Hidden Favourites

Boy do I have a burner of a post for you lucky cats! I spent a while rummaging around for older or less obvious stuff by some of my favourite artists and came up with some absolute rippers! This Zongamin track is a prime place to start - jam packed with his signature quirk and cute bass sound. Plenty of different little sections and motifs popping up in this bad boy, it's a bit of an odyssey really considering it's only a 5 minute song. So badly want to uncover more of these Zonga-gems.

Zongamin - Tunnel Music

Pilooski could edit a piece of dog shit into a solid gold bar. Not that the songs he edits are ever bad to begin with but that's how I'd measure his talent. And there's so much of his stuff floating around you can always find something new if you've got the patience to look. These two tunes aren't particularly well hidden or anything but they're new to me so I figured I'd share. He's done a great job of turning Who Loves You into an absolute disco steam train, giving it some beefy biceps. The Nina Simone tune is from one of the old Verve Remixed albums. I really can't understand why I never got any of them during my big jazz obsession a few years ago, but better late than never. Both big big tunes, both awesome.

Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons - Who Loves You (Pilooski Re-Edit)

Nina Simone - Take Care of Business (Pilooski Remix)

Mock & Toof's unique brand of buoyant semi-psychedelic disco has had me frothing since day one. Here we see three perfect specimens which will stand as proof why. Big Hands is a typical strutty disco number of theirs which I must have missed a while back, super super groovy. This amazing dub version of Underwater, already a big fave of mine, is a totally sublime nautical jam sesh that makes me want to whack off a sea cucumber. And I really love the way they've dressed Hot Chip up in a spooky little halloween outfit for some excellent october clubbing. I'm still convinced they're some of the cleverest producers around at the moment.

Mock & Toof - Big Hands For A Lady

Mock & Toof - Underwater (Alternative Dub Version)

Hot Chip - Over and Over (Mock & Toof Dub Mix)

Was really enjoying listening to Rub-N-Tug's latest appearance on Beats In Space and it reminded me of their LCD Soundsystem remix which I'd completely forgotten about. Too Much Love is probably my favourite LCD track and I really like the way they've twisted it and made it a few shades darker. I've been struggling to find a good quality version of the extended disco dub of Beat Connection and haven't had much luck. I guess being the first LCD single I'm not really sure how good the quality should actually be, but hope this one is acceptable. And the live version of Us vs Them is far beyond acceptable. I cannot believe I've never had the chance to see James and his merry men in the flesh! Brilliant stuff.

LCD Soundsystem - Too Much Love (Rub-N-Tug Remix)

LCD Soundsystem - Beat Connection (Extended Disco Dub)

LCD Soundsystem - Us vs Them (Live on KCRW)

Finally, Le Rouge (the artist formerly known as Ash Le Rouge) and Neil Up are starting up a new night in Sydney called Late Notice which you need to go to if you want to keep your friends. Aside from said founders, the bill also features 77 heartthrobs Sunday School and ex-DD famed Trentertainment. Best ever. Yum yum yum listen to Ash's latest mix for the night and his fun Lost Valentinos remix, then start crossing off the days until friday. It's downstairs at the Gaff on Oxford St. Inspect the flyer for all the deets. GO.

Ash Le Rouge - Lil' A Mix

Lost Valentinos - Midnights (Le Rouge & Serge's 'Happy Hacienda' Remix)

Has anyone else tried these fancy new sour apple tic tacs? My tongue is so sore after eating two packets today, way too addictive.

This Way

Ho hum. La Paz was the kuh-rayziest town yet! Had no idea so much wacky shit goes down there. I feel very satisfied (and still very ill) leaving with my "I survived the world's most dangerous vindaloo t-shirt." Highly recommend it to anybody, especially San Pedro prison.

I'm really looking forward to getting home so I can spend weeks catching up on music I've missed. I feel bad for posting things I scrambled together more than 6 weeks ago... Just wait it out, promise I'll come back strong. For the moment, here are a couple of nice tracks from In Flagranti and Popular Computer. The Flagranti track is typically hip strutty rhythm guitar with locomotive disco drums which dance away oh so prettily. Gorgeous sounding synths too. Sorry that it cuts out early, I guess the album it's from is gapless. Otaku is just a simple laid back easy-goer. Don't have a whole lot to say about it I guess, it's just nice.

In Flagranti - Escapade

Popular Computer - Otaku

A couple more classic remixes here from the ever tiring DD vault by Ewan Pearson and Maurice Fulton. The Playgroup one should be recalled by many, right? It's a classic! And not what I'd usually expect from Ewan and his spacey quasi-weirdo bag of tricks. A little bit twisted, quite addictive. The Over and Over mix (SORRY, I searched every last corner of the internet for a version that isn't cut up at the start, but it doesn't seem to exist. Please explain iTunes and friends..) is again nice and simple. Just a cool bassline and the perfect vocals and you're set. Maurice makes it seem too easy, as with just about everything he does.

Playgroup - Make It Happen (Ewan Pearson Remix)

Hot Chip - Over and Over (Maurice Fulton Remix)

Around about 4 more weeks of this insanity before home time. Wheeeee.

Compo Grande

4 eternities of turbulent flying, 3 flat tyres, 2 hundred degrees celcius and 1 million mosquito bites later and we've returned from the Amazon Basin to La Paz. Good times. Pink dolphins are sweet.

As excited as I am to be in La Paz, I have to express my JEALOUSY that WhoMadeWho are playing Sydney this weekend (Saturday the 31st of Jan) at the Oxford Art Factory. I've frothed over them since the release of their brilliant debut album and still haven't had the chance to see them in the flesh. Seriously devo. However, I do have a couple of double passes to give away for the show so if you're around and you're not a complete donkey, email me your full name and answer this super tough question:

Are the Presets gay?

Who cares, really? ALSO ALSO ALSO, two weeks after on the 14th of Feb, also at the OAF, Sweat It Out's latest signee EDU K from Brazil (tehe I'll be there soon) will be busting out some fidgety tunes alongside Ajax and MC Gaff-E. I don't have any way of sharing any of his choonz, but hit up his myspace. If you're keen, also swing me an email with your full name and answer this brain bending piece of trivia:

What is the difference between a crocodile and an aligator?

Because I'd actually like to know the answer to that and don't feel like looking it up myself.

Like I said, I'm not able to download or upload any music here, so I'll just repost the only WhoMadeWho tracks I've put up before for the sake of it. BOO HOO.

Munk - Kick Out The Chairs (WhoMadeWho Remix)

WhoMadeWho - TV Friend (Hot Chip Remix)

WhoMadeWho - Flat Beat

Another dig from the vault: I love The Juan Maclean. Lotsies. GMELT has to have one of the coolest basslines ever manifested, no? Such a fun, irresistable song. I've also always liked the Cajmere mix - bit of a closet fan of the whole jackin' Chicago House thing, and this one is nice and twisted. The Marcus Worgull remix of the Simple Life is a chilled little expeditition to groove out to in a hammock somewhere. There are so many hammocks in South America, it's wonderful.

The Juan Maclean - Give Me Every Little Thing

The Juan Maclean - Give Me Every Little Thing (Cajmere Remix)

The Juan Maclean - Simple Life (Marcus Worgull Remix)

Happy Australia Day! Except it's not still Aus day in Aus anymore. But it is here. So chill. K.. Send entries in sooooooon so I can get it all sorted.

These Post Titles Are Getting Lazier And Lazier. Sorry.

So during what is probably my 800th relapse into a WhoMadeWho obsession (not an exaggeration) I had a look at what they've been up to lately and subsequently ended up having a huge dig through the whole Gomma Records back catalogue. So many forgotten classics, so many great gems I'd missed. In particular, I'm always stoked to be reminded of Munk's Kick Out The Chairs. Is it just me or does Nancy Wang have an amazingly sexy voice? I can't not love any song she's in. Anyway, I'd like to get some opinions here - do you guys prefer the WhoMadeWho or Tomboy remix? The WMW one is fun and bouncy with chaotically fast vocals, whilst the Tomboy one is a high speed train of crazy bashing synths with a bit of room to move with the lyrics - it also has a bit of nostalgic value for me since the Bang Gang used it in Mashed Two. They're both wacky tunes. I was also going to post the *deep breath* Tomboy Dub Edit of the Hot Chip remix of WhoMadeWho's 'TV Friend' but have to say I prefer the unedited version with the vocals. So there.

Munk - Kick Out The Chairs (WhoMadeWho Remix)

Munk - Kick Out The Chairs (Tomboy Remix)

WhoMadeWho - TV Friend (Hot Chip Remix)

A couple of other things I found in my dive - a really nice old Jacques Lu Cont remix, and some stuff by Golden Bug who, I have to admit, I've never heard of before. The Jacques mix is a beautiful lounge-esque groove with a slightly retro feel and some beautiful sound effects floating round. More laid back than I'm used to hearing from Price, not that it's a bad thing! The Golden Bug track does sound pretty familiar, but then again maybe not. I really like the whispery vocals. The song sits somewhere between disco and electro, not being too heavy on each. A nice balance.

Leroy Hanghofer - Pin (Jacques Lu Cont Remix)

Golden Bug - Bisco

Just for the sake of it, here are a couple more WhoMadeWho and Munk tunes. The Munk remix sounds to me a bit DFA with some poppy vocals thrown in. Really hot funky shit. And I found it too hard to resist posting another back-in-the-day tune from Mashed Two; WMW's supercool cover of Mr. Oizo's Flat Beat. The bassline is just perfectly cool. Myum.

Michael Fakesch - Soda (Munk Remix)

WhoMadeWho - Flat Beat

Cmon there must be SOMEONE with some gig hookups somewhere in South America? Eeeeeeemail me please!! :)

French Housewarming (Warming House)

Got a busy week ahead so I'll get this out of the way now!

Let's all take a slow deep breath and relax a little for just a moment: I have a few warm-smile house delights to share with you lovely people. You could probably throw a suit on (tie optional) and go have a dignified dance somewhere sophisticated to these puppies. Your shoes might even still look wearable the next day! Man i hate getting clubshoe.

Enough banter. More new goodies just out on the fabulously excellent(ly awesomely...) Us Two Music. Man I love this label. No doubt it's going to burst at the seams very shortly and people will be going nuts over it. The Dynamic Rockers Remix of Wize is a gorgeous discofunkhouse strings mover - like the meeting of 77 Strings and the bassline from Burnin'. Matt Turner's latest is a super uplifting summer vocal track which, hearing it in a relaxed outdoor club, would complete my life. Seriously get into this label before everyone else does. Then you can brag to all your electro-turned-discohouse scenester friends that you knew U2M when it was underground. Worth picking these up in 320 on Beatport!

Wize - Exhibition (Dynamic Rockers Remix)

Matt Turner - Never Say

Love my old Hed Kandi comps. Haven't really paid any attention since around when they were bought out by MoS, so not sure what they're like now, but there are plenty of gems in days before. The relaunch of Nu Cool was a really great album full of very interesting house(?) (you'd be really stretching to call some house) tracks. Es Vive/Base Bar Ibiza '05 was another random one I picked up after seeing it had a Seamus Haji track, who I had a bit of a crush on at the time. Anyway these two tracks are from both albums respectively. Both just great summer party house - though I could really do without the vocals in Wanna Get Wet.

Liquid People - Ice Cream Parlour

Soul Mechanic - Wanna Get Wet

To change the vibe a little: I grabbed Hot Chip's latest remixes single, Hold On / Touch Too Much. The Switch LA remix has been thrown around a bit, but the others on the release are deffers top tunes. Generally pretty laid back stuff. the Mock & Toof mix glides along the song's magnificent bassline with lots of pretty sounds and effects along the way. Listen to this one in a hammock. Ewan Pearson's remix is a scrape more upbeat but still an array of nice instruments dancing around the original progression. Actually all music should be listened to in hammocks.

Hot Chip - Hold On (Mock & Toof Remix)

Hot Chip - Touch Too Much (Ewan Pearson Remix)

Clearly Falke is one of the biggest fail safe artists around at the moment. It seems like he churns out new remixes on a daily basis and never is there any drop in quality. Just really solid stuff. This one is no different. Do I need to say more? Check out Melbourne locals City Life though, they seem to be attracting some big names.

Citylife - San Francisco feat. DD (Fred Falke Remix)

Black sheep bonus track! It doesn't really fit in with all this, but I've been listening to it a fair bit and I really dig it. Certainly more subdued than his overly crazy LA remix, this is a groovier Switch which probably has a wider appeal. God I love that bassline!

Hot Chip - Hold On (Switch LDN Remix)

Have a good week dear friends!