TRM Recommends: Dancefloor Tracks of 2011

Is it too early to be dropping 'Best of' lists in October? Perhaps it is but here is one anyway. While in 2011 I have kind of shifted away from electronic music somewhat and barely visited a club; I have been able to remain in touch with it thanks to festivals, blogs and the Boiler Room, which has become my main supplier of new 'dance' music. So I have decided to compile a short list of some of my favourite dancefloor aimed tracks of the year, there is no order besides the order that the tracks popped into my head.

This post is a precursor to the Top 10 Albums of the year post, which will be a more in depth review of the year's releases. That particular post will be made on December 1st, the eve of the year's final installment of The Lovely Job, where I shall be playing tracks from the top 10 albums and more.

Hudson Mohawke - Thunder Bay


This track just makes me want to lose my mind whenever I hear it, an ultimate smash out tune. I was fortunate to be able to play this at the September Lovely Job and to my amazement if actually went down well!

Dark Sky - Neon


Old school vibes on this one from Dark Sky, when it kicks it it reminds me and many others of Robin S' Show Me Love.

Daphni (Caribou) - Ye Ye


An extenstion of the work from last year's TRM album of the year Swim, Caribou under the alias Daphni delivers a more 4/4 offering in this groovy track with a simple yet hypnotic vocal sample. Really enjoyed dancing to this on the Dutch soundsystem on the Thursday night at the campsite at Melt! festival.

Joker ft. Jessie Ware - The Vision


What happens when one of your favourite producers and one of your favourite vocalists team up? A killer track thats what!

Cassius - I Love You So (Skream Remix)


Skream showing his versatility once again with this tribute to old school piano hardcore. Almost sounds like it brings Awesome 3's Don't Go into the 21st century.

Scuba - Feel It


A groovy house track from the Hot Flush head honcho which went down a treat at The Big Chill during his excellent set. 2011 has saw a big revival in the acid house sound, as tipified by the next track...

Boddika & Joy Orbison - Swims


Its a toss up between this and Thunder Bay if I was pushed to name a favourite dancefloor track of the year, this is sheer brilliance from the acid to the repetitive vocal to the cow bell it all works brilliantly and I was delighted that Scuba allowed me to experience hearing it at a festival.

Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - Jimmy Mack (Addison Groove Bootleg)


A bit of fun to end on, probably the biggest musical regret of the year was missing Addison Groove at Melt! festival due to a state of inebriation and thus the opportunity to hear this. I am a massive fan of the original and oh my word when it kicks into Addison's trademark sound, wow.

So there it is a collection of my favourite dancefloor tracks of the year, hope you enjoyed reading/listening as much as I have enjoyed this eight tracks throughout the year.

10 of the Best: The Big Chill 2011 Line Up

Another festival looms, time to get listing! Much like I did for Melt! (which was amazing by the way) I have compiled a list of ten of the acts I am most looking forward to catching at this year's Big Chill festival. Some of these acts will be ovbious picks but there will be as usual some hidden gems selected, usually on a post-dubstep/future garage tip. I will note that Jamie Woon and Metronomy are both worthy of places in this top ten but in the interest of not repeating myself I shall point you over to the Melt! post for information on those two.

Upon completing the list I have realised it may be a bit more mainstream than I had first expected, if you feel this is the case let me redeem myself by pointing you in the direction of three DJs from the People's Ear stage who I will be hoping to catch. On Friday I will be enjoying the sounds of Hot Flush recordings boss Scuba who's recent Boiler Room set is superb. Saturday is time for a bit of old school jungle vibes as I plan to take in Congo Natty & Tenor Fly. Finally on Sunday, in addition to Fantastic Mr Fox there is also the brilliant Sepalcure flying the flag for the post dubstep elite. Anyway on to the list proper now!

10. Craig Charles' Funk & Soul Show
Saturday/Starburst Stage

"Fancy going to see Craig Charles DJ for 20 minutes for a laugh?"
The above quote was made by one of my friends at last year's Big Chill. We duely adhered to this request and went to see good old Dave Lister on the ones and twos. However this was no laughing matter and twenty minutes turned into the full two hours of his set as we discovered Craig Charles is an extremely talented DJ with an excellent selection of funk and soul, both new and old. In 2011 with a set on the outdoor Starburst stage, I and my friends will be there from beginning to end fully getting our funk on!


9. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
Friday/Deer Park Stage

Creator of one of the buzz albums of 2010, Ariel Pink brings his band to The Big Chill and is likely to be one of the first acts that I catch on the Deer Park Stage. With a slight look of Kurt Cobain about him and a tempremental streak that saw him walk off half way through his Coachella performance Ariel is what you might call a "proper rock star". His music certainly has a feel of the 80s about it, synth laden pop with an experimental twist. It is going to be an intriguing performance, one that I am very much looking forward to.

8. Fantastic Mr Fox
Sunday/Starburst Stage

The Big Chill are really quite good to me, last year I had been waiting a long time to catch a Joker DJ Set and they booked him. Much is the same this year I have been wanting to catch Fantastic Mr Fox since I heard his FACT Podcast and subsequently awarded it the mix of the summer award for 2010. He is a DJ who was handpicked by The XX to play the after shows of their US tour, high praise indeed for a producer/DJ who has already had several EPs of critical acclaim released. His future garage infused with an emotional edge has the potential to be one of the highlights of the weekend, especially as he plays on the outdoor Starburst stage on Sunday (hopefully under the stars!).


7. Aloe Blacc
Friday/Revellers Stage

Upon hearing 'I Need a Dollar' my initial thought was that it was a catchy tune, but I immediately thought he would either be a one hit wonder or even worse go on to be a Cee Le Green rip off. Listening to his album and in particular watching his Glastonbury performance set the record straight, a consumate performer who can deliver incredible live soulful vocals and theres lots of fun when he's around as can be seen in the above video as he bursts into a bit of Bob Marley. Also worth checking is his Jay Z '99 Problems' cover from the Live Lounge, which I would very much like to hear performed on the Revellers Stage.

6. Digital Mystikz
Friday/People's Ear Stage

At Glade 2009 I bore witness to the best dubstep set that I have ever experienced as Coki and Mala, joined by Loefah absolutely destroyed a full to the brim 3000 capacity Vapor tent. Rare banger after banger, but these two do not deliver the Radio 1 friendly wobble, expect some underground melt your face off type bass music. I hope the People's Ear stage is structurally sound as the low frequencies delivered by these two coupled with the guaranteed vociferous reaction of the crowd. Mala and Coki will smash it!


5. James Blake
Thursday/Deer Park Stage

Post Dubstep's poster boy appears at the Big Chill for a special Deer Park stage Thursday night performance where the attention will all be on him. Attention that he has earned, fresh off the back of a much deserved Mercury Music Prize nomination for his stunning self titled album he will blow the crowd away with amazing vocals, haunting use of the piano and lets not forget the quivvering bass. Having been fortunate enough to catch Mr Blake in a small 300 capacity show in Liverpool in June I know how good he is live and I am looking forward to seeing how this very astute and charming performer steps up to the big stage, I have every faith in him.


4. Janelle Monae
Saturday/Deer Park Stage

Having been a fan of her album I was pleasantly surprised to see that the BBC had chosen to air a good portion of her Glastonbury performance. What was to follow was a 'wow' moment, talk about an electric performance. She is all action, she raps, she sings, she dances - a lot! On stage she resembles a child with A.D.D. who hasn't taken their Ritalin for a couple of days, but in a good way. Her vocals do not suffer one iota despite the strenuous cardio vascular workout that she partakes in during her show. A true show woman.

3. Kanye West
Saturday/Deer Park Stage

From a show woman to a show man, possibly the best show man to burst into the public eye in the past decade. There's not a lot I need to say about Kanye West; he's brash, cocky and self assured but he has continued to back it up and has an unenviable back catalogue to woo the Big Chill crowd with on his Saturday night headline slot, including tracks from an album which many critics rated as 2010's best not to mention a forthcoming duel album with Jay Z that is due to be released three days before the festival. Exciting times, there is a very good chance that Mr West will be the show stopper of the weekend.

2. The Chemical Brothers
Friday/Deer Park Stage

I am so excited for The Chemical Brothers, having watched two of their past Glastonbury performances on TV wishing I could be there so badly, the time has now come to experience their live show in all its glory and in a much more intimate surrounding than the hoardes upon hoardes of people at Worthy Farm. I don't really need to sell this act with their amazing visuals, incredible back catalouge of anthems all mixed together with pounding acid techno they sell themselves. Unmissable.

1. Warpaint
Sunday/Deer Park Stage

Previously featured in this piece is The XX's handpicked US Tour DJ, well now its time for their handpicked US Tour support act. This all girl quartet have both an incredible EP and longplayer to their name, both of which I have played a ridiculous amount of times. Packed with emotion and brilliant vocal harmonies - all four of the group can and indeed do sing. They take to the stage in a humble girl next door type of way before launching into songs of great depth and meaning. I stayed up until 3am to catch their Coachella performance live and it was all worth it to hear the live version of Billie Holiday, I will be right at the front when these girls take to the Deer Park stage. In the run up to the line up announcement I was praying for Warpaint, so maybe there is a God.

If anyone reading is going to the festival I'd love to hear who you are looking forward to catching. Tweet me @therealmikael. Also of interest to some of you might be the Big Chill 2010 review that I wrote in the wake of last year's festival. Thanks for reading.