With December here, Ban Ban Ton Ton is looking back on the musical year. Since Japanese superstition holds 7 as her luckiest number, we’re gonna try to keep each selection tight to this total, in the hope that our conjuring of 7 X 7 X 7 X … will collectively manifest some magic for 2025. You may witness some attempts to creatively bend the rules and blur / invent genres, in order to squeeze in as many great releases as possible… 

Since Tom Noble’s House Of Spirits released one of my favourite records of the last year, I asked Tom to pick a few, a lucky 7, favourites of his own. 

I interviewed Tom back in 2007. He was living in L.A. and House Of Spirits, I think had just, secretly been started. We talked about tons of things, from his own painting to the films of Francois Truffaut, including artists such as Aerial Pink, The Horrors and Toro Y Moi. 

Tom was working with Benedek and SFV Acid, and wanted to work with Mad Professor and James Murphy. He made it very clear that he’s a huge fan of The Clash and told me that The Paragons’ Wear You To The Ball is one of his all-timers. I’ll add that the last record that I bought from Tom, and his Superior Elevation Records store, was Jeff Bridges’ Sleeping Tapes. Tom’s excellent eclectic taste is further demonstrated in his selections below: 

Super selections and wonderful words by Tom Noble. 

An old photo of Tom

Raf Reza – Why You Gotta / Pineapple Island – Star Creature 45

My buddy from Toronto released this in 2017 on 12”. I immediately began playing it.  Fast forward 7 years and it’s still amazing, but I’ve never heard anyone else play it, or mention it.  I play it on my Instagram stories and it catches the attention of Chicago imprint Star Creature. I kinda convinced them to do it again as a slept on classic, this time on 45. Boom it worked and it’s been doing great.  Proud of my dude.

 Another Taste – S/T – Space Grapes LP

The band that had us all scratching our heads for a few years. Turns out to be the house band of Danilo Plessow’s disco studio. Under his direction these beasts have been churning out pure disco fire. To be honest Jambonne’s Carpet Ride is still my favourite (same band), but this LP is amazing.  A must have.

Total Blue – S/T – Music From Memory LP

Nicky Benedek, former employee, former, and future, collaborator, comes here with a pretty dialled in soft jazz vibe that’s effortless and somehow polite future ambient jazz. Total Blue played Public Records here in Brooklyn recently and the crowd was entranced. I could hear change falling on the floor during their set. To get New Yorkers to shut up during your set is a massive feat.

Birds of Rhythm – Bird Island – Lips & Rhythm Records

My friends Jesse / Sizmo and Soleil live in a world they have created themselves.  A life of endless travel that’s dream like to most of us.  This LP is their family anthem.  Sizmo provided the perfect dubby Balearic house backdrops, and Soleil comes with ASMR English house vocals. Vacations is a great one, but the whole album is solid. Pandemic creation.

Perpetual Singers – Father Father – Rush Hour

OK, don’t know anything about this one except for what I’ve dug up myself. Dutch multi- instrumentalist ARP Frique, under a new name. It sounds like a Balearic Talking Heads song produced by Ozo. Nothing better than a good bassline. This one has it.

Eternal Love – La Pantera – Groovin Recordings 7”

These two just exploded onto the scene like nothing I’ve seen in recent times. Milanese production duo who’ve been handing in these amazing tracks that sound like proto-house dub mixes from 1987…  and their DJ sets are on FIRE.  All eyes on these freaks, and hoping they stop ripping crowds for a minute and hand in an album.  Too good.

Stefan Ringer – Echo Chamber EP – FWM 12”

Ringer came to my attention when my social media manager, Andrew Lowell, booked him to play the Superior Elevation Records store in Brooklyn last year. It was our anniversary and his DJ set was pure heat. So of course, when he walked into the shop 8 months later with a record he’d made, I bought four without even listening. Took one home and played it all night long.  I love a dance record that reads like an actual album versus a cute cheeky dance throw away.  This one has depth. Even a trap rap strip club house track to end it off that leaves me feeling like I listened to a child raised by Laraaji and the Future, who hangs out at Nowadays. ATL dance E.P. Kudos Stefan.

…And obviously both of my Razor N Tape 12’s and the LP

Sorry for adding 8,9,10 here, but I’m proud of all my 2024 releases. They are all amazing and all the mixes my friends made are amazing as well. Get them all.

Tom Noble’s House of Spirits is out now on Razor-N-Tape.

A big Thank You! to The Insider for setting this up.

A new photo of Tom.