moodmat

Happy Arbitrary Designation of Time!

Here is a well-ordered, occasionally ill-mannered Top Ten list to start things off right. I would like to thank Last.fm for its monk-like dedication to transcribing all of my “plays” last year. Or is that “stalker-like dedication?”

Either way, this is the most data-driven “best of” list to date. The only edits I made was to remove a couple of songs that ended up in last year’s top ten. Everything else is in the exact order of the number of times I played them in 2008.

Let’s get to it.

10. Morgan Geist – “Ruthless City”
This song gives a good indication of where my head is at the end of 2008. Even though Geist has another amazing song by the name of “Detroit,” this title just stares you in the face and dares you not to think of our beleaguered Motor City. Especially Detroit experienced in the stylish cocoon that was high-school in the ’80s. I can’t think of a better way to start 2009 than a huge sentimental lunge into the world of LinnDrums, post-industrial blues and heavy petting.

9. Cryptacize – “Peg”
What you have here is a cover with balls.

8. Battles – “Atlas [DJ Koze Remix]”
Apparently I didn’t get enough of Battles in 2007, so I looked to my old friend, the remix. Not only did she not let me down, she put more RAM into my laptop and dusted off my subwoofer.

7. Afrodisiac Sound System – “Fela EWF”
6. Jay-Z Feat. Fela – “Roc Boyz (MikeLove’s Nigerian Gangster remix)”

I didn’t discover Fela Kuti in 2008, but it was an amazing year of musical finds. These gems merged with some crazy stress and came out the other side as two of my “most empowering tracks of 2009,” soon to be heard as background music on the Lifetime network and in select Hallmark Greeting Cards. Seriously though, these are go-to songs (or blends or mashups) when I want to feel like a human being.

5. Mistabishi – “Lowlifes Theme Feat. Danman”
Hi, I’m Dan’s token drum & bass selection. He’d probably tell you the “long tail” of his listening habits for 2008 would show a ton more. He’d be a marketing nerd like that.

4. Gwen Guthrie – “Seventh Heaven”
Yes, that’s right, there’s a 20-year-old song in my top 10. Unless you are Nick Beggs of Kajagoogoo, you’d be hard pressed to find a better bassline.

3. Spank Rock – Backyard Betty
I’m going to throw up a “NSFW” here, as if that absolves me from listing such a nasty cut. Nasty in its lyrical content, as well as its 808 cicada rhythm and general lo-fi shenanigans.

2. Natalie Williams – “This Girl”
I was first introduced to Natalie Williams through her work with Hosptial recording artist and producer Nu:Tone. Unfortunately, they did not collaborate this year, but I managed to chase down her debut album. “This Girl” is so over-the-top Motown, it goes past the point of guilty pleasure and just leaves me swooning. Swooned? Beswoont? I’m not minding the way Ms. Williams leans more on SWV gymnastics here than her jazz chops, neither. Yes, it’s safe to say have a song crush.

1. Metro Area – “Read My Mind”
Completing my return to raw naïveté and sentiment would be this wonderfully sophisticated single. It’s everything I would hope for in a Metro Area vocal single. and yet still very different from the more recent vocal tracks in Morgan Geist’s catalog. Plus also? Jeremy Greenspan delivers one of the best multi-syllabic “girls” since Al B. Sure.

Moroder and “his special kind of imagination!”

Now if we can just get this song out to the people in my neighborhood still sporting the Tannebaum in March …

Mark our words, 2009 is totally going to shred!

With 60º temps and high winds, it doesn’t quite feel like Christmas. So queue the woodwinds, sip your mead hug a dryad!

Will today be the beginning of a New Detroit? We won’t know for quite a while, but in the meantime, we can revel in more goodness from DJ Mayhem.

Hey, and if you’re taking requests Mayhem, I think Commando is ripe for the picking …

steve rhodes

Is there such a thing as Christmas “hyphy?” The council of Moodmat elves are conferring on this matter, but in the meantime, your best bet is to tune in to Soma.fm’s brilliantly eclectic Xmas in Frisko station.

I just heard “All I Want for Christmas (is to get Krunk),” so we’re getting warmer.

This just makes me happy as all get out.

Wow. Never knew there was a vid to go with this classic. Damn, I may have just ruined my beverage plans for the night.

Track still sounds as fresh as when it was made in 1992… and love the creepy video.   Check out what Metamorphic Records is up to over at http://metrecs.com - mixes and tracks for all your Interstellar Groove Addictions.

A little late on the draw, but this has me in a bit of awe:

Their RIAA is suing a young transplant patient in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Nineteen-year-old Ciara Sauro has pancreatitis and because she needs an islet cell transplant, she’s hospitalized every week, a situation resulting in a huge accumulation of medical bills.

Now, “Because she didn’t defend herself against a copyright lawsuit, a federal judge in Pittsburgh ruled she’s a music pirate, and that could cost the Sauros almost $8,000 in fines,” says Pittsburgh news channel WTAE.com.

Via P2p News

Yeah, you’re not doing “prog rock” any favors there.