Venez-Vous Ici Souvent?

I have been absent for far too long.
I'll try to not let it happen again!
Let's get started...

This track by Live Element is a simple, care-free groove riding on a wave of French filter:

Live Element - Be Free

Roy Rogers delivers an often missed French house gem from yesteryear (2001):

Roy Rogers - Graceland

With a crazy, pornographic breakdown, Australia's own A.D.A.M. BABY! (A Disco Ate My Baby) dishes out a super chic track with vocals you wish your girlfriend had:

A.D.A.M. BABY! - Hi Beam Baby

In a classic French house style, Nicolas Vallée offers up a great track with wobbly synths and epic swooshes (that's how I'd describe it!):

Nicolas Vallée - New New York

Tube & Berger only had one hit song, but it was a doozy. This extended version gives you the satisfying vocals while sticking around long enough to give you a satisfactory amount of that quirky melody before the track ends:

Tube & Berger - Straight Ahead (Extended Version)

By FAR one of my favorite disco house tracks. This Les Rythmes Digitales remix of Chili Hifly (very little produced) has you so entranced with the looped vocals that you're taken aback when the breakdown hits. If you didn't flip out around 4'40", seek help:

Chili Hifly - Is It Love (Les Rythmes Digitales Remix)

Ladyhawke is hot enough as is, but an Alex Gopher remix gives this track the bitchy, distorted overhaul it needs to get worked up. I know you shake about in sync when the vocals get cut up & looped - don't lie:

Ladyhawke - Paris Is Burning (Alex Gopher Remix)

A little out in left field, Magazine 60 created an intoxicating melody with wacky vocals way back when (1981). With strange telephone ringing sounds, ridiculous breakdowns, and spectacular 80s synth lines, this is a classic. Is it too weird to enjoy? No señor! Amazingly, these guys are actually French:

Magazine 60 - Don Quichotte

Though it takes about 700 hours to get up and moving, Playmaker & Stonebridge & Axwell work together to make a super smooth house tune. Sure, it doesn't really go anywhere - but with so many layered instruments and classic disco house production styles (come on, they're all Swedish), you won't care. Those high piano notes coupled with echoed vocals make this a classic house track from a time long forgotten (2003):

Playmaker - Black Pony (Stonebridge & Axwell Ecstasy Mix)

Today's post was mostly a journey through outdated French house from the early 2000s - but wasn't it nice to remember? There's so many interesting things happening in music today, yet so much forgotten and missed from a few years ago. Did you get your healthy dose of filter house?

Ohh My Head.. (Part 2)

Happy new year all! Hope you're enjoying the staggering hangover and worrying memory loss as I am. Har har. Cutting to the chase, I've heard very little in the last few months that's excited me and have spent a lot of time listening to older stuff. Above fresh and exclusive tracks, my highest priority for DD is posting tracks I consider to be quality tunes, so that's going to be the focus with whatever I can find to post. I'm both concerned and intrigued about where dance music is headed in 2008, though I'm sure things will pick up again soon one way or another.

OK, I am totally in love with the SebastiAn mix Trent posted the other week. Totally. Just to show that I mean business with this whole not being concerned with exclusives thing, here are a couple of quite old SebastiAn remixes, perhaps not as well known as some of his other stuff, which still really float my boat. Both are quite dark and dirty - I love the haunting strings and piano in the Mylo remix, shrouded with a layer of grimy distorted fuzz, and the overly butchered vocals in Walking Machine. Both are vinyl rips, I hope you don't mind.

Mylo - Paris Four Hundred (SebastiAn Remix)

Revl9n - Walking Machine (SebastiAn Remix)

Admittedly I'm really enjoying the remixes of My People, in particular the D.I.M. mix. He seems to be one producer who has consistently pushed out quality tracks for quite a while now, and this is no exception. Certainly the most club-friendly of the three remixes on the 12", it builds nicely into a mean rhythmic banger. And I guess it can't hurt to throw in an old groovy B-side and a repost of the super fun Hung Up / Down Down Down mash.

The Presets - My People (D.I.M Remix)

The Presets - Truth and Lies

The Presets - Hung Down

To take a momentary breather from glitchy electro, here are a couple of classic housey tunes which I've always had a soft spot for. Check out the very danceable Eric Prydz remix of A Bit Patchy and the uplifting and dazzling Axwell mix of 2 Million Ways. Both tracks I feel are quite well put together and have a really funky summery vibe. Just a bit of fun..

Switch - A Bit Patchy (Eric Prydz Remix)

C-Mos - 2 Million Ways (Axwell Remix)

So I guess this has been a sort of filler post, just to make sure the ball keeps rolling, but there's some stuff on the way that's really worth checking out so don't worry.