People Don't Post No More

Well, I don't..not for a while anyway - which is a good thing as I've got loadsa tracks I wanna post about. You've probably heard a few of them by now, but I don't care, I need to start somewhere so it might as well be right from where I left you last time.

The Rapture - "W.A.Y.U.H (People Don't Dance No More)" [Simian Mobile Disco Dub Mix] (Vertigo)

It's been a long while since the last post, 2 months now? We're in a whole new year, so happy new year! better late than never!

While I'm here I think I'll post my top 5s of 2006!

5 Top TUNES

Richard Dinsdale - "Wallop"
Tough choice between this and Crunch, but this one just about wins. Lovely sound to it, very funky, great beats and a hint of cut up vocal. typical dinsdale greatness.

Ferry Corsten - "Junk" (D. Ramirez Vocal Remix)
If I had to pick one D. Ramirez track for the year, this would be it. Tough choice though. As I said, so many to pick from this past year, and everyone has their favourite, whether it's his remix of Plump DJs - "Electric Disco", or the charted Bodyrox - "Yeah Yeah" remix, which probably would have been my other choice, had this one not popped up towards the end of the year.

King Roc - "The Tip"
I originally jumped on the Tom Neville mix of this track, but over time I've found the original to be my preferred version. It's got a bit of everything in it in terms of what King Roc can do in his productions.

Dave Spoon - "At Night"
Big Big tune, for me at least. had to play it LOTS AND LOTS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mason - "Exceeder"
I can understand why this got a chart release, but I hate the chart version with the princess superstar vocal, retitled "Perfect". Far from it in my opinion. The original is king.

other notable inclusions: Robbie Williams - "Lovelight" (Soulwax ravelight Dub), Cajmere - Say U Will, Marc Romboy vs Blake Baxter - The Club (Early), ah, what the fuck am I listing them for. they're all posted on the blog, read the archive you lazy fuckers!

5 Top PRODUCERS

D. Ramirez
Not put a foot wrong all year, with top class remixes coming out left, right and centre. No surprise he got chart success through his remix of bodyrox - Yeah Yeah, once it'd got a new vocal on top (which in my opinion ruined it). Not for the first time this year with Chris Lake's "Changes", Mason's "Exceeder" and the Tocadisco remix of The Egg's "Walking Away" entering the charts courtesy of a vocal being added to it in a bootleg which then became official. Coincidently, Tocadisco got ripped off as he only got his original remixer fee, and missed out on the windfall when it reached the charts. Not sure if that ever got resolved in Tocadisco's favour, but I wonder if D.Ramirez got the same treatment.

Richard Dinsdale
I expect this guy to be huge. He's done some great remixes ("Your Mistake", "Velvet Dreams"), and some great originals ("Wallop", "Crunch", "Pulling Me Under"), and I guarantee one of his tracks will blow up in 2007 and make him a house hold name.

SebastiAn
This guy is just amazing. The release of Ross Ross Ross, and the remixes of Kelis and Uffie this year, has shown that his 2005 productions were no fluke.

DJ Touche
Churned out quality productions in 2006, with remixes of Cajmere's "Say U Will", Wekan - "Skid" and Phunk Electric's "Video Games Crash"

King Roc
It was the Tom Neville remix of "The Tip" that got me onto this guy, and on further investigation found some quality productions in "Digerital" (on the "Tirades of ENV" EP), "Better ways", and "Take Me Away".

Other notable inclusions: Chris Lake, for "Changes", "Babaloo" (with Trophy Twins) and Shake (With Micky Slim), Trentemoller for continuing to producer remixes that are right up my street while doing originals that aren't quite my cup of tea but worth listening too once unless you're really into Minimal, and finally Micky Slim ("Raw Kemistry" remix, and Shake, with Chris Lake). Oh, And Aaron McCllelland. He'd have been in my top 5, but he spreads his tracks out in so many aliases it's hard to put him down in the list. :)


4 Top LABELS (it's late, and I don't want to think about #5 too much right now)

Mena
Home of the most melodic electro house of the year. Aaron McCllelland and his various aliases have come up trumps time and time again. In fact so many of the releases on this label have been McCllelland that I don't know who's NOT him. Col Hamilton, Yer Man, Effin & Blindin, One Motion, etc, have all produced some cracking tracks for this label this year, and will no doubt continue in 2007. Maybe they'll even get their website up and running sometime this year!

Toolroom
Mark Knight's label was home to Dave Spoon (the brilliant "At Night"), Richard Dinsdale, Robbie Rivera, Noir and even D.Ramirez (the Toolroom Allstars EP) in 2006. If you're thinking about heavy duty electro basslines then this label was synonomous with it.

Data Records
Being owned by MoS and all that goes with it, this label picked up more than a few big tracks in 2006. If it was a big chart smash, there's a good chance that it was on Data Records and a reasonable chance it was after initially being released on a smaller label. A few examples: Beatfreakz - "Somebody's Watching Me" and "Superfreak", Supermode - "Tell Me Why", Fedde Le Grand - "Put Your Hands Up For Detroit" (on various labels like C2/CR2), Sharam - "Party All The Time" (Spinning Records, Yoshitoshi, etc) , Mason - "Exceeder" (Various), Prydz vs Pink Floyd - "Proper Education" (out on Prydz' own label first). They've been quite prolific, no?

Ed Banger Records
With Justice, SebastiAn, Uffie and DJ Mehdi on this label, they've had a good year. Absolute brilliant productions from all.




Related Links
The Rapture official site
The Rapture on myspace
Simian Mobile Disco official site
Simian Mobile Disco on myspace
Vertigo official site