Euphoric

Madcon made a bit of an impact with their single 'Beggin' (which used that awesome Pilooski edit of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons), but I wrote them off fairly quickly, assuming they would be a bit of a one-hit wonder.

Whoops.

Although they might not be the best rappers in the world by any means, they definitely know good production when they hear it. The sexy electric guitar in '2000'n AA' is pretty much one of the best used samples I've heard in a long time. The drums are also great, really funky, and it's all mixed in with some horn stabs and a few electronic sounds. It sounds very smooth. And the lyrics aren't all bad, though they seem a bit aggressive for the track. (The way he sings 'we Madcon' sounds awesome as well). 'Liar' and 'The Sweetest Drug' are done in the same kind of style and are worth a listen as well. I think 'Liar' is quite possibly on a few BBC playlists... You can count that as a good thing or not depending on personal preference.

But it can't be all commercial hip-hop on this blog. In fact it hardly ever is. Because that would be no fun. So I turn to commercial dance instead - meaning the new Calvin Harris track in particular. I can't be the only person who spent the last week searching for a non-tagged version of the song, or one that wasn't horribly distorted by (non)virtue of being a radio-rip. Alas, I can't find one. To make do, I've listened to my less than ideal versions of the song about 50 times a day. I love the new direction he's gone in, moving from a 'disco' revival to some good, old-fashioned, mainstream house - possibly because he's trying to jump on the hype surrounding 'Pjanoo' and 'Infinity '08'. Not that I'm cynical. Regardless, 'I'm Not Alone' is a great song, it builds up nicely and it's about as euphoric as you could possibly want. Can't wait to hear it on a night out.

I won't put up the song, because it's on his myspace and all over the web anyway. I've put up an old remix of 'Dance Wiv Me' by Shazam instead, because it's pretty much amazing.

Sticking with the trance theme, I've linked an old Lifelike tune as well. I'm pretty sure he doesn't need any introduction or any hyping. Which is good, because I've already written far more than necessary.

Also, Damn Arms are quality. They've been getting a lot of attention recently, courtesy of their new EP. Their remix of 'Far Away' is one of my favourites, and I think I may have linked it before. Nevertheless, it's worth a second mention. The grainy electric piano in particular sounds fucking brilliant, and the treatment of the vocals is perfect.


Madcon - 2000'n AA Buy
Cut Copy - Far Away (Damn Arms Remix) Buy
Geyster - Under The Fuse Of Love (Lifelike Remix) Buy
Dizzee Rascal (feat. Calvin Harris and Chrome) - Dance Wiv Me (Shazam Remix) Buy

Hangover

Everyone loves High Contrast. And everyone loves Kanye West. And I love unbelievably bad quality bootleg rips.
I can't remember who I nicked this particular bit of magic from, but god bless them. It's off a London Elektricity essential mix, as far as I can tell, and it may or may not be Mr. High Contrast. But either way it is a HUGE bit of tasty liquid D'n'B.

For those who aren't into that kind of thing, though, I've also been listening to a bit of Arctic Urgency as well. The vocals on their remix of 'I Wish I Was A Polar Bear' are a bit funny, which is pretty much a given as the song is about polar bears, but the rest of the track is undeniably ... good. The Damn Arms remix of 'Far Away' is pretty decent too, Cut Copy have inspired a few good remixes with that particular song.

I've thrown in Phonat's remix of 'Fire' for good measure. It puts a spring in your step.


Actually I've just listened to it again. What a tune.

The Young Punx - Fire (Phonat Remix) Buy
Kanye West - Flashing Lights (High Contrast Remix) Buy
Ted & Francis - I Wish I Was A Polar Bear (Arctic Urgency) Buy
Cut Copy - Far Away (Damn Arms Remix) Buy

What Comes Before Part B?

Obviously I haven't posted in a while, mostly courtesy of an essay deadline that saw me sitting at my desk around 5 in the morning wired on coffee and hearing voices. Good times.

Anyway, I was on a Part A bus last night sipping a few cocktails and wrapping people in cling film and it suddenly occurred to me that my afternoon was missing one thing.
Incredible electro bangers and cheerful electro pop.
Feeling surprisingly refreshed and alert this morning, I decided to compile a playlist which would ensure my bus journeys would never be so lacking in tuneage again.

Private got the ball rolling with their enjoyable, 80's retro sounding pop jaunt 'We've Got Some Breaking Up To Do'. The chorus is literally amazing, as are the funky synth stabs. I decided that the only way to take it up a notch after that was to return to my old favourite's: The Bag Raiders. There have been a lot of 'Far Away' remixes flying around the web lately but their effort is definitely a cut above, bringing the epic party sound they've perfected to another level.
Moving on, Leeds lads Heads We Dance provide a more hard-bitten, grinding bit of electro power with their recent single 'The Human Touch' - cheerfully doing their bit for the English scene. 'Ninja Gaiden' is similarly rough-edged, with all the distortion you would expect from a Calling In Sick track. And just to round it off, i threw in a bit of Toxic Avenger madness which is so incredibly fast-paced and pounding it would probably make any bus driver in the world start doing doughnuts and screaming abuse out of the window. Amazing.

Private - We've Got Some Breaking Up To Do Buy
Heads We Dance - The Human Touch Web
Cut Copy - Far Away (Bag Raiders Remix) Buy
ART WHIPLASH - Party, Sex and Bullshit (The Toxic Avenger Remix) Myspace
Calling In Sick - Ninja Gaiden Myspace

Work Not In Progress

I’ve got an essay due soon, so I thought it was high time I wrote a blog. (Fault the logic).
And speaking of blogs, for some reason my posts keep disappearing. If I had the time and the inclination, I might try and find out why. But seeing as I don't have the inclination, I'll just have to live with it.

Anyways, I was off raiding the intranets for tuneage this morning and I stumbled on Ekleroshock records myspace. Seeing as they are currently looking after the almighty Danger and the only slightly less amazing DatA I thought it would be worth looking into their other artists. The apparently insane Crunc Tesla has a kind of interesting dubsteppy electro thing going on, but it isn’t really interesting enough for me to waste more than a sentence on. More promising is the work of Leonard De Leonard (so good he named himself twice). The remix of ‘Bad Girls Need Love Too’ is a bit of a banger, although it feels a bit too fast and there’s not really enough variety. Still, you can get about 30 seconds of good stuff from it.

Starskee’s ‘This Time’ also started fairly promisingly, and I thought I was on a bit of a roll, but around 18 seconds a more than slightly annoying vocal sample crops up, the funky synths disappear for a while, and the song never really recovers. The first 18 are worth a listen… but if you’re looking for something a bit better Starskee-wise, then try Danger’s remix of ‘My Way’ (which I won’t bother posting, because it’s all over the place anyway). I slagged off the remix before, but having listened to the original I can see that Danger has actually done a fairly good job. It’s a grower.

So yeah, really my raid wasn’t that successful at all. DatA’s ‘Rapture II’ provides a bit of a pleasing contrast to ‘Rapture’, and I like the whole funky electro/hip-hop vibe, but his remixes are a bit more exciting. Nothing else really caught my eye (ear?). In fact, the only new electro song I’ve had much time for is the Damage remix of Grum’s ‘Go Back’, which is nicely epic. Although not really amazing.

All in all, I’m posting a bunch of tracks that I don’t have that much time for – although I’ll be keeping an eye on the artists in case they turn out something truly amazing. I feel like I need to provide something a bit more special though, so I’m including one of my favourite ever remixes: Boys Noize version of ‘Lights and Music’. I could evaluate the song but it wouldn’t be a particularly critical evaluation, as I basically love everything about it.

Cut Copy - Lights And Music (Boys Noize Happy Birthday Remix) Buy
GRUM – Go Back (Damage Remix) Myspace
DatA - Rapture Pt.II Buy
The Toxic Avenger - Bad Girls Need Love Too (Leonard De Leonard Remix) Buy
Starskee – This Time Myspace