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

FreeNYC and our partner in “freesumerism,” MyOpenBar.com, got a lovely nod in today’s edition of the Metro:

With the economy as it is, there’s a solid percentage of people whose weekend plans are now limited to boxed wine and broadcast television. Take heart, cash-strapped metropolitans! While New York is one of the most expensive cities in the world, it’s also one of the best places to get everything for free: art exhibits, lectures, screenings, hell — even booze.

There’s a nice little quote from me in the article – written at 11pm in a Howard Johnson’s in Alaska with terrible jet lab – about how we’re all perpetually broke but I’m really loving Seva’s nod to the rising trend of “Freesumerism.” Wired printed a great article on the topic (read: Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business) back in February and it’s still quite relevant. So I pose the question… could the freesumer be the new freegan? All that financial restraint only without the dumpster diving and day-old Starbucks muffins? You tell me.

View the article | Read the entire article

There was some nice love for our FreeNYC project in the New York Times this weekend as part of their “Frugal New York” article:

We, however, were. By scouring Time Out New York and New York Magazine, as well as FreeNYC.net and ClubFreeTime.com, I’d found dozens of enticing no-cost events. At 2 p.m. was a tour of Central Park’s Belvedere Castle. At 3, “Romeo and Juliet” on West 55th Street. At 5, Circus Amok in Washington Square Park; at 7:30, Calo Flamenco in East Harlem. Whenever we wanted, we could catch the ferry to Governors Island for the art show. The city was taunting us with impossible itineraries.

I’ve recently been asked to blog for the new bi-continental coolness barometer, Metrotwin.com. Created by the good folks over at British Airways, the site looks to find parallells between London and NYC through a concept called “twinning.” There’s a brief interview on their site if you’re at all interested and here’s an excerpt that shines some light on one of the more frequently asked FreeNYC questions…

FreeNYC was born from a realization that will sound familiar to many of us: no matter how much money you earn, you’re always broke. Chris started the blog in 2001 with the aim of providing citizens with a daily dose of culture that promises not to break the bank: “from bars and booty shakin’ good times to museums, performances and gallery openings.” He does it on the side - in real life he runs a cool design studio called Defined By Media. FreeNYC is clearly a ‘calling’ for Chris, not a job.

I’ll be writing as both Defined by Media (for non free coolness) and FreeNYC so be sure to check the site out for some interesting perspectives from fellow bloggers such as Not For Tourist, NYC Nosh, and others.

I had a chance to catch up with the people over at Cool in Your Code this week for a brief interview on all things FreeNYC. If you don’t know, CIYC is an amazing show on NY1 that explores New York City zip code by zip code.

The word “free” is hardly one most associated with New York City. But as two of its denizens are happy to point out – low cost entertainment can be found in many zip codes. That’s why two New School students launched FreeNYC, to let New Yorkers know that there’s more to this fine city than budget busting cab rides and absurdly priced lattes. In fact, there’s an endless array of events & activities that can be enjoyed FREE OF CHARGE! But don’t take our word for it, check out what FreeNYC publisher Christopher Lehault and editor Lindsay Udo have to say about their incredibly cost efficient blog.

If you’ve every wanted the full story behind FreeNYC and how it all came together then click here to read the article.

FreeNYC is sitting pretty as number seven on the Guardians “Top Ten Things to do for Free in NYC” list this week:

If the other freebie sites don’t come up with the goods, FreeNYC should offer something to please. Their daily directory of clubs, gigs, poetry and readings, all without cover charges, is a New York hipster staple - and, again, the choice is remarkably good. As with much of the local online community, the writers seem remarkably clued up, but have a few clear favourites including Lower East Side haunts Pianos, Darkroom, and the 205 Club. If you want to guarantee a crowd, Going New York runs a decent a freebie tag, including a function whereby readers can express whether they “like it” or not.

Click here to read the whole article.