Versions

When it comes to inventions, it's generally agreed that the wheel was a pretty good one. As such, any attempt to reinvent it has usually gone down badly. Unnecessary, is the usual criticism. Don't bother.

Luckily, music ain't like that. It doesn't matter if your song is great, someone is going to come along and have another go at it.

Often that reinvention is going to be a turgid pile of tosh. But sometimes a reinvention comes along that brings new life to the old. It isn't necessarily better, but it has things that the original didn't. That could be a different sense of space, a different mood, a different flow... whatever. So here are four remixes I'm really liking.

DOWNLOAD> Stoned Green Apples - Sugar K (Yura Yura Teikoku Remix)

Japan's psychedelic mavericks, Yura Yura Teikoku turn out a wonderful bit of doom-disco from the Stoned Green Apples' J-punk original.

DOWNLOAD> Spleen United - Suburbia (The Juan Maclean Remix)

The rubbery bass line in this remix from The Juan Maclean is going to have dancefloors losing their nuts. Chunky.

Massive Attack and Hope Sandoval - Paradise Circus (Gui Boratto remix)
++REMOVED ON REQUEST++
Gui Boratto puts some propulsion into Massive Attack and Hope Sandoval. This is sexy, uber-deep, spacious, and fizzy.

DOWNLOAD> The XX - VCR (Matthew Dear Remix)

Matthew Dear manages to make The XX sound fun! Some almost beatbox-like percussion, woodblocks, and other tasty bits and bobs really bring the funk to London's hipster darlings.

Too Slow To Disco

Is it Sunday yet? Because this is a mix on the prowl for a lazy Sunday afternoon. In fact, it's basically cooking you eggs and bacon, tucking your favourite newspaper into your hands, and phoning your mates to see who's up for the pub later. That's how much this mix has its Sunday shit locked down.

Berlin resident Marcus Liesenfeld, aka DJ Supermarkt, has very kindly let me post it here for you people, and I think you should take full advantage of his generosity.

It's a wonderful collection of 70s soft rock gems and Californian singer/songwriter grooves. Interspersed throughout are the kind of radio jingles that instantly transport you to a time and place where handlebar moustaches are a must, aviator shades are a plus, and you've just taken your dad's Mustang without asking if you could.

DJ Supermarkt describes the delight inside as:

...an ex-monkee rapping, a weird erotic christmas song by georgie fame, the 70s 'super-studio-group' the attitudes, who played on thousands of records, Ned Doheny, Alessi Brothers, Rupert Holmes, Sanford & Townsend Band, Valerie Cartere, Paul Davis and commercial breaks by frank zappa, jefferson airplane, spliff (the nina hagen band), plus lots more other forgotten diamonds. enjoy and take the trip.

It slips down real smooth and nice. Like a chilled Mimosa. Thanks Marcus.

DOWNLOAD> DJ Supermarkt - Too Slow To Disco Mix

Too slow to disco (softrock-disco- radio-dj-mix) by dj supermarkt

Cometh the hour, Cometh the man

Well that's a big fat phew! I was starting to get a bit sulky and petulant about my next post. Sometimes I go for a what seems like a worryingly long time without hearing anything to get really excited about. One starts to doubt one's faith... start cruising for other highs... contemplate foraging in bins. But then, WHAMMO! It all comes good. Cometh the hour, cometh these chaps.

Hot Chip's new album is out soon, and if it's all of the beauty displayed on Alley Cats, I'm going to be one happy punter. Alexis and Joe's voices blend perfectly as they so often do. Soothing keys, Arthur Russell-esque electric cello, and African sounding guitars combine in a deceptively simple composition. The lyrics are all about stroking stray cats, or something, and it's bittersweet and sublime.

It's been a long time since a new house track has excited me as much as Coma Cat has. Tensnake is a guy from Germany who channels the energy and enthusiasm of mid 80s Chicago, and fuses it with the best of Paradise Garage style disco and boogie. Not dancing to this is impossible. It's a wonderful testament to the durability of house that classic tracks like this are still being conjured up. I'm making this listen-only I'm afraid. Magicians like Tensnake deserve your money, so if you like it... buy it. It's out in the next few days.

Finally, everyone likes a bit of gay rape don't they? Well the Skatt Bros came up with a gay rape anthem. Recorded in 1980, I imagine Walk The Night was a bit of a hit in the sort of clubs where black leather dominates, and you don't want to look too closely at what's going on in the corners. The song's about a night prowler who'll do all sorts of unspeakable things to his prey. It's seedy, sinister, and very, very funky.

DOWNLOAD> Hot Chip - Alley Cats

PLAY ONLY> Tensnake - Coma Cat

DOWNLOAD> Skatt Bros - Walk The Night

Golden Afrique

To welcome in the new year, here's the opposite of snow. Don't get me wrong, I like snow. It's nice seeing London all covered in white, and there's much satisfaction to be had in the journalistic creativity put into such unexpected headlines as 'Snow Causes Travel Chaos'. But these are small pleasures.

Sunshine. Ah, sweet hot sunshine. Think of cycling in a t-shirt... cold beers in the park... the smell of barbeques... bronzed skin... the sound of crickets... lying with your eyes closed on the beach. Let's face it, if sunshine is round the corner, snow better pull up those shorts and jog on.

The bitch is though, sunshine ain't round the corner. It's about 4 months away, punks. So if you need a little sunshine advance these tunes might help. They're off an album that I listen to an astounding amount considering I barely understand a damn word being sung. Golden Afrique is a totally joyful compilation of west African pop from 1971-1983. The guitars chirrup, the trumpets swing, the syncopated rhythms shuffle and hop, and the voices soar. In short, it's like tipping your head to one side, raising an arm, and pouring a large jug of high-proof sunshine into that lug-hole of yours.

I know very little about these two artists. Bébé Manga is a Cameroonian singer, and Ernesto Djédjé was an Ivorian who pioneered a musical style rather wonderfully called 'ziglibithy'... and that's about as much as I can tell you. 2010 should really be the year that I crack into African music, because from the little I've heard there's some absolutely magical stuff to be discovered.

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You can buy Golden Afrique Vol. 1 from Amazon

Cold Comforts Mix Pt 2

So do you have a nice log fire ready? Are you wearing your advanced Norwegian knitwear? Well get cracking, people, because the Cold Comforts Mix Pt 2 is a toasty treat.

This collection puts the emotional and the lovelorn before the hedonistic. It turns down the disco, and turns up the swoon. Sure, you'll find some rave here, but it's raving with an ache in the heart. This is the most varied mix I've done for a while. It's also the one I've been most excited about for a goodly time too.

I'm a total Björk fan boy. I'm not sure there are many musical geniuses left these days, but I know she's one of them. Fact. So I've kicked off with the gorgeous It's Not Up To You of her Vespertine album. Then there's a nod to dubstep with the so-hottt-right-now combo of The XX and Joy Orbison. Mmmm... bass. If there's one tune I just can't stop listening to at the moment it's Randy Crawford's early 80s smooth soul classic, You Might Need Somebody. So you get that and a super-sensual dollop of JJ Cale too. Then it's back to the dance floor. Tensnake's Congolal is a wonderful bit of romantic instrumental electro-funk, full of yearning synths and slap bass. And then there's Four Tet. Love Cry is his latest record and it's deep and hypnotic, and I can't praise it enough. Four Tet's done some great stuff over the past decade, but this is possibly his best. And to wrap things up there's a righteous dubby version of Yazz's Fine Time.

Tracklisting:
Björk - It's Not Up To You, Florence & The Machine - You've Got The Love (The XX remix), José James - Black Magic (Joy Orbison's recreation), Rubies - Diamonds On Fire (Pyramid Dub Version), Blaze - Lovelee Day (20:20 Soundsystem remix), Mayer Hawthorne - Green Eyed Love (Classixx remix), Randy Crawford - You Might Need Somebody, Social Disco Club - 4 Love, JJ Cale - Cherry, Electribe 101 - Talking With Myself (Frankie Knuckles mix), Tensnake - Congolal, Four Tet - Love Cry, Yazz feat. Colonel Mite - Fine Time (12" mix)

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