J.Phlip selects 10 hard-hitting track favourites ahead of 2018

Midwestern native J.Phlip is a Dirtybird staple by way of Chicago and San Francisco known for her no-nonsense ability to make a dance floor move to her bold and booty-shaking selections. Next, she's set to grace the decks at Minimal Effort's upcoming New Year's Eve celebration in Los Angeles.

At heart a crate digger and an unabashed, hard-working curator, J.Phlip has shared 10 of her top must-have records and stories behind why the tracks captured her ear. Take a spin below and get ready for Minimal Effort... and 2018!

"A damn good 4/4 acid track featuring some of dance music’s favorite classic drum machines - rolling out a groove made for moving bodies. This record is on a similar tip with the LA-4A sound. It’s exactly what I’m always looking for more of, because I can’t seem to find enough of this sound done just right."

"I had to speed this one up a bit to fit in my sets. Another acid bass track that builds up to a noisy weird “wall of acid” peak moment and strays in various ways from the standard house music grid. Tricky."

"The biggest acid, acid, acid gem of a song I’ve heard in a long time. LA-4A is my hero. I just want to run out on the dance floor and headbang and freak my body all over to this gritty, downright filthy, bass line until I’ve sweat out so many toxins and my makeup is melted. Then I can finally go home smelling like a dirty raver."

"I sit here listening to these tunes trying to think of what to say about them, and its weird, I’m not a word person. Mr. G makes such wonderful dance floor tracks that will never go out of style. This tune is just a straightforward, smooth and repetitive deep-ish house track - words that may paint “boring as f*ck” to a grip of folks. But every sound is somehow subtle and moody and sitting perfectly in its designated layer. He takes those layers and puts them in the oven, bakes them and suddenly it's lighting up the entire club like a galaxy of birthday candles in a dark rich velvety cake!"

"I’m a MASSIVE fan of all these guys…. Most of you are probably familiar with Jimmy’s talent at laying down the thickest funk-defied bass lines in electronic music. The hardest I ever danced during my four years living in Berlin was on the dance floor during an Italojohnson live set. They mix vinyl only, and they release their own productions on their vinyl only label of the same name, Italojohnson. Pure rhythms and grooves that activate our human instinct to dance."

"It starts off thinking “ohhh is this a Herbert track?” Finely chopped samples of human voice, forwards or reversed. Clicks and clacks and hmm’s and all sorts of quirky bits all over the place, but in an orderly-enough, groove-manufacturing arrangement. But then comes the “whoa damnnnnn” ominous bass line that cuts through and dominates. Then we visit the supernatural - entering through a tunnel of minimal - as we travel through it becomes filled with a thick fog of noise until we reach the end of the tunnel (aka end of the song).

PS. This was pressed on a small 7-inch vinyl, hand-stamped, with diddly-squat information."

"This song is dope as f*ck. Personally, I like it slowed down. First rave acid. Then pads come in with the new bass line and it's so UHHHHHH … MELTING… chord progression… feels… fuck a formula… mistakes… glitches… imperfections. God, I love Detroit. Mad respect always to Mister Mad Mike."

"Bambooman has been one of my favorite new artist discoveries. I actually bought EVERY single one of his releases (even those under different monikers) via Bandcamp the moment I first heard him. Then he found me on Twitter and thanked me for the support. Who does that???!

His productions vary on a large spectrum of BPM, between club and headphone music. It will have me dancing like a freak in my bedroom and completely bending my mind at the same time. His recent records have been released on Matthew Herbert’s Accidental. Some of the songs off of Bambooman’s new album 'Whispers' even give me a feeling like when I first heard Herbert’s early albums with Dani Siciliano. Genius recognizes genius, I guess."

"The Wighnomy Brothers have been a big influence on myself and many of the Dirtybird guys since the beginning of time. Those wacky guys from small Jena, Germany can do no wrong in my eyes, no matter how “out there” they take us. Originators of a new sound, really.

I went on a crazy long deep dig session into their back catalog of vinyl-only releases to find this gem. It’s one of their strongest proper club tracks. It transports me to somewhere very dark club, musty air - carrying invisible drug particles emanating from the dancers pores, industrial cavern space... Berlin maybe, Panorama bar. The song finds balance and contrast when it occasionally switches from its primary techno flavor to a dreamy melodic break."

"SEPEHR!!! One of my best buds from San Francisco has been making some of the most amazing tunes. This one is out on Christian Martin’s new label Trippy Ass Technologies. He had another amazing EP out on Monty Luke’s Black Catalogue named 'Step One' which is also wicked. He’s really got amazing production chops and a really funky, dark groove to him. Definitely keep an eye out for Sep as he’s on a bit of a hot streak and try to catch him and his arsenal of original, unreleased tracks in his hometown of SF."