2010

I filed my Pazz & Jop right before Christmas, but can't recall what wound up on there right now. Instead, I recall what didn't make it there. Where to end, where to begin:

VA: Concentration mix CD
With the demise of his Lovefingers mp3 site, Andrew Hogge goes it one better, putting together this breezy, chilled-out mix that finds middle ground between Italian soundtracks, acid-folk, pre-Buckingham/Nicks Fleetwood Mac, French psychedelia, and Balearic house, all of the tracks here Shazam befuddlers.
Dr. Dunks "No P's" (Dolly Parton Edit)
Edward Larry Gordon: Celestial Vibration (reissue)
Virgo 2LP (reissue)

Riley: Grandma's Roadhouse LP (reissue)
Chicken neck and skillet grease country-rock from 1971, dug up by the same feller who found those old Karen Dalton reels and Kris Kristofferson's publishing demos. For my imminent country music residency at the Ace Hotel, this will be in my bag no doubt.
Noveller: Desert Fires

Kreidler: "Impressions D'Afrique"

Malvoeaux: "Targets"

Dadawah: Wadadasow LP
This crucial reissue of an early Ras Michael session kicked off the Dug Out label. All of the singles done so far have varied in terms of the Jamaican spectrum (mighty dancehall, deep Black Ark cuts), but not in quality. Mesmeric, tranced-out drum thunder.
Protect-U: "Double Rainbow"
Motor City Drum Ensemble: Raw Cuts

COS/MES: "Chaosexotica"

Indignant Senility: Plays Wagner
Dark ambient tape project that turns Wagner into GAS, with all the attendant vinyl crackle and analog hiss. For gray mornings and drunken night auditions only.
Anthony Moore/ARP: Freakways
T++: Wireless
Bob Holroyd "African Drug (Four Tet remix)"

Gala Drop: Overcoat Heat/ Sea Power & Change: s/t
Portugal's Tiago came out me from more angles than any other producer of the moment. James Murphy packed his "Motorcycles" track in his DJ bag and even put out his latest single. I myself dropped his earlier single "Coaster" when DJing on Governor's Island as fitting opener for Tiago's band Gala Drop. And as the year ends, I'm listening to his slow-mo EP as Sea Power & Change on repeat.
Efdemin: Chicago
Avey Tare: "Lucky 1"
Welcome Stranger: "Brolene" ("Jolene" edit)

Backwoods: "Blue Moon"
Cost-prohibitive though it may be to convert the yen, the amount of killer nu-disco and house music coming out of Japan right now makes it worth the rate. Mick's "Macho Brother" made my P&J singles list, but I enjoyed Backwoods and COS/MES deeply as well.
Ray Mang feat. Lady Kier: "Bulletproof"
Claremont 56 (beach-house label)
Prins Thomas: s/t