Best of 07

Top 10/End of Year lists are weird. That's all there is to it. As I now spend most of my non-music life thinking about how information is organized, these lists seem more and more arbitrary. Why January 1st? (Although Billboard and such use different dates) Why a ranked list? (or not) Why 10? (or not) Etc.

And increasingly, what are you ranking? An album? A single? An EP? A Mix? A remix? If it's an album, what's an album? Did it have to come out in physical form? Did the tracks have to be recorded this year? What about remix albums? What about an unauthorized remix album with a whole bunch of producers remixing tracks by artists they've never even met, perhaps released by someone else they've never met, possibly recorded before this year?

These questions aren't new, they're as old as music itself, questions of organization, ownership, categorization, etc. But the internet has certainly both broadened the ways in which these questions come up and increased the number of people bringing them up. And anyone who tries to take a broad overview of music, ESPECIALLY dance music, in 2007 may increasingly come up short when trying to wrestle with them.

AND YET! We humans have NO problem with creating categories, even in the face of monumental change. That's because we're so darn good at adapting to circumstances, especially when we care deeply about the subject matter we're trying to categorize. Take mixes for example. We didn't have the concept of a mix 40 years ago. Yes, there was the concept of compilation, of putting like musical objects in proximity, and law and common sense even recognizes the creative process involved in doing that compiling. But think of all the things that a DJ mix represents today, things that we DJs especially still argue about endlessly. Is a mix merely selection? Is it exclusivity of the tracks to the DJ, or how well the mix moves (or theoretically MIGHT move) the crowd? Is it how the beats are fit together (and if so does it matter if each track is seemlessly mixed over a long period of time or if we just crash from one song to another)? Is a mix purely a recreation, frozen in time, of what a DJ could do live? Or does it fundamentally go beyond that? Or does it even do both at the same time? Does it matter if you make the whole thing at once? Or weave it together in multiple takes? What if you just EQ it? ... And on and on. Hopefully it's clear that I think it can be all these things and more, possibly at the same time. The same applies outwards to remixes, samples, original tracks, singles, web releases, albums, ad infinitum.

And so I've taken a page from Eleanor Rosch and selected "Natural" categories for my top sounds of the year. I tried not to push it too much and came up with 8 categories, and even then intra-category comparison reveals comparison of M.I.A. to Elliot Smith, which just seems weird. But there you go, Billboard would say both those albums came out "This Year", even though Smith has been dead for 4 years. As you read this, some things might seem out of place, but there's a method to the madness.

So without further ado:

KID KAMELEON'S 72 MUSICAL THINGS THAT ARE IN SOME WAY CONNECTED TO 2007
(numbers/order do not imply rank - links to follow)

Albums and Compilations
(See, right off the bat there's an "and" in there, and in some systems that's no good. But I'm letting it slide for now)

01. Aaron Spectre - Lost Tracks (Ad Noiseam)
02. Boxcutter - Glyphic (Planet Mu)
03. Disrupt - Foundation Bit (Werk)
04. Elliot Smith - New Moon (Kill Rock Stars)
05. M.I.A. - Kala (XL)
06. Pinch - Underwater Dancehall (Tectonic)
07. Radiohead - In Rainbows (Self Released)
08. Thom Yorke - The Eraser Remix LP (Boomkat)
09. Ulrich Schnauss - Goodbye (Domino)
10. VA - Street Bass Anthems (Slit Jockey)
11. VA - Street Bass Anthems Vol. 2 (Slit Jockey)
12. VA - Box of Dub Vol 1 (Soul Jazz)
13. VA - The Warning Riddim 2K7 (Audiomaxxx)

Honorable Mention
01. DJ C - Sonic Weapons (Wimm)
02. Edit - Certified Air Raid Material (Alpha Pup)
03. Modeselektor - Happy Birthday (B-Pitch)
04. Strategy - Future Rock (Kranky)
05. VA - Skull Disco: Soundboy Punishements (Skull Disco)
06. VA - Hot Flush Presents - Time and Space (Hotflush)

Notes: I thought I wasn't going to come up with too many albums for this year, but it seems otherwise. Dev79 and Starkey's Street Bass Anthems are solid gold, they exemplify what a remix album AND what a web release should be. And they did it TWICE in 6 months! Lost Tracks: Best album to chill to in a long time. Radiohead: Hey, technology press, it's a good freakin' album!!!! M.I.A.: Dope and diverse - she got weirder, not safer, and that's to be applauded. Goodbye: Epic!!! Dark moments in there too, which are great in Schnauss's hands. Underwater Dancehall: Pinch is the best overall dubstep producer out there. Thom Yorke Remix LP (3 EPs together makes an LP in my book): Why is no one talking about this, this is a touchstone collection of artists remixing. Go check it out!

EPs and Singles
(More than a single track download, less than a full length)

01. The Bug - Poison Dart EP (Ninja Tune)
02. The Bug Feat. Killa.P + Flow Dan - Skeng (Hyperdub)
03. Dave Nada - Kick out the Jams EP (T&A)
04. Aaron Spectre - Say More Fire (Rag and Bone)
05. DZ - Slums Dub / Strong On Ya (Hot Flush)
06. 2562 - Chanel Two / Circulate (Tectonic)
07. Flying Lotus - Reset EP (Warp)
08. Ghislain Poirier feat. Face-T - Blazin (Ninja Tune and elsewhere)
09. Emynd & Bo Bliz - White Tees and White Belts (Flamin Hotz)
10. Drop the Lime - Hear Me (Trouble and Bass)
11. El Carnicero - The Butcher EP (Slit Jockey)
12. Illyah & Ltd. Candy - Fight the Formation / Poor Girl (Jahtari)
13. Benga + Coki - Night / Drumz West / Emotions (Tempa)

Honorable Mention
01. Al Ripken Jr / Curtis Vodka - Heavy Hittaz EP (Heavy Hittaz)
02. Cardopusher - Down to the Wire EP (Terminal Dusk)
03. Cloaks - Hi Tek Buzz (Werk)
04. Joker - Kapsize EP (Earwax)

Notes: The Bug!: He just gets better and better, and Kode 9, Warrior Queen, Flow Dan, and a cast of others make the two singles/EPs stellar. Emynd & Bo Bliz / Dave Nada: Two awesome new faces (new to me that is), both putting out EPs with 100% grade A material. Benga/Coki/DZ/2562: The best full dubstep releases of the year outside of Pinch and Hyperdub, and I think that's because all of them are concentrating on the uptempo stuff (the half tempo tunes are wearing thin on me, although there are still some great ones out there). Fly Lo: In a way it's very reminiscent of stuff from a decade ago, but radically updated. Seriously captivating. Aaron/El Carnicero/DTL/Ghislain: Cheers to all of them for pushing the hard hard end of dance music while still making it fun. Illyah & Ltd. Candy: Beguiling beautifulness from Jahtari ... put out more stuff!

Miscellaneous
(Single tracks I got form somewhere or another. Maybe they were sent to me, maybe they're dubs, maybe they were on zshare, maybe they came out on larger releases. Info in parenthesis is a best guess)

01. Alchemyst - Biorythms (Grimelock Dub)
02. Low Bee - Call It Murder Remix (Low Bee Board)
03. Diplo - Wassup Wasuup ft Rye Rye (Unreleased)
04. Diplo - Work is Never Never Over (Hollertronix #7)
05. The Pack - Vans (Curtis Vodka Remix) (Unreleased)
06. DJ Dub aka Jim'll Mix It - Set on You (T&A Forthcoming)
07. Passions - Emergency (Kitsune)
08. Last Zulu - Caress (Unreleased David Last / Zulu Collaboration)
09. Metallica vs Run DMC - Tricky Sandman (DJ M.i.F Bootleg)
10. Christina Aguilera - Aint No Other Man (Blaerg Oral Fistfuck Remix) (Mashit)
11. DJ Scotch Egg - Aaron Spectre's Scotch Acid Remix (Unreleased)
12. R. Kelly - Real Talk (Jive)
13. San Quinn - Do Ya Thizzle (Unreleased)
14. Saviour - Stampede (Grimelock Dub)
15. Tinhead - Stuntin 60s / Hood Kill (Unreleased)
16. Tittsworth - Rock Sand (Unreleased)
17. DJ Zebo - Southside (Unreleased)

Notes: Whole mishmash here. Alchemyst and Saviour did two of the best unreleased dubstep tracks ever. Low Bee, Diplo, Tittsworth, Zebo and whoever DJ Dub is all pushed Bmore in new directions. R. Kelly is a loon (and not worth album of the year AT ALL but "Real Talk" is a priceless moment), Last Zulu's collab needs to see the light of day, San Quinn kept the hyphy fire burning, and Tinhead gave me two of the best mashups ever executed. And the Passions track, more than any other, turned me on to the possibility of whatever genre it is that it's in, which I don't think I would have listened to before this year. Awesome work, Ben!

Mixes
(The best DJ Mixes of the year, the ones that stayed with me)

01. DJ N-Ron - The Collaborator Mix (Forthcoming)
02. Firehouse - Mastermind Computer Style II (Jahtari)
03. Kode 9 - Sonar Mix (Sonar)
04. Maga Bo - Confusion of Tongues (Soot)
05. Ripley - Histeria De La Ripley (Spannered)
06. Starkey - October XLR8R Podcast (XLR8R)

Notes: Putting N-Ron in is a bit unfair because as far as I know I'm one of the only people to have heard it, but a lot of his tracks are around and I'm sure this will gain a lot of attention when it gets its full release in a bit. Firehouse introduced me to the wonders of dancehall from the 80s and I listened to it all summer. Kode 9's mix for Sonar came as close as I got to recreating his set with Spaceape at Mutek, my favorite set of the year. Bo's long awaited and brilliant Confusion of Tongues flipped the script on world music, and Ripley killed it as usual with her mix for Spannered.

Artists
(Four artists who impressed me overall this year)

01. Bird Peterson
02. Clouds
03. Rustie
04. Starkey


Bird Peterson: The dude is golden. I hadn't really heard his stuff till about 3 months ago, and then every single remix or original track was golden. He remixes folks no one else would dare to and does them all one better. Club tunes that sound good on headphones. If there were any justice this stuff would be on commercial radio and millions of people would be listening to it.

Clouds: My favorite Finish dubstep outfit. As far as I know they only have a single track out, but the 8 or 10 tracks that I've heard from them are all amazing. Totally rides the line between 1/2 tempo and full tempo, and they seem totally aware of the endless possibilities of grounding dubstep in dub and roots music while taking it forward with new ideas. They could be a major force in 08.

Rustie: Again, only a few releases to his name (3 EPs I think), but one of them landed near the top of Boomkat's favorites, and for good reason. When I first heard Rustie last year I thought it was like techno-tweaked, twinkling dubstep. But then very quickly it was super glitched out party music a la Passions. And then in no time he was a hip-hop producer in the loping style of Sa-Ra or Flying Lotus or even Dabrye, but with way more layers of sound. Truth is, whatever it is it's almost universally good, and he is so prolific it's almost unbelievable.

Starkey: To me, Starkey is Producer of the Year. Like Rustie and Bird he just has a slew of stuff that keeps coming, and it runs from the super-heavy, almost breakcore take on instrumental hip-hop, to party hip-hop jams, to his MOVES!!! stuff, the more club based tracks. On top of that, he and Dev79 put out the two Street Bass Anthems volumes, showing their impeccable tastes and curatorial gusto, and then he does all sorts of other stuff that I only vaguely know about (engineering, electronic composition, artwork)... He's dance music's renaissance man, and watching his beats flourish over the last 18 months has be an awesome ride. Plus to top all of it off, he remixed Real Talk on request from yours truly, so you can't front on that!

Labels
(Two overall impressive labels)

01. Jahtari
02. Argon





Argon: Argon had such an impressive output this year. Great original tracks from Matty G, Babylon System ("Dancin Shoes" kills me every time) and Skynet, and four of the best tracks of the year, all remixes, were Argon's as well (Pinch's remix of "Swamp", Tes La Rok's remix of "Round the Way Girls", Loefah's remix of "50,000 Watts", and Caspa's Remix of "West Coast Rocks"). Reppin' the bay area like no others. All this from the mind of the man who made one of my favorite DnB tracks when I was starting out DJing, so cheers to you, Nick!

Jahtari: More than anything else, to me this was Jan Disrupt's year. Ripley and I met him in 06, and were overwhelmed by his generosity, by his love of dub, by his knowledge of its history, and by his supreme dedication to making a net label work and work well. I'm so happy that so many have found Foundation Bit and that it might have opened them up to Disrupt's music. Hopefully they went on to explore jahtari.org and learned not only how a net label is done right, but also saw how dub lives on in open-minded individuals, who can use it as a framework to explore new possibilities. Ras Amerlock, Maffi, Clouds, Illya and Ltd. Candy, John Frum, Rootah, Roots Ista Posse, Volfoniq, Normaa, African Simba, Mikey Murka, Bo Marley, and others I've come to know through Jan's impeccable ear, and in that way he fulfills the classic dual split of Selector and Producer that is so difficult to pull off. So cheers to him, and if you don't know the sound, it's all there for free at http://jahtari.org.

Released before 2007 but important to me this year anyway
(Like the title says)

01. The Coral Sea - Volcano and Heart
02. The Knife - Silent Shout
03. Masta Ace - Born to Roll
04. Phillip Roebuck - Fever Pitch
05. Ratatat - Classics
06. Trentmoller - The Last Resort

Notes: Just a few personal noises. Coral Sea and Trentmoller got me through some sad times this summer. The Knife and Ratatat I totally missed before this year but now am glad I've found. Phillip Roebuck is THE MAN! This is the problem with top 10s based on music released in the last year, because so much of what we come to at a certain time comes out of the past. Why didn't anyone tell me when this stuff came out originally!

A Final Thought

01. Burial - Burial is conspicuously missing from anywhere above (although he does show up in two places, Box of Dub and The Thom Yorke Remix album). I think Burial as a whole is great. I liked Untrue. I didn't love it. My favorite tracks of the past 18 months of Burial's all weren't on the album (the Ghost Hardware EP B-sides, the Thom Yorke remix, "Versus" from Warrior Dubs and "Unite" from Box of Dub.) I love all those tracks. To me the album was just a little too close to the weebly house music that I grew up disliking, which didn't kill it for me, it just makes it less viscerally inviting to me than if Burial had applied his brilliant technique to other source material, as it were. It's not that I don't like synths or overthetop-ness (I love Ulrich Schnauss). But I didn't like Untrue enough to have it in my top 10, especially when EVERYTHING else on Hyperdub was also vying for a spot. But the Ghost Hardware EP was great, and I'll be very curious to see where Burial takes it in 08. Do I have "A stone where my heart is?", as Nick Gutterbreakz might claim? You be the judge.