90-80 finally...

90. Special Request - Chronic Sonata (Tip Of The Iceberg)
See this post, go on have a gander.

89. Rockers Delight - O.S.C. (Steps In Time)

Babylon System's Roommate and Antiserum from San Francisco make up O.S.C. and this simple but scorching 12" lit me decks up something chronic this year. With the likes of Rusko eschewing his reggae roots for some kind of bassline arms race with Casper, and technoid noodling taking centre stage elsewhere, it has surprisingly mainly been left up to the yanks to keep the fire burning on reggae soaked dubstep biz. Sure this pushes the obvious buttons, with Scratch samples and whatnot, but them buttons do need some activation from time to time, so respect to the septics. 

(buy)
(OSCspace)
(StepsInTimespace)

88. Hustle - Collie Buddz (Columbia)/Que Lloren - Calle 13 (Sony BMG)

Exposing just how foolish the idea of a list of loved tracks like this being in any way robust, here's a meaningless tie. Truth be told the 100+ tracks were divided into three rough chunks, and the ranking from then was arbitary at best. So honkamuffin Collie Buddz' easy singjay style works a treat on Barrington/Junjo's 'Prison Oval Rock', while Puerto Rican brothers Residente and Visitante take a pop at reggaeton royalty Queen Ivy (and others) on 'Que Lloren', swimming against the regressive tide in that particualr style of music over the past 12 months. Reggaeton's year can best be summed up by Daddy Yankee's lame endorsement of John McCain, not the sort of thing you'd expect from the likes of these politically switched on geezers (who actually had Reuben Blades guesting on their latest) or their compardres Voltio and Tego Calderon.

(buy) Calle 13's 2008 album 'Los de Atrás Vienen Conmigo'
(Colliespace)
(Calle13space)
(Calle13web)




QUE LLOREN - CALLE 13

87. Luddite Dub – South3rn (Clandestine Cultivations)
See this post...

86. Timekeeper - Clouds (Ramp)

A scorching 12" with a remix from Ras G that is so genuinely unhinged, it took a few plays just to get my head around the beat. Well miffed that I cannot find an mp3 to this anywhere though I know had it at some point, if I start getting into even partially digitizing stuff for this list I'm going to be in big trouble. 
(buy)
(Cloudspace)

85. In Your Eyes - Sanchez (John John)

A classic rhythm (Love I Can Feel/ Tempted To Touch), from one of the great studios and lineages (right royal Jammy's & Sons Esq) with one of the most distinctive voices of modern reggae, it's a slam dunk. Sanchez undoubtedly can cheese the fuck out, but get him on the right track and he's unstoppable, and as for what he does to the ladies when he appears on stage in JA, well that is an experience in itself. As a bonus you're getting the full Sanchez version and then a quick disc flip, before the Mighty Asterix takes over and lets off the Dionne Warwick. This was taped (thanks Anand and Vanita) at the tail end of a cracking session with the Newtown Sound/Nice Up kids down in Welli in '07. Levels are a bit straight off the desk, Asterix is sans FX and like I said this is late into the session.... so it's rough and ready. As I have commented before, Asterix is the only MC who has ever fully harnessed the pungent power and that's how it's been since we first linked the best part of 20 years ago. I'm really looking forward to our next assignment supporting the Bug in 3 weeks, and then getting a run on Vital Soundsystems' scoops at the Cuba Street Carnival in February.
(buy)
(Sanchezspace)

Sanchez in red.

His Mightyness in green.

SANCHEZ/THE MIGHTY ASTERIX - IN YOUR EYES (+)

84. Heaven At Night - Kid Cudi (10 Deep)
The hip-hop credits this year were shared by newcomers The Knux and Cleveland's Kid Cudi. We'll be hearing more about both of them further down the list, so I'l leave the talking to Cudi and this Andy Kaufman inspired stroke of genius on top of an irresistable beat from Nosaj Thing.
(Download) the whole mixtape from here for nix..
(Cudispace)
(Web)


HEAVEN AT NIGHT - KID CUDI

83. Buff Nuff - Roots Manuva (Big Dada)
My God this sounds good on a large system, Toddla T outdid himself with this one. More to come from the District of Rodney down the list.
(Rootspace)
(web)

82. Electric Love – Coco Solid (Coco Solid)

I have already rahed and rae rae'd about the wonderfulness that is Coco Solid here. 
ELECTRIC LOVE - COCO SOLID

81. Rude Effort - Bullion (One-Handed Music)

There was a whole heaping helping of wonky hip-hop beaty biz this year and this feller from Acton, who previously stuck his head above the parapet with a Beach Boys/J Dilla mixtape, nailed it with both sides of a vital (and now sold out) 7". Tis Bionicaly Bullionic.
(buy) think the 7"s are done but this is the stinklink to digital relief.

(Bullionspace)

RUDE EFFORT - BULLION

80. Trading Places - Busy Signal (Jukeboxx)/ Drop Bombs (Loudmouth Rmx) - Mz Brat ft Griminal
See this post for 'Trading Places' and this'un for some chat and links about Loudmouth's superb remix of Mz Brat & Griminal.

Lesser Spotted Doobstep

Despite some notable exceptions, 2008 hasn't really been a vintage year for dubstep business, at least not the gear that truly gets my toes  curling. Going through the years radio playlists, reviews and recent crates,  compiling the annual Top 10's, 20's and 50's for various publications and whatnot, there's plenty of the usual contenders (Shackleton, Skream, Kode9, The Bug etc) alongside a smattering of fresh and established up and comers like the Bristolian beat bandit Joker, Forsaken,Dusk + Blackdown, 6Blocc, South3rn, Darkstar, Martyn, O.S.C., Clouds and Cult Of The 13th Hour making it through the filter. There's always some gems that you miss, going back through a years worth of tunes on varying formats - it's the nature of the beast. The other hazard is the inevitable tunes that absolutely do your nut in, just after you've made the lists up and sent 'em off. Two that have decidedly wormed their way into my affections recently, and may fall into the latter category, come from a couple of labels that I reckon might be well worth keeping a beady one on in '09.

Geoim's Berkane Sol label, out of Nottingham, not only scores points for having a weird name,  but they have put out some very fine records over the last couple of years. Their second release definitely got my attention and the third, 'Feel So Bad' with delicate dancehall MC Terrible Shock knocked my proverbial socks off. Since then there have been excursions into Indian vocals and instrumentation and more housey/technoid explorations, always with a slighly frayed and twisted disposition. Hopefully the recent mixes of his niteklub-esque 'Reminissin',  from the likes of Skream, Kode9 and Shackleton may have directed more folks towards the labels charms. Branching out from just his own productions, the latest on Berkane Sol is tag-team affair with the also marvelously monikered Brackles and Shortstuff. It's the Brackles cut 'Glazed' that has been getting the reviews and hype, but typically I favour Shortstuff's Twin Peaks-ish 'Never Mine'. With its moody melodies and galloping drums there's just something quite beguiling about this cut, go on get yer beguille on!

(Buy)
(Shortstuffspace)
(Geoimspace)

SHORTSTUFF - NEVERMINE

B-side wins again on this cut 12" from Southampton's Caper on the Studio Rockers label which is A&R'd by the mighty Tony Thorpe (best known by his longtime alias Moody Boys, expect a post on his malarkey soon...er..ish). Like Shortstuff's track above, there's something refreshingly un-fussy and straightforward about this horn-laced track, that I find far more appealing than the bulk of the soundalike polite techy dubstep stuff that seems to be the rage right now. The vocal 'woos' carry the faintest reminiscent whiff of Meat Beat Manifesto's 'Radio Babylon' and thats never a bad thing for us old fellers, right?! Caper is also one half of Jellybass whose 'Transatlantic EP' had some reasonably feisty instrumentals, packed with the sort of sub-woofer action that can cause rattling glasses and cracked windows in a neighbouring suburb. Unfortunately that EP also features Canadian, nicety-nice rapper Abdominal, and his overly cheery, Native Bung flow always grates with me, something like fingernails going down a blackboard. This Caper track is a little scorcher though and while the other side isn't quite so much my bag with it's jiggytastique ways, even that's still pretty hard to argue with.

(Buy)

(Caperspace)

(Studiorockingspace)

(Jellybassspace)

CAPER - FRICTION

Out for a minute, and operating towards the mellow end of the spectrum, Texan's South3rn have impressed with their releases on the often excellent Lo Dubs label. As one might expect,  from a group with an incongruous number in their name, there's a bit of an electronica bent to this track, but it still carries bass weight amongst the bleeps, bloops and fx fandangulation. Most of their other gear I've bought or checked is on a deeper dubwise tip that is quite distinctive, the Lo Dubs 12" 'Muslim Dub' which is also on their myspace player is a prime example, even if it sounds suspiciously like it's based on the late Mikey Dread's  classic 'Money Dread' . This release snugly fits in with the vibe of the Clandestine Cultivations label, and sits right up there with their Shackleton and Darkstar's 12"s, as the label's best releases yet. 

(Buy)

(South3rnspace)

(LoDubsspace)

(Clandestinespace)

SOUTH3RN - LUDDITES DUB

NZ readers, especially those allergic to the wonders of long-distance, love-a-dubbing mail order, may find these moody morsels at Auckland's Beat Merchants, unfortunately can't link to pages for lazy-click purchase but check 'em.

OOOPS  bit of not-onto it behaviour  with two Caper's and no South3rn on the divtip, sincerest apologies, long weekend, mind elsewhere etc. Would like to say it wont happen agin, but I'd probably be  lying.