Top 10 Breakfast Cereals… Not including any cereal sponsoring or in any other ways endorsed by artists on my roster.
1. Rude Health Ultimate Muesli
2. Dorset Cereals - Luscious Berries & Cherries
3. Jordan’s Super Berry Muesli
4. Alpen Swiss Recipe
5. Kelloggs Fruit & Fibre
6. Sugar Puffs
7. Crunchie Nut Clusters
8. Jordan’s Country Crisp
9. Kelloggs Coco Pops
10. Sainsbury’s Muesli
Top 10 Dance Albums of 2012 including no artists from his roster…
1. Voices from the Lake [Prologue]
2. Oskar Offermann - Do Pilot’s Still Dream of Flying [WHITE Records]
3. John Talabot - fIN [Permant Vacation]
4. San Proper - Animal [Rush Hour]
5. Delta Funktionen - Traces [Delsin]
6. Session Victim - Haunted House of House [Delusions of Grandeur]
7. Levon Vincent - Fabric 63 [Fabric]
8. DJ Deep - Kern 1 [Tresor]
9. Moomin - The Story About You [Smallville]
10. Various Artists - International Feel Compilation [International Feel]
I’d figured everybody would be bored of Top 10 end of year lists by now, so here’s my top 10 of the best footballers haircuts and moustaches!
Barry Venison
Quite Possibly the best hair cut ever.
Chris Waddle
Classic…
Ian Rush
Known as much for his moustache as his goalscoring, has had the good sense to get rid of it now that hes older.
Rene Higuita
A great dirty tache and haircut in one…
Sam Allardyce
A moustache to match those eyebrows!
Robert Huth
A very German moustache if there ever was one…
Kevin Keegan
That’s some perm!
John Aldridge
Another scouser with upper lip hair.
Xavier
Has had as many dodgy haircuts as most people have had hot dinners…
Joey Barton
A filthy moustache to match his personality!
10 tracks on a outernationalist tip that grabbed my attention in 2012 from the past and the present!
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Anton Zap - Taj Mahal (Story)
End of the night outernational vibes from Russian don Anton Zap. With so much tribal/Africanesque house out there really refreshing to hear tablahs and sitars in the fray!
Muslimgauze - A Small Intricate Box Which Contains Old Blue Opium Marzipan [Staalplatt]
Sorry no embed code!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0JGIpnX9x8&feature=list_other&playnext=1&list=AL94UKMTqg-9Bs_k2Ut5MRnXfNEzpPJF8X
The late Muslimgauze teases in Farsi vox samples and subtle Oud riffs all centred around an immensely weighty classic Roland rhythm section. This isn’t hugely typical of his other stuff but check that to see where Shackleton got a large chunk of his influence from!
Hanggai - Flowers (Auntie Flo Edit) [Afroedits]
Moving even further eastward Auntie Flo took this little known Mongolian bands original track and turned it into one of the best things I heard all year! Feel good vibes!
Ueng Nary - Srey No (Lady Name No) [Sublime Frequencies]
I heard the NTS DJ, Cherrystones play the original 7” recording of this at a party at the end of 2011 and later found it on the incredible Cambodian Cassette Archives compilation. The fact that practically all the 1970s Cambodian pop, rock and folk singers were killed during the Khymer Rouge’s genocide makes the retrospective listening of this bittersweet track even more poignant.
Pannalal Ghosh - Darbari Kannada [The Gramaphone Company of India]
This is the one I put on after a long night out to reinvigorate the soul. 100% uncut classical Indian flute vibes from the master Pannalal Ghosh!
High Plains Drifter - Sholay [Tempa]
This one, sometimes credited to Horsepower Productions, is really indicative of the crossover period between darker garage/early dubstep strains where any influence however obscure was accepted.
Circle Children - Zulu [Strictly Rhythm]
Armand Van Helden on a tribal flex. Nuff said!
Cos Ber Zam - Ne Noya (Daphni Remix) [Jiaolong]
The driving breakbeat, that mysterious vocal, the analogue sounding synth that comes in towards the end! This has been the pinnacle of the Daphni project for me thus far!
DJ Sotofett - Åsså Med Den Derre Fløyta [Wania]
Whilst DJ Sotofett and his Sex Tags Mania crew had an excellent year all round it was this one on a sub-label of theirs that really did it for me. The contrast between that hypnotic flute and colourful percussion section alongside the spiralling lysergic synth fx is next level!
Damask Rose - Vangelis [Universal Music]
From Vangelis’ outstanding Blade Runner soundtrack. But whilst Philip K. Dick’s tale is one of a dystopic future this Vangelis’ synth and vocal work in this track conjure up images of the vast Arabesque landscapes.
Top 10 house tracks of 2012
1. Ananda Project Feat. Kai Martin - A Second (Reelsoul Main Remix)
Kerri Chandler played this as his opening track in his latest Boiler Room session, super soulful! Hoping this sound makes a big comeback in 2013!
2. Detroit Swindle – The Wrap Around
Loved this track since the moment I first heard it, the second release on Huxley’s new Saints & Sonnets label.
3. Omar S – S.e.x (conant gardens remix)
Straight sleaze from the man himself! nuff said…
4. Santé - Homegirl Rampa remix (vinyl edition)
Available on vinyl only, a beatport version was released which is rubbish compared to this one! Beware…
5. Moodymann - Got 2 Make It
My standout track from the excellent free album KDR released earlier this year. Thanks for the download!
6. Homework - Confessing
A straight groover. Thought Homework really stepped the production up a gear this year, the vocals really work for me in this one
7. Malin Genie - Eye
Slapfunk released some of my favourite records this year. Full of snares and attitude. Heard this one for the first time on an excellent Italojohnson podcast. MASSIVE
8. Will Crawshaw – So Mezmerised
Wicked B side from my man Will who is making serious waves – look out for his next releases on Love Not Money, they are sounding great
9. Real Nice & Eldoko – Thuggin
Expect big things from Real Nice, their parties are off the chain and their tracks are getting hotter and hotter. This is the one for me!
10. Jocktalk – Lovin Me
Big shout to my homeboy, whose 5 track EP on Tusk Wax was one of the best received releases of 2012
*Bonus track:
Joy Orbison - Donell Jones Edit
Just hurry up and release it!
Top 10 Tracks i’ve listened to more than 51 times on my iTunes released in 2012, in alphabetical order.
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Andrew Ashong - Flowers
Anthony Naples - Mad Disrespect
Citizen - Deep End
fLako ft. Dirg Gerner - Lion’s Mane
New Look - Drive You Home
Royalty - Eroica (Elliott Yorke atlantian remix)
Jeremih - Fuck U All The Time
John Talabot ft Pional - Destiny
The Weeknd - Initiation
Yoko Duo - Half Awake
Chicago house maestro Amir Alexander is on the cusp of a big European tour! With a bag stuffed with Chicago, Detroit and New York underground hits and rarities, he will be playing all over the continent: from Israel to Italy, Russia to Spain. The tour will also include a very special date at the one and only Panorama Bar in Berlin, on the 9th of December.
08 DEC 2012 PRATEREI > VIENNA > AUSTRIA >
09 DEC 2012 PANORAMA BAR > BERLIN > GERMANY >
14 DEC 2012 CONCORDE ATLANTIQUE > PARIS > FRANCE >
15 DEC 2012 HOTEL OMM > BARCELONA > SPAIN >
16 DEC 2012 DINDADA > SALERNO > ITALY >
25 DEC 2012 JUST A GROOVE > MALMO > SWEDEN >
28 DEC 2012 GYPSY > MOSCOW > RUSSIA >
11 JAN 2013 BUTTERSIDE UP > LEEDS > UK >
08 FEB 2013 DELIS > TEL AVIV > ISRAEL >
Amir’s recent set at famed London afterhours Jaded drew much applause for its originality and inventiveness. Luckily for us, it was recorded!
To book Amir Alexander or check more of his music out, head on over to his TSA page.
Following on from the success of their debut release ‘Baia 2012’, hailed by influential critic and blogger Philip Sherburne as one of the top 50 records of the year so far, secretsundaze resident and co-founder James Priestley and studio partner Marco Antonio return with ‘Speed’, for their second release on the ever-evolving London based secretsundaze stable.
Much in the same way ‘Baia 2012’ did, ‘Speed’ harks back to a legendary time in club land, but this time much closer to home, to Speed at the Mars Bar in London, where the likes of LTJ Bukem were resident in the mid 90s and spun their ‘deep and beautiful rollin drum and bass’. As many of you will know, atmospheric strings, techno inspired basslines and amen breaks were the order of the day. Amen.
‘Speed’ pays homage to those times, but updated for the dancefloors and headphones of today, essentially as a patient, restrained, synth-layered and organic, percussive techno record. A tight 909 kick, Prophet 5 pads and sampled Maracas and shakers, make way for an incessant bassline and nostalgic vocal sample, the same one used by Bukem himself in his landmark track, ‘Horizons’. Marcus Intalex aka Trevino, as a spear head of the liquid drum n bass scene still to this day, with his newly christened Trevino alias, who has quickly risen within the UK House ranks in 2012, was an obvious choice to step up on remix duties. A jungle inspired tribal loop, a rude yet refined bassline, plenty of shaker changes and a super patient and smooth arrangement makes for our favourite offering of his to date, as it heads in more peak time territory, whilst maintaining the broodiness and ethos of the original.
All in all, another essential release from the secretsundaze label showing the production prowess of one of it’s founders James Priestley, alongside partner Marco Antonio, rounding off what has been a great year for the label as well as the parties here in London and around the world. In the words of Maya Angelou, ‘the horizon leans forward, offering you space to place new steps of change’. Here here..
Support from Deetron, Sasha, Ame, Craig Richards, Sebo K, Gerd, Skudge, George Fitzgerald, Ben Sims, Surgeon, Will Saul, Ashley Beedle, Vince Watson, Kiki, Karotte, Midland, Paul Woolford, Marcus Worgull, Michael Reinboth, Eric Duncan, Jimmy Edgar, Matt Tolfrey, Clive Henry, Adam Marshall, Ethyl, Flori, Arkist, Guy Andrews, Cottam, Eric Cloutier, & Catz N Dogz.
Release/catalogue number: SECRET 007
Release date: Dec 10, 2012
Check out James Priestley’s TSA page here.
Flori digs deep and delivers a very accomplished mix for the highly recommended Teshno blog. For interview and tracklisting head over to the website.
For upcoming dates, a complete biography, discography and booking contacts check out Flori’s TSA page.
Brand new november mix from one of The Secret Agency’s newest signings, Youandewan. Having released great remixes for Maya Jane Coles, Dusky, Midland and dOP in the past couple of years, and with a forthcoming release on Hypercolour, it’s safe to say the future is bright for this young producer.
Check out Youandewan’s TSA page here, with upcoming dates, biography, discography and agent contact.
