Swiss Mix

And speaking of perfect tracks, it gets no better than this.

Joy Orbison - Hyph Mngo - HFT009 (via HotflushUK) Can’t stop listening to this track. It’s just perfect.

Best of 2009 - Music

Hotflush Recordings I hadn’t been too into dubstep until I heard a track from Headhunter on the Mary Anne Hobbs show. Mixes from him and labelmate Scuba got some of the heaviest rotation on the iPod this year, with their unique mix of dubstep rhythms and techno atmospherics. Check out their podcast, and especially check out Headhunter’s set for Dub War NYC (mp3) and Scuba’s set for MTV Brazil (mp3).
Paris DJs - The crew at Paris DJs churn out piles of excellent mixes of funk, afrobeat, reggae, and other tasty niches. Especially recommended are Grant Phabao and DJ Djouls’ 21st Century series.
Huffduffer - a nifty website where you can index and tag mp3s on the web and create a podcast of stuff that interests you. I haven’t got much tagged but I’ve found a lot of good stuff.
Hillstomp - I only saw one live show this year, and it was almost by accident. These guys were so good after hearing them warm up (with intentions of bailing out before the show started) I actually stayed for the whole thing and bought a CD at the end. John Johnson’s drum work on old buckets and the washboard was awesomely driving and funky. Go see ‘em.
Dark Energy - I recently found this podcast on Huffduffer, and DJs Shurikan and Milton Jackson play deep house with the perfect mix of classic deep and modern tech stylings.
Bodytonic - another Huffduffer discovery. Lots of choice mixes to choose from. I especially recommend The Herbaliser and Soul Clap.

Such a perfect design.

Daemon by Daniel Suarez
A high-tech thriller that starts out as a murder mystery where the prime suspect, a computer genius, is dead. Evidently his plans are being carried out from beyond the grave by a distributed computer program. Feels like a Crichton book, but is accurately poised right at today’s technology. I’m eagerly awaiting the sequel.
Accelerando (Singularity) by Charles Stross
Stross has become my replacement for Neal J Stephenson, who after amazing me with The Big U, The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, and Cryptonomicon lost me with Anathem. Stross has it all - great writing with single sentences so packed with the right words and freaky concepts that they get the neurotransmitters humming. I haven’t even finished this yet but I can tell it’s one of the best things I’ve read all year. I also liked his book Halting State a techno thriller that weaves between virtual crimes and real life espionage.
Mathematicians in Love by Rudy Rucker
What’s not to love about a book that mixes high-level math, Dr. Suess, west coast surfer vibes, and multiple dimensions? Delightfully weird. I was also amused by his 1830s period-piece The Hollow Earth where a young boy travels to the South Pole with Edgar Allen Poe to search for the entrance to the hollow Earth.

Bread & Beer

Yum.