Hope everyone's been fine and chilling to some nice beats over the holidays. 2011 is already shaping up over here with some interesting projects starting, which one special one which I'll keep fairly quiet. So far it's heading towards the vibe of Mark Isham crossed with Banco de Gaia and David Gilmour in a big jam in Utter Pradesh. Also I'm working on a remix for Eschaton, who makes really ambient drum and bass, hints of the old Good Looking vibes, but mainly a whole new revitalisation of the sound with lots of cinematic parts over the classic rich subs. I've only just started but I think it's going to take the 170bpm track and rejig it into a slower and very downbeat Global Communication-esque vibe. Some more things are coming up here and there, such as my second album, and I'm working on my hip-hop stuff as well so expect a shit load of music coming over the next few months.
2010 was an excellent year for music, so heres a rundown of what made it so great.
My favourite album of 2010 without a doubt was
This album I find very hard to put into words mainly because it's so damn good. As someone else mentioned it's cinema for the ears, which maybe might be an understatement. Anyway must love & respect to Paul Frankland aka Woob for this masterpiece. Also I hear he has got a full feature length cartoon coming out which is about 2 dogs based on his Max and Harvey alias, for which he mainly has releases on Ninja Tune. Check out Woob's season9 blog for more info.
Also in my favourite finds of 2010 are
Spectralite - Temple of Stars. A collaboration between Darren Sangita and Greg Hunter. Available here to buy
Kaya Project - Desert Phase. If you're reading this you've probably already heard this one, if not head over to Interchill Records.
Ashirvad's self titled album. Another fantastic album from Sangita Sounds, this one is a project spearheaded by Darren Sangita, and features Gopal Bannerjee, Sukhdev Mishra, Georgina Brett, Johanna Stein, Haradhan Das Baul, Kallol Mazumder, Shirin Sengupta, S.K.Indu, Dr.Ashwin Kalbag, Shiv Shankar Roy, Sadhu Seva, Eugene Moriarti and Debashish Haldar.
One of the most pleasant Indian/Ambient fusions of the year as unlike many it features lots of traditional Carnatic musicians, unlike many sampled things, also the tracks are based on traditional ragas.
Visit Sangita Sounds to hear more and buy.
Next, I was pretty pleased I managed to get my own album 'Mindstate Disposition' out. It hasn't been that successful, but the feedback and support from the people who have bought it has been amazing, so I'd like to say thanks to you guys. If you haven't checked it, please visit my bandcamp page which can be found by clicking the Shop link on the right.
Other mentions go to The Orb & David Gilmour for 'Metallic Spheres', nice stuff, and great to see Youth back in action. Kalpataru Tree's 'All Things Passing' album, very nice homegrown chilled out dub.
I'm sure theres more things that I've missed. I lost a folder on one hard drive which has most of the downloads I've bought last year. Have most of them backed up but they're on burnt DVD's and different pen drives all over the place.
What was your favourite of last year? send me a message.
