2023 has been a great year so far, musically speaking and as I hope this 14-track selection ably demonstrates. Several long-time favourites have returned with a vengeance: Cerrone, DJ Nature, A Man Called Adam and Four Tet; all delivering music as good as anything in their rich and varied catalogue.
Others have done so in collaboration: Justin Robertson meets David Holmes' Unloved in the Temple Of Wonders; Telefís aka Cathal Coughlan (RIP) and Jacknife Lee holiday in Madrid with Howie B; Hifi Sean and David McAlmont take a dub excursion to another Happy Ending.
Some relatively recent discoveries continue to delight: Jezebell, Max Essa and Duncan Gray have all somehow managed to raise the bar with each successive release; how high can they go?
The rest are all artists that I've heard for the first time this year: Minus Yogis, Bárbara Boeing, Cee ElAssaad, DjClick and Masha Natanson; all very different, all worth further investigation.
Apart from Four Tet, I'm not sure if any of these artists will be troubling a stage at Glastonbury next week (though to be honest, my eyesight starting blurring after the tenth or eleventh scroll through the seemingly endless line-up page on their website). If they did though, I think they'd smash it.
1) A Part Of You (Club Mix): Cerrone
2) Follow Your Dreams: DJ Nature
3) Fruity Blues (Balearic Mix By Minus Yogis): Minus Yogis
4) It's Science Baby (Funkified): A Man Called Adam
5) Trading Places (6PM): Jezebell
6) Thrill Me (Justin Robertson's Temple Of Wonders Remix): Unloved
7) Short Haul: Duncan Gray
8) Beautiful (Hifi's Dub Excursion): Hifi Sean & David McAlmont
9) Baile Do Silêncio (Donald Dust Remix): Bárbara Boeing
10) Njalo (Full Length Version): Cee ElAssaad
11) Come Come The Rain (Club Mix): Max Essa ft. DC Mathias
12) Strawboy Supernova (Madrid Metal By Howie B): Telefís
13) Three Drums: Four Tet
14) 24022022 (Fluo Sobre RMX): DjClick & Masha Natanson
