This year was the first in many that I actively stayed on top of new music. It was cool and fun. My running hypothesis that dance music continues to get better as the post-2010 generation further hones its skills was affirmed. On the flip, I slogged through untold amounts of Bad. This was uncool and tedious. But I remind myself that’s how it’s always been. The monolith that is 90’s dance music is usually seen through rose-tinted specs, but a few magical words – Hard House, Happy Hardcore, Acid Trance – will make the view more akin to that time you ate too much acid and everything turned into Ren & Stimpy grotesquery. Speaking of the 90’s, I laid off discogs big time this year and saved trillions of brain cells from the mind-melting experience of opening 57 tabs and combing each for Just One Good Tune, Oh Please God. Those precious noodle-nodes instead went to clocking the handful of nü nü that grabbed my attention and writing here. A healthy quantity of excellent new records and Substack posts (of questionable quality) were amassed – a greatly rewarding experience.
The mix: 30 records and a roughly equal amount of digital tracks were on the menu for its making. All are either new music or vault material released for the first time in 2022. No reissues or represses. The end result is a long ass, genre-jumping journey that starts with a camp-but-cute Beatles edit, ends with a progressive bang and encompasses multitudes in between. I hope you enjoy. Tracklist below.
Beatconductor - I Can Fixx A Hole [GATT Records]
Ozel AB - Yahso [Ozel AB]
The Jak - An Offbeat Formation of Control [Dirty Blends]
Ton Lebbink - Denke Nie Gedacht Zu Haben [Rubber]
The Jak - A Lost Religion [Dirty Blends]
Krishna Goineau feat. MCL - La Dance [Italo Moderni]Ambien Baby - Engendrx [Delicate Records]
Jimmy Rouge - Bay Leaf [Orange Tree Edits]
Demi Riquisimo - Paroche [Semi Delicious]
DMX Krew - Weird One [Magnetron Music]
Cor.ece & JKriv - Dance to Keep from Crying [Razor-N-Tape Reserve]
Frhanks - When is Time to Go Home? [Welt Discos]
Ciel & Ali Berger - Mise-En-Scéne [Jacktone]
A Psychic Yes - Moss [Nummer Music]
Cousin - Locked [Nummer Music]
Atawël - Underwater Funk [192 rec]
Kozmik Funk - Numbers / Computer World [NYC Records]
Idjut Boys - Speedball (Severe Itching Mix) [Droid]
The Jak - A Lost Religion [Dirty Blends]
Idjut Boys - Gas On Tap [Droid]
EYE-BM - EYE-BM 2 [Slow Motion Records]
Rudolf C - Totally Refracted [Limousine Dream]
Loopchasers - The Light (2018 Mix) [TerraFirm]
A Psychic Yes - Blood Moon [Nummer]
Picture - Forskudt [Kalahari Oyster Cult]
Spandrel - Night Winds Eternal [TerraFirm]
Spandrel - Floaterz [TerraFirm]
Ben Boe - Neighbourhood Quasar (C.K Remix) [PRS]
N.A.D. - Assemblages [Rush Hour]
Rudolf C - Mind User [Limousine Dream]
Italoboyz - Scars 21 [Superfiction Recordings]
Kolter - Ghost in the Breaks [Pilot]
SKAT - Jump Around [Euphoric State]
Ciel & Ali Berger - Damn Skippy! (Davis Galvin Remix) [Jacktone]
Mor Elian - Diva Test (Cicada Mix) [Fever AM]
Fantastic Man - Alpha [Kalahari Oyster Cult]
Young Adults - Fermented Feelings [Seven Hills]
Memphis - Essences [Memphis Records]
616 - 283 [616 Lab]
Young Adults - Integrated Lizard People [Seven Hills]
Dawn Razor - Getting [Of Paradise]
Ozel AB - Beneath the Eye of the Rye [Ozel AB]
Mor Elian - Itch Twitch [Fever AM]
Juzer - Layer of Moleman (Unit Moebius Anonymous Remix) [Rubber]
Marco Zenker - Switch Stance [Ilian Tape]
Marius - Third Dose [Binarysound]
Idjut Boys - Speedball (Full Whip Version) [Droid]
EYE-BM - EYE-BM 3 [Slow Motion Records]
Davis Galvin - Pirtec [Bandcamp Self-Release]
Loopchasers - A World of Swirls (2019 Mix) [TerraFirm]