The RA staff highlights the finest mixes and compilations of the year.

good to see Omar S at No1

Got to get my hands on some of these..

dixon temporary secratary number 1 for me. great mix.

That Omar S mix is utterly terrible. So boring - i bought it on the day it came out, and listened to it quite a lot before coming to this conclusion.

I was VERY disappointed!

Then I put it on with friends a couple of times - and the same conclusion was reached.

I think its main appeal is this ersatz rawness that people are buying into at the moment - which is itself a symptom of the minimal backlash.

Maybe it could win a prize for most hyped compilation of the year instead.

"The grandfather paradox", while perhaps a little academic for some (not me) joins the dots between past in a far more creative way and is a more suitable candidate, I think.

Good stuff in there otherwise, though including a few that need to be checked out.

Good list. I think Joris Voorn's Balance would be my #1 pick.

I would have thought the Circus Company Snuggle & Slap compilation would have made it though given that it scored 4.5 (I think) on here.

magda fabric number one ;-)

Omar-S at number 1? definitely not...

great list, have to check some albums out tho^^

Very surprised to see Omar S at number one given the review it was given by RA. A review which i thought summed it perfectly. I agree also about the Circus Company compilation, one of the best collections of music put out this year.

And i may be the only one who thinks so but i really didnt like the Joris Voorn Balance cd, but then again i dont really think of Joris Voorn in any regard so thats prob why.

My thoughts exactly. What a shocker

Well, it seems Omar was given the top spot to avoid two Hyperdub winners in a row. I also thought it was pretty hilarious to state that modern Mix CDs don't get away with only two turntables and a mixer in the little write-up for Joris and then give No.1 to a mix CD that does just that. That being said, I'm a huge Omar-S fan, so all this doesn't really matter. I do think Hyperdub should have clinched it though, since we were given a full cd of new material. Pepe's comp would have been second, Omar third to me.

I personally thought the highgrade vs freak n chic: mikado should have been on this list somewhere. fantastic compilation, though unmixed, which made it even more intriguing.

joris deserved this one. the by far most talked about compilation of the year, and for good reason.

wild angels faaar too low

omar s at no. 1? thanks for that made me lol

ps: my no. 1 would be The Evolution Of - Move D • Namlook

joris voorn has been robbed here.
circus company's snuggle & slap easily deserved a top 20 place as well.

The Grandfather Paradox got number 1 for me. That and those two Balance mixes were absolute eye-openers. I wasn't actually THAT impressed with the Fabric series this year. Hopefully they'll get out of this rut of trash they have for FabricLive CD's these days.

Also, you are forgetting that Pure Science and Baby Mammoth/Beige/Solid Doctor released mixes of their own material as well. (No big deal, but still.)

Interesting how it worked out... I think probably every RA contributor voted for that Omar-S mix in a decent mid-list spot with the upper half of everyone's list being more varied... However, the fact that everyone listed it somewhere put it on top. Funny result as I think most reviewers probably wouldn't rank it as their first choice.

Tape Club Mix, Grandfather Paradox, Confiote des Bits and Balihu Comp were the best for me... However Claro Intellecto's Warehouse Sessions comp is strangely missing here...I thought that was really a great compliation as well.

Omar S was good but i don't think that deserved number one spot. Definitely Koze for me!

koze def.. omar s was shit boring...

good list!

THANK U...

Boogie and Disco may not have the same lobby here as Techno, House and Dubstep but I also really liked Dimitri's Nightdubbing, DJ Spinna's Boogie Back and the Comp form the Ambassador's Reception guys.

spot on Patrice! I was shocked as i scrolled down my tiny computer screen, expecting Balance 014 at number 1, when i found Omar S' compilation... I would never count it in my top 20 of this year. I also expected Dinky and Snuggle/Slap too to be on there... but in this list it's Voorn's Balance all the way and then any of the 2 Dixon CDs at number 2

i thought the sebo k watergate was less than mediocre
sometimes i think they like to put things on these lists cuz it looks good
i listented tot he omar s like once it didnt really keep me coming back to be honest

joris voorn was sweet as well the prins thomas

i`m glad to see omar in front. FXHE for real!!!

"Bonkers: The Original Hardcore" mixed by Sharkey, Chris Unknown and Hixxy just edged it for me this year.

tape club mixes for me, best of the year!

nightdubbing was AWESOME

YEAH RA!!! that makes 4 so you're hoping for summing that;s already out there...
harpo, I'm thinking they mean it's twice fabric have this accolade "owned" with an artist mix and would be rather thrilled to see a 3rd.

Omar S' fabric mix was good, I wouldn't say it was great but pretty fine. I found I REALLY had to be in the mood to fully appreciate it with out hitting forward.

(I) Can't really complain about the selections made but would certainly change the order (& maybe add in Commix fabric effort & Terry's Cafe 12...)

Overall

sad sad sad.

Joris should've been #1. or Koze.

I prolly won't add anything new, but wanna join many of the people here in that Circus Company's Snuggle & Slap was overlooked... and I prefer Will Saul's Balance to Joris' one any day (natural flow vs loop lego trickery, the former is more my cup of English tea).

I guess Groove magazine CDs don't qualify here... But Sven Weisemann's No. 119 is totally fantastic - selection and especially the flow/mixing!

I usually don't bother talking shit about something unless I'm completely outnumbered so I'll happily talk shit about Joris Voorn's putrid Balance compilation. It's oddly thrilling to see how many people think it's the bee's knees and how many mention it's supposed technical marvels as proof of this. The tyranny of consensus is alive and well which is marvellous to behold, and certainly gives me something to get my teeth into.

It seems that this mix has been greeted with the same quivering expectation and resultant reverance that the apes greeted the arrival of the monolith in '2001', only without the stirring soundtrack. Because make no mistake about it, once you strip away the hype and the technique - although I'd imagine any sentient simian could come up with something similar given the amount of time Voorn spunked away on this - and just listen to the music...

..the music. It reminds me of the kind of tepid, timorous shitwater you would half expect to hear on some new-age cd - or more grievously, the very same progressive 'grooves' as perpetrated by the likes of Deep Dish not too long ago. And those very same people who would bemoan DD's proggy mixes are - by and large - the same cross-section lauding this laughable pile of old bollocks.

More positively, this chart proves the commercial mix is next to dead. Yeah, I loved Omar's Detroit mix too but mix of the year? I've heard a dozen, maybe two dozen mixes from sites and blogs as diverse as RA, mnml ssgs, LWE, FACT, Electronic Explorations that are qualitatively superior.

The king is dead, long live the king etc

Personally I think Joris deserves the number 1 spot... Notable mention for Magda's Fabric CD... Shame it didn't come out a couple of months earlier to get the top 20 creditability.

this.

Joris probably shouldve topped this one, good to see so many appreciate the hard work he put into his comp! Cant wait for the top tracks now, whens this out?

whilst i don't really want to slate any of these, the ones i have heard are "good", but "good" shouldn't make the "best of year".
Most of these don't have much more longevity than a podcast, the only ones i think i will still be listening to this time next year are koze, pepe braddock and grandfather paradox.

As mentioned so often before, Joris Voorn should have been #1! His compilation for Balance is not only musically a masterpiece, also technically. Nothing to complain about! 10/10

I think he mentioned that it took more than a year to compile this mix.

interesting how something (to my mind) as bland can have such a polarizing effect on opinion as joris voorn.
although i'm quite happy not to get it, i would have been happier if i hadn't actually bought it.

I share the same impression that Joris Voorn deserves the 1st place here... What a mix he did!

What about a "Top 20 Podcast of the year 2009"?

In some respects i would have to agree with you on that one. there have been podcasts and mixes that have been made readily available for free and the standard has been impressive to say the least.

But as for a mix CD i really wouldnt of used the word Putrid to describe it. there are some decent moments in it and although i prefere other mixes (eg SCB mnml ssgs, Kirk Degiorgios LWE) there are some nice moments in the balance cd.

I suppose its that age old argument. the balance between Track selection or Mixing Technique whats more important.

Yes - top 20 podcasts of the year would be good - or integrate them into the commercial mix category. I can't see that there is any difference, and the publicity might help give exposure to new talent.

My podcast picks:

-Ancient methods / SCB / Dozzy on MNML
- Rone on Allez Allez
- Intrusion / Linkwood / Soulphiction / Jan Kreuger on here.

What a horribly predictable list... Yawnsville.

Will Saul's Balance mix is the most uninspired, pedestrian, undynamic release of the year, and Modeselektor's is just an assault on the ears.

Wild Angels and Warp20 also promise more than they deliver. Omar-S is the mut's nuts, but I disapprove of using just your own tunes for a mix. To me, that isn't a compilation.

Yes, I've not heard all of these releases, but the only one I remotely agree with is the penultimate - 5 Years of Hyperdub.

Although I haven't heard Prins Thomas' addition to the series, I am surprised Chloé's volume 1 of Live at Robert Johnnson didn't make this list.

It’s hard to compare a mix like Voorn's to a “compilation” of tracks. Regardless my favs were:

Joris Voorn – Balance
Grandfather Paradox
Sebo K – Watergate 4
Koze – Reincarnations

Amen to that!

my top 5 had joris at number one, but it also had omar-s in it.

if it had have been a points basis, i'd probably just have given 100% to joris. amazing mix.

where's remote areas in this list ...... ?

Quite happy with the way things panned out overall, but there were a few compilations that should've poked their heads into the twenty, most notably my top three choices!

El-B - The Roots Of El-B // Tempa
Mark Seven - Originals Volume 2 // Claremont 56
Alexander Nut - Rinse 08 // Rinse