Madonna Minutiae

October 27th, 2019

Madonna
Papa Don’t Preach (Edit)
Lucky Star (Single Version)

A few months back I promised to finish the long-delayed third part of my guide to Madonna’s remixes, covering the 2000s. (Here’s Part 1 and Part 2 if you’re interested). But that proved to be much harder than I anticipated thanks to the utterly confusing of digital-only, promo-only and (possibly) streaming-only remixes. I do still plan on getting it done, but I have no idea when that will be.

I also have to update the first two parts of my guide, thanks to (usually very polite) commenters pointing out small mistakes and lesser-known remixes that I missed. But even that’s been a bit of an issue since a lot of them don’t site their sources or provide any evidence for their claims.

For example, many have told me that there’s an exclusive remix to “Open Your Heart” that’s only on the 7″ single to that song. Make sense, a lot of Madonna tracks have 7″ single remixes, and many of those single mixes have yet to find their way to any CD at all. I went ahead and bought the “Open Your Heart” seven inch a few months back, which even has “(Remix)” in the title.

I had to listen to it several times before I was able to pinpoint any differences between that mix and the mix on the Immaculate Collection. From what I can tell, the main difference is that the ending fade out is a little different. The actual mix/master of the song might be different too, but that’s hard to judge when comparing a vinyl rip to a CD version. It’s so similar that I’m not comfortable sharing it here unless someone can’t point out another worthwhile difference I’m missing.

I had the same problem when I picked up a very rare promo 12″ single for “Papa Don’t Preach.” Again, I read that it had an exclusive remix, but I couldn’t figure out exactly how it was different until I listened to it and the album version back-to-back. Turns out that, once again, it’s nearly identical to the album version until the very end, where the fade out is different. However, unlike the “Open Your Heart” remix, it’s a pretty radical difference so I’m sharing it here.

The B-Side to the “Papa Don’t Preach” single is just the album version of the track. However, the B-side to the 7″ single of “Open Your Heart” is “Lucky Star.” Thankfully, it’s also the 7″ version, which has never been released on any Madonna CD. Unlike the “Open Your Heart” remix, it’s easier to hear how this one is different, as it is substantially shorter than any other mix of the track.

It absolutely maddening to me that Madonna has never bothered with a proper re-issue campaign of her classic albums with at least a few of these mixes included. Sure, remixes like the promo edit of “Papa Don’t Preach” are minor and only the die-hard (i.e. gay) fans like me really care about them, but there are plenty of other rare cuts and mixes that regular people would probably care to hear.

There are rumors about that a new 4CD deluxe edition of Like A Prayer is in the works, with a supposed catalog number being leaked a while back. If that does come to pass, it’ll be interesting to see what is included on it. I can imagine that some of those demos that were shared online would be part of it. But what remixes would be included? There are at least 10 remixes of “Like A Prayer” and while I can’t possibly imagine all of them would be there (some of the differences are just too minor to care about) I think that at least half of them are different enough to warrant inclusion. Same goes for “Express Yourself.” An entire CD could be filled of remixes of just those two tracks, but would they even bother with the effort?

Are they looking for someone to help? Yo, Madonna people, I’m available and I work for 12″ promo singles.

Posted in Madonna, remixes | 5 Comments »

Trevor Rabin’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Disco

October 23rd, 2019

Disco Rock Machine
You Keep Me Hangin’ On
Living For The City
You Really Got Me
Gimme Some Lovin’
Mr. Magic

Trevor Rabin joined Yes in the early 80s (it’s actually a long story that involves Yes breaking up, a new band called Cinema being formed, and then that band becoming Yes again but I don’t want to get into all of that). For audiences in the UK and US, Rabin was a relative unknown, with just a handful of albums to his name, none of which made any dent on the charts on either side of the Atlantic.

But Rabin’s career actually went back a bit further than that. Before he made his way to the UK to start his solo career, Rabin was already an established musician in his native country of South Africa (he was anti-apartheid by the way, just to get that out of the way) as a member of the pop/rock group Rabbitt. I don’t know much about Rabbitt, but they seem to have a rather eclectic discography that includes sappy 70s cheese, prog rock covers, and tracks that wouldn’t sound out of place on a record by Sweet.

Rabbitt had a few hits in South Africa, but they didn’t break through internationally and they broke up in 1977. Rabin started his solo career just a year later with his first record. But at the same time he was trying to make it as a rock-n-roller, he was also plugging away with multiple disco projects. One such project was The Tee Cee’s, who released a sole album the same year Rabbitt called it quits.

 

 

The other was Disco Rock Machine. Under that name, Rabin pumped out two albums in just two years. While The Tee Cee’s album featured entirely original material written by Rabin, the Disco Rock Machine were heavy with covers. And like their name suggests, most of their covers were of rock songs, redone in a disco arrangement.

Disco Rock Machine’s first album features just four tracks, each clocking in a dance-floor friendly seven minutes. Sandwiched in between two forgettable Rabin originals are covers of Stevie Wonder’s “Living For The City” and “You Really Got Me” by The Kinks. The second album was a bit more pop friendly, with shorter tracks that would play better on the radio. Among the albums six tracks were three Rabin originals, alongside covers of “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” “Higher Ground,” and “Gimme Some Lovin’.”

Albums comprised almost entirely of discofied rock covers were definitely a thing in the late 70s. Rabin even served as a session musician for Hot RS, another South African act that specialized in extended disco takes of classic rock tunes. And one thing I’ll say about Disco Rock Machine (and Hot RS for that matter) is that their disco remakes of rock tunes sound a hell of a lot better than others that I’ve heard. I have two disco covers of “In A Gadda Da Vida,” one by Hot RS and another by an act called Disco Circus. The version by Hot RS absolutely blows the Disco Circus one out of the water.

 

 

A disco cover of “You Keep Me Hanging On” or “You Really Got Me Now” is intrinsically stupid bullshit. There’s no way around that fact. The world did not need disco covers of Kinks songs. Or Steve Winwood songs. Or (multiple) Stevie Wonder songs. But if someone was going to attempt them, at least it was Trevor Rabin, who clearly shows his studio mastery with these tracks. Disco Rock Machine’s cover of “You Really Got Me” simply does not fuck around. Rabin channeled that song’s natural intensity and energy and skillfully transmorphed into a banger of a dance tune thanks to a groovy bassline, excellent high-hat beat, and some shredding guitar. Ditto for their take on “You Keep Me Hangin’ On.” Stretched out to seven minutes, the track builds and builds, breaks down and then explodes back up to a feverish conclusion, with a killer beat and some truly inventive guitar work by Rabin backing the whole thing up.

Truth be told though, the thing that shines through on all the best Disco Rock Machine tracks isn’t Rabin’s production or playing, but the wonderful voice of the singer, René Veldsman. When singing disco, a vocalist has two options; they can go smooth and sultry, or they can be as big and loud as humanely possible. Veldsman definitely favors the latter, often booming and blasting her way through a track. Sometimes that can be a bit much, but it’s a style that definitely fits the rock-n-roll feel that these tracks are going for. She’s particularly strong in her performances of “Gimme Some Lovin'” and “You Really Got Me,” belting those numbers out with no regard for anything remotely resembling restraint. Pure power.

These are cheesy tunes, for sure. And they haven’t exactly aged all that well. But they’re fun! And in my opinion they serve as a preview of the studio wizardry and production prowess that Rabin would become known for in the following decade. Most of the tracks I’m sharing from these two albums are the covers, they’re the highlights. But “Mr Magic,” a Rabin-penned original, ain’t half bad so I’m throwing that one in too. It’s also a good example of Veldsman holding it back a notch to show she’s more than capable of delivering a more varied, subdued vocal performance as well.

After calling it quits with Disco Rock Machine and his assorted other disco acts, I don’t think that Rabin ever went back to dance music. After leaving Yes in 1994, he went on to mostly do film scores. Right now, he’s working with former Yes members Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman as Yes featuring Anderson, Rabin, and Wakeman. They’re allegedly going to tour again soon, and I hope that they stop by Japan before calling it quits (Wakeman has repeatedly referred to his next tour as his “farewell tour”).

I’m not holding by breath for any Disco Rock Machine covers to make their way into the set, however.

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Japanese Ambient Chill Vibes with Dip In The Pool

October 15th, 2019

Dip In The Pool
Silence
Hinamari
Hasu no Enishi
Facing The Sea
Dip In The Pool is a strange group. One that not many people have heard, yet conversely, many people have written about. They kind of got swept up in that whole “city pop” thing a few years back, despite not even being remotely connected to it. Later on, they were more accurately grouped as “Japanese ambient pop.” I don’t know if there are enough acts around for such a genre to be a proper thing, but the tag fits good enough. Dip In The Pool are chill. Super chill. And quiet. Super quiet. Dip In The Pool have their upbeat numbers and pop tracks for sure, but when they slow things down, they take things so minimal and ambient that they push the very definition of what a pop song can be.

Oh, and did I mention their fucking incredible? Because they’re fucking incredible.

Very few acts pull of “ethereal” quite like Dip In The Pool. I often compare them to Cocteau Twins. Their otherwordly charms and haunting vibe create an atmosphere that is simultaneously comforting and alien. Both relaxing and off-putting. This is almost entirely due to the incredible vocals of Miyako Koda. Yes, the sparse instrumentation does well to create that distant-yet-calming feel, but it’s really her voice that puts it all together. Simply put, its heart-crushingly beautiful. An aural sedative. Nothing, absolutely nothing, rips out my anxiety and throws it into a sonic wading pool of chamomile tea and lavender essence quite like Miyako Koda’s voice. It’s heaven.

Of course, nearly everything the band has ever released is out-of-print. Because of course it is. As of right now, only a handful of singles and remixes on for sale on iTunes. And Spotify only has a smattering of tracks and one album, none of which are their best. Dip In The Pool’s early work, all of which came out in the 80s, is just heaven on earth. And it’s a hell of a situation that we can’t listen to any of it easily.

I’ve been lucky and have been able to snag up quite a bit of their work since I moved to Japan, but even then it’s not easy. I got two albums only because they were re-released (on vinyl only for some reason). Everything else I got is vintage, and I paid accordingly for it. I’ve never even seen a CD of theirs for sale. Some can go for a quite a bit online.

The tracks I’m sharing tonight are some of my favorite by the group, and make up the entirety of their 1985 self-titled debut EP. All of these tracks would later on appear on the band’s 1988 debut album, which was released as Silence in the UK and was self-titled in Japan. Rough Trade actually released the album in the UK, and if it was their decision to name the album after “Silence,” I can totally see why. For me, it is the stand out tune by a group that has loads of them. Koda’s vocals (did I mention that I like them) are absolutely angelic here, and the complete absence of any real beat lets the song just float over you like a cloud.

After the brief interlude “Hinamari,” things kick up a notch with “Hasu No Enishi.” There are actual beats! It has a tempo! A lot of Dip In The Pool sounds like this, honestly. I’ve been focusing a lot on their more minimal and ambient side, but they had their share of upbeat numbers. Still, “upbeat” for Dip In The Pool is rather chill. Koda’s not Madonna, even on a track that has the tempo to qualify as a dance number, she’s still going to take her damn time and deliver a sedate, prolonged vocal that slows the whole thing down to her pace.

The EP closes with “Facing The Sea,” which splits the difference between the purely ethereal “Silence” and more beat-driven track that precedes it. There’s a pulsing beat here, but it’s little more than a click track, pushed back in the mix in exchange for some lovely synthesizer bells that work to match the melody put out by Koda. Again, it’s the kind of lovely, happy, pretty music that, after the reading the news or dealing with an exceptional bad day at work, is all I want to listen to.

Let’s chill.

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Techno Bagpipe Style

October 6th, 2019

I know I said that I was going to post some Canadian disco, but in a decision that will disappoint absolutely no one, I changed my mind and will instead share some rare Orbital remixes.

Orbital
Bagpipe Style
New Style
Old Style
I actually found a 12″ single in Japan! This is a rare feat, believe me. Sure, there are plenty of stores that sell 12″ singles of obscure disco and funk here, and there are loads of 12″ singles of ultra-obscure house, trance, and such. But finding a 12″ single by an act that people have actually heard of doesn’t happen all that much here. I don’t know what the deal is with that. Maybe 12″ singles for pop acts never really took off in Japan? I certainly have an easier time finding CD singles, so maybe that format had a stronger foothold back in the day, and that contributed to 12″ singles not being as prominent. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just talking out of my ass. I’m good at that.

I found this single in Tower Records’ new(ish) used vinyl store in Shinjuku. Someone had apparently unloaded all their 90s UK singles, because in the same bin were singles by other UK acts like Primal Scream, Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, The Stone Roses and so on. If you’re wondering why I didn’t purchase those, it was because I either had (and shared) all of them already, or they cost upwards of $20 or more.

Since no one here actually sells 12″ singles worth a damn, whenever they do come in, they tend to go for a bit more, which is a bummer.

For the longest time the focus of my collection was 12″ singles, and the focus of this blog was the remixes that I found on said 12″ singles. So, whenever I do stumble across a 12″ single in Japan that I do want, that has songs I can share online, I get a little nostalgic. Blogging like it’s 2009 up in this bitch!

The original version of “Style,” which is a banger and totally worth having, is on the album Middle Of Nowhere. In America, these remixes were available on the 2CD edition of The Altogether. That version of album appears to be out-of-print on physical and digital formats for some reason, so I got no qualms about sharing them here tonight.

All versions of “Style” are rad as hell (dope stylophone use – hence the track name) but my favorite will always be “Bagpipe Style.” The world needed and continues to need more bagpipes in dance music. The world needs more bagpipes overall. That’s what’s wrong with the world today, a lack of bagpipes in modern music.

I mean, there’s a lot of other things wrong with the world today too, obviously, but a lack of bagpipes in pop music is definitely in the top 100.

More Orbital next time. Maybe. I got a lot of weird shit I need to share. I know, shocking, right?

Posted in Orbital, remixes | 1 Comment »

Weird music from Europeans you’ve never heard of, part 2

September 29th, 2019

Laza Ristovski
The Green Coast
Puzzles
Figuera

One of the best things about doing deep crate digging and going out on a limb on a few records is that you’re occasionally reminded that the world is really fucking big, and that just because you’ve never heard of someone doesn’t mean they’re not a superstar.

Before I started to research this post, I knew nothing about Laza Ritsovski. I bought this record because I gave it a listen at the store and I liked it. That’s as deep as I went. And when I decided that I would feature him here, I figured it would be a bit like King-Kong, or countless other European synthesizer acts that I haven’t yet written about, meaning that I would find next to nothing about him and be forced to kind of bullshit for a bit.

That ended up not being the case. Turns out that Laza was in not just one, but two of the most important bands of the Yugoslav rock scene; Smak and Bijelo Dugme. He wasn’t a founding member of either, but he was in both bands during the apparent heights of their fame (at least, I think so, I’m just going off of Wikipedia, Discogs, and a few prog sites). He probably wasn’t a household name in Yugoslavia, but he was far from a no-name. You could spend hours upon hours in a wikihole just reading up on the bands he was in, let alone his solo career.

Like a lot of keyboardists in prog bands, when Laza went solo he skewed more towards purely electronic music that rock. I’ve skimmed a bit of it, some of it could be classified as new age, other ambient, but some is just hard to define. It’s just…80s electronic music. Too percussive and upbeat to be new age but not fast enough to be disco or dance music. Some of his work reminds me of Mark Schreeve or John Carpenter, but more fun. I highly doubt there are films featuring murder scenes set to the work of Laza Ristovski.

This is exceptionally true for the tracks I’m sharing here, which come from his 1984 album, Roses For A General. It all sounds like video game music for a game that never got made. And I mean that solely as a compliment. It’s just so bright and bouncy. When I play this, I feel like I should be exploring a world in Phantasy Star, or shooting up monsters in Fantasy Zone. Some of it, thanks to synth slap bass and fake steel drums, even has a Super Mario World.

Of the three tracks I’m sharing tonight, the opener “The Green Coast” is the one that gives me the strongest “1989 SEGA” vibes. As the synths burst in seconds in, I feel like my spaceship should be coming down from the clouds, or I should be making a tight turn in my sports car, blonde by my side. The same goes for “Puzzles.” This is so joyful and happy sounding that it reminds of end game credit music. This is some “congratulations for saving the galaxy” music.

The final track “Figueras,” is a bit more low-key. It has a slight mysterious vibe to it, but with overtones that everything is going to be okay. This is the one that gives me the Mario vibes. It’s a bit too heavy on crescendos and solos, but the basic feeling of the track reminds me of a desert level in a Mario game. Although to be entirely honest I can’t place why.

From digging a bit into Ristovski’s discography online, I feel that the album of his that I would like the most is 2/3, which came out just before this one in 1983. That has a slightly darker groove, the kind of thing that a 2019 synthwave act would sample the hell out of without giving any credit. I gotta track that one down.

Might take a break from the oddball European electronic music to bring out oddball Canadian disco. You can decide for yourself if that’s a step up or a step down. I consider it a lateral move.

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Weird music from Europeans you’ve never heard of, part 1

September 23rd, 2019

A little bit of an odd one today, and expect more like it this week or next (hence the part one) I’ve bought so much stuff like this as of late (oddball 70s/80s European rock/electronic music) that it just makes sense to bundle it all together. All of them are radically different though, so if you don’t dig what I’m posting one day, just wait, you might enjoy what comes next.

Their all pretty fucking weird though. Up first, blues krautrock!

King-Kong
Flyin’ Through The Motions
King Kong’s Fight With The Devil, Part 1
King Kong’s Fight With The Devil, Part 2
Time for another episode of “I found a band so obscure that I can’t even write that much about them!”

This album first grabbed my attention thanks to its freaky cover. Which led me to believe at first that it was some piece of early-80s EBM or dark electronic music. Scanning the back cover and seeing that it was a Sky Records release, I decided to give it a spin at the store. I dig most everything Sky put out back in the day, as most of it was early electronic music or kraut/prog with a heavy electronic edge.

This is kind of that, but different than most Sky albums that I’ve bought. It rocks a hell of a lot more. I say “rocks” I don’t mean it in “yo, this shit rocks man” I mean it in the literal (well, more literal than not) sense that it is much more of a rock and roll record than the stuff that I was used to hearing from Sky. But at the same time, it still has a bit of that electronic element that was essential to the Sky label. It’s also oddly bluesy? I mean, no one is going to mistake this for a B.B. King or Stevie Ray Vaughn record, but it has an indefinable blues/southern rock element that’s hard to miss. “King Kong’s Fight With The Devil, Part 1” (great title) is just a few steps away from a Doobie Brothers record. Remove the pulsing synths, put it in a major key, and add some twangy guitar and there you go.

Sadly, the album as a whole is really uneven. Two meandering tracks that are both over seven minutes long bog the whole thing down and come across as either third-rate krautrock and fourth-rate prog. And since their both so damn long they really suck the momentum out of the album proper, which is a shame.

But these tracks are really something special. Album opening “Flyin’ Through The Motions” is a good track that showcases the best of what the album has to offer, its one-of-a-kind mix of European avant-garde with (then) modern rock flourishes. And while I’ve already expounded on the dope qualities of it’s prequel, the album’s final track, “King Kong’s Fight With the Devil, Part 2” is a fantastic closer, showing more of the rock/electronic hybrid sound that should’ve defined the album as a whole.

So who the hell is King-Kong? The main member seemed to be Holger Schmidt. He’s the credited writer for nearly all the tracks, and it looks like he performed most of the instruments on them as well. According to Discogs he was also the album’s producer, albeit under the assumed name of Karl Kraftlos. Aside from King-Kong, the dude has had a lengthy career, however, it would appear that he never quite hit the mainstream. It looks like his closest thing to hitting it big was Tiger B. Smith, a krautrock/hard rock hybrid that has gathered quite the cult following online. Most of his other stuff seems to be electronic/new age/synthpop that, again, failed to make any impact. A lesser known name of the German music scene to be sure, but if you dig on this stuff I think you might want to look up his various other bands too. I know I am now. Tiger B. Smith fucking jam.

Posted in King-Kong | 1 Comment »

I survived America, here’s synthpop and Robert Wyatt

September 12th, 2019

Yeah, sorry.

I really, really wanted to keep updating the site when I was in the states. I had some posts half-written, had songs picked out, the works.

But, like always, between the jet lag, family time, seeing friends, going shopping, traveling from state-to-state, taking the boyfriend sightseeing, and suffering the occasional nervous breakdown due to the combination of all those things, I just couldn’t squeeze in the time.

But I’m back now bitches! Let’s celebrate with some random remixes from a near-forgotten 80s synthpop band and some weird shit that no one has ever heard of.

Revenge
Slave (Extended Mix)
Slave (Remix Edit)
Slave (Instrumental)
Slave (LP Version Edit)
This is my third post featuring remixes of Revenge tunes, yet I still have not bought their album proper. Because I’m stupid like that.

Revenge was one of Peter Hook’s side-projects. They released a single albumin 1990 but petered (hah PUN INTENDED) out before they could do much else.

In the lexicon of failed New Order side projects, I’m not sure where they rank. As I already said, I don’t have their album so I can’t really judge them fairly. I’m going to go out on a limb though and say that they definitely rank below Electronic and The Other Two (who are both great) and above Bad Lieutenant (which was awful).

This song, and the remixes, are good. I definitely pick up a strong New Order vibe with the bassline, although the song as a whole has a slightly more industrial/aggressive vibe than what New Order was doing at the time.

The 12″ single from which I pulled these also included a “Bonus Beats” track but I’m not including that as it was featured on the easily available re-issue of the group’s sole album, One True Passion. Why they chose to include that minute and a half bit of filler and none of the other, longer, better, more interesting remixes is beyond me.

(The artwork above is from the CD single and I snagged it from Discogs. Sorry, my back hurts far too much for me to dig through my records to properly photograph the 12″.)

 

Robert Wyatt & Bertrand Burgalat
This Summer Night (Hot Chip Mix)
I haven’t talked about it all that much, but I will (hopefully) be starting a podcast soon, in which I, Jeremy Parish of Retronauts fame, and our friend Elliot will be discussing progressive rock. So keep an eye on that.

In the first episode of said podcast, I discussed Soft Machine, which gave me the excuse to dig into original member Robert Wyatt’s discography a bit. I have to say that I dig his stuff (especially his early stuff) far more than anything Soft Machine did after their second album. From that point on, they went full jazz-fusion. And I’m sorry, I just can’t with jazz fusion. I’ve tried my best several times.

Robert Wyatt is an interesting guy, with a deep discography that can be intimidating at times. But if you’re looking to jump in, I recommend the EP’s compilation which, surprise, collects the EPs that he put out early in his solo career. It features fantastic covers of “I’m A Believer,” “Yesterday Man,” and “Biko.” It also includes the Soft Machine classic “Memories,” which was later made somewhat famous by Material’s version that featured a very young Whitney Houston on vocals.

Odd trivia, the members of Material were originally a Gong offshoot by Daevid Allen called New York Gong. When he split, they continued on as Material. Of course, before Allen was in Gong, he was a founding member of…Soft Machine. I assume that’s how the members of Material became aware of “Memories” and decided to cover it.

Anyways, back to this song. The original version of this track was originally including on the Bertrand Burgalat album Cheri B. B., which came out in 2007. I know nothing about him so don’t ask me. I grabbed this remix from a 12″ single of said song.

And if you listen to this song and thing “boy, this Wyatt guy sounds really weird, I wonder his voice was always like that,” the answer is yes. He has sounded like a frail old man on the verge of death since 1968.

 

 

Posted in remixes, Revenge, Robert Wyatt | 3 Comments »

Get Funked Up with Wansel

August 11th, 2019

I’m bouncing to the states in less than 24 hours. I’m filled with anxiety and trying to flush at least a bit of that anxiety with a modicum of whiskey. Not too much though. Certainly don’t want to fly with a hangover. Just enough to weaken my liver a bit so when I drink on the plane tomorrow I can pass the fuck out as quickly as possible.

I really hate flying.

As I said previously, I’m going to try my damnedest to get at least a pair of posts out when I’m trapped in America. It won’t be easy though, between the nonstop family visits, jet lag, work I’ll still be doing remotely, record shopping and COPIOUS amounts of coping mechanism alcohol I’ll be consuming, I suspect it will be hard for me to find the time.

So, on the off chance that I can’t get another post out the door for another month, let’s get funky.

Dexter Wansel
Life On Mars (Paul Simpson Funkin’ On Mars Mix)
Theme From The Planets (Paul Simpson Extended Mix)
THIS. IS. THE. FUNKIEST. SHIT.

I know I will be the first and last person to ever say this about the work of Dexter Wansel, but his best stuff really reminds me of the music from the video game De Blob. That speaks less to the quality of the music of De Blob (which is actually amazing) and more to the fact that I don’t know jack about jazz-funk, especially jazz-funk from the states. My jazz-funk knowledge is limited solely to some oddball Japanese releases I’ve picked up over the years, and maybe some Herbie Hancock.

Since I know the musical tastes of the people who frequent this blog most, I’m going to assume that you’re not all that familiar with the work of Dexter Wansel. That’s cool. I’m not all that familiar with the work of Dexter Wansel. I do like saying Dexter Wansel though. Wansel. WANsel. WAAAAAAAAAAAANsel. It’s a fun name to say.

I swear I’m not high, just a little drunk.

I first discovered Wansel (waaaaaaaaaaaa- sorry I’ll stop) relatively recently, in the same way that I discover the majority of older acts that I listen to these days; I picked up his record semi-randomly at a record store, gave it a quick spin, and liked what I heard.

The record in question was 1978’s Voyager, his third album overall. That album is holy shit great. Dope bass. DOPE. The bass on the title track will steal your car, crash it into your work, and punch your boss in the face. That’s how dope it is.

DOPE.

You’re fucking lucky. That album is on iTunes for a steal, and I assume it’s on streaming services too. You need to listen to that motherfucker right now. It’s dope.

These songs are not on Voyager. They were originally on his debut album, Life On Mars. These mixes were done for a special limited-edition Record Store Day release. Since I have yet to see these tracks pop up on any digital service, I felt they were fair game to share.

These tracks are also dope. They’re not “Voyager” levels of dope. (YO THAT SONG IS DOPE). But they’re still rad as hell. Wansel plays synthesizer on these, and I guess that’s what’s supposed to be the focus here. But for me, and just like on “Voyager” what really sticks out to me is the bass. It just fucking murders me it’s so good.

The bass player on these tracks is Derrick Graves. Like Wansel, he did a lot of work for Philadelphia International Records, cropping up on albums by artists like Billy Paul and Leon Huff. Unlike Wansel though, he never got his chance to shine as a solo performer. Shame.

Enjoy the dope funk. Let it give you strength. Use it to smite your enemies and cast out your foes.

Posted in Dexter Wansel, remixes | No Comments »

Oh for god’s sake don’t come to America

August 6th, 2019

The System
Coming To America (Independence Mix)
Coming To America (American Dub Mix)
Coming To America (Part Two)

Apparently they are making a sequel to Coming To America? I’ll believe that when I see it, the proverbial “they” were also allegedly making another sequel to Beverly Hills Cop. I hope they do make a sequel. I hope they make it real as fuck. Have the son of Eddie Murphy’s character travel to America to try and find his bride and have him immediately shot by the NYPD for the crime of breathing while black. Or have him go a nightclub to look for a girl and have him get gunned down in a mass shooting. Fuck it.

Sorry, shit’s been too real.

Anyways, I have seen Coming To America probably at least a dozen or so times, and I have no recollection of this song. My memories of that film basically boil down to the scene with the bald woman, the McDonald’s jokes, Samuel L. Jackson, the Trading Places reference, and “the royal penis is clean your highness.”

Oh yeah, and Soul Glow, but that’s mostly because of Lizzo referencing it in her amazing video for her dope song “Juice.”

Every time I try to think of this song when I’m not listening to it, I end up getting “Living In America” stuck in my head instead. And let’s be real, that song is a million times better than this track, which is a textbook example of completely competent but still utterly forgettable late-80s mainstream synthpop funk.

The song is by The System, a group that I know nothing about. Some basic Wikipedia and YouTube browsing shows me that they had at least a few minor hits (and even one top ten single) but I’ll be damned if I’ve heard any of them. It’s amazing how many mid-level acts from the late-80s have vanished off the face of the Earth. I feel that you can put The System’s top ten single, “Don’t Disturb This Groove” right up there with “Shake You Down” by Gregory Abbot and “Casanova” by LeVert on a greatest hits that time forgot. Synthfunk in the late-80s really took a dive and it did not age well at all.

I don’t want to shit on The System too much though. I’m sure they were a fine band for their time, and they did chart on more than once occasion, so good on them. Also, from what I’ve heard of their first couple albums, they had a really rad electro-funk sound for a while that actually has aged well. So if you find this track of any interest at all, I suggest checking out their first LP, it has some hidden gems on it.

Anyways, speaking of Coming to America, I’m coming to America! For the majority of August and into September, I’ll be visiting my once fine home country to pay visit to friends and family and eat as much Little Caesar’s pizza as humanly possible. Previous trips to the states have seen this blog fall into an involuntary hiatus of sorts, and I’m going to my best to prevent that this time. I already have a couple blog posts done and in the can, so I hope I can get a few more done before I leave next week, allowing me to keep the blog updated while I’m out and about in the greater Toledo to Pittsburgh area, drinking root beer and hoping not to fall victim to another mass shooting.

I even have at least one more synthpop 12″ single in the wings, so hey, those of you lamenting for the good old days of this blog should be stoked.

Posted in remixes, soundtrack, The System | 2 Comments »

Universal Energy’s Space Disco

July 28th, 2019

Tonight’s post was supposed to go up last week, it was also originally going to be much longer. But while writing it, the post kind of became a whole other thing that was way off topic and much more about disco, disco’s legacy, and anti-disco sentiments, eventually becoming a whole separate piece over at my other blog (that I’m once again trying to get into the habit of updating more often). So if you want to read my thoughts on disco, disco demolition, and why the later was NOT a homophobic racist reactionary movement. Go check that out.

And if you want to hear some goofy disco while reading that, I got you covered here.

 

Universal Energy
Universal Energy
Space Energy
Disco Energy I
Christmas From Space
Disco Energy II

I don’t know much about Universal Energy. Okay, scratch that, I know next to nothing about Universal Energy, because no one knows much of anything about Universal Energy. The group was a collaboration between French composers Jean-Pierre Bourtayre and Bernard Estardy. Their sole self-titled release features just six tracks and is barely more than 30 minutes long, and that’s all they ever did together. Both did a ton of music outside Universal Energy though. Bourtayre is an acclaimed composer and songwriter in France, and Estardy would continue to release dance music under a variety of pseudonyms throughout his career, and worked behind-the-scenes for more acts than I can even count.

I know nothing of their other work, so I can’t speak of it. But Universal Energy is pretty fun. This is prime space disco; combining sci-fi themes and sounds with four-on-the-floor dance beats. Space disco wasn’t the most popular of disco sub-genres at the time. There weren’t many mainstream space disco hits. The only one I can think of is probably Meco’s disco remix of the Star Wars Theme, which is kind of cheating. And actually, I really wouldn’t even call that space disco. Sure, the subject matter is literally space, but there’s nothing “spacey” about the song’s sound aside from the fact that it’s the Star Wars Theme.

A lot of Moroder’s work has been classified as space disco (at least on the subpar space disco wikipedia page it has been) and I don’t know if I agree with that either. Morder’s best disco was almost entirely electronic, obviously, but most of it didn’t really incorporate sci-fi themes or sounds. “The Chase” and “I Feel Love” certainly didn’t. His reworking of theme to Battlestar Galactica did, but again, that’s cheating.

If anyone knows any other space disco (not including disco by the group Space, I have all that), let me know in the comments. I want to hear more of this stuff. I would preferably like music from the 70s, but newer stuff that falls under the space disco moniker would be dope too.

Enjoy the intergalactic grooves. I hope to get a few more posts out in the next couple of weeks. I’m off to the states in the middle of August. If history is any indication, it’ll be hard for me to get more than a post or two online during the month I’ll be away. Family obligations (and alcohol obligations that come after them) usually limit my writing output when I’m in the states.

Posted in Complete Albums, Universal Energy | 5 Comments »

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