i keep dancing on my own

this was an awesome summer for dance-pop. really, the whole year has probably been the best, quantity+quality-wise, since 2006, which might have been the last year i was excited about dance-pop on a large scale (the year of paris, etc.) even if there was sort of a dearth of bona-fide massive summer jams – which i define as massive enough to penetrate the consciousness of my relatively pop-averse friends (katy perry came close, i guess. rihanna, the erstwhile queen of summer, got her smash on in the springtime, rudely enough.)

sadly, though, there didn't seem to be all that much actual dancing, at least in my world. save for a couple-few transcendent daytime dining-room get-down sessions to Lazerproof. there was a pretty promising start to the summer with the /\/\ /\ Y /\ release party (once we made it through the album, that is.) and I did see LCD in NYC, and The Rapture at Making Time. but then La Roux had to go and cancel their tour... at least Robyn and Kelis came through – and how! though, again, i went by myself. i think i only dj'd that one real party all summer, too (heat activated.)

but, at least i made this mix, pretty casually, and it is, i think, pretty close to phenomenal – little credit to me, but to our faithful friends the pop pros, who cranking out jams on all fronts. still, what's a summer jam without a pool-party posse to share it with?

sort of a fabricated document, then, of a summer of fun that never exactly was. maybe the problem is that i made the mix on cd. and who listened to cds in the summer of 2010?

title: Froth of July
date: July 2010
format: cd-r; daydream

1. The Spell – Alphabeat
2. Shampain – Marina and the Diamonds
3. Nothing on You – B.o.B ft. Bruno Mars [Villains Remix]
4. You've Changed – Sia
5. XXXO – M.I.A. ft. Jay-Z [Fulton Yard/Waltboogie Remix]
6. In Ruins - Fol Chen
7. All The Lovers – Kylie Minogue
8. Seasun – Delorean
9. Swoon – Chemical Brothers [Don Diablo Remix]
10. One – Sky Ferreira
11. Drunk Girls – LCD Soundsystem [Holy Ghost! Remix]
12. Come With Me – ceo
13. 4th of July (Fireworks) – Kelis
14. Take That – Wiley & Chew Fu
15. Push It Fembot – Robyn vs. Salt 'n' Pepa [A Rokk Pie N Mashup]
16. Daydreaming – Kid Sister [Telephoned Dreams Version]
17. Wile Out – DJ Zinc Ft. Ms Dynamite
18. Tenderoni – Kele [Ryan Hervé Re-Fix]
19. Dan – Grovesnor
20. Independent Kill – La Roux & Major Lazer ft. Candi Redd
21. Dancing On My Own – Robyn [Jakwob Remix]

quasi-mixed – that is, sequenced and edited for reasonably beat-smooth transitions in most places, but no actual dj tweaking. this ranges pretty far over the map, geographically, stylistically, all across the indie-mainstream divide and back. (what divide you say?)

notable omissions (cut out for space reasons only): Ke$ha, Katy Perry, Big Boi, Goldfrapp (i still haven't really gotten into Head First, though i feel like it should really be up my alley...still, the first two tracks are lovely in that frothy way), Hot Chip (was still rocking One Life Stand hard at this point, though it had been out for a pretty long time.) and the Scissor Sisters album hadn't even come out yet.

the Alphabeat feels a bit like a throwaway intro (though i do love that song in the context of its album...which for whatever reason hasn't quite stuck with me the way i thought it would.) Kid Sister probably wouldn't have made it (that's a 2010 remix, i think, of a 2009 track) except i had just written her up for CP and had belatedly realized that it's a pretty darn sweet album (though that remix may not be too representative.) likewise, the Delorean, which i love, is a belatedly-discovered favorite from their 2009 ep which is sadly better than anything on their (generally quite good) 2010 album. otherwise, the vast majority of these are still solid favorites, some surprisingly so (Marina; Fol Chen.)

the real question is whether i'm going to reuse/recycle many of these for year-end mix, so that this will end up feeling like scrap fodder for that, or whether i'll try to keep this as a strong separate entity. time will tell...