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RA Poll: Top DJs of 2009
RA's readers start the poll season off by picking out their favourite DJs of the year.
DJs: It's likely that they're why you're here, right now, reading these words. You went out one night, they played some music that you'd never heard before. Or maybe they played music that you knew intimately, but mixed it in a way that you'd never heard before. Or perhaps they even did both. However it happened, we're guessing that at least one DJ has made an impact on you along the way, and it's why we ask you, the RA reader, to let us know the one(s) that have changed your life the most each year.
The results were, typically, fascinating. Techno, house, dubstep, drum & bass, electro, trance, disco, indie: It's all here on this list, along with a few more surprises past that. Nick Warren fits snugly with Prins Thomas. Moodymann and Speedy J sit together. Levon Vincent, a newcomer to the list, checks in alongside techno veteran Josh Wink. But we won't pontificate much more about what it means to be a DJ, or even who's on the list. After all, you're the ones who picked them. Ladies and gentlemen, your Top 100 DJs of 2009.
100 - 81 |
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80 - 61 |
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60 - 41 |
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40 - 21 |
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Consistency doesn't often get enough praise in electronic music circles, where the focus is often on the newest sound or gadget. But techno fans know that consistency is something to be lauded, especially when it comes to Adam Beyer, a jock who has been hammering away for more than a decade. It's only been relatively recently that he's done so at the top of the genre, but he's gotten there by virtue of his consistency. As we said last year: You know what you're going to get when you see Adam Beyer DJ. But that, in fact, may be the best part.
RA's Robbie Younan perhaps put it best earlier this year when he wrote that "there used to be a time when seeing Sasha was a guaranteed good night." Nowadays? Not so much. That said, reports from 2009 have been sterling, with Sasha taking the lead from other jocks that opted to play smaller venues every so often to regain the fire necessary to turn in performances on par with some of his greatest moments. It's been working, because as Younan concluded, that night in Australia "was one of the best parties I have attended in ten years in Sydney."
How does a DJ as integral to the world of electronic music as Derrick May climb 65 places in our chart in a single year? Sure, he re-launched his Transmat imprint, but he's also been famously silent on the release front for years now. And, yes, gigs at Awakenings, Berghain, Movement, ADE, Space Ibiza and Free Your Mind certainly would have helped his cause, but his DJ calendar wasn't all that different than the year before. Either way, if you go to see him play, it's clear why he's revered: May is a seasoned performer who has maintained his lust for furious three-deck mixing two decades later.
The Berghain resident capitalised on the momentum built from his debut album in early 2009 with plenty of performances away from the club he calls home. His sometime co-producer Marcel Dettmann may be the venue's poster boy, but Klock's clinical mixing and impeccable selections of driving house and techno mark him out as an equally powerful force behind the decks. Surprisingly enough, Klock hadn't even played in London until June of this year, but you can be sure that he'll be making many more visits there (and elsewhere) in 2010.
If Stefan Kozalla's podcast for us back in March was your only exposure to his sound this year, it probably would have been enough for you to ascertain the man's considerable worth. And although his club sets may not ordinarily encompass Mount Kimbie and Animal Collective, Koze is still one of the most consistently surprising DJs you're likely to hear. Unlike many of his contemporaries, chances to hear him spin are a little bit harder to come by, which makes catching one of his ballsy and broad-ranging sets a must. Oh, and if productions are indeed the modern DJ's business card, his Reincarnations remix album is one of the best around.
Raresh is different. For starters he doesn't release records. Or put out mixes. And he seems as ambivalent towards the media as his mentor Ricardo Villalobos. But what you do get with Raresh is something that is almost pure: A DJ who is successful simply for being a great DJ. Listen to one of his sets and you quickly realize that his knowledge of house music—especially considering he's in his mid-20s—runs as deep as any selector you care to mention. That said, if you're playing Croatia, Germany, Switzerland, Romania, Spain and Holland in a single month, you're going to want to have youth and a deep record bag on your side.
As minimal techno has grown to become one of the most popular electronic music genres around, Dubfire's profile has risen accordingly. Fueled by his love of more underground sounds, the jock made the tough decision to leave a more secure lifestyle to follow his passions. But in his time as a member of Deep Dish, the DJ obviously learned a thing or two about what it is that crowds want, and his DJ sets nowadays reflect his uncanny talent for bringing the populist elements of the genre to the fore for maximum dance floor impact.
You'll find few busier touring schedules than the one that Marco Carola has embarked upon the last few years. The Italian master of minimal has been among the many DJs spreading the gospel of reduction throughout the world. His entry into this year's top 20, though, has to be down to the fact 2009 was even more busy than before: In our quick sampling of his calendar, we counted fewer than ten weekends in which he wasn't booked somewhere over the course of the year, making his Man Train moniker perhaps more appropriate than ever.
Laurent Garnier admitted in an interview with us earlier this year that he does fewer gigs as time goes on, taking them only when he can ensure that a) he gets enough time to perform longer than the usual two-hour guest spot and b) it's something quite special. Only top-flight DJs can demand such things, but you have to respect those that actually do, rather than simply looking for the next big pay day. And, when you heard Garnier in 2009? Well…the results pretty much speak for themselves. Techno, dubstep, drum & bass and so much more. Few DJs went as far and as deep.
It'd be easy to say that John Digweed holds onto his place in the RA DJ poll because of inertia. But that'd be selling one of the most famous DJs of our time short: Diggers continued his long run of excellence in 2009, traveling the world to bring his unique brand of uplifting and epic dance music to the masses. And while the progressive sound that made him so popular has fallen on hard times of late, it's simply highlighted the fact that what made him a great DJ was less that he was associated with a genre, and more that he's simply a great selector and mixer.
If Luciano was the DJ that made the Great Ibiza Leap in 2009, Joris Voorn was surely a close second. With one of the summer's biggest hits, "Sweep The Floor," and one of the year's best mix CDs, Balance 014, Voorn came in with a bit of momentum, which he promptly capitalized on with sets at both Space and Amnesia that undoubtedly cemented his position as a top draw on the island and elsewhere. What will that mean for 2010? That much is anyone's guess, but as Voorn was once trained as an architect, you know that he likely has it all mapped out.
Minus' first lady of minimal holds her position this year, and the reasons are simple: The pint-sized Pole has continued to push the envelope with her layers of loops—as demonstrated on this year's Fabric 49 compilation—bringing a certain sense of funk to the dark and reduced sound that she favours. That said, she's equally as adept at working a crowd when resorting to a more traditional turntable setup via Traktor Scratch. With new solo material set to drop in 2010, it looks like her already packed DJing schedule is going to get even busier.
Are there DJs having more fun being a DJ than Seth Troxler? If so, we'd like to meet them. The Berlin resident defines the hedonistic nature of the city, reveling in the afterparty lifestyle and launching legions of "Did you hear what Seth did/said/played?" stories. Oh. Right, played. Yeah, that's been amazing too. It seems like the word is out about the American jock: Troxler's DJing style more often than not reflects his personality. Ebullient, fun, sexy. And a tiny bit out of control. Which, when you think about it, makes for some of the most memorable sets of all.
Papa Sven's circus rolled on in 2009, with his Ibiza residency at Amnesia proving to be one of the island's success stories in what has been a relatively quiet year for the island. Väth has ensured that he has kept on top of recent trends, supplementing last year's rolling tech-house sound with plenty of ethnic samples and hooks. Above all this, though, Sven's appeal is his unfettered enthusiasm for entertaining the crowd, and even though he celebrated his 45th birthday earlier this year, it doesn't look as if his fervour for DJing has diminished one bit.
When Dixon "surfaced" back in 2007, his presence felt almost revolutionary. His manifesto promise? Songs. And lots of them. Fast-forward to 2009 and Dixon enjoyed an almost perfect storm scenario with everyone falling back in love with deeper house sounds and two exemplary mix CDs in the form of The Grandfather Paradox and Temporary Secretary hitting shelves. Those two discs took advantage of the format, but the secret to his DJing success is that he doesn't try to rewrite the rulebook, instead fashioning a palette from the finest quality music of the last twenty years or so, and presenting it as a good old-fashioned story.
2008 may have been when Marcel Dettmann rose to international prominence, but 2009 was the year in which he was able to enjoy it. Berghain 02 served as his gold-plated "business card" and paved the way for bigger bookings, including shows in Japan and across South America. His brand of muscular, yet skeletal, techno is his choice for these shorter international sets, but it's during his extended performances at Berlin's Berghain that he comes into his own; taking the crowd on an epic journey through electronica, house and techno that demonstrates both his broad knowledge and ability to get a crowd moving.
In a list of our favourite business moves of 2009, Loco Dice's "Under 300" concept ranks high among them. Few jocks of Dice's stature decide to play an extended tour to smaller audiences. That it was a smashing success, wasn't all that surprising though. Dice's sound—a physical house-inspired blend that's keyed by his insatiable record buying habit—is perfect for cozy parties where the sweat literally drips off the the ceiling. Our only gripe? That he doesn't plan to do it all over again in 2010.
Ah, Luciano. Has there been a DJ who has sparked more heated debate over this past year? Well, perhaps Richie Hawtin, but you get the picture. The naysayers have largely focused on his lurch towards more party-friendly sounds in recent years (and the fact that his much anticipated second album didn't quite live up to expectations), while conversely, his appeal as a DJ to rock the "main stage" has seen his global fan-base swell exponentially. On the latter point, there is no denying that dancing to Luciano these days can be seriously good fun; almost to the point where the DJ we speak of should be considered a new incarnation. Or in other words, Luciano is dead. Long live Luciano.
It was a relatively quiet year for Ricardo Villalobos. No groundbreaking releases. No huge developments. No tabloid-ready moments. Just some of the most mind-bending sounds that you'll ever have the pleasure to be heard played in some of the biggest rooms in the world. Villalobos' experimental streak is a wonder in an age when so many DJs are content to play it safe. But it's also why we probably love him as much as we do. Without this genre-spanning, vinyl-loving DJ, the dance floor would be a much more boring place. With him, it often seems like anything could happen.
Love him or hate him, you most likely have an opinion on Richie Hawtin. But while there was plenty of hoopla around the non-musical aspects of Hawtin in 2009, it was a year that was mostly defined by the Minus boss getting back down to the business of DJing. Instead of large-scale Contakt shows dominating his DJ schedule, Hawtin ended up playing more often than not on his own to crowds big and small. His ability to do both equally as well is a quality that often goes underrecognized. But more fascinating is to hear the command that he now has over his intimidating Traktor set-up. You get the sense that he was formerly on the edge of control—something that Hawtin, a technology nerd at heart, obviously enjoys—but has now taken complete control of the machines that he uses to DJ now. Which has made for sets that would have never been possible only a few years ago. At this stage in his career, there's no reason for him to care as much as he does about expanding the boundaries of what a DJ set can mean. And that's one of the many reasons why he's your pick as the best DJ of 2009.
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Published / Mon, 07 Dec 2009
 225 Comments
Photo credits /
20. Adam Beyer at Movement, Detroit - Patty Hyun
19. Sasha in Shanghai, China - Charlie Xia
18. Derrick May at We Love... Space, Ibiza - Phrank
17. Ben Klock at Fabric, London - Nik Torrens
16. DJ Koze at Future Flash, Cable, London - Kriss Darang
15. Raresh at Bassculture, Paris - Rex Club
14. Dubfire at South West Four, London - Vickie Parker
13. Marco Carola at Movement, Detroit - Noah Levine
12. Laurent Garnier at Benicàssim, Valencia - FIB
11. John Digweed at Digital, Brighton - Sam Hiscox
10. Joris Voorn at Womb, Toyko - Shigeo Gomi
09. Magda at The Warehouse Project, Manchester - Joseph T Denyer
08. Seth Troxler at Organza, Womb, Tokyo - Naoko Maeda
07. Sven Vath at Rio Music Conference, Brazil - Eduardo Llerena
06. Dixon at TRMNL, Birmigham - Will Power
05. Marcel Dettmann at The Bunker, New York - Seze Devres
04. Loco Dice at Sirena, Brazil - Gui Urban
03. Luciano at Mondo, Barcelona - German Parga
02. Ricardo Villalobos at Mutek 2009, Montreal - RA
01. Richie Hawtin at The Warehouse Project, Manchester - Mark Leonhard
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