Archive for the ‘remixes’ Category

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I am exhausted. Here are remixes of RuPaul songs

Monday, July 28th, 2014

Sorry for another abbreviated post. It’s been a long few days (in the good way!) and I can barely keep my eyes open right now. Tomorrow’s post will be epic in both music and writing I promise you that.

RuPaul
A Shade Shady (Now Prance) (12″ Mix)
A Shade Shady (Now Prance) (Wild Pitch Mix)
A Shade Shady (Now Prance) (DJ Pierre Club Mix)
A Shade Shady (Now Prance) (Alternate Mix)
Back To My Roots (Secchi’s Extended Mix)
Snapshot (Eric Kupper Funkin’ Dub)
Snapshot (Eric Kupper Extended Mix)
Snapshot (Vission & Lorimer Disco-Tech)
Snapshot (Welcome’s Moody Mix)
You better work.

Posted in remixes, RuPaul | 1 Comment »

I Was (Not Was) Lonely

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2014

I cannot believe I’ve been keeping up this pace for almost the entire month now. I don’t think I’ve written this much in years, even if it is just a little bit everyday. It feels good, good enough that I’m going to try and keep up a similar pace even when the month ends. Not everyday mind you, no way, this shit is insane, but I really am going to try and update this site at least twice a week starting in August.

And I’ll hopefully someday remember that I have another site and write stuff there again. Actually, I have two major projects planned for that site, I just need to motivate my lazy ass to actually write them. They involve, like, work and stuff though, so it’s a little harder than me just rambling on about 80s dance remixes like I tend to do here. Here’s hoping I can put them together tough. More people need to hear my complex and involved thoughts on Yes.

I want to review every Yes album. I don’t know why. I don’t even like Yes that much.

Was (Not Was)
How The Heart Behaves (12″ Vocal Mix)
How The Heart Behaves (Bonus Rub)
How The Heart Behaves (Club 7″)
How The Heart Behaves (That’s How the Bollerhouse Behaves Mix)
Glad I can find second-rate remixes my 80s also rans in Japan as well as America. I bought this in a Disk Union in Chiba, I wish I knew how the hell it ended up there. Although now that I think about it, Was (Not Was) is the kind of weird-ass bizarre band that would become popular in Japan, especially in the 80s, so I guess that I shouldn’t be all that surprised that I keep seeing their singles turn up here.

 

Posted in remixes, Was (Not Was) | 1 Comment »

Bad English and PWEI

Monday, July 21st, 2014

It was a three-day holiday weekend here in Japan – which means extra work for me. Yeah, I know it’s counter-intuitive, just roll with it okay?

As such, I’m beat, and I really don’t have a lot to say about tonight’s music other than that I like it, you should like it, and I hope you enjoy it. So instead, here’s a collection of bad English I’ve heard from students since I started working as an English instructor in January

  • “My daughter loved school, she pleasured herself.”
  • “I find pleasure in your lesson.”
  • “How long are you?” (I HEAR THIS EVERYDAY AND IT’S ALWAYS FUNNY)
  • “How much height do you have? I don’t have much height.”
  • “I am a trick!”
  • “I like to watch football, the play is very HOT!”
  • “I potato dinner.”
  • “I like black music!”

And the best things I’ve heard:

  • “You are big like Totoro, you are big and soft.” (AW FUCK THAT’S SOME CUTE SHIT)
  • “You are so great!” (He meant tall, but I didn’t stop him)
  • “I want to hear what you say about all music.”
  • “I need you to tell me what these Meat Loaf song titles mean.”

That last one was from a 68 year old woman by the way. Wagnerian rock lives in Japan.

Pop Will Eat Itself
Wise Up! Sucker (7″ Version)
Orgyone Stimulator
Can U Dig It (Riffsmix)
I can dig it. These come from the 12″ single to Wise Up! Sucker. The 12″ mix is on that, but you can get that on just about every digital music store, so grab it there instead.

New Order
New Order Megamix
Off a bootleg 12″ single. Don’t remember any of the details sorry.

Posted in B-sides, New Order, Pop Will Eat Itself, remixes | 2 Comments »

Janet Lauper

Wednesday, July 16th, 2014

So, quick question for yinz (that’s Pittsburgh for “y’all).

I’ve been posting a lot of Japanese and/or game music lately. Are any of yinz interested in that stuff at all? I’m always surprised when those posts seem to bring me in less traffic/comments than my silly 80s and dance remixes. Don’t get me wrong, I love Pet Shop Boys, Cyndi Lauper and Prince just as much (okay, way more) than the next guy, but I kind of like posting the Japanese stuff more, mostly because no one is doing it, but also because I feel there are a billion amazing great Japanese artists from the 80s that no one outside of Japan know about.

So, when you come here do you just skim the artist names and then close the tab if you don’t recognize them? Or do you download stuff you’ve never heard before just see check it out?

Of course, this is my blog and your answers to those questions might be entirely meaningless, but it’s nice to get input.

Now silly remixes of 80s dance music.

Cyndi Lauper
Time After Time (Special Remix 1)
Time After Time (Special Remix 2)
So a few months ago Epic re-released Cyndi’s seminal 1983 debut album She’s So Unusual. I reviewed it and basically called it a travesty of a release, with shit bonus tracks that focused too much on “EDM” modern-day remixes instead of the vintage mixes that fans have been clamoring over for years.

Someday I’m going to record high-quality vinyl rips of all the mixes they excluded (including the various “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” mixes). Until then, here are some weird DJ-only mixes of another great Lauper classic.

Posted in Cyndi Lauper, Janet Jackson, remixes | 19 Comments »

Trepidation and Italian Manifestos

Sunday, July 13th, 2014

Today was very long, monotonous, fun, grueling, thrilling, boring and potentially exciting.

I must sleep. But here are two songs that are ruling my life at the moment.

Ryuichi Sakamoto
Broadway Boogie Woogie
I know I just posted some Sakamoto in my last post, but I just discovered this song a few days ago and I would feel remiss if I didn’t post it immediately. The song is from his 1986 album 未来派野郎. According to Discogs and other sites, the English title of it is Futurista, however, according to one of my Japanese co-workers (and the coolest person I met in Japan yet) the direct translation is Futurist Bastard.

Not only is that a way cooler title, it’s also far more descriptive of the album’s overall sound, as it takes elements from the Italian futurist movement of the early 20th century and, well, bastardizes them to fit into a contemporary pop landscape. If that sounds familiar it’s because Art Of Noise did the same thing just a few years earlier. It’s also what Sakamoto compatriot Tachibana did with his insane and utterly brilliant 1984 album Mr. Techie & Miss Kipple.  If you’re curious as to what the hell futurist music really is, wiki that shit. It’s crazy.

While Sakamoto wasn’t the first to incorporate futurist themes into a sample-filled pop landscape, he was the first to build a futurist pop song primarily out of samples from Blade Runner and a radical sax solo that would make that guy from Lost Boys blush, so that’s something.

Pet Shop Boys
It’s Alright (Extended Dance Mix)
And reset the “Number of Days since a Pet Shop Boys Remix was Posted on Lost Turntable” counter back to zero.

It’s actually been four months exactly. Eerie. Even eerier, it’s almost a year to the day since my last post of Pet Shop Boys music that wasn’t a repost. Fucking trippy.

This remix is from a 10″ single, and is not the same as the 12″ dance remix. It’s actually a bit longer than that one.

Posted in Pet Shop Boys, remixes, Ryuichi Sakamoto | 2 Comments »

坂本龍一 リミックス

Thursday, July 10th, 2014

In complete and total shit news, Ryuichi Sakamoto has been diagnosed with throat cancer.

As you probably know, Sakamoto is one of my favorite composers/performers/songwriters/people alive. As the keyboardist of Yellow Magic Orchestra, he is responsible for some of the greatest synthpop of all time, and as a solo composer he created some of the most hauntingly beautiful music I’ve ever heard, including the Oscar-winning score for The Last Emperor.

Here’s hoping that devil cancer was caught early enough so that the treatment is effective in slaying the fucker and getting Sakamoto back to full health as soon as possible.

Here’s some rare Sakamoto I’ve never posted before.

Ryuichi Sakamoto
Behind The Mask
Risky (Untitled Remix)
Risky (Remix)
Risky (Ultimix Edit)
This version of “Behind The Mask” is drastically different than the original version by YMO, featuring an entirely new arrangement and vocals written by Michael Jackson. How the hell did that happen? Well, I wrote about it a while ago for my other blog Mostly-Retro, so head over there and check it out for the full story!

As for “Risky,” the original version of that track first appeared on Sakamoto’s album Neo Geo, which I think was the closest he ever go to mainstream solo success in the states (which is to say not that close). The track was a superstar collaboration of sorts, featuring music co-written by producer/songwriter/bass player extraordinaire Bill Laswell (of Material fame) and lyrics/vocals by the legendary Iggy Pop. At least, I think that’s him.

Okay, well I know it’s him on the latter two mixes, but on that untitled remix, which is taken from the “Behind The Mask” single, it really doesn’t sound like Iggy Pop. However, there is no vocalist credited in the linear notes, so I have no idea as to who it might be. Anyone out there know?

Yellow Magic Orchestra
Behind The Mask (SEIKO Quartz CM Version)
This is the original version of “Behind The Mask,” recorded for the a watch commercial. This makes “Behind The Mask” the most successful commercial jingle of all time I think. Yes, even more than “Convoy.”

Posted in remixes, Ryuichi Sakamoto, YMO | 4 Comments »

Golden Pulp

Wednesday, July 9th, 2014

Looks like by the time that typhoon hits Tokyo later day/early tomorrow that it will just be a lot of rain and some heavy winds (aka my typical day off in Tokyo). I have to stop listening to Japanese people when they talk about the weather. Everything is the worst thing ever. It’s going to be hot this weekend, my students act like it’s going to be the hottest day ever. When it got “cold” (around 30 degrees Fahrenheit) they acted like it was the coldest day ever. I feel like they wouldn’t survive a year in Ohio, where you can actually have something close to the hottest day ever and the coldest day ever in the span of like five months. And tornadoes.

Why the fuck does anyone live in Ohio again?

 

Goldie
Inner City Life (Rabbit In The Moon’s Vocalic City Mix)
Inner City Life (Rabbit In The Moon’s Escape From Vocalic City Mix)
Inner City Life (Rabbit In The Moon’s Return to Vocalic City Mix)
Twenty-five minutes of Goldie remixes? Sure, why not.

These are kind of banged up, I found this in an electronic music store in Tokyo for about 500 yen (five bucks). Let me tell you something about records in Tokyo – they cost a fucking fortune usually. “Budget” shops don’t exist and sales just knock down prices to more realistic prices. On the plus side, you’re usually getting what you pay for – a copy of Nevermind priced as if it’s in perfect conditions is probably actually in mint condition. People in Japan take care of their damn records.

Of course, the reverse is true, and if you find a record for five bucks then it was probably run through the meat grinder a few times – as was the case with this one. There are few pops and crackles on these that I couldn’t get out, and the sound isn’t perfect. So if anyone out there has better copies of these tracks let me know please. Might be hard though, I don’t know if they were ever given a proper CD release?

Pulp
After You (Pulp vs. Soulwax)
After You (The 4am Desperation Disco To Disco Dub Version)
These remixes were  on a Record Store Day 12″ last year. I would have assumed someone who likes it when people pay them money for music would have given them a proper digital release by now, but I guess not. So here you go.

Posted in Goldie, Pulp, remixes, Soulwax | 3 Comments »

Techno & Typhoons

Monday, July 7th, 2014

There’s a goddamn typhoon heading for Japan. I guess Okinawa is projected to get the brunt of it, so no one worry about me. Instead, keep an eye on the news and if Okinawa does get hammered then remember that the Red Cross is always the best place to give your donations.

Hopefully things won’t be that bad though! Now dance music.

Leftfield
Afrika Shox (VW Remix)
Afrika Shox (Jedi’s Elastic Bass Remix)
Afrika Shox (Radio Edit)
Dusted (Pressure Drop Remix)
Dusted (Si Begg’s Buckfunk 3000 Remix)
Dusted (Tipper Remix)
Dusted (The X-ecutioners Remix)
I think I own remixes of Leftfield tracks than actual proper Leftfield tracks. I love all of them, one day I’ll actually sit down and listen to Rhythm & Stealth in its entirety. I mean it. I really will.

Sigh, I never will.

Anyways, of these tracks I like “Afrika Shox” more, because it features the legendary Afrika Bambaataa (although he’s barely on the remixes), a man I love even if I have to double check the spelling of his name every single time I type it. “Dusted” is also great, and it features vocals by Roots Manuva, another person whose name I can never freaking spell correctly.

Oh, and the “Elastic Bass Remix” is aptly named, with crazy bass effects that might melt your head if you listen to it on headphones. You’ve been warned.

Moby
I Feel It (I Feel It Mix)
I Feel It (Victory Mix)
Classic house Moby. I love both of these (radically different) mixes, I can’t decide which I like the most. I love the classic uplifting piano sound of the “I Feel It Mix,” but I love the hard-ass synths-all-up-in-yo-grill sound of the “Victory Mix” just as much. Intense, super-distorted techno synth is the best synth. It’s like “Cubik” up in this joint.

Random free association fact: for some reason whenever I hear synths like the ones in this song I immediately start thinking of the music from late-80s Apple IIGS game Tunnels Of Armageddon.

You fucking try to figure that one out, I got no clue.

Utah Saints
Something Good
Something Good (Single Edit)
Utah Saints’ first album is out of print and that should be a goddamn crime. But hey, that fact lets me post these tracks – so enjoy.

Posted in Leftfield, Moby, remixes, Utah Saints | 2 Comments »

Dracula and Divine

Thursday, July 3rd, 2014

Writing about disco and drag queens. Listening to Yes.

Hot Blood
Terror On The Dance Floor
Soul Dracula
These are two tracks of horror-themed eurodisco that I ripped off of a 12″ promotional single. The “group” Hot Blood is really the alias of one Stefaan Klinkhammer, a German producer and songwriter who had a string of moderate hits in the late 70s in his native Germany. He was also apparently instrumental in the formation of the German disco/reggae(???) act Boney M. Sadly, he passed away in 2001. You can read more about him here.

In the great pantheon of gimmicky disco tracks, I think that the Hot Blood stuff that I’ve heard ranks somewhere in the middle. It’s certainly better than musical sewage like “Disco Duck,” but I don’t know if it’s as catchy and downright fun as a track like “Kung Fu Fighting,” which, by the way, is a pretty great song and Carl Douglas could sing like a motherfucker. I think what hurt this track’s mainstream appeal wasn’t its complete idiocy or it’s lack of any real structure (plenty of dumber, less-catchy disco tracks made it to the top of the charts – I just mentioned “Disco Duck” remember?). No, I think the real problem with this track is that it came out in 1977. That was a good year for disco, giving us “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” arguably the greatest disco song of all-time. It also gave us “I’m Your Boogie Man” – speaking of great horror themed disco – and you just can’t compete with that.

Divine
Hey You! (The Full and Frantic Mix)
Hey What! (Take It To The Max Mix)
Yes, the same Divine who ate dog shit in Pink Flamingos.

No, he (he preferred to go by “he” from what I can tell) could not sing. Although, I really don’t think he’s trying to on these tracks. It’s more like screaming, or maybe growling. It sounds like the lead singer from a death metal band trying to give disco a go. It’s pretty fucking intense.

I have Divine’s complete discography, and it’s really…something.

Posted in Divine, Hot Blood, remixes | 1 Comment »

Acid House Live From Tokyo

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2014

In case you were worrying that all of the posts this month would be nothing but weird Japanese shit, don’t worry. I have plenty of weird British, American, Canadian, German and who the fuck knows what else shit for you all to enjoy too.

The Orb
Asylum (Andy Weatherall Blood Sugar Mix 1)
Asylum (Andrea Parker’s Bezirkskrankenhams Mix)
Asylum (Kris & Dave’s You Are Evil – But I Like You- Remix by Kris Needs & Henry Cullen)
Asylum (Thomas Fehlmann’s Mix)
Four Orb remixes = 30+ minutes of music. They’re all also drastically different from each other. I dig all of them, but my favorite is this radically-named “You Are Evil” mix because, yo, that shit sounds evil. It’s like someone took an ambient house track and dragged it through Aphex Twin’s basement or something. Brutally great stuff.

808 State
Olympic [Live In Tokyo, 29 June 1993]
10 x 10 [Live In Tokyo, 29 June 1993]
These are from the Tokyo edition of the brand new Zang Tuum Tumb compilation The Organisation of Pop. The album was released in three different regions, USA, UK and Japan, and each got an exclusive version with exclusive cuts. I really can’t tell you how different they all are because I haven’t gone through the hassle of comparing them all track by track, but from what I’ve gleamed, the Japan version wins in terms of exclusives, with awesome live cuts like these being a big reason why. I was shocked to hear how much “10 x 10” works as a live cut. It’s just amazing.

If I can find the time and find it worthy, I might write up a full review on this in a week or so. I have to work past something I’m writing about Emerson Lake & Palmer first.

You heard me.

Posted in 808 State, live, remixes, The Orb | 1 Comment »

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