Ten Things About 2007
Posted on December 22nd, 2007 posted by Baron von Luxxury in Top Ten But Not Really But Also Sort Of
Writing for discoworkout.com is such a great way for me to leave little breadcrumbs during the year that later serve as reminders of those moments. What follows is not really a top ten, but rather a list of memorable things that I wrote about in 2007, and there happen to be ten of them. So bust out your Madelines and prepare for a Proustian outburst of nostalgia for the recent past.
1. Faux Disco Vrai
In many ways 2007 was the year of “the banger.” And as you’ll see in this list, I certainly loved me some Justice, Van She, Boys Noize and the like. But more often than not in 2007 I found myself turning down the distorted thrashers and actually *listening* to the Italians Do It Better compilation, “After Dark.” It’s basically Johnny Jewel’s production reel - he produced and performed almost everything with his bands and alter egos. I got deeper and deeper into more and more slower and slower disco as the year went on, thanks in no small part to this record, which included Glass Candy’s “Rolling Down The Hills” and their Belle Epoque cover, “Miss Broadway” (the original “Miss Broadway” has also been the soundtrack to my last few months). I also listened to a lot of In Flagranti and Black Devil Disco Club too but never got around to posting the latter. So, here:
MP3: Black Devil Disco Club - “Coach Me (Again And Again version with In Flagranti)”
2. Australia
What the hell is in the water “down under” in “Oz” that all the “Aussies” are drinking? Midnight Juggernauts got more than their share of shout outs on this blog, as well as an interview I did with them (which, in turn, brought my copy of ELO’s Time back into heavy rotation). The fruits of Van She’s remixing division was never far from my ears, and their remix of Sneaky SoundSystem’s “UFO” was probably in all my DJ sets. I covered a few tracks by Bag Raiders and Valentinos, and DiscoWorkout.com readers can say they were *there* before Knightlife, blew up which seems likely in 2008. Cut Copy’s 2006 Fabric mix CD kept proving itself prescient this year, so be sure to go grab their new mix (courtesy of BiBaBiDi), as it is likely to contain a preview of what 2008 will sound like. And the Presets, one of my favorite bands of 2006, have a new single and a new record coming out next year.
MP3: “Kafka (Bag Raiders What Y’all Kno ‘Bout Five Remix)” - Valentinos
3. My Moon My Man
Boys Noize remix of Feist’s “My Moon My Man”, which I posted in my “Songs of the Year So Far” post this summer, was my favorite track of 2007.
MP3: “My Moon My Man (Boys Noize Remix)” - Feist
4. Summer in New York City
Speaking of that post, I’m not sure if it’s because I got hella hella busy or paid less attention in the latter half of the year, but most of my favorite songs this year were already locked by the time I did my mid year review and my Summer Night City Mix in July. So you could pretty much download this and the Feist track and consider it a guide to 2007 in a nutshell.
Link: Baron von Luxxury’s Summer Night City Mix
5. Dragonette
I never got sick of listening to Dragonette’s “I Get Around” in its many different forms. There was the pop deliciousness of the original song, the blissfully simplistic Midnight Juggernauts remix, and this remix by Van She Tech (yet another one I never posted that I meant to):
MP3: “I Get Around (Van She Tech Remix)” - Dragonette
6. Justice vs. Justice Backlash
Did you notice how our Justice coverage dried up early in the year? That wasn’t an accident. (Nor was our dropping out of the New Rave ink race.) But I as I review my songs of the year, this one keeps popping up, so I gotta break that rule. Plus, there are so many remixes out there that people might forget that the originals are pretty damn amazing. Here’s another song I never posted that I meant to, and that is in my top 5 favorite songs of the year:
MP3: Justice “Phantom II” (the original, not remixed at all)
7. Girls on Pop
I was going to do a post called “Best Pop Music Sung By Girls with English Accents And Not On The Radio in California so It Might As Well Be Indie For All I’m Concerned, With Regard to Cred/Commercialness And All” but I never did. Or maybe “Frankly I’m Exposed to Bloc Party More Than I Am These songs But If This Is Pop Music Than Dammit I Love Pop Music.” Here are three more songs filed under “things I never posted that I meant to”:
MP3: “In The Mood For Love” - Kylie Minogue
** Note - this song was produced by Mylo and *criminally* dropped from her album…a travesty!
MP3: “About You Now (Kissy Sell Out rmx)” - Sugababes
MP3: “Swinging London Town” - Girls Aloud
Actually Dragonette should totally be in this category too, but I put them in #5 and don’t want to write a new tenth thing.
8. Nostalgia
Some classic 80’s synthpop-related stuff I wrote about that I think is worth checking out if you missed it the first time includes a piece I did on David Sylvian, one on Daniel Ash, the awkwardness that is Goth, the awesomeness of Moroder’s “The Chase” and his work with Sparks, and Propaganda.
9. Dolly
In the last month or so I’ve kinda gotten into old country music, especially the female singers like Dolly Parton and Peggy Lee. I’m totally fucking serious. Melancholy, haunting, and very moving.
MP3: “Honky Tonk Angels” - Dolly Parton
10. Death
Losing Theresa and Jeremy was shocking and horrible. Theresa loved Steely Dan. I played their entire catalog plus this Blonde Redhead song at her memorial in New York City a few weeks ago. That and the Vanity Fair article put a surreal spin on an otherwise fulfilling year. I’m disappointed with some people but they’ll get theirs.
I still can’t believe I’m writing this.
I will always miss them.
MP3: “Hey Nineteen” - Steely Dan
Theresa and Me in Paris, 1995
xx,
Baron von Luxxury is My Fake Name
RELATED POSTS:
December 22nd, 2007 6:23 pm
Agreed, 10 times over.
Italians do it best, Australians do it almost as good, ‘My Moon My Man’ was my jam this summer and Dolly & Giorgio are legends.
December 23rd, 2007 6:54 am
Great work! Nice to have a look back at the year. Now: go enjoy the holidays!
December 23rd, 2007 7:55 pm
@ Bobby + Mr JL - Thanks guys, sounds like we’re in synch! For the record I was thinking after I wrote this I should have put Britney’s “Piece of Me” in the “Girls on Pop” category. But I guess it would have messed up the British accents connection. Still, that track was pretty sick for a Top 40 jam. Bloodshy and Avant rule!
December 24th, 2007 4:06 pm
Well, Girls Aloud def could not fall into the indie category, nothin independent about them at all! they were the runners-up on Pop Idol, they had a year where they tried 2 find the “best boy bands” and “girl bands”, then it was between the 2 finalists who were the best “band”, girls aloud lost, but got signed to the labels of one of the judges, got their lyrics and music and production and videos all paid for, really, they’re VERY far from the term “indie”! Really liked the remix of the Sugababes tho!
December 24th, 2007 5:54 pm
@ George - I know Girls Aloud are outrageously huge in the UK but they are totally unknown in the U.S., outside of the blog circuit, because their label aren’t promoting them here. Which begs the question: if none of the traditional aspects of image are supporting an ostensibly “commercial pop” band (no videos, radio, etc.)…then are they still a “commercial pop” band?
And since “indie” has has come to mean “non-commercial” (and in turn “real and credible”), in the absence of a marketing budget and activity driving awareness of and demand for Girls Aloud…does that mean they earn the right to be considered among the ranks of scrappy, unknown bands fighting for exposure?
Girls Aloud are far less commercially successful in the States than, say, Bloc Party (who for me represents all things ‘Indie Rock That I Have No Idea Why People Like’). So, doesn’t that make them about as Indie as you can get?
Or am I just being a cheeky sophist?
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