The Beatz staff pick their favorite dance releases of 2007, so far…

Peter Chambers

Beck - Cellphone’s Dead (Villalobos Entlebuch Remix)
Lopazz - Share my Rhythm (Isolee mix) [Review]
Andy Stott - Handle with Care / See in Me [Review]
Kalabrese - Rumpelzirkus Part 1 [Review]
Efdemin/Carsten Jost - Split EP [Review]
Carsten Jost - Atlantis I & II
Kerri Chandler - Computer Games EP
Andy Stott - the Massacre EP [Review]
DJ Koze - All the Time EP [Review]
Len Faki - Rainbow Delta/Mekong Delta [Review]
Shackleton - Blood on my Hands (Villalobos mix) [Review]
Roman Fluegel - Mutter EP
Various - Death is Nothing to Fear Vol. 1 [Review]
Vulva String Quartett - Cranberry Song EP [Review]
Portable - Don’t Give Up (Remixes) [Review]
Syncom Data - Beyond the Stars (Remixes) [Review]
Ilya Santana - Discotized EP [Review]
DJ Koze vs. Sid le Rock - Naked (Koze remix) [Review]
Battles - Atlas (Koze mix) [Review]
Prosumer/Murat Tepeli - What Makes You Go For It? [Review]

Nate DeYoung

Lindstrom & Solale - Let’s Practice [Review]
Hatchback - White Diamond (Prins Thomas remix)
Audion - I Gave You Away [Review]
Partial Arts - Trauermusik [Review]
Motiivi:Tuntematon - I Don’t Feel Good [Review]
Efdemin - Just a Track [Review]
Beck - Cellphone’s Dead (Villalobos Entlebuch Remix)
Ame - Balandine [Review]
Argy - 1985 (Sydenham & Rune Remix) [Review]
Henrik Schwarz - Walk Music [Review]
Dixon - Resident Advisor #48

Todd Hutlock

cv313 - Dimensional Space EP [Review]
Lazy Fat People - Pixelgirl EP [Review]
Dominik Eulberg - Limikolen EP [Review]
Beck - Cellphone’s Dead (Villalobos Entlebuch Remix)
Luciano - No Model No Tool [Review]
Audio Werner - Flatfunk [Review]
Tony Allen - Ole (A Remix by Moritz Von Oswald) [Review]
Riton - Hammer of Thor
Adultnapper - Betty Crocker Moves to Berlin
Gaiser vs Heartthrob - Nasty Girl [Review]
The Field - From Here We Go Sublime [Review]
Gui Boratto - Chromophobia [Review]
DeepChord presents Echospace - The Coldest Season
Dominik Eulberg - Heimische Gefilde [Review]
Pantha Du Prince - This Bliss [Review]

Michael F. Gill

Sorcerer - Surfing After Midnight (Prins Thomas Remix) [Review]
Matt John - Soulkaramba [Review]
Jacek Sienkiewicz - Good Night & Good Luck [Review]
Shackleton - New Dawn / Massacre
Air - Lost Message [Review]
M.I.A. - Bittersuss [Review]
Escort - All That She Is [Review]
Voom Voom - Best Friend / Sao Verought Remixes
Frankie Valentine - Zumbi (Henrik Schwarz Dub Remix)
Kelley Polar - Rosenband (Instrumental)

Stylus editor Todd Burns presents a mini-mix of electronic music…

Tracklist
01: Boundzound - Louder (All Mighty Club Mix) [buy]
02: D-Pulse - Jane Air [buy]
03: Eberhard Schoener feat. Sting - Why Don’t You Answer [buy]
04: Lopazz - Share My Rhythm [buy]
05: Plasmik - Mindpattern [buy]
06: Paul Kalkbrenner - Altes Kamuffel [buy]
07: Riton vs. Heidi - To the Gum [buy]
08: Sneak Thief - My Sullen Mistress [buy]

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Curiouser and curiouser. It never ceases to amaze me how t(r)endencies in dance music collide, mutate, and spawn new monsters. If one of the key refrains of producers (against music journalists) is that we keep on pigeonholing them against their will, then the reply should be a demand for some sympathy—how else are we to get a handle on all this flux? This EP is so thoroughly under the influences that it staggers—there’s crunk, hip-hop, house (bouncy French, disco, micro, electro, whore), plus nods to rave, all packaged with lashings of snappy pop.

First listen reminded me of my mother, telling me that Big Black was “headache music.” I didn’t think Songs About Fucking was, but this EP is colorful like a mouthful of gummies, high like your surging blood sugar, and sickly like your stomach after the binge is over. The original has got the cut, paste, and bounce of Akufen’s old classics like “Deck the House” and “Quebec Nightclub.” The problem with the track (to these ears at least) is the minor-key string sample over the top of the mix, which abrades the party below.

Riton’s mix is the übermanic wedding of the original’s housey parts to full-bore synth-electro madness. Like Alter Ego’s remix of Partial Arts a few months back, if the kids in your club don’t dance to this, they’re dead. That’s not a threat, it’s a medical fact. The “Drowning” mix by Surkin continues with the cut and spazz, but this time is matched with sirens, rave atmospheres and big-room house ass. Headache music! (Dear god, I’m turning into my mother.) Finally, Beckett and Taylor take their hands off the plow long enough to outclass their fellows with a mix that sounds surprisingly adult and sophisticated by comparison, while still keeping things well hectic.

It feels odd to praise an EP I have difficulty listening to from start to finish, but this is exemplary, and if you’re a “working gal” (in the DJ sense) this is a warhorse for the whore-house.

Naive France / Institubes / NV 809166/ INS 12017
[Listen]
[Peter Chambers]

Mallory O’Donnell
Montreal - Montreal [Salsoul]
Pet Shop Boys - Introspective [EMI]
Machine - There But for the Grace of God Go I [RCA]
Optimo - Walkabout [Endless Flight]
Black Strobe - Burn Your Own Church [Play Louder]
Kathy Diamond - Miss Diamond To You [Permanent Vacation]
LCD Soundsystem - Sounds Like Silver (Sound of Silver Remixed) [MP3]
Joakim - Lonely Hearts (Radio Edit) [Versatile]
Justus Kohncke - Elan (Prins Thomas Mix) [Kompakt]
Riton - Hammer of Thor [Souvenir]

Michael F. Gill
Ashford & Simpson – It Seems to Hang On [Warner Brothers]
Sylvester – Body Strong [Fantasy]
Brooklyn Express – Sixty Nine [Carrere]
Ralph Mac Donald – Playpen [Polydor]
Lauriece Hudson – Feel My Love [Snowflake]
Antonelli – The Name Of This Track Is Bobby Konders [Italic]
Phobia – Phobia (DJ Hell Remix) [Gigolo]
CoH – Dancing In Silence [Eskaton]
Fan Club Orchestra – Theme Du Vol.2 (Part 2) [Soniq/Tokuma Japan]
Like A Tim & Gina V.D’Orio – Where Did Our Love Go [Djak-Up-Bitch]

Todd Hutlock
Audion - Mouth To Mouth (Heartthrob’s Hot Breath Treatment) [Spectral Sound]
Pole - Jungs [~scape]
Creation Rebel - Starship Africa (Parts 1-5) [On U Sound]
DJ T - Lucky Bastard [Get Physical]
Mad Mike - Lo-Tech Reality [Underground Resistance]
Riton - Hammer of Thor (Roman Flügel Remix) [Souvenir]
Dominik Eulberg - Die Grunschenkel Im Blauen Priel [Traum Schallplatten]
Faze Action - In The Trees (Carl Craig C2 Remix 1) [Juno]
Adultnapper - Betty Crocker Moves To Berlin [Superfreq]
Audio Werner – Flatfunk [Circus Company]

Michael F. Gill
Jacek Sienkiewicz - Good Night & Good Luck [Cocoon]
Porter Ricks – Porter Ricks [Mille Plateaux]
Motorcitysoul – Aura (Jimpster Remix) [STIR15 Recordings]
Glimpse – Julia [Hypercolour]
Jay Pauli – Hamburger Spritzer [Ware]
DJ E Tones – Soul Detergent [Sounds]
Blue Vision – Visions [EMI Electrola]
Secession - Touch (Parts 3 & 4) [Beggars Banquet]
Rick James – Glow [Gordy/Motown]
Cheri – Murphy’s Law [Venture]

Tracklist
01: Faze Action - In the Trees (Carl Craig C2 Remix) [buy]
02: Riton - Hammer of Thor [buy]
03: Beck - Cellphone’s Dead (Villalobos Entlebuch Mix) [buy]
04: DJ T - Lucky Bastard [buy]
05: MIA - Swoon [buy]
06: Daso - Thujon [buy]
07: Popnoname - No Doubt [buy]

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As a companion piece to our 2006 year in review, here are the individual lists/charts from each of our contributors. Happy reading…

(more…)

Guest Chart: DJ Barbara Preisinger [~Scape, Berlin]

Alix Alverez & Mr.V - Beat Bodega vol1 [Sound Channel Music]
Shed - Shot Selection [Selection records]
Deadbeat - Version Immersion [~scape]
STL - Purple Saturn Days [Perlon]
Pantha Du Prince - Lichten [Dial]
Ferrer & Sydenham Inc - The Black Door [ibadan]
Nathan Cole - Musik Freak [Funk´d]
Andy Vaz - Remixes [Background]
Herrmann & Kaden - Corroboree [Freude Am Tanzen]
Beckett & Taylor - Hired New Hands [Hand On The Plow]

Michael F. Gill
And One – Sometimes (Instrumental) [Virgin]
Terrence Fixmer – Resistance [Gigolo]
Deepchild – Blackness of the Sea (Luomo Remix) [Future Classic]
Chagrin D’Amour – Chacun Fait (Dub) [Barclay]
Black Gold – C’mon Stop [Prelude]
Kiko – Solar [Notorious Elektro]
Alisha – All Night Passion [Vanguard]
Stephane Signore & Wehbba – Destiny [Bound Records]
Red Lipstique – Drac´s Back (Dub) [Magnet Records Ltd]
Geraldo Pino & The Heartbeats – Let Them Talk [Soundway]

Todd Hutlock
Lawrence - “Deep Summer Hole” [Dial]
Lazy Fat People - “Shinjuku” [Wagon Repair]
Heidi Vs Riton - “Vejer” [Get Physical]
Sense Club - “Tommorrov Cocktail” [Perlon]
John Dahlbaeck - “Wet Summer” [Kompakt Extra]
Trentemøeller - “Always Something Better (Trentemøeller Remix)” [Poker Flat]
Meek - “Glowing Trees” [New Ground]
Andrew Weatherall - “Feathers” [Rotters Golf Club]
John Hassell - “Voiceprint (Blind from the Facts) (808 Mix Two - Latin In It Mix)” [Opal]
Dirt Crew - “Largo” [Dirt Crew Recordings]

Nate DeYoung
My My - Songs for the Gentle [Playhouse]
Tim Hecker - Harmony in Ultraviolet [Kranky]
Rex the Dog - Maximize [Kompakt]
Matthias Kaden / Onur Ozer - Pentaton / Twilight [Vakant R]
Mobilee - Back to Basics [Mobilee]
Pikaya / Andomat 3000 & Jan - Grüne Raufaser / Entr’acte Music [Cadenza]
Bruno Pronsato - Lady Collage [Orac]
The Modernist - Presents “Popular Songs” [Faith]

Heidi, of Phonica Records in London, teams up with the erratic Riton for her debut on Get Physical, a pre-cursor to her new mix CD. The result is quite a housey early morning track, with warm pads and even some cello. It’s quite different to the usual Get Physical sound, less electronic, but nonetheless a playable if not mindblowing record. Jesse Rose supplies the remixes on the flip. With a proper release to come on GPM and remixes for Mobilee also on the way, you feel Rose must have something good up his sleeve, but he doesn’t show it here.

Get Physical Music / GPM 054
[Listen]
[Ronan Fitzgerald]

Todd Hutlock
The Rice Twins - For Dan [K2]
Donnacha Costello - 6.3 [Minimise]
Mathew Johnson - Beach Party [Wagon Repair]
Nitzer Ebb - Shame (Derrick May Remix) [NovaMute]
Porter Ricks - Port of Call [Chain Reaction]
Afternoon Coffee Boys - Busted Speaker Brew [Clink Music]
Thee Madkatt Courtship - Da Mindfuck [Deep Distraxion]
Sami Koivikko - Dore [Spectral Sound]
Limaçon - Ajar [Intrinsic Design]
Mr. Fingers - Can You Feel It [Trax]

Nate DeYoung
My My - Butterflys and Zebras [Aus]
Audion - Mouth to Mouth [Spectral]
Heidi vs Riton - Vejer [Get Physical]
Cobblestone Jazz - India in Me [Wagon Repair]
Donato Dozzy - Dimensions EP [Dozzy]
Jona - Tizia [Get Physical]
The Rice Twins - Reach for the Flute [Kompakt]
Sleeper Thief - Chasing You [Mobilee]
Madonna - Get Together Remixes [Virgin]
Justus Kohncke - Advance [Kompakt]

Cameron Octigan
Alice in Chains - Dam That River [Columbia]
Dominion - The Light of Day [unknown]
Jan Jelinek - Im Discodickicht [~scape]
Jesu - Your Path to Divinity [Hydrahead]
JPLS - Program 01 [M_nus]
Limp Wrist - Just Like You [Lengua Armada]
MDK - Rohe Gewalt [Weird System]
Putsch 79 - Doin’ It (Putsch 79 Edit) [Clone]
Rex the Dog - I Look into Air [Kompakt]
Ricardo Villalobos - Que Belle Epoque 2006 [Frisbee Tracks]

Michael F. Gill
Voigt & Voigt - Was Du Willst [Kompakt Extra]
V/A - Dashammer Remixes [Max.I]
Gusgus - Mallflowers [Pineapples]
Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill (Instrumental) [EMI]
Phreek - May My Love Be With You [Atlantic]
Dalton & Dubarri - I (You) Can Dance All By My (Your) Self [Hilltak]
Moment of Truth - So Much for Love [Salsoul]
V/A - Historical Archives Volume 2 [Members Only]
Gino Soccio - There’s a Woman (Carl Craig Re-Edit) [Moxie]
Munich Machine - Bolectro [Casablanca]