Top 2023 (Part 2.2)
Here are the final five top tracks from the first half of 2023. Compared to the previous five, I have less to say about these ones here, but in a weird contrast I think I have been playing them out more, or for longer. In these instances — actually in most instances — probably the best thing to do is just listen.
Regardless, I’d like to say thanks for reading! I hope the selections have resonated with you. There are already a few fresh candidates on the longlist for the rest of the year.
Part 1 can be found here and Part 2.1 here.
Gratts - ‘Sun Circles (Alex Kassian Instrumental)’ [Be Strong Be Free]
This instantly takes me back to the Monday after my first label party in Lisbon in April, the long tail of the weekend’s pleasure prolonged by our decision to hire a car and drive out to the beach. I don’t do it that often but I really love driving, and this is exactly the kind of music I want to hear on the road. I had played this to a dancefloor of about eight friends early on in the warm-up on the Saturday night, so putting it on in the car brought back that sweet memory. The sun was out, the swimshorts were on, and I was anticipating the sand and salty waves.
I played after Alex Kassian in August last year and it was only after that night that I listened to his music. His trancier stuff has been hitting big but with this remix he continues the more intriguing work of his softer EPs on Pinchy & Friends etc. It’s a multi-instrumental jam grounded on a loping, chuggy beat and bassline, over which he allows his fingers to range free on guitar, keys and effects. The build is handled so delicately that when the bassline drops out halfway through you wonder if the track is perhaps about to end already, only to have the delicious realisation that there’s another four minutes of pure vibing to come.
Gwenan - ‘Attention Movement’ [Marginal Returns]
Quicksand, humid undergrowth, sharks circling the shoal. Something about the construction of ‘Attention Movement’ gives it nature’s shifting quality of mystery and often imminent danger. But it can sound highly structured too, the intercalated layers of groove and harmony sliding over each other like graphene sheets. And then, finally, it can floor you with humanity, the sound of one person’s singular creative determination and self-knowledge modulated through their machines. Put simply, it sounds like Gwenan.
Love Letters - I Call Upon… EP [The Bunker New York]
Aside from caning the original and Mike Servito Pump Mix, the acapella has been giving me much entertainment, most recently played out in full over Part 2 of Ewan Pearson’s Disco Odyssey version of ‘Ride A White Horse’. Can’t ask for much more than that.
Full review here.
Peverelist - Pulse EP [Livity Sound]
More professional writers than me have covered this sufficiently well elsewhere (here, here), and I am also far from an authority on either Peverelist or Livity Sound, so I’ll just say some of the things that come to mind while listening to this record:
wooaarrgh, pyyeeeew, fsshshhh, wwwoomp, eeeeeee, ding!, nnnngnggghhh
Thank you.
Roe Deers - ‘Trident (Eden Burns Remix)’ [Good Skills]
Another lesson in patience, this time with Eden Burns taking over three minutes to finally break the tension and give us that huge bassline in full. As a track to DJ with this is hugely rewarding thanks to that long intro with its precise percussion and eerie vocals, the gradual build that comes in rushes, and the way the main snare slaps in just under two minutes in. I’m not usually one for long transitions but this is worth it every time. And then of course the release, when it comes, is a dream: deep, driving, sexy.