Top 5 albums and compilations
Convextion – Convextion [downLow]
Herbert – Scale [!K7]
V/A – Lifeworks [Open Mind]
Stereolab – Fab Four Suture [Too Pure]
Traxx presents The Dirty Criminals – Collision Between Us And The Damned [Gigolo]

Top 25 12″s
John Beltran presents Nostalgic – Going Home EP [Groovia Sound Project]
D5 – Neutrino EP [Delsin]
Koss – Ra1030in [Mule Electronic]
3 Chairs – No Drum Machine [3 Chairs US]
Point B – Cutouts [SCSI]
Atjazz – For Real EP [Innervisions]
Marcellus Pittman – # 2 [FXHE US]
Move D – Silk & Shmoove EP [Compost Black Label]
T.O.M. Project – Renaissance [Sound Signature]
Monolake – Alaska Melting [Monolake]
Dabrye feat DOOM – Air [Ghostly International US]
Erell Ranson – Sleeping Beauty EP [Arne Weinberg]
Jacek Sienkiewicz feat Marek Raczkowski – Warsaw For Beginners [Recognition]
Pascal Schäfer – Day Return EP [Karaoke Kalk Pets]
Steve Spacek – Baby Baby [Jazzy Sport Japan]
Atom Heart – Repetetive Digital Noise [Recognition]
Alif Tree – Forgotten Places (Moodymann remix) [Compost]
DJ Yoav B – Language Of The Open Heart EP [Delsin]
Escort – Starlight [Escort Records]
The Mole – In My Song [Wagon Repair]
Chateau Flight – Baroque EP [Innervisions]
Dan Curtin – Tricks (part 1) [Tuning Spork Germany]
Redshape – 2084 [Music Man Belgium]
I:Cube – Acid Tablet EP [Versatile]
Steve Spacek – I Wanna Piece Of Ur Luv [Jazzy Sport]

Highs

-The Summer of Insanity, Brixton ©™®

-The UK scene pulling even closer together, geography meaning less, and so many great local nights pushing forward from their successes in 2002

-Some of the up and coming local live sets we’ve been treated to, especially Orphan, the Werk boys, Plant 43 and Nick Wilson

-All that beautiful wax

-ATP (every moment from start to finish)

-Movement (so many amazing live sets)

-Carlos Souffront, Derek Plaslaiko, Ectomorph and Traxx @ the Movement Cannonball party

-Atkins, KDJ, Ron Trent and more @ The Works Movement afterparty

-Surgeon repeatedly

-Hood repeatedly

-Theo Parrish repeatedly

-The birth of Homerton ©™®

-The return of LFO

-Dan Bell @ OC (and the aftermath it inspired)

-Cynic’s Titonton, FBA and Tom Churchill in-a-row party @ Rhythm Factory

-Mount Gay AKA THE DESTRUCTOR

-Larry Heard, Brett Dancer & Mr. Fingers w/Robert Owens @ Barrumba

-FK @ Deep Space NYC

-Blaze Live w/Danny Krivit, NYC

-Carl Craig spinning with his child in a stroller in the Vinyl Junkies bassment – just me and the staff in attendance (albeit for only 15 minutes) + his set @ Plastic People

-The lineups at Fabric over the last few months, and a few really excellent nights there, especially the sets from LFO, Fabrice Lig, Akufen and Technasia

-Gene Farris or Maurice Fulton @ the Notting Hill Arts Club

-Joakim @ 93 Feet East

-Stewart Walker @ Clever Music

-Werk’s Gescom, Ghostly and Surgeon parties

-The London invasion of Weymouth

-Larks in the Park (although perhaps not that electronic)

-Return of the [313] party

-So many birthday parties

Lows

-Cosmic Twins ahem

-Rob Hood getting shut down after 20 minutes @ a Movement afterparty, and me getting shut down

-Thomas Fehlmann @ 93 Feet East

-Yokota @ 93 Feet East

While I’m sure there were some other lows I’m not remembering at the moment, they were certainly few and far between, and almost all of them were overcome by the crowd. The three above stand out in my mind because they were not.

December Top 10

1. I:Cube : 3 – Versatile

2. Meg : MGRMX – Joint Records

3. Kelley Polar Quartet : Recital EP – Environ

4. Titonton : Explicit EP – Neroli

5. Lucky & Easy : Pimp Soul Blister EP – Ann Aimee

6. Starfighterz : 4 Flavours Of A Two-Sided Story

7. Fabrice Lig : Meet U In Brooklyn – Playhouse

8. Niko Marks : Chune / Truly Something – Planet E

9. Various Artists : Iridite Productions Present Electron Music – Iridite

10. Joshua : Nu Cycles – Tweekin

2003 Top 50

2003 has been an absolutely stunning year for new music (and reissues/re-edits/remixes for that matter). Obviously, a top 50 is overkill, but if I didn’t do it this way, it would’ve been an albums versus singles thing, and both have seen tons of activity. Ultimately, you can never give good artists/releases too much recognition, and I would’ve felt like some of these folks had been slighted by their omission. Also, the sheer quantity of good material means that many of these have not seen as much platter time as they deserve, but I’ve never felt as on top of such a broad range of music before, and I think this chart represents some of that diversity.

This is a sampling of the 300 or so records that came my way this year (and I know there are a few like the Andres stuff, the Dan Curtin on Downlow, the new Amp Fiddler, some Rob Hood and some brand new releases that I’ve missed, to name but a few). Notably, it’s been easy enough to shop these days, that I have yet to sell a single record in 2003 and would only think about getting rid of a handful. Death of the music industry my ass! 🙂 If anyone wants more info on any of these records, please feel free to ask questions. I’m more than happy to help.

1 . Outkast : The Love Below LP – Arista

2 . DJ Gregory : Elle – Faya Combo

3 . Stateless : Leave Me Now (Brooks Remix) – Freerange

4 . Amp Fiddler : Love And War – Genuine

5 . RSL : Wesley Music – Player

6 . Dimlite : A/DD EP – Sonar Kollectiv

7 . Moodymann : Silence In The Secret Garden LP – Peacefrog

8 . Spacek : Vintage Hi-Tech LP – !K7

9 . Meg : MGRMX – Joint Records

10 . Dudley Perkins (produced by Madlib) : A Lil Light LP – Stones Throw

11 . Pitch Black City featuring Roberta Sweed : Runaway – Mahogani Music

12 . DJ Cam feat Cameo : Love Junkee (Dilla Remix) – Inflamable

13 . Pal Joey : #17 – Loop D’ Loop

14 . Infinity Plus One : Rhythmatic Unison – Drenched

15 . Russ Gabriel : Into the Unknown LP – Out of the Loop

16 . Reunion : Strange Attention – Seiji Mixes – Dialog Recordings

17 . Freedom Soundz Feat. Vanessa Freeman : Feelings EP – Nepenta Promo

18 . Truby Trio : Universal Love (Âme Remix) – Compost

19 . Horror Inc. : Horrorama – Revolver

20 . Rima : This World LP – Jazzanova Compost Records

21 . N’Dambi : Call Me (Limited Re-Edit) – Yam Who

22 . 32 Project : The Root Of World – Ibadan

23 . Nikolai Dichev : Grasses (Ltd. 5) – Trapez

24 . I:Cube : 3 LP – Versatile

25 . Clyde Feat. Capitol A : Serve It Up! (Brooks remix) – Mantis

26 . Yotoko : All Creation Remix EP – Delsin Records

27 . John Arnold with Amp Fiddler : Get Yourself Together / I Can Be – Ubiquity

28 . Tread : Tread 3 LP – Third Ear

29 . Ennio Morricone : Remixes Volume 1 3×12″ – Compost

30 . Jay Dee : The Official Instrumental Series – Unreleased Vol 1 LP – Bling 47

31 . Joshua : Hustlin’ – Select Recordings

32 . Glad Today : Thoughts of You – M-Break Recordings

33 . Cesario Evora : Angola – Lusafrica

34 . Gotan Project : Santa Maria (Del Buen Ayre) – Ya Basta!

35 . V/A : Detroit Beatdown Remixes – Third Ear

36 . Kelley Polar Quartet : Recital EP – Environ

37 . Pepe Bradock & Michelle Weeks : Distorted Echoes – KIF

38 . Headman : It Rough (Chicken Lips Trax Dub) – Gomma

39 . New World Aquarium : Heavy Metal EP – Peacefrog

40 . Rick Wade : Big Foot EP – Music Is

41 . Lucky & Easy : Pimp Soul Blister EP – Ann Aimee

42 . John Tejada : The Toiling of Idle Hands LP – Immigrant

43 . Titonton : Explicit EP – Neroli

44 . The Detroit Experiment : The Detroit Experiment LP – Planet E

45 . Various Artists : Iridite Productions Present Electron Music – Iridite

46 . Rick Wade : I Can’t Take It – Funky Chocolate

47 . Isolee : It s About – Freundinnen

48 . Russ Gabriel : Spirit Of Corea – Soul On Wax

49 . Fabrice Lig : Meet U In Brooklyn – Playhouse

50 . Kemit Sources : An Ka Sein – Isma’a