End of year dance/electronic charts for 2010

Well, it's been a quiet year for this blog due to many reasons such as becoming a student again and going freelance but thankfully the world of electronic music has been as lively and creative as ever. So, without further ado, here are my charts for 2010 as compiled recently for Mixmag and musicOMH.

TOP 10 DANCE/ELECTRONIC ALBUMS OF 2010:

1. Chemical Brothers – Further [Virgin]
2. Posthuman – Syn Emergence [Balkan Vinyl]
3. Jaga Jazzist – One Armed Bandit [Ninja Tune] 
4. Applescal – A Mishmash Of Changing Moods [Traum Schallplatten]
5. Teebs – Ardour [Brainfeeder]
6. Diskjokke – En Fin Tid [Smalltown Supersound]
7. Ost & Kjex – Cajun Lunch [Diynamic Music]
8. Funki Porcini – On [Ninja Tune]
9. Pacific! – Narcissus [Vulture]
10. The Orb feat. Dave Gilmour – Metallic Spheres [Columbia]

TOP 20 DANCE/ELECTRONIC TRACKS OF 2010:

1. DJ Food – The Shape Of Things That Hum [Ninja Tune]
2. Chemical Brothers – Swoon [Freestyle Dust]
3. Jaga Jazzist – Bananfluer Overalt [Ninja Tune]
4. Fatboy Slim vs Hervé – Machines Can Do The Work (Action Man aka Hervé Acid Flash Mix) [Skint]
   
5. Flying Lotus – MmmHmm [Warp]
6. Doctor P – Sweet Shop [Circus]
7. Moby – Study War (Savage Skulls Remix) [Little Idiot]
8. Jon Hopkins – Vessel (Four Tet Remix) [Double Six]
9. Nero – Electron [More Than Alot]
10. Burns & Fred Falke – YSLM [Deconstruction]
11. Duck Sauce – Barbara Streisand [3 Beat/AATW]
12. Mr Blink – Gecko (Burns’ Stop Start Remix) [Fly Eye]
13. Four Tet – Angel Echoes [Domino]
14. Tinie Tempah – Pass Out [Parlophone]
15. Cee Lo Green – Fuck You [Warner Bros]
16. Pryda – Emos [Pryda]
17. Sidney Samson – Riverside [Data]
18. Japanese Popstars feat. Green Velvet – Let Go [Virgin/EMI]
19. Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP – We No Speak Americano [AATW/Sweat It Out]
20. Robyn – Dancing On My Own [Konichiwa]

Originally posted on http://blog.ianroullier.com on 21 December 2010.

End of year dance/electronic charts for 2009

After yesterday's Top 10 albums of the decade, here are my Top 10 dance/electronic albums and Top 20 dance/electronic tracks of 2009 as compiled for Mixmag and included in their end of year charts:

TOP 10 DANCE/ELECTRONIC ALBUMS OF 2009:

1. The Prodigy – Invaders Must Die [Take Me To The Hospital]
2. Deadmau5 – For Lack Of A Better Name [Virgin]
3. Kris Menace – Idiosyncrasies [New State/Compuphonic]
4. Mr Oizo – Lamb’s Anger [Because]
5. King Roc – Chapters [Music Response]
6. Harmonic 313 – When Machines Exceed Human Intelligence [Warp]
7. Echaskech – Shatterproof [Just Music]
8. The Qemists – Join The Q [Ninja Tune]
9. Fever Ray – Fever Ray [Rabid/V2]
10. The Orb – Baghdad Batteries [Malicious Damage]


TOP 20 DANCE/ELECTRONIC TRACKS OF 2009:

1. The Prodigy – Warriors Dance [Take Me To The Hospital]
2. DJ Food – One Man’s Weird Is Another Man’s World [Ninja Tune]
3. Mr Oizo – Positif [Ed Banger]
4. La Roux – In For The Kill (Skream's Let's Get Ravey Mix) [Polydor]
5. Moodymanc – Seedz [Tsuba]
6. The Gossip – Love Long Distance (Fake Blood Remix) [Columbia]
7. Deadmau5 – I Remember [Virgin]
8. diskJokke – Rosenrod [Moshi Moshi Singles Club]
9. Lindstrøm – The Magnificent [Smalltown Supersound]
10. Skream – Burning Up [Digital Soundboy Recording]
11. Buraka Som Sistema – Sound Of Kuduro [Fabric]
12. Röyksopp – Happy Up Here [Wall Of Sound]
13. Calvin Harris – Ready For The Weekend (High Contrast Mix) [Columbia]
14. Moby – Shot In The Back Of The Head [Little Idiot]
15. The Prodigy – Omen [Take Me To The Hospital]
16. Sei A – Chinese Whispers [International Deejay Gigolo]
17. Dizzee Rascal – Bonkers [Dirtee Stank]
18. Smoove & Turrell – Beggarman [Jalapeno]
19. Deadmau5 – Ghosts ‘N’ Stuff [Virgin]
20. Calvin Harris – I’m Not Alone [Columbia]

Originally posted on http://blog.ianroullier.com on 8 January 2010.

Particular or pretentious?

Writing about electronic music and interviewing artists that produce it seems to be a relatively ego-free experience, thankfully.

Perhaps it's the lack of 'the frontman' who feels the need to assert his authority, attitude or personality at every given opportunity. Maybe it's the fact that electronic musicians are masters of their own sonic universe, creating every sound on their recordings meaning there is less room for paranoia and fear about having to prove themselves the big man (or woman) at every opportunity and giving it some 'rock and roll attitude'.

This is a mass generalisation of course but in all the years I've been writing about music, I've only come across difficult characters on a few occasions. I often do phone interviews on my mobile which involves an audible beep every 30 seconds. I always explain why to the interviewee and apologise for it and all bar one interviewee has been fine with it.

He happened to be the frontman of a long forgotten (and never really remembered in the first place) indie band. "Can't you stop that fucking beeping?!" he said. To which my answer was a simple, "No, sorry." I explained the beep beforehand but it obviously wasn't something he could stomach in his rock and roll world.

Perhaps the beep is more acceptable to electronic artists as they spend their lives creating beeps of their own? Who knows. That's not to say I haven't come across difficult interviewees in dance music however... more of which on my next blog.

Useless music fact(s) #7: Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders (who was once in a band tastefully called The Moors Murderers with Steve Strange who went on to do vocals for Visage) was once married to Jim Kerr of Simple Minds fame. The very same man who was one of Patsy Kensit's candidates for 'Musical Man Of The Moment I Must Marry' (which has so far taken in Gary Kemp from Spandau Ballet (just a fling), Dan Donovan of Big Audio Dynamite (marriage), Jim Kerr, Liam Gallagher (marriage) and one-time superstar DJ, Jeremy Healy (married)). Jim has kids with both Chrissie and Patsy while Chrissie also has a daughter fathered by Ray Davies of The Kinks. Ray and Chrissie have teamed up again this year on Ray's 'Postcard From London' Christmas song. Patsy is meanwhile hoping to marry someone in music more famous than she's currently married to, probably. Well, it's easy than resurrecting her own pop career.

Originally posted on http://blog.ianroullier.com on 5 November 2009.