As I’ve only recently exited the world of the pauper student I have still yet to avail of the wonders of on-line shopping – I still await my first credit card – but obviously I still spend a lot of time on the net listening to new music. The last couple of sessions on line, however, were pretty disheartening for me, as I wasn’t feeling a lot of new stuff. I found that a big part of it was just down to me being pretty exhausted from work – and play – when I was listening. I’m sure there are others who this happens to. Tiredness can sometimes sap enthusiasm for music. A few nights ago I found myself, after an hour or so of listening, wondering did I like house and techno at all! But fear not, a few trips to my local shops quickly perked me up. I still much prefer the option of being able to listen to all parts of a record in a shop, as you can find that tracks come alive when you get to sample the whole lot. Of course some die on their arse in this situation too! So after initial skepticism I came out with some stuff I’m more than happy with…

First off, I never thought I’d see the day when I’d willfully own a record that Ashley Beedle played a part in. Ok, the guy has been around for donkeys, so maybe he’s had his finger in the pies of some good music, but I’ve never heard anything I liked. I actually didn’t know at the time that this re-edit of Kate Bush’s Running up that Hill was done by him, but he’s done good on it. Like any decent re-edit its kept pretty simple, focusing on the great drum track that runs through the original, while giving it a certain dancefloor appeal. At times it gets a bit muddled with excess sounds, but I’m still into it. If you’re not a fan of Bush there isn’t anything here to change your mind but I love the original.

Keeping on the 80’s mood there is a new twelve of the Chaz Jankel track Get Yourself Together on Tirk. I got this solely for the original, as the remixs from Todd Terje and Hercules and Love Affair are no use. Forgetting them, the original is one of those tracks I’m not really sure why I like, is it cheesy nonsense or a great slice of 80’s funk? As a huge fan of Italo disco (not that this specific song is Italo) it’s questionable just where my cheese radar is aimed sometimes, but what are you gonna do!

In the recent post about the Rick Wilhite gig that ISM had a hand in, Tom mentioned this release, commenting on the Chic re-edit credited to TJ Dumas. For me the winning track on the 12 is Wilhite’s own “Can You feel Me” , definitely one of my favourite house cuts of the last few months. It’s one of those deep, driving tracks that you just want to have riding over the mix for ever. Following in a not dissimilar fashion is Motor City Drum Ensemble’s Raw Cuts. The A-side again has one of those grooves that’s insanely addictive and the wig-out disco fused breakdown only adds to the energy that keeps building and building throughout. I can see this one being near the top of the pile come year’s end.

Finally, the recent revival of Ferox has brought a smile to many peoples faces, and Dave Anderson’s new 12” shows it can still cut it. I’d never heard of Dave Anderson, but just picked up the record from the rack due to it being on Ferox. There’s nothing better than finding a 12” with 4 great tracks and no filler, such as this one. Anderson is obviously a fan of Derrick May going by this release (I saw this new Detroit influenced techno termed Neo-Detroit somewhere recently. Fuck off, its just techno!) and I was pleasently surprised to find out that Dave is a Dublin resident too. He’s playing down at Electric City this thursday (I’d link their site, but it seems to be down at the moment), and after hearing this debut ep I’m looking forward to checking him out.