What Were The Best Dance Tunes Of The '00s? The DJ Experts Decide

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Mylo - Drop The Pressure

I first heard this at London's legendary '00s club night, Trash, being played by Erol Alkan (of course). I ran onto the floor as soon as I heard the vocoder "motherfuckers" line and was entranced for the entire song. He then proceeded to play it again a bit later by which time I was seduced by it simultaneously being complex AND its simplicity at the same time. Genius! A funky arse bassline and a simple phrase over and over again until THAT wonderful euphoria-inducing pressure release from the build section in the middle of the song. All class Mylo, all class. This was a huge influence on future Tonite Only productions.

KID KENOBI

Plump DJs - Scram

One of my faves would have to be Scram by Plump DJ’s. That was a real game changer for me. I remember Justin Rushmore from Soul Of Man (who ran the Plumps label) telling us he had the new Plumps record and was going to play it at Home Nightclub whilst on tour in 2002 (on white label record). "How will we know when we hear it?" we asked. "Oh you’ll know!", he replied. And we did. It blew our minds and we just lost it on the dancefloor for the whole track. It was such a thrill in those days, pre-digital era, to be in a club hearing new music for the very first time, with no other way to hear it other than right there, right then. They were life changing moments!

JOHN COURSE

Dirty South Vs Evermore - It's Too Late

The “electro” house thing happened in Australia, in particularly Sydney and Melbourne, almost before anywhere else in the world and this was one of the first tracks to represent that explosion globally. Evermore had already had a hit with this track before our then Vicious-signed artist Dirty South mashed up this version. He played it for the first time at a party in Melbourne that I was running with Grant Smiley (on Cup Eve)… I was like “WTF is that version?" Two months later, Smiley played it as his last song before Pete Tong at Summerdayze in Melbourne to 25,000 plus clubbers at the Myer Music Bowl. Pete’s reaction was “WTF is that?” after watching the New Year’s Day crowd lose their shit right in front of him to a track he’d never heard before! It was just instant. A week later Pete dropped it on his Radio One show out of the UK and told the story of it going off… he added it as his “Essential Selection” and it was off and running globally. A huge tune at the time, as a party track, but also in influencing and taking the tougher electro sounds from Australia to the world.

KATE MUNROE

The Shapeshifters - Lola’s Theme

My hands-down best track of the 2000s would have to be Lola’s Theme. I remember buying it at Rhythm & Soul Records in Melbourne. I was down there for some gigs and six copies of it came into Australia on white label before it was picked up by Positiva. I played it for the first time the following day in Sydney at a Sunday I was running called Milk & 2 Sugars, from the first play it was obvious that The Shapeshifters had made something EPIC out of Johnnie Taylor's R&B hit of 1982, What About My Love. The crowd just immediately got it and LOVED it. The rest is History.

GOODWILL

Bob Sinclar - World Hold On

My favourite classic from this era by a country mile is Bob Sinclar - World Hold On. It reminds me of all the amazing club nights in Australia and very late nights at Pacha in Ibiza. I closed my sets with this record for a couple of years until everyone was sick to death of it. I’m selfish like that sometimes.

IVAN GOUGH (TV ROCK)

The Killers – Mr Brightside (This White Duke Remix)

My track would be Mr Brightside by The Killers (Thin White Duke Remix). Stuart Price (Thin White Duke) was already on everyone’s radar thanks to some big tracks like Jacques Your Body (Make Me Sweat). The minute this remix was released I knew it was a must play. In my opinion it was better than The Killers’ original and is still played today.

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