Best of 2005 Pt. 2

A few of my favourite tracks from 2005.

Title - Artist - Album - Label

1. 'A Journey Into...' - Blvd East & Louie Gorbea - 12" (Coco Soul)
Spiritual house of the highest order with epic afro beat horns, percussion and latin vocals. The smoother b-side instrumental features superb organ work and is equally as good as the a-side vocal version.

2. 'Just Another Day' - Carl Craig - 12" (Planet E)
Carl Craig can't put a foot wrong. With a spate of excellent remixes and a re-recorded full length, it's pretty tough to pick one release. However, 'Just Another Day' in my opinion is Carl's best original production in many years. Similar in style to his early works on Transmat/Fragile. Haunting strings and brooding melodies, this is Detroit techno at its finest.


3. 'Quarantine' - Domu - 'The Electric Institute' (New Religion)
New Religion's busy year ends strongly with the best techno compilation in years. The contributors read like a who's who of the techno world with all tracks previously unreleased and exclusive to this album. Consistently good from beginning to end, this is an essential album for electronic music lovers.

4. 'Reachin / Still Reachin" - Herbest Moon - 12" (Life Line)
The Japanese crew, who created one of my favorite records of 2004 ('Blow Your Body'), follows up with 'Reachin/Still Reachin'. Like its forebear, it's a slowed down house track that just keeps building and building. Rich sounding piano and strings, this is a beautiful piece of music.