13 tunes from 2006 that still sound banging today

Hard-to-shake vocal hooks in Skepta tunes are a given, right? But way before the MC conquered the world and had North Face-clad middle class kids screaming the lyrics to 'That's Not Me' and 'Shutdown', there was one that really was hard to shift. "Wedididid, wedididid, wedididid, doin' it again," MC Creed growls in between verses from Skepta, JME, Jammer, Wiley, Bossman Birdie, Footsie, Bear Man and Trim on 'Duppy'. An anthem for the bling-bling, shades-in-the-club era of Boy Better Know, it became an instant classic for DJ EZ who included it on 'Pure Garage <<Rewind<< Back To The Old Skool' just a year after its release. 10 years on, we still can't get that fucking hook out of our head!

If one act defined 2006 and its surrounding years then it's Justice, hands down. The French duo exploded out of nowhere and they typified the sound that was dominating dance music. Electro was in full flow and the likes of Boys Noize, Digitalism and Mr Oizo were firing out razor-sharp bangers that offered little respite and breathless pace. Ed Banger Records was a few years into it's domination and although Justice's first album 'Cross' didn't arrive till 2007, they teased its release with a series of singles. The utterly venomous 'Waters Of Nazareth dropped in 2005 but the remix EP came out a year later and that's when it really flew. Erol Alkan's Durrr Durrr Durrrrrr Re-Edit epitomises everything that was so fun and care-free about the electroclash era. He chopped up the barb-wire synths, scattered the drums about and made those cymbals thrash like a pilled-up heavy metal mosher who's watching Megadeth. Whenever it was dropped, it caused havoc and it symbolised the rock-style anarchy and rebellion that the electro surge felt like it was representing.

Dark, brooding, side-winding and full of attitude. It's rare that a track that's reached its tenth birthday still retains the bite and bark it had when it first emerged but Matthew Dear's 'Mouth To Mouth' under his Audion guise is still as gnarly as ever. Back around the time it got released, its techno counterparts came in the form of cuts by Klock, Villalobos and Gabriel Ananda, where things were decidedly minimal. 'Mouth To Mouth' embraces the 10-minute plus runtime and just rolls with it. It never feels long, it feels just right, and its defining feature is it's rigorous, growling riff that eventually explodes. It creeps up on you as if you were be being followed by an ominous character and it's one of the most effective builds that's ever been conceived. Once you hear it in a club, that's it, you're done, it takes hold of you, chews you up and spits you out and it's fucking glorious.