Words by Lillian FlexMami Ahen
Another revolution around the sun means another wrap up on the best musical heaters the year had to offer.
Spanning from ghetto house, cloud rap and new disco, we’ve rounded up some of my favourite Australian DJ’s to spill the tea on their most-rinsed and much-loved heaters of 2016.
KIMCHI PRINCI
Kanye West – Real Friends
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUkV-U6_F_Q
While Kanye’s recent behaviour has sparked more controversy than concern, my attachment to this song has only grown stronger. It’s a throwback to a Kanye that’s poignant and bittersweet – an aftertaste of last summer – it’s also a song that pours emotion and karaoke solos onto the dance floor – as proven when I went B2B with Infinity Blade last weekend. And in times where people pitch shade like it’s a beach umbrella, you gotta ask, “How many of us?”
CAPTAIN FRANCO
Kent Jones – Don’t Mind
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n49qi-dU9IE
It’s rare when a rap track goes completely bonkers commercial and I’m genuinely happy about it. I think I played this on repeat for about a fortnight after hearing it. This was a rare exception, and even with the commercial success, I am not at all bored of it.
DJ LEVINS
Kanye West – Father I Stretch My Hands Pt. 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M5Wmp7FdZU
Let 2016 forever be remembered as the year I came back on board the Kanye train for the first time since 808s and Heartbreak. This song was my favourite, if only for the fact that it led to entire nightclubs full of people singing about bleached assholes.
MA$E
Rich The Kid – Grindin’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rOBXP90gcY
Tony Robbins may have ghostwritten this because it’s inspirational AF. This track has its own genre and I’m calling it ‘Positive Trap’. There no film clip for this song so here’s a YouTube video of a guy dancing to it in his bedroom.
$EAN’DON
Travi$ Scott – Outside ft. 21 Savage
ARVE Error: The Vimeo endpoint located at http://vimeo.com/api/oembed.json?url=http%3A//vimeo.com/184222273 returned a 404 error.
Details: Not Found
I couldn’t choose between the most savage XXL freshman – 21… 21… 21… Savage and no other than Travi$ Scott, who has pretty much taken over the world with only two albums under his belt. This song is one of the most underrated tracks off Travi$’s 2016 album Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight and I’m already frothing on his 3rd album AstroWorld dropping 2017! Hitthat.
EBONY BOADU
Kanye West – Famous
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7FCgw_GlWc
It was the first song I dropped in my first ever DJ set at the beginning of this year, and I feel like it encompasses all the genres that I love – turn up, R&B and dancehall!
CACHE ONE
Young Thug & Travis Scott – Pick Up The Phone ft. Quavo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZDinQ92OZQ
Three young rappers who were considered to be a ‘hard listen’ a few years back have made their way into the mainstream because of a track like this, huge. IT’S LIT.
AMBER AKILLA
Kamaiyah – How Does It Feel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42t0ij0wj-U
Shout out to cool chicks.
DAWS
D.R.A.M – Broccoli
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K44j-sb1SRY
It’s a low key banger but also gets the dfloor poppin’ early on because it’s upbeat and fun.
MIMI
Beyonce – Formation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDZJPJV__bQ
This track is peak Beyonce, the birth of a new Beyonce era, filled with iconic phrases and notably amazing dance moves.
GCOO
D.R.A.M – WiFi ft. Erykah Badu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36mgg9TeRcI
This has been an absolute pearler of a year for D.R.A.M and I could not be happier about it. Everything about him is so infectiously bubbly that he’s basically Berocca in human form, sent here to cure us from the lingering hangover that was 2016. A perfectly tongue-in-cheek ode to the 21st century dictionary definition of intimacy: gaining access to your new girl’s wifi password.
ASPARTAME
Young Thug & Travis Scott – Pick Up The Phone ft. Quavo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZDinQ92OZQ
A track so hot that it first dropped in the US summer and hasn’t left anyone’s stereo well into the Australian summer. A track so catchy that you remember and repeat every single last ad lib. A track so fun that every time it comes on in the club or at the party every single person starts dancing and singing along. A track so inspired that you’re now sworn to fidelity and living as a lawful citizen (“never will I cheat on you/never will I commit treason”).
BUSY
NoName – Bye Bye Baby
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlUa1H1_Kwk
Her debut album is too much greatness. Noname’s sound is so smooth, so beautiful, disjointedly melodic in the best way. Very keen to see what she does next year.
BABY MAMA
Princess Nokia – Brujas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUcAPCxrSQs
This track came through in the end of the year and it is symbolic of the blak sista witch power comin’ through internationally right now. Princess Nokia weaves her diaspora and indigenous roots with hip-hop. The heat of her pride and power comes through in lyrics like “Don’t fuck WITH MY ENERGY”. She commands her place as being in her own league as a bruja emcee and fierce leader for brown girls world wide. The beat feels dark and mystical as well as pushing into the tropical heat of her bloods ancestry to get the danceflooor moving every time. I think she’s exciting for her aesthetic, sound and deep cultural pride, she’s a shape-shifting bitch and I can’t wait to see what she brings next.
SEA BREEZE
Tornado Wallace – Trance Encounters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wLwqhd3Uak
Is that a refreshing southerly in my headphones? The crashing waves of Stawell Park, or Garie Beach perhaps? No, it’s the dusty plains of Australia calling my name via Tornado Wallace’s colossal ‘Trance Encounters’. Cutting through the tropics with a cosmic blend of heavy drums and ear-splitting synths, (favoured by the likes of DJ Harvey), it simultaneously screamed ‘sunrise at the after-after party’ and ‘road trip through the Royal National Park in 40 degree heat’, but mostly had me saying ‘GOOD MORNING 2016!’. Sea breeze AF.
INFINITY BLADE
Chance The Rapper – All Night ft. Knox Fortune
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkIUnRRH6l4
‘All Night’ is a peek into after hour drinks at choir practice, it’s an ode to the Vodka Cruiser drinker and with a chorus that is simply “all night I’ve been drinking all night I’ve been drinking all night I’ve been drinking ay ay” I couldn’t think of a better song to sum up the year or even start the new year to. This is a song to binge listen to.
JORDVN
Migos – Bad and Boujee feat. Lil Uzi Vert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-sJp1FfG7Q
I’m going to say ‘Bad & Boujee’ because it’s too hard to choose one from this year, and while I was trying to pick one, it got played in the club I was at and everyone went crazy. I think that’s a sign.
MILK
Blood Orange – Best To You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACinCwmWalY
Good dance music has to mix feeling. I’m a sucker for longing or sadness in lyrics combined with an upbeat or positive musical progression. Negative capability.
NICKLES
Chance The Rapper – No Problem ft. Lil Wayne, 2 Chainz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVkkYlQNmbc
Every time I hear the intro skit into this gem, I just can’t help but smile. It’s just such a fun tune. Really, what’s not to love?!
JHASSIC
Childish Gambino – Terrified
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIEgfEIdEag
Instant classic of an album, Awaken, My Love! is what we need right now and we don’t know it. Kind of like 808s and Heartbreaks. The fabric of the album has been woven with love, soul & devotion to musical eclecticism.
YO! MAFIA
Kaytranada – Lite Spots
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZnou4zthz4
I’m sure I’m not the only one that was blown away by the sounds that boomed out of my speakers when it first dropped. Bonus points to KAYTRA for sampling the absolutely head banging sounds of Brazilian babe Gal Costas ‘Pontos De Luz’ – a tune that dropped the year I was born, in 73. A winner winner chicken dinner for sure! I can’t wait for the gems of 2017!
FLEXMAMI
Sean Paul feat. Tory Lanez – Tek Weh Yuh Heart
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWxXdGgDIO0
I love a track that invokes thirst and emotion through sonic narrative. My game changed as soon as I heard this one.
SOFT HANDS
QUAY DASH – Shades On Top Down (Prod. Hongsamman)
This track is the most house-y on the EP making it great to mix because its super vibey and gets you dancing while QUAY DASH delivers some powerful rap. Her old school 90s style rap is a vessel to express Ms. Dash’s daily experiences in a transphobic world.
DENZEL STERLING
Yung Lean – Miami Ultras
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN0IuqgC3N8
Purely because it was the one track from his album that really opened up his sonic palette and solidified Lean as an ‘artist’. It also made people realise that theres a little more depth to his lyrics & him as a person.
SORTAGOTH
WHIPPED CREAM – Suffocate
‘Suffocate’ was totally unexpected and it grabbed me immediately. It’s a new, darker sound for WHIPPED CREAM, and it creeps up on you before it becomes a 170bpm banger. It’s so fun to play when you’re already at the peak of your set. No one’s ready for it.
DONATACHI
Carly Rae Jepsen & Danny L Harle – Super Natural
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrFcxR4Y6C0
One of the few bright spots of 2016 was this banger. In a year where we were locked out of clubs and when simply having somewhere to rest our weary heads seemed unobtainable, she provided comfort (SHE LITERALLY BUYS A HOUSE IN THE VIDEO) and reminded us of the sweet rush that pop brings. For 3m43s Carly can make you forget impending doom that 2016 hath wrought. Queen of Impeding Existential Dread! Queen of Transforming Casual Open Houses to Surrealist Raves! Queen of Pop.
RAP SIMONS
Scam – Remember My Name
I remember coming home from a particularly underwhelming hip-hop night then getting high and listening to this song on repeat. It’s truly one of the most beautiful tracks this year.
VENUS
Ducky – Work
Rotated highly on my personal iTunes and in sets, this track is the one. First off, any one of its lines could be a very empowered Instagram caption. Secon,d the track itself is so perfectly produced, not too much, not too minimal. Thirdly, smart lil’ Ducky released the vocal stems so there’s a millions quality remixes of this ace track. Basically it’s an amazing earworm of a dance track and it made my year.
KRITTY
Ducky – Work
An anthem for all the girls getting their life at work, a club heater guaranteed to get everyone on the d-floor hype and most definitely my most played track of the year. Ducky kind of single handedly brought happy hardcore back into my life and I couldn’t be more grateful. Also shout out to all the remixers who put a donk on it to give it some extra spice.
BODY PROMISE
Lafwandah – All That She Wants
Lafawndah’s darker take of the Ace of Base track from the early 90s reads as a bit of a checklist of our favourite things. The production is beautifully sparse, and it’s great to hear something that does so much with so few elements. It’s all in the tiny details that keep it consistently exciting all the way through. The percussion patterns change seamlessly so many times throughout without dropping the groove, and we’re suckers for some big tuned toms. Lafawndah’s vocals are restrained but powerful and the harmonies are absolutely killer.
