Unlike previous years I bought next to no singles this year which really has affected my ability to judge the tracks of the year. This year my methods of music consumption were basically either through mixes on my ipod, or buying whole albums (usually old albums) on vinyl for home consumption.

Despite all this a few things managed to slip through and become firm favourites so lets take a look at a couple of them. I’m hoping to look at about 10 or so that really made a strong impact.

Ramadanman – Humber

This was floating around on a couple of appleblim’s mixes last year which might explain the lack of excitement that seemed to be around when this song was released this year. ‘Humber’ is a beautiful fusion of wooshy detroit synths and deep drums. Sven Weisemann came through with a nice deep house remix. The dubstep/techno crossover remained interesting to me this year after really making an impact last year, and this record is a prime example. Ramadanman was the producer of one of my favourite tracks of last year too – definitely one of my favourite producers at present.

Floating Points – Vacuum Boogie

I don’t really know much about floating points. This track is at the start of Scott Grooves’ very good FACT mix. I tend to listen to it a lot on the train so I’ve come to associate it with journeys, and I like the way this track builds its way up and up into heavier and heavier levels of bass.

Untold – Just For You

If the last 2 were a bit polite, here is something a tad heavier. Untold with his work on Hemlock, Hessle Audio and recently Hot Flush (basically a list of my favourite dubstep labels) has had a strong year. Really like the garagey aspects on this one and the way the whole thing sounds like it is falling down a hole in several parts. Looking forward to much more from Untold in 2010.

Donato Dozzy and Cio D’or – Menta

Mick and I were both fans of Cio D’ors’ work a few years ago, and it has been good to see her re-emerge this year amidst this darker techno sound that seems to be gaining traction from labels like Time to Express and Prologue. I didn’t make it to the Labyrinth festival in Japan this year, I am absolutely determined to do so next year. I did however enjoy a lot of this stuff. ‘Menta’ is a really deep, rolling tune that I heard in a lot of mixes this year, looking forward to more of this stuff next year.

Ame – Setsa

Ame and Innervisions had another good year with some strong releases. ‘Setsa’ has a good combination of catchiness and weirdness to get you hooked and keep you hooked. Had to pick this one up. Great work from them as well on ‘The Grandfather Paradox’ which I have kept going back to throughout the year.

That is it for today! Back with 5 more at some point soon!

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