Music ’05
January 19th, 2006
Robotperson’s favourite listens of 2005. Thanks to my habit of buying lots second hand cd’s, these aren’t necessarily last year’s releases, but rather just the albums I’ve most enjoyed listening to in the last 12 months.
- All night long – Layo & Bushwacka! (2003) Great, broad tastes delivered in a coherant and compelling journey.
- Balance 007 – Chris Fortier (2005). A 3 disc whopper. Disc 2 is particularly outstanding, and winds-up with a terrific mix of Bent’s “As you fall”, a real highlight for me, which led to a couple more Bent pick-ups. Slightly ropey mastering lacks a bit of crispness unfortunately. Sort it out, Balance dudes.
- Balance 005 – James Holden (2003). Another superb mix on Australia’s Balance label. Hypnotic, dreamy, driven, bleepy… probably my most listened-to record of the last 12 months, and I’ve only had it since September
- Fundacion – Sasha (2005). One of the few artists who I’ll buy whatever they release. Tremendous, open mix until about 2/3 of the way through, where it disappears into a Goldfrapp / glitter-beat backside, and loses it a bit. Includes Holden / Thompson’s “Come to me”, another real aural high-point for me in oh-five.
- Global Underground 27 – Danny Howells, Miami (2005). An unexpectedly laid-back house mix, miles from the hard progressive sound of his Nu-breed cd. After a couple of listens this swiftly became the soundtrack to my summer, and rolling into a sunny Brighton after work with disc 1 on the headphones was a real pleasure. Massively girl-friendly too, as Lara will confirm, a rare occurrence with my choice of music. Howells’ 24-7 mix, also on Global Underground (2004) is a notch lighter, and also comes highly recommended
- Everybody – Sander Kleinenberg (2003). Like Howells, Kleinenberg moves away from the darker feel of his Nu-breed and has put two funky, fun discs with real personality together. Disc 1 starts with a couple of wonderfully cool, airy tunes that just make me want to head to the nearest Ibizan roof terrace, order a capairinha, and shimmy the night away.
- Soup – Bola (1998). Don’t know how I missed this one. A true classic from my home genre, electronica. Deep, richly emotional soundscapes, and beats and melodies that constantly twist and surprise. Endless replay value.
- Minimum Maximum – Kraftwerk (2005). Live album compiled from their ’04 world tour (curses for missing that one), which has fuelled a bit of a Kraftwerk renaissance for me. There’s something about the simplicity and cleanliness of their melodies and rhythms that, where others would just sound sparse and dull, Kraftwerk contrive to be elegant and pure. The live vibe is terrific too: the whole Tour-de-France segue is wonderful, and a few forgotten gems like Vitamin and Electro Kardiogramm mark two more of my 2005 audio highlights.
- A strangely isolated place – Ulrich Schnauss (2003). Bought in the Boomkat sale on a whim that paid off big-time. Intensely dreamy sliding guitars against an electronic landscape + layered, textured vocals = the soundtrack to Lost in Translation II (in which we find out what he whispered).
Honorable mentions: GU28 Nick Warren, Shanghai; Layered Sounds 2 – Digweed / Bedrock (great programming); Sci-fi Hi-fi vol. 1 – Ewan Pearson.
Know of something I might like? Let me know.