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!! :)

Sneaky Tuesday

Ahoy there. I just got the new Metro Area Fabric CD and nearly pissed myself listening to the intro. Love those dudes. Great idea, I'll post some! I swear I heard Morgan Geist talking on Beats In Space about a new Metro Area release that came out recently, but after minimal searching I can't really find anything. Any ideas? Anyway, here are a couple of my faves of theirs. Orange Alert is a total classic of course, and coming back to it after listening to the DFA remix non stop was really refreshing! The arrangement, sounds, composition - everything! - is so well done. The special dub of Read My Mind really does it for me too, they're just so good at making things sound simple and easy and amazingly groovy. Grab their Fabric album - it's a winner!

Metro Area - Orange Alert

Metro Area - Read My Mind (Special Dub)

Two songs I really can't stop listening to the moment happen to be on pretty opposite ends of the spectrum. #1 is Codependency by In Flagranti. Who knew one note could be so much fun? It's really rare to hear a song that's based on something so simple with such a colossal amount of feel and groove. Play it teeth shatteringly loud, it's fantastic! #2 is a Pilooski edit of Elvis Presley. Retaining, accentuating and modernising Presley's ultra high cool factor. This is a seriously brilliant edit.

In Flagranti - Codependancy

Elvis Presley - Crawfish (Pilooski Edit)

Hmm what else is new... Found a couple of gorgeous new tracks the other day by Chateau Flight and Lullabies In The Dark, two artists I'm really digging at the moment. I just spilled tea on my keyboard :( lame. The Chateau tune is a beautiful relaxed disco number slash space cruise with plenty of bongos to boot. Love bongos. Bongos and cowbell should be mandatory instruments learned at school I reckon, not shitty recorders and xylophones. The Lullabies track, remixed by Superpitcher, is a 10 minute journey of gliding synths which make you float away off to awesomeland. Where everyone plays bongos :)

Chateau Flight - Prism

Lullabies In The Dark - Iridium (Superpitcher Remix)

Last but not least, I feel i should probably give our neighbour Miami Horror's EP a plugging since it's finally out. It turned out really nice too! Not that it wasn't expected. This song has bongos so it's already a winner! And coupled with a glorious Voyager-esque bass it secures itself nicely. Definitely grab a copy of this when you see it around.

Miami Horror - Make You Mine (Instrumental)
NB: Replaced with the instrumental by request.

OK, I'm done.

Casual Wednesday

Hey everyone. Tell me something interesting. I like hearing interesting stuff. Did you know owls are the only bird that can see the colour blue? Anyway, I'm going to keep using my weekend plans as post material, so cop a couple of Joakim tracks. He's playing at the Civic on Friday which I'm really keen for! Electro's favourite French Fry, Joakim has (obviously) been on the scene for yonks and is completely awesome. Check these out - the first is a remix by Tim Goldsworthy of DFA, which you clearly can't go past, and the second (thanks VoulesRandom) is off his recently released remixes album, which is well worth a purchase! He's an extremely versatile producer and I wouldn't ever want to pin him down to even 3 genres. I didn't say electro before, shut up. Hit it up on Friday if you're a Sydneysider.

Joakim - Lonely Hearts (Loving Hand Remix)

Tiga - Pleasure From The Bass (Joakim Remix)

I still can't stop listening to this Tracey Thorn track since it was introduced to me by Ash Le Rouge's Locodisco mix a month or two ago. It's the definition of gorgeous. Escort, an extremely cool sixteen piece band, really pulled this off in a beautiful way, creating a sparkling and uplifting groovy musical bed underneath Tracey's orgasmic voice. Just about perfect. Speaking of sparkling, this Ian Preece track really caught my ear for the very same reason. Extremely funky disco, that's all that needs to be said :)

Tracey Thorn - It's All True (Escort Extended Remix)

Ian Preece - Superfuzz (Disco Mix)

Any excuse to rattle on about DFA some more is a good one. But, I don't actually have an excuse today. Again, shut up. These three epic jams pretty much exemplify the whole DFA 'thing', methinks. The Black Leotard Front track is apparently by some sort of art/dance troupe who only ever recorded this one song to be used on stage. Or something. I have a feeling they had a LOT of help from James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy... Either way, it's 15 epic minutes of TOTAL DFA odyssey, with trademark hip bassline and silly vocals. The LCD Soundsystem mix is another grand jam affair, mashing together disco, punk, indie, funk and electro into the label's familiar wacky eclectic style. As a bonus, here's a nice and refreshingly different mix of the Holy Ghost! superhit. A bit more upbeat and easy going, I reckon it's a really cool (for lack of a less lame term) funkification.

Black Leotard Front - Casual Friday

LCD Soundsystem - Yeah (Pretentious Mix)

Holy Ghost! - Hold On (Mix 3)

Did you know giraffes can go longer without water than camels? Defs my preferred mode of desert transport.

Cosmic Cosmosis

Hey gang. To begin with, I'd like to put out a bit of a squeal for help. I'm going to South America from mid December til the end of Feb and was wondering if anybody in the area would be able to help me get a gig in either Bariloche, Buenos Aires, or Rio during Carnaval... Just thought it'd be a load of fun to have a spin while I'm over there, but I can't say I have too many South American contacts :\ any help would be greatly appreciated! (send me an email)

In other news, Cosmo Vitelli hits Sydney on Friday night and I'm seriously excited! To celebrate I've got some glorious tracks to hand out. Cosmo doesn't need much of an introduction - a really forward thinking producer who's been around the track and has built up a varied repertoire of sensational tunes. Currently I'm giving some of his remixes a good bashing. His more recent mix of Hotdog (featured on Sample and Hold) is killer. A nice muddy disco jam. His Yuksek mix is several shades darker and thumps along with a slight yet funky hint of something industrial. CANNOT wait to see him! More info.

Simian Mobile Disco - Hotdog (Cosmo Vitelli Remix)

Yuksek - Everywhere In Town (Cosmo Vitelli Remix)

Cosmo's label, I'm a Cliche, is just as superfab and I can't count how many times I've seen it refered to as the European answer to DFA. Probably not far off. The latest release by ENTERTAINMENT is fuckin cool! Big sexy bass cooljive complete with chocolate vocals and Herbie Hancock 'Rockit' synths. Actually come to think of it, the bassline is damn close to it. No wonder I love it! Bot'Ox - one part Cosmo, one part Julien Briffaz - are something a bit different from Mr. Vitelli, but equally quality. Have a look back on the blog for Babylon By Car, if it's still up.. Grand Central is a pretty little number. And I'll throw in an old SMD track from their 2004 release on the very same label. If you haven't heard it, it may not be what you expect!

ENTERTAINMENT - U 1988

Bot'Ox - Grand Central

Simian Mobile Disco - Upside Down

Also popping its head out of the record box, but with no relation to CV and the gang, is another guy I stumbled across with thanks to Tim Sweeney (not going to stop spurting drooling love rants about him for a while yet) who resides on the fantastico Permanent Vacation label. Lullabies In The Dark is one half of Aeroplane, so instant cred is given, but further listening proves within a shadow of a doubt he's pretty swish. Have a look. Also been listening to a lot of Pilooski and stuff on Dirty Edits, which is all brill. This one is a particular fave of mine - a really tight funky wakka-wakka guitar burrrrning disco.

Lullabies In The Dark - Code 7429

Octet - Euro vs Dollar (Pilooski Edit)

See you at Cosmo (yes?)

Remember the Remixes

Today's post is all about remix artists. Too often, we only look at an artist's original productions and miss out on their remixes. Let's get started:

New York's Masters At Work puts a stylish, lounge-friendly touch to the tracks they remix.

Daft Punk - Around The World (Masters At Work Mix)

AtmOsfear - Dancing In Outer Space (Masters At Work Remix)

Norway's Röyksopp beefs up other people's tracks with their enchanting melodies, transforming an otherwise traditional song into electronica.

Spiller - Cry Baby (Röyksopp's Malselves Memorabilia Mix)

Coldplay - Clocks (Röyksopp Mix)

France's Anoraak reworks tracks into new wave synth masterpieces. Although a bit slow for some, this is an emerging style of music that takes the production elements of Lifelike remixes and blends them with the spacey, retro sound heralded by the incredible Valerie blog. Anoraak remixes are poster children for this type of sound.

College - Teenage Color (Anoraak Remix)

The Outrunners - Cool Feeling (Anoraak Remix)

England's Mylo has an inventive approach to remixing songs, turning pop songs into something more danceable by playing with bass lines and adding a little something to make sure it has a consistent beat (usually).

Annie - Chewing Gum (Mylo Remix)

Flat Pack - Sweet Child of Mine (Mylo Edit)

America's (I KNOW, I WAS SURPRISED, TOO) Thin White Duke (also known as Stuart Price, Jacques Lu Cont, Pour Homme, Man With Guitar, Les Rythmes Digitales, and a member of Zoot Woman and Paper Faces!) really knows how to work his magic when it comes to remixes. Often extending the original track to 7 or 8 minutes, Price changes a track into something much more engrossing, often adding a darker, epic feeling.

Röyksopp - What Else Is There? (Thin White Duke Mix)

Starsailor - Four To The Floor (Thin White Duke Remix)

Although I'm not a fan of his original productions, I really enjoy remixes done by Serge Santiágo. Oddly, his work on the remix of "I Like 2 Funk" is amazingly different from his other remixes - it's funky and groovy, whilst his other remixes are typically a bit more linear and deeper. I highly recommend "I Like 2 Funk," with its insatiable, choppy bass and tinge of disco-era instruments.

Goldfrapp - Ride A White Horse (Serge Santiágo Re-Edit)

Blackjax & Void - I Like 2 Funk (Ben Burns & Serge Santiágo Remix)

Okay, these next two remixes are shamelessly disco house - because that's a genre both you and I adore, right? Ian Carey, an American (SERIOUSLY?), gives tracks an extra boost by injecting flanger effects and warm, rubbery bass lines. Of all the tracks on this post, these two are by far the most danceable - good for you DJs out there. Enjoy!

Noir - My MTV (Ian Carey Remix)

Belle Epoque - Miss Broadway (Ian Carey Mix)

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by Kiyoshi - www.myspace.com/kiyoshi

Laiiid Back I'll Give You Laid Back

Yeeeeee Boiiiiii! Just doing some procrastinating, figure I should share some relaxing goodies.

For a start - Tim Sweeney on Saturday was SO GOOD. Oh man. So refreshing! I'm instantly inspired to spend all my time/dollars record hunting again, none of this digital rubbish! One of his staple tunes seems to be The Rose by The Laughing Light of Plenty, and for very good reason. Bigstereo threw this one up a few months ago but it's well worth a delayed post here - a magnificent build with a whole heap of seemingly invisible energy that gives you no choice but to move. A brilliant song and a joy to hear Sweeney unleash it in the flesh! He sent me pretty schoolgirl..

The Laughing Light of Plenty - The Rose

I just finished a mix for GBH.tv (which I think is going to appear on friday's show) which admittedly was very rushed, but it got me looking through some records I got ages ago on the cheap and kind of neglected straight away. One in particular I'd forgotten about was a Brice Lee tune which I only bought in the first place because it had a Yuksek remix. Personally I think the original is way out in front. Really cool bassline groove, an overall really hot funky party feel. Hoping I find some other gems in my mystery pile.

Brice Lee - Spam (Extended Version)

High Life is a rrreally funky French collab between Askine, Begbie and Daze which I really should have blogged a long time ago. Especially love Too High - a really nice loungey number with some nice warm laid back rhythm guitar. A Kind of Feeling is more typical French House with a nice poppy vocal sample and tight slap bass. Not sure if they're still doing anything together, but fingers are crossed.

High Life - Too High

High Life - A Kind of Feeling

Still not going to stop yapping on about Us Two Music and Outcross Records. Seriously, they're the shit. Well Miguel Campbell isn't actually on Us Two, but he and Matt Hughes seem to be pretty tight - from what I can tell - so close enough. Need I say more? This tune is nice easy going soulful burner. Great production, great feel. Etc etc etc. Some new Us Two stuff got sent around today, some Outrunners tunes, go search them out.

Miguel Campbell - Can't Get Enough

The Phantom's Revenge aka the inventor of the 'disco banger' has more more more. Here's one from an upcoming free EP of short-and-sweet songs which, if it's representative of the rest, is going to be a winner. I'm not sure why I say most of this stuff anymore, it's all become quite obvious haha. TPR can't put a foot wrong; his consistency is undeniable. DISCO BANGERSSS!

The Phantom's Revenge - 3 Minutes with Apollo Creed

A couple of bonus songies just because I feel like it. I recently posted the Still Going remix of Anywhere, but I've since switched over to prefering the Compuphonic and Kolombo mix. It's got more character, a livelier feel, cooler sounds - it's just generally more exciting. Not to take away from the SG mix, but this is just more appealing to me right now. Also, I only recently (thanks to Kiyoshi) discovered that the amazing transformation of Da Funk in Alive 1997 is actually an Armand Van Helden remix. I can't believe I'd never stumbled across it before! Anyway, here it is in case anybody else made the same mistake.

The Presets - Anywhere (Compuphonic and Kolombo Remix)

Daft Punk - Da Funk (Armand Van Helden's 'Ten Minutes of Funk' Mix)

Hot hot hot hot~

Andy's Totally-Rad-French-House-Weekend-Selection Vol. 1

Did a bit of hunting today and found some very snazzy new french/disco/house house. All spectacular bassline stuff, all perfect for windows-rolled-down-smoking-a-cigarette-and-eating-a-burger-at-the-same-time driving. Hyphenating stuff is lots of funskis!

OHKAY, so it's been established before that Matt Hughes (of the magnif' Us Two Music and Outcross labels) is a bit of an underground king of this kind of stuff. He's unleashed a new release called the Honeymoon EP, and I can't recommend enough that you snap this bad boy up. So fantastically cruisy, so smooth, so intensely sexual. Scope out the first track and a killer remix of his which explores the outer atmosphere a little more. Swishhhhhhh

Matt Hughes - Wedding Bells

Heavinz - Ride (Matt Hughes Remix)

Next are a couple of tracks from a label I just discovered - Beggin' Disco - but perhaps too late? Or too something.. From what I can tell, it put out a couple of releases and that was that. Their MySpace has 60-odd friends and shows no signs of activity. Shame really, because this stuff is quite nice. The Foursome track I swear I've heard somewhere before but can't remember where. Anyway, it's big driving funky party shit. The Hugo Borealis & Ruba tune is more laid back but just as solid and groovy. If anybody knows what the deal is with this mysterious label, please holler.

Foursome - Foursome (Dirty Mix)

Hugo Borealis & Ruba - Inside (Push Inside Mix)

Livyo is a cheeky French fella who's easily as quality as the rest of the French House market. Really fucking solid stuff, great production and serious party vibe. I'm starting to repeat myself but there's not much else I can do really... This stuff is all just great. Great combo of spaceyness in the synths and super strong nailing to the floor with some nice tight beats.

Livyo - Voltage

DJ DLG & Laidback Luke - Ambition (Livyo Remix)

Franchising (or E-The-Hot presents Franchising as appears to be more correct) are/is some people/a person from Italy who I won't bother speculating any more about. All I know is they're connected with White Weed Records which is enough to give them/him/her/it some pretty fair cred. Their 'The Party' EP is a very nice collection of, as the title suggests, cool party music. Probably the heaviest of this selection, but not by more than a couple of fingers worth. My fave is probos The Chicks which is back in the corner a bit more and would be perfect for seducing girlies in suave dimly lit rooms with martinis and saturday suits. The Cagedbaby mix is a stride towards the more bent clubby side of things. Grab this EP too!

E-The-Hot presents Franchising - The Chicks

E-The-Hot presents Franchising - The People (Cagedbaby Power Remix)

HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND YO!