the roc project - never (max reich remix)

"never" was a huge club hit when i bought the cdsingle and think i hadn't heard the original but i was quite into the remixes by both dj tiësto and filterheadz. both of which were included along with a remix by jean-claude ades and max reich, along with the original and radio edit. after my infatuation died down a bit with those two versions my focus went more for the max reich remix.

it also had to do with filterheadz remix being basically their previous production "sunshine" (done with tomaz), in a slightly different suit and you might as well play that instead. might as well add that it's not the first time i mention this but anyone knowledgable to filterheadz productions at the time know about it. a popular trick with dj's at time was to play this remix or the dub version and go into "sunshine"

none the less if you are going to get really nerdy to things, i found it weird that some of the titles were a bit different. the original and max reich remix had a secondary title, being "past tense", tagged on in brackets. when i looked in the credits i noticed it was because "never" uses a sample from fused's "twisted". fused was a project by my countrymen max reich, samuel malm together with vocalist petra hallberg.

this part is discogs info because i can honestly say that prior to hearing "never" i had never heard of fused or the song that was sampled. my head knew about both producers prior and their prior output was more in the techno region but both had done some acidy trance as well. from what i gather then fused stemmed from an initial one-off housey single as "selected works" in '97 for mousse t's peppermint jam label.

eventually it became a full length album but now with a new project name and album called "selected works". after a few other singles they struck a deal with columbia and this in hand led to a release of singles "saving mary", "twisted" and "terror". i heard that the project sort of disbanded after that and i believe malm went into more engineering work and reich started up shapeshifters.

for reich's remix of the song he went into a tougher and more progressive direction, a very driving track straight from the top when the bassline sets the tone for the rest. it's always interesting when someone that has been sampled are invited or wants to do a re-envisioning like this, especially on how they choose to tackle the remix and what sounds are used.

traces of reich's past productions are a visible and i think it's because of the way the focus comes on the subtle acid sound and the lowkey melodies on top of this driving rhythm. the vocal isn't the focal point of the track even though it's quite prominent throughout the track. it's very well done and i like how the track is built as it easily fits a driving house set but lends to transitioning into progressive house and to some extent a trancy or set. good stuff.


buy here (itunes)

rachael starr - till there was you (john creamer & stephane k remix)

another case of something that i heard upon it's release but first it was through gabriel & dresden's remix and i didn't like that but i liked the song in general. i heard starr's original version closely after that and preferred it but when i heard about john creamer & stephane k's remix, there was no turning back. gabriel & dresden took a big risk with their remix but and there is a bit of a circuit flirt in the sound but i really think they missed the point of the song.

starr's vocal delivery which is bit dry but there is a subtle moodyness to it, even if the lyrics are supposed to be romantic in some way. the match up with gabriel & dresden's beats didn't work and i think starr played up the funky house aspect a bit too much. creamer & k does it very subtle and lets the small motif of the pads and the bassline do the work for most part. by doing this they harnessed the best parts of the original and let them be the focal points.

i was entrance by that bassline and it's interesting how they redid it where in starr's hands it was a warped murmur. when they took to it the sound is in line with the pad motif, to an extent that it becomes another layer to it. something that is now very much associated with booka shade's "mandarine girl" but this goes a bit deeper than that. because of this and the fact that it utilized a bit of a scaled down production is why most of the time i played this track i used to pitch it down. "till there was you" worked excellently with deeper house and slowing it down also increased the moody nature of the vocal but also the song at hand. brilliant.


buy here (beatport)

hugg & pepp - meral

with my recollection i bought the "naken janne" ep in '05 and i already knew of "janne", which more or less is the titletrack, as this was a track played everywhere at the time. it was definitely around the time people outside of the techno & house scene started looking at jesper dahlbäcks productions because of the rework of "murder of the bass". i bring that up as "janne" has an vicious bassline and part of it's charm is that it sounds like the cross between a hoover and a reese at times.

as i actually listened to the other tracks on the record, i was sort of into them but nothing hit as hard as "janne" at the time. not going to lie but at time i was still coming to the notion that techno didn't just mean drumcode type records. i liked some other techno but i was favouring the fast and pounding sound. "janne" fit sort of into that when pitched up but i also learned that i had to play this music differently.

there was one track that sort of grabbed my mind at the time and remember it vividly hearing "meral" and being a bit into as i started getting back into those persuader records. i know that hugg & pepp is in collaboration with his cousin john but anything that jesper dahlbäck does, that sounds remotely like his persuader records will probably get support from me. even if it's almost 10 years after it's release but i do know why i didn't play it back then. my toes had just been dipped into playing deeper house and even then my notion of deep house was the really atmospheric kind.

none the less i want to still talk about this one and it is the bassline and the pads that makes "meral" the brilliant tune that it is. the dahlbäcks build up a steady groove with a distinct closing hihat with each clap and some funky congas. the bass comes teasing in after a little while and it squelches a bit to an extent that sounds like farts but it works with the track. the warm pads used in a few of dahlbäck's previous productions come in for a little time when they are later replaced with a more perky patch.

further on in the track the bass also gets to shine with a solomoment of sorts and along with it there are some beat edits. while all of this is happening there is a moody but sombre pad in the background and while it's just playing longer chords it really does it's job with the ambience. great track and for that extent great ep in general, there isn't a bad track on this release and i can fit all of the songs in a set any day.

it helps sometimes to look in your recordcollection and see if you have forgotten some gems, this was definitely one of those.



also the nerdy/popcultural part of me has to point out that all of the tracks which are "janne", "meral", "robban", "linda" are named after people who took part of various reality shows in the early noughties. all of them gained notoriety in one way or another and janne for instance was kalled "naken janne" ("naked janne") for his nudist ways.

vivian green - emotional rollercoaster (original 3 extended)

"emotional rollercoaster" was something i heard in a set and it was originally through a remix by above & beyond and it's a version that i still love. typical classy driving epic trance production with green's vocal on top and it was also nice to hear soulful vocals like that with trancier beats. because normally on a regular basis, the most soulful you could get was marcella woods, merle forbes and kate cameron and they was stuck to singing e-tard poetry for the most part.

i missed out on actual buying the record at the time but saw the cdsingle a while after and bought it, knowing that it wasn't included. the additional versions included was by junior vasquez, that kid chris and original 3 together with a b-side called "music", also available on her album "a love story". junior vasquez remix was a classic circuit rerub and i liked it to an extent but i could never play it because it had certain parts that i didn't like, note that this was before i took to editing tracks .

that kid chris took to a tribal progressive house version that bored me tears on the first listen and while i see it's purpose with these ears, i'd never play it. saving the original 3 remix for last and this was always the remix i chose to play because it harnessed the original production, which i loved. for some reason i also thought that it was by osunlade as he, erro & vivian green were responsible for the song. it also didn't help that discogs never included a remixcredit for the act "original 3" at the time, or maybe that i had never heard of them prior to looking it up today.

none the less, it's a great soulful house track that uses osunlade's bassline and synth licks with green's vocal as i hinted upon in the prior paragraph. i also like the guitar being used that isn't that prominent but audible enough and the way it fits the soundscape. the most notable is that it implements the bridge that most of the remixers that took a stab at this song ignored.

it's part of the motion of the original composition but in original 3's remix it's in the breakdown and becomes a great crowning moment for green as she just belts out the hook right after it. as it's set up is a classic trick with diva house type tracks and it works equally as brilliant with this one. love it.

sonique - sky (sonique remix)

another one of my early record puchases and this was from a music and video exchange of sorts in stockholm, i saw the record there along with a few other and decided to get it. i knew of the original version quite vividly as it was quite a big hit one or two years prior but hadn't heard the remixes on the record. to be honest i thought "it feels so good" was better than "sky" but i didn't have that single either until much later.

upon getting it i did have a clue on what i would expect with these ones and i thought both remixes would be full on club mixes. such is the case with the b-side that is the conductor & the cowboy remix, which is the version i have played the most as i've found places for it in sets. it's right proper driving epic trance and that isn't a secret that i am fond of that or like to play that.

the a-side however which is sonique's own rework expands on the original but shifts the focus out of the big room. to these ears it's the kind of tune that would work well in sets with club music but not meant for dancing, just to please the ears. however i do hear how it can be used and also notice the elements that could aid if the track was pitched up a bit.

in general most elements of the song was redone and the prominent stabbing synth melodies and string arrangement is replaced with softer pads, lowkey keys and a guitar. the drums and the bassline have also gone through a switch and they feel more in tune with rest of the sounds. the bassline in particular is more accentuated and whenever that squelching long note makes it's presence, you feel it's presence. on top, or should i say in the middle with the rest of this glorious soundscape, sonique's warm vocal feels right at home. very nice.

buy here (itunes)

lillian - magic moments (bart van wissen remix)

this was something i bought a few years ago because i really liked the original version of "magic moments" but when i took it home the remix became the choice version. part of why i liked the song in the first place as it had nice progressive trancy vibe to it with a melancholic vocal. andain's "summer calling" really came into mind on the initial listens but not completely.

"magic moment" was one the many collaborations between lillian van sonsbeek and dennis buné (aka jaimy) & kenneth doekhie (aka kenny d) and most of them sat in that grayarea between funky house, progressive house and progressive trance. but on most of the occasions they shifted toward the moodier than the quite funky vocal tunes like "caught me running" for example.

i have no idea on how both parts connected because prior to working with buné & doekhie, sonsbeek was the vocalist for happy hardcore project 4 tune fairytales. but i guess as that ended sonsbeek moved on to voicing different sounds and that is what happened in 2000. discogs doesn't really tell which is the start of their collaborations but it could be night sessions' "i wander" or jaimy & kenny d's "shine on" or "don't know your name" ep.

none the less it was quite a thriving connection and they pulled out a number of great tracks and this is one of them. for bart van wissen's remix he took the track into a different sound than the latent trancier sounds and from the get go, it is quite funky. vibrant drums and shuffled percussion set the stage but as soon you hear the you hear the pads sweeping in, a whole different feel is brought on. even with a bassline that is brought on which is equally funky as the percussion, you feel this "laidback" notion for a lack of better terms.

with the vocal the mood is emphasised even more but i took a big liking to this remix not just because of that. i saw the possibilities in a set where it's an excellent transition piece. the funky rhythm is excellent for keeping the groove going but if you want to take it down or go into a different direction it will fit the role. great stuff.

buy here (junodownload)

slip 'n' slide - let me know

"let me know" was something i heard originally on youtube many years ago and back then it was mislabeled as an aphrodite tune. not that hard to understand why since it bears resemblance to his productions during the late 90's, even if this is a bit toned down compared to them. the aaliyah sample was the hook for my liking but i also took a liking towards the breakdown part of the song.

usually i would start talking about the artists at hand but i have no clue on who sean warfield aka dj slip or tej singh aka slide are, you know beyond discogs information. but from that i gather that they were part of a click of canadian drum & bass producers more known as vinyl syndicate, circled around a shop and label with the same name. sometimes the nerdy nature of me kicks in to dig deeper but in this care there is little care to be found beyond my deep liking towards this track.

what i can tell you is that this did trigger the part of my musical taste that likes jump-up drum & bass even though the elitist part of me want so ignore that. as mentioned in my entry of jamie myerson's "everything's gonna be alright" i stand for everything i like. all those inane urban takedown productions like "bad ass", the remix of "jungle brother" and the "rockafella skank" remix, i would go nuts on a dancefloor if someone played them.

this track is golden right from the start with those "n.t." drums and those soft keys and the aaliyah vocal samples worked in a loop. when the full hook is unleashed it's a few bars until they kick the bassline in and you hear her vocal melody being reiterated in the lower end. as the track progresses eventually a few elements creep in and subtly you hear a "think break".

it then makes it's appearence in full when the song goes into a halftime moment with the "think"-break is slowed down a few bars. it then heads into a really distorted bass part of the tension and release of the song. that segment doesn't stay in that long as it heads into a break of sorts where another familiar sound is heard.

a looped part from the intro of souls of mischeaf's classic "'93 'til infinity" becomes the basis of the breakdown along with alex reece's "pulp fiction" drums. the progression out of it also flows perfectly and i like the continued use of the "'93 'til infinity" loop right up where they go back into the distorted bass for one final bass blast. great track.

listen here (soundcloud)

keoki - majick (yum yum remix)

with most of my musical purchases over the years i have no real distinctive memory other than as i bought it. this falls into the exception as i remember the transaction quite vividly and it comes back as a memory whenever an event like this happens again. i believe this took place in 2006 or 2007 and a few days prior to this event i was in the recordstore at hand. i found the cdsingle for keoki's "majick" as i went in there just on a whim because it was on my route to my usual recordstore.

for the time at hand i didn't have more money at my disposal so i left it there but hidden in a special place so i would go back another time and grab it. sometimes when i'm digging at recordstores i'm quite of an anorak and really not interested in talking to anyone as i'm trying to remember stuff. remember this was before having cheap internet access on your phone and having discogs at your disposal.

as i entered the store, i did actually greet the proprietor of the store in swedish and then i went down to business and started looking. i picked this up along with the cdsingle of the '96 rerelease of the future sound of london's classic "papua new guinea" and some other item. the clerk then starts talking to me in broken english and i just stood there frozen and wondered: "hey, i greeted you in clear swedish about five minutes ago, why are you speaking english to me now?"

sometimes i've haven't cared about the incident but for other times this has happened, i have replied with a witty response in swedish. i understand that sometimes it is a case of tourists walking in and doing the shopping. however seeing as i'm of syriac origin and look the part with black hair, brown eyes and a big nose i am going to cite stereotypes as they have spoken to me in english.

never the less i did take this home and still think about that incident time to time again as i listen to it, also think about how dated certain sounds can be. i knew about the latter thing but i was expecting more than one mix to be playable (without editing that is). the original has it's moments but keoki's vocals ruin the fun electro vibe of it. yum yum's remix is a textbook example of proper driving trance music on the epic edge, even the breakdown with it's telltale sounds of it's time works well.

when i found the single at hand i had a hunch that it was to be the lasting tune of the pack and i wasn't wrong. love the subtle acidlines, the small melody parts and the driving bassline. even keoki's vocals work as yum yum only used the whispered parts. i've certainly had use of this in my sets over the years and i still think it's proper. right on.

buy here (junodownload)

martina topley-bird - hours away

i saw this single a few years back and it wasn't really the type of cdsingle i would buy, even though i knew damn well who martina topley-bird was. she has a great voice and i like quite a lot of the music that she's outputted but frankly when i looking into bins after singles, i do want to have a number of remixes on it. "need one" is a three tracker with the main track at hand, a single specific b-side and a remix.

fabien waltham's name wasn't known for me until i remembered that he had a remix under his belt of madonna's "the power of good-bye" that was brilliant. it was drum & bass and even though i saw his name along with topley-bird on the credit list of production of the original track, i was still expecting drum & bass. sadly this was not the case but it was a great version where the track has been grittied up.

but i am a sucker for a good bassline and some dreamy atmosphere, basically anything shoegazy without taking it to wanky territories. "hours away" is a great song and the vocal arrangement and the reverbed out sounds has been enjoyed from my side. sometimes taking a gamble on a single pays off even it's not what you expected.

listen here (youtube)

ng3 - tell me (club mix)

another example of a track that i liked from hearing it on radio or on telly back in '02 and i know it was because of three reasons. first of all because the video was quite good, even though the idea was sort reminiscent of a sugababes video and especially the video for puretone's "addicted to bass". secondly because of herbie crichlow was affiliated with the song and also produced the song (along with partner in crime ari lehtonen who used the moniker eric le tennen on this project).

thirdly and most imporantly is that it was quite a catchy track and had alot of attitude with but it went without saying as the combination crichlow & lehtinen was quite the hitmakers, on the more commercial eurodance-leaning edge. they formed a production group called dreamstate and ng3 was part of their stable. sound wise ng3 was somewhat based in hiphop and r&b but with beats that sounded more like eurodance and trance at 95bpm. strangely though it doesn't actually sound like the late '00 style of hiphop and r&b with that exact formula as this was too polished.

for example the original actually uses the kind of soca or dancehall type swing and tempo but there is a more specific hiphop-oriented remix done as dreamstate. here it's at half the tempo, most of the elements have been stripped down and it's just drums, bass, vocals and then a big epic synthy hook. even at this rendition it doesn't really sound like those records from the later era but i never cared for those tracks and neither this remix either.

i was always geared towards the two house remixes on the cdsingle and german act silverboys and swedish producer jonas hagman. the former does a great filtertastic funky house mix but i had problems with this version because i think they handled the vocal poorly and it can't even be salvaged with editing. hagman's versions are just billed as club mix and dub mix respectively and i think i still don't know why, just going by the sound of the remixes.

they have little to no relation musically beyond the use of the vocals but i loved them on the first listen. hagman's remixes is driven by this catchy tom-loop and a very fake acidline that does everything right. it creates a whole load of tension and never really releases it a typical circuit type way because this remix is very in tuned with the american circuit sound of the 90's. difference being that it doesn't go to the epic extent that you got in those anthemic tracks and remixes. i do love this version but when i had the problems of fitting this into the sets i was playing so it became a personal pleasure. utterly banging though.

soul II soul - move me no mountain (dum dum dub)

first time i heard this was through ron trent and his appearance on amoeba records' what's in my bag. he picked the record at hand and trent talked about buying it for joey negro aka dave lee's remixes. suitably the good folks at amoeba record decided to play one of the remixes and they chose the dub over the main club mix. the difference between them are the latter plays very straight and "houses" up the original where as dave lee went for his on the dub.

apart from some key sounds, one line of vocal and the bassline this track is all dave lee. i got hooked to it through the vibraphone-sounding hook that was heard right off the bat in the amoeba video. when i heard it on headphones i however realised that the real star of the track is the bassline. even with a stunning musical base with great drums & percussion and nice keys, it's the bassline that matters.

from the start you hear it about a minute in when it's all stripped down to a heavy tr-808 kick after a luscious building intro. the round murmur moves through the bottom end and after a while it's even backed up with some played bass. however the key moment was when i heard the track in my headphones a few days ago and it just reached the breakdown.

there it goes from murmuring to booming as lee just cranks it up a few notches and lets the bassline loose and every little movement sounds grandiose. i fell in love with the track at that point and i had even played the track in a set a few times. sometimes you really feel the impact when you are one with the music and the outside world isn't bothering you.

listen here (youtube)

humate - breed (summer of '89 remix)

for this one i was given a heads up when it was released and even then people said that don't bother with the original, head straight for the acidy summer of '89 remix. the part about it including a whole load of acid almost sealed the deal for me but it having a sort of a late 80's housey throwback sound also meant a lot. especially as i was quite into the hugg & pepp remix of "in and out". which basically did the same thing but was more balls deep into the nostalgic factor, to put it bluntly.

the original isn't by any means a bad track and infact listening to it now i can hear it's appeal and the way the distorted techno house sound worked well with the vocal. it was sort of a mix between the humate's own gee shock remix of his '00 single "choose life" and "vivid", the prior humate single. i still favour the summer of '89 remix of it over the original and part of why it works is that doesn't sound like a complete throwback track.

when this track was released i tried to used words like chicago and sound of trax or dj international and the likes when i was describing this track. on one occasion i was given a swift reprimand from my friend alon klein in that this doesn't sound like chicago at all and if anything it's more mancunian. even then it's done through another filter of modern aestethics and production techniques that throws the argument of "chicago" or manchester out of the window.

i do however associate it with summer and not because it says so in the title but because it was included into my soundtrack of the summers of '05 and '06. that acidy bassline and groove was such a delight to listen to on warm summer days and you felt every motion of the phasing effects that was used. i loved those warm pads that compilemented the acid wiggle and the lethargic vocal.

after every start of the listen i did wait for the moment where the resonance of the acid increased as it was going into this small breakdown. after the that small drop there is a section where the it all goes haywire in all the right ways. the percussion sounds more wilder, the vocal is chopped up and the resonance of the acid is increased even more.

to be fair this follows suit of the original which is also built in a similar way but the difference is the execution and the sound. instead of wibbly acid you hear distorted sounds, affected to lfo, wobbling around. then when it's had that moment it goes back into the groove that you heard in the first half of the track until it fades down and ends. lovely track.

buy here (junodownload)

lucca - towers

my introduction to lucie kvasnicová aka dj lucca came through paul van dyk as the umek remix of "mirage" was heavily cained. soon after heard chris cowie's remix and preferred it to that but i quite liked the works coming from this czech dj & producer. it was a mix of funky techno and quite popular big room sound and also the not quite trance but not quite techno sound. in the beginning it did sound a bit like cowie's brand of techno as they collaborated on a few records but the sound was changed further on and i started to lose interest in the music.

not because it stopped sounding like chris cowie but it started to go into the direction of say deadmau5 and "8th note tech-house" and the "trendhouse" of the mid and late noughties. needless to say i was never a fan of that sound and spent way to much time trying to knock some sense into people using the world electro in the wrong context. after a while, i want to say that i stopped caring about the loss of the descriptions of that genre, but if you've read my blog prior you would know that is bullshit. i still yammer on about what real such and such genre is even though it's isn't as didactic like in this entry.

regardless of that i do try to focus my protest by focusing on good music by the persons at hand and i have a few favourites by lucca. "mirage" i've already mentioned but also "t-gnosia", "manila" and this track "towers". came out on kvasnicová's own sound of acapulco label and is a stunning driving funky techno groove. it's great set buildup material and constructed with it's the layer upon layer technique.

starts with a muddy bassline, a kick and a faint percussion loop and it goes on from there. it does use quite livid percussive elements that does what bring to mind that latin loop techno sound of the early 00's but the focus is shifted to the bassline and the groove. as the bassline gets more defined with additional layers, the track also seem to set the direction that it's not up top where the action is.

there isn't a missed point in this track in where the small drops makes sense. the two bigger breaks builds the right amount of tension and gives out some release even though it continues building on. great stuff.

buy here (junodownload)

nekta - history is pearshaped (swell session's vip mix)

i came across this one through swell session/andreas saag's myspace back in the day where he had some microsite constructed on his space where it was built like a jukebox. some of the tracks had a lot of descriptions and the likes on his productions and it was fun reading the information and factoids and all that jazz. being that my mind cling on to this kind of useless knowledge and knowing how to search for it otherwise is what built this blog more or less.

none the less the factoid for this remix is that saag was asked by infracom! to remix either this song by nekta or jhelisa's "freedom's land" and in the end, both was given a remix treatment. saag took a liking to the original and set out to do a housey version of track that was quite jazzy but had a strong balearic groove. the other interesting information was that saag was also given some additional vocals from nathalie schäfer that was recorded on request.

they can be heard on the tail end on the song where you can hear schäfer adlibbing and harmonising a bit to the rhythm. luckily with the internet archive i was able to retrieve all this information again, i may remember some things but i had it mixed up with the info about another remix done by andreas saag. with regards to this remix i really loved the summery tone to the song and that really thick and round bassline.

saag implemented most of the sounds from the original as he loved it redid the drum track and added a different bump to it. the guitar and strings have been worked into the mix but the jazzy trumpet has been removed. the keyboards was also redone in saag's own style as he knows his way around the keys and likes to work in the played element of the keyboards.

one thing though is that i've noticed and especially looking on soundcloud and blogs over the last couple of years is that these kind of specific house remixes aren't as favoured if there is something more balearic. i really think in a modern context people would go for the original than the remix. it's slower and need for that 125bpm type bump isn't as needed as it used to be, or i'm maybe just talking out of my arse on this thing.

what stifles the original is that it doesn't have the mixability like the saag's remix but you could easily fix that with some looping. for me though? i prefer this remix over the original as i think it's better and has more ideas cleverly executed and such.

buy here (junodownload)

santos - gimme da mike (electrochemie lk remix)

this comes off the single for santos' "i'm not homesick" which has "gimme da mike" as a b-side. there was a few other remixes ordered up the for the single by lee coombes and genius cru but they appear elsewhere, besides i'll take thomas schumacher's elektrochemie lk remix over them any day. also featured on the track is rapper everest who also appeared on dino lenny's "i feel stereo" from the same time. there you could hear him redo melle mel's famous lines from the guestverse of chaka khan's "i feel for you".

santos' works this glitchy offbeat loop throughout the song and the effect is a bumpy rhythm and it's quite funky when a four on the floor is strapped on together with a bassline. for schumacher however it's a case of focusing on that off beat rhythm and working a broken beat rhythm according to the swing of that groove. it's also coupled together with shuffled percussion that on a glance just sounds frantic, but this why i feel in love with this version.

in most respects organized chaos, especially when locked down to the same tempo, is much more fun that just the occacional crazy section. it does have to be interesting throughout and schumacher sorts this out with fills and some changes but also a great bassline that squelches in all of the right moments. downright proper.

pauline kamusewu - runnin' out of gaz (markus enochson's bang-the-galore mix)

with this one i bought swedish singer pauline kamusewu's second single "answer" more or less because i was interested in markus enochson's remix of "runnin' out of gaz". i had heard both songs prior but i didn't like "answer" that much or at least compared to the previous single. both of them were early motown/'60s pop-pastiches in the fullest rights with snares on each beat and a big horn arrangement.

markus enochon's take on "runnin' out of gaz" interested me mostly because as mentioned before that i liked the song but i was also a big fan of his works in general. on this one enochson gets down to business fast works a sturdy rhythm and less than a minute in you hear kamusewu's vocal and the bassline from the original.

along with it there is some keys that plays long chords or rhythm work during the verses but goes into some tiny extravagances a bit into the song. fact is that most of the elements from the original appear in enochson's remix but it's just translated into a different genre and that it's all toned down a bit. in general an incredibly well made remix and you get that masters at work-ish vibe that enochson used to work in his soulful house days.

buy here (itunes)

slow train soul - trail of dawn

first time i heard about slow train soul was through "naturally" which i heard on some lounge compilation and i liked it quite a bit. the act consists of morten hansen aka varano which i'm a big fan of and michelle nichol aka lady z whom i've never heard of prior to hearing the song. a few months after hearing the compilation i saw the cdsingles for "naturally" and "in the black of the night" in one of stockholms record stores and i grabbed them both.

i thought it was fitting as both used the same artwork but stylised differently as it was based of a photo of the act where it's been reduced to contours.  "naturally" uses a white background and black contours and "in the black of the night" has it vice versa, probably with the song title in mind. in terms of the title tracks i'll take "naturally" over the latter but "in the the black of the night" also came with a mighty b-side which i fell in love with on the first listen.

"trail of dawn", which is also included on the album called "illegal cargo", is an ode to clubbing and tells the feeling of the end of a really good night. it quite an epic and goes through some emotions and stages and i really like how it starts almost melancholic with these gorgeous but sad strings. this feeling changes a bit as the drums and a really resonant bassline appears in the picture and it sets the stage for lady z's vocals.

nichols also feels a bit melancholic in her delivery but her words aren't of sadness but more joyous and the words are about all the fun that the night of dancing has brought. this juxtaposition is interesting and it's emphasised as the phrase "now that the music's over, turn on the bright white light" becomes a mantra of sorts after the verses are finished. somewhere in the back of the mind of clubbers everywhere you never want a really good night out to end.

all of these emotion are given a brilliant soundtracking to by varano and lady z (and guests fred portelli & vezio bacci) which provides ups and downs with strings, lovely drums & percussion and a bassline that hits hard.

buy here (itunes)

boxsaga - robot blues

some years ago i found the cdsingle for boxsaga's "positive sweat" and i don't remember on what strength i picked it up. probably because it was a four tracker ep and at the time i was quite into the concept of those releases, if it was specific songs for that release. also because the track duration was printed on the cardboard cover and out of the four track, the shortest track clocked in at 5:35 and that is the title track.

on the other end of that "robot blues" is the longest track of the release and it's also fastest and it seems a bit out of place compared to the other tracks. like the rest of the track it employs some of the buzzing saws and the warm synth sounds along with the use of drumbreaks and generated drum sounds. but the structure of the track and the tempo is different and you feel that nick phillips aka boxsaga just threw the rules out of the window for this track.

the buildup for it is one of those just goes to the extremities without ever launching into that moment or a drop. you hear it go on and there are even a few key breaks where it's expected for things to happen but you'll be hard pressed to hear it. the most substantial thing that happens during the break four minutes into the song is that the it changes from breakbeats to four on a floor. almost the same scenario happens six minutes in where it breakdown a bit, probably for mixing purposes.

regardless of stucture, it's an amazing rollercoaster of a track and it it much to the dj at hand how to use it. the logical thing is to have it as an ender as sounds like one but it can also be used as intro if you follow it up with something equally pacey and on the go. midset will be trickier but here the with good use the breaks well and you will have a quality transition tool. for me i like it most as a whole entity but i've used it mostly as an intro.

xzique - outside looking in (down)

hidden behind the name xzique is one of many projects of antonia lucas, davin snell & kevin swain and their collective history goes back to the mid 90's. i actually thought of doing a short summary of their artist history respectivly but it wouldn't be concise at all, more like essay-length. out of character for someone like me i will not do that for this time, you will have to do your discogs lurking yourself.

i remember hearing this one first on steve lawler's outing on global undergrounds mixseries nubreed where lawler played the more stripped down and less vocal sub project remix. i was quite into that and thought it was the original mix until i got my hands on the single and found out that something was off in the titling. the chances are that labels got mixed up and since this happens in dance music it's just a case of having that in mind.

the track at hand is a driving progressive house cut with tribal undertones and it really goes for that dark feel with sweeping pads and sounds. while it is a capital try and it what a lot of progressive house was trying to do in the early noughties, i don't think dark is what i would describe this track the sub project remix, does it more effectivly. there most the vibrant funky percussion and atmospheric layers are removed and lucas' vocals are reduced to just the spoken hook.

however it does also remove some of the brilliance that the original and i am saying this as someone who's played the sub project remix the most of these two. "outside looking in" has quite a few layers and i really like how they made it all work. it seems almost to busy at times but it's builds brilliantly with tension and release and lucas' vocals, both sung and spoken really work as a part of that. banging.

buy here (junodownload)

natacha atlas - amulet (16b remix)

as far as "amulet" goes that has been one my favourite natacha atlas songs since i discovered her songs on compilations but for this remix it was a whole different ordeal. my thought might be failing me but when i stumbled upon it i wasn't on either a natacha atlas or a omid "16b" nourizadeh kick, it was through random turn of events.

upon hearing it the first time i was distraught with the little use of the atlas' vocals but i really liked the tune at hand so i stopped caring about that. i saw the potential instantly with a interesting beginning with a long beatless section which then goes into full force as the first kick comes in. basically perfect setstarter material and at the time i discovered it i was playing more house material and deeper houser even this isn't that deep.

16b's remix feels like a whole new entity with some random vocal samples from the original but on a closer listen you notice that nourizadeh used the bassline and the chords from the song. the big difference is that they are slowed down and that they are refitted from a raï rhythm to a house groove. the bassline which sounds like it's been replayed with a double bass is also a big part of why i took a big liking to the remix. the other element is all the plucked strings and the lovely moodful pads.

buy here (junodownload)