12.19.2009

Top 20 singles of 2009

If my choices for the top full lengths were informed by the professional need to cover as much ground as possible musically while strapped into a pair of headphones, then my singles choices this year represent a total about face. Everything here on this list is laser-focused into a gentle, late night deep house stew that is heavy on the melody. In comparisons to jocks in bigger cities my choices pale in comparison, but this isn't a comparison game (thankfully) and I can only like what I like (and use as a DJ). What I did like were tracks that combined musical traditions, retro tinges like Tony Lionni's Italo pianos, and a hint of old school trance melodies (think Hardkiss Bros circa 1995, not anything else that's passed itself off as trance since) best exemplified by the Hardway Brothers' collaboration with Tal M. Klein. There was some minimal that caught my attention this year such as Symbio's "Berlin Dub" of his excellent release for San Francisco's Blipswitch Digital but most of that was supplanted by a new mutation of the genre that fused the best of South America's top rhythms around the Berlin/Bern/Paris mid-Continental juggernaut. All in all, I'd say 2009 was a great year for music. I got to drop some great tracks at some great parties and explored so many top shelf white labels that some times I felt overwhelmed by the pressure to keep up with them all but felt all the better for it by year's end.

1. Francisco Allendes & Felipe Venegas-Espiritu (Alexi Delano Rmx)
From the EP Espiritu on Kling Klong

2. Exercise One feat Argentis Brito-No News Today (Deadbeat Rmx)
From the single No News Today on Mobilee

3. Abe Duque-Tonight Is Your Answer (Vocal Version)
From the single Tonight Is Your Answer on Process

4. Stretch Silvester feat PJ Higgins-Faith (Shield Back To Love Dub)
From the single Faith on Rebirth

5. Candy Dealers-Street Delight (Johnny Fiasco's 18 Street Mix)
From the single Street Delight on Eight-Tracks

6. Kelli Hand-Are You Dreaming
From the EP Silent Answer on Acacia

7. Joel Mull & Sean Palm-Spice Market (Acid Circus Remix)
From the single Spice Market-Black Jack Remix Series on Railyard Recordings

8. Max Cavalerra-In Memory Of Violette
From the EP The Bigger, The Better on Broque

9. Djuma Soundsystem-Bipolar (dOP Morning Mix)
From the single Bipolar on Rebirth

10. Intrusion feat. Paul St. Hilaire - Little Angel
From the single Little Angel/A Night To Remember on Echospace

11. Tal M. Klein & the Hardway Brothers-Pegasus In The Dark
From the EP Magical Horses on Aniligital

12. Symbio-The Gasps & Fissures Parade (Berlin Dub)
From the single The Gasps & Fissures Parade on Blipswitch

13. Hell feat. Diddy-The DJ (Sis Remix)
From the single The DJ on Gigolo

14. Rift-Bottom Breathing (Ruoho Ruotsi Reshape)
From the single Bottom Breathing on Thoughtless Music

15. Oliver Ton-Hasta El Fin (Tony Lionni Rmx)
From the single Hasta El Fin on Gigolo

16. Bang Bang-Bikini Days (Original)
From the single Bikini Days on Eighth Dimension

17. Tony Lionni-Treat Me Right (Original)
From the single Treat Me Right on Freerange

18. Carl Taylor-Walk On By
From the compilation EP In The North on Dust Science Recordings

19. James Teej-Spending Life (Danny Fiddo & Affkt Remix)
From the single Spending Life on Rebirth

20. Richard Dinsdale-Boom Boom (Original club mix)
From the single Boom Boom on Leaders of the New School

2 comments:

Tal said...

Thanks for the support! That Magical Horses EP with Pegasus on it was emerged as a tribute to the warehouse sounds of the UK (Pegasus In The Dark) and the US (Unicorn In The Garden) respectively in more than just the fact that I collaborated with UK-based Hardways on Pegasus and US-based Mansfield on Unicorn, but even down to who we worked with to mix the tracks; Andrew Weatherall on Pegasus and Nick Chacona on Unicorn. So the things was truly love letter to raves on both sides of the Atlantic.

M. Donaldson said...

Cheers for the props on the Bang Bang & Candy Delears inclusions. Awesome.

Just a quick correction, though: The Candy Dealers Street Delight EP was actually released on EIGHT-TRACKS, an Eighth Dimension side label.

Take care!