Apiento
Hello and welcome to our Test Pressing 2020 round up. And er what a year it's been. A year of change. We're all learning new ways to navigate this and for me it's all been about learning to play an instrument (finally learning the piano) and getting into modular synthesis (most fun I've had in the studio in years). I also ran lots and got lost in tons of podcasts. My mate Colin put me onto the Adam Buxton series earlier in the year and his charming way with guests slowly wins you over. Press play on one of those. Jog round the park. Bit of sunshine. Fruit and water. Piano playing. Friends. And thats been my recipe for the year. Recently I've also got into the Romesh Ranganathan 'Hip Hop Saved My Life' podcast which is pretty funny.
I did listen to some new music this year though not loads... 'Susta' by Harks & Mudd missed the parties I would have liked to have heard it at and the Cleo Sol album sounded great in the car. On a revival tip the We Are King album got absolutely rinsed (thanks Lou!) and also made an appearance in Jeff Barrett's Spotify playlist when he told me it was one of the great lost albums. It's like Quincy doing modern r&b with killer songs and melodies and harmonies that twist and turn. I thoroughly recommend it. It was a slow year for releasing music for me. I released a digital release with Alex Tepper which you can find on Bandcamp but bar that we sort of switched it off this year.
TV wise there was the obvious stuff. The Queens Gambit later in the year, the series on Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls earlier in the year (the gameplay montages are ridiculous)and I just started The Mandolorian which I can see me smashing through over Christmas.
I just want to think all our friends and family. The writers – Martyn, Bruce and Piers who kept the wheels turning (though admittedly we were a little slower than normal) and all our mates that did Spotify playlists in the first lock down. We really appreciate it.
Next year we've got some nice plans that will come to light involving Budino, Brewster and more as well as launching a label with our friends at Love International and making some nice things I hope.
I hope you all have a safe and sound Christmas with people you love and find joy around you. Following is a ton of recommendations of stuff and I hope you find a few things you didn't hear about.
Finally, RIP Andrew Weatherall. Someone that will be truly missed for his presence and clear ability to find the good. An incredible, producer, DJ and very funny man. God bless.
Peace and love and see you in 20201,
Paul (Apiento). x.
Nancy Noise (The First Lady Of Balearic Beat)
Can you tell us your three new tunes of the year...
1. Flamingo Pier - Indigo EP - love the whole E.P especially 'Indigo.'... Such a great song .. Killer.
2. Quantic - Theme from Selva - live lushness, strings & a whole lot more!
3. IIya Santana - Forget me not EP - lovely cosmic business , love love love.
What was your album of the year?
Tame Impala - The Slow Rush .... dreamy, spacey, beautiful.
And your rediscovered record of the year?
When times are tough I revert back to childhood loves that make me feel safe and happy... So there's been lots of those on... Free, America, Alessi brothers, Bread, Gerry Rafferty, Peter Frampton & the likes.
Favourite TV show?
I watched the all of the Breaking Bads, so good, my sister and son had been banging on about them a long time ago so finally got round to it .... What a trip!!! also loved 'The Get down' late 1970's New York ... Beam me up to be in those discos and at the parties, the beginnings of hip hop in the Bronx, inspiring times, full of creativity.
And what helped you get through 2020?
Friends, family, helping loved ones gave me focus, walks with my sister (& Honey), banter with mates, thankfully i have some very funny friends they always lift me up. Funny memes & videos have cracked me up when i really needed a laugh, so big ups to whoever out there puts them together!! oh yea & cutting up magazines love doing that & making collages. I'm hanging on in there that brighter days are on their way, hope everyone's ok & doing the same, mucho love to all, see you on the other side.
️
(Valentina) Budino
Can you tell us your three new tunes of the year...
1. Zombies in Miami - UFO whisper
2 Alex Kassian – Oolong Trance (Paradise Mix)
3. Drance - Latex Love
What was your album of the year?
Pellegrino & Zodyaco – Morphé
And your rediscovered record of the year?
Patti Smith - Horses
Favourite TV show?
24
And what helped you get through 2020?
Making music and meditation
Moonboots
Can you tell us your three new tunes of the year...
1. Common Saints - Idol Eyes / Summer Sun
2. Begin - Super Barrio
3. Melody Gardot - C’est Magnifique
Album of the year?
It’s Immaterial - House for Sale
And your rediscovered record of the year?
China Crisis - Autumn In The Neighbourhood
Favourite TV shows?
DEVS, Servant & The Mandalorian
And what helped you get through 2020?
Beer, love & Netflix
Telephones
Can you tell us your three albums of the year...
1. BOOF - Rebirth Of Gerberdaisy - Bubbletease / Running Back
2. Tase - Tase - Film
3. Virtual Dreams: Ambient Explorations In The House & Techno Age 1993-1997 - Music From Memory
What was your track of the year?
Omar S - In My City - FXHE
And your rediscovered record of the year?
Etienne De Crecy "Tempovision" album. Hadn't listened to this in well over a decade when I suddenly remembered a track off it I wanted to use in a mix. Been listening a lot to it since. Not all are time-proof killers, but most of them are amazing still and brings me back to easier more careless times.
Favourite TV show?
The Mandalorian - hands down.
And what helped you get through 2020?
My wife, music, great friends, my therapist, and surprisingly enough - a proper long-lasting nightmare-ordeal with a psychotic and violent neighbour... that shit in the end pushed us to finally look for a new apartment, and we stumbled across Xanadu in the end (thanks Jamie & Tasya!), finally a big enough flat to have a dog, who now just moved in: Cosmo. He will seal this awkward year in the best possible way. So the definite lesson of 20FML20 is that proper shit can also be great fertilizer. I hope 2021 lives up to that.
Paramida
Can you tell us your three new tunes of the year...
1. Alex Kassian - Oolong Trance
2. Amajika - Got My Magic Working
3. Telephones - Genesis (Swell 1019 mix)
What was your album of the year?
Suso Saiz & Suzanne Kraft on MFM
And your rediscovered record of the year?
LaTour - Cold (Maurice Underground Mix) just one of my 100 favorite Maurice remixes, so good.
Favourite TV show?
90 Day Fiancé and the remake of High Fidelity with Zoe Kravitz as the record shop owner "Rob".
And what helped you get through 2020?
Nature and silence
Bruce Tantum (NYC / TP Towers)
Can you tell us your three new tunes of the year...
1. Musclecars — 'Sol' (Toucan Sounds)
2. Moodymann – Taken Away (KDJ)
3. Róisín Murphy – Murphy's Law (Skint)
What was your album of the year?
Beatrice Dillon: - Workaround (PAN)
And your rediscovered record of the year?
Greg Henderson - Dreamin (SAM)
Favourite TV show?
How to With John Wilson (HBO)
And what helped you get through 2020?
I would say something trite but true, like 'music' or 'friends' - but in reality it was vodka. And red wine
Laani (Worldwide FM)
Can you tell us your three new tunes of the year...
1. Shirley Scott - Keep On Movin' On Reissued on Arc Records
2. SAULT - Black
3. Azu Tiwaline - Tight Wind ft. Cinna Peyghamy
What was your album of the year?
Moses Boyd - Dark Matter
And your rediscovered record of the year?
Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
Favourite TV show?
I May Destroy You
And what helped you get through 2020?
My precious family & friends plus a few months as a digital nomad living in Naples, Italy.
Piers Harrison
1. Rick ‘Poppa’ Howard - Ceremony (Tevo Howard Recordings)
Charting this on the basis of a minute-long clip on Tevo Howard’s Instagram page and coming out on New Year's Eve, so a skin of the teeth inclusion. Rick Howard had, for me, one of the most interesting voices in house music - with fragility and wisdom that only comes with age. Combined with Ian Curtis’s songwriting and Tevo’s production skills, this is 100% the most arresting piece of new music I heard in 2020.
2. Shinichi Atobe - Yes (DDS)
“Dub techno is an irrelevant genre as it was simultaneously invented and perfected by Basic Channel”
Shinichi Atobe - "Hold My Beer”
3. Todd Modes - Serpent EP (Going Good)
In a new music landscape characterised by unimaginative knock-offs, Detroit’s Todd Modes and Going Good records remind us what is pure and true. Read my review here.
What was your album of the year?
The Weeknd - After Hours
He was robbed at the Grammys. This record is basically drugs.
And your rediscovered record of the year?
Old music is my thing so it’s very hard to narrow it down. At a push, I’ll say Skaville Train’s ‘Return of the Black Panther’. It begins as a relatively straightforward reggae/jazz take on the Pink Panther theme before falling down a psychedelic dub vortex for 8 minutes. Astonishing and a total outlier for the Top Beat imprint.
Favourite TV show?
Warrior Nun. Fucks given? Nun.
What helped you get through 2020?
My dog, Otto. 2020 has been a trying year for everyone but it’s been a vintage one for dogs. A lot of us have found ourselves living the same day on repeat and if anyone can remind us to live in the moment, it’s a dog. Every waking, walking, dinner, nap, and snack is greeted with chaotic joy.
Phil Mison
Can you tell us your three new tunes of the year...
1. Kutiman - Badawee
2. Stefano Ritteri - Come Back To Me
3. Harks and Mudd - Susta
What was your album of the year?
It’s immaterial - House For Sale
And your rediscovered record of the year?
Love Corporation - Palatial 2 (Danny Rampling Remix)
Favourite TV show?
Ghosts
And what helped you get through 2020?
Reading and red wine got me through :)
Dave Harvey
Can you tell us your three new tunes of the year...
1. The Robinson - Burnout - Ron Trent remix
2. Zaitev - Dump Trump - DeNiro Goes to Hollywood Edit
3. Mr Ho & Mogwaa - Bail E
What was your album of the year?
Khruangbin - Mordechai
And your rediscovered record of the year?
Neon Fusion - The Future Ain’t The Same As It Used 2 Be
Favourite TV show?
Succession
And what helped you get through 2020?
My record loft and shit loads of discovering and rediscovering music, wonderful music
Jeff Barrett (Heavenly Records)
Can you tell us your three new tunes of the year...
1. Jayda G - Both of Us
2. Monophonics - Last One Standing
3. Cleo Sol - Young Girl
What was your album of the year?
Sault - Untitled (Black is)
And your rediscovered record of the year?
Bruton / Brutoff: The ambient, electronic and pastoral sounds of the Bruton library catalogue.
Favourite TV show?
Lovers Rock (Small Axe)
And what helped you get through 2020?
Family
Trevor Jackson
Can you tell us your three new tunes of the year...
1. Fit Sigel - Wayne County Stomp
2. Falle Nioke / Ghost Culture - Barké
3. Sockethead - Devotion
What was your album of the year?
Actress - Karma & Desire
Favourite TV show...
Criminal
And what helped you get through 2020?
My son.
Bill Brewster
Not sure why but I was massively into house music again this year. Firstly I think it was just a great year for house and there were even superb vocal tracks too, having heard far too few over the past ten years or so.
Anyhow, in no particular order:
Austin Ato ft Laville - Control
Black Logic ft Shyam- I Don’t Want U
Rheinzand- Strange World (Richard Sen Remix)
The last track is not out yet but I was sent it a month ago and I can’t stop playing it, it’s completely spellbinding and lots of people are asking me about it from playing it in streams.
What was your album of the year?
Sault - Untitled (Black Is), Roisin Murphy - Roisin Machine and Eddie Chacon 'Pleasure, Joy & Happiness'.
And your rediscovered record of the year?
Tim Buckley - Greetings from LA, Eg & Alice - 24 Years of Hunger and Elements of Life - Molecular Dreams
Favourite TV show?
The Marvelous Mrs Maisel (yes I know it came out years ago but I only discovered it in 2020)
And what helped you get through 2020?
My lifesaver this year was doing my weekly streams live from my mythical nightclub the Paradise Farage every Saturday. It’s given a purpose to weeks that I think would have otherwise drifted by and kept me from going bonkers.
Lou Hayter
Can you tell us your three new tunes of the year...
1. John Carroll Kirby - Blueberry Beads
2. AK Paul - Be Honest
3. Sault- Rise
What was your album of the year?
Sault - Untitled (Rise)
And your rediscovered record of the year?
Donald Fagen - The Nightfly / Les McCannes - Sometimes I Cry / Pastor T.L Barrett - Like A Ship, / Air- Air (Be With) / Timmy Thomas / Rotary Connection / Jeff Phelps - Magnetic Eyes / Milton Nascimento - Fairytale / Minako Yoshida - Midnight Driver / Moodymann - A Silent Introduction / Marc Moulin - Placebo Sessions
Favourite TV show?
I May Destroy You / Keyboard Fantasies: The Beverly Glenn Copeland story
And what helped you get through 2020?
Steely Dan, my cats, my family, my mates, putting my record out, mushroom cocoa, meditation, Marvin Gaye, funny memes, Broad City, my mate's Eyesolation basement / zoom sessions, writing songs, Gilles Peterson on the radio, long baths, long walks, chocolate.
Lexx
Can you tell us your three new tunes of the year...
1. lojii - over&over / round&round
2. Bullion - Hula
3. Common Saints - Idol Eyes
What was your album of the year?
The Koreantown Oddity - Little Dominiques Nosebleed
orSatoshi & Makoto - CZ-5000 Sounds & Sequences Vol.II
And your rediscovered record of the year?
Wendy & Bonnie - Genesis
Favourite TV show?
Fargo - Season 4
And what helped you get through 2020?
Faith, friends and music
Martyn Pepperell (NZ / TP Towers)
Can you tell us your three new tunes of the year...
1) Bullion “We Had A Good Time”
https://bullion.bandcamp.com/track/we-had-a-good-time
Inadvertent or deliberate, I don’t think anyone else in the world caught the mood at the beginning of the pandemic like Bullion did. An incredible song from an incredible EP that foreshadowed so much of what was to come.
2) Cantoma “Closer” feat Luna Asteri
https://cantomamusic.bandcamp.com/album/into-daylight
Practically perfect sunset beachside vibes from the masterful Phil Mison aka Cantoma. The sound of love and hope as a lived experience. Tension, release, restraint and delivery.
3) KATE NV, “Sayonara”
https://katenv.bandcamp.com/track/sayonara
Kudos to Moscow’s KATE NV for working out that the more OST sides of Russian folk music, and Japanese city-pop might very well fit together into something magical.
What was your album of the year?
Raymond Richards, “The Lost Art of Wandering” (ESP Institute)
https://raymondrichards.bandcamp.com/album/the-lost-art-of-wandering
Raymond Richards, pedal steel guitarist to the likes of Mojave 3, Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions, and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, delivers the album of a lifetime. Produced by ESP Institute’s Lovefingers, “The Lost Art Of Wandering” (title borrowed from author Sam Shepherd) sees Raymond in full flight, crafting an expansive sonic landscape from pedal steel, drums, piano and organ. The possibilities feel endless here.
And your rediscovered record of the year?
Cy Timmons, The World’s Greatest Unknown (Bright Size Records)
https://www.brightsizerec.com/?product=bsr001-cy-timmons-the-worlds-greatest-unknown-lp
Hearing Atlanta singer-songwriter and guitarist Cy Timmons 1974 album, “The World’s Greatest Unknown” for the first time really floored me. Cy has a sonorous voice in the same tradition as Matt Munro, Frank Sinatra and Scott Walker, and on The World’s Greatest Unknown he pairs it with a full-length classical guitar. His style, Batida Americana, is a blend of bossa nova, cool jazz, traditional pop and early R&B. Every now and then, you can hear a little Milton Nascimento in his work. The World’s Greatest Unknown Indeed.
Favourite TV show?
Joji Matsuoka’s Midnight Diner (深夜食堂, Shinya shokudō). Perfectly paced Japanese television that combines food, friendship, community and the mysteries of life after midnight. Meditative, reflective and somehow delicious as well? Midnight Diner made me want to cook more and made me think more about storytelling. The lead actor Kaoru Kobayashi is a class act.
And what helped you get through 2020?
Family, friends and loved ones. Phone and video calls. Cooking at home. Long walks. Music. In terms of the global pandemic response, we’ve been extraordinarily lucky in New Zealand. I hope we collectively learn from everything we’ve experienced over the last year. We can all be better.
Jamie Tiller
Can you tell us your three new tunes of the year...
1. Ana Roxanne - Camille
2. Joanne Robertson - Hit
3. Laura Groves - M6 North
What was your album of the year?
Ana Roxanne – Because Of A Flower
And your rediscovered record of the year?
Not really a rediscovery but I found Kevin McCormick - Light Patterns for a very decent price earlier in the year and played it constantly, definitely my lockdown soundtrack.
Favourite TV show?
How To With John Wilson. Hands down the funniest / saddest / original show on TV in ages
And what helped you get through 2020?
Friends, family and lots and lots of wine.
Pete Fowler
Can you tell us your three new tunes of the year...
1. Kenny Dickenson - Les Rivières Vont À La Mère
2. Marshmallow - Dream Puppy
3. Satoshi & Makoto - A Postcard In Summer
What was your album of the year?
John Carroll Kirby - My Garden
And your rediscovered record of the year?
Joni Mitchell - The Hissing of Summer Lawns
Favourite TV show?
Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing
And what helped you get through 2020?
My weekly Friday playlists for The Social, snacks, beer and WhatsApp
Fantastic Man
Can you tell us your three new tunes of the year...
1. Telephones 'Sensei'
2. Basic Spirit 'Heart Sphere (Piano Mix)'
3. Polito 'Seventh Lamb'
What was your album of the year?
Virtual Dreams: Ambient Explorations In The House & Techno Age, 1993-1997 (vinyl version)
And your rediscovered record of the year?
Bassomatic – Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Bass (1990)
Favourite TV show?
The Crown
And what helped you get through 2020?
Nature
Frank Tope
Lockdown top 3
1. Secret Night Gang - The Sun
2. Gabriel’s - Love + Hate In A Different Time
3. Taylor Swift - Last Great American Dynasty
Album
SAULT
Reissue
Don Cherry Om Shanti OmRevive: Jackie Ross - Atomic Love
There you go, sorry for lack of obscure outsider house, it’s really not been that kind of year. x.
Paul 'Mudd' Murphy
Can you tell us your three new tunes of the year...
1. Harks & Mudd - Susta
2. Payfone - Sofian
3. Hillside - Walpole Days
What was your album of the year?
Leng 10 year compilation
And your rediscovered record of the year?
Chico Hamilton - Nomad LP
Favourite TV show?
Mandalorian
And what helped you get through 2020?
Netflix, beer, finding different things to put in tacos, writing/producing, drawing & cooking
And last but definitely not least...
Leo Mas
Can you tell us your three/five new tunes of the year...
It was hard to choose the singles of the year, I put 5... I would have put twenty, haha/
1. Avalon Emerson - Wastelands and Oases
2. Salvatore Stallone - Silvia Element 2°
3. Yves Tumor – Gospel For A New Century
4. Made To Dance - Naples De Janeiro
5. Oké - Ochosi Ayilodà
What was your album of the year?
Double Geography - The Indoor Gardener
And your rediscovered record of the year?
Motohiko Hamase – Technodrome
Favourite TV show?
La regina degli scacchi (The Queen's Gambit) (Netflix)
And what helped you get through 2020?
Love for Music.
Peace out. x. x.
