Best of 2008: still doing work

Urb.com asked me to pen out a “best of 2008″ list for the website and so here it is… The top 10 songs from 2007 that were still putting in work in 2008. This list is definitely dance-centric and I am sure a few of these tunes will still be getting a good spin in 2009. Anyway, here we go….

10. Shake it to the Ground - Rye Rye & Blaqstarr
Rye Rye hooked us in 2007 with some infectious lyrics and remixes by everyone from Claude VonStroke, Detboi, Switch and others kept this one moving right into 2008. My personal favorite came from Pistol Pete with a slow roller thats a bit electro and a bit Baltimore.

9. Hold On - Holy Ghost!
Ah cosmic disco, spacey disco, nu-disco… call it whatever you like but it was a hard pressed trend this year which - at least here in NYC - never really got any mainstream love. Holy Ghost! really kicked things off with this one last year and it’s still getting play with recent remixes by the UK’s Mock & Toof.

8. Ready For The Floor - Hot Chip
“Do it do it do it now…” so goes the followed smash to “over and over and over and over and over…” It seems the Hot Chip boys have found magic in the repetitive chorus. Ready for the Floor killed all year long keeping these electropop wonder-kids on the clubland radar for 3+ years straight.

7. Rihanna - Umbrella
A little top 40 in the countdown as Rihanna was a force to be reckoned with for the first half of 2008. This may be up there with one of the most covered tunes of 2008 as well with reworks popping up by Manic Street Preachers, Passenger, and even Mandy Moore.

6. Fancy Footwork / Tenderoni - Chromeo
Take you pick on this one. P-Thugg and Dave 1 were an unstoppable funk beast in 2008 bringing a solid groove to the world of electro.

5. Cross the Dancefloor - Treasure Fingers
In a year when everyone wanted to be Daft Punk (again), Treasure Fingers cured my filtered-house its with this bounce electro jam. But it was Laidback Luke’s remix that blew things up on an international level. This one still gets a great response every time I hear it.

4. Good Life / Stronger - Kanye West
As 2009 is ushered in by the whiny auto-tune of 808s and Heartbreak, I’m reminded of what a great album Graduation was. Both Good Life and Stronger are still mainstays on the weekends.

3. D.A.N.C.E. - Justice
Justice are an unstoppable force. So much so that they could release a CD/DVD this year of the same material as last year and the blogs will still go crazy for it. Must be those giant Marshall stacks they carry around with them to the shows…

2. Steve Angello & Laidback Luke - Be
Dancefloor killer from the midtown clubs to the Williamsburg bars and all points in between. Be reminded us just how good “Show Me Love” really was.

1. M.I.A. - Paper Planes
Just when you think this song is done, someone flips it, kills it, and it’s back again. Whether it was LAZRtag’s electro rework, Scottie B’s Baltimore Club version, or T.I.’s resampling for “Swagger Like Us”… Paper Planes was is everywhere and not ending any time soon.

Honorable Mention:
Cut Copy - Hearts on Fire
Claude Von Stroke - The Whistler
50 Cent - I Get Money