Disco Delicious' Top 10 Delicacies of 2010

Man this is always so tricky boiling 12 months down to 10 tracks. It's taken longer than I anticipated to put this all together so just pretend it was posted a week ago back when it was that distant year we've all forgotten about now, 2010. Massive THANKS to everyone who still reads this lil' blog of mine and hope you all had a super duper silly season. Will get stuck into 2011 very soon but for now here are the things that really tickled me in the last 12 months. Hope you enjoy!

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#10 Justus Köhncke - Stilove4music 025

In a recent interview Harvey said that to him "techno and disco [are] just the same but using different instruments. It's just a natural progression." I reckon that's a really nice perspective and, whether or not you agree with him, this philosophy seems to be deeply embedded in Justus Köhncke's music. This Stilove4music record he did earlier in the year featuring 3 drastic reworkings of classic Chic tracks had me pretty torn at first. I had a different opinion after each listen - sometimes I adored it, sometimes I thought it was boring rubbish. I guess it's a lot to do with context: play this record in the right place at the right time and it's devastatingly good. When the disco and techno edges collide it all makes perfect sense.

Justus Köhncke - Now Phreeq [buy]

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#9 Hudson People - Trip To Your Mind (LTJ Re-Edit)

LTJ has had a fantastic year, releasing some of the most consistently great edits of 2010. For me this Hudson People edit was up there in contention for disco edit of the year. LTJ's edits are so tasteful, so restrained and mature, and his selections are just superb. Whilst the original track is a severely groovy number with gorgeous vocals and a funky rhythm section, it's truly taken to the next level with the simple addition of a thumping kick drum, some careful EQing to really get the horns blasting, and thoughtful restructuring to turn it into an absolute club bomb. The breakdown turns even the most stubborn punters into dancefloor puppets being manhandled by this stellar jam.

Hudson People - Trip To Your Mind (LTJ Edit) [buy]

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#8 Midnight Savari + Death Strobe Records

OK OK, I really don't want to toot my own horn here - hence the low chart position - but running a record label has been soo much fun and I absolutely adore the music we've released so far. If I wasn't worried about getting web-slapped this would be up at #1 because it's easily been the best + most fun thing about this year. Domeyko/Gonzalez managed to conjur up a ridiculous EP for us that's as captivating and awe-inspiring as it is brain-mushing and disorientating. Midnight Savari's 'Pinisi' EP is a properly superb club record that moves from maritime balearic disco to 808-laden 80s electro to space cruising synth grooves. It just feels so awesome to be holding the finished record! Hope it's been enjoyed by you lot as much as it has by us.

Midnight Savari - Pinisi [buy]

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#7 Max Essa - Uptown Vibration

What a fucking jam! This release by Max Essa on Is It Balearic? is a real winner from every angle - and I'm not even going to have time to mention the 20-minute slo-mo atmos-balearic journey on the A-side. Uptown Vibration is kinda laid back and dubby but at the same time a real pumper that grooves hard and deep. The chubby bass balances perfectly with the shapely pads and crispy piano line. Hang out for the slap-tastic bridge and the strutting guitar that follows and you've got a real winner. I've been playing this one way too much, it's completely danceable in just about any situation.

Max Essa - Uptown Vibration [buy]

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#6 Pilooski - AAA

There's been a bit of sadness this year with the RVNG of the NRDS 12" series finishing up and Moxie edits saying goodbye to the record business. Easily two of the best names in obscure disco edits of the past few years, fingers crossed some labels will step up and fill those oversized shoes. Pilooski's offering as the final NRDS release is a real thing of beauty - a quaint journey through a psychedelic soundscape which swirls and swells and continues to descend into a beautiful strangeness that's quite haunting and has an understated kind of sinister vibe buried deep in the song. It's not a record that suits all (or even many) occasions but when you're in the right mood it's a stunner.

Pilooski - AAA [buy]

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#5 Trickski - Pill Collins

Ohhh man this Trickski tune is a real masterpiece of deep. It builds and swells and rises with subtlety, and so does your anticipation. You know something big is coming and it makes you go crazy. In that sense it's a little like Sebastian Tellier's La Ritournelle - the build seems to go on for an eternity, then it bursts like a balloon filled with paint and everything in instantly drenched in colour and it's a massive injection of euphoria, then you've got the rest of the track to groove and let that brief moment sink in. If you don't get what I mean then it's probably the worst musical comparison ever. Just reaching the little sliver of Phil Collins' vocal feels like such a dazzling achievement and the final 3 minutes is spent in a state of 50% elation 50% relaxation. And if all of that sounds like total bullshit, it's still a fucking great dance track.

Trickski - Pill Collins [buy]

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#4 Harvey's Doc Severinsen Edits

It was so exciting to see Harvey returning to edits this year after a decade of leaving them behind. What's even more exciting is just how much effort was put into the production of this record by Pacific Beach Recording Company. It seems like the mastering of the edits was equally as important as the edits themselves. The result is an obscenely beautiful high-fidelity 12" with a couple of mind blowing tracks skilfully cut up and reworked by THE disco edits master. Whether you're a DJ or just someone who loves to whack on a great sounding record at home, this is easily one of the most essential releases of the year. My rip is a bit crap, buy it and see for yourself.

Doc Severinsen - Be With You (DJ Harvey Edit) [buy]

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#3 Black Cow Edits

These Black Cow 7"s have been such a joy to stumble across this year. As far as I can tell they're done by some dudes from the Jazzy Sport crew, aside from that they're super mysterious and that's the way I like it. It's the perfect thing to do - guys who run a specialist record store, and therefore have worked up pretty supreme digging powers, doing some rocking edits of the tastiest and rarest gems they can uncover. I haven't been able to track down any of the originals but man they sound unbelievable. This track for example mixes strange sounding dense electronic drums, a soul party chant, fluttering flute-synth melodies and a dangerous huge acid line noodling through the middle. It's incredible! Like I said, simply joyous records.

Black Cow - PMMF [buy]

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#2 Nicolas Jaar - A Time For Us

Probably one of the most predictable entries and rightly so. Young Nicolas Jaar has impressed zillions of electronic music lovers this year, particularly with this song. It starts so innocently with lightly coloured synths and a cruisy sounding party and you're lulled into a false sense of being led into a summery pop song. Something about the mesmerising ketamine vocals, the thickly textured bass and the dark druggy atmosphere suck you in so deep that you're suddenly heavily sedated and moulding around the song like jelly. When I first heard this track I was in a puddle on the floor by the end, my muscles and bones somehow disintegrating. And he's 20. Talented prick...

Nicolas Jaar - A Time For Us [buy]

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#1 Tornado Wallace - Tornado Never Dies

The number one spot was extremely easy for me to pick this year. This tune, and the whole EP that it's from, is absolutely supreme. It's far from just another disco edit - this is a stunning transformation of an already great track by Peter Jacques Band into a funky deep house disco monstrosity that grooves so agonisingly hard I'm surprised I haven't shattered a few teeth in the hundreds of listens I've given it since its release. It's as uplifting and euphoric as dance music comes with zero cheese factor. And it's by an Aussie, no less! Mr Tornado Wallace aka Lewis Day has had a pretty massive year with a string of beefy remixes and a couple of fab releases on Delusions of Grandeur but nothing in the past 12 months can touch his godlike Sleazy Beats record. If you can still find a copy of this anywhere it's worth selling a limb for. Otherwise the label is releasing a CD in the next month or two so keep an eye out!

Tornado Wallace - Tornado Never Dies

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I don't have the effort to proofread any of this so if I've used the word gem too much or got my facts completely wrong don't get too agro :)

I'd love to hear what your favourite things of 2010 were, feel free to comment away with your thoughts! I'll probably do a podcast with a bunch of things I couldn't squeeze in so if there's stuff you want to slap me for not including just hang tight, it might show up real soon. Thanks for another awesome year, much love to all! xxx

Edits etc.

Disco edits are indeed a wonderful thing. Whilst it's great to hear good 100% fresh music, there's almost an infinite amount of killer muzak from way back which is begging to be tweaked for the club. Look, here are some now! (Great segue there!) Posted one of Loud Minority Radio's edits a little while back and was stoked when these popped into my inbox a week or two ago. Both great selections and both edited really nicely. Rock solid.

Kano - Can't Hold Back (LMR Edit)

Dynasty - I Don't Want To Be A Freak (LMR Edit)

Really enjoying this Paradise Lost edit, the dull quality is a bit annoying but it's a top quality tune. I don't know much about PL except that they run disco warehouse parties in Sydney and will hopefully be doing some more releases like this bad boy. Check out the other tunes here and pick up the ultra limited 12"!

Paradise Lost - NY

And since that last Frankie Valli edit got such a good response, I might as well post another edit which Pilooski did which I, again, only found recently. It's also quite fantastic. Not quite as much energy or oomph but still a wonderfully crafted edit of a great classic. Yeah yeah yeah good good good yum yum yum.

Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons - The Night (Pilooski Re-Edit)

Ok this is completely unrelated, but I've been trying to find this track forever and I'm now going all out in hope that someone can ID it for me. It's the first track from Paul T's Beats In Space mix in July last year, for which he didn't give a tracklisting. This song is so beautifully produced, I must must must get my hands on a 320 or wax copy. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

??? - Mystery Track

I'm popping over to Auckland for the week, can anyone recommend any supercool nights to check out? Haven't really ever been out properly in NZ so need some advice.

Hidden Favourites

Boy do I have a burner of a post for you lucky cats! I spent a while rummaging around for older or less obvious stuff by some of my favourite artists and came up with some absolute rippers! This Zongamin track is a prime place to start - jam packed with his signature quirk and cute bass sound. Plenty of different little sections and motifs popping up in this bad boy, it's a bit of an odyssey really considering it's only a 5 minute song. So badly want to uncover more of these Zonga-gems.

Zongamin - Tunnel Music

Pilooski could edit a piece of dog shit into a solid gold bar. Not that the songs he edits are ever bad to begin with but that's how I'd measure his talent. And there's so much of his stuff floating around you can always find something new if you've got the patience to look. These two tunes aren't particularly well hidden or anything but they're new to me so I figured I'd share. He's done a great job of turning Who Loves You into an absolute disco steam train, giving it some beefy biceps. The Nina Simone tune is from one of the old Verve Remixed albums. I really can't understand why I never got any of them during my big jazz obsession a few years ago, but better late than never. Both big big tunes, both awesome.

Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons - Who Loves You (Pilooski Re-Edit)

Nina Simone - Take Care of Business (Pilooski Remix)

Mock & Toof's unique brand of buoyant semi-psychedelic disco has had me frothing since day one. Here we see three perfect specimens which will stand as proof why. Big Hands is a typical strutty disco number of theirs which I must have missed a while back, super super groovy. This amazing dub version of Underwater, already a big fave of mine, is a totally sublime nautical jam sesh that makes me want to whack off a sea cucumber. And I really love the way they've dressed Hot Chip up in a spooky little halloween outfit for some excellent october clubbing. I'm still convinced they're some of the cleverest producers around at the moment.

Mock & Toof - Big Hands For A Lady

Mock & Toof - Underwater (Alternative Dub Version)

Hot Chip - Over and Over (Mock & Toof Dub Mix)

Was really enjoying listening to Rub-N-Tug's latest appearance on Beats In Space and it reminded me of their LCD Soundsystem remix which I'd completely forgotten about. Too Much Love is probably my favourite LCD track and I really like the way they've twisted it and made it a few shades darker. I've been struggling to find a good quality version of the extended disco dub of Beat Connection and haven't had much luck. I guess being the first LCD single I'm not really sure how good the quality should actually be, but hope this one is acceptable. And the live version of Us vs Them is far beyond acceptable. I cannot believe I've never had the chance to see James and his merry men in the flesh! Brilliant stuff.

LCD Soundsystem - Too Much Love (Rub-N-Tug Remix)

LCD Soundsystem - Beat Connection (Extended Disco Dub)

LCD Soundsystem - Us vs Them (Live on KCRW)

Finally, Le Rouge (the artist formerly known as Ash Le Rouge) and Neil Up are starting up a new night in Sydney called Late Notice which you need to go to if you want to keep your friends. Aside from said founders, the bill also features 77 heartthrobs Sunday School and ex-DD famed Trentertainment. Best ever. Yum yum yum listen to Ash's latest mix for the night and his fun Lost Valentinos remix, then start crossing off the days until friday. It's downstairs at the Gaff on Oxford St. Inspect the flyer for all the deets. GO.

Ash Le Rouge - Lil' A Mix

Lost Valentinos - Midnights (Le Rouge & Serge's 'Happy Hacienda' Remix)

Has anyone else tried these fancy new sour apple tic tacs? My tongue is so sore after eating two packets today, way too addictive.

Behind The Curtain

Let's, for a moment, take a step back from your typical main room d-floor and stumble over to the oh-so-alternative backroom with beanbags and incense burning and a couple of people busting out some way too enthusiastic experimental moves who everyone pretends not to be looking at. The music is nice in here too! Genre is no longer considered. Quirky op-shop garments are essential.

You could get started with some things just a little left of center like Bot'Ox, maybe reeling in some curious electro kids. It's got that sort of vicious edge they seem to be drawn to but, as you could easily forecast with Bot'Ox, is masterfully produced and is interesting enough for anyone to get into if they're keen. You could also chuck in some Padded Cell to again ease into things for the same reason. Big appealing bassline splattered with dissonant guitar, squawking sax and galactic sounds. Or perhaps some overly twisted classic disco like Erobique (thanks to blouse for this one!) which is defaced by some kind of mutant bass playing anti-melodies.

Bot'Ox - Arab Drift

Padded Cell - Faces of the Forest

Erobique - Endorphinmachine

You could probably get away with playing your average new agey psychedelic tribalfolk tune like Faux Pas' spectacular Rose's Lament, my new favourite song. It's like if Enigma was no longer awfully cheesy, they learned to play and use lots of different instruments and sounds, and... I don't know, became about 300 times better. Even then that's a terrible thing to compare it to, but the thought flashed through my mind on first listen. It's a really beautiful journey which you should take with the candles blown out and the volume up at dangerous levels. Thanks to Faux Pas' chart on RVNG this month I'm aware of this perfect Bullion tune which could aid a summer pool party as well as it could a back room full of happy huggy gurning kids. Just gorgeous!

Faux Pas - Rose's Lament

Bullion - Time For Us All To Love

There is of course always the option of throwing in some Pilooski stuff. Possibly more on the rocky side of things? His Michael Bundt edit is a sort of psychedelic rock dance fusion which, rather than really going anywhere, wades around through a bunch of slowly developing synths. The Can edit is more legit 60s psych-rock and would be killer for a beanbag moment or a hippie flowerdance. Love you Pilooski.

Michael Bundt - The Brain of Oskar Panizza (Pilooski Edit)

Can - Mother Sky (Pilooski Edit)

Or if you just think the kids are so fucked up they wouldn't notice a herd of rainbow oxen stampeding on the dancefloor, you could play something like this cheeky Joakim 30 second summary of the modern modern music. You could get kicked off the decks though. Yes, you'd be very foolish to even post this on a blog let alone play it in a club.

Joakim - One Minute to Catch Up and Forget

That would be a pretty messed up set... Probably don't take my advice.

Hello

Have to keep this short, too much to dooooo!

In Flagranti must be seriously busy guys. Keep seeing new things popping up all the time - it's swell. This Act Yo Age remix in particular is one of my favourite things of theirs I've heard lately. Solid solid solid bassline groove. So solid. A FlagrantiHunt also sent me in the direction of Ajello, a couple of Italian guys making some interesting music on a predominantly techy label. See what you think.

Act Yo Age - La Fumo Loco (In Flagranti Remix)

Ajello - Dolphy (In Flagranti Re-Edit)

Love Mock & Toof. Really. This is one of the nicest songs I've heard lately. A lovely spacey disco cruise with some very pretty production. And this Pilooski edit has dominated my stereo for quite a while now, I've only just worked up the courage to post it. How outlandish! Seriously it's quite sensational, Pilooski is just stupidly good.

Mock & Toof - Zomby Disco

Del Shannon - Gemini (Pilooski Edit)

I'll have a top 10 of '08 up within the week to make sure it's out of the way before I go get South Americanised. Tata.

Sneaky Tuesday

Ahoy there. I just got the new Metro Area Fabric CD and nearly pissed myself listening to the intro. Love those dudes. Great idea, I'll post some! I swear I heard Morgan Geist talking on Beats In Space about a new Metro Area release that came out recently, but after minimal searching I can't really find anything. Any ideas? Anyway, here are a couple of my faves of theirs. Orange Alert is a total classic of course, and coming back to it after listening to the DFA remix non stop was really refreshing! The arrangement, sounds, composition - everything! - is so well done. The special dub of Read My Mind really does it for me too, they're just so good at making things sound simple and easy and amazingly groovy. Grab their Fabric album - it's a winner!

Metro Area - Orange Alert

Metro Area - Read My Mind (Special Dub)

Two songs I really can't stop listening to the moment happen to be on pretty opposite ends of the spectrum. #1 is Codependency by In Flagranti. Who knew one note could be so much fun? It's really rare to hear a song that's based on something so simple with such a colossal amount of feel and groove. Play it teeth shatteringly loud, it's fantastic! #2 is a Pilooski edit of Elvis Presley. Retaining, accentuating and modernising Presley's ultra high cool factor. This is a seriously brilliant edit.

In Flagranti - Codependancy

Elvis Presley - Crawfish (Pilooski Edit)

Hmm what else is new... Found a couple of gorgeous new tracks the other day by Chateau Flight and Lullabies In The Dark, two artists I'm really digging at the moment. I just spilled tea on my keyboard :( lame. The Chateau tune is a beautiful relaxed disco number slash space cruise with plenty of bongos to boot. Love bongos. Bongos and cowbell should be mandatory instruments learned at school I reckon, not shitty recorders and xylophones. The Lullabies track, remixed by Superpitcher, is a 10 minute journey of gliding synths which make you float away off to awesomeland. Where everyone plays bongos :)

Chateau Flight - Prism

Lullabies In The Dark - Iridium (Superpitcher Remix)

Last but not least, I feel i should probably give our neighbour Miami Horror's EP a plugging since it's finally out. It turned out really nice too! Not that it wasn't expected. This song has bongos so it's already a winner! And coupled with a glorious Voyager-esque bass it secures itself nicely. Definitely grab a copy of this when you see it around.

Miami Horror - Make You Mine (Instrumental)
NB: Replaced with the instrumental by request.

OK, I'm done.

Cosmic Cosmosis

Hey gang. To begin with, I'd like to put out a bit of a squeal for help. I'm going to South America from mid December til the end of Feb and was wondering if anybody in the area would be able to help me get a gig in either Bariloche, Buenos Aires, or Rio during Carnaval... Just thought it'd be a load of fun to have a spin while I'm over there, but I can't say I have too many South American contacts :\ any help would be greatly appreciated! (send me an email)

In other news, Cosmo Vitelli hits Sydney on Friday night and I'm seriously excited! To celebrate I've got some glorious tracks to hand out. Cosmo doesn't need much of an introduction - a really forward thinking producer who's been around the track and has built up a varied repertoire of sensational tunes. Currently I'm giving some of his remixes a good bashing. His more recent mix of Hotdog (featured on Sample and Hold) is killer. A nice muddy disco jam. His Yuksek mix is several shades darker and thumps along with a slight yet funky hint of something industrial. CANNOT wait to see him! More info.

Simian Mobile Disco - Hotdog (Cosmo Vitelli Remix)

Yuksek - Everywhere In Town (Cosmo Vitelli Remix)

Cosmo's label, I'm a Cliche, is just as superfab and I can't count how many times I've seen it refered to as the European answer to DFA. Probably not far off. The latest release by ENTERTAINMENT is fuckin cool! Big sexy bass cooljive complete with chocolate vocals and Herbie Hancock 'Rockit' synths. Actually come to think of it, the bassline is damn close to it. No wonder I love it! Bot'Ox - one part Cosmo, one part Julien Briffaz - are something a bit different from Mr. Vitelli, but equally quality. Have a look back on the blog for Babylon By Car, if it's still up.. Grand Central is a pretty little number. And I'll throw in an old SMD track from their 2004 release on the very same label. If you haven't heard it, it may not be what you expect!

ENTERTAINMENT - U 1988

Bot'Ox - Grand Central

Simian Mobile Disco - Upside Down

Also popping its head out of the record box, but with no relation to CV and the gang, is another guy I stumbled across with thanks to Tim Sweeney (not going to stop spurting drooling love rants about him for a while yet) who resides on the fantastico Permanent Vacation label. Lullabies In The Dark is one half of Aeroplane, so instant cred is given, but further listening proves within a shadow of a doubt he's pretty swish. Have a look. Also been listening to a lot of Pilooski and stuff on Dirty Edits, which is all brill. This one is a particular fave of mine - a really tight funky wakka-wakka guitar burrrrning disco.

Lullabies In The Dark - Code 7429

Octet - Euro vs Dollar (Pilooski Edit)

See you at Cosmo (yes?)

Dodo, Fish, Antelope

Ho hum. I saw the Soulwax doco last week and funnily enough it's inspired me to get back into LCD Soundsystem more than anything. James Murphy spends about as much time on camera as any of the Soulwax guys... Though I'm not complaining. It's also got me thrashing some other DFA stuff. They really have the most killer little music corner to themselves. I snagged James Murphy & Pat Mahoney's Fabriclive disc today and it's really as fantastic as I expected! Have a taste of a couple of tunes that feature in the mix... Well they're both edits of the tracks used, but whatever. Firey disco! By the way, the doco is great, go see it!

Jackson Jones - I Feel Good, Put Your Pants On (Pilooski Edit)

G.Q. - Lies (Theo Parish Edit)

All the DFA remixes really are solid gold. I'd assume a good percentage of blog readers would have spent unhealthy amounts of time jiving to these tunes, but this is for the benefit of those who haven't been lucky enough. These two are probably my favourites. Check out Metro Area and Le Tigre on their own too - they both make top muzak.

Metro Area - Orange Alert (DFA Remix)

Le Tigre - Deceptacon (DFA Remix)

Also, a couple of weeks ago, I picked up a copy of a new DFA release - Supersoul Recordings: Nobody Knows Anything. Very interesting and very cool. The whole thing has a great spacey vibe, though not particularly light. The production on every track is totally first class! Definitely recommend buying this bad boy and making the most of some good weather. Also randomly picked up a Still Going 12", i dig their stuff.

Walter Jones - Deuteronomy Brown (I-f Edit)

Still Going - Still Going Theme

And finally, while doing some more digging through old things, i recovered my Freeform Five Misch Masch album. I'd honestly forgotten the versatility and talent of these guys. The first disc is a great mix with everything from Funkadellic to Aphex Twin, but it's the second disc of Freeform remixes that really got me excited. 9 tracks of total epicness! The shortest mix lands at just over 6 minutes, so they're serious value productions. My two favourites are the Annie and Elton reworks, both busting out some crazy instrumentation and a broad range of genres. Fab!

Elton John - Are You Ready for Love (Freeform Reform Vocal)

Annie - The Greatest Hit (Freeform Reform Vocal)

High five for anybody living in Sydney who's drooling over this incredible weather like I am. Come by Candy's Apartment on Friday and we'll have a great, sweaty time.