Eyepatches for 2013

April 11th, 2013

So tonight I spent three hours working on tracking down the keyboardist to an obscure 70s funk band.

I have weird hobbies.

Garbage
Milk (D Mix)
Milk (Trance Mix)
One of the reasons why I’ve kept this blog going for seven years (holy shit!) is that it’s just as educational and informative for me as it is my readers. For example, I had no idea that there were so many damn mixes of this song! I only had the Massive Attack mix that was on the 2CD edition of their greatest hits album Absolute Garbage. I had no idea that there were these two additional mixes by Massive Attack, two mixes by Goldie, three mixes by Rabbit In The Moon, and one with Tricky. Damn. That’s a lot of “Milk.” How come none of these other mixes have been released in any sort of complication? Chalk Garbage up as another band in the long list of acts who need and deserve a proper multi-disc remix compilation.

Dead Or Alive
You Spin Me Round (Like  a Record)
Mighty Mix 2
So when I was in Tokyo I found these.

IMG_1453

Yeah, those were must buys for the covers alone. Nevermind that I already had the tracks on one of the singles both on vinyl and on a Dead or Alive compilation CD. I mean, it would be idiotic to have bought one of those 12″ singles and not the other. They’re obviously a matching set. I need to get these motherfucker matted, framed and hung up over my dinner table. So when people come in my house, they know I”m serious about my…um…80s synthpop acts that featured androgynous lead singers with eye-patches…I guess.

Yeah, that’s it. I’m going to stand by that.

In case anyone is wondering, the two songs that I did already have that I’m not featuring here tonight are the Murder Mix of “You Spin Me Round” and the extended mix of “Misty Circles.” There are about a billion places where you can get the Murder Mix, and if you want the extended mix of “Misty Circles,” you can find it on the expanded edition of Sophisticated Boom Boom, where it is billed as the “Dance Mix.”

On a related note: Sophisticated Boom Boom might be the best worst name for an album in history.

Posted in Dead Or Alive, Garbage | 4 Comments »

Rage Against Bonnie Tyler (No, don’t really, she’s really awesome)

April 8th, 2013

The new site is still on schedule to launch next week. I was hoping to open it with a pretty cool interview, but that fell through twice now, so instead I’m just going to go ahead and get it up and running with some smaller, more humorous bits. Stay tuned for more info. Now for some rap-rock and pop-disco!

Rage Against The Machine
Bullet In The Head (Sir Jinx Remix)
I used to love Rage. Then I hated them. Now I’m pretty much indifferent. I still love most of their music and the messages behind a lot of it, but damn, if they aren’t a bunch of idiotic hypocrites; with hypocrite number one being guitarist Tom Morello.

As many other writes have pointed out over the years, Morello loves to attack the American government for its human rights violations (of which there are many and I am not defending) but he also idolizes people like Lenin and Chairman Mao, evil pricks who are both no strangers to massive violations of basic human rights. I understand that there are always contradictions in a person’s political viewpoints, but that’s a bit much even for me. I’ve never been able to look past that blatant conflict.

More recently, I’ve been hating on the band for all the blatant cash grab bullshit they’ve been doing. I’m not calling them out for being rich socialists, you can be a socialist and be rich. I’m calling them out for being sell out, greedy, capitalism-loving socialists. That reunion tour they did a few years back? That was a nostalgia-driven money grab. No new music. No new messages. Just a group yelling “fuck you I won’t do what you tell me” to audiences of suburban white kids who didn’t give a fuck about the band’s “message.” (You think Paul Ryan is a fluke among Rage fans? He’s the rule, not the exception.)

More recently, I balked at the band’s decision to re-release their self-titled debut as a massive super deluxe edition. Not because I have something against super deluxe editions, but because, much like their recent tours, it was nothing more than a cheap cash grab designed to make as much money as possible, all while exerting as little effort as needed (while still asking fans to pay for a premium for it). That set cost $100. What did that get you? Some live B-sides, a bonus CD with their demo tape, and a DVD with some live footage. Big whoop. How about some actual b-sides? This remix isn’t in that set. What about including the now out-of-print and insanely hard-to-find Live And Rare CD as a gift? One hundred bucks for a bad remaster, a demo tape and some live cuts. Whoop. De. Shit.

Do other bands do this? Yeah! All the time. But hey, Depeche Mode didn’t make a career out of hyping the destruction of capitalism and the power of the working class, so when they put out a shitty overpriced box set it’s not as offensive now is it? Now, if they put out, oh I don’t know, a guide to making it in music while avoiding heroin, then they’d be hypocrites.

Anyways, I still like RATM’s music, I just find it hard to listen to in light of all that stuff. This remix is from a 12″ single, and like I said before, it was not included on $100 super deluxe edition of the album from which the song originally came.

Oh, and one more thing. Thich Quang Duc burned himself alive to bring attention to religious persecution, not to fucking sell records.

Bonnie Tyler
Band of Gold (Extended Version)
Band of Gold (Dub)
The latest in my ongoing quest to pair the least likely artists together as possible.

Another day, another “Band of Gold” cover. For those keeping track at home (and you really should be if you’re not already), this is the fourth version of “Band of Gold” I’ve featured on this site, with the previous versions being renditions by Modern Romance, Belinda Carlisle and Sylvester. Which is the best? Oh boy, that’s a tough call.

Well it’s not that tough. It’s definitely not the Modern Romance version, their cover feels more like a goof than a serious attempt at the song. Belinda’s can go too. I love me some Belinda, but she really can’t hold a candle to the two finalists here. Sylvester is the greatest disco diva of all-time, and Bonnie Tyler probably had one of the most powerful voices of the 80s.

Shit! I can’t choose! They’re both amazing! Sylvester’s is the most fabulous. Bonnie’s is the most fierce. Let’s just leave it at that.

Posted in Bonnie Tyler, Rage Against The Machine, remixes | 8 Comments »

Boom Boom Satellites and Tokyo Bliss

April 5th, 2013

I was glad to see that my last post on Boom Boom Satellites exposed the group to people who may not have heard of them otherwise. Like I said in that post, if you really like the group, I suggest you seek out their records. Some of their albums are available on iTunes and Amazon, and there’s even a US-targeted Greatest Hits called Over and Over that you can pick up too.

In case that last post didn’t sell you on the group, I’m going to try one more time. Like I said in my previous post about the group, I’m not comfortable sharing any of their complete albums even if they aren’t available in the states. I believe that they’re going to be released here someday, and I don’t want to cannibalize those sales. So instead I’m going to share five choice cuts, five great songs by Boom Boom Satellites that you can’t get in America. If these awesome tunes can’t convince you that Boom Boom Satellites aren’t a band worth getting into, then I’m done with you.

Boom Boom Satellites
Rise And Fall
This is from Full of Elevating Pleasures, the band’s 2005 album, and the last that had any kind of experimental or abstract feeling to it. I bet the fans who love their early work saw this as the album where things fell apart, I feel it as the album where things really came together. They were still experimenting with their sound, but they were taking those ideas and concepts and plugging them into a more conventional pop structure. “Rise And Fall” showcases this the  most. While most of BBS’ work more mainstream work is heavily rooted in guitars, this song is built almost entirely on drums and it creates and explosive and manic feeling that is unique and powerful. I love it.

9 Doors Empire
Loaded
Both of these songs are from On, their 2005 follow-up to Full of Elevating Pleasures. This is when BBS stopped being an experimental electronic band with rock influences and became a full-on electronic/rock band. These are ready-made stadium anthems, designed to get audiences’ blood pumping and feet moving. These songs are proof that a band can change their sound to appeal to more mainstream audiences and not lose what makes them unique in the process. Does this stuff sound like early BBS? Not really, but it has that essence of their earlier work. And it really rocks.

Undertaker
Caught In The Sun
These are both from To The Loveless, their 2010 record, and their last album that isn’t available in America. I feel that these two tracks best foretold the sound the band would move forward to with their latest record Embrace, much more layered and diverse. On is almost nothing but fast-paced rock, excellent but somewhat exhausting. These songs show the band’s ability to let their music breathe, embracing the quiet moments more so that when they explode into a frenzy of drums and feedback it sounds even more amazing.

Damn I love this band…

…allow me to indulge for a bit…

I spent much of my time in Tokyo walking the streets of the city with my headphones on. Walking around the streets and alleyways late at night, listening to Embrace, it made the city come alive.

Near the end of my trip I would make it a nightly ritual to get on a train near midnight, right before most lines shut down, and travel as far away from my hotel as  I was comfortable with. Then I would put on my headphones, crank some Boom Boom Satellites and start the walk back. Sometimes it would take hours. I didn’t care. Between the beautiful sights of that magnificent city and the music that was pulsing through my ears, I didn’t care. To me, the Boom Boom Satellites are a soundtrack to those nights, the best nights of my trip, some of the most peaceful and perfect nights of my life.

When I close my eyes now and listen to their music, it’s almost like I’m transported back there. Back to the bright lights of Shibuya, the parks of Ueno, and the amazing skyscrapers of Shinjuku. It’s a bittersweet feeling in many ways because it just makes me long to return to that city. But that’s impossible for now, and since my memories and these songs are the closest thing I got, they’ll have to do.

So yeah, for me Boom Boom Satellites represent a very specific time and place, a time and place where I was more happy and relaxed than I’ve ever been. So I guess I’m a bit biased when I say they’re one of the greatest bands on earth.

 

Posted in Boom Boom Satellites | 4 Comments »

Dance Music vs. Bad People on the Internet

April 3rd, 2013

Downside with working primarily on the Internet: you get to see how horrible people on the Internet are. Today was exceptionally shitty.

I wish it was mandatory for everyone to use their full, legal name on all comments for all websites. If that wouldn’t cut down on the amount of sexist, racist, homophobic bile spewed forth on a daily basis, it would at least make it easier for me to find the people responsible for it and kick them in the knees.

Röyksopp
Eple (Shakedown Remix)
Eple (Fatboy Slim Remix)
Damn umlauts, making me cut and past names from other websites because I can’t be bothered to learn macro codes.

You’ve probably heard this  song and don’t even know it. It was in a billion commercials, and according to Wikipedia it was even used as the start-up music for the Setup Assistant in some versions of Mac OSX. Whatever, the Windows start-up sound is by Brian Eno; that makes Windows is way more indie than Apple ever will be. Boom. Shots fired.

I mostly bought this 12″ for the Fatboy Slim remix, and damn, if it isn’t a wonderful example of Fatboy Slim’s ability to dumb down even the most harmonious and beautiful dance track. Don’t take that as an insult though, I dig what he did to the track. It’s just really, really stupid. It’s impressive how dumb it is. I like purposeful stupidity when it’s done for good and not evil.

Moby
Porcelain (Torsten Stenzel’s Remix)
Porcelain (Force Mass Motion Remix)
Moby was just announced as a headliner for Movement, the big electronic dance music festival in Detroit. Dammit, now I might have to go to Detroit.

If you’ve never seen or heard a live Moby DJ set, try to if you get a chance. While his music isn’t always on target, his DJ sets are massive, amazing house sessions that will make your hair stand on end, your feet catch fire, and your head explode from the sheer awesomeness of it all. Okay, I realize that by saying it like that I kind of make it sound unappealing, but trust me, he’s really good live. Dude can cut a mix like no one’s business.

Both of these mixes are from a 12″ single, and are pretty great, radical re-interpretations of the original. I dig them.

Krust (Featuring Saul Williams)
Coded Language (Roni Size Desert Road Remix)
Coded Language (Roni Size Desert Road Instrumental)
The first line of this song is “Motherfuckers better realize!” and that’s exactly how I felt today. Word, Saul Williams. Word.

This drum and bass remix is pretty great, but it does remove a lot of Williams’ amazing lyrics. That man is a genius. Check out the original version here. Six minutes of one bad motherfucker dropping truth bombs on your ass.

Posted in Krust, Moby, Röyksopp, remixes | 3 Comments »

This post brought to you by a Sudafed Nyquil cocktail

April 2nd, 2013

And now it’s time for an obligatory “what’s going on with the mysterious and oft-delayed new website” update!

Things are actually coming along! I have a template that I am relatively happy with, and the site is fully-functional. Now I just have to get the hang of some small technical quirks, set up the plug-ins working right and get a few articles polished a bit and it should be ready to go! I was originally shooting for an April 2nd launch date, but as you can see, that didn’t happen. Now I’m thinking (for sure this time) that I’ll have the site up by the 16th at the absolute latest.

It’s going to be a weird, with a pretty wide range of topics being covered, but I hope you will all like it.

Now some remixes from bands whose names start with the letter ‘P’. That wasn’t planned, it just kind of worked out that way.

Primal Scream
Know Your Rights
96 Tears
My trip down the Primal Scream rabbit hole continues. I picked up Sreamadelica on the advice of many commenters here, and I freakin’ love it. Damn, what a great record. I’m happy I took a chance and splurged on the massive super deluxe edition. It was worth it to have all the bonus cuts, remixes and live stuff. And the box itself looks great. If you like that album and have the cash to spare, I recommend picking it up.

These cover tunes are both b-sides to the 12″ single for “Kowalski,” a track off of their 1997 record Vanishing Point, which I’m told served as a soundtrack to the 1971 film of the same name. I have to pick up that record next, I love that movie. People who come here are always recommending music to me, well let me recommend a film to you. Want to see a movie about a a speed junkie (in more ways than one) delivery driver who outruns the police on a cross country chase all while being guided by a psychic blind radio DJ? Then you need to see Vanishing Point. That shit is a trip.

Phoenix
If I Ever Feel Better (Todd Edwards’ Dub Better Remix)
If I Ever Feel Better, I’ll Go To The Disco (said The Buffalo Bunch)
Ugh, this song has been my theme song the past month. Two weeks ago I was hit with a brutal stomach flu that left me in a state I best not describe here, and then yesterday I was hammered with a strange head flu/cold thing that, while not totally kicking my ass, has made working a bit unpleasant.

It’s April! It’s to blame I tell you! Longtime readers may know already know this, but I’m cursed during the month of April. Laugh all you want, but when you get dumped, get fired, break a leg, suffer a horrible allergic reaction to antibiotics, break a rib and fall victim to a violent home invasion all in the month of April (not all in the same April though, that would have been fatal), then you start to take this shit a little more seriously.  Considering it took a record seven hours for this April to turn to shitl, I’m not holding out that this one is going to be a winner. If anything else happens to me I’m just going to bunker down in my office with a mountain of records to my left and a mountain of pizza to my right and ride it out (with a mountain of liquor in the middle).

Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah, Phoenix! Yeah, they’re pretty great. I’m stoked for the new record. These are remixes are of a song off their first album, which I do not own but I hear lovely things about.

Posted in B-sides, Phoenix, Primal Scream, remixes | 1 Comment »

Boom Boom Room

March 26th, 2013

1280-1024-tsujo
I’ve pretty much been listening to Boom Boom Satellites every single day since I got back from Japan in January. Before then I only had their 1999 debut album Out Loud (their only CD to get a proper release in the states), so I guess I’ve been going on a binge of their entire back catalog to make up for lost time.

Since I’ve been diving into their back catalog I’ve been trying to figure out exactly why they’ve failed to gain any kind of foothold in the states. And after listening to all of their albums multiple times over, I think I’ve managed to pin down their lack of success in the West to one thing: jazz.

Allow me to elaborate.

Boom Boom Satellites’ first album, Out Loud, was released in the states not soon after it came out in Japan. It was even given a fairly big push by their American distributor Epic. They went on tour with Moby, and were even commissioned for some pretty big remix jobs. I think a lot of people had the band pegged to break through because that album was the perfect crossover record; very much like an “electronica” album of the era, but with a very heavy, very guitar-focused rock sound as well.

But if the band gained any momentum off of Out Loud, they probably squandered it completely with their next two albums. Their second album, 2001’s Umbra, is the poster child for the stereotypical “difficult sophomore album.” While a fine record, it’s all over the place, with the band taking detours into hip-hop, drum and bass, and even some trip-hop. It’s not the kind of album that one can just pick up and listen to.

And things got even less accessible with their third record, Photon, as it found the band diving head first into the oh so dangerous waters of acid jazz with crazy, free-flowing horns and rambling drums taking  hold on about half of the album’s tracks. It’s interesting, to be sure, but jazz fusion electronica isn’t exactly a crossover genre that the masses are eager to eat up. It’s a shame too, because while the album as a whole is pretty out there, two of the band’s most intense and powerful tracks, “Dress Like An Angel” and “Light My Fire” are buried alongside the freeform jazz freakouts.

Since then, the band has all but completely discarded their jazzier and more experimental side, opting instead for a more electronic-rock sound that could best be described a s heavier, more frantic version of Garbage. Their follow-up to Umbra, 2006’s On, opens with “Kick It Out,” an obvious ready-made single designed exclusively to be a radio megahit if there ever was on. It was a massive smash for the band in Japan, but by then I think the jazz had done its damage. American record labels probably stopped calling, and anyone who had heard of the group during their brief run for success in the states had probably forgotten about them. Even I forgot about them for a long time, and I saw them live once!

And it’s a damn shame, because while they’re not as experimental or complex as they used to be, ever since 2006’s On they’ve been doing nothing but cranking out one solid electronic-influenced rock banger after another. Exposed (2007), To The Loveless (2010) and their recent release Embrace are all amazing works that combine electronic dance music and hard-rocking guitars better than anyone else on the planet. They’ve simply taken their unique sound to a whole new level. Sure, it’s lacking some of the spontaneity and experimental nature of their early work, but it’s infinitely more accessible, and damn it, there’s nothing wrong with creating music for the masses.

Only three proper Boom Boom Satellites are available digitally in the states: Out Loud, Embrace and Exposed. I recommend starting with Embrace, but Over and Over, a 2010 greatest hits compilation made specifically for American audiences, is also available, and that’s probably a good start for those looking to find out more about the band.

Even though the majority of their stuff is out of print in America, I don’t want to just post all of it. I do feel like it’s just a matter of time before they do make it here, at least digitally if nothing else.  But I did want to share something special, something that both die-hard Boom Boom Satellites fans and newcomers to the group would appreciate, and I think I found it.

Boom Boom Satellites (Live At Shibuya O-East)
All In A Day
Back On My Feet
Kick It Out
Light My Fire
Dress Like An Angel
When Boom Boom Satellites excellent 2010 album To The Loveless was first released, it came in a special edition that included a live DVD. Above is an audio rip of that concert. I chose to share this for two reasons. One, it’s an excellent mini-setlist that shows off both the electronic and rock sides of the group perfectly. Two, it also shows how damn awesome their live show is. As great as the studio versions of “Kick It Out” and “Dress Like An Angel” are, they cannot hold a candle to these live cuts, especially with “Kick It Out.” Holy shit. It’s crazy. If I ever get to hear that song live in person I think my heart will explode. Fucking incredible.

Posted in Boom Boom Satellites, live | 4 Comments »

One Man and a Blog…Machine

March 24th, 2013

Sorry for the lack of updates last week. Life got crazy for a bit, and I lost an entire day because I had to transfer all my music to my new computer. And yo, when you have about half a terabyte of MP3s that shit takes some serious time.

I got good stuff planned for this week though! Check it!

Norman Cook
For Spacious Lies
For Spacious Beats
The Invasion of The Estate Agents
For Spacious Ballad
Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim has gone by about a billion aliases (The Cheeky Boy, Sunny Side Up, Pizzaman, just to name a few) but this 1989 12″ single is one of the few to bear his actual name. It came out during a rather odd time in Cook’s career. He had left The Housemartins a few years before, but was still a year away from finding his first taste of success in the burgeoning dance scene as part of Beats International. He hasn’t yet found his “voice” as a producer/remixer/DJ, and it shows. The A-side “For Spacious Lies” is very generic by-the-numbers hip house, the kind of track made by someone looking to score with broad appeal. It’s rather boring.

Thankfully, Cook fared far better with the B-side “The Invasion of The Estate Agents.” It’s pretty much just the instrumental for Beats International’s cover of “Just Be Good To Me,”  an incredibly mellow bass groove with a Morricone sample built in. It works great, so great that Cook would later re-use the track as a the basis for his first hit single with Beats International, “Dub Be Good To Me.”

The Wee Papa Girls
Heat It Up (Adonis Chicago House Mix)
Heat It Up (Detroit House Mix)
Heat It Up (Extended Mix)
Heat It Up (Single Edit)
Heat It Up (Adonis House Instrumental)
The Wee Papa Girls are awesome. I already established this when I wrote about them before, first when discussing the Jive Presents Acid House LP, and then again when posting the Jive Presents In House album.

This time, however, they’re made even all the more awesome with the additional production and remix work by Two Men and a Drum Machine. Who are Two Men And a Drum Machine, you ask? Well, they would be a side project by Andy Cox and David Steele. You may not recognize those names, but you’ve surely heard their music before. In the early 80s they were part of the original line-up of The (English) Beat, the excellent ska act who gave up “Mirror in the Bathroom” and “Save It For Later,” among other clasics. Then after that group broke up the duo met singer Roland Gift and formed Fine Young Cannibals, who had major smash hits with “She Drives Me Crazy” and “Good Thing.” (They also did the most shockingly brilliant cover of “Ever Fallen In Love” you’ll ever hear).

Their output as TWo Men and a Drum Machine is sadly sparse. The only track the duo released as Two Men And a Drum Machine was the 1988 single “Tired of Getting Pushed Around,” which is actually credited to “Two Men A Drum Machine and a Trumpet,” and this track by The Wee Papa Girls is their only production credit. It’s a shame, their work as Two Men and a Drum Machine was way more interesting and innovative than anything they put out as members of Fine Young Cannibals.

They definitely missed their calling as acid house/hip-hop producers. “Heat It Up” is a great track, of the stuff by The Wee Papa Girls that I’ve heard it’s clearly the best. The acid house production is tight, and the flow by the girls is great. How great? So great that The Beastie Boys swiped parts of it wholesale some 10 years later for their track “Alive.” Either that or both artists swiped from the same source material. If anyone out there knows of another track that features the same vocal hook, please tell me. Rap is so full of “homages” that sometimes it can be hard to tell who was the real originator and who was borrowing from who.

Posted in B-sides, Fatboy Slim, remixes, The Wee Papa Girls | 8 Comments »

I Want More! Industrial

March 18th, 2013

The records are piling up next to my computer again. Time for another marathon listening session I think. Those take…days.

I still haven’t made my way through all the records I bought while I was in Japan. I think part of my is subconsciously trying to postpone that inevitability as long as possible. As long as those records are next to my desk, waiting to be listened to, then I have a constant reminder of that trip and something to remind me of Japan everyday.

I miss Japan.

Sigh.

Anyways, good stuff this week I think. Should be sharing some really odd soundtracks and hopefully some oddball remixes as well. I’ve been trying to keep a pace of three posts a week going, but with two concerts (TMBG and Ash) this week, that might not hold up. We’ll see.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I sure had a shit Monday. Time for industrial music.

Nine Inch Nails
The Day The World Went Away (Porter Ricks)
I remember when the day the CD single for this song came out. It was the first release of new Nine Inch Nails in two years, and as a Reznor junkie I was pretty starved for new material. I got off work that day at 8pm and then drove directly to the mall to pick up a copy. I went into the local Suncoast and asked if the had it. I vividly remember the clerk saying, “Naw, so that mean’s ya’ll got about 20 minutes to walk down to the Camelot at the other end of the mall to see fif they got a copy.” So much nostalgia! CD singles coming out in America! (Multiple) record stores in malls! Ah, the 90s, those weren’t the days.

This weird remix wasn’t on the CD single I bought that day. This version was, and remains to this day, a vinyl only exclusive. One listen to it and I can tell why, this is a very experimental take on the track. Extremely minimal with barely a trace of Trent’s original vocals, with the entire “nah nah nah” but removed completely. It’s an interesting interpretation, that’s for sure.

Finitribe
I Want More (Row, Row, Row The Mix)
I Want More
Idiot Strength
Finitribe were an electronic act out of Scotland whose members at one time included influential industrial musician Chris Connelly. I don’t know if he’s on this song at all, all band credits are simply listed as “Finitribe.”

“I Want More” is a Can song, and this is a shockingly great cover of it. I never thought anyone would have been able to take a fairly minimal krautrock tune and remake it into a synthpop/industrial club banger. So good on them. “Idiot Strength” is an original tune and it’s also not half bad. I could totally see both of these tracks tearing up industrial dance clubs in the late 80s. Great Wax Trax! rarities.

 

Posted in Finitribe, NIN, remixes | 5 Comments »

Remixes Of The Pier

March 15th, 2013

Stomach flu bad.

Remixes good.

Late Of The Pier
Best In Class (Soulwax Remix)
Blueberry (Simon Bookish Remix)
I bought this 12″ single because it had the words “Soulwax Remix” on the front cover in all caps. I didn’t even know who the original artist was when I picked it up. I’ve heard enough Soulwax remixes to know that when they take hold of a track it they own it so much that they practically own it. This one is no exception. I checked out the original version on YouTube and the remix sounds nothing like it at all, and it’s also way, way better. This is a hardcore club banger. Pulse-pounding beats to the nines, 808s coming at you in full effect, madness. Fucking love it. The Simon Bookish mix isn’t half bad either, but I keep coming back to the Soulwax mix just because it’s that damn great.

Mantronix
Who Is It? (Freestyle USA Club Mix)
Who Is It? (Who’s Dub Is It)
Who Is It? (Freestyle Radio Version)
Who Is It? (UK Club Mix)
Who Is It? (Bonus Beats)
Electro up in your face like…someone who would be all up in your face (look I’m writing this at 9:30 in the morning so my metaphor skills haven’t really kicked in yet).

This shit makes me want to breakdance, which is kind of unfortunate considering that I can’t dance, let alone breakdance. Maybe I should start that up. Big tall dude tearing it up at breakdancing competitions, that would be a sight I bet. I could team up with that six-year-old girl and we could set the world on fire. It would be dope.

What? Sorry, got sidetracked. These are great, great remixes of a great, great song. Nothing tops early Mantronix. Grab this shit.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Shonen Knife’s Super Mix of Superness

March 13th, 2013

001

When I went to Japan to buy all the records, I wasn’t just buying for myself, I do have friends after all. One of  said friends is a pretty big Shonen Knife fan, so I made it a goal to pick up an LP or two by the group while I was there.

Turns out that Shonen Knife vinyl is pretty damned hard to find in Japan. They’re not the most popular group in the country by any means, but their records are kind of like David Bowie or Pink Floyd albums are here; the people who buy them don’t sell them back.

In all my shopping across the great city of Tokyo, in all the dozens of stores I explored and all the hundreds of crates I dug through, I was only able to find one Shonen Knife LP, Super Mix. By the time I found it I was nearing the end of my trip, so I pretty much just bought it without paying attention to what it really was. I was just happy to finally find a record by them.

Turns out it’s a remix LP. That’s fine for me (I don’t know if ya’ll noticed, but I like remixes), but my friend is decidedly not an electronic dance music fan. She’s a rawker. So while I think she appreciates the sentiment, this one is more of a cool little souvenir for her than an album she’s going to spin again anytime soon. Thankfully I also found some weird Pearl Jam bootlegs when I was in Japan as well (at a Tower Records no less!) so at least she got something rad to listen to.

As for the Shonen Knife album, I hope you all enjoy it more than she does.

Much like the Lupin albums I posted earlier this month, I’m going to list this one track by track, with some information on the remixers (when available).

Shonen Knife (Remix by Keigo Oyamada)
Oyamada is better known as Cornelius, a very influential electronic musician whose career has spanned nearly 20 years now. He wrote music for the soundtrack to Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and he done remixes for artists such as Yellow Magic Orchestra and Yoko Ono.

He also named himself after a character from Planet Of The Apes and did the same to his son, Milo. So I think it’s safe to say that he is…moderately weird. Also, if this remix is any indication, he’s also pretty great.

Parrot Polynesia (Remix by Keiichi Sokabe)
While not as crazy prolific as Cornelius, Sokabe is a dude who also gets around it would seem. He was in an influential 90s Japanese rock group called Sunny Day Service, and since then he’s released a few solo records, collaborated with other musicians and even started his own record label. You can find out more about him here. This is his only credited remix on Discogs, which is a shame. This is a great re-working of a great track, he transforms it entirely into a pretty hectic and frantic drum and bass track to surprising effect. Love this.

Cannibal Papaya (Remix by Thurston Moore)
Fucking Thurston Moore…

Okay, look, I really like Thurston Moore. How couldn’t I? Sonic Youth? Awesome. Daydream Nation? Top five album of the 80s.

All that being said, Moore is a pioneering musician in the genre of noise, experimental and no wave rock music, three genres that don’t exactly leap to my mind when I think “remix.”

Now, to his credit, I haven’t heard many remixes by Moore, the only that come to mind are this one and a remix of Blur’s “Essex Dogs” that appeared on their 2CD set Bustin’ + Dronin.’ Maybe he knows he’s a dogshit remixer and tries not to take that much remix work. Or maybe everyone else realized he was a dogshit remixer and they stopped giving him remix work. Regardless, he’s a dogshit remixer.

No doubt he was given the chance to do this mix simply because he was always a vocal proponent of Shonen Knife, and was in no small part responsible for them getting a record deal in the states. That’s awesome of him. And I’m glad he did it. But him doing this remix as a sign of respect for the group would be like you showing this blog to your friends and me thanking you by breaking your legs. Urgh.

Dog. Shit.

Tortoise Brand (Remix by Shonen Knife)
If you don’t know who Shonen Knife is then I don’t know how you got this far into this blog post. This is a cute mix.

Elephant Pao Pao (Remix by Takkyu Ishino)
Takkyu Ishino is the lead singer of Denki Groove, an incredibly prolific Japanese dance/pop group who sound like the lovechild of YMO, Kraftwerk, and half the music that came out in the 1980s. I found out about them through this remix and now I really want to hear more of their music. Everything I’ve checked out on YouTube has been great. This is also a great remix, very glitch and trippy.

Insect Collector (Remix by Ryuichi Sakamoto)
If you read this blog on a semi-regular basis then you should know who Ryuichi Sakamoto is. I’ve talked about him before (several times over in fact). Not surprisingly, this is the best remix on the album. It’s very reminiscent of YMO’s more recent stuff, minimal with a hint of dance flavor behind it.

Burning Farm/Banana Leaf (Remix by Moichi Kuwahara)
I couldn’t find much on this person. Apparently he/she is in Snakeman Show, the comedy group who appear on a few YMO releases. In addition to that, Kuwahara is also credited on Discogs as a producer of a few YMO cover records, and as a remixer on a YMO remix album. After that I got nothing. Anyone who knows anything else, please fill me in.

Cool remix though, very ambient.

Twist Barbie (Remix by Roger Manning)
Roger Manning’s full name is Roger Jospeh Manning Jr., I know this because I actually own some of this dude’s music. First and foremost, he was in Jellyfish, a power-pop band from the 90s that has a crazy cult following. From there, he formed The Moog Cookbook, a covers act who played pop songs on the Moog. I have one of their records (it’s alright). Then in 2000 he teamed up with film composer Brian Reitzell to create a soundtrack to an imaginary sequel to Logan’s Run called Logan’s Sanctuary. I have that record (it’s quite weird).

Since then he’s put out three solo albums, the latest coming in 2009. Since power pop is bigger in Japan than it is in the states, I’m going to assume that his work in Jellyfish got him this remix. It’s a good mix, although he really doesn’t do much to it aside from adding some various vocal and sound effects.  If it ain’t broke don’t fix it I guess.

Posted in Complete Albums, remixes, Shonen Knife | 1 Comment »

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