2009 has been a great year for dance music. Fresh tracks and new genres popped up from all four corners of the globe, while mainstream pop music has been the most boring since years (err, could anyone name one serious chart storming tune for 2009?) . As the year is coming to an end, it’s time to do what most bloggers do aka. make the ‘best of the year’ lists. Here’s some of our favourite tunes in 2009. With a lot of hot new stuff in the oven for Man Recordings (Schlachthofbronx EP,  Beware-Motorpitch EP, Edu K EP, Bert On Beats EP, Seiji EP, Isa GT EP produced by Crookers, Daniel Haaksman album, Man Rec 5 Years compilation) 2010 is going to be even bigger! Stay tuned!

EDU K

1 Krause Duo – Wurm
2 Coyu & Edu Imbernon – El Baile Aleman
3 Yolanda Be Cool – Afro Nuts (Edu K Remix)
4 Broombeck – The Clapper (The Dolphins Remix)
5 Piatto – Congo
6 Saeed Younan – Backroom Honey
7 Robert Sado – Cartonne Express (Philip Bader & Nicone Remix)* *
8 Chernobyl Ft Praga – Balança (Edu K Remix)
9 Tom Flynn – Vienna (Round Table Knights Remix)
10 Luca Lozano – Berlinetta
11 Acidkids – Big Foot feat. Marina (Zombie Disco Squad Dub)
12 DJ T – I Am Rhythm
13 Hobo – Symptom
14 Piemont – Cargo
15 Edu K – Avec Bon Bons
16 Daniel Haaksman Ft. MC Miltinho – Kid Conga
17 Worthy – Surdo
18 Daniel Steinburg – Cry All Night (Heinrichs & Hirtenfellner Remix)
19 Femme En Fourrure – Pull It Out
20 Supernova – Esta Loca (Bonus Tech Beat Mix)

DANIEL HAAKSMAN

Untold “Anaconda”
Digital Manges “Manges – Sharkslayer Clubmix”
Jan Driver “Rat Alert”
Gucci Vump “Sha! Shtil!”
L-Vis 1990 “United Groove”
Riva Starr “I Was Drunk”
Batida “Bazuka”
Oliver Dollar “Gypsy Carnival”
Yolanda Be Cool “Afro Nuts (Douster Remix)”
Major Lazer “Pon Di Floor”
Jesse Rose “Touch My Horn”
João Brasil “Hey, Ho, Let´s Go Bahia”
Daniel Haaksman “Pobum Coco”
Mixhell “Bom Da – Crookers Remix”
Ku Bo “Boha” feat. Joyce Muniz
Brodinski+Mumdance “Eurostarr -Zombie Disco Squad Remix”
Genghis Clan “Gatinha” feat. Mr.Catra
Schlachthofbronx “We Run Dis”
Grace Jones “Can´t Get Enough -Switch Remix”
Florence + The Machine “You Got The Love – The XX Remix”
The Count+Sinden “Mega”
Jammer feat. Silverlink “The Message Is Love – Lvis 1990 Remix”
Metronomy “Radio Ladio – Radioclit French Remix”
etc.etc.

JOYCE MUNIZ

Solo “Joga Bola”
Major Lazer “Hold the Line – Edu K Rmx”
DJ Woody “Buffalo Bill”
Crazy Cousinz “Bongo Jam”
Busy Signal “Da Style (Douster rmx)”
Dizzee Rascal & Armand van Helden “Bonkers (Doorly Remix)”
DJ C “This My Juice feat. K Swift”
Gift of Gab “El Gifto Magnifico”
MJ Cole feat. Serocee “AO – Zed Bias Wind up Mix”
Mumdance & Brodinski “Eurostarr- Zombie Disco Squad Remix”
Gucci Vump “Sha! Shtil! – L- Vis 1990 Rmx”
Daniel Haaksman “Kid Conga” feat. MC Miltinho
Fatboy Slim “Rockafella Starr – Rivastarr Remix”
Chernobyl feat. MC GI & Cabal “Mpina pipa (Samim´s Crashroots Remix)
Mad Kids “Capoeira no se”
Crookers “Put your hands on me (Jesse Rose Play Prime Remix)
Malente & Dex feat. Analogik “Gipsy Kings”
Mowgli “Tamiflu”
Round Table Knights “Belly Dance”
Schlachthofbronx “Vem Que Tem”
Camel “Lleba”

SCHLACHTHOFBRONX

Dani L Mebius “Illegal Weapon”
Lady Stush “We Nah Run / Ready Fi Di War”
Gappy Ranks “Stinkin Rich – Schlachthofbronx Remix”
Major Lazer “Hold The Line”
DJ Mujava “Mugwanti Sgwejegwele”
Noob + Brodinski “Peanuts Club – Beataucue Remix”
Michel Cleis “La Mezcla”
Acid Kids feat. Marina “Bigfoot – Schlachthofbronx Remix”
Boybetter Know “Too Many Men – Jamie Duggan Remix”
Busy Signal “I Fucked Your Girl”
Jackbeats “UFO – K Hole Riddim”
Die Vögel “Die Blaue Moschee /Petardo”
Ku Bo “Sumanita – Daniel Haaksman Remix”
Maluca “Tigeraso”
Wildlife! “Jumbie”
Solo “The Big Stef”
Claude Von Stroke “Vocal Chords”
Demarco “Hustler”
Rainbow Arabia “Holiday In Congo (Myd Rmx)
Marvy Da Pimp “Best Best”

KU BO

Charles Webster “Sweet Butterfly”
Douster feat Spoek Mathambo “Punani”
Poirier “Let Them Hate feat YT”
Stagga “Sick As Sin Ultra V.I.P.”
Son Of Kick “Boom Box”
Stagga “Policeman Get Hype”
Daniel Haaksman feat. MC Miltinho “Kid Conga”
Brenk And Miles “10 Minutes”
Dutty Artz “Manuelita Rmx”
DJ Manaia feat. Deize Tigrona “Sobrevivente de Rave”
Mark Pritchard “Dirtbox”
ORF Beschwerde Remix

ISA GT

Julio Bashmore – Um Bongo’s Revenge
Fake Blood – Fix Your Accent EP
Telepathe – Dance Mother (Album)
XX – 2.0
Michel Cleis – La Mezcla ft Toto La Momposina
Jack Penate – Tonight’s Today (12″ ext version)
Duck Sauce -  Anyway
Tiga – Beep Beep Beep (Crookers Remix)
Phoenix – Lisztomania (Classixx Version)
Silverlink ft. Badness + Jammer – Message is love (L-Vis 1990 Dub Remix
2009)
Busy Signal  – Da style deh (Douster Dagga remix)
Gucci Vump – Sha! Shtil! (L-Vis 1990 remix)
The Very Best – Warm Heart of Afrika (Album)
L-VIS  1990 – United Groove (MJ Cole Remix)
Joy Orbison
Zombie Disco Squad
Douster – Triassic Genesis EP
Click Box – Wake Up Call EP
Radioclit – Saga Africa EP
Fever Ray – Fever Ray (Album)
Daniel Haaksman – Kid Conga feat. MC Miltinho  (João Brasil Tecno Brega
Remix)
Jinder – Youth Blood (Bok Bok Remix)
Lauren Flax ft. Sia – You’ve Changed
Bot (Crookers) -La Roux vs Skream vs Diplo Mash Up
Buraka Som Sistema – The Blood Diamond Mixtape
Jesse Rose – Heavy Still (Zombie Disco Squad rmx)
Genghis Clan – Quero Buceta feat. DJ Panko + Dudu Siri
Ku Bo – Mela Feat. Joyce Muniz (Lazy Ants Remix)
Empire of the Sun – We Are the People (Burns Remix)
Kid Cudi – Day n Nite (Crookers rmx) (Number 2 in the UK!)
Major Lazer & Afrojack – Pon de Floor
Major Lazer & Crookers – Jump Up
Dj Koze – Reincarnations (Album)
R.I.V.E.R. – Fairycide
Boy 8 Bit – Baltic Pine EP
Renaissance Man – What is guru (Riva Starr rmx)
Lady Gaga – Bad Romance (Chew Fu H1N1 Club Mix)
Shakira – She Wolf
AppAloosa – The Day (We Fell In Love) (Acid Girls Remix) (Acid Girls Remix)
The Phenomenal Handclap Band (Album)
Rage Against The Machine – Killing in the name (Xmas Number 1 in the UK in
2009!)

DJ Beware

Geeneus-Yellowtail VIP

Subware- I need you

Untold – Anaconda

Chase Buch – Monkey Drum

Chelley – Took the Night (Alvaro rmx)

Drop the Lime – Set me Free (Zombie Disco Squad rmx)

Mowgli – London to Paris

Wiley – Never be your woman (Solo loves Garage mix)

Terror Danjah – Zumpi Huntah

Michel Cleis – La Mezcla (Dj Beware & Motorpitch bootleg)

MJ Cole- Volcano riddim

Sidney Samson – Riverside (Lil Silva rmx)

Sebastian Leger – La Moustique

Daniel Haaksman – Po Bumboco

Colin Munroe ft. Joell Ortiz – Piano Lessons

Schlachthof Bronx – Vem Que Tem (Dj Beware & Motorpitch rmx)

Gilles Peterson pres. La Havana Cultura – Chekere (Seiji rerub)

Wiley ft Emeli Sand – Never Be Your Woman (Solo Loves Garage Remix)

Skream – Burnin up

Crookers and Andy Cumming are on holidays and will present their faves later.

Andre Pastee from Brasil just sent us this fan video for “Pobum Coco” – see some serious male body flexing, wuf wuf!

New video from Ku Bo feat. Joyce Muniz

A majority of Swiss people recently voted on prohibition of minaret construction in Switzerland, constituting a clear discrimination against members of the Muslim community in Switzerland – nervertheless the Alpian state seems to open up for tropical music.

I just returned from a three day mini Switzerland tour which led me to Zurich (Hive Club), Bern (Bonsoir) and Lucerne (Südpol). Despite archtic temperatures and tons of snow it was a great discovery that clubbers in Switzerland are increasingly supporting tropical beats.

Zurich´s Hive Club was rammed with Man Rec fans and pretty girls going mental to our recent releases – extra thanks to the Kid Bizzy + Deadcool from the Playgroundkidz for warming up and Nicci for the nice hosting.

In Bern I played for the 2nd time at Bonsoir Club, at the night of Wildlife!, a.k.a. Sami, the Swiss Jonny Depp.  Sami already had half of the Man Rec crew as guest with Edu K, DJ Beware and Joyce Muniz. I was pretty impressed by his new stuff, he banged out upcoming remixes and new heat from Wildlife!. Bonsoir Club is run by the Roundtableknights (of Made To Play fame) and a miracle place with top ranking international DJ line up every weekend. Especially considering the size of the city of Switzerland´s capital Bern (140.000 inhabitants) this club presents a mega city line up and is widely considered Switzerland´s best club.

The biggest surprise and fun on this mini tour thoughwas the Global Ghetto Anthems night at Lucerne´s Südpol hosted by the Hoodregulators. Situated in a communally supported arts + culture center called Südpol, Hoodregulators run their monthly night since more than a year and already brought people like Deize Tigrona, Toy Selectah, Tomb Crew or Schlachthofbronx to Lucerne – to a city with 60 k inhabitants merely a small place. Having educated their audience on everything global bass from Bmore to baile funk to Ghetto Tec to Euro rave, they´ve established a fanastic night with true dedication to detail: Each party sees fellow spraycan-artists work on a decoration theme, at my party they built a hydraullically (!) moveable King Kong and other giants (see photos). Needless to say, the party was a smasher with people stage diving and bootie grinding galore (see photos above). Thanks to Raphi+Marc!!

Friend of Man recs, João Brasil, has kindly left an EP of brand new mash-ups for download here. the line up is as follows with some truly unholy alliances:

“Poker De Floor” (Major Lazer X Lady Gaga)
“Popozuda Dreams” (Edu K X Beyonce)
“Short Dick Caetano” (20 Fingers X Caetano)
“We will rain you” (Calvin Harris X Queen)

I have recently been listening to King midas Sound ” Waiting for You“, a lovely record that at times sounds like Maxinquaye era Tricky meets Burial with gluttonous amounts of bass, and the type of album that could only come out on Hyperdub (quite a year for them).
If you read the music press, you will know that the mind behind the music of King Midas is in fact Kevin Martin, aka the Bug, purveyor of heavy heavy pummeling hardness, I usually have a hard time getting through the Bug albums, but King Midas is rivetting.
Listening to the album had me thinking about Kevin and how only a city like London could create such a musician, in fact in this interview he did for XLR8R magazine he talks about how much London has “shaped his musical world”.
I know Kevin from the late eighties, he had an infamous free noise/ jazz hardcore band called God, and I briefly did film projections for their live shows, relentless car crashes, that kind of Ballardian thing to accompany the bruising big band attack that Kevin orchestrated. I moved onto sunnier climes but I’ve been following his career with interest.
London in the late eighties had everything that would form our musical world, we had all the US noise bands coming over and doing amazing shows, mainly the Butthole Surfers, Swans, the first Sonic youth shows, Big Black, and at the same time On-U sound was at its peak, creating the noise dub alliance that noiseniks could dance to. Warehouse raves were everywhere every weekend, mix this up with groundbreaking shows by Sun Ra at ULU, Ornette Coleman, Glenn Branca and you can see where Kevin’s head was at.
Kevin had a record label for a while, Pathalogical Records, full of sonic nastiness, but there was one fantastic, underrated album that he released by Terminal Cheesecake in 1990 called Angels in Pigtails, the groups most fully-realised album that managed to combine full on rock noise, dubby production and Can-like jamming – highly recommended.

For me, it’s interesting to see how that mixture of jazz experimentation, dub and noise turned out 20 years on. There’s also a King Midas mix containing some of their influences to go with the albums release over at Fact Magazine, get it here.

If you live in Northern America, you may have seen the following documentary already , we here in Europe are not blessed with the availabilty of HBO – nevertheless, I wanted to point to “Bastards Of The Party”, which I recently discovered. We all love fronting imaginary gang-sings with our mates when posing for digital cameras. However, almost nothing do we people outside of the US know about the emergence and social history of the LA gangs. Did you for example know that one of the major LA gangs, the Crips, actually started with a constitution and that the gang name initially stood for “Community Revolutionary Innerparty Service” and was conceived as a communal social service? Or that the so-called LA “gang problem” of the 1980s and 1990s and all the gangster culture so heavily promoted throughout 90s and 00s rap is all rooted in the vacuum that emerged when the 1960s community self-organisation and -defense group named the Black Panther Party was infiltrated by the FBI, its leaders murdered and the party eventually disbanded? If you want to get a bigger picture of LA gang life and its roots, have a look at this insightful documentary by Blood member Cle “Bone” Slon, now an inactive member of the notorious gang. It´s 1.5 hrs in length, but take your time, it´s definitely one of the best documentaries on gang life ever made.

João Brasil, our man from Rio, has recently moved to London to do his MA in Design at the Interactive Media course at Middlesex University. One of his first projects is the giant, custom made MPC that he built, with which he can play Baile Funk through his feet. He used pressure pads and an Ipac board to connect them to my computer using Ableton Live. Wawatch his feet!

Right after my slot at Sinden´s show on Kiss FM, I went to Diesel-U-Music to present new and upcoming heat on Man Recordings, talk a bit about the label, etc.. It´s sort of the 2hr version of my Kiss Fm show. Catch it here:

Daniel Haaksman @ Diesel U-Music-Radio 02/12/09 by Daniel Haaksman / Man Rec

We all love Kuduro and other music coming out of booming Angola these days, but little is known about the decades before Kuduro emerged. The following BBC documentary gives a brief introduction to the first years of Angolan independence – marked by a bloody, civil war, that was shaped by Cold War politics. After seeing this documentary you may hear Batida´s “Bazuka”, in which Angolan civil war veterans talk about their lifes during wartime, with different ears.

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I was on Sinden´s Kiss FM show last Wednesday, talkin a bit with Sinden on Man Recordings and playing upcoming stuff. Listen to my slot here:

Daniel Haaksman on Sinden Kiss FM 3/12/09 by Daniel Haaksman / Man Rec

Almost half a year after the closing of Berlin´s Scala club, where we had our last regular club residency, we are now happy to announce the start of a new monthly club event in Berlin. The night is called “Heat” and will be every 2nd Thursday on the small floor at piping hot WMF club in Mitte.

Our very first guest at Heat next Thursday (10th of Dec) is DJ Beware. On January 14th there is João Brasil and February 11th Wildlife!. Every three months a Heat special will be staged on the big floor at WMF, the first is on Jan 30th with Sinden, Drop The Lime, Schlachthofbronx, Ku Bo Live and myself. Berlin, the heat is on!

The deadline for the Ku Bo remix contest is over, we are currently evaluating the contributions. In between, we are releasing the official “KU BO REMIX” EP today, both on vinyl and in digital format.

After three critically acclaimed single releases on Man Recordings, remixes for Adam Sky (Exploited Rec), El Guincho (Mad Decent) and Schlachthofbronx, and the licenses of the tracks „Lefe“ for the „I Love Techno“ compilation by Crookers, as well as „Tsu Bo“ for the Fabric Live 49 Mix by Buraka Som Sistema, Ku Bo returns with a mind blowing remix EP. This is the new chapter for Ku Bo, the Afro tec project by Stereotyp from Vienna, Austria (of G-Stone / Crunchtime fame).

“Ku Bo Remix” presents eight remixes by classic and upcoming heat from Ku Bo. The release includes remixes by DJ Manaia, Batida, Daniel Haaksman, Flore, Robot Koch, Bert On Beats, Lazy Ants and Caski.

We give you the banging remix by Man Recordings boss Daniel Haaksman of “Sumanita” feat. Daniecell for free. With 145 BPM, it’s the fastest tempoed remix on this EP package, but nevertheless very floor friendly – imagine Dutch gabba blended with Angolan kuduro in a Cuban dancehall.

Buy the full release from today digitally at Beatport, Itunes, Junodownload etc. or on vinyl at www.manrecordings.com

DJ Feedback:

SINDEN (LONDON, KISS FM): „NICE REMIXES, HAAKSMAN´S FOR ME!“
KISSY SELLOUT (LONDON, BBC): „AND YOU – MANIA REMIX, GIMMY!“
DJ YODA (LONDON): „AND YOU MANAIA REMIX IT – FOR ME“
MIXHELL (SÃO PAULO): „MANAIA KILLING IT!“
LARRY TEE (NEW YORK): „MANAIA REMIX – AWESOME STUFF!“
TEKILATEX (TTC, PARIS): „DIGGIN THAT MELA LAZY ANTS REMIX“
HANNAH HOLLAND (LONDON): „REALLY LIKING THE BATIDA REMIX“
MAKOSSA (VIENNA): „FULL SUPPORT“
NIC SARNO (ITALY): „WOW, GREAT EP!“
KID KAMELEON (XLR8R, USA): „KU BO ALWAYS FRESH AND UNIQUE“
SHIR KHAN (GERMANY): „ FOR ME IST THE REMIXES BATIDA, MANAIA AND DANIEL HAAKSMAN“
DJ TLP (BELGIUM): „WICKED VIBES“
OH SNAP! (NEW YORK): „THE WHOLE RELEASE IS THE SHIT!

Grab the remix here:

KU BO – Sumanita Feat. Daniecell (Daniel Haaksman Remix)

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WILDLIFE! releases his new EP “JUMBIE” with remixes from a whole bunch of Man Recordings artists such as Schlachthofbronx, Mixhell, Dj Beware & Motorpitch and Edu K. Once more WILDLIFE! highlights the tropic’s darker side of life with this dark, percussion driven smasher to keep caribbean ghosts busy on any given dancefloor.

Our homie WILDLIFE! (AKA the Swiss Johnny Depp) is a generous man, which is why you can get the WILDLIFE – Jumbie (Beware & Motorpitch Remix) for free here.

Be sure to check out the rest of the EP, out now on Beatport

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The little-known Central American state of Panama has become much more familiar through Soundway´s excellent series of compilations of vintage pop from its vaults. This third (and hopefully not last) volume concentrates more on the highly accessible local form of calypso, which makes it the most enjoyable so far.

As with previous volumes , there’s a fascinating 24-page booklet, with photos, scans and notes by co-compilers Roberto Ernesto Gyemant and Will “Quantic” Holland, which explain the cultural contexts and offer delightful anecdotes about the artists. For example, when talking about Los Invasores, by El Raton, Gyemant enthuses: “In true Panamanian style, guitars replace the piano.”

Most will associate Panama with the canal that runs through it, connecting the Pacific and the Caribbean, and the diversity of its music reflects not only the proximity of so many musical powerhouses (Cuba, Colombia, Trinidad etc) but also the diversity of the immigrant labour force that arrived nearly 100 years ago to construct it, or work in the supporting service industries. And then there are the influences from further afield, which reflect styles internationally popular during the era.

If you havent bought a CD for ages, this release is a good reason to fork out some €/R$/$/¥s.

Check out Lord Panama´s “Fire Down Below” here:

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Head over to the Soundway website for more audiolinks.

Arguably one of his finest and most influential paintings in art history, Pablo Picasso’s Guernica is seen above in a completely different light, thoroughly examined in digital 3D through this intriguing video.

“Guernica is a painting by Pablo Picasso, depicting the bombing of Guernica, Basque Country, by German and Italian warplanes at the behest of the Spanish Nationalist forces, on April 26, 1937, during the Spanish Civil War. The Spanish Republican government commissioned Pablo Picasso to create a large mural for the Spanish display at the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937) Paris International Exposition in the 1937 World’s Fair in Paris.

Guernica shows the tragedies of war and the suffering it inflicts upon individuals, particularly innocent civilians. This work has gained a monumental status, becoming a perpetual reminder of the tragedies of war, an anti-war symbol, and an embodiment of peace. On completion Guernica was displayed around the world in a brief tour, becoming famous and widely acclaimed. This tour helped bring the Spanish Civil War to the world’s attention.”