Well, it's that time of year again - inspired by Tristan getting the ball rolling, here's some of the records that have stood out for me this year. It's been a particularly good year for techno I think - even though all the little labels are selling very low numbers, the quality is better than ever. Loads of new talent coming through, lots of old favourites keeping the quality high, and lots of styles and sounds merging.
30 singles: Dan Curtin - Autonomic Groove (Down Low) Aroy Dee - The Planets (NWAQ) Claro Intelecto - Peace Of Mind (Ai Records) Cesario Evora - Angola [Carl Craig mix] (BMG) Pastamusik - Charmin (Pastamusik) Rick Wilhite - Ruby Nights [Gilb-R mix] (Third Ear) Strand - Pigeon Toed Orange Peel (Tactile) Various - Better By Design/Electron Music (Iridite) Needs - Reminiscence (Clairaudience) Pusch '79 - Glowing Cat (Clone) Pitman/Wilhite/Dixon/Parrish - All Over (3 Chairs) Theo Parrish - Natural Aspirations (Sound Signature) Lusine - Push EP (Ghostly) Titonton Duvante - Raunchy EP (Project) Andres - Last Call For Alcohol (Mahogani) V-Phorms - Fragments (Native) CiM - Noki Bay (Ann Aimee) Rene Lowe & Paul St Hilaire - Faith (False Tuned) Nutmeg w/ Face - State of Mind (Neroli) Kaidi Tatham & Dego - Puzzled (2000 Black) The Age Of Selfishness - Wakako'ka [dub] (Visions Inc) Pepe Bradock w/ Michelle Weeks - Distorted Echoes (Kif) Recloose - Us vs Us (Rush Hour) Mat Johnson - Typerope (Itiswhatitis) Larry Heard - Loosefingers (Alleviated) Iken - Image Of A Drawn Sword (Real Soon) Nu Era - We Think Electronic (Twisted Funk) Kettel - Cuddle And Then Leave (DUB) Missy Elliott - Pass That Dutch (Elektra) I:Cube & Rza - Can You Deal With That? (Versatile) 10 albums: Two Banks Of Four - Three Street Worlds (Red Egyptian Jazz) Prefuse 73 - One Word Extinguisher (Warp) Pavel Kostiuk - The Musicals (2000 Black) Yotoko - Wet Ink (Delsin) Pole - Pole (Mute) Matthew Herbert Big Band - Goodbye Swingtime (Accidental) As One - So Far (So Good) (Ubiquity) Alex Cortex - Inwards (Ann Aimee) Rhythm & Sound - The Artists/The Versions (Burial Mix) John Tejada - The Toiling Of Idle Hands (Immigrant) And here's my tips for 2004, as posted on littledetroit.net today - all in lowercase for some reason - guess I was in a lowercase mood :) newworldaquarium - was lucky enough to hear some of the tracks for his forthcoming peacefrog lp at the weekend and they were absolutely jaw-droppingly deep. plus 154's strike should at last see the light of day... aroy dee/m>o>s - again, got a sneak peek at his new stuff at the weekend and can't wait to get it on vinyl... real soon records - the further details and iken eps are superb, and with carl craig mixes of ultramarine to follow there's hopefully plenty more in this vein... rei loci & jason brunton - looking forward to loads of new stuff from the iridite boys... elijah - watch out for my boy laurence hughes! a real talent, and he's just warming up... arne weinberg - going from strength to strength... digital soul - returning at last with nuff proper techno. forthcoming d5 ep is amazing... down low - responsible for the techno record of the year for me in the shape of dan curtin's distort.artchive.desire, plus upcoming stuff from connection machine and convextion - mmm... ampoule crew - can't wait for the lucky & easy album on ann aimee... mat jonson/itiswhatitis - some of the best 12"s of the last couple of years, really want to hear more... luciano - as above... vince watson - on top form right now, and look out for some beautiful stuff on emoticon and headspace very soon... oliver hacke - really feeling his work on trapez and traum, glitched-up stuff with the all-important (and all-too-rare) soulful elements present and correct... Cheers, Tom
