i would listen to all these xlr8r best of the year tracks

these 'jackin' picks are kinda blah, not *bad* but RA's tracks list totally outjacks XLR8R imo

was stoked for a second to see kza, but that track isn't even by kza- it's cos/mes, on a completely different release. at least they got the label right? the track is good regardless

Claro Intelecto
Warehouse Sessions

the track is called "instinct". i like the late night down low vibe. streamlined. would sound good in a 200,000 dollar car.

Claude VonStroke
Bird Brain

i would definitely play this in the store. its good store music. or cafe music. granted, i'm in western massachusetts and not zurich or milan or tokyo, but i like to aim high and expose the general population to the finer things in life. sad peasants that they are.

DJ Koze
Reincarnations

the track is: Heiko Voss - "I Think About You (DJ Koze Remix)". things start moving by the end, but by then it's too little too late.

DJ Sprinkles
Midtown 120 Blues

"intro" is a spoken-word house manifesto set to music. um, it's interesting? a curio? where's green velvet when i need him?

Italoboyz
Bla, Bla, Bla

the song is "techno tower". this is great cuz you can see the possibilities of this track shoot out over the horizon and into the stratosphere. you could rip off so many great ideas from this. you could just steal the piano alone, add it to something else, and look like a genius. i wanna hear more from the boyz. they could have overplayed their hand and gone overboard - and part of me wants them too - but they keep things relatively tight while managing to be playful and silly too. they must be big yello fans. five thumbs up!

The Juan MacLean
The Future Will Come

this is electroclash deja vu. and there is something way too rinky dink about it. bad human league impressions in 2009 ain't gonna make me your friend. and i usually like dfa stuff. but i gotta call a spade a spade. this is weak. it would have been weak back then too. are these people nostalgic for 2003?

playful and silly too. they must be big yello fans. five thumbs up!

Woagh, I want to hear them now!

lol can't believe they used the Intro as the DJ Sprinkles track!! well, i guess it's representative, in a way.

especially curious to read the joy orbison comments

More here, when you finally have a minute (competing with DJ Quik, VV Brown, and two The-Dream songs in first round of the year-end playoffs):

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=1797

KZA
Dig and Edit

so this is the cos/mes track natural lifespan. yeah, this is great. never heard them. is this an edit of something old? or not. in any case, very cool. and according to discogs its already on another mix cd. and a 12 inch. and this mix. all in one year. how is the cos/mes album sadistic skatepark? looking at discogs now i really want the prins thomas live at robert johnson thing. that looks very cool.

sorry, wasn't very specific about the cos/mes track. it's just very groovy. lots of great sounds. very familiar can't-quite-place-them sounds. it gets into that pocket and rides it out to the end. everyone should hear that one.

The xx
S/T

the song is "basic space". pretty slight. male/female vox. and by slight i don't mean spare. just not a lot here. music for delicate people who don't want to many "notes" or "sounds" in their music? or music in their music? maybe good for models who are watching their weight. not a lot of calories or nourishment here either.

― scott seward, Wednesday, 23 December 2009 18:27 (Yesterday) Bookmark

:D

i have been trying to find a copy of the cos/mes album, but that japanese import stuff gets pricey!

and prins thomas live at robert johnson IS very very cool.

Luciano
Tribute to the Sun

i LOVE this! THIS is prog house. an ambitious ten minute anthem to the sun? on a concept album devoted to the sun? with luciano on the cover holding the sun in his hand? now you're speaking my language. i want this album yesterday. what a trip. this is so good i can't believe it's not japanese. sign me up. take my money. give me more.

^^^me too! scott this thread is beautiful and not just the xx/anco takedowns (although they were very very beautiful)

Moody (a.k.a. Moodymann)
Anotha Black Sunday

funky moodymann stuff. i probably need more moodymann in my life. could use a good comp of some early stuff anyway. this is good. fairly simple. choice samples. doesn't kill me or anything though.

Motor City Drum Ensemble
Raw Cuts Vol. 1

lemme guess, this is music from belgium? am i close? sounds like someone is a moodymann fan! wait, this isn't moodymann too, is it? it's funky enough for me. in a belgium by way of detroit kinda way. you'd have to put this in juuuuuuuuust the right place in your deejay set. definitely earlier rather than later.

Mr. Oizo
Lamb's Anger

haha, my hero! wow, this is a long way from those analog worms. and their attacking. very funny and very cool though. i gotta get the album. luckily the ed banger noize boys haven't rubbed off on him TOO much, but he's gotten some of that in his blood. he's so good at making this stuff i don't care.

Omar-S
Just Ask the Lonely EP + Fabric 45

i'm already feeling bad a little for omar cuz now i just want to hear more oizo. and omar is a straight-up thumper. so far anyway. okay, i've calmed down. i'm feeling omar's chicago deep dish house. and it is deep. and there are detroit ghosts walking around in his chicago house. spooky. omar makes spooky house. haunted house. a beat like a heart pumping. a sad heavy heart.

Redshape
The Dance Paradox

this was on and now its over. some okay clangalang beat action, but otherwise...eh. if i heard it loud in a club, on drugs, i might think differently. obviously.

Kevin Saunderson
History Elevate package

the track is: "Till We Meet Again (Carl Craig Remix)". legend on legend action. oh master reese tell us how you blow the house down. he probably wouldn't really tell me. i'd like to own this comp. i don't know what's on it, but i'll bet its mighty and rightous and filled with a thousand winds of tech house glory. just tell me it isn't.

Traxx
Faith

love the drunken organ playing. this is some old time religion right here.

okay, i'll try those two bubblin' tracks again.

Roska
The TWC EP + Elevated Levels EP

okay, i've got roska going. he's housing me. and he's housing me. AND he's housing me. i'm gonna try and not look at my watch. again, with enough drugs...

Untold
Gonna Work Out Fine EP

okay, last but not least, here's untold. perkier than roska, that's for sure. why it's downright jaunty. a spring in its step. saucy little robot. could still use a little something. a quirk. a kink. green velvet! come to think of it, everything in life could use a little green velvet. don't you think?

okay, i'm done.

http://www.threeland.com/cambodia-travel/images/CLAP.gif

I read this whole thread! I don't think I feel inspired to listen to anything though

i think i agreed with you ~65% of the tracks I listened to. much higher tolerance for the dreamy stuff and no tolerance for the noisey stuff. bought a bunch off itunes from this so props to you and xlr8r.

man, i hate overblown "band" names like "black jazz consortium" and "motor city drum ensemble" that make me listen to it, and then it's like "oh, it's just shitty house music."

love this song so much. i want the 12 inch if there is one. i wanna play it over and over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Un5SJ1aAGM

the track is: Heiko Voss - "I Think About You (DJ Koze Remix)". things start moving by the end, but by then it's too little too late.

― scott seward, Wednesday, December 23, 2009 9:10 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

wtf this song is old as hell

It's on the remix comp. (And it's not very representative of the remix comp. Scott, try to hear Koze's remix of either Matthew Dear's "Elementary Lover" or Matias Aguayo's "Minimal.")

I love house but I agree black jazz consortium is boring on first listen.

^ also agree with this. and MCDE isn't mindblowing or anything but it's definitely not 'just shitty house music'

Some of these pics are totally the wrong song from right artist.

so, the stuff i liked the most was:

cos/mes

pictureplane

telepathe

maluca

2562

floating points

kode9

l-vis 1990 & bok bok

bodycode

italoboyz

luciano

mr. oizo

omar-s

don't know what that list says about me. i would buy the luciano album and the omar-s album tomorrow if i lived anywhere near a store that carried them. (i used to actually on marthas vineyard, believe it or not! they might have even had them on vinyl.)

Lol me as usual but I find the bubblin list deeply irritating as a whole.

why is that, bubblin' tim?

It's a very boring argument I've had on several threads about some critics' desire to celebrate a "smart" version of uk funky (here represented by Brackles, Cooly G, Dark Knight, Kode9, Bok Bok & L-Vis 1990, Mickey Pearce, Martin Kemp and (given track selection) Roska - XLR8R's name for all this is "funkstep") rather than normal uk funky (here represented by Donae'o only). The preponderance of the former category over and above the latter strikes me as perverse, especially in a list described as "bubblin". But it's just a pavlovian rant from me at this point so it's not worth really thrashing out.

Think you'd like the Telepathe album Scott - it's all a bit less 80s than that tracks suggests though.

I am seemingly the only person who maintains that, as far as euphoric dubstep influenced housey sounds go, Vacuum Boogie >>>>>>>>>> Hyph Mngo.

Also I'm aware I'm risking a bitchslap from RTC for this but my favourite UK funky moments of 2009 have been the dancehall-inflected ones, preferably featuring furious cartoon badgyalisms.

I think rtc's position on that is slightly more complex than it came across in his last intervention on the subject - I think his main issue was he thought of the idea first??

I'm going to feel exactly the same when big boshing lairy trancestep becomes a massive sound.

it's just fucking funny at this point to see people going on about some made-up either/or battle between "smart" and "real" uk funky when no one who goes to these nights or any of the producers actually give a toss, and it's pretty much an entirely false, non-existent binary anyway

well i'd have to find it funny in order not to get pissed off at the reynoldsian divisive bullshit, anyway - honestly seeking to create hostile divisions where NONE. ACTUALLY. EXIST. is one of my least favourite things about music talk

a clue is that if you see anywhere privileging one sort of uk funky over the other - that place is not somewhere u should be going for ur uk funky needs

also a note: k3n didn't find/ put together the actual samples used. this intern did, and he doesn't really know much about electronic music, quite honestly, which might explain some of the weird choices.

what a strange way to run a music site

Yeah that does seem pretty weird.

it's just fucking funny at this point to see people going on about some made-up either/or battle between "smart" and "real" uk funky when no one who goes to these nights or any of the producers actually give a toss, and it's pretty much an entirely false, non-existent binary anyway

― lex pretend, Thursday, December 24, 2009 12:06 PM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

its not really 'false, nonexistent' if you read xlr8r, apparently