During the pandemic and lockdowns Balearic Mike was a regular contributor and big part of Ban Ban Ton Ton. As restrictions lifted Mike, along with close friend, Kelvin Andrews, got busy working on the third volume of their Down To The Sea & Back compilation series. The result was one of our top comps of 2024 – of course it was – and its success helped to get Mike DJing and globetrotting again. Before 2025 properly kicks into gear, over the next few days we’re going to run a number of posts where Mike returns to look back at some of his musical highlights from the past year.

Super selections and wonderful words by Balearic Mike.

If you only bought one single this year it would have to be Arthur Russell, with Be With Records finally succeeding where Talkin’ Loud failed back in the 90s. Simply one of my favourite tracks from this amazing artist and completely essential. Such a beautiful job done on the sleeve and label art as well.

Pet Shop Boys win a prize for the sleeve art of the year though, with their wonderful release of the standout track from “Nonetheless”, the gorgeous “New London Boy”, with a 2 part CD single release using old photos of Neil & Chris at the age they were when they both arrived in London. The double CD release is a double a-side with the ‘controversial’ cover of “All The Young Dudes”, which I think really works best on the ‘Richard X Longest Mix’, but also has a couple of superb bonus tracks in “Clean Air Hybrid Electric Bus” (previously only on the Japanese CD release of the album), and the stunning “Beauty Has Laid Siege To The City”, which should have made it onto the LP.

All the Conrad McDonnell remixes on Mudd’s “Eighty Three” are great, Auntie Flo might have club classic of the year in the shape of “Green City”, although Alex Kassian made a good stab at the title, and actually there were just so many great singles released it was hard to keep up.

It was another great year for the Wonderfulsound Singles Club. All their releases are worth having, but the Sinj Clarke was certainly one of the tracks of the year, with the 2 most recent also superb.

Arthur Russell – In The Light Of A Miracle (Remixes) – Be With Records 12”

Pet Shop Boys – New London Boy / All The Young Dudes (Richard X Longest Mix) / Beauty Has Laid Siege To the City / Clean Air Hybrid Electric Bus- Parlophone CD singles

Mudd – Eighty-Three (Conrad Idjut Remixes) – Claremont 56 12”

Sinj Clarke – Yves – Wonderfulsound Singles Club 7”

Auntie Flo – Green City – A State Of Flo 12”

Psychemagik – Undercover Lovers Vol.5 12”

Cantoma – First Nothing (Noche Espanola Remix) – Highwood Recordings 7”

Dominic Dawson feat. Miotina – Twilight – Flower Records Japan 7”

Che – Che Wax Vol.1 Buzz – Che Wax 12”

Marshall Watson & Cole Odin – Voyager – Leng Recordings 12”

Iraina Mancini – Undo The Blue (Beyond The Wizards Sleeve Re-Animation) / Sugar High (Saint Etienne Remix) – Needle Mythology 12”

Bacao Rhythm and Steel Band – Love For The Sake Of Dub – Big Crown Records 7”

Alex Kassian x Mad Professor – A Reference To E2-E4 By Manuel Gottsching – Test Pressing 12” 

Jennifer Barrett – Dub Is A Battlefield – Lion Vibes / Small Chop 7”

Quiet Village – Reunion – The Quiet Village 12”

Derya Yildirim & Grup Simsek – Cool Hand – Big Crown Records 7”

Torao Hikariyama / Tengaku Dub – Torao No Tairyo Sen (Tempura Dub) – Hahalo Unltd 7”

Easy Coast Love Affair feat Theo Suess – Tonight – Athens Of The North 7”

Family Tree – Family Tree (Disco Mix) – Acid Jazz 7”

Zenana – Witches – Rush Hour 12”

Haroldo Bontempo – Risada (feat Donato) – Wonderfulsound Singles Club 7”

Happy Mondays – Loose Fit (Greg Wilson & Che Wilson Remix) – London Records 12” 

Dombrance – Cope (Francois K Mantra Mix) – Disco-Lypso 12”

Steve Cobby – C​Ø​66¥ UNO – Declasse 12”

Mudd – Spielplatz (Quiet Village Remixes) – Claremont 56 12”

Say She She – I Believe In Miracles / C’est Si Bon – Karma Chief 7”

Payfone – Wild Butterfly Sampler feat: Paradise (2024 Version) – Otis Records 12”

Lou Rawls – You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine (Kenny Summit, Frankie Knuckles & Eric Kupper’s Brawls Deep unreleased remix) – Good For You 12”

Ghoßt Assembly – I Miss Your Love (The Remixes) – Ruf Kutz 12”

Mystery School – Vitruvian Man – Wonderfulsound Singles Club 7”

Thandi – Give Me A Smile  – Wonderfulsound Singles Club 7”

The George School Theatre Arts And Music Department – The Journey Of Persephone – Wonderfulsound Singles Club 7”

Dai Nakamura – Colourfield – Wonderfulsound Singles Club 7”