Featured Chart: James Zabiela

Featured Chart: James Zabiela

16 July, 2010 | 3.43AM

• Written by: Alex Hughes
• Filed under: Music News: charts, james zabiela

A few weeks ago, Radio Slave (aka Matt Edwards) emailed his monthly top 10 chart to friends and fans, but with a twist: it happened to be his third chart in as many weeks. By way of explaining the apparent excess, he wrote, “I really don’t see how DJs can only do just one chart every month! Do people only buy… 10 records a month? I’d like to see more playlists and weekly charts as I’m sure it would give a more balanced and true version of what DJs are playing rather than posting charts at the beginning of each month as really just a promotional tool for their label or productions (and yes I am guilty of this)”. Well said, Matt!

James Zabiela isn’t exactly known for posting charts on a monthly basis, much less weekly—a fact Zabiela himself acknowledges, titling his new one ‘Lazy JZ’s Yearly Chart’. (It’s true: his installments were in April 2009 and August 2008.) But perhaps he read Radio Slave’s mail, because his new top 10 is a shining example of a chart that’s more than a simple list of surefire hits, and there’s not a Zabiela cut in sight. Just 10 refreshingly different selections, at least a few of which are bound to turn even the most jaded trainspotter on to something new.

For four-to-the-floor, Zabiela goes from Berghain-grade techno (Robert Hood’s ‘Towns That Disappear’, off his new album ‘Omega’) to emotional, piano-led tech house (Tom Budden’s ‘The Deal’) to swooningly deep house (Tony Lionni’s ‘This Feeling’) to retro Italo-house (Diskokaine’s ‘Shame (Skatebard Remix)’). Om Unit and Adam Freeland take us into underwater breaks territory with a track that would slot beautifully into a doe-eyed dubstep set; that mood continues with Clubroot’s ‘Cherubs Cry’, a gorgeous tune that any fan of Burial should hear.

Vector Lovers bring classic IDM in a Black Dog style. Krazy Baldhead’s brand-new remix of Aufgang’s ‘Channel 7’ is a bleepy slice of electro that offers the illusion of speeding up, even though the tempo stays the same—props to Zabiela for pointing out a rather special tune many of us probably wouldn’t have heard, otherwise.

There’s even a bit of drum & bass on the menu, courtesy DJ Marky & S.P.Y.’s remix of Claude VonStroke’s jungle-influenced deep house cut ‘Aundy’. Zabiela finishes up with ‘Jamelia’, a sweet, yearning indie-pop jam off Caribou’s recent album ‘Swim’.

All told, it’s 10 wildly different tracks, each of which opens up into multiple avenues for further exploration. Hats off to James—here’s hoping that “Lazy JZ” doesn’t make us wait 12 months for his next chart.

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