Star of the Year: Mr G

G by name… G for real: Everything about Colin Mcbean is straight-up cool, no chaser. He's part soundsystem scientist, part bon viveur; he loves nothing more than "having his head in speaker with a glass of fine rum", everyone in the tech realm from Hawtin to Hood play his tunes, he plays live off an MPC with only a notebook of EQ sweet spots to guide him, he strictly performs shows with a reputable system only.

Most years have been vintage for G since he split from The Advent in 1999, but 2015 was exceptional. After 2014's emotional album 'Personal Momentz', a requiem for his late father, he rediscovered his own sweet spot with his fourth 'A Night On The Town?', plus EPs on Just Jack, No Logo, Planet Rhythm, Dungeon Meat and his own Phoenix G and a salaciously funky remix of Kenny Dope's 'Bricks Down'.

"I thought 2013 was as good as it got," he says with a grin. "But this year? Well well well! Glastonbury, Australia, Singapore, Ibiza. DC10? What a system! Then there was Billares Londres in Bogota where a man poured me vintage Nicaraguan rum whenever I needed it and the crowd let me take them wherever I wanted. What a life!"

His unjaded kid-in-a-candy-store passion belies his age. So much so he sidestepped phonecalls from Kenny Dope because "he didn't want to sound like a blithering idiot fanboy". At 54 many music makers start to wind down but if anything G is winding up. His bi-monthly Rinse shows are another example; praising slushy ballads by Faze-O and Curtis Mayfield alongside raffish beat jams on 22A or deadly future techno on Delsin, he joins the dots between his inspirations and his heads-down analogue productions like few other selectors. But truly? It's live where G really excels - and he knows it.

"The turn on totally for me is a good crowd and a fine soundsystem. Anything less than that is boring," he says unapologetically. "I've been around the block, I'm an old dog. I could quit touring tomorrow and live happy… But that buzz from on a good system? My god! You can tweak it, you can explore it. Come on!"

Top Mr G moments of 2015

Mr G 'TtRumBar' (Just Jack)

Detroit by the way of Market Harborough: "Do you want to get drunk? Do you want to get down?"

Kenny Dope feat Robert Owens 'Bricks Down' (Mr G remix) (Dope Wax)

Three legends, one huge bassline and a groove

Mr G 'Night On The Town?' (Phoenix G)

A sonic story of the best night out ever, from queue to countdown