3 days off

feeling a little bit excited today. might be because i am in the middle of a two (2) day week.. or maybe its because the songs im about to post are really f'ing good. hmm..

first up is a slice of hot disco fire from pete herbert and the awesome reverso 68.
sampling eartha kitt's '84 classic 'where is my man', this edit captures the glamourous life of 80's disco.. strings, throbbing basslines and kitt's distinctive vocals kicking in toward the end of the track. love when they do that:

Reverso 68 - Earthy Powers

'earthy powers' features on reverso 68's 'well heeled' release. grab it here.

and here is another awesome blast from the past courtesy of 80's heart-throbs heaven 17 and modular-crew-dj-assistant dream time.
the timeless nature of so many old tracks always shocks me.. i first heard 'penthouse & pavement' on a metro area dj mix and instantly scrambled to find who had done the remix.. when i saw that it was an original my head imploded a little bit.
so into the wacked out percussion, slap bass and girly vocals in the chorus.
dreamtime extends it out a bit and funks up the composition, but it is pretty much left as is.. defs worth a listen!

Heaven 17 - Penthouse & Pavement (Dream Time Remix)

anoraak will finish up this post nicely.. this remix for pacific! is a slice of chilled filter house straight from the valerie/french house era.
really really nice, strong melodic base with the typical slick, smooth anoraak production. the vocals work so well in this mix as well.
looking for a way to ease into your friday? this might be it..

Pacific! - Unspoken (Anoraak Remix)

preorder pacific!'s unspoken ep here it will be out on the 18th of april.

islands

a bunch of badical dudes in a band called Avalon recently sent us some muzak which was tres cool.. especially considering it was so damnnn good

on their myspace, they proudly proclaim their genre as 'Melodramatic Popular Song'. after a few listens however, i decided that they actually sit comfortably somewhere between the Midnight Juggernauts, Phoenix and The Presets with their own brand of sometimes laidback/sometimes dancey electro/indie beats..

Avalon - Prescription Aria

i think the strength of their new album "Labyrinth" (out August 27) lies in its perfect production and diversity in tone and feel.. i really found it engaging as an album because no two songs felt the same- yet they still managed to flow into each other really nicely.

Avalon - Andromeda Saint Chime

to be honest, i was actually surprised (in a stoked kind of way) that these tracks got sent to us at all.. they doesnt seem like the usual blog fodder do they? as an album, this seems more like something that i would happily pay $30 for..

excellently, they also sent through remixes of The Teenagers and Pacific!

The Teenagers - Make It Happen (Avalon Remix)

Pacific! - Sunset BLVD (Avalon Remix)

avalon=awesome

in other news, typing the word 'avalon' into my itunes also brought up the classic album 'Avalon' by Roxy Music..
since ive been on such a gnarly 80's kick of late, i was really stoked to be reminded of this awesome band and album

Roxy Music - The Space Between

Roxy Music - True To Life

if any of you thought that 80's pop music was just a massive cheesefest then please listen to these tracks.. so gooood

shop

Photo by Patrick Fraser

what a strange day today... it seems that strangeness occurs when work doesnt..
hope everyone had a fun weekend! if anyone went to oxford art to see jerry bouthier- how was it? send us a review yo
ill review my weekend for you now: it was chilled.

in the meantime datA and Moby have definitely not been having chilled out weekends with the release of their new singles..

i have always been a big fan of datA.. somehow he always manages to take the plinky 80's computer game/keyboard sound and make it his own.. he has proven to be a bit more versatile than other similar producers out there as well, releasing a few harder tracks, as well as a few housier ones.
with his new single 'Rapture' however, it seems like datA is trying to become more of a legitimate producer. although he is still embracing his vintage synths with both arms, 'rapture' sees the inclusion of some pretty cool indie vocals by ultra super mega star Sebastian Grainger (DFA 1979 :( ). the result is good, but i reckon it could have been even better with the inclusion of a stronger bassline.. wicked shredding at the end though

DatA - Rapture

DatA - Rapture (Pacific! Remix)

DatA - Rapture (The Skywriters Remix)

i hate to say it, but on this occasion i think the remixes might have actually pipped the original.. they both repeat the very 80's vibe that datA is rocking but use a wider, softer spectrum of sounds..
the skywriters remix focuses on longer, softer almost fred falkey chords while the pacific! remix feels a lot more complete with a wider range of synths and more emphasis on the backing vocals which really gives the track depth.

Moby is someone that has gone through many many different sounds over the years.. i havent really followed him very much since 'play' so it is surprising for me to hear the new bunch of singles that he has released.

Moby - Alice

alice is a very dark massive attack-y sort of track with a cool swinging bassline and that trademark wailing guitar over the top.. does anyone else think that the rap over the top provided by the 419 squad and Aynzli Jones is really similar to 'rolex' by wiley?
but anyway, what really made me post this song is the remix by general midi which is a barnstorming electro/breaks number that im quite enjoying at the moment.. not my usual genre or type of track but i was deprived of big tunes on the weekend so this is how im making it up

Moby - Alice (General Midi Remix)

Moby - Alice (Drop the Lime Heavy Bass Remix)