Astralwerking It

July 12th, 2012

As a teenager in the 90s with an interest in electronic music, much of my early experience in the genre came thanks to the label Astralwerks.

Nearly all the electronic music I bought in the mid to late-90s was on Astralwerks, including records by Fatboy Slim, Basement Jaxx, Fluke, Photek, The Beta Band and many more. They also put out those amazing Wipeout soundtracks, which I talked about in a previous post.

Astralwerks.1999.V1 was one of many compilations by the label, built to showcase established and upcoming artists. It’s a pretty good collection too, featuring tracks by Fatboy Slim, Q-Burns, Air, The Beta Band and The Chemical Brothers. Most of the tracks on the record are easily available today, so I’m not including everything here tonight, just the stuff that’s not in print anymore. Thankfully, that’s some pretty interesting stuff.

Phillippe Zdar
Cassius DJ Mix
Stardust DJ Mix
Phillippe Zdar makes up one have the French dance duo Cassius, who have been releasing music since the mid-90s. I don’t remember Cassius from the time that I got into electronic music, but the second I started up the Cassius mix I did recognize the lead-off tune, the instantly catchy “1999,” of no relation to Prince’s “1999.”

Stardust, on the other hand, was a side project of Daft Punker Thomas Bangalter and also included lesser-known musicians Alan Braxe and Benjamin Diamond. As far as I know, only one song came out of the collaboration, the classic “Music Sounds Better With You” (which had an amazing video by Michel Gondry). Of course, having only one song in your entire catalog makes creating a DJ Mix a little tricky. As far as I can tell, there are only three tracks in this mix. One is, obviously, “Music Sounds Better With You.” I think the second is a remix of the same song. The third is the Les Rhythmes Digitales remix of Deejay Punk-Roc’s “My Beatbox.” That would make the “Stardust DJ Mix” claim kind of false advertising. But hey, the Les Rhythmes Digitales connection at least makes it all French house, so…close enough I guess?

Metrodub
Cut Up Music (Jazzy Mix)
Who is Metrodub?

No, seriously, who is it?

This was the only song they ever commercially released. They still have a MySpace page (glad to see someone does) and they have a Discogs entry as well, which bills their real names as “Mario A and Fabio Nieto.” Wonder what happened with them. This is a pretty good track, very reminiscent of stuff that Ninja Tune artists were putting out at the time.

Gearwhore
Train
I saw the name Gearwhore and immediately thought “this guy has some connection to Ministry.” Sure enough, Gearwhore (real name Brian Natonski) got his start in Chicago, working as an engineer at the Chicago Trax Studio, where Ministry and other industrial acts of the time recorded their albums.

Gearwhore’s only album was Drive, which came out in 1998. He released a few singles, both as Gearwhore and under his actual name, but I think his career dried up by the end of the decade. I don’t have any of that stuff, but based on this track it sounds like he was trying to go for an industrial dance vibe. Not bad. Not great.

Source Direct
Technical Warfare
Source Direct were a drum and bass duo out of the UK, although I guess one of them still releases music under that name. I actually think I had a Source Direct album back in “the day” as looking them up on YouTube brought back some memories. This song wasn’t a rarity when it came out. It was actually featured on the group’s 1999 album Exorcise The Demons. However, that album is out of print so here you go.

Posted in Cassius, Gearwhore, Metrodub, Phillippe Zdar, Source Direct, Stardust | 5 Comments »

Some Decent Music

July 10th, 2012

Allow me to talk about entitlement for a second.

That word, “entitlement” is thrown around a lot these days. Typically it is used to refer to situations involving race, gender and sexuality and other important socio-economic-political issues. But I occasionally see it pop up in other situations. When that Mass Effect 3 hubbub broke out earlier this year, for example,  a lot of the gaming press labeled the fans of the series “entitled” because they were complaining about the content of the game like they knew the product better than the developers themselves.

That, however, is not entitlement. That’s being a vocal consumer. If a game developer is going to cut corners on a game, then the fans who bought the game have the right to complain about it. And in the age of Twitter, they can often complain directly to the people responsible. That’s their right as a consumer. It’s a good thing.

I’ll tell you what is entitlement, however. Entitlement is going to a blog that owes you nothing, not being happy with the music selection being offered there (for free, by the way) and then complaining in the comments section that said blog doesn’t post any “decent music” anymore. That behavior, acting like you are owed (or  entitled) something for no other reason than the fact that you want it, is entitlement. And you know what? That’s a bad thing.

And it’s incredibly annoying.

So don’t do it.

Now, I know most of you who visit my blog don’t do that. But someone did, so I felt that little lecture was neccesary.

Enjoy tonight’s music. I find it to be quite decent.

George Clinton
Tweakin’ (A Mix)
Tweakin’ (Dub Mix)
Tweakin’ (C Mixxappella)
Tweakin’ (Radio Remix)
Hysterical
These tracks are funky (and for once I mean that in the George Clinton way, not the “this smells funky” kind of way), although I think that “A Mix” is the laziest name for a remix ever. The original version of “Tweakin'” was on Clinton’s 1989 album The Cinderella Theory, his first album on Prince’s Paisley Park label. Prince is nowhere to be found on these mixes (at least not officially) but Chuck D and Flava Flav totally show up to drop a random-ass rap at the end. Some vocal samples of them also make it on to the radically bizarre b-side “Hysterical,” a nearly eight-minute piece of out-of-this-world abstract funk that features some crazy bass work by who I assume is Bootsy Collins. It’s so funky that you better be careful. Repeated listening may cause you to funk yourself to death.

See, it’s funny because “funk” sounds similar to “fuck.”

N.E.R.D.
Rock Star (Nevins Classic Club Blaster)
Rock Star (Classic Club Blaster Instrumental)
I posted the “Club Blaster” remix a few years ago, but I felt like posting it again since I just re-recorded it. I didn’t think anyone would mind. They better not. “Rock Star” is an amazing song, one that Jason Nevins made even better with his spectacular remix that pumps up the energy up to 11.

I used to love N.E.R.D. but I kind of forgot about them. I didn’t pick up their last album, Nothing, was it any good? I didn’t hear many good things. I did love Seeing Sounds, however. I thought that “Everybody Nose (All The Girls Standing In The Line For the Bathroom)” should have been a much bigger hit than it was. I guess the tune hit a little too close to home to the people it was marketed for. “Spaz” was another great tune, shame it never got some remixes.

B-Boy Electric
Tainted Love (Lo Vox Extended Mix)
Tainted Love (Hard Cell Mix)
Tainted Love (Kai Tracid Remix)
Tainted Love (Extended Version)
A techno/trance remix of “Tainted Love.” Shit don’t get more decent than this.

Posted in B-Boy Electric, B-sides, George Clinton, N.E.R.D., rant, remixes | 4 Comments »

Debbie Harry, Madonna and Janet Jackson walk into a dance club…and everyone is like “OMG”

July 5th, 2012

It’s an 80s diva clearinghouse here at the Lost Turntable! Hurry up and grab your favorite pop dance mixes before they’re gone for good! All sales are final!

Debbie Harry
French Kissin (Dance Mix)
Did you know that this song was written by Chuck Lorre? Yes, the same Chuck Lorre who brought us Dharma and Greg, The Big Bang Theory and Two And A Half Men?! What? How? Huh?

It turns out that this was the only pop song the dude ever wrote (at least, the only one that made it onto an album) and he went on to TV pretty soon afterward, his first stop being a co-composer for all the music to the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon! And I thought the dude from the Exotic Birds who ended up drumming for Stabbing Westward only to go on to create music for A&E shows had a weird career arc.

I can promise you that this song is exponentially better than any episode of any television show Chuck Lorre has worked on in the last 10 years.

Madonna
Frozen (Extended Club Mix)
Frozen (Meltdown Mix)
Hanky Panky (Bare Bottom 12″ Mix)
Hanky Panky (Bare Bones Single Mix)
One of these songs is a meditation on the difficulties of maintaining a serious relationship with someone who refuses to open up emotionally. The other is about a spanking fetish. Guess which one is which.

I think it’s fair to say that “Frozen” is the deeper of the two songs. It’s also the one I like more, but that has less to do with the lyrical content and more to do with the production as a whole. “Hanky Panky” is a fun song for sure, but I’ve never been a big fan of any modern song that tries to ape the 40s jump blues/jazz sound. I will say though that I do like the “Bare Bottom 12″ Mix” a bit more than the original version, thanks to its (very) extended breakdown that really emphasizes the beat over the horns and other more “vintage” aspects of the song’s production.

Additionally, I’m very depressed that no one has ever done a mash-up of this song with Christina Aguilera’s “Candyman” and/or “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.”

Janet Jackson
Escapade (Shep’s Good Time Mix)
Escapade (The Get Away Dub)
Escapade (Shep’s Housecapade Mix)
Escapade (Housecapade Dub)
Escapade (I Can’t Take No More Dub)
These “Escapade” mixes will be the last Janet tracks I’ll be sharing here…until I find more. There were eight singles for Rhythm Nation 1814, and you bet your ass I’m going to get all of them someday.

Until that glorious day, enjoy these cuts. These are great mixes, and the near-acapella sections really show just how much Janet sounded like Michael back then. There are portions in the “Shep’s Good Time Mix” where she sounds just like her brother. It’s freaking eerie.

 

Posted in Debbie Harry, Janet Jackson, Madonna | 6 Comments »

Music for Unicorns

July 5th, 2012

I celebrated American Independence Day by watching clips of The Day After on YouTube. Actually, my roommates did more to celebrate the holiday and they’re both Chinese immigrants. I fail at being American.

But I totally rule at sharing 80s music, so let’s do this.

Bryan Ferry
Is Your Love Strong Enough (Extended Version)
Man, that’s one stone cold stare.

When Ridley Scott finished his Tom Cruise frolics with unicorns fantasy epic that is Legend, the studio was not happy with his final cut. Not only did they strip his original 113 minute version down to 96 minutes for European audiences, they also went ahead and cut the American version even more, down to a scant 89 minutes. But that wasn’t the only change they made to the film when bringing it to American shores.

No, in addition to randomly slicing out seven minutes of pesky plot , they also completely removed Jerry Goldsmith’s fully symphonic score and replaced it with a synthesized score by Tangerine Dream, with additional contributions by Jon Anderson of Yes and Bryan Ferry. From what I’ve read it was because they wanted the film to have a broader appeal, but I think it was just because someone at Universal Studios thought Firestarter was dope.

It’s such an odd thing to do if you think about it. Did the executives at Universal really thing that an electronic soundtrack would really help to bring in the kids and families? Why even bother? Why eat the costs of Jerry Goldsmith’s score? Just seems totally random to me.

Besides, it didn’t help. The movie was a bomb and critical dud. Ironically today, you can find Goldmith’s original score on iTunes and Amazon relatively easily, but Tangerine Dream’s soundtrack has long been out of print. The soundtrack version of this song (which features guitar work by David Gilmour) is on a few Ferry compilations, but this 12″ version has never seen the light of day digitally.

The Cure
Kyoto Song (Live)
A Night Like This (Live)
I was going to put a picture of Robert Smith up, but I think one freaky looking British dude is enough for one post.

These two live tracks are from the 12″ single to “Catch” and originally appeared in The Cure’s 1987 concert film The Cure In Orange. (In case you’re wondering, the Orange in question is the Theatre antique d’Orange, located in the Principality of Orange, France.) The movie was released on tape and laserdisc, but it still has never seen a DVD or Blu-Ray release, something that no doubt makes fans of The Cure even more depressed than they already are. Mopey bastards.

 

Posted in Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music, live, remixes, The Cure | 2 Comments »

Boy George And Family (Not His Family)

July 3rd, 2012

 

Look at Boy George. Would you really want to hurt him?

The Family
The Screams Of Passion (Extended Version)
Nothing Compares 2 U
The Family sure sounded a lot like Prince. That’s probably because Prince created the group, wrote nearly all the songs for their sole album (which he also produced) and performed most of the instruments on it as well. Rumor has it that he even recorded vocal tracks that vocalist St. Paul used as a guide for his own vocal performance. Since St.Paul sounds just like Prince throughout the entire album, I think that rumor has some credence.

The Family’s only album failed to chart, and they’ve pretty much vanished into obscurity since the 80s, save for the fact that their album was the birthplace of “Nothing Compares 2 U,” the song that Sinead O’Connor made crazy famous just a few years later (although if you ask me, that’s only her second best cover. This would be her first).

A major bummer about The Family is that, since they were such a commercial failure, almost none of their work was given the 12″ single treatment. “The Screams Of Passion” was the only track from their album that got an extended version, and it’s only about a minute and twenty seconds longer than the original version. Still, it’s a good version of a great song.

The B-side of the 12″ single was the album cut “Yes.” But whatever, I’m sharing “Nothing Compares 2 U’ instead. Because duh.

Culture Club
White Boy (Long Version)
I’m Afraid Of Me (Long Version)
Am I high or does “White Boy” sound a little like a Duran Duran song?

That’s all I got tonight. I’m sure there is something interesting to be said about Culture Club. I’m equally sure that at 12am on a Monday night that I am not the person to do it. Enjoy these mixes that I got off of a crazy looking Japanese 12″ single.

Posted in Culture Club, Prince, remixes | 1 Comment »

Genuine Latin Love Machine

June 29th, 2012

I haven’t posted an extremely stupid lounge/Moog album in a long time. Let’s fix that.

Richard Hayman – Genuine Electric Latin Love Machine
Richard Hayman is one of those people whose career is so long that it’s nearly impossible to summarize. As just about any page about him will tell you, he’s most known for being the arranger for the Boston Pop Orchestra, a position he held for over 30 years. According to his AllMusic bio, Hayman also served as a music director for a very eclectic assortment of celebrities, including Johnny Carson, Pat Boone and Olivia Newton-John. According to this photo of him, he enjoys large bowties.

He also apparently liked to make really silly early electronic music. In 1969 he released this goofy little record, no doubt an attempt to cash-in on the synthesizer craze that Wendy Carlos started with her legendary Switched-On Bach album a year earlier.

Did I mention this album is goofy and silly? Because holy shit it is.  As the title suggests, most of the songs are electronic re-imaginings of “Latin” songs like “The Peanut Vendor” and “La Comparsa.” But it also has a few mainstream pop songs thrown in for good measure, including “The Look Of Love?”  and “The Girl From Ipanema.” Don’t expect any covers of rock tunes though, I don’t think Hayman was hip to that sound.

It’s not as memorable as other early electronic albums, but its still worth a listen. And I think everyone in the world should take note of that amazing cover.

Posted in Complete Albums | 2 Comments »

Beverly Hills Electro

June 26th, 2012

Hey, it’s music.

Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five
The Megamelle Mix
Pump Me Up (Instrumental)
Do people still do megamixes? I’ve always thought of them as Cliffnotes versions of albums, minus their use as a study aid (although I love to imagine someone listening to this megamix as a means to cram for a final exam on Golden Age hip-hop).

The Megamelle Mix includes snippets from “Step Off,” “The Message,” “Beat Street,” “New York, New York,” “World War III,” and “It’s Nasty (Genius Of Love).” I got it off of a 12″ single for “Pump Me Up,” hence the included instrumental of that track.

Det Reirruc/Club’s Rappers
Axel F (The Beverly Hills Version) (Club Mix)
Axel F (The Beverly Hills Version) (Radio Edit)
Like Eddie Did (Club Mix)
Like Eddie Did (Radio Edit)
All four of these tracks are from an incredibly odd bootleg 12″ single I picked up a few months ago.

The “Axel F” mixes are credited to one “Det Reirruc.” A quick search on Google, and I found out that this is actually Ted Currier (backwards pseudonym!), a producer and songwriter from the 80s whose work includes George Clinton’s immortal “Atomic Dog.” Because of this, Ted Currier should be treated as an American Hero. This track also features the legendary 80s remix crew The Latin Rascals, who are given an “edited by” credit on the label. If you like early 80s hip-hop and electro, this is one hell of a team-up, and worth a listen. The combined forces of Currier and The Latin Rascals transform what was already a pretty legendary piece of instrumental electronic music and make it a beat-heavy, breakdance-friendly banger. It’s pretty amazing stuff. The drum break at the end of the “Radio Edit” alone is awe-inspiring.

Also awe-inspiring, but for entirely different reasons, are the two versions of “Like Eddie Did” by the Club’s Rappers (whoever they are, anyone know?). This…rather interesting little number is a rap tune about the career of Eddie Murphy. That’s right, it’s a biographical rap song about the rise of Eddie Murphy, and how his story should be seen as inspirational to all the young people out there.

It’s a good thing they got this song out before the whole early-90s decline/family film rebirth/prostitute picking up/current day hackery arc of Murphy’s career.

Posted in Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five, remixes, Ted Currier | No Comments »

Supertramp And The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

June 24th, 2012

I planned tonight’s post as such solely so I could use that headline.

Supertramp
I’m Beggin’ You (Straight Pass)
I’m Beggin’ You (Mad House Mix)
I’m Beggin’ You (Dub)
If you would have told me 10 years ago that I would be rocking out to subpar Supertramp remixes, I would have punched you in the face and called you a liar. Shit, if you would have told me that 10 months ago I still probably would have called you a liar (I wouldn’t have punched you in the face though, I’ve mellowed a bit in my 30s).

But why do I have a newfound appreciation for the group? A band that could be generously called a second-tier prog-rock group turned third-tier pop act? Is it because of my mellowing out? As I’ve gotten older, have I wussed out a bit? Trading in my Pantera and Slipknot albums for easy-listening radio-friendly pop favorites?

No, I’ve just become less of a judgmental asshole.

Honestly, my recent interest in Supertramp has more to do with random chance than anything else. Hearing “Crime Of The Century’ in a record store and being blown away, only to buy the album from which the song gets its name to discover six more tracks that are almost just as amazing (…and “Bloody Well Right,” a song I still can’t get behind). Crime Of The Century remains the only album by the group that I own, but I keep meaning to pick up more. I’m very curious about their first two, super-prog sounding albums, as well as the uber-popular Even In The Quiest Moments and  Breakfast In America.

“I’m Beggin’ You” is not from any of those records though, it’s from the group’s 1987 LP Free as a Bird. The first second record by the group to not feature founding member Roger Hodgson, it was a critical and commercial bomb that pretty much led to a 10 year hiatus for the group. This song isn’t horrible, I’ve certainly heard worse 80s pop tunes, but even I, with my limited knowledge of Supertramp, know that this doesn’t sound like a Supertramp tune at all.

It does have a “house mix” though, and that’s not something you can say for most singles from 70s prog rock groups. Unless somewhere there’s a 12″ house mix of “Mama” by Genesis that I don’t know about.

Oh god that would be so awesome.

Hi Tek 3
Spin That Wheel (Extended Flick Mix)
Spin That Wheel (Flick Mix)
Spin That Wheel (Dub Mix)
Spin That Wheel (Dub Edit)
That’s right, the house mix of a Supertramp song isn’t the dumbest thing in tonight’s post. I’m proud of that.

“Spin That Wheel” is a song from the soundtrack to the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. Hi Tek 3 are a side-project/alternate name of Technotronic, the Belgium dance act who brought the world “Pump Up The Jam.” Based on those two bits of information you probably already have an idea as to what this song sounds like, and you’re probably right. Enjoy.

Posted in Hi Tek 3, remixes, Supertramp | 8 Comments »

A Couple Of Good Beats

June 21st, 2012

This post is going up on around 9:30PM, July 21st, 2012.

I wanted to get in one more blog post before the world is forever made a darker place by Miami Heat winning a fucking NBA Championship. Fuckin’ Miami. I wish I had a rare version that that Against Me! song so I could just post that.

The Twins Plus Him
Turn The Beat Around
Turn The Beat Around (Dub Version)
Turn The Beat Around (Short Version) 
I love/hate it when I find a track by a mysteriously-named artist who released no other work. I love it because I feel like I stumbled across some hidden gem/unknown great who no one knows about. I hate it because they’re typically so mysterious that I can rarely find anything else out about them aside from the one song. So, anyone know anything about The Twins Plus Him? Who are The Twins? Who is Him? I suspect the Him in question may be Richard Alexander, a disco-era producer who produced this take on the song that Vickie Sue Robinson made famous in the 70s. However, the identity of the lead singer(s?) is a complete mystery to me. They’re not credited at all on the label. If anyone could shed some light on this one I would appreciate it.

Pumpkin
King Of The Beat
King Of The Beat (Instrumental)
Pumpkin was the alias of Errol Eduardo Bedward, a drummer who worked on a lot of late 70s/early 80s disco and electro tracks. I don’t know much of his work outside of this track, and that’s a shame because hot diggity damn this is some great old-school electro shit. It’s simple, effective, and (not surprisingly) has a great beat. If I could breakdance I would totally breakdance to this tune. I’d try, but with my luck I’d have a muscle spasm while trying to do the worm. Then my spasming leg would then probably kick my aquarium stand, which would in turn knock over the aquarium onto my head, killing me instantly.

Or maybe I would just wind up looking like an ass, either way, I’m not taking that chance.

Posted in Pumpkin, remixes, The Twins Plus Him | 3 Comments »

Havana 3 A.M. and a song way too good for cassette tape.

June 20th, 2012

Just a single song tonight. But it’s really good!

Havana 3 A.M.
Blue Gene Vincent (Live)
A few weeks ago I picked this up at a yard sale.

Take A Spin With I.R.S., a 1992 promo tape made by I.R.S. Records to showcase some of their best and brightest acts. When I grabbed the tape, the only artists on I recognized on it were Concrete Blonde and MC 900 Ft. Jesus. After listening to it, none of the other artists on the tape (which included acts such as Dada, Vinx and Rebel Pebbles), really left an impression on me.

That is, none of the acts except Havana 3 A.M. They close out the tape with a live version of “Blue Gene Vincent,” a track off of their 1991 self-titled debut. It’s an amazing tune, full of energy and a slight rockabilly edge that was reminiscent of some of The Clash’s best work.

Turns out that’s no coincidence. Havana 3 A.M. was a band launched by Clash bassist Paul Simonon after the band broke up in the 80s. Their 1991 record proved to be their only official release, as lead singer Nigel Dixon died just two years later, followed by Simonon quitting the music business altogether. I guess the guitarist went on with the name for a bit, but I think the album he released under the name is more of a solo record.

It was the only song on the tape that I loved, so of course that was the only part of the tape that was damaged and distorted, rendering the end of the song unlistenable. I picked up a copy of their CD, but the studio version of the song just pales in comparison. I needed the live version.

Most people would just give up at this point, but not me. I’m crazy. I’m an idiot. I’m the kind of moron who will pluck down 13 bucks to an online used tape dealer to buy a tape that I already own just in the off chance that it might sound better than the version I already own.

Sigh, I either need a cheaper hobby or I need to get back on Prozac.

Anyways, thankfully my moderate insanity paid off. The second copy of the tape sounded much better (it’s still kind of muddy sounding, but hey, it’s a 20 year old tape), allowing me to finally record a complete version of the tune that I can share with you all tonight.

If you at all love The Clash (and you fucking should) then you need to check out this tune. I can see why the studio version failed to catch on back in the day, it’s a bit too overproduced and was already dated by the time it came out. There’s something funky with the drums, it lacks edge and bite. But this version just kicks ass. It has a rockabilly feel to it, but it’s totally a punk rock song at heart.

It’s the kind of song that I bet Joe Strummer would have dug the shit out of. I hope you do.

Posted in live | 6 Comments »

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