Slaying Dancefloors at Will .Count Zer0.

It’s been too long since I updated this blog. My day job has been busy and stressful but entertaining nonetheless. I’ve been staying late though so I am kind of beat by the time I get home.

Today I’ve got some time to myself so I’m going to finish off my top 60 from the second half of 2008 in one fell swoop.

In order of release date, here’s the second and third blocks of my Top 60 tracks for the second half of 2008. 41 cuts including some youtube “videos” where available. “Hit the jump” for the list.

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So the other day I rolled out my Top 15 drop everything absolutely listen now 2008 tracks. But that’s not enough for you my dear readers! You get the whole shebang.

Over the next week I’ll be finishing my complete year end chart, compiling a second “essential mix”, and throwing some other superlatives at you.

In order of release date, here’s the first block of my Top 60 tracks for the second half of 2008, actually 23 tracks, including four leftovers from the first half of the year that didn’t make my last series of top 60 posts. Yes, the total was 124 tracks for 2008. I’m including youtube “videos” of the cuts where possible. “Hit the jump” for the list.

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If you listened to only 15 EDM tracks last year, these should have been them.  Ordered by date from oldest to most recent.  Links go to the full release info on Discogs.

Syclops - Where’s Jason’s K - DFA Records (1/15/2008)
Robert Owens - Now I Know - Compost  (1/18/2008)
Osborne - 16th Stage - Spectral Sound (3/4/2008)
Sten - Squares - Dial Records (03/17/2008)
Nate Manic - It’s Never Easy (BrownNote ReRub) - Bad Advice Inc (3/27/2008)
Quentin Harris - Can’t Stop (Ft. Jason Walker) - Strictly Rhythm (4/14/2008)
Milton Jackson - Andorms - Tronicsole (4/16/2008)
Cassy - Poem - Uzuri Recordings (4/28/2008)
Wareika - Fantasy (Rmx) - Connaisseur Recordings (06/11/2008)
Terrence Dixon - Trust - Open Concept (07/10/2008)
Adam Marshall - Thelon - New Kanada (07/31/2008)
Freund Der Familie - Sark (Taron Trekka Remix) - FDF (08/11/2008)
Alton Miller - Futuristic Funk - Yore (09/16/2008)
M. Rahn - Ankh - 3rd Wave Music (10/05/2008)
Brooks - RLF - Mantis (10/23/2008)
Reggie Dokes - Rain On Me - Philpot (11/13/2008)

I tried not to repeat too much from the popular blogs (because what’s the point in that?) but some things like the Syclops and the Reggie Dokes were just too great to not list.  I’d also point out that these aren’t necessarily the best EPs of the year, just my favorite fifteen singles. If I had to pick a track of the year it would probably be Osborne’s “16th Stage” which speaks to me in bittersweet ways that I can’t put into words.  That cut is just some heart-achingly beautiful house music that will always remind me of rain through sunshine on a cool spring day in New York City.

Over the next couple days I’ll be posting more year end bizness including top techno and house albums, a July-December Top 60, and hopefully a second 2008 “essential mix” because there’s just so much great music that didn’t make this chart for the sake of brevity.

The folks over at LWE recently ran a podcast competition that I surreptitiously entered under a pseudonym and (obviously) didn’t win.  Congrats and bigups to whippersnapper DJ Andrey Radovski who rinsed out a set of smooshy Satoshi Tomiie style progressive house.

Since I’m not the kind of guy to go down without a fight, though, I decided to go ahead and post my submission here because you really ought to hear it. Hurriedly compiled on the fly on December 6th, 2008 (immediately before heading out of the country with my office for a week) 0ptmv^2field is a brief journey through an uptempo minimal techno/acid house sound that I love but have never really recorded before. Better suited for the dancefloor than home listening according to LWE’s editor, this mix isn’t exactly the lush musical wallpaper that they were looking for on the ‘buds. Instead it’s an in-your-face expression of the bleeps, the bloops, and the tweaks. Rock out to this. (left click to stream, right click to save as)

Here’s a tracklist:

1. 30 rock intro
2. m. rahn - ankh - 3rd wave (05-2008)
3. terrence dixon - trust - open concept recordings (08-2008)
4. speedy j - red shift - electric deluxe (10-2008)
5. droid 0108 - side a one - droid (10-2008)
6. like a tim - like 11-4 - like records (05-2008)
7. joey beltram - ten four - tresor (1995)
8. brooks - rlf - mantis (10-2008)
9. stl - loop 15 w/ some unreleased ish you wish you had w/ brooks - rlf (loop)
10. stl - amisulprid - something (2007)
11. cristian vogel - xpute the woop woop - tresor (11-2007)
12. todd bodine - vanish - tresor (2005)
13. omar-s - frontwardsflip - fxhe 006 (03-2006)
14. surgeon - 9 hours into the future - tresor (1997)
15. phlash and friends - exaltation (deeper mix) - archive (11-2008)

Oh and in case you’re wondering, the multiple Tresor selections were totally unintentional. I mixed with 12″s and mp3s (via Virtual DJ time-code-vinyl) across three turntables and I didn’t pay any attention to the record labels, just to whether or not the cuts worked with each other.  I was a little surprised to see how much Tresor stuff ended up on there when I did the tracklisting afterwards.  I don’t think that’s a bad thing though.  Enjoy!