A bit of fun (albeit at risk of going full Guardian listicle). 25 tracks that defined the first quarter century of the 2000s. Here’s 25 (chronological) which gave me joy in different ways, some more obvious than others. Get involved.
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Radiohead - The National Anthem (2000). I could’ve picked at least 8 other tracks, but this is so particularly inventive and original, J Greenwood really coming into his own on Kid A. My admiration for them has only grown over time.
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LCD Soundsystem - Losing My Edge (2002). Even all these years later, it still amuses and fascinates in equal measure. Killer lyrics that in some small way tell my own story and possibly yours too. Did it matter that they ripped just about everybody off when they were so candid about it?
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The Streets - Weak Become Heroes (2002). I remember this really polarising opinion at the time. Was Skinner a genius or a shameless chancer? Poet or gobshite? Either way, the Ashley Beedle and Royksopp remixes both grabbed it by the jugular. It’s weird to think people were already feeling nostalgic over 20 years ago.
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Cantoma – The call (2003). Phil Mison has made so many lovely records as Cantoma but the Banzai Republic remix of the Call with Pathaan is probably my fave - as featured to great effect by DJ Harvey on his awesome San Diego mix.
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Moloko - Forever More (FK & Kupper mix) (2003). My pals Slim & Rupi used to put on a night in Brixton called Risky Disco and I remember this ending the night. Roisin sounding amazing. A massive E tune to close proceedings.
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Golden Boy featuring Miss Kittin - Autopilot (Marchos-Full Synthetic Rework) (2003). So cold and steely yet something about Kittin’s voice really floored me, coming amidst the embers of electroclash, especially on this remix. Loved her not dissimilar collab with Felix the Housekat ‘What does it feel like’ which had a similarly dark yet fragile texture.
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Sebastien Tellier - La Ritournelle (2004). Played week after week on the Blue Room and by Gilles Peterson. You immediately knew this was something special. Seeing him perform it live on a grand piano beneath a parasol by the sea in Sete, whilst drinking a red wine, performing pressups and shoving cigs up his nose added a surreal touch.
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Coldcut & Robert Owens - Walk a mile in my shoes (Henrik Schwarz remix) (2006). I remember a few DJs struggled to know when to mix this record in but it was never strictly a club track for me. The subtle build, all the elements coming together. Henrik at his absolute peak.
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Blackjoy - Moustache (2006). When nu-disco was good it was really good. The fondest memories of little parties around Shoreditch, sleazy parties at the likes of Sosho or Melange. Was it House? Disco? Metro Area had opened the floodgates and producers across Europe responded.
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Carl Craig - Sandstorms (2006). Pre-2006 I was aware of Carl Craig largely via Paperclip People but (criminally) had never paid nearly enough attention. This was as close to a sonic eargasm as it got and I became obsessed.
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Gnarls Barkley - Crazy (2006). One of the last instances of an amazing record topping the charts. Leftfield soul with an instant hook.
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Hot Chip - No fit state (Audion remix) (2007). Only a handful of minimal records really stood out for me - such as the Villalobos remix of Depeche Mode and the occasional bit by Stimming or Luciano - but this one inserted much needed drama into proceedings at a time when MNML was starting to vanish up its a/k-hole
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Midlake - Roscoe (2007). Richard and Erol in Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve guise elevated this into something extra special. It felt very Fleetwood Mac in places in all the best ways. The sound of so many drives back from wherever I’d been, struggling not to burst into tears.
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Hercules & Love Affair - Blind (Frankie Knuckles vox) (2007). I don’t really understand why anyone would play the instrumental side. The vocal gets me every single time. One of Knuckles finest imo towards the end of his life. I heard it absolutely everywhere and still do - a very rare modern classic which evoked the spirit of joyful house.
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Map of Africa - Map of Africa (2007). Looking back, I think a lot of H nerds didn’t know what to do with the album and most probably binned it. I loved the Whatever We Want label though and anything associated with Rub N Tug. Thomas Bullock’s NYE at the Book Club bar opposite The Griffin in Shoreditch was off the scale good. They took risks and genuinely didn’t give a shit what anyone thought.
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Les Aeroplanes - Ils Disent Que L’ Orient Est Rouge (2009). Used to hear this a lot at parties in South London, eg that gallery in Herne Hill. Off the excellent Mathematics Recordings label. Chicago meets Europe in spectacular fashion. So fresh and different to anything else.
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Todd Terje - Inspector Norse (2012). A bona fide, straight in the bollocks, party anthem with a sense of humour, which seemingly united everyone (see also: any Terje ravebomb 2005-15)
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Red Axes - 1970 (2012). Such a ‘back to mine’ record at a time of my life when that was almost a weekly clarion call.
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My Rules - More Fry (2013). A masterclass of an edit I think by Justin Vandervolgen that took the Bunny Sigler original to another interplanetary dimension. I probably heard it at Lowlife because no record could sound more Lowlife.
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Goldfrapp - Drew (2013). Actually first came across Alison Goldfrapp via her modern nu-electro work like Train and Strict Machine around that time Ewan Pearson was lending an obvious nod to Moroder, but I later saw her at the Royal Albert Hall where she swerved the bangers in favour of her more mellow side. Strings aplenty and I’m putty in her hands.
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Fatima Yamaha - What’s a girl to do (2015). It just seemed to feed off a hype of its own, taking years to blow up. I remember Andrew Weatherall playing a rework of this in the castle in 2019 and wowing the crowd. It was so simple and beguiling.
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Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart (live) (2016). I was family friends with the bass player Alex growing up and could never have imagined he would become such a great musician. Am a sucker for the stirring Pink Floyd-esque intro of the live recording. Kiwanuka is such a great singer.
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Nu Genea - Je Vulesse (2018). I belatedly realised there’s no Italian records on this list and felt obliged to rectify. Really got drawn to the Neapolitan sound in recent years. It was funny rocking up at a party in a valley in Umbria in 2018 and seeing the massed ranks of Italian music folklore all in attendance, Baldelli, Leo Mas, Don Carlos amongst others.
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Khruangbin & Felix Dickinson - Time (You and I) (Put a Smile on DJ’s Face Mix) (2021). I’d followed Felix for years and this is the kind of swirling psych disco that really does it for me, which if anything should have been even bigger.
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Prince - Digital Garden (Discotecas Resistors Dream edit) (2023). An edit of one of the purple one’s slightly more obscure tracks. Absolutely gorgeous on every level.
