2002. Broken beat was starting to gain momentum as Afronaught, Bugz in the Attic & 4Hero were turning out killer remixes and tunes, but the remix of the year as far as I'm concerned was Quantic's epic hiphop-afrobeat-broken beat mix. The track start as jazzy hiphop with Vanessa Freeman's sweet vocals on top, but halfway through it changes into this banging afrobeat work-out which in its turn slowly morphs into a broken beat pandemonium. A brilliant track and an excellent tool to shift from laidback grooves to dance mayhem.
Clan of Xymox were a Dutch darkwave group, which had its origins in Xymox, an eighties synthpop band. They left their mark on the Belgian and Dutch new wave scene with A Day, released in '85. Years later, it was selected for the influential Club Class-X new wave compilation on Antler Records. The original lasts over 9 minutes but is in its full length a bit too melodramatic for my taste. Which is a shame, because some parts are really excellent. So, I cut up the track, left all the mellow bits and this is what I came up with.
I came across this track today on a million-selling seventies pop album which I'm not going to name. Actually I was looking for one of the hits on it, but this one immediately caught my attention with its moving disco strings over a funky & jacking beat. The only thing I didn't like were the verses, so I re-edited the whole lot, expanded the great parts and voila: this re-edit was born.
The first in this series of songs which somehow got lost in the sands of time is Urban Dance Squad's3 Heights. The Squad was a Dutch crossover band who tried to blend in rap, rock, funk, punk, grunge and world music. Much like Rage Against the Machine would do a couple of years down the street. Their first hit was A deeper shade of soul, which featured a sample of Ray Baretto's song by the same name. They released 7 cd's, including a best of released 2 years ago. I only own their first (Mental Floss for the World) and third (Persona Non Grata, a more grungy and less funky affair) cd's, and 3 Heights is nowhere to be found on them (or on any other cd if I'm not mistaken). The song was a bonus track on their Bureaucrat Of Flaccostreet cd-single, but got a second life on the 110 Below: No Sleeve Notes Required compilation on the New Electronica label. 110 Below was a series of dub/ambient compilations in the '90s. All three of them are well-worth collecting, especially number 2 (A Trip to the cHip sHop), which contains the Carl Craig classic If Mojo was AM. Anyway, UDS's 3 Heights is one of the stand-out tracks on the third compilation. Here's a snippet
Eskimo is planning to release a Best of compilation of Allez Allez, a Belgian funky new wave band. Two years ago they already re-released African Queen (b/w a killer Quiet Village remix) and Allez Allez, which was remixed by the ever excellent Lindstrom. Today I picked up a new pair of remixes. Allez Allez is remixed into a balearic house tune by rising stars Aeroplane (do check out their 3 releases on Eskimo, as well as their beautiful remix of a Das Pop song on Prestel), while She's stirring up gets a funky punk (or punky funk?) treatment by JD Twitch and Dave Clark (no e!). Their Optimo (espacio) drum attack mix focuses on the drums which turns the track into a fierce work-out that send the dancefloor straight into a sweaty bliss. Needless to say both remixes are excellent, but the Optimo remix is the winner for me.
At least once a year I re-read Last night a DJ saved my life, Frank Broughton and Bill Webster's excellent history of DJ'ing and dance music. At the end of the book they listed some all-time classics in the most remarkable clubs around the world. In Coldcut's list you'll find Jhelisa's Friendly Pressure acapella "mixed over pretty much anything". On their own quintessential Journeys by DJ's-cd (re-released a couple years ago by popular demand) you'll find an excellent example of what they meant. The MLO-remix of DJ Food's Dark Blood is topped with Jhelisa's amazing voice to devastating effect. When I was browsing through my collection a couple days ago I accidentally picked out Photek's all-time classic Into the 90's on his Natural Born Killa EP (on Metalheadz, recently repressed!) together with Jhelisa's Friendly Pressure. A couple of minutes later, the mix-up was finished.
This is a mix I did about two years ago during the summer holidays. I was reminiscing about times when I was much younger, so that's probably the reason why it features quite a number of "classics".
1. Intro 2. I had a dream - Axelle Red (not really a fan of hers, but this tune stuck with me because of the piano riff) 3. Get Right (instr.) - Jennifer Lopez (this track is built around an amazing sped up horn sample taken from Maceo & The Macks' Soul Power '74) 3. Keep on movin' (acapella) - Soul II Soul (all-time classic!) 4. Get Right - Jennifer Lopez 5. Rock your body - Justin Timberlake (definitely not a fan of his, but who could keep from dancing when you hear a Neptunes beat?) 6. Good stuff - Kelis (sexy vocals and Neptunes beats) 7. Justify my love - Madonna (maybe the queen of pop's finest hour: sighs and moans, Public Enemy beats and horny synths) 8. Ring ring - De La Soul (unfortunately they are almost forgotten about nowadays, but these guys were one of the first rap acts that really blew my mind - remember three feet high and rising?) 9. Walk this way - Run DMC & Aerosmith (another all-time classic) 10. King Kong Five - Mano Negra (a huge hit at parties when it was released; a perfect crossover between rock and dance) 11. Work (acapella) - Masters at Work 11. I'm a man (edit) - Spencer Davis Group (one of the best rock groups of the sixties) 12. Assembly Line (break) - The Commodores 13. Get up - Vernon Burch (wait till the break and you'll go "Aaaahh") 14. Groove is in the heart (Meeting of the Minds mix) - Deee-Lite (unforgetable quirkiness) 15. Killer - Adamski (classic) 16. 1999 - Prince (classic, just like 90% of the other things he ever did) 17. Pump up the Jam - Technotronic (Belgian commercial take on the technosound) 18. Around the world - Daft Punk (the beginning of the return of the early electronic sound) 18. Smooth Criminal (acapella) - M.J. 19. Gipsy Woman - Crystal Waters 20. Ring my bell - Anita Ward 21. People hold on (acapella) - Lisa Stansfield & Coldcut 22. Wish I didn't miss you - Angie Stone 23. Don't stop - Michael Jackson (off the classic Off the Wall album) 23. Finally (acapella) - Ce Ce Peniston 24. Forevermore (full version) - Moloko (dramatic bassline and sexy vocals by Roisin)
One tune has been bugging me ever since I got a copy of the excellent FabricLive36, compiled by DFA-honcho James Murphy and Pat Mahoney. (If you haven't got this amazing New York postdiscohousefunk work-out, buy it now! Every track is a killer.)
The tune I was refering to is Daniel Wang'sLike a dream (I can't stop dreaming). What a bomb!!! A campy vocal hook combined with samples taken from an obscure disco track, it looks like a recipe for disaster but it turns out to be a small miracle. Somewhere it keeps remembering me of early Moodymann classics like I can't kick this feeling when it hits.
I had the hardest time tracking the song down. The original came out on Wang's Balihu Records in 1993 and is sold for up to €90/£60 on the internet today. Even though I don't mind spending a lot of money on records, I didn't buy it immediately. I thought I would slowly forget about it.
But when Gilles Peterson played it on his Worldwide show (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/gillespeterson/) on the 8th of May, I really knwe I had to own it. By pure luck I found the Best of Balihu Records compilation (I was a disco malcontent) on amazon.com for a mere $20. I didn't wait any longer, ordered the cd at the beginning of the week and today it was in the mail. What an amazing collection, especially when you consider it was released in '98 which is eons ago in dance music. A true classic!
2002. Broken beat was starting to gain momentum as Afronaught, Bugz in the Attic & 4Hero were turning out killer remixes and tunes, but the remix of the year as far as I'm concerned was Quantic's epic hiphop-afrobeat-broken beat mix. The track start as jazzy hiphop with Vanessa Freeman's sweet vocals on top, but halfway through it changes into this banging afrobeat work-out which in its turn slowly 
morphs into a broken beat pandemonium. A brilliant track and an excellent tool to shift from laidback grooves to dance mayhem.
