Skruff's Top 10 Singles of 2004

1. Justice v Simian: Never Be Alone
"Never Be Alone has become an end-of-the night anthem at our club in London: great for an exuberant sing-a-long before everyone goes home."

Writing on website dustedmagazine.com in September electro-tech type Ewan Pearson admitted that he knew nothing about Justice v Simian's fantastic single Never Be Alone, beyond the fact it's a remix by a French duo of a track by UK band Simian, but he was certainly right about the song's anthemic qualities. Tuneful, pumping and fabulously funky, its sing-a-long strap line makes the track immediately engaging and incredibly catchy, a rare achievement in the sea of weekly dance music releases.

DJ Hell's Gigolo released the track though curiously said little about it beyond its release date, but it's certainly the best record they've released all year and a serious contender for tune of the year. A merciless killer!


2. Felix Da Housecat Versus Sasha: Watching Cars Go By
The original (and best) version of Watching Cars Go By first appeared as the soundtrack to a Motorola TV ad in which Felix Da house cat appeared earlier this year, then next popped up on Armand Van Helden's comeback mix compilation, in which the New Yorker claimed to embrace rock. British prog god Sasha also created his own highly twisted rock/ house version of the track and stuck it on his own Expander compilation some months back, and now three versions are released individually (though confusingly not altogether).

In the UK, Sasha's mix is backed with a new version by Van Helden and interestingly, it's Sasha not Van Helden who takes the cutting edge. For all his recent talk slating house music, Van Helden's reverted to the tired old formula he prospered with so dramatically on Tori Amos' Professional Widow, and he even foolishly ditches the original's best elements, namely its sleazy fuzzy guitar riffs. Sasha, however, has kept Felix's guitar parts and skewed them to create a pounding, high energy electro rock monster, that works superbly on the dance floor (if less so on the stereo at home).

The best mix, however, remains the original, with Felix delivering a song based electro (clash) anthem that's as good if not better than his 1999 crossover club classic Silver Screen Shower Scene.

3. Kelis: Trick Me (Tiefschwarz Special Trick Remix)
With The Cure and Morrissey recently enjoying mainstream media recognition beyond anything they received at their creative peaks, it's a racing certainty that Depeche Mode's new album of retrospective remixes will bring them much the same, though unlike their alternative 80s contemporaries, their next chapter will be centred on the dance floor.

Because just as electro (clash) DJs have been rediscovering original remixes of gems like Behind the Wheel and Question Of Time, the band themselves have been re-commissioning a series of timely new versions, and significantly, been delivered new versions of classics that are even better. Not least Black Strobe's remix of 'Something To Do', which maintains the vocal and melodic integrity of the original but adds a thumping, high energy killer of a baseline.

Sounding both retro and simultaneously new it's already been rocking dance floors like Nag Nag Nag's, as are Timo Mass and Ewan Pearson's similarly energised takes on Enjoy The Silence, ensuring both tracks' suitability for dance floors far and wide.

As their millions of diehard fans have long recognised, Depeche Mode are one the world's greatest rock bands, full stop, and with these remixes and a whole host of others coming, their time for crossover mainstream recognition must surely have come.

4. Bucci Bag: More Lemonade
Bucci Bag is the latest alter ego of Italo-Brit uber-producer Dino Lenny, who first coined the term last year as the title for a single mocking fake trendy clubbers wearing equally fake designer gear (the one about flying in from LA narrated by an odd American voice).

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