MadameFLY's Chart

Favorites that Just Don't Quit

You can read more about the year in music at the bottom of this page, but here's the short list version of my picks and pleasures:

Recommended Compilations:

Mixed compilations from The Downlow People and the MixMeister DJs rocked my world all year

Right Here Right Now:

Added some independent and small label reviews here.

You can always see what's fueling my fire by checking out the MixMeister Radio (mmRadio) set-lists
-- this is a running account of everything that's caught my attention in that great river of music
that's flowing past us all.  

Most recently, I've added a set to mmRadio that features old favorites and music from friends:  
on the Strength in Dub set, you'll hear my favorite tracks from Afternoons in Stereo, 
the latest from First Floor Brothers and a number of tracks from
the New Sound Theory CD I recently discovered (both reviewed below.)
Add to this some favorites from back in the day (UB40 and Sade and
early Thievery Corporation) and you have a really sweet set.  As always,
you can find the full set-list here at BeatConscious, and you can hear
the music on mmRadio.

This spring, I've been listening to (and remixing) selections from these compilations:
BamBuddha Groove, Real Ibiza V, Music for Modern Living 4, 
World of Chillin Lounge, Your Lounge Your Music,
Ayurveda Buddha Lounge Vols. 1 and 2, 
Loose and Juicy Funky Groove Collection, Mandarin Vol. 1, Chinese Chillin Thrills.
The results are streaming on mmRadio as The Money Groove, Parts 1, 2 and 3.  Enjoy! 

2002 End of Year Head-turners:

Taking the end of the year at a quick trot, here's what stood out:
Norah Jones, for when you want to be feeling warm and fuzzy;
Afterlife, for the same feeling, but calling you from out on the downtempo tip--
it's langorous, luscious and liquid, baby -- very liquid;
Physics -- their First Flight cd is great stuff, soulful and jazzy;
More soulful stuff available courtesy of Peven Everett's Studio Confessions;
Freshest instrumentation of the year award would have to go to DJ DSL;
In addition to Marius Melleby, the icy north dropped some cool jazz for us:
Calm's Free Soil and the Darand Land Calming Effects set,
David Darling and Ketil Bjornstad, 
Beady Belle, FragmentOrchestra, Marc Moulin and Bugge Wesseltoft.
Canadian Rise Ashen delivered Boreal Dubworks in 2001, but I just heard it this year -- very fine stuff.
A couple of single track remix sets stood out:  
Pet Shop Boys' "West End Girls" and Kinobe's "Butterfly" were among my favorites.
And, speaking of single tracks of interest, I rate these very high:
"Soul Freak Music" - The Timewriter
"Danger of Love" - DJ Krush & Zap Mama
"Lucky (K&D Suicide Mix)" - Lewis Taylor
"Latazz" - Funky Lowlives
"Just Like Music" - Eric Sermon / Marvin Gaye
"Troya" - Rue du Soleil (This year's "Pina Colada")
"Burnout" - Cinematic Orchestra
"Get Into This"; "Tell Me How You Feel (Bonobo Mix)" - Jon Kennedy
"Relaxin at Club Fusion" - Koop
"Dream of the Dendreons" - Telefuzz
"Hld Mi Hnd"; "Kingsburg" - Projections
"Builder" - Rithma
"Not Every Angel" - Alexkid

Ahhh, is that enough?  Well, there was more ... it was a great year for music --
despite the many grim predictions and threatening behavior by major players in the music industry 
-- people, if this is how you have a BAD year, a good year would probably kill you.

Fall into Winter 2002:
Once again, I would direct your attention to the Set-Lists page
to get an idea of what's been moving my body lately.
The really big discovery was Marius Melleby who posted to TDB in the waning days,
inviting us all to check out his MP3.com page -- this guy is phenomenal, and 
I find myself adding one of his tracks to just about every mix I do these days.  
Do yourself a favor and find his music.

I heard The Timewriter's "Soul Freak Music" in a mix made by my friend G,
and it was such a hot track, it convinced me to do a house set of my own recently.  
The tune is from an older release, Letters from the Jester:  well worth tracking down.

Jazztronik is another one that woke me up ... the S.O.W. remix of "Dizzin'" ought to wake you up, too -- find it.
And another Jori Hulkonnen track made my list: "The Moment" is ver' fine.

Go to the set-lists, or hear this stuff broadcast: my Live365 station or mmRadio will set you up.

Summer into Fall 2002:
As you can tell from the set-lists for August and September, I think these rock:
Classic funk and go-go like Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers
(Happy birthday, Chuck!)
and minimal tech house and IDM like Mum and Swayzak
Even though new music keeps rollin in, I found myself looking back:
Luniz and Crystal Waters (I kid you not!)
and a bit of early Moby, for all my Moby-hater friends.
Look for some newer stuff to surface in the next mix
and listen up over at Live365 and MixMeister Radio
to find out more about what moves me.

May, June and July -- breezing into summer with style:
Tracks from the Hefner Reworks set, including "Phonecall" and "Everyday"
Jon Kennedy label-mate, Quantic impresses with "Through These Eyes"
Cafe del Mar Vol. 9 had some stellar entries, including:
Rue du Soleil's "Troya" and Jo Manji's "Beyond the Sunset"
Don't know much about Guardner, but I know I like the sound ...
also Taxi and the Xaver Fischer Trio
You'll find all these represented on the MixMeister Radio sets

April has been good to me:
Telefuzz, Greg Long, the Tru-Thoughts artists, 
the Verve remixes, new stuff from Cinematic Orchestra and Walkner Moestl
and a boatload of Six Degrees' back catalog that just appeared on emusic.com.

Top of the chart for Feb-Mar 2002: 
Projections (from 1999), Charles Webster, Jon Kennedy, Bonobo remixes -- 
mighty fine stuff.

HOW IT WAS LAST YEAR:

Going into Fall 2001:

As I sift through the bounty from emusic.com, here are some of the tracks that absolutely rock my world:

Let Me Luv U (Muzique Tropique's In Love Remix): Jii Hoo
on the Glasgow Underground / Slow Burning compilation.  Woo Hoo!
Constant Love by Homebase
Drugstore by Sounds from the Ground
Fat Ass Joint: Cujo
Autumn Leaves (Irresistable Force Mix Trip 2) by Coldcut
Tell Me Something (Beanfield Remix) by DJs Wally & Swingsett
16 Kilos of Chill by Skyjuice
Sleep Tonight (and more) by James Hardway
We Cookin' Now by Abacus
Plenty of stuff by Kevin Yost
Urban Discoid Activity by The Amalgamation of Soundz

Check out all the other deep delicious sounds that have been showing up on MadameFLY's emixes.

And from T.J. Rehmi, on the INVISIBLE RAIN album, check out "This Duniya" -- what a gorgeous groove.  Likewise, on the COMING HOME compilation, Bent's I Love My Man (Lazyboy's anyone for tennis mix) gets my appreciation.  Also, all praises due to Le Surboomer on the GRAND TOURISM CD.

Starting off summer with a few new items:

James Hardway: A Positive Sweat and Deeper Wider Smoother Shit; Amalgamation of Soundz; Cujo: Adventures in Foam; King Kooba; Organic Audio and Omni Trio back catalog (courtesy of my emusic.com subscription) and
Trancenden; The Rurals; Focalized; Urban Phunk Society; Lava Lounge; Goodman & Clean; Il-Ya ... and many other mp3 downloads, courtesy of http://www.mp3.com/, http://www.besonic.com/, and http://www.epitonic.com/ -- reviews on these artists coming up soon.

What's Essential?  
You might want to check out the results of the Steinmetz mix project.

Right now, it's Loungecore:  Some recent arrivals include:

Big Bud: Late Night Blues; The Silent Poets: Potential Meeting; Cinematic Orchestra: Motion and Remixes; Waldeck: Balance of the Force (straight up and remixed); Tosca: Suzuki in Dub and Chocolate Elvis Dubs; Hefner: Residue; Saru: Subterra/Posterity sampler; 
St. Germain: Tourist; Shantel: Auto-Jumps and Remixes and Club Guerilla

Check out the Downtime sets: my reaction to all this smooth stuff that the UPS man has been bringin....

Still pumpin: Dub!
Plenty of compilations, but particularly: anything by Bill Laswell

See the Dub Stylee page for my original dub playlists

2001 saw the release of the 3rd Joi album -- a must-have.

See the Asian Underground page for compilations of Talvin Singh, Badmarsh, Asian Dub Foundation, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and others. 
Check out the cover art

Fresh house tracks from NYC ... big up to my collaborator, noiseboy!  Check out the new set posted on the House page: Universoul Response.

Keep your eye on Florida-based Citrona ... they are putting out music with their heart totally in the mix.

From here on out, I'm in less familiar territory, as the disc presents chill out contenders from around the globe -- though these groups are quite well-known in their respective countries. Predictably, a couple of the songs leave me unmoved, like the Bossa Nostra track "Jackie" or Mambotur's "Salpica", neither of which breaks new ground, though the storyline of "Jackie" is heartfelt. The Arling and Cameron track included here, "Voulez-vous?" doesn't seem to me to be the best representative of their work, either, but then I'm not that big a fan of the "quirky" style in downtempo. You, of course, may love it.

Better things are on offer from Ilhan Ersahin of Turkey -- the instrumentation of "Girl" leaves no doubt as to its Middle Eastern influences while demonstrating a sure grasp of lounge stylings (much like the sounds you've come to expect from dZihan & Kamien but without the jazzy top-end). Also quite accomplished is Gabin (Italy) whose "Sweet Sadness" is one of the rare bossa tracks that has appealed to me recently. Fellow Italians Bandabardo offer an uncharacteristic reggae-tinged track (their usual format is more in the alt-rock vein) that is quite danceable. And Gare du Nord meanders across the aural landscape with "How Was It For You?" -- a lazy jazzy moment.

For me, the stand-out track was delivered by Vanja Lazarova of Macedonia, who is something of a national treasure in the field of traditional folk song ... she is teamed here with the electronica of fellow-countryman Kiril and together they deliver one of the most persuasive performances on the CD, easily the equal of my beloved Thievery Corp -- thanks mostly to the outstanding ethereal vocals of Vanja Lazarova. This is the track that makes you go looking for their album.