncontrollable. Thanks.
Although partially biased, I must say that I would have to agree with Tom. Pluggednotthugged.com pushes out heavy heaters.