Fresh out of the gates, L.A.’s Romeo Erotic have hit a soft spot with their remix of O’Bryan’s 1983 electro-R&B (some say “Funk”) jam ‘I’m Freaky’. I caught this remix of an old favorite in the shuffle of Posso the DJ’s recent mix and was intrigued. If you don’t recall, it goes a little something like this:
Romeo Erotic keeps the recipe by plucking orignals other generations and making lounge-style remixes. Here’s more work made from yr mom’s favorite, The Bar-Kays 1982 Funky Disco-R&B single, ‘Do It (Let Me See You Shake)’ and Gary Low’s 1982 Italo-Disco single, ‘You Are A Danger’:
L.A.’s LAZRtag whom we introduced last month have taken on R&B pop superstar Rhianna for some hot remix love. This is where top 40 meets bottom frequency.
I love this track because it taps into a history of music: One of borrowing, sampling, reusing, reinterpreting—’Don’t Stop the Music’ employs Michael Jackson’s famous chant from his ‘Thriller‘ album 1983 single, ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’‘, which was in turn was nicked from Manu Dibango’s 1972 track, ‘Soul Makossa‘, widely regarded as the first (or among the first) disco record ever. This track is a snapshot of music culture today: LAZRtag recomposing a contemporary pop-princess’ track, who borrowed from the ’80s king of pop, who borrowed from the roots of disco, using Manu Dibango’s jazz and traditional Cameroonian music soil. How far we’ve come:
British indietronica boys Hot Chip new record, ‘Made in the Dark’ dropped last week and, oh man, it’s the jam. Released on Astralwerks (they can do no wrong!), ‘Made in the Dark’ takes us through the the dark and the light—providing soft and thoughtful hymns that leave our ears dilated and inexpectant for the next blazing and glorious indie/dance groove. In other terms, the new record is a exciting and joyful music journey.
Anyone recall, ‘Shake a Fist’ that we hosted briefly last year? That track holds down track 2 among thirteen. Still fantastic, but let’s have another, a beautiful indie pop song titled, ‘Ready for the Floor’, with it’s official remixes by Floridian Hollertronix homeboy Diplo, the undeniably supreme Ghentlemen Soulwax and German houser Jesse Rose. Additionally a fine bootleg electro remix from one Marian Pramberger out of Austria.
And for good measure—because we’re still not sick of this remix, and ’cause our missingtoof girl got a buncha Grammys last week—we’re bringing back Hot Chip’s remix of ‘Rehab’. So heat.
Curtis Vodka, hails from Anchorage Alaska but gets down official with the Baltimore Club / Bmore scene. Turntable Lab’s sellin’ the goods like his brand new mix CD, ‘I Just Fucked Your Girlfriend‘. They also got his prior, ‘Heavy Hittaz (Baltimore) EP‘ (split with Al Ripken Jr.). Here’s a sample:
Also, he had a Bmore club smasher last year with his debut release, ‘The Yeti Bounce EP‘ on Hollertronix label, Flamin Hotz. Get a whif of the product, but know that this product is sold out:
Dude also does grips of unofficial remixes too, some you can find in our Curtis Vodka archive. Here’s another for the pile—a newer Ladytron remix of a not-so-new favorite:
Flufftronix, reps Bloomington, Indiana where he throws the hella cool Electrocute Parties. Instead of tacking on the brand new mix he gave us, there will be a “sister post” immediately after this one to showcase his new ‘Summer Transit Insanity Mix’ (go to the post now). Also, go back and give another listen to his ‘Upbeat Remix’ of Uffie’s ‘First Love’ in the Flufftronix archive.
HEALTH are the hottest noise-band making major noise. These L.A. dudes are local favorites and since getting the signature-sound treatment from Toronto hot-shots Crystal Castles on the track, ‘Crimewave’ (hear it in the HEALTH archives), they’ve been getting noticed on the circuit of fresh-to-death remixers. Now, word is that Curses! (a.k.a. Drop the Lime) is working on his HEALTH re-work, but in the present tense, electronic phenom and Missingtoof favorite, CFCF stepped up quick to remix the new track, ‘Triceratops’. I grabbed the track from our boy at BiBaBiDi and to quote him on it, “The original track is hidden deep down in there, but there’s just enough of it to count as a legit remix”. Compare and contrast:
You might remember CFCF from his plethora of continuing remix work, including his ‘Air War (CFCF Remix)’, which won the Crystal Castles official remix contest earlier this year (hear it in the CFCF archives). Now here’s we diverge from HEALTH and lean toward CFCF. CFCF has another yet to be released remix for NY rockers Apache Beat’s first single, ‘Tropics’, slated for release on Playlouderrecordings. The ‘Tropics’ single will have additional remixes by Toof favorites, Damn Arms and Bitchee Bitchee Ya Ya. CFCF is first out of the gate and we <3 it for sounding like the best of New Wave throw backs.
And because more music is generally better than less music, here is the first remix I heard from CFCF that turned me into a fan. How about some smooth electro remix of R&B diva, ex- P.Ditty protegé and love interest, Cassie? This remix is “unofficial”, but shit, that’s her bad:
Ya herd? We always give you homework: Go check HEALTH on MySpace and their official site. And don’t forget, ‘Crimewave’ with Crystal Castles is now available on wax from Trouble Records.
Visit CFCF on MySpace to stream tracks. Artists, get at this dude, you’ll want a CFCF remix. I’m telling you now before he wants a mil.
Postscript: HEALTH plays tonight, July 19th, at The Smell in Los Angeles. All ages and punk rock as fuck. Make it happen.
Beirut, the producer/arranger from Los Angeles (not the popular indie band which shares the name, and came later), just dropped a freebie remix album, ‘The Remixes Vol. 2′, that consists of mostly hip-hop and a few R&B remix tracks. Shit is on in my deck on repeat.
Dig those and you can snag the whole 18 track album for free right here (It’s a 141 meg file hosted on Megaupload; So here’s the drill, go to the download page then, (1) enter the 3-digits, (2) wait 45 seconds, (3) click the “Free download” button). The album features tracks with Lil’ Wayne, E-40, Raekwon, Nas, Ludacris, Mobb Deep, Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson, and grip more.
If you love what you hear, download the ‘Volume 1′ collection with 180 meg’s of remixes from Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Rakim, Ras Kass, O.C. and more from Megaupload, right here. Below are a few choice cuts from Vol. 1. I played these out hard, and think they compete well with the originals:
I started DJing and crate-digging with this dude about 10 years ago. He got a used EPS-16+ around then and built up the production credentials from there. Holler at ‘em if you’re feeling it. He’s got a MySpace with some original production, no doubt.
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