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, blur / invent genres and rinse formats, in order to squeeze in as many great releases as possible…
In 2024 The Flightpath Estate took severals steps away from their digital day-to-day, spent archiving anything and everything Andrew Weatherall related, and into the physical realm. First, with DJ gigs at venues such as Todmorden’s Golden Lion, and then with a charity fund-raising compilation. The latter, titled, Sounds From The Flightpath Estate Volume 1 featured exclusives from talented folks such as Andy Bell, Timothy J. Fairplay, David Holmes, Sean Johnston, Justin Robertson, Richard Sen and Weatherall’s collabroation with Keith Tenniswood, Two Lone Swordsmen. The vinyl-only release sold out in a flash, and plans for Volume 2 are already underway. Here, the 5 friends who make up the FPE – Martin Brannagan, Mark Ratcliff, Barry Smith, Dan Snape, and Adam Turner – all pick a lucky 7.
MARTIN BRANNAGAN
It`s been an interesting year. For my passions and dedications I spend a lot of the time digging in the historical artefacts of Andrew James Weatherall. In my role of curator of The Weatherdrive I am constantly sourcing, tracklisting and delving into the past. However, all this digital archiving has incredibly lead to occasional forays to physically playing records in Manchester and Todmorden, and this helps me focus on trying to keep up with some current things too. Here is a snapshot of some tracks /albums that have hit assorted spots this year, but as befits a warm-up selector it’s maybe all a bit home listening / early evening…
Mildlife / Chorus [Heavenly, March]
My pick of the tracks off an amazing album by the Australian psych jazz band. This one is a real slow exotic burner, structured more than improvised, and layered so beautifully with bits of flute and some psychedelic sliding synth guitar washing in and out over its 9 minutes.
Rebelski / Navigation (Electric Piano Version) [self released, May]
Martin Rebelski has released some excellent solo piano albums this year. Music that you can really immerse yourself in. This replay of Navigation on the electric piano instead adds a whole extra feeling to the track, hauntingly beautiful.
Autumns / Interpretive Dance Is A Scam [Touch Sensitive, June]
A heavy heavy dub cut and winner of best track title of the year. The rhythm, the rim shots, the echoes, I just love this track from the excellent Dyslexia Sound Source album.
Holy Tongue & Shackleton / The Other Side Of The Bridge [AD 93, August]
More dub, via improvised jazz. The percussion here just sounds so Sabres that I’m addicted to it… and the post-punk bass stabs and layer of sparse saxophone improvisation make this a great headphone listen.
Satellites / World At Your Feet (Johnny Vic Remix) [self released, September]
A 2024 John Garrison remix of a track by John Garrison from 2014. Sounds like Matt Berninger with a fantastic simple beat. The original track is great, but on more of an indie tip. Turning in this more electronc version, ditching the guitar and trumpet, is genius.
Antoni Maiovvi / Glyph [NewRetroWave, October]
Maiovvi is pretty prolific with so many projects and aliases it’s hard to keep up. Glyph is my favourite track from his Psychonaut album. It has a lovely gentle but urgent feel that builds over its 3 minutes.
Clipping / Keep Pushing [Sub Pop, November]
I’d heard a lot about Clipping and their mix of electronics with hip hop but hadn’t really connected, however with this track I’m fully on board. An acid flex with a classic feel to the MCing. It’s just a great bit of eclectic hip hop.
Notable mentions: Richard Sen, Theis Thaws, Mystery Tiime, Il Est Vilaine, Troels Yuri, Leisure Dub, Andrew Wasylyk & Tommy Perman, David Shaw & The Beat, Lou Hayter amongst many other things… I could go on for a while.
MARK RATCLIFF (RUDE AUDIO)
Lisa Moorish / Sylvia (David Holmes Remix)
Euphoria, distilled. Epic button turned up to 11. With added squelchiness. As soon as I heard that high pitched vocal I was a goner. David Holmes’ remixes from the last year or two are the best he has ever done – maybe excluding Smokebelch, but when are you going to better one of the greatest remixes ever. David’s Tricky remix is also outrageously good, but I think one of my FPE colleagues has chosen that.
Coyote tunes don’t always grab me at first. This is a loping, druggy slow burner that I played very loudly one night and it clicked…they do good timbale, the Arps are pumping and the general mood is illegal acid house warehouse party. I don’t trust proclamations about tunes coming to life when played loudly but in this instance, play loudly.
Woodshed (FSOL) / Slide or Die
Hooky indie dance. That riff would sound good on a 70s prog rock record. FSOL are releasing tons of material, some new, some old but remixed. Every release contains something that’s as good as they’ve ever done.
Raemann / Heaven Is Beyond Your Mind
Ex That Petrol Emotion and current Everlasting Yeah fella releases epic prog dub indie dance tribal house tune that Weatherall would have hammered. Incredible stuff. My brother reckoned it was possibly his fav tune of the year and I respect his taste.
I could just as easily have done a dub top 5. This is a pacey bass-led monster, in the hinterland between dub and something more techno-oriented. It has the sort of urgency that drew me to Orbital’s The Naked And The Dub, back in the day. The last couple of years have seen a lot of 125 – 135bpm dub tuneage emerging from Germany and the UK. I love an awful lot of it – see also DJ Emerson’s Notorious Dub and, from my LP of the year, Aristidez’s Spiritual Cowboy.
Bedford Falls Players / Chaotic Beautiful (Full Up Mix)
I am a big Mark Cooper fan. His Friday night radio show is a low slung, sleazy gem which always exercises Shazam muscles. His releases are often a judicious mix of filthy and gorgeous and the dissonance in between. The lovely man and the growling monsters he creates make me laugh. He had a run of releases I loved this year, including this one, which has a great almost dub bassline married to a gorgeous arp thing, which turns mucky by the end.
100 Poems / Joyness Magnificent
My last tune… so hard to choose. Jezebel’s Autostrada is ridiculously catchy and I like how the hook fades towards the end; I loved Rafiki’s Black Smoke – from India – a lilting throbber; I only discovered Songs For Swinging Mothers’ Everyday this year, but as soon as I heard it I knew it was instant top 10 house tunes ever, for me; However, after gratuitously trying to leverage some extra tunes in here, I have to go for 100 Poems… Joyness Magnificent is the very definition of my kind of ‘Balearic’– dub bassline, check, gorgeous brass sound circa Loaded, check, sun kissed optimistic tonality, check. Bob Stanley must have spontaneously crapped himself when he heard this. A 1990 tune poking its head above the parapets in 2024.
BARRY SMITH (Bartholomew Knockington Smythe)
C.A.R. / Anzu (Hardway Bros Remix)
This remix draws inspiration from the ’90s UK Acid House scene but delivers a modern twist on those classic sounds. Blending delicate synths with a powerful rhythm section, while highlighting Chloé Raunet’s distinctive vocals. I bloody love it!
Driving techno with a hypnotic grooves and intricate layers, Your Fault combines infectious rhythms with Raxon’s signature futuristic sound design. Full-on wonk!
A surefire dub hit that showcases Timm & Ampo’s basslines and atmospheric rhythms. This label cannot do anything wrong!
Here, Richard Sen blends funky, infectious beats with deep house, creating a track that’s both captivating and timeless. A standout in any dance. Great album too!
Hot Chip & Sleaford Mods / Nom Nom Nom
A cracking collaboration that finds the funk in Sleaford Mods’ punk attitude. Welding a gritty groover and witty lyrics – that energise and entertain – to create a brilliantly bold track. Love, love, love!
Marshall Watson & Cole Odin / Voyager
A laid-back blend of dubby grooves, synths, and peak-time piano, this is perfect for a Cosmic / Balearic hands in the air moment. The low-slung bassline and psychedelic undertones make it equally suited for dancefloors and late-night sofas.
Fat White Family / Visions of Pain (Tim Goldsworthy Remix)
A dark, hypnotic journey, that blends gritty rock with pulsating electronic beats, Goldsworthy’s remix intensifies the track’s raw energy, creating a compelling and immersive listening experience. March to the dancefloor!
Honourable mentions: These go out to all the artists who contributed to our compilation Sounds from The Flightpath Estate. As all proud parents should be, I couldn’t pick one track over the others so added them all here. Thanks to everyone who bought and built! xxx
DAN SNAPE
I’ve not added any commentary as music speaks for itself…
David Holmes / Yeah x 3 (Sonic Boom Reset Remix)
Ex Easter Island Head / Norther
Alex Kassian / E2 E4 (Mad Professor Quantus Crazy Dub)
ADAM TURNER (The Bagging Area / Ban Ban Ton Ton)
Fat White Family / Bullet Of Dignity (Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve Re- animation)
Fat White Family’s album, Forgiveness Is Yours, was the band’s usual mix of the brilliant and the bizarre. A weird trip indeed. This Beyond The Wizards Sleeve remix was next level though – in a year where BTWS have produced several huge remixes/ re- animations. The bassline alone is worth the price of admission and Erol and Richard stretch the song out for the dancefloor, with Lias riding on top. God knows what Lias is singing about, words coming in pairs and animal tears, but it sounds hugely important. It straddles the line between sleazy and sexy with aplomb.
GLOK & Timothy Clerkin / Scattered
The whole Alliance album is a modern psychedelic classic, tanked up on trippy guitars and hypnotic synths – imagine if My Bloody Valentine had gone full acid house in 1991. Scattered is a highlight – acoustic guitars being scrubbed and Andy free associating.
Sedibus returned with a second album, one that deserves to be listened to in full. It’s a journey to the stars with a surprising number of acoustic instruments – pianos mainly – among the samples. On Seti Pt 3 everything converges, the search continues, sounds spin around, 60 years of space exploration and 35 years of music making coming together.
Loved is Four Tet at his best, coming full circle. Uncluttered simplicity.
A Certain Ratio / It All Comes Down To This
The last few years have seen ACR back at their best and early on in 2024 they lit things up with the title track from their latest album. Stripped down to a 3-piece, fired up by producer Dan Carey, the guitars return to the foreground. Jez sounding urgent after a period illness, a man with things to say. Donald brings the rhythms. I saw them play this album in full twice this year and both times it was difficult to think that they’ve done anything better.
The Light Brigade / Human : Remains
All the contributors to Sounds From The Flightpath Estate donated wonderful, stirring music. We were blown away by the quality of the songs and the legacy of Andrew Weatherall evident in the “gnostic sonics”. I could genuinely pick any of them but David Holmes’ appearance as The Light Brigade is the one for me today – pounding drums, buzzing, soaring synths and keys… galloping horses… what a ride.
Orbital & DJ Helen with Mike Garry / Tonight In Belfast
A Mike Garry poem about devotion read over a David Holmes remix of an acid house / rave classic. This hit deep early this year and has stayed there. It’s emotive, edge of tears kind of stuff. When Mike, in his Fallowfield accent, says ‘I love to say your name aloud / Simply cos I love the way it sounds’, I go to pieces. His ability to go from the colloquial to the poetic is similarly brilliant – ‘I’ll tell you what / Let’s slip beyond the confines of this world / Let’s rewrite the way this world must turn…’. Meanwhile David’s rework of Orbital’s Belfast bubbles away for ten minutes. Could be twice as long and I’d be happy.
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