Soft's Current Top 10

1. ROYSKOPP - A BEAUTIFUL DAY WITHOUT YOU (WIGHNOMY BROTHERS REMIX) // WHITE
I must have played this at least a hundred times since I got hold of it last week. The Wighnomys lose their de rigeur abstraction and instead turn out a sumptous, faintly Balearic joint which I suspect'll lend a redemptive shimmer to many an impending summer comedown.

2. HOT CHIP - AND I WAS A BOY FROM SCHOOL (EROL ALKAN'S EXTENDED REWORK) // WHITE
We've all clucked on intolerably about the (slightly) unexpected DFA influence and all that, so suffice to say here - this is quality, and if you haven't heard it yet, you will.

3. ZWICKER - KUMQUAT // COMPOST BLACK LABEL
This is the B-side to 'Sniff & Sneeze', CBL's ninth release, and rather splendid it is too. Squelchy, melodic disco-tech on a Kohncke tip, it's nice to still find tunes as slinky and energizing as this in a grimly saturated market.

4. DONNACHA COSTELLO - BEAR BOUNCES BACK (TOO SAD TO BOUNCE MIX by TROY PIERCE) // MINIMIZE
Troy Pierce is fast becoming one of my, and, I suppose, everyone else's, heroes. The Minus/Run Stop Restore/Louderbach maestro here puts Donnacha through his funkische minimal paces, laying down monster low end and all kinds of percussive trickery in a style that's sorta Treibstoff-writ-large. Simon from Phonica thinks its the best minimal record he's heard this year; I second that.

5. METOPE - SECOND SKIN ([T]EKEL EDIT) // SENDER
Rip-roaring stuff from the Sender camp, with Metope's equally flawless original barely detectable in the punishing, tracky Smagghe-you-like of Tekel's remix. Phenomenal stuff.

6. OXIA - DOMINO // KOMPAKT EXTRA
Okay, so so we all know it's nowt but a rewrite of 'Eve By Day' (via Holden's mix of Nathan Fake), but I'm glad to see Speicher returning to some kind of form after its younger brother K2 has been stealing all the techno limelight. It's not special enough to linger in the consciousness like, say, 'The Sky Was Pink', but the tough minimal groove and trancey ascent of 'Domino' are pretty irresistible.

7. ALEXANDER ROBOTNICK - THE DARK SIDE OF THE SPOON (ORIGINAL) // CREME ORGANIZATION
Hadn't heard this till Carnage put it up here a coupla weeks ago. As C rightly observed, the heavyweight remixers on the 12" (Bangkok Impact and Lindstrom & Prins Thomas) do nice enough work, but can't hold a candle to the spooky, druggy futurism of Robotnick's original. Reminds you where DFA got some of their moves.

8. THE KLAXONS - GRAVITY'S RAINBOW (NIGHTMOVES REMIX) // NOIZE
Still finding it very hard to stop listening to this; proper promos should be on their way soon. Honorary TAPE resident (for services to addled dancefloors) Matt joins forces with his buddy Pete to turn the Ks' jittery original into a no-nonsense, acidic electro-house bomb. Probably my pick for best tune of the year so far.

9. MODESELEKTOR - FAKE EMOTION (DABRYE REMIX) // BPITCH CONTROL Ghostly International's Dabrye puts a tasty dubwise spin on 'Fake Emotion', bringing the fuggy bass and evil claps. Appeared on February's Hello Mom! remixes 12" .

10. THE LONG BLONDES - GIDDY STRATOSPHERES // CDR - Been caning this swoonsome indie anthem of for God knows how many lazy Sunday morns, but I heard it out for the first time at Trash yesterday - it sounded amazing, and I, trying to dance with what felt like the required vigour, succeeded only in making myself look like a Vice DON'T walking on hot coals. But you know, shit like 'Giddy Stratospheres' is worth a little self-debasement.