Yo Ho Ho

So all that's left is to wish you a Very Merry Christmas. See you in 2010 for more musical merriment. A seasonal treat to finish in the shape of Can's take on 'Silent Night'. Have a safe one.

Can- Silent Night (Download)

2009 Part 3: Tunes

And to finish up, here's a run down of our fav tunes/remixes etc of the past twelve months:

Blue Daisy- Fall
Burial/Four Tet- Moth
Brassica- The Centre
Camera Obscura- French Navy
Clark- Growls Garden
Detachments- Hal (Andy Weatherall Dub) (Download)
Doves- Compulsion (Andy Weatherall Remix)
Ducktails- Beach Point Pleasure
Floating Points- Vaccum Boogie
Four Tet- Lovecry
Fuck Buttons- Surf Solar
Gesaffelstein- The Operator
Health- Die Slow (Pink Stallone Remix) (Download)
Higamos Hogamos- Major Blitzkrieg
The Horrors- Sea Within A Sea (Download)
Joakim- Love & Romance & a Special Person
King Midas Sound- Waiting For You
Kode 9- Black Sun
Laurent Garnier- Pay TV (Emperor Machine Remix)
Moderat- Rusty Nails
Mount Kimbie- Maybes
The Phantom Band- Crocodile
Phoenix- Love Like a Sunset
Richard Hawley- For Your Lover Give Some Time
Sunset- I’m Not A Perfect Person
The Units- High Pressure Days (Rory Phillips Remix)
Volcano Island- Island, IS
Von Spar- Hybolt
Vowels- Two Wires
Walter Jones- Living Without Your Love
Zombie Nation- Mas De Todo

2009 Part 2: Compilations, Reissues, Mixes Etc.

And so we move onto the second part of our '09 recap, a look at the best compilations, mixes, reissues etc.

5 Years of Hyperdub (Buy)























Twitch's 60 Minutes of Fear (Buy)























Dirty French Psychedelics (Buy)























Legends of Benin (Buy)























Psych Funk 101 (Buy)

Purple Brain- RVNG Presents Mx7 (Buy)

The Units- History of the Units (Buy)






















Here's a couple of tunes from the aforementioned releases: From Twitch's '60 Minutes Mix' here's Honey Bane's 'Guilty'.

Honey Bane- Guilty (Download)

And from 'Legends of Benin' here is Antoine Dougbe. Sure to warm your heart even on the coldest of December days:

Antoine Dougbe- Nou Akuenon Hwlin Me Sin Koussio (Download)

2009 Part 1: Records

List's bloody everywhere at the moment ain't there? Here's my addition to the pile, the best records of 2009 (In no particular order)

Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavilion (Buy)























Bibio- Ambivalence Avenue (Buy)























Bill Callahan- Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle (Buy)























Camera Obscura- My Maudlin Career (Buy)























Downdime- Knowing Too Much (Buy)























Fuck Buttons- Tarot Sport (Buy)























Joakim- Milky Ways (Buy)























King Midas Sound- Waiting For You (Buy)























Moderat- Moderat (Buy)























The Phantom Band- Checkmate Savage (Buy)























Wooden Shjips- Dos (Buy)























The XX-XX (Buy)























Yacht- See Mystery Lights (Buy)























Zombie Nation- Zombielicious (Buy)























A selection of tracks from the aforementioned long players:

Bill Callahan- My Friend (Download)

Fuck Buttons- Olympians (Download)

Joakim- Love & Romance & A Special Person (Download)

The Phantom Band- Crocodile (Download)

On Monday we'll have the best compilations/mixes etc & the best tracks. Have a bon weekend.

P.S. Manchester Folk..

I'm gonna propose you a proposition..

Animal Collective end the year as they began it, with another fine release. They recently slipped out the 'Fall Be Kind' EP, which features five thrilling new AC jams. A perfect stocking filler. 'What Would I Want? Sky' also features the first ever (Licensed) Grateful Dead sample. Check it:

Animal Collective- What Would I Want? Sky (Download)

A rip-roaring session from Kurt Vile on Marc Riley's 6music show the other night, head over to the Iplayer if you missed it. New long player 'Childish Prodigy' is out now on Matador records.

Kurt Vile- Hunchback (Download)

Digital Island Discs...

And so back to our occasional feature, Digital Island Discs: Today we feature our favourite beautiful drone merchants, Saudade. Their new record 'Lookout's Journal' is out now and the guys are, justifiably, very proud:

"Wow! this is the most definitive record I have been involved in - Jason and I are like proud parents right now. recorded by the two of us over the past year and a half in Portland, or. Will always have this brilliant record and the memories that inspired it."

The premise: You've been washed up on a desert island with nothing more than a laptop & and a usb stick for company. Being the industrious chap (or chapette) that you are, you've managed to fashion a sound system from coconut shells and bamboo shoots. The usb stick has enough room for:

1 album
3 tracks (1 original/1 remix/1 cover)
1 DJ set/live performance
1 film
1 Tv series
1 ebook

1 Album
Jas says Jorge Ben's A Tabua De Esmeralda. It's actually one of the first records he ever introduced me to, and we listen to it often. Orchestral Brazilian music and Jorge's whimsical, entertaining melodies..

3 Tracks (1 original/1 remix/1 cover)

Original = Everything Merges With the Night - Eno
Remix = Don't usually like remixes... anything by Shermstixx
Cover = Avalanche - Nick Cave

1 Live Performance

After thinking about this I put on the Black Flag 1982 demos.

1 Film

Throne Of Blood. Spider City, samurai, the ghostly spirit, frigid Lady Macbeth, power and folly, suspicion, betrayal, and the greatest death scene in all of cinema.

1 Tv Series

I need to survive. I don't have time for bullshit.

1 ebook

No Death, No Fear - Thich Nhat Hanh
Honorable mention: Earth House Hold- Gary Snyder. The book was the inspiration for the album title 'Lookout's Journal' and also the fifth track.

You can purchase 'Lookouts' Journal' Here. Or here.

Saudade- Skating Through Ghosts Standing Through Everything (Download)

Talk, you un-Reconstructed whelp of a whore..

Morgan Geist provides Hot Toddy with a super slow disco makeover on his new single 'I Need Love'. Perfect for those late night/early morning moments..

Hot Toddy Ft Ron Basejam- I Need Love (Morgan Geist's Love Dub) (Download)

Most pleased to hear Dana Gillespie's 'You Just Gotta Know My Mind' on Marc Riley's 6music show the other night. Check out the accompanying LP 'Foolish Seasons' if you haven't already done so, it's a mighty fun Powerpyschpop record from 1967. A certain J.Page provides the geetar chops on the track in question..

Dana Gillespie- You Just Gotta Know My Mind (Download)

I Love Rumors, Facts can be so misleading..

Everyone loves a bargain don't they? Boomkat are offering up a very tasty deal at the moment, You can get this superb Lo Recordings sampler for the princely sum of £1.99. And before you ask, no they haven't just whacked a load of old dross on there. Choice cuts from the likes of Bernard Fevre, Black Mustang & Kerrier District, Vowels, The Chap and many, many more.

Jean Jacques Perrey & Luke Vibert- Ye Olde Beatbox (Download)

And whilst you over at Boomkat, avail yourself of the new EP from Subway. Three brand neu! tracks that blur the disco/kraut boundaries very nicely. For analog fetishists everywhere...

Subway- Outbreak (Download)

I've never seen a turtle... But I understand what you mean..

A Fungi theme to today's entry: The Time & Space Machine's new EP 'You Are The One' came out last month, it features 3 more solid Psychdisco cuts. Watch out for the debut LP in the new year on Tirk records, you can purchase the EP here.

The Time & Space Machine- Mushroom Family (Download)

Marshall Jefferson's 'Mushrooms' has had it's fair share of reworks over the years, the latest comes from Juttla how turns in a booming dub version. It's released on a new compilation from Hooj Choons (Remember them?), which you can grab here.

Marshall Jefferson & Noosa Heads- Mushrooms (Juttla Remix) (Download)

For a second there, I thought you were a unicorn..

Dissident Records have decided to shut up shop after racking up over 60 releases in just two and a half years. Not to worry though, head honcho Andy Blake is already scheming on new projects, watch this space. A label that prided itself on vinyl only releases has made a couple of their bigger tunes available to download, one of which is this outstanding electro chugger from S.C.S. Still some of the back catalogue in stock over at Juno.

S.C.S.- Model Specific (Download)

Some blatant self promotion to finish with, Just Press Play kicks off tomorrow night at the Black Lion in Salford. Here's a little bit of what to expect: Todd 'The God' Terje's smart edit of 'Nightflight to Venus'.

Boney M- Nightflight to UR Anus (Todd Terje Edit) (Download)