The best tracks of 2005
To get the ball rolling, and to give you some idea of what we're about, I'm going to give you my exhaustive, entirely unnecessary top 50 tunes of 2005. Brace yourself...
1) WIGHNOMY BROTHERS – WOMBAT // KOMPAKT EXTRA
Two of techno’s most prolific servants dished up this monster for the Speicher series at the start of the summer – shimmering, flawless production meets one of the greatest basslines ever committed to vinyl; the result, for me, was record of the year.
2) BOOKA SHADE – MANDARINE GIRL // GET PHYSICAL
It’s been battered to death by everyone now, but there was a time when this was IT. With trancey chords worked into a tight, minimalist drum pattern, this was, basically, what it felt like to be high in 2005 – an anthem if ever there was one.
3) TRENTEMOLLER – POLAR SHIFT // POKER FLAT
Trentemoller was ridiculously generous in his ’05 offerings – and the quality rarely dipped. This, his breakthrough track, sounded like it had come from outer space – a mindbending, effects-laden production that builds and builds before boiling down to the ‘moller tech-funk toughness we all now know and love. Absolutely killer.
4) FRANZ FERDINAND – DO YOU WANT TO (EROL ALKAN’S GLAM RACKET) // DOMINO
His past edits and remixes had been fairly uninspiring, so when I heard ol’ Erol had reworked the Franz’s comeback single, I certainly didn’t expect him to have produced the greatest electro-house track this side of Tief’s dub of ‘Kinda New’. He picks out the original’s nagging middle-8 riff and loops it and loops it before unleashing the BITCH MOTHER of breakdowns. This track as brought the house down everywhere I’ve played it and heard it played.
5) TIGA – YOU GONNA WANT ME (12” DANCE VERSION) // PIAS Forget the posing, forget the Jake Shears guest spot and bear witness – the greatest pop song of the year. And, as Ewan Pearson has sagely remarked, ‘The great thing about Tiga is he’s bouncy, bouncy, bouncy’….
6) CHARDRONNET VS AFRILOUNGE – PHONIX // POKER FLAT All but ignored when it came out back in Spring, this track was a blueprint for the tasteful, minimal tech-house which dominated the year. By the summer, this had grown and grown into a discerning dancefloor destroyer.
7) M.A.N.D.Y. VS BOOKA SHADE – BODY LANGUAGE // GET PHYSICAL Alright, it’s a tad cheesy, and like ‘Mandarine Girl’ has become maddeningly ubiquitous, but come on – this is CLASSIC. Tossed off to promote the M.A.N.D.Y. mix album, this ended up an anthem, putting smiles on the faces of everyone who heard it. Hell, I even know a junglist who still whoops when he hears it.
8) JUSTUS KOHNCKE – ELAN/TASTE // KOMPAKT
It made me fall in love with Kompakt. Big, emotive synth sounds, that winning Metro Area influence and heaps of melody. Top.
9) ANDRE KRAML – SAFARI (ORIGINAL, JAMES HOLDEN, ALEX SMOKE & PIER BUCCI MIXES) // CROSSTOWN REBELS
This is one of the greatest 12”s I own, no question. The original track, which blew up on Firm in 2004, heads things up - it truly is the sound of having arrived on your feet on a tropical beach, lady on your arm, drink in your hand etc., and in a slightly embarrassing way, it rules (and lead the way for the tasteful Balearic trend we’re seeing now). Anyway, that’s just the A-side. The top-drawer remixers which Crosstown commissions for this release are all in razor-sharp form: Smoke brings the sterling, ultra-minimal trance; Bucci cooks up a menacing piece of itchy click-house dripping with effects, but it’s Holden who takes the crown of King of the Jungle – coming up with a kind of indescribable, edit-heavy techno voodoo which has to be heard to be believed. Bow down.
10) MATHEW JONSON – RETURN OF THE ZOMBIE BIKERS // WAGON REPAIR
Unhinged, spacious techno-funk from everyone’s favourite overrated Canadian – like nothing else I heard in ‘05
11) LINDSTROM – I FEEL SPACE // FEEDELITY
Look at the title, listen to the tune – this was cosmic disco defined. Still sending shivers down spines in the new year
12) PATRICE BAUMEL – MUTANT POP // TRAPEZ
Euphoric, minimal house to assist what the Lighthouse Family once called ‘getting lifted’. Trapez are always reliable, but this was exceptional
13) KONRAD BLACK & GHOSTMAN – MEDUSA SMILE (DON’T LOOK BACK…) (ROCKET’S REVAMP) // WAGON REPAIR The dark side never sounded better
14) TRENTEMOLLER – PHYSICAL FRACTION/RYKKETID // AUDIOMATIQUE
A pulsing, linear destroyer and a squelchy, chunky barnstormer – both guaranteed to royally fuck the dancefloor. Double-header of the year, no questions
15) ARGY – LOVE DOSE (ORIGINAL & LUCIANO REMIX) // POKER FLAT
The original isn’t exactly bad, so the bonus of a wonky-as-fuck Luciano mix seems like true indulgence. And we all like a bit of that.
16) ANNIE – HEARTBEAT (PHONES MAXIMO REMIX) // 679
In whichich third world dictator/uber-producer Paul Epworth enlists the Maximo Park rhythm section to shake up Annie’s drippy original into the kind of tough/soft disco ballad Benny Ulvaeus could only of dreamed of.
17) BLACK LEOTARD FRONT – CASUAL FRIDAY // DFA
The greatest prog-disco odyssey in a year positively littered with prog-disco odysseys. The word ‘groovy’ should be resurrected just to describe it
18) MICHAEL MAYER – LOVEFOOD // KOMPAKT POP
More nu-balearic wonderment courtesy of Kompakt head honcho, M. Mayer. One of those tunes that will always assuage the spiralling paranoia as the sun comes up and remind you that getting that nailed was DEFINITELY a good idea
19) GUI BORATTO – ARCHIPELAGO // K2
Trendy trance, tasteful trance, whatever we call it, this sort of minimal, emotive dance music is a force to be reckoned with, and ‘Archipelago’ is arguably its greatest example - stunning.
20) HOT CHIP – OVER & OVER // EMI
The most over-rated band on earth did remember to make ONE good track – this shambolic, punk-funkin’ barnstormer that only the truly, truly cold couldn’t warm to
21) BRAZILIAN GIRLS – DON’T STOP (RITON RE-RUB) // VERVE
Properly ace, live-sounding disco-house that gives DFA a run for their money
22) EXTRAWELT – SOOPERTRACK // BORDER COMMUNITY
Together with tracks like Fairmont’s awesome ‘Gazebo’, this established 2005 as the year of ‘tasteful trance’, and Border Community as a label of true import.
23) FUNKY TRANSPORT – DIFFERENT (SWEET LIGHT REMIX) // HI-PHEN
Arpeggiate! Arpeggiate! Sweet Light sure know how to make block rockin’ electro-house.
24) FREEFORM FIVE – NO MORE CONVERSATIONS (MYLO REMIX) // FINE
Guilty pleasure of the year, as electrorunt Mylo lends some ultra effective, squelchy Oizo-funk to the glitter-house vocal of the original; one for the ladies, and, come on, the boys. Ah, reminds me of being young…
25) SOLID GROOVE – THIS IS SICK // FREERANGE
In a word, bosh.
26) STEVE BARNES – COSMIC SANDWICH (COSMIC SANDWICH & DOMINIK EULBERG REMIXES) // MBF
Okay, the Eulberg remix is genius, but it was the strutting narco-disco of the CS mix that had us grinning at Tape HQ.
27) ROMAN FLUGEL – GEHT’S NOCH (DOMINIK EULBERG REMIX) // COCOON
And so was born an immortal rave noise – ‘Er er, er-er-er er etc’. Eulberg civilized things just enough.
28) ROYKSOPP – WHAT ELSE IS THERE (TRENTEMOLLER REMIX) // WALL OF SOUND
Shit-hot, coruscating electro-house that was always going to earn a gurn of two
29) WILLIE GRAFF & KYLE ERRISON – SYNERGETIC (MARTINEZ TRIPLE-0 TREATMENT) // OUT OF ORBIT
Martinez this, Martinez that…whatever. This was the only thing I heard by M that blew my mind in ’05, and blow my mind it did
30) PIER BUCCI – L’NUIT // CROSSTOWN REBELS
Take one deranged French woman and one deranged Chilean man. What do you get? Ultra-minimal acid house with a RUDE bass drop. It’s a funny old world.
31) AME – REJ // SONAR KOLLEKTIV
Nu-jazz types reinvent themselves as Detroit loving minimal tech kingpins – and succeed. A real majestic gem, already assured classic status
32) LCD SOUNDSYSTEM – TRIBULATIONS (ORIGINAL & LINDSTROM MIX) // DFA/EMI
The original has been knocking around for ages, so ace though it is/was, I needn’t mention it here – the Lindstrom version, well, it was fucking on the money. The best remix DFA never did.
33) RITON VS HOWDI – CLOSER // GET PHYSICAL
Riton goes to Deutschland, and comes back with a minimal love song. Bloody Mancs.
34) NATHAN FAKE – DINAMO (DOMINIK EULBERG REMIX) // TRAUM
Eulberg: ‘I’m the best techno producer this side of Holden’. Me: ‘Yes you are’.
35) TIGA – GOOD AS GOLD (MORGAN GEIST MONOPHONIC MIX) // PIAS A match made in disco heaven, Geist attacks the dancefloor as only he can and Tiga writes/borrows/steals another great tune. Result.
36) FAIRMONT – GAZEBO // BORDER COMMUNITY
Instantly memorable, this’ll be soaring through addled brains for a long time yet.
37) SASSE – SOUL SOUNDS (DIRT CREW SOLID DIAMOND REMIX) // MOOD MUSIC Pianos??!!!?? Rave on…
38) DORAU/KOHNCKE – DURCH DIE NACHT (GEIGER REMIX) // KOMPAKT POP
39) FISCHERSPOONER – KICK IN THE TEETH (TIEFSCHWARZ REMIX) // UNKNOWN
My god! It’s not dancefloor-detonating, buzz-saw synthing kitchen-sink electrohouse! And it’s brilliant!
40) THE KNIFE – PASS THIS ON (M.A.N.D.Y. KNIFER REMIX) // UNKNOWN
In a year of astonishing basslines, this track held its head up very, very high
41) EGOEXPRESS – I’M IN THE ARMY NOW // LADOMAT
Consider this a vote for Knartz IV as well. The ‘express have impressed all year, but it’s this tight, insidiously funky piece of tech-house that really stood out for me. And it features that rare thing in the world of 4x4 – a superb vocal.
42) MISH MASH FEAT. LOIS – SPEECHLESS // CROSSTOWN REBELS
Crosstown Rebels in gay disco shocker! Despite sounding a bit like something fat women might get pissed to down the Centre on a Saturday night, this exuberant homage to is a bona fide classic!
43) SONO – A NEW CAGE (DIGITALISM REMIX) // PIAS
French bounceathon with a ludicrous build-up. See also: Digitalism - Zdarlight. Both fantastic.
44) PONI HOAX – BUDAPEST (JOAKIM ITALO DUB) // TIGERSUSHI
The most italo piece of italo revivalism I've ever heard. Seriously good...
45) MYSTERY JETS – YOU CAN’T FOOL ME DENNIS (JUSTICE REMIX) // 679
Justice take time out from rocket-fuelled electro shizness and nip ‘n tuck this ludicrously good bit of indie whimsy into, er, an even better bit of indie whimsy. I’m very happy with the results.
46) SOULWAX – ANOTHER EXCUSE (DFA REMIX) // PIAS
You have to applaud Tim Goldsworthy. While Murphy’s off around the world, doing Guardian interviews and getting fatter, he’s at home, like a faithful housewife, laying the foundations for apocalyptic punk-funk-techno blitzkriegs like this. So applaud.
47) MATHEW JONSON & THE MOLE – DIRT ROAD AND A BOAT FROM SOUNDWAVE // KOMPAKT EXTRA
Jesus, how can he be arsed? Jonson & some Mole dig deeper than most and score…
48) NEW ORDER – KRAFTY (GLIMMERS REMIX) // UNKNOWN
I’m quite bored now, so suffice to say this is quality.
49) TIEFSCHWARZ – ISST (ORIGINAL & NATHAN FAKE REMIX) // FINE
It feels like an age ago that this was the most eagerly-awaited tune, like, ever. In fairness, it was bloody good. And the Nathan Fake mix was unreal. So why such a gash album?
50) DJ T – FUNK ON YOU // GET PHYSICAL
You’ve got to love DJ T.
1) WIGHNOMY BROTHERS – WOMBAT // KOMPAKT EXTRA
Two of techno’s most prolific servants dished up this monster for the Speicher series at the start of the summer – shimmering, flawless production meets one of the greatest basslines ever committed to vinyl; the result, for me, was record of the year.
2) BOOKA SHADE – MANDARINE GIRL // GET PHYSICAL
It’s been battered to death by everyone now, but there was a time when this was IT. With trancey chords worked into a tight, minimalist drum pattern, this was, basically, what it felt like to be high in 2005 – an anthem if ever there was one.
3) TRENTEMOLLER – POLAR SHIFT // POKER FLAT
Trentemoller was ridiculously generous in his ’05 offerings – and the quality rarely dipped. This, his breakthrough track, sounded like it had come from outer space – a mindbending, effects-laden production that builds and builds before boiling down to the ‘moller tech-funk toughness we all now know and love. Absolutely killer.
4) FRANZ FERDINAND – DO YOU WANT TO (EROL ALKAN’S GLAM RACKET) // DOMINO
His past edits and remixes had been fairly uninspiring, so when I heard ol’ Erol had reworked the Franz’s comeback single, I certainly didn’t expect him to have produced the greatest electro-house track this side of Tief’s dub of ‘Kinda New’. He picks out the original’s nagging middle-8 riff and loops it and loops it before unleashing the BITCH MOTHER of breakdowns. This track as brought the house down everywhere I’ve played it and heard it played.
5) TIGA – YOU GONNA WANT ME (12” DANCE VERSION) // PIAS Forget the posing, forget the Jake Shears guest spot and bear witness – the greatest pop song of the year. And, as Ewan Pearson has sagely remarked, ‘The great thing about Tiga is he’s bouncy, bouncy, bouncy’….
6) CHARDRONNET VS AFRILOUNGE – PHONIX // POKER FLAT All but ignored when it came out back in Spring, this track was a blueprint for the tasteful, minimal tech-house which dominated the year. By the summer, this had grown and grown into a discerning dancefloor destroyer.
7) M.A.N.D.Y. VS BOOKA SHADE – BODY LANGUAGE // GET PHYSICAL Alright, it’s a tad cheesy, and like ‘Mandarine Girl’ has become maddeningly ubiquitous, but come on – this is CLASSIC. Tossed off to promote the M.A.N.D.Y. mix album, this ended up an anthem, putting smiles on the faces of everyone who heard it. Hell, I even know a junglist who still whoops when he hears it.
8) JUSTUS KOHNCKE – ELAN/TASTE // KOMPAKT
It made me fall in love with Kompakt. Big, emotive synth sounds, that winning Metro Area influence and heaps of melody. Top.
9) ANDRE KRAML – SAFARI (ORIGINAL, JAMES HOLDEN, ALEX SMOKE & PIER BUCCI MIXES) // CROSSTOWN REBELS
This is one of the greatest 12”s I own, no question. The original track, which blew up on Firm in 2004, heads things up - it truly is the sound of having arrived on your feet on a tropical beach, lady on your arm, drink in your hand etc., and in a slightly embarrassing way, it rules (and lead the way for the tasteful Balearic trend we’re seeing now). Anyway, that’s just the A-side. The top-drawer remixers which Crosstown commissions for this release are all in razor-sharp form: Smoke brings the sterling, ultra-minimal trance; Bucci cooks up a menacing piece of itchy click-house dripping with effects, but it’s Holden who takes the crown of King of the Jungle – coming up with a kind of indescribable, edit-heavy techno voodoo which has to be heard to be believed. Bow down.
10) MATHEW JONSON – RETURN OF THE ZOMBIE BIKERS // WAGON REPAIR
Unhinged, spacious techno-funk from everyone’s favourite overrated Canadian – like nothing else I heard in ‘05
11) LINDSTROM – I FEEL SPACE // FEEDELITY
Look at the title, listen to the tune – this was cosmic disco defined. Still sending shivers down spines in the new year
12) PATRICE BAUMEL – MUTANT POP // TRAPEZ
Euphoric, minimal house to assist what the Lighthouse Family once called ‘getting lifted’. Trapez are always reliable, but this was exceptional
13) KONRAD BLACK & GHOSTMAN – MEDUSA SMILE (DON’T LOOK BACK…) (ROCKET’S REVAMP) // WAGON REPAIR The dark side never sounded better
14) TRENTEMOLLER – PHYSICAL FRACTION/RYKKETID // AUDIOMATIQUE
A pulsing, linear destroyer and a squelchy, chunky barnstormer – both guaranteed to royally fuck the dancefloor. Double-header of the year, no questions
15) ARGY – LOVE DOSE (ORIGINAL & LUCIANO REMIX) // POKER FLAT
The original isn’t exactly bad, so the bonus of a wonky-as-fuck Luciano mix seems like true indulgence. And we all like a bit of that.
16) ANNIE – HEARTBEAT (PHONES MAXIMO REMIX) // 679
In whichich third world dictator/uber-producer Paul Epworth enlists the Maximo Park rhythm section to shake up Annie’s drippy original into the kind of tough/soft disco ballad Benny Ulvaeus could only of dreamed of.
17) BLACK LEOTARD FRONT – CASUAL FRIDAY // DFA
The greatest prog-disco odyssey in a year positively littered with prog-disco odysseys. The word ‘groovy’ should be resurrected just to describe it
18) MICHAEL MAYER – LOVEFOOD // KOMPAKT POP
More nu-balearic wonderment courtesy of Kompakt head honcho, M. Mayer. One of those tunes that will always assuage the spiralling paranoia as the sun comes up and remind you that getting that nailed was DEFINITELY a good idea
19) GUI BORATTO – ARCHIPELAGO // K2
Trendy trance, tasteful trance, whatever we call it, this sort of minimal, emotive dance music is a force to be reckoned with, and ‘Archipelago’ is arguably its greatest example - stunning.
20) HOT CHIP – OVER & OVER // EMI
The most over-rated band on earth did remember to make ONE good track – this shambolic, punk-funkin’ barnstormer that only the truly, truly cold couldn’t warm to
21) BRAZILIAN GIRLS – DON’T STOP (RITON RE-RUB) // VERVE
Properly ace, live-sounding disco-house that gives DFA a run for their money
22) EXTRAWELT – SOOPERTRACK // BORDER COMMUNITY
Together with tracks like Fairmont’s awesome ‘Gazebo’, this established 2005 as the year of ‘tasteful trance’, and Border Community as a label of true import.
23) FUNKY TRANSPORT – DIFFERENT (SWEET LIGHT REMIX) // HI-PHEN
Arpeggiate! Arpeggiate! Sweet Light sure know how to make block rockin’ electro-house.
24) FREEFORM FIVE – NO MORE CONVERSATIONS (MYLO REMIX) // FINE
Guilty pleasure of the year, as electrorunt Mylo lends some ultra effective, squelchy Oizo-funk to the glitter-house vocal of the original; one for the ladies, and, come on, the boys. Ah, reminds me of being young…
25) SOLID GROOVE – THIS IS SICK // FREERANGE
In a word, bosh.
26) STEVE BARNES – COSMIC SANDWICH (COSMIC SANDWICH & DOMINIK EULBERG REMIXES) // MBF
Okay, the Eulberg remix is genius, but it was the strutting narco-disco of the CS mix that had us grinning at Tape HQ.
27) ROMAN FLUGEL – GEHT’S NOCH (DOMINIK EULBERG REMIX) // COCOON
And so was born an immortal rave noise – ‘Er er, er-er-er er etc’. Eulberg civilized things just enough.
28) ROYKSOPP – WHAT ELSE IS THERE (TRENTEMOLLER REMIX) // WALL OF SOUND
Shit-hot, coruscating electro-house that was always going to earn a gurn of two
29) WILLIE GRAFF & KYLE ERRISON – SYNERGETIC (MARTINEZ TRIPLE-0 TREATMENT) // OUT OF ORBIT
Martinez this, Martinez that…whatever. This was the only thing I heard by M that blew my mind in ’05, and blow my mind it did
30) PIER BUCCI – L’NUIT // CROSSTOWN REBELS
Take one deranged French woman and one deranged Chilean man. What do you get? Ultra-minimal acid house with a RUDE bass drop. It’s a funny old world.
31) AME – REJ // SONAR KOLLEKTIV
Nu-jazz types reinvent themselves as Detroit loving minimal tech kingpins – and succeed. A real majestic gem, already assured classic status
32) LCD SOUNDSYSTEM – TRIBULATIONS (ORIGINAL & LINDSTROM MIX) // DFA/EMI
The original has been knocking around for ages, so ace though it is/was, I needn’t mention it here – the Lindstrom version, well, it was fucking on the money. The best remix DFA never did.
33) RITON VS HOWDI – CLOSER // GET PHYSICAL
Riton goes to Deutschland, and comes back with a minimal love song. Bloody Mancs.
34) NATHAN FAKE – DINAMO (DOMINIK EULBERG REMIX) // TRAUM
Eulberg: ‘I’m the best techno producer this side of Holden’. Me: ‘Yes you are’.
35) TIGA – GOOD AS GOLD (MORGAN GEIST MONOPHONIC MIX) // PIAS A match made in disco heaven, Geist attacks the dancefloor as only he can and Tiga writes/borrows/steals another great tune. Result.
36) FAIRMONT – GAZEBO // BORDER COMMUNITY
Instantly memorable, this’ll be soaring through addled brains for a long time yet.
37) SASSE – SOUL SOUNDS (DIRT CREW SOLID DIAMOND REMIX) // MOOD MUSIC Pianos??!!!?? Rave on…
38) DORAU/KOHNCKE – DURCH DIE NACHT (GEIGER REMIX) // KOMPAKT POP
39) FISCHERSPOONER – KICK IN THE TEETH (TIEFSCHWARZ REMIX) // UNKNOWN
My god! It’s not dancefloor-detonating, buzz-saw synthing kitchen-sink electrohouse! And it’s brilliant!
40) THE KNIFE – PASS THIS ON (M.A.N.D.Y. KNIFER REMIX) // UNKNOWN
In a year of astonishing basslines, this track held its head up very, very high
41) EGOEXPRESS – I’M IN THE ARMY NOW // LADOMAT
Consider this a vote for Knartz IV as well. The ‘express have impressed all year, but it’s this tight, insidiously funky piece of tech-house that really stood out for me. And it features that rare thing in the world of 4x4 – a superb vocal.
42) MISH MASH FEAT. LOIS – SPEECHLESS // CROSSTOWN REBELS
Crosstown Rebels in gay disco shocker! Despite sounding a bit like something fat women might get pissed to down the Centre on a Saturday night, this exuberant homage to is a bona fide classic!
43) SONO – A NEW CAGE (DIGITALISM REMIX) // PIAS
French bounceathon with a ludicrous build-up. See also: Digitalism - Zdarlight. Both fantastic.
44) PONI HOAX – BUDAPEST (JOAKIM ITALO DUB) // TIGERSUSHI
The most italo piece of italo revivalism I've ever heard. Seriously good...
45) MYSTERY JETS – YOU CAN’T FOOL ME DENNIS (JUSTICE REMIX) // 679
Justice take time out from rocket-fuelled electro shizness and nip ‘n tuck this ludicrously good bit of indie whimsy into, er, an even better bit of indie whimsy. I’m very happy with the results.
46) SOULWAX – ANOTHER EXCUSE (DFA REMIX) // PIAS
You have to applaud Tim Goldsworthy. While Murphy’s off around the world, doing Guardian interviews and getting fatter, he’s at home, like a faithful housewife, laying the foundations for apocalyptic punk-funk-techno blitzkriegs like this. So applaud.
47) MATHEW JONSON & THE MOLE – DIRT ROAD AND A BOAT FROM SOUNDWAVE // KOMPAKT EXTRA
Jesus, how can he be arsed? Jonson & some Mole dig deeper than most and score…
48) NEW ORDER – KRAFTY (GLIMMERS REMIX) // UNKNOWN
I’m quite bored now, so suffice to say this is quality.
49) TIEFSCHWARZ – ISST (ORIGINAL & NATHAN FAKE REMIX) // FINE
It feels like an age ago that this was the most eagerly-awaited tune, like, ever. In fairness, it was bloody good. And the Nathan Fake mix was unreal. So why such a gash album?
50) DJ T – FUNK ON YOU // GET PHYSICAL
You’ve got to love DJ T.
posted by Blackest at 11:46 AM
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