Hope everyone's enjoying the start of 2010 and getting creative. I'm in the process of selecting some artwork for my album, which should be done very soon. Also as of yesterday enuui.org is 1!!! Anyway I'd like to give a roundup of my favourite discoveries released last year.
1. It's got to be Shpongle - Ineffable Mysteries from Shpongleland. There were mixed reviews of this (mainly people who'd pinched it off the net before it was released). I was going to review it myself but I know I won't find the words for how magical this is. So album of 2009 for me, and the tune with Manu Delago 'Nothing Is Something Worth Doing' was tune of 2009.
2. Banco de Gaia - Dreams, Memories, Reflections. I was caining this when I first got it, brilliant production all round, but wasn't going to expect anything less. I've not played it in the last month so I'm looking forward to getting back into it.
3. Cinnamon Chasers - A Million Miles From Home. A quirky electro (borderline) pop album by Abakus. Totally what I wasn't expecting, and its quite different than my usual listening taste. It's got some great catchy tunes and the tune Luv Deluxe has one of the best music videos of the year.
4. Alaska & Paradox - Isolationist. Classic tight as funk breaks with extremely ethereal textures and the purest basslines from one of my favourite jungle producers. Best jungle album of last year. Shame about the album cover (no offense to Dev, the few times I've met him, he's been the nicest fella, but compared to his Outsider compilation art, it boils down to being a mugshot).
5. Cloudcycle's ongoing super album. Mauxuam & Greg Hunter's extremely varied collaborative project from the crunchiest dystopian dub to angelic drones and textures to dusty Saharan breaks. All of its free too and available from cloudcycle.net.
Also big shouts to some interesting producers of '09 - Zen Baboon, The 13th Tribe, Slownoise, Hunee, Manu Delago, Morphy, Eschaton, Fada, Master Margherita, Aes Dana !!! BIG POSITIVE VIBES FROM ALL OF YOU!