2024 – A Year in Music (part I: 12″s, 7″s & album cuts)

What happened in 2024?

I’ll try to keep it more sober this time.

On the party front, the year was arguably not a revolutionary one, at least not in my bubble. We kept doing doing what we’ve been doing for most of our lives, but doing it well. Always looking to perfect the art of dancing with your friends and the mates of your mates. Be it at Beauty & the Beat, All Our Friend or Lucky Cloud.

Most of the nights were great, some were exceptional, and one (Jaminaround ❤️) confirmed its status as the epitome of what we’ve been striving to create for over two decades. Our little piece of heaven, a de facto temporary autonomous zone, where, for a fleeting moment, we can create utopia and reappropriate collective consciousness.

 
 
 
 
 
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Total freedom of expression, movement and love.

Magical moments of childlike purity.

The pure joy of dancing and bonding while suspended in time and space.

The infinite quest towards audio nirvana has resulted in more vintage Klipschorns being bought, a new one being built (courtesy of master carpenter/audio aficionado Jonny “make-a-horn” Craven), crossovers have been upgraded, resulting in arguably one of if not the best sound system around these shores.

(Come to the party early doors to listen to a song like ‘Trenzinho do Caipira‘ by Egberto Gismonti and tell me otherwise)

☆:**:. ♪ .:**:.☆

In November I realised I’d been living in London for half of my life (24 years that is!). Whatever that means, it reminded me of my first visit to Plastic People, literally the day I moved to London, to be greeted by the shuffling sounds of MAW’s ‘Tribute to Fela‘ as I walked down the stairs into that (soon to be) heavenly black basement.

I never looked back.

**:. ♪ .:**

On the 21st of June 2025, we will celebrate Beauty & the Beat’s 20th anniversary. Yep. Twenty years. Surely we must have done close to 200 parties, if not more. I remember the first one (in a basement gallery in Waterloo) like it was yesterday. Way of life.

 
 
 
 
 
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☆:**:. ♪ .:**:.☆

On the music front I didn’t follow the relentless flow of new releases as diligently as I did in the past. I bought a lot less new records and no doubt must have missed a bunch of great ones (which hopefully I will discover at a later date, no stress). But I still found some great ones of course, and here are my favourites of 2024.

Tunes of the year: 12″s, 10″s, 7″s and album cuts

Listed in an order that should make sense as a DJ set.

Kicking off with some heavy dubwise action on this echo drenched laid back groover by the veteran producer duo who dropped a killer double A side 12″ of cosmic rootical bliss on their Is It Balearic? label. Pure class.

A much welcome remix of Corker & Conboy’s track from their eponym 2002 LP Light Of That Learnt Later, which I loved at the time and still do today. The Chicago trio Purelink gives it a hypnotic, space echoey treatment a la Tortoise, a band I incidentally enjoyed re listening to quite a bit last year. Does this mean we are due a post rock revival soon? I for one wouldn’t complain (I always thought that -alongside the Pink Floyd and Tangerine Dream LPs of my folks- the post rock period I went though in my late teens was very influential in shaping my brain to absorb cosmic sounds of all kinds)

A super nice cover of Gil Scott-Heron‘s seminal club classic (an all time favourite of mine), on a downbeat and Cosmic Echoes kinda tip – no surprise to hear this was chosen by Bob Thiele Jr to revive his father’s Flying Dutchman label!

  • Vibration Black Fingers – Change (Enid Records)

Deep spiritual jazz on a P-funk groove with the latest offering from Lascelle Gordon‘s Vibration Black Finger, featuring Jaye Ella Ruth on vocals. As cool as! Sounds amazing on vinyl as well. Much love to Josh Beauchamp for the tip, this is truly outstanding.

Hypnotic 𝘈𝘧𝘳𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘵 from Nigeria via the US with this mysterious project from Tunde Obazee and Betty Ajagun. A surprising piece of lo fi outsider funk, originally made in 1987 and previously unreleased until now, as unearthed by Chuggy’s Emotional Rescue on a tip by my mate and supper digger Fred Naked.

  • Pigalle Connection – Transit (Mocambo Records)

Onto this cinematic interlude with this nice crime jazz groove full of suspended tension and cold chilled anticipation, featuring Paris’ keyboard wizard Guillaume Métenier (of Seven Dub fame) on clavinet, moog, piano & Hammond. Thanks Fab for the tip!

Balearic ambient dub beauty from Felix Wolter‘s Trance Vision Steppers. Originally released in 2002 on the CD only album 𝘛𝘝𝘚.2 and totally unknown to me, this was compiled by Piers Harrison and Chuggy alongside other choice TVS productions on the double LP 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 on their ever refreshing label Mysticisms. Somehow reminds me of both Ozo‘s ‘Anambra‘ and Ruichi Sakamoto‘s ‘Once In A Lifetime‘, which can only be a good thing!

Broken beat and UKG collide with dub and hip hop across this refreshing EP by certified Liverpool herbalist Sticky Dub, Never Give Weapons to a Man Who Can’t Dance. Think rude bwoy energy processed through an electronic, inner city engine, melodic dub bass lines rubbing with skipping dance-floor beats, all laced with a bouncing Scouse drawl. A winner.

From Liverpool to London but still 100% UK vibes with this great remix of (Brownwood signings) Oreglo in a trademark mash up stylee of UK bass, garage, broken beat and rude bwoy energy. The vibes is right, the pace is picking up.

Huge track from one of the best albums of ’24, by the always on point Nick Woodmansey aka Emanative. A heavy cosmic jazz workout that puts you in an organic trance, with special guest Peter Zummo on trombone. Mega!

An instant classic and probably the biggest club tune of 2024. Ezra Collective doing what they do best, an Afro beat infused blend of UK jazz dance, with an irresistible Yazmin Lacey singing the pure ecstasy of dancing and vibing. Even the stiffest head nodders at the back will groove to this. And that video… The whole package. As cool as, pure class.

“Give me bass line. Give me dollar wine.”

(too short though)

Spirits are high and the dancefloor ignates even further with this Sacred Rhythm dub version of ‘Umoja’, the highlight of a double package of remixes for Nicola Conte. Over the last three decades Joe Claussell has easily been the most consistent purveyor of deep Afro cosmic workouts (a quick look at my discogs collection tells me I own 66 (!) of his remixes and productions, which include an outrageous number of many a seminal classic). This latest extended mix of ecstatic club music is a trademark brand of deep, Afrofuturist house combined with the spiritual jazz dance magic of Conte’s original. Sounds huge on the Klipschorns!

Peak time digi soukous action from Congo with the irresistible Pembey Sheiro, featuring the great Douglas Mbida on synth. Released in 1986 in France on a now very hard to find private press, this fantastic groover has thankfully been included on the great compilation A Dancefloor in Ndola by (Ugandan DJ) Kampire (which features a lot of other really cool cuts, though nothing as outstanding as Sala Ni Toto).

The dance-floor is now well ripe for some extended cosmic carnival action, straight from Guadeloupe, with this cheeky edit of mine which lit up many a dance-floor last year and was played everywhere from Jaminaround to Houghton to almost every BATB party. This latest BATB release had been ready to be unleashed for over two years, but it was well worth the wait (see below for Breakplus remix)!

Peak time big room action with this mega deep house cut from a fierce new London producer (Hilit Kolet) given the Chicago treatment by the legendary veteran producer Mike Dunn (he who did one of my favourite ever deep house cuts – QX-1‘s ‘Love Injection‘ back in… 1991). Deep and messy indeed.

Calming things down with this deep and floaty piano led techno jam from the master Jeff Mills, still up there at the top of the game. Deep in the zone.

Still levitating with this fresh deep house meets cosmic rai cut from 1998 by Franco-Algerian Cheb Malik, as resurrected by the always on point Elmir Records on the fascinating After Raï party compilation (to be reviewed on my Best of ’24 part II blog post). Such a gem, which sounded amazing played next to Deee Lite‘s ‘What is Love’ (see revivals below) at BATB.

I dig pretty much everything that comes out of the Maghreb K7 Club series run by Sofa Records and Bongo Joe, and the third volume of the disco singles didn’t disappoint, thanks to two incredible tunes by Khaled Barkat. Previously only available on cassette, these were big hits in Algeria and its diapora in 1986, a few years before the black decade of the civil war and the rise of the Islamist movement to power which radically changed the country’s cultural and musical landscape. To file under cosmic, Balearic, happy days.

Add to this the rare Dennis Bowell dub of Cheb Tati‘s ‘El Hammam’ (a tune Pol Valls started his set with at BATB in April, just sayin’) and you’ve got the best 12″ of the series so far.

Psychedelic funk masterpiece by the cosmic king Barış Manço, one if not the most influential rock artists of Turkey. ‘Eğri Eğri (Doğru Doğru)’ has been given the re-edit treatment a few times in recent years (most notably by my man Breakplus and Parallel Disko), though nothing beats the original extended version in its full glory, which was reissued last year and which I was fortunate to pick up in Istanbul (so many of these seminal reissues of Turkish psych classics don’t seem to be distributed outside of Turkey sadly). Nearly six minutes of relentless and addictive psychedelic funk and an absolute bomb on the dance-floor, which to me sounds like one of those Loft classics that never were.

  • Akiyo – Déboulé (Breakplus broken tribute remix) (BATB)

Time for some deep broken gwoka action with (since we were just talking about him) Breakplus’ remix/rework of Akiyo’s ‘Déboulé’. The original’s been a big BATB classic since forever, and it’s amazing to hear such a fresh take on it (in a not too dissimilar way to what Kay Suzuki did to Gaoulé Mizik’ ‘A Ka Titine’ on the previous BATB release). A deep one, best served in the later parts of the night.

Staying on cosmic carnival mode for a bit longer with this massive remix by one of my favourite bass producers, the amazing Tapes aka Jackson Bailey here on a devastating carnival-esque and dubalicious mood. For the heads and for the body. To be played LOUD.

A really cool and unusual slice of Afro-electro from 1988 with a disco-not-disco vibe somewhat reminiscing of Dinosaur L. Unearthed from a mysterious one off project originally released on Parisian label Ness Music. Really love this, thanks Vincent for the tip!

  • Mah Kouyaté – Soso (Hot Mule)

Impossibly beautiful and hypnotic modern Soninke groove, from 2011 but deeply rooted in tradition. One of the many treasures from the Gaye Mody Camara catalogue unearthed by Hot Mule on their incredible comp Wagadu Grooves: The Hypnotic Sound of Camara 1987​-​2016

  • Chu Kosaka – Music (Time Capsule)

Taking a breather with this laid back Japanese reggae cut recorded in Hawaï in 1975? Yes please! First heard played by Pol Valls (who else?) in the magic hours of Beija Flor and now reissued by Time Capsule on the first volume of their genius Tokyo Riddim comps.

  • Tokyo Riddim Band – Canoe Dub (Time Capsule)

Which brings us to the Tokyo Riddim Band, a unique live and studio project assembled by Time Capsule‘s head honcho Kay Suzuki off the back of the Tokyo Riddim comps. The band brings together three generations of Japanese female musicians around the legendary synth player Izumi “Mimi” Kobayashi, with the amazing Ayana Homma on vocals and Megumi Mesaku on saxophone. Their infectious, siren heavy dubbed out live shows have quickly become a mini phenomenon, and they also found time to release a triptych of 7″s cut and mixed by the legendary series of Prince Fatty. Of the lot, the serious DJ cut is Canoe Dub’, a super deep and groovy cover of a 1980 cut by Japanese punk rock pioneer PANTA, versioned by Fatty himself. Proper sound system material.

 
 
 
 
 
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Bringing the pace back up with this pulsing and dreamy dance floor groover from the London duo, a great follow up to their Sprig Songs mini LP from ’23. Naomi and Ronan played a rare live set for us at BATB in November, blending in perfectly within the arch of the party like a DJ set, which included tracks specially created for the night. Definitely one of the highlights of 2024.

 
 
 
 
 
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Now raving with this bleep influenced dub techno from Toronto’s Raf Reza, expansive and dreamy with a magnetic pull for the great outdoors (dancing a muddy field that is). Released on the impeccable Scottish label 12th Isle, one of my favourite purveyors of deep and modern electronic sounds of late.

The man like Beatnick, a BATB og (check out this lovely tribute to the party he did back in 2007) whose output I’ve been following (and playing!) for close to two decades (!) pays tribute to the white isle with this blissful Italo(ish) dream house beauty. Sand between my toes, I could dance to this for days.

Saving the best for last with what was undeniably THE 12″ of the year. Manuel Göttsching meets Alex Kassian meets Mad Professor. At this point of the game the hardest choice might well be to decide which side to play. We could easily play the Alex Kassian version and go the straight way. Or we could choose to go wild and drop the “Mad Professor‘s “Qantas Crazy Remix” version, which is the option I chose as the last record on NYE. A much bumpier road which sounded truly insane on the system, but we still ended up in the same place (Balearic heaven that is). A future landmark record no doubt, which can be added to the pantheon of E2-E4 remixes, alongside Sueno Latino and Danny Tenaglia‘s ‘Equinox‘. On a cloud we float…

…and since we’re here and the sun is somehow still setting (or is it rising?) we might as well continue to levitate with this deep and spiritual offering from my man Ryota OPP from Tokyo. Gorgeous!

Last one (but not least). We have just landed but where are we? In space? Or is it Missouri? Only Terre can tell us. We’re ready to depart again either way.

☆:**:. ♪ .:**:.☆

REVIVALS

Some of the (older) tunes which have been revived in 2024 for one reason or another. In no particular order.

A genius tune which I pulled out for no particular reason but ended up playing at three key parties last year (Jaminaround, Houghton and BATB November), each of these plays making incredible impact on the dance-floor (even being picked up by RA as one of the 10 defining tracks of Houghton’ 24 – whatever that means). Huge props to Silvia who bought me the album when it came out and even put that track on a mix she did for me.

“My lunar love take my hand
Soon we will forget where we have come from
Space will be my home”

A fairly recent (2017) monster “hands in the air” remix by one of the pivotal figures of the house music scene in the UK, which seemed to have somehow gone under the radar (despite being included in my end of the year review back then, go figure) but which I enjoyed playing again quite a bit last year. Sadly Ashley Beedle has been going through some serious health troubles these past few years – for those who wish to support here’s the link to his fundraising page. And here’s a link to Piers Harrison‘s IG post about his favourite Beedle productions.

  • Eric Kupper presents K-Scope – Planet K

Mid 90s progressive house has never really been my thing, with the notable exception of this legendary track from Eric Kupper that is. Its unique floaty and dreamy Italo feel kills it every time. I played it in Houghton during the b2b closing set on the Sunday and it sounded out of this world.

Legendary tune which defined a whole generation of ravers, not just from the field of drum’n bass but across electronic music, thanks to the perfect alchemy between two absolute masters, LTJ Bukem and MC Conrad. Though I have never really been that much into drum’n bass (that period lasted maybe a year or two tops), I have incredible memories of seeing Bukem and Conrad live at the Transmusicales in 97-98. Flash forward to BATB: we don’t play dnb often at all, but if we do it is usually liquid. Whenever Jem Gilbert plays last he often loves to surprise the crowd by dropping a Bukem bomb on the floor on an unsuspecting crowd. The week after Conrad died I played ‘Western’ at BATB and then again a couple of months later at Houghton. Serious piece of lyrical genius right there. Rest in power Conrad.

An altogether bonkers and unlikely live cover of ‘Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram (The Joy of Om)’, the devotional song etched in the consciousness of millions across India and widely popularised by Mahatma Gandhi and synonymous with the freedom struggle. Was a big favourite on the Afro cosmic scene I believe, and I enjoyed resurrecting it on a few occasions last summer (AOF, Jaminaround, Houghton) – still sounds huge and incredibly uplifting when played on an audiophile sound system.

An all time Burning Spear / Phillip Fullwood favourite, a righteous cry for freedom which sounds so deep and heavy on a 12″ (which I upgraded from the Pressure Soundz comp last year). Spear’s wailing voice at his very best, gives me the chills every time. Freedoooooom!

It was all about Channel One Sound System at carnival last year (whatever happened to Aba Shanti-I’ sound, let me know?) and this Johnny Osborne stepper was dropped circa 6pm on the Monday. Massive.

 
 
 
 
 
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(heads up to who can spot Louis (Hot Mule), Camila, Xavier (Pull8up), Silvia and myself inna the crowd)

    • Can – Vitamin C

Back to February for my debut as one of the musical hosts at Lucky Cloud for the traditional St Valentine party. I had prepared my set a bit more than usually and as a tribute to Damo Suzuki who had just died I was hoping I could drop the monumental ‘Mother Sky‘ which is to me is the pinnacle of the genius of Can. However I didn’t quite find the time nor the opening, and I played ‘Vitamin C’ instead. An undeniably much safer choice but still I was well impressed by the reaction it provoked (the room erupted). Rest in power Damo 🖤

And long live Lucky Cloud! What a spectacular renaissance for this party ❤️

Seminal third summer of love (1990) house banger by Deee-Lite, a Schöner and Sound Factory classic which sounds like Pal Joey at the top of his game (I always thought it was anyway). Imparable (as in irresistible)! Funny fact: I had brought it to Houghton last year but Scott Pelloux beat me to it and played it first. Still managed to rinse it for six months afterwards 🙂 Pure unadulterated joy.

Mmm how do you sayDelicious, delovelyDelectable, Divine?
How do you sayDegorgeous? Dewith it?Degroovy? Define?
Ooh lala lalalalalaFaux françaisHow do you say delicious?How do you say delovely?How do you say delectable?Divine?How do you say degroovy?Dewith it?How do you say Deee-Lite?
 

If, like me (and I believe I’m not alone) you always had a soft spot for Suzanne Vega, this cover of ‘Tom’s Diner’ sang in Egyptian with an electro boogie backbeat will surely be right up your camino del sol. Yes please! Best saved for the magic hour for special moments (of sing-a-long) only.

“Da da da da, da da da daDa da da da da da da daDa da da da, da da da daDa da da da da da da daDa da da da, da da da daDa da da da da da da da”

Now try to get this out of your head 🙂

To file next to Nadjim Lala‘s hilarious cover of Caroline Loeb ‘C’est la ouate’.

A revolutionary track at the time (1987) and still so fresh today, one of those timeless tracks that give instant goosebumps and tears in the eye each-and-every-time. Thanks in part to the amazing works of labels like Elmir or Sofa Records which recently started resurrecting vintage cassettes onto vinyls, I have been playing more and more Algerian rai at the parties, and ‘N’Sel Fik’ holds a special place within the pantheon. Check also Cheb Kader‘s bijou cover, which I also adore and remember sounding incredible during a magical night at Beija Flor in Lisbon. For French speakers do not miss the great documentary series Raï is not dead on Arte, directed by raï and all round music aficionado Hadj Sameer.

‘Ya Rayah’ is one of those songs that has shaped the (French) collective psyche, for my generation at least. The so called (and so elusive) black blanc beur zeitgeist of summer 1998, of those golden few months following Zidane’s headers against Brazil when the collective mood seemed to be one of unity, diversity was celebrated and the nation as a whole desired a progressive, multicultural future. Raï and hip hop were ruling the airwaves, 1, 2, 3 Soleil and all that.

Of course that was a fluke and it didn’t last longer than that summer, but all that to say that every time I hear ‘Ya Rayah’ it takes me back there and then. Of course it’s an incredible tune with such a catchy rhythm that you can drop it pretty much anywhere and ignite the dance-floor instantly. For Arabic speakers, ‘Ya Rayah’ is actually a song of the exiled longing for the homeland (as popularised first by Dahmane El Harrachi who wrote the original version in 1973), but after Taha (with precious help from Steve Hillage) turned this into a worldwide hit, its appeal became universal. But when you play this in France, like at the Days party in Nantes last year, you can really feel a special sense of collective joy and unity in the room, if only for a fleeting moment. The same feeling that happens when you drop IAM or 113 (see below).

 
 
 
 
 
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  • 113 – Tonton du Bled

Still on an Algerian diaspora tip, and off the back of the fantastic series on Arte on the life of DJ Medhi, it was great to revive this seminal French hip hop classic from 2000. A flash of genius from DJ Medhi on the sample (Arabic samples in hip hop were pretty much unheard of at the time, with Rim’K at the top of his game. Timeless.

  • Snoop – Drop It Like It’s Hot


Off the back of a stellar commentating stint at the Paris Olympics I brought the 12″ to Houghton hoping I’d find an opening to revive this unbeatable banger. The moment eventually came during Belle Bête and I closing set in Giant Steps. Good move that was.

(edit: unfortunately I have just heard that Snoop will be performing at Trump’s inauguration? Not so surprising after all to see a black male rapper superstar aligning with white man capitalism, but man I really thought Snoop could do better…)

  • Cyndi Lauper – Time After Time

The legendary Balearic beat originator DJ Alfredo died on Xmas day  last year, which (despite Silvia’s best efforts) allowed me to drop this guilty (not guilty) pleasure on an unsuspected crowd (bar Silvia) circa 4am on NYD. Glad I did. Grown men crying and that. Of course the chorus lingered in my head as an earworm for days afterwards. Been told am a softy 🙂 Rest in power Alfredo.

If you’re lost, you can look and you will find me

And that’ll be it for now. Thank you for reading that far!

For albums and reissues, head to this post.

Love to the world ☮️

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