Best of 2023 | Best albums | Best songs | Irish albums | Best Of Podcasts | Guest lists |
Kelly-Anne Byrne is a soul and disco-loving DJ queen whose you can finding DJing around Dublin. Kelly-Anne plays Lumo Club on December 16th and NYE with Annie Mac’s Before Midnight too. Kelly-Anne’s adio show The Beat Goes On broadcasts on NYC’s The Face Radio every Friday GMT from 7pm to 9pm.
See all Guestlist of 2023 choices.
See Kelly-Anne’s lists from 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016.
10.
Jessie Ware
Hello Love
Jessie Ware can do no wrong, I saw her at All Together Now and she blew me away. This song, taken from her latest album, That! Feels Good! is so beautiful, it sounds like a Three Degrees number. I just love her voice and the lyrics about bumping into an old flame and realising the spark is still there.
9.
Amy Douglas
Freak At Night
Produced by Jkriv, I love the 80s feel of this track. Add Amy Douglas’s passionate vocals (one of the greatest in dance music) and the result is gold. Whenever I play this, the dancefloor goes wild.
8.
Quantic, Andreya Triana
Brooklyn Heat
This song opens subtly with a delicate piano riff and Andreya Triana’s beautiful voice only to build into a powerful, gospel-tinged dance record. It’s one of the many gems on Quantic’s new album, Dancing While Falling, it was so hard for me to pick a favourite track because the album doesn’t drop the ball once.
7.
Dames Brown
Glory feat. Wajeed (Floorplan Remix)
This is such a groove, a powerful gospel track given extra flavour with Floorplan’s remix. This will always remind me of summer 2023 when I had just returned from living in New York. I played it at every festival set, but I’ll never forget the response to it at All Together Now. The lyrics are about perseverance and keeping going because one day you will eventually get there; I will forever hold the memory of the crowd singing the words back to me under golden sunlight.
6.
Izo Fitzroy
God Gets a Little Busy Sometimes (Colleen Cosmo Murphy Remix)
A belter of a song, this is a track I’ve played repeatedly on my radio show from first listen. Izo Fitzroy’s soulful voice set to Colleen Cosmo’s slick production takes the track up a notch from the brilliant original.
5.
AC Soul Symphony, Dave Lee
It’s Got to Be Love
This gorgeous song, taken from AC Soul Symphony’s (AKA Dave Lee) new album Metamorphosis, embodies everything that is wonderful about disco music: a spectacular vocal, uplifting beat, alluring strings, and romantic lyrics. Reminiscent of MFSB, Earth, Wind & Fire and Salsoul Orchestra, I love the cinematic feel of the album and when I listen to it, it conjures up images in my mind of New York City. Recorded with a live orchestra, I think it’s Dave Lee’s best work.
4.
Gabriels
Glory
A stomper of a soul song, with an outstanding vocal from Jacob Lusk, this euphoric track reminds me of so many great Northern Soul records. I really hope Gabriels come to Dublin, the clip of them singing this on Jools Holland is note perfect, they are one of my favourite bands and I genuinely think Lusk has one of the best voices around.
3.
Grian Chatten
Bob’s Casino
Oh, the beauty of this track, it makes me want to skip into the sunset! I adore Grian’s solo record, Chaos for The Fly, and this is one of the stand-out songs for me. I love the jazzy melody and the contrast between Grian’s sombre tone and Georgie Jesson’s sweet vocals. For me, it recalls the uplifting music of Burt Bacharach.
2.
Sampha
Jonathan L. Seagull
This song blew my mind when I first listened to it, as did Sampha’s new album Lahai; what an extraordinary talent he is. I love the gospel choir at the beginning and the lyrics, which for me appear to be about empathy, ‘even though we’ve been through the same, doesn’t always mean we feel the same, doesn’t always mean we heal the same’, the way I read those words is that we all go through stuff but we might not react or process things in the same manner, but in the end, we are all human and it’s about putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. Musically, this track is as good as any on some of Stevie Wonder’s finest albums.
1.
Róisín Murphy
Free Will
Taken from her exceptional latest album, Hit Parade, this is a track on repeat at my house. I genuinely think it’s one of the best songs I’ve ever heard. Produced by DJ Koze, I find something different musically every time I listen to it; it’s a masterclass in (spontaneous) production.
Róisín’s voice is vulnerable throughout as she questions the notion of free will, there’s something slightly melancholic about the beginning, I could picture her singing at a grand piano in an old black and white movie. Róisín’s vocal and the song build and build so that by the end, there’s a sense of hope and optimism. I love this track because it sparks my imagination.
Best of 2023 | Best albums | Best songs | Irish albums | Best Of Podcasts | Guest lists |
