james brewster - wingbeat fission

i heard this one on national radio station p2 on the radioshow "monitor", a program dedicated to more experimental electronic music. it was during a selection of rather new stuff and things sent to them and it really got my interest a bit into the track.

the track itself is a segment as the album "as a hovering insect mass breaks your fall" and the first part of this track follows much like the rest of the album. kind of an electronic take on post-rock or like chillwave or whatever it's called. but then track breaks down and entering there is this waggly (maybe fake) acid bassline.

the vocals that appear in the first half are reversed and the tr-909 drumprogramming is starting to appear in a more substantial way. but it doesn't stay all acid housey and eventually it goes back to the downbeat vibe of the  first part. much like the experimentation of the rest of the album, the track morphs into this haze of buzzing bees and reverb.

this composition is quite mad but in a really luscious way and the whole album is well recommended stuff

buy here (junodownload)

blümchen - heut' ist mein tag (blümchen vs. roh mix)

i thought about if i was going to write about blümchen seeing as i do like this project a lot and i thought, to hell with it. i really should because it's not like anyone is going to stop reading this blog if i did seeing as i've stated that i love eurodance, written entries about alexia and u96 and all that jazz.

also no one actually reads my blog any ways besides a select few and the rest who visits my blog usually comes for free musics and is usually disappointed when they don't find it. i hope you people stay for the blurbs and my ramblings but i doubt it. but let's get down to the nitty on this one.

i discovered blümchen when "ich bin wieder hier" hit the airwaves in this country, that song was a game-changer in the modus operandi with the blümchen project as it was a) not a cover of an older german song, but a 90's club hit, in this case rozalla's "everybody's free" b) the tempo was not at the usual happy hardcore speeds and was down at 140 bpm.

along with some promotion and a few other hit singles she suddenly had a fanbase in sweden but it was known that within the crowds that liked happycore, she wasn't interesting and it was very vanilla. but it all didn't matter in the end since the more serious hhc fans favoured the dutch and british stuff so it wasn't going to be big in that crowd.

but the formula of the project followed like a few others, singles were remakes of older songs and they were pumped up with ultra girly vocals, a banging tempo with a plain four on the floor with no distorted kicks. and of course reverse bass, luscious synths some cutup breakbeats (usually "think") and very present acidlines.

the team behind the project was arn schlürmann aka paralyzer, producer with roots from the german new wave movement and stani djukanovic aka silence and occasionally lukas hilbert and other people. jasmin wagner who sang was a bubbly personality and she did bring out a good vocal perfomances even outside of the standards of happycore.

this single was a big hit over here and even though "ich bin wieder hier" was the breakthrough, this fermented her status and was a single that was brought out after the album titled "jasmin" had been released. it had high rotation on tv & radio and was a great song.

the song is like many other blümchen song based on an other german song, in this case the hook is borrowed from german band roh. one of the members of roh was lukas hilbert and i think after they did a crossover version featuring guitars with previous single "blaue augen" (also a remake, in that case of ideal's 1980 new wave hit) they decided to full on do a rock version with roh.

this combination is immense and it brings out a slightly different dimension of the song. the big changes is the vocals are done without autotune and the synth melody is done with hilbert & carsten pape vocalising it. they also add backup vocals and all round moshy vibes. i really love the original but i think this version oneups it in so many ways.

the outcome is very over the top but then again the original was over the top so it's not a case of tautology, it's just all round fun.

buy here (amazon)

korallreven - sa sa samoa (elite gymnastics remix)

i've been buzzing off this one ever since it graced the national radio airwaves. it was a song that started like any other and then came some piano chords, chopped up drumbreaks a female vocal stab. at the time of the first listen i was not expecting it to be a full on throwback, i already sensed that it was doing a early 90's flirt but then again so has emeli sande, olly murs, axwell, miike snow and a few others already done (in the recent time).

then when the whitney houston sample evolves it eventually unleashes amens on top of the think, hot pants & funky mule drums. the remix keeps the vibe of the original track but turns it, as mentioned, into early 90's hardcore jungle, but with a slight twist.

revival jungle is one of those things that can be tricky as it can be cliché-ridden and a simple flavour of the week. this happens to me with danny byrd's '08 single "shock out", that was a well done and really well produced track. i loved it when i first heard that but the joy of it didn't last long and i have no idea why it didn't give me the satisfaction after the month i really listened to it. even now i think it's a good track but stays there.

i really don't hope this same fate happens to me and the elite gymnastics remix of "sa sa samoa", since i do like it a lot. even though i think the over-compression hurts this song a lot. it sounds rough when the amens come in and when they unleash the metallic reverbed-out cloud of sound in the last quarter it goes into overkill. come to think of it, this will happen...

listen here (soundcloud)

neneh cherry - buddy x (falcon & fabian remix feat. the notorious b.i.g.)

the intarwebs has been vibing over biggie smalls tracks since it's fifteen years ago the notorious b.i.g. passed away. as usual there will be songs shared and linked to from all times and there is a whole load of them that are quality and will bring the house down proper any day.

this tune is one that i found out about a couple of years ago and it's a mending of three special people, one of the biggest rappers/(or actually artists in general) to have ever come out of sweden (yeah, i know she is a bit uk and us as well but with a birtnname of neneh marianne karlsson, she is sweden); a very talented producer by the name of christian falk or falcon as he used to bill himself in the hiphop heyday and of course a (then) little known rapper called the notorious b.i.g. (or biggie smalls as he was known then).

nowadays biggie is the star and neneh cherry is the lesser but back in '92 the roles were reversed and biggie had only been on a few records officially and this was one of them. rumour has it (according to falk's collaborator & friend dj sleepy) that biggie wasn't the first choice for the guestspot but busta rhymes but he was difficult to get and wanted more money. probably because of his reputation for turning out verses that stole the show.

the beat by christian falk and fabian is typical 90's east coast material and holds up really well and is nice & gritty. biggies verse isn't the best thing in the world but his flow and presence speaks for itself. this track is somewhat forgotten classic and for biggie, i want to bring it back. r.i.p. christopher wallace. and for neneh cherry, keep on rocking and doing what you do. she is still working and doing wonderful music, same goes for christian falk.

listen here (youtube)

familjen with ninsun poli - bethnahrin

this was discovered while pressing in the name "ninsun poli" on spotify. she's a singer (of assyrian descent) that has been performing both under her own name and in collaborations with other acts including familjen. she's a very talented singer and i loved her debut ep titled "for real" and was in love with "feber" which she made with familjen.

this song is from familjens second album (named "mänskligheten) and featured the same stylings as the previous record, bumping house and acidlines mixed with pop sensibilities in a clever way. i should note that poli sings on two other songs ("mitt bästa" & "vinter i april") on the record and they work in the same school as "kom säger dom" and "feber". however this song differentiated itself quite a lot from those and takes the drums off altogether and is a mood piece.

it's moody in the beginning and then a haunting vocal comes out of nowhere and grabs a hold of you on an instant. poli sings in her native suryoyo and talks about the motherland known as beth nahrin that's the assyrian word form mesopotamia. the vocal is something between an syrian-orthodox choir recital and a mawal and it's really powerful.

i think it can compared to a famous piece by ofra haza called "love song" where she does her version of song of songs 8:6-7 (more known as "love is as strong as death") in hebrew. i don't think they are on the same par but they are close and equally powerful pieces of music.

i should note that ofra haza's song is full a capella (and it should be noted that it's been sampled and remixed left and right over the years) and familjen adds dark pads and long sweeping synth sounds to back up and enhance the song.

while this song is no clear hit like most of familjens other tracks it really works as the ending track of the album and brings it all down to a great closing. much like "dansa" in timbuktu's "sagolandet" lp.

buy here (7digital)

source direct - shimmer

i discovered this one i think either through a set or youtube but it resonated with me on an instant because of it's grand atmospheric sound. it's very good looking records circa mid 90's with amens, a booming 808 sub bass and so much pads and strings you are drowning in lush.

the amen is employed a very straightforward re-jigging and with some key edits along the line to "spice it up". the eq used really brings out the snappy snares or it sounds like they layered on a pitched up clap. while i did exaggerate the uses of atmospherics, it does start as an exercise in pad-showers but gets down to business.

mind you i do think the plan for the tune was some sort of set-starter thing as it fucks around chopped around drums and then goes into full blast. short after that it boils down to drums and (sub)bass with the occasional female vocal sample. it introduces the main string motif later on it but it keeps it fairly subtle and it's a more culmination for the drop in the middle.

i know this record is far different from the bleaker techier records that source direct would make a name for themselves but good atmospheric jungle is always welcomed in my book.

listen here (youtube)

ward 21 - this anuh rampin' (prod. kid606)

this track comes of a project assembled by the wall of sound label with the simple concept of putting together a jamaican deejay, singjay or singer and an english-based producer who either do more electronic stuff. the riddims become different in perspective but they did/do come off like modern jamaican dancehall.

there are a number of great collaborations including the tanya stephens/prassay cut on "enuff 4 u" with it's oldschool ragga hiphop throwback and the ce'cile & general degree/jacques lu cont collaboration on "na na na na" with it's suspencebuilding beat. the lucious ska-like collab of big youth & west london deep on "rudie no" is another killer track.

and this one with ward 21 and kid606 which on paper had me thinking of something more crazy but it's certainly bumping. kid606 tones down his glitch and various modulation techniques for this one but pack in a beefy bass.

listen closely you hear some of his sonical trickery in the back but on top you have ward 21 mashing it up in their usual style. it's a very banging tune and ever since i found this compo i've been hooked to this tune and i'm not going to stop liking it any time soon.

buy here (junodownload)

i have to point out that there are number of lacklustre tracks including the spragga benz/roni size one and the bling dawg/city hi-fi track.

james brown - king heroin

this was a song by brown i discovered late and it's a sombre blues like number. it's a telling of a poem written by a manny rosen and is a cautionary tale about drugs and what they can do to your ways of living. while it's a powerful lyrical expression, coming from james brown it resonates weirdly because brown's person.

then again so goes most anti-drug songs sung from persons you think were probably still doing drugs after doing the song, but i guess this song is valid and should be heard by most anyways. brown (and by default rosen) talks about heroin in the first person perspective, really personifying the drug. he goes off telling what he will do you as the drug and in the last part he says he will send you to hell. effectively saying: i will kill you, have no doubt about it.

buy here (7digital)

another song who runs in the same modus operandi is phuture's "your only friend", it was through this song i found "king heroin" since someone pointed out it's lyrical similarities. it differentiates itself only with the drug in mind ("your only friend" is about cocaine) and it's more blunter telling of the effects of the drugs.

"your only friend" was like "king heroin" an anomaly since it stemmed through a culture wrapped up drugs even though spanky, dj pierre & herbert j (like most of the chicago and detroit producers) weren't users themselves. but you had ron hardy, who famously broke "acid tracks" (which this track is the b-side to), who was a known heroin addict and the culture itself weren't that dissonant of drugs.

"your only friend" is a bit more sinister than "king heroin" but i think it was needed to send a clear picture to the heads in the club where as james brown wanted to talk to the people and elaborate. eitherway they are both really great songs.

buy here (junodownload)

u96 - life in paradise

i've mentioned before that i love eurodance and this one is a track i discovered a little while after when i was started playing eurodance-sets. i came to terms that you could play in the faster megamix stylings that i favoured and still build and release. this is like most dance music, if one wants to do an interesting mix then the solution isn't just to play anthems.

which is why you'll never catch me playing something like culture beat's "mr vain" until the end of the set. but you have to get from point a to point b and sometimes you want something subtle but still packing that eurodance-flavour. this is where something like track comes in to play.

to be really honest, it's not my favourite alex christensen production and again i say that in a state that i do have a favourite track done by him. that would be "love religion" but this is something completely different and it comes an album where the big hit was "heaven". a track which a deliberate rejack of cindy lauper's "time after time".

this track is infact album filler and it starts off with the exact same pad christensen used for most of this album (have a listen on the rest of the tracks in the junoplayer), later it introduces some melody that is going to be present for most of the track and then it kills it off to bring out the bass and drums. it's a very subtle production and i know i've reused this statement before but coming from alex christensen, the level of subtle in this is a feat.

it further on treads lyrical grounds of the road world peace in a sort of bleak manner, as done in the "conscious nineties". i can easily use this to sidetrack further more but i still find it piss funny that one of the least serious form of dance music spent so much time of peace, love, unity and consciousness. vocalist nikki and/or dea-li deliver this quite well though and it's one of the reasons i like this track.

buy here (junodownload)

to clarify something as well, whenever i say alex christensen production, i do of course everyone but christensen as he had a whole team of co-producers and henchmen on production. i also find it funny that this track one the album is preceded by something ("heartline/lifeline") that is an clowny re-take of union jack's cactus (buy here).

it's sub-ceded by a really awful outro track that sounds like the intro of a really bad happycore track. i don't want to spoil the fun but they bring in the sounds of das boot at the end, in a way that shouldn't make sense and doesn't either.

shorty rogers & his orchestra - taps miller

this one i heard on radio and i was going through the channels and stumbled upon some swinging big band jazz or whatever you want to call it. the track that caught my ear first when i switched to the station was a rendition of "jersey bounce" by joe reisman and his orchestra. i'd never heard it before but i liked the groove and it held me in for the next track which was a downright funky affair.

likewise it was a new piece of music for me but it had the bounce and groove to make this somewhat essential, i think what ferments it is that killer drum-fill near the end and anyone who knows me, knows i like drums. but it's more than drums and i found out that the song is a count basie composition and comes off a record where rogers plays basie.

i'd never heard of shorty rogers before but i had heard of shelly manne who plays drums on this. there is actually a number of names who play on this but i'm not familiar with their work elsewhere but they all perform really well. the track kicks of with a bang and it rides high and stays there on a glorious mood. good stuff.

buy here (7digital)