Top 10 Deep Tech/House tracks of 2015 in order:
1) Majesty - Q&A
2) James Morris ft. Davey - Shadows (Reset Safari’s Lost in ’82 Remix)
3) Studio 37 (Dean Allen) - I’m Doing Me
4) Ghostee - Hard For Me
5) Majesty - Tropical Playground
6) Martin Ikin & Low Steppa ft. Elisabeth Troy - About Time
7) Marcellus Wallace - Keeping Your Love
8) Harry Ley - Somebody
9) Majesty - Dance
10) Mr P ft. Wynter Black - FSU
Rounding out a top 25 of the year with another 15 in no order:
JustJosh - Pures
Freeman & Farrelly - The Backroom Track (Matt Fear remix)
Denney - Low Frequency
Apollo 84 - Dance On Cocaine
Nathan Jassi - Close
Jack N Danny - Figure It Out
Apollo 84 - Fusion
Demarzo - Hipnotic
Studio 37 (Dean Allen) - I Found
Joseph Curti5 - Deeper Side
Shenin Amara & AR - I’m In Need
Hugo Massien - Matter Of Fact
Hugo Massien - Madhouse
RS4 - Tell Me
RS4 & Lombardo - Signs
Special shout to my favourite reissue / new old music of the year Terada Soichi's - Sounds From The Far East compilation:
Really amazing, timeless music which was long overdue being rediscovered. I've seen him live twice in Tokyo since he's been back on the scene and both times were some of the best performances I've ever seen and the best atmosphere's I've ever experienced. Salute!
Favourite tracks by label:
House Not House - Lol had to be done, got to say I'm very happy with how this year turned out for us
Studio 37 (Dean Allen) - I’m Doing Me/Range
Ghostee - Hard For Me
Mr P ft. Wynter Black - FSU
Mr P - The Finest
Karlton Phillips - Pimp/Tech Da Piss VIP
JustJosh - Pures
Digital Danger - Renegade Acid/Chinese Whispers
92 (Clock Hazard) - PLC/ERA
Nativ - That Night
Sankuh - House Train
Antonio Noure - The Hunter (Forthcoming)
Technoman - I Called You (Forthcoming)
2Faced - Snake Charmer/I Love Hoes (Forthcoming)
Hot Creations / Jamie Jones - Another great year from these guys
Steve Lawler - House Record
Denney - Low Frequency
Cuartero - Manipulated
Alexis Raphael - The Helter Skelter
David Glass & CDC - Jammin
Sean Branton - Right Back
Mark Jenkyns ft. MC Chikaboo - On Me (Skream Remix)
Jamie Jones ft Jem Cooke - One Time Game (Club Mix)
Jamie Jones - This Way
Jey Kurmins ft Shannon - Venetras
Audio Rehab - For me personally, very hit and miss this year, especially towards the end of the year, but when you look in total they put out a LOT of wicked music across all different ends of the sound
Ashenz! - Anubis/Isis
Nightshift, Dominic King - Something About Your Love
Apollo 84 - Dance On Cocaine
Nathan Dalton - Feel This
Nightshift - Stylin
Plastic Jam - This One A Roller
Marcellus Wallace - Keeping Your Love
State Unknown - Old Skool Rulez/Sex
Lance Morgan - Feeling I want
Nathan Jassi - Close
Limiless & Harry Ley - 808ish
Mark Radford ft. Tempo O’neil - It’s Not About Us
Switched On - Started off on a roll, quietened down a lot in the latter half of the year, still S.E.F.'s taste is on point and I always look forward to their next release
Harry Ley - Somebody
KG3 - X Lord
Lost & Found - More Than Money
Harry Ley - Lemon Juice
F Projket - Make You Move
Kreature/Matt Fear - I view these guys as basically the same producer. You could say all their tracks sound the same, but I love their dark techy sound so much that that's definitely not a problem lol.
Kreature ft. Matt Fear - Stupid Fresh
Matt Feat remix - I Believe
Dene Antony (Kreature remix) - What You Mean To Me
Matt Feat - Disturbing The Peace
As I Am - In Too Deep (With You) [Matt Fear remix]
Matt Fear - Sonorus
Freeman & Farrelly - The Backroom Track (Matt Fear remix)
Audiowhore/Majesty - Majesty, easily my producer of the year, I think people will be listening to tracks like Q&A in 20 years time.
Majesty - Q&A
Majesty - My Amour
Majesty - Don’t Stop
Majesty - Tropical Playground/Wrong Number
Majesty - Mind Warp
Majesty - Pump Action
Jack N Danny - Falling
Majesty - Dance
Harry Ley - No Doubt (Majesty Remix)
Truce - Doctor
Tekla - Touch/This feeling
Aus Music - Not always to my taste, but always charming and interesting.
Just Escape - Justin Martin remix
Bicep - Just
Fold - Calmer Mood
Shenoda - Streak/If I Could
Definition Audio/Shadow Music/Top Shelf - Nightshift/Hugo/Louie
What to say about these 3 labels and their label-heads? There was a moment at the end of last year and beginning of this year where all of these guys were shooting out so much fire it seemed like the darkside sound was going to go forever. The fact that these 3 labels all stopped or seriously, seriously slowed down during the year has been a massive loss to the scene. As has, to be honest, Hugo's moving to XL. I mean, big up and massive respect to Hugo for reaching that level pushing his own sound - and obviously the XL EP's a fucking monster - but him quieting up and focussing on 'quality not quantity' has real drained the lifeblood of the harder edge of the sound...
Hugo Massien - Matter Of Fact
Marcellus Wallace & That Guy - Heavyweight
Nightshift - Terminate
Nightshift - Do Not Be Alarmed
Shenin Amara & AR - I’m In Need
Shenin Amara & AR - Your Girlfriend
Hugo Massien - Madhouse
Hugo Massien ft. Blazey - Badman/Pump It Up
Hugo Massien - Kontrol/Better Let Her
Harry Ley - LMTYS
X5 Dubs - Pull Up
2Faced - Gangsta
Camo Crooks - War Of The Worlds
Louie Anderson - Gruuvy
Louie Anderson - Cops & Crack
Paper Plates - Slow but steady this year, still love nearly everything RS4 puts out.
Lokate - Entire System/Strobe Light
RS4 - Wanna Dance
RS4 - Tell Me/House Is Freedom
RS4 & Lombardo - Signs
Techy bits which don’t fit anywhere - Tech housey bits from here and there. It was a good year for this sound!
Demarzo - Hipnotic
Thee Cool Cats - Hustle Dance
Sonny Fodera & Cervendos ft. Lauren Faith - High
Apollo 84 - Fusion
Apollo 84 - What We Have
Apollo 84 - Black Of My Soul
DJ SKT - Dirty
Format B (DJ SKT remix)- Chunky
Arun Verone - Time Warp
Arun Verone - Empty Soul
Martin Ikin & Low Steppa ft. Elisabeth Troy - About Time/Words
Carnao Beats - Living With Pain/Feed My Addiction
Joe Pompeo - On My Mind/One Night Of Trouble
Dark Bits which don’t fit anywhere - while a number of the big producers went really really quiet this year, there was a lot of activity bubbling below the surface. Going into 2016, HNH will be making a real effort to support and nurture this sound, while also exploring all the different sounds and meanings of House - Not House
James Morris ft. Davey - Shadows (Reset Safari’s Lost in ’82 Remix)
Supernova (Leftwing & Kody remix) - In My Mouth
Arun Verone - Time Warp
Arun Verone - Empty Soul
Studio 37 - I Found
Studio 37 - Dean vs. Adele
Reset Safari - Faceless
J Cas - G.S.T.D.T
Mr P ft Wynter Black - Straight Up
JustJdan - Stranded
Joseph Curti5 - Deeper Side
Jack N Danny - Figure It Out
Antonio Noure - Shadowlands