Monday, January 11, 2010

A Decade In Music: The Singles (Part One)

The second part of our decade review focuses on the defining tracks from the last 10 years; again in terms of mine and Langer's personal tastes. Most of these were properly released as singles although a few of our selections were only ever released on LPs. We've selected a hundred tracks but are revealing the list in two parts splitting the decade into two five year chunks.

As with the album post, let us know your thoughts on the tracks we've criminally overlooked...and feel free to comment on any we've included which you think suck! Today's post covers the years 2000 - 2004.

At the end of the Nineties, Techno was stuck in a loop (Literally). Pounding drums and endless looped up riffs combined with hoover basslines were the order of the day. Something had to give. Thanks largely to one record, Techno rediscovered its melody and soul and reminded everyone why they had fallen in love with it in the first place. ‘Knights of the Jaguar’ by DJ Rolando was released in late ’99 by the militant stalwarts of the Techno scene, Underground Resistance. It’s effect was profound and it became a worldwide smash. We debated long and hard as to whether we should name this our record of the noughties as it soundtracked many a club night in the first half of the decade and to this day will send the crowd wild if dropped during a set. Ultimately we decided against this, opting instead to select one record from each half of the decade as depicted by the image used for each of the two posts.

One word could perhaps be used to sum up the Noughties… The word? Eighties. Never more so has retro influenced the fashion and musical output than the Eighties did over the last 10 years (particularly the first half). What goes around comes around and at the start of the decade electronic music was in need of a new injection of energy and ideas. Electronic music has always looked to the future for inspiration but in the noughties we looked to the past. The new injection came from some of the first incarnations of electronic music, namely Synth pop, Italo Disco and Electro. These old styles gave Techno and house a new edge in the form of Electroclash. For a short while Electroclash ruled dancefloors on both sides of the pond and produced a myriad of great tunes. But as with any scene based around a ‘fashionable’ sound it was never going to last. By 2003 it had burned out, leaving the fashionistas looking for the next big thing. Stepping into the void came the sound of early Eighties New York; Punk, Funk and Disco. One of the key labels of the decade, DFA records exploded onto everyone’s radar with James Murphy’s LCD Soundsystem. ‘Losing my Edge’ neatly summing up in one record the feeling of the first generation of Ravers now losing out to the ‘New Kids’ but with the self satisfaction of knowing that it was never going to be as good as when they were kids back in day.

Top 100 Tracks of the Decade (Part 1: 2000-2004)

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Comments:
very nice list. you have lots of bases covered and you havent even started on the second half yet.
 
Tut, tut, no Lab Rat 3 from Lab Rat XL :(
 
Good call!

This was discussed at some point but I think after we'd been debating for quite a while and were in danger of driving ourselves mad with constantly adding things and having to find something to remove.

It's definitely a killer tune.
 
Wasn't the Matthew Jonson track called decompression? Utterly brilliant record regardless of name!
 
Doh! Decompression it is

Cheers Daragh!
 
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