Once again it is that time of year when every Tom, Dick and Harry and their respectively mangy canines, in an effort to avoid the inescapably ubiquitous self-similar, holiday-season, ear-canal-clogging drivel, reminisce about the better sounding days of the passing year.

So being no stranger to social pressures, I pause and look around ce bordel, and present the morsels that moved and grooved me in 2004...

Top albums/compilations acquired:

• Sidestepper, 3AM (In Beats We Trust) (Palm Beats)
• Studio One Story (Soul Jazz)
• Favela Chic, Postonove 3
• Lágbájá, We Before Me (Indigedisc)
• Haiku D'Etat, Coup de Theatre (Decon/Project Blowed Recordings)
• Remixes From Moffou Salif Keita (Universal France)
• Djelimoussa Cissoko, Mali Kora (Culture Press)
• Henri Guédon, O Universo Rítmico de Guem (Som da Gente)
• Various Naija Jams

Best Shows:

• Jeff Mills, Luomo, Michael Mayer, JojoFlores & Wumni @ WMC Miami, March
• Frivolous, Krikor, Fax, Isolée, Noto & Junior Boys @ Mutek, Montréal, June
• Joe Cluassell @ End Up, San Francisco, Labour Day Weekend
• Broker/Dealer @ Rx Gallery, San Francisco, November
• Swayzak @ Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco, December

Other goodies, not necessarily new to this year

• T. Raumschmiere, “Zartbitter” (Shitkatapult)
• Abida Parween, “Koo-bab-koo phail gai (Ghazal - Parween Shakir)”
• Yayi Kanoute, “Djugu Magni”
• Sidestepper, “Donde Va Mi Corazon”
• Juan Luis Guerra & 440, “El Niágara en Bicicleta”
• Andreas Fragel - “Icon ( C.U.T. Remix )” (Traum)
• Luomo - “What's Good (Adjuster Rmx)” (ForceTracks)
• Ruoho Ruotsi - “Vrng Sqrd ( Igor O. Vlasov Mix )” (de'fchild)
• Jonas Bering, “Normandie 1” (Kompakt)
• Willie Williams (w/ The All Stars), “Addis Ababa”
• Eastern Dub Tactik, “Set Your Soul on Fire”
• Ja-Man All Stars, “Herb Cutter”
• Sub Oslo, “Prisoner of Dub”
• Phase Selector, “Warrior Style”
• Canta Paula Ribas, “Monami Zeca (Tonito)”
• Grey Larsen & André Marchand, “Who Will Help Me through the Woods?”
• Oreja, “Manana por la Manana” (Papa Records)
• Hollis P. Monroe vs Etta James, “This Is Goodbye (Deep)”