2008 Review

Rye Rye

It’s impossible to check out all the music that’s released in one year, and it may not be until next year that I hear some of 2008’s best tracks; similarly, some of the tracks listed below actually came out in 2007, but I heard them this year for the first time.

Anyway, these are a few of the tracks which impressed me, or struck a chord, or were just too catchy to ignore in 2008:

Elbee Bad, ‘Searchin’, Supa Dupa
A dark gem from “the prince of dance music” (it gets going at 1:40). I’m not actually sure if this has come out yet; Elbee Bad originally offered it to Citinite, but then I got an email saying that he was releasing it through the Detroit label, Supa Dupa.

New Look, ‘Future Times’, self-released
I met Adam Pavao and Sarah Ruba of New Look at a Jimmy Edgar gig in London. Their track ‘Future Times’ (specifically the first half) is the kind of house music that not enough people make and reminds me of some of the early A Guy Called Gerald work.

Medio Mutante, ‘Another Land’, Cititrax
Mariana Saldaña, José Cota and Seth Nemec released the excellent ‘Inestable’ EP on the New York label, Cititrax, the raw analogue sounds working perfectly with the Spanish vocals.

Beyoncé, ‘Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)’, Columbia
As mentioned recently, I thought this was one of the year’s highlights. Inspired production from the ‘Umbrella’ men.

Heralds Of Change feat Olivier DaySoul, ‘Bopgunn’, All City
This track was actually released in 2007. A little bit too close to Outkast perhaps, but a good modern take on that Bootsy/Clinton craziness. They should do more like this.

Rustie, ‘Just For Kicks’ (Instrumental), Stuff
From his ‘Cafe De Phresh’ EP, this was the first music I’d heard from Rustie. Now signed to Warp, he’s definitely one of the great new acts of the year.

Dâm-Funk, ‘Purple’, Stones Throw
It was great to see Dâm-Funk make a big impact this year. With his instrumental ‘Rhythm Trax’ LP he’s hyped us up nicely for next year’s full-length album.

Diplo feat Rye Rye, ‘Wassup Wassup’, Mad Decent
With great energy, Rye Rye (pictured at top) was one of the stars of the year. A follow-up to 2007’s Blaqstarr-produced ‘Shake It To The Ground’, this was perfect for the dancefloor. Look out for her album this spring.

Fillmore Bass, ‘Diamonds’, unreleased
This London-based MC/producer has mixed the sound of London with that of Chicago… the interesting thing is I’m not sure if he meant to or not. Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to have made any new music in the past year.

Leif, ‘Black Magic’, Palms Out Sounds
I first heard this at the end of 2007 but it’s just been released so I’ve added it here. It doesn’t look like it will get a vinyl release, which is a shame. This is the original mix, produced by Harrison Shaaf.