Patrick Henderson - Top 8 of 2013

Commentary

End of years a go go… Top 10 straight to box set DVDs. Top 1000 digital deep house labels. Etc. We've decided to go for Top 8 Whatevers. The Top 8 things of the year – be them bacon sandwiches; the top 8 times you stubbed your toe against the fcking boxes full of useless sht your girlfriend insists on leaving in the hallway; and so on and so forth. We've asked all of our very excellent R$N scribes to pick their Top 8s of whatever for 2013.

He's been a bit quiet this year but the very excellent ears and eyes and pen of Mr Patrick Henderson was loving a fair old bit this year.

Read on.

Voodoo Funk

Ridiculous slew of unbelievably high calibre funk and soul from the west of Africa, courtesy of Frank Gossner. The label has really opened my eyes to the wealth of material from the area, with it having so much more to offer than the, in my opinion, slightly monotonous strains of High Life. Benin, Nigeria and the like are now definitely on my to-visit list.

Going on tour with a punk band across the US

From being pulled over by the Secret Service in Washington DC to driving fourteen hours overnight in a frantic journey from Chicago to Toronto to attending a gig under a railway bridge in Pittsburgh, I've never had so much fun being stuck in a sweaty van for 99% of the time.

Gladys Knight and The Pips – It's A Better Than Good Time (Walter Gibbons Mix)

To say this is a banger is a bit of an understatement. Potentially one of the best disco tracks of all time saw the light of day this year thanks to a cheeky bootleg. Masterfully arranged by the maestro, Mr. Gibbons, the structure and pacing of this song is absolutely outstanding with twelve and a half minutes of disco that makes you realise how wank so much of nu-disco is.

Dean Blunt @ 100 Club

Let's face it, Dean Blunt comes across like a bit of a nutter and his debut solo performance in the UK did little to make me think otherwise. Verging on 10 mins of ambient rain effects preceded his performance whilst the gap before the encore was the closest to Guantanamo Bay I ever wish to venture. 5 minutes of blinding strobes and eardrum rupturing bass tones were all a bit too much to handle. Walking out onto Oxford Street with smoke alarms ringing and the arrival of a firetruck due to an overuse of smoke machines seemed a fitting end to the evening.

Malteser Teasers Bars

Fucking game changer.

Going Good

With so many new labels popping up at a slightly alarming rate over the year, Going Good is one of those that have got it exactly right. Three solid releases that show the diversity that a label can offer whilst still having some sense of cohesiveness. Buy now for guaranteed Discogs gold in the future.

Pope Francis

He actually seems like a top bloke, so fair play. Apparently he used to be a bouncer.

Sex Tags

DJ Sotofett and co. have been on my radar for a fair old time now, but 2013 seemed to be the year where they finally started to get the recognition they deserve. Uncompromising in their approach and always solid in delivery, there's too many golden tracks from an imprint that rarely puts a foot wrong. From crushing dub pressure from Kambo Super Sound to barmy disco-infused house from DJ Fett Burger, there's something for everyone here. Needless to say Sotofett's b2b set with Detroit's FIT at Corsica Studios was a bit of an emotional encounter.

Patrick Henderson