2010 : Heroes of the year Number 13

This September saw the end of the legendary Mary Anne Hobbs rein at Radio 1.  Looking back at what on wrote on the day it seems a bit harsh now so sorry if anyone was put out by it! Below are the heroes she brought in for the guest mixes on here final shows, with the most fitting finale of Burial and Kode9.

First published in full 8.9.10 here

Tonight marks the end of Mary Anne Hobbs show on Radio One. Don't get me wrong - I am a big fan and any criticisms I'm about to make must be balanced out with the fact that over the years she has introduced me to hundreds of great tracks I would never have heard anywhere else, especially in the years before the internet when I taped her show religiously.

I know her legacy will be for breaking dubstep to the masses and I guess that's definitely justified but to me there was a lot more to her shows than that - both for the better and worse. I don't really want this to be negative really so I'll keep this bit brief but, to me, she did have a few years lost in the wilderness after big beat died but before dark garage / dubstep came along. Some of the stuff she played and guests booked sort of from '99 to maybe even as late as '03 were either questionable (Sister Bliss and Faithless?) or instantly forgettable (hmmm..... nope, it's gone). 

Some of my favourite memories are the night Roni Size made a new track live out of samples listeners phoned in (I tell you, kids don't know they're born these days!), The Wall Of Sound birthday parties (I think 5th and 6th - certainly when Jon Carter just took over proceedings), how much Mary Anne would go all school-girly whenever Richard Fearless of Death In Vegas came in,  the night Suicide came back, the time she went on holiday and David Holmes and Portishead took over for a couple of weeks (this was when the show was still 4 nights a week), Steinski and Plus 1 back to back turntablism, the Tim Burgess set (if anyone has this mp3ed, drop me a note - its a classic in this household) but perhaps best of all - the fact you had to get the tracklists on Ceefax! (God, the kids these days etc etc...). I'm trying to think of mistakes / things going wrong / guests not showing up type tales but I must have forgotten anything like that over the years. 

Roska  

Girl Unit  

Skream 

Shackleton 

Deadboy  

Digital Mystikz  

Burial & Kode9

2010 : Heroes of the year Number 16

Another act who, by only really producing one remix, one lp and one single but kept them spread over the year, meant they were never too far away from the front of the box. 


Grace Jones - Live You To Life (Digital Mystikz Remix) 
Return II Space 
Education 

Anyone worried that this list is so far looking a bit safe and predictable and filled with very established artists - hold tight for next week. There's some gems coming up; new artists and labels (plus one or two legends still) who have been turning things on their head this year and who don't always get enough spotlight that I think they should so I'll hopefully be trying to rectify that with some longer pieces on those people.

Round up

Just a bit of a round up from the last few weeks. I think all the good new tracks I have been listening to have already been heavily blogged so I don't really want to spend too long or what you probably already should be very familiar with. But incase you have been hiding away trying to deny it is Winter or something and completely missed them, you need to check out Rustie, Flying Lotus and Dobie's latest.

There have been two more Songs of Praise shows on spaceinvader fm which can still be played again here and here. From the first I think the track which got the most attention was the Digital Mystikz one, and from the show last Sunday, I think one or two people were surprised by the inclusion of a Chris Rea Christmas classic.

One final bit of news, me and Colin have finally sorted out the list for the end of year show so I can start putting my own favourites up on here now, so that will start in the next few posts over the coming days.

Downloads: 
Digital Mystikz - Pathways 
Chris Rea - Driving Home