Surkinly Hot

It's a bright and glorious day in London. The April sunshine woke me up this morning with a big stick and said, 'It's April, Fool!'. And then it forced me to play Surkin's remix of 'One Day'. Basically, if a video was ever made for this song, it would feature people having a BBQ on the beach and drinking some deliciously intoxicating beverages. Like all Surkin's tunes, it has that bouncy vibe to it (accompanied by some straightforward piano chords and awesome string snippets on this particular song, and an awesomely summerish vocal work) which forces you to jump up and down in your seat. As well as reminding you how gay it is that you're in a seat, and not in Ibiza. Or some such party island. In truth, it's my favourite Surkin effort of recent times, reaching the level of 'Chrome Knight' and 'Next of Kin' in the way that some of his other stuff... hasn't. That sentence petered out towards the end. Anyway, download it.

Moving on. How about Kokuz, aye? Or This Is Kokuz to give them their full title. I am eternally grateful to that mysterious masked blogger, Pelski, for posting about this particular duo. They sound a little bit like a faster paced, more aggressive Surkin, although completely different, obviously. Scrap that. Their remix of 'Float My Boat' sounds like something of an Ibiza Annual. Very catchy, quite simple, but with some cool thrills and spills and breakdowns that make it pretty awesome. Their remix of 'Get Off' isn't much different, but you need to be able to feel the bass - tinny speakers won't do the track any kind of justice. Think Fake Blood vs. Aston Shuffle and you're probably on the right lines. Could be huge.

I've posted about Rogues before, but god damn it if I won't just post about them again. Or rather, about Wire and Example's remix of them. It's one that most people will have heard, but well worth another post because:
A) Example is awesome, I saw him last year and he's genuinely a good performer, unlike some rappers I could mention. (You know who you are, you b*stards).
B) This tune is awesome. The dubstep scene is going from strength to strength at the moment, and this particular gem is an absolute banger that sums up everything that's good about the scene. They've chucked out the original vocals for the most part, but when they do feature they have an eerie, wailing feel to them that suits the dark atmosphere of the track perfectly. Aside from that, the new vocals are pretty cool, but the emphasis is on the heavy bass, and a very powerful kick drum and snare - sounds a lot like 'Sensi Samurai', slightly simplified and perhaps more powerful for that.

I like it a lot.

The Juan MacLean - One Day (Surkin Remix) Buy
Sharooz - Get Off (Kokuz Re-Chop) Buy
Rogues - Not So Pretty (Wire & Example Remix) Buy