First two were done earlier this year but all old components anyway. In each case I guess they represent a yearning for the minimal production ethos of so much recent R&B to shift to a broader, busier and richer sonic scope - or to take these formulaic yet relatively charismatic performances and map them onto deeper, darker, “dancier” territories. Because they touch on something SO good. In chronological order:

Cassie (’Me And U’ acapella) vs Etienne De Crecy (’Relax’)
I tried numerous acapellas over this sublime De Crecy track from his 2000 LP ‘Tempovision’ but Cassie’s works best. The connection between the two tracks is a deep melancholy but the difference is that Cassie’s smoulders into the night while Etienne’s blinds like sunshine. IMO he should definitely work with American contemporary soul singers.

Sasse (’Loosing Touch’) vs Ciara ft. Chamillionaire (’Get Up’ acapella)
Extract from recently completed part 11 of Ultramix 06. The wonderfully macabre mood of Sasse’s Italo revival track combined with Ciara’s slinky smooth vocal works better than you might expect.

Shakedown (’At Night’ acapella) vs 808 State (’Empire’)
Made the other day. Prior to the recent re-mastered issue of the great ‘Ex:El’ LP I’d been thinking about how well ‘Empire’, at least in essence, fits as a backing track for a late 80s Janet Jackson-esque pop song. Listen and you’ll get the idea - the ‘At Night’ vocal seemed to fit better than anything else I could find

St. Etienne - Chaos In The Gym, Walkman
Walkman is a straight disco number from their ‘98 Midnight Groove EP, Chaos In The Gym is their rework of a Peter Thomas composition for a tribute compilation of his works (as far as I can tell).

Chemical Brothers - The Salmon Dance (Crookers ‘Wow’ Mix)
Well it’s an improvement on the troublesome original.

Slagsmalsklubben - Sponsored By Destiny
MONSTROUS electro-pop from last year’s Boss For Leader LP - deserved to be big somewhere somehow but with a name like that perhaps difficult. Great track title tho.

Digitonal - Ana Kata
Opening track from this year’s Save Your Light For Darker Days LP. A mix of electronic ambience and classical strings.

Par-T One vs INXS - I’m So Crazy
Disco punk jam from the early 00s. still good, and weirder than it’s success suggested.

Frankie Knuckles & Jamie Principle - Your Love (You Got The Love Mix)
A mix I hadn’t heard before. the arpeggiated pattern sounding different yet again. more ambient synth touches, a rougher breakbeat dropped in…and then ruined by a re-recorded non-Staton vocal and some rubbish synth-guitar (wouldn’t have bought it if I’d noticed this). Stick to the original bootleg!

Red Snapper - Hot Flush (Sabres Of Paradise Mix)
Another great Weatherall remix. will always remember Coldcut seguing from this into the Doctor Who theme on their much-loved Journeys By DJ mix CD. To be honest I prefer the original mix of ‘Hot Flush’ tho.

Fontan - Early Morning (Studio Version)
Another nice ‘Balearic’ rework by the new masters of the said vibe - desperate for a new album tho.

Kraftwerk - Expo 2000 EP
To replace lousy low bitrate versions from all those years ago (original mix would’ve been one of the first 5 MP3s I ever downloaded).

Bought a lot more than usual this month so here are some recommendations (and a few links):

Fix - Flash, Player’s Anthem
- already had the brilliant Dope Computer from the same EP (the Electrowerk edition from 2003 but the tunes are at least ten years older) but it’s always been labelled as ‘Flash’ or just ‘Fix’ and it’s all still really confusing. All tracks produced by Orlando Voorn, an often terrific and perhaps under-appreciated producer of jittery techno and warm electro over the years. Everything on this EP directly and obviously inspired by P-Funk.

Late Of The Pier - The Bears Are Coming
- first thing I heard by them and immediately loved but nothing else on the increasingly hyped album has grabbed me yet.

Queen - Greatest Hits II LP
- it was only a fiver so why not. lol ‘Invisible Man’ etc.

Dirty Dapz, Dotstar, Flirta D & Skats - I’m Not Playin’
- the only thing I liked the sound of from the Channel U Vol 2 compilation (also cheap on itunes). Hectic but compelling grime, the like of which I rarely hear these days. Sound quality is a bit shit tho frankly. Only thing missing is a bassline…

Chaz Jankel - Number One, Call Me (Bonus Dub)
- LOVE ‘Number One’, a meditation on success or just a simple but thoughtful 80s pop song done well - reminds me a bit of Julian Lennon’s ‘Too Late For Goodbyes’ (good? bad? okay). This guy was born up the road from me in Stanmore, Middx so props.

The Tough Alliance - A New Chance LP
- slept on this for too long despite liking ‘Something Special’ immediately. whole album sounds good, a fair few AR Kane vibes and more. We could do with more bands that sound like this in the UK.

April March - Chick Habit
- surprised this is from as far back as ‘95, don’t think I heard it until ‘Death Proof’ which is annoying because it’s great and fiendishly sticky.

Barbara Morgenstern - Come To Berlin
- seems like a cheap promotional theme because of the lyrics but good atmospheric electronica anyway.

Ghostland Observatory - Stranger Lover
- The Rapture meets Zoot Woman uptown - would mix well with the Jankel actually.

M - Pop Muzik (Steve Osborne Mix)
- U2 used this as their intro music during their PopMart tour. I think it’s a worthy compliment to the fun original, for empthasising the importance of the subject with it’s epic whirling tone and bigger beats (so ‘97).

DJ’s Unite - Vol. 1 (Remix)
- A brilliant spacey ardkore tune I could not ID for years so grabbed it from a recent Moondance Anthems comp as soon as I realised what it was. Up there with the genre’s greats.

Liam Howlett didn’t do many remixes but they were all pretty good fun and this one allowed him to indulge and pay tribute to his hip-hop beginnings somewhat. Comic-book menace with funky breakbeats and the ominous brass build-up works really well. The track is busy enough to never sound boring.

Method Man - Release Yo’delf (The Prodigy remix)

 

Huge tribal-ly Latino house opus by MAW’s Louie Vega from which India’s soaring vocals immediately became a sampler’s favourite (appearing on a couple of Jungle tracks that same year as well as on Vega’s own co-production with Eric Morillo, ‘Reach’, the next year). A video exists in my mind similar in style to Los Lobos’s ‘Kiko And The Lavender Moon’ but with added elephants, dancing and rotating symbols.

River Ocean - Love & Happiness (Yemaya Y Ochùn)

Track also features on Ultramix 94 (part 07) altho I only just noticed that the Flash-based audio players on the Ultramix site don’t seem to work with the new version of Firefox (but they’re fine in IE) - will try and sort that out ASAP.