The time has arrived for my yearly Collected Best of Series. From collected, what I mean is personal "best of" lists are always subjective, therefore I request lists from producers and critics from all around the world to give a hand and to make a collaboration. This year's list has included very important names for me. Here are the names in alphabetical order:

Apparat - Sascha Ring
Ceylan
Deadbeat - Scott Monteith
De Phazz - Magnus
Guts - Henry Fabrice
Harun --zer
Metehan Çorumluo--lu - Style-IST
Misak Tunçboyac--
Porn Sword Tobacco - Henrik
Springintgut - Andreas
Sühan Gürer
Tac--m Aç--k
Tufan Demir

And now the list:

1) Burial - Untrue (Hyperdub)
2) Justice - Cross (Because)
3) Guts - Le Bienheureux (Wax On)
4) Radiohead - In Rainbows (XL/Equinox Music)
5) Deadbeat - Journeyman's Annual (Scape)
6) Battles - Mirrored (Warp)
7) Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (Merge)
8) Rufus Wainwright - Release The Stars (Geffen)
9) !!! - Myth Takes (Warp)
10) Dave Gahan - Hourglass (Virgin)
11) PJ Harvey - White Chalk (Island)
12) The White Stripes - Icky Thump (XL/Equinox Music)
13) Apparat - The Walls (Shitkatapult)
14) Beirut - The Flying Club Cup (Ba Da Bing)
15) LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver (DFA)
16) Susumu Yokota - Love Or Die (Skintone/Lo)
17) Jean-Jacques Perrey & Luke Vibert - Moog Acid (Lo)
18) Uusitalo - Karhunainen (Huume)
19) Mark Knopfler - Kill To Get Crimson (EMI)
20) Manu Chao - La Radiolina (Because)
21) Buckethead - Pepper's Ghost (Bucketheadland)
22) Modeselektor - Happy Birthday (Bpitch Control)
23) Odd Nosdam - Level Live Wires (Anticon)
24) Federico Aubele - Panamericana (Eighteenth Street)
25) Von Südenfed - Traumatic Reflexxions (Domino)
26) Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals - Lifeline (Virgin)
27) The Field - From Here We Go Sublime (Kompakt)
28) Bloc Party - A Weekend In The City (Wichita)
29) Fedayi Pacha - The 99 Names Of Dub (Hammerbass)
30) Cinematic Orchestra - Ma Fleur (Ninja Tune)

I should thank all the contributors again for this lovely list. I am totally proud of the outcome.

Suhan Gurer

Here is the interview I have done with the talented Guts who just released his new debut solo album "Le Bienheureux". It's great personally. Mostly advised.

Suhan - Hello Fabrice. You are a new name to us. Can you please explain where you are coming from and where you will take us in the future?

Guts - In first , I was a hip-hop DJ at the end of the 80's , I entered competitions as a DMC DJ ... After that I created a hip hop band called Alliance Ethnik that went on for 10 years. We made 2 albums. We worked in New-York with the producer and mixer Bob Power (Also producer for A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots, De La Soul, Common.....). So we made a big tune called "Respect With Vinia Mojica" and the album was a big success.We made a track with De La Soul, Common, Biz Markie, and Rahzel.
After this story , I worked for other French rappers with Kif Records in Paris for 5 years and since 2 years , I decided to work for myself and for the international scene. So I now found a new international family with WAX ON Records in Leeds and DJ Ease from Nightmare On Wax who lives like me in Ibiza now. And a new story is beginning !!!

                                                                                                                                                                                                       Suhan - I have received your promo from Wax On records and loved it. You have a similar sound to DJ Ease aka Nightmares On Wax. Can you tell about your influences?

Guts - In first , all the hip-hop culture influenced me. I grew up with this culture (Rap, Breakdance, DJing , Graphitti...). So all this hip-hop bands like Public Enemy, NWA, Beastie Boys, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, and Boogie Down Production influenced me and today yet !!!!
I only discovered Soul Music, Jazz, Rock, Pop and Raegge afterwards!!!  Now I listen all the music and electronic music too, like all my generation because the hip-hop of now is a little boring .... Now I'm influenced by a lot of alternative artists.

Suhan - Your album is extremely well organized and will be one of the best in its genre. How were your expectations and how are the reactions?

Guts - The reaction is very good in general. The album is out the 24th of September and the single "And The Living Is Easy " is played on BBC 1 in England and on the first radio in Germany and on the first radio in Australia. A lot of radios play the single track. We made concert in Ireland and Germany last week and the reaction was very good. We 're going to be in Turkey very soon for sure !!!

Suhan - Your album is a very sunny album. It has different moods all along, but the sun is always shining and this gives a refreshing feeling. Do you like the sun?

Guts - I can tell you that for me, I'm looking for all the time the sun like a flower. It gives me energy for the music I make. This way I travel to your mind and travel for real. Each track of my album is a part of your day or of your life.

Suhan - You have used guitar inan efficient way to influence romance in the album. I believe it is your favorite instrument.

Guts - Yes, the guitar is my favorite instrument and my favorite sound because there're so many different sound of the guitar. Each guitar has a different sound and for the romantic stuff, it's my personality and my vibe.

Suhan - "Nightmare On Paris" and "Sweet Love" are my favorite tracks. What is the history behind them?

Guts - " Nightmare On Paris " is because I love and I hate Paris in the same time. " Sweet Love " is because I prefer a sweet love on the beach than a love passion in the city.

Suhan - You perform as a DJ. What are your choices while playing and what kind of a performance should people expect?

Guts - When playing as a DJ, you have to be open-minded. So I play all the music I can listen in a day, it can be progressive and large. I play some Mash-ups I did, some tracks I re-worked or re-edited from other artists, very known tracks and in the same time some very nice underground tracks. And of course I scratch a little because i love that.
In concert, it's a little different because I use a Laptop, Ableton Live and turntable for sure.

Suhan - Can you tell me 5 albums or eps that you have recently adored?

Guts - CLASS OF 3000 vol 1 (OST), Justice - Cross, Outlines - Our Lives Are Too Short, Common - Finding Forever, and Dragonette - Galore.

I have some news concerning my Turkish content blog about album/ep reviews. First of all I've made two agreements, one with Equinox Music regarding the promotion of the albums that they distribute. The second agreement comes with Morr music which I will also promote their albums in Turkey. I am extremely happy in the faith they have and will continue supporting artists all around the world through my blog. I have also other projects which has already started, exclusive interviews with artists for the blog. I just hope that more albums are sold in Turkey and more distributors send their albums to Turkey so that we can access everything first hand.

Well I happily received my combi & camping tickets for the event. Pretty damn excited as well.

I was also hoping to have a go at the Dour Festival, but too much time between the two and I can't arrange it. Well, lets hope for next year.

Martin Gretschmann's solo project Console is now back with a new album named "Mono". The album has interesting characteristics as well. One of them is that the 5th track is produced by Brian Eno. The second characteristic is that 6 tracks from the album has appeared in Jorg Adolph's movie "Howelandt".

The album has very similar tendencies like the prior albums of Console. Quiet, peaceful, yet has ups and downs, more like a storytelling.

Console has been an important part of the electronic music scene and the high quality in their production has always remained above the limits. Clearly an album worth providing a space on our cd shelves.

A strong man who likes strong music. Well I truly don't know if he is really strong, but his music is for sure.

Also widely known with his project Electrochemie LK, Thomas Schumacher has been around the scene for quite some many years having released legendary titles during the time. His new album "Home" is also quite tempting in a way that it has new influences when considered with his prior works while combining these with his classical style.

Almost all titles are strong with a feeling of surrounding you from all sides while listening. They are full of energy and his view of techno is very positive. It's hard to find a negative feeling in the album.

The titles to check out are "Sleepy Hollow", "Metro", "Hiroo", "Redpurple" and "Take Leave". To be honest, I'm expecting the single of "Take Leave" with curiosity. By the way "Redpurple" ep is already on its way to the music store shelves. Check it out!

Gosub is a very talented name for the electronic music scene coming from Florida. He has a very old-skool style of production and he is showing signs of becoming an important name for this genre. His first Ep "Low Volume Lovers" was very successful and drew up a good amount of interest.

Gosub has released an Lp named "We Are Still Searching". The Lp includes 3 titles on both sides. It has small touches of old-skool electro, italidisco and the Hauge concept as the major influences. The third track on Side A is a short experimental Hip Hop that can be a nice try as well.

All tracks are very good and they show that they have been developed quite nicely. However my preference goes to two titles named "We Are Still Searching" and "Heartbreaker".

It's time to say another welcome to an album from the talented Dani Siciliano. From her first very successful debut album, she has placed herself very nicely as a producer and now with her album, she clearly states that she is her to stay and even amuze more people.

She has a jazz, blues, beats and classical influence in some of her songs. She has a talent to mix pop and electronic music quite nicely which shows itself in the first song "Slappers". 

It may also be right to say that Herbert has a positive influence in her production style. The samples she use and they was she uses has similarities. But she has her own touch to it and this makes the songs quite significant.

"Slappers", "Frozen", "Big Time", "Be My Producer" are fantastic titles to begin with and in the end, the album will be one of the successful albums of 2006.

Yesterday night we had a lovely Blues Brothers Band concert in Istanbul. Although Matt "Guitar" Murphy was sick and couldn't make it, the concert was as good as it gets.

A night full of blues, energy, fun and passion. Echoes production made a very good job in bringing the legendary band to Istanbul. It is also important that no harm was done to any cars during the concert which is very good when you consider it with the movies :)

In general, they played famous Blues Brothers Band songs that they have played all over the world and the crowd enjoyed it to the last minute. It is always a pleasure to have a Blues concert as Blues has been quite diminishing from the scene. There are only 2-3 serious Blues bands in Turkey and before the concert, they had a chance to give a shot to the willing audience as well. That was nice as they came out from the small bars they play and found themselves a good crowd to paint it all blue.

All in all, it's good to see them come back and we will always welcome them here anytime.

Everyone knows him from Radiohead. Now here he is with his solo album.

The album was released in July in London. NME noted that these songs were left overs from the radiohead albums. If they really are, I wonder how would the new Radiohead album would be.

Condering the album, there is no need to mention the influence of the vocals. Thom Yorke is a great vocal and he uses his voice upto its limit. However, what is new in this album is the electronic music background. There are several tracks like, Eraser, Analyse, The Clock, Harrowdown Hill that are truly great!

Thom Yorke seems to be looking to take over the crown of Richard Davis as the new prince of romantic electronic music. Well, his album clearly heads him that way. Certainly a work that must be bought and listened.