December 11, 2024

Top 2024 (Part 3)

15-11!

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the moon baby - ‘Pretty Knife (Paul Fleetwood's Sheetz Girl Remix)’ [Bandcamp]

Philly drag performer the moon baby aka Barb was one of the artists I looked after at Campout 2023, but what I didn’t know back then was that as well as doing a mean lip sync she was also a singer and songwriter. In 2021, during the pandemic, she released an LP called The One You Need, and this year she curated a full album of remixes from people like Davis Galvin, Leonce and Five. This one by Paul Fleetwood has been my go-to, stripping the track back to leave Barb’s multitracked, Antony-esque vocals over an angular Jamie Lidell funk jam. The staccato synths and soft piano chords are a perfect match for Barb’s cadences, before Paul adds a deep swampy bass to complete the picture. It’s totally weird and totally beautiful.

(Side note: this is the only track on this list that I’ve never played in the club and there’s a reason for that! Back in June I planned to play it at Pbar, because I knew Barb would be over in Berlin from Philadelphia and might come to the party. It’s not a track you can easily imagine going down well there, but I was absolutely determined to make it work. As my set rolled on it slowly dawned on me that Barb wasn’t going to appear, and I couldn’t bring myself to play it in her absence. So I didn’t, and now I’m quietly waiting for another appropriate moment to present itself. I’m a patient man.)

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Joe Milli - ‘Radiate’ [Faux Poly]

It’s not an official title, but unofficially I think I might be Joe Milli’s biggest fan. Since first hearing of him through the Drumskull remix of ‘Clatterbang’ back in March 2023, I’ve played out pretty much every track he’s released, and often more than one in a single set. ‘Back Again’ from a year ago remains a firm staple, but this year it’s been ‘Radiate’ getting a rinsing, most memorably for me at Adonis back in August.

In true Milli style it’s all about tension, building inexorably over the initial 90 seconds until the first instance of the thing the track is really all about: that addictive bassline riff. Once it happens the first time, those simple 8 notes descending step-wise, we’re instantly on the hook, desperate for it to come around again. But Joe keeps us waiting. It’s a masterful example of arrangement and suspense, and it slaps every time.

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Brent - ‘Part Of The New World’ [Barbatus D. Wreckords]

A2 PART OF THE NEW WORLD | Brent | Barbatus D. Wreckords

from the album Part of The New World EP

‘Spacer Woman’, ‘World Invaders’, ‘Fear’, ‘The Ultimate Warlord’. One has to imagine these tunes and others like them were going through Brent’s head when he made ‘Part Of The New World’. Or maybe they weren’t and he arrived at this precise imitation of an italo classic by complete coincidence? Either way it’s a smash, from the disco claps to the motorik bass and drums and the OTT arpeggio breakdowns. The obligatory vocoder is the cherry on top.

I usually dislike contemporary 80s pastiche for sounding overly knowing and forced, but this is one example where everything just falls into place naturally. It’s even more amazing considering how I find the rest of the EP rather aggy and overdone. Maybe it was coincidence after all?

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Jaakko Eino Kalevi - ‘I Remember (Richard X Dub Remix)’ [Domino]

Speaking of contemporary 80s pastiche, this year Richard X blessed us with this stonking Vicious Pink-quoting dub of a Finnish singer whose original version I’ve never listened to and suspect I would find very annoying. ‘C-C-Can’t You See’ is one of my all-time favourite songs so any tune referencing its stuttering vocals is a winner for me, and here Richard does it subtly but effectively. At 112bpm it’s a proper bit of chug, though I wouldn’t call it a builder since it comes in hot and stays so for almost 8 minutes. I played it out in full all through this year, most pleasurably in the garden at Equation Festival back in April.

(Side note: on reading up about this remix I’ve just seen that earlier this year Alison Goldfrapp released an entire album of remakes of her The Love Invention LP, which was co-produced by Richard X and appeared on my Top 2023 list. Well, that’s my seasonal listening sorted.)

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Physical Therapy & Nick León - Genesis EP [Allergy Season]

Physical Therapy & Patrick Holland - Daymaxxing EP [Allergy Season]

I couldn’t choose between these two EPs because I played both regularly, enjoying the way I could always pick a track for whatever setting or mood I found myself in.

DJ SWISHA’s remix of ‘Genesis’ often came out mid-set, providing a moment of buoyant energy to contrast with heavier fare. (Luckily it sounds great slowed down from its original 142bpm.) With its extended beatless build-up and soft touch drop, Physical Therapy’s own ‘Hard Groove’ take on the track was a less straightforward proposition, and I would say half the times I played it I fudged it, while the other half it landed just how I wanted. Regardless of how I mixed it, it was a groover every time.

On ‘Daymaxxing’ I found a reassuring early doors tone setter, and I put ‘7PM Drive’ in mine and Sam PV’s NTS session over the summer. The restless, almost anxious ‘7AM Drive’ hit hard in an echoey warehouse back in Lisbon in September. But it was the original of ‘Genesis’ that got the most plays, always in the fuzzy final stretch of the night, just as I predicted back in March (here).