Favourites From 2006

2006 was a pretty tough year for the DJ. There weren't really many records released that sounded fresh or different 100 other records one already has in one's crate. After a year of scouring the message boards, podcasts, and daily Juno emails, these are ten that caught my ear.

Sebastian Leger feat. Gia Mellish – Hypnotized (Royal Flush)

I’m not usually one for vocals, but, as you’ll soon see, this year I seem to be a sucker for the sound of a beautiful voice. Does that mean I’m getting old, I wonder? Dunno. What I do know is that Sebastian Leger has crafted a dirty little rump-shaker with Gia Mellish’s vocals over funky hand-claps, farty bassline and delayed synth wash. Good, solid electro-house with just a smidge of French luxuriance thrown in for good measure.

Emmanuel – Pretend (Beat Cult’s 6th Avenue Vocal) (white)

Ah, the analogue synth sound. Often overdone these days, but Beat Cult (whoever they are) keep it simple with just the vocal and that pulsing analogue-y synth sound. I especially like the “la-la-la”s in the break.

My Robot Friend – Rapture (Soma)

An odd little track, the lyrics consist of cut-and-paste syllables from type-and-speak software. This may seem gimmicky, but in fact it forces you listen more closely, piecing the puzzle together, trying to appreciate the bigger picture. I’m not usually one who pays attention to lyrics, so when a song forces me to do just that I consider it something of an achievement.

Ellen Allien & Apparat - Way Out (Bpitch Control)

The gloomy string sounds, grinding minimal bassline and guitar feedback would make for devastated dancefloors on their own; throw Ellen’s multi-tracked, delayed-to-distraction vocal on top and the track is elevated to the sublime. This should have been the song that broke minimal to the mainstream.

Trick & Kubic – Easy (Data)

Breathy, slightly European-accented vocals on the top and a groovy bassline thundering away underneath; it’s as simple as that. Lyrically, the track is somewhat trite in its belief that change (one’s life, the world) is easy, but when coupled with the uncomplicated groove, I can almost believe it.

Nelly Furtado – Maneater (Geffen)

The harmonies! The harmonies! Double, triple, octiple tracks of layered harmonies; it’s like a hip hop Bohemian Rhapsody in there. Timbaland works his magic with a less-is-more approach to the instrumental beneath Nelly’s phenomenal vocals. With little more than beats and bleeps as the undercarriage, those harmonies more than fill in the spaces.

Kelis feat. Too $hort – Bossy (Alan Braxe & Fred Falke Earth Out Remix) (Virgin)

French label mates Alan Braxe and Fred Falke apparently have the same contempt for Kelis that I have. The remix dispenses with all but the breathy bits and then launches into the kind of old-school synth work-out that we’ve come to know and love from the French. Then they threw in a DJ E-Z-Rock-era “woo” sample on every other bar and voila! A masterpiece!

Pet Shop Boys – Psychological (Ewan Pearson Remix) (Parlophone)

The standout track on the excellent Fundamental gets a little help from the best remixer in the business. Pearson keeps the vocal, chucks the rest away, and comes up with a sinster (is that a harpsicord I hear?) acid monster that sounds straight out of a horror movie soundtrack. Danceable and yet even more menacing and unsettling that the original, it’s the best thing he’s done since "Strict Machine".

Alexkid – Nightshade (Rodriguez Junior Mix) (F Communications)

Alexkid seems to have a knack for pairing sparse acid sounds with female vocals. See 2003’s “Come With Me” and 2005’s “Don’t Hide It” for other stunning examples, which coincidentally also feature Lissette Alea, . I prefer this remix over the original only because Rodriguez Junior has added a few gently oscillating pads here and there, making it just a little sweeter.

Kleerup feat. Robyn – With Every Heartbeat (Risky Dazzle)

Is it my favourite because I just discovered it? Has the novelty yet to wear off? Maybe, but it’s one of those tracks that leaves you wishing there was more of it. Lots of low-end, melancholy pads, lush strings (Eat your heart out, Trevor Horn), earnest carpe-diem vocals…more, more, MORE!

And We’re Back!

Highly successful move to Saint John, New Brunswick. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, back to work.

I’m a big enough guy that I can admit when I’m wrong(ish). So, when Stylus lists Villalobos’ 37 minute Fizheuer Zieheuer at #36 in it’s Top 50 Singles of 2006, I guess I have to swallow and accept that it was a success after all. I personally can only listen to about 4 minutes of it before it pisses me off, but hey, that’s me. Individuals far more eminent than me love it to death.

I also question the inclusion of the Clipse yawner “Mr. Me Too” at the #38 position. I know there are people who hail this as some kind of new standard, but I don’t understand why. After repeated listens all I get from it is hookless, drug-dealing slang. I think being from white, rural Canada means I will just never fully appreciate the darker side of the urban, black experience.

If there is a diamond in the rough (relatively speaking) on that list, it has to be Kleerup’s “With Every Heartbeat” (#27). I totally missed this 7” slice of disco genius despite all the time I spend reading/listening on blogs, messageboards, and podcasts. As far as I can tell it came out of nowhere, passed everybody by, and then made the Stylus Top 50. I’ll tell you this: my copy is going to be devastating dance floors in the very near future. I mean, what kind of sad indie-bastard would you have to be to not love it? I submit that you would have to be a great deal of all three.