Having not one but two dancey gigs in the same weekend was pretty nice, especially since the past bunch of sets I have played were more like bars where I was playing lots of other types of records. I got to trot out a bunch of different things that I had either never played before, or hadn’t played in a long time. These are the cuts that either surprised me or are now stuck in my head, I think they have all previously been mentioned here before:
On Friday night, the spot was kind of chill for the beginning of my set so I got into the really really deep minimal stuff, “Deep Hypnotic” on that new Fred P. on Soul People Music sounded especially nice loud so you can hear the sub-bass which really dominates the track. Later on I played Patti Labelle’s “Music Is My Way of Life” which I had completely forgotten how much I love. That track sums up the feeling of disco music for me perfectly.
The jam that really hit the spot for me both nights was Frankie Knuckles’ vocal mix of Hercules & Love Affair’s “Blind”. I guess it is kind of comparable to the Escort remix of Tracey Thorn (which I was obsessed with last summer, and really I still am) as it is the perfect mix of underground soulful dance with a pop vocal on it. I have seen people dissing Frankie’s mix of this, but they really couldn’t be more mistaken. As with the Tracey Thorn, I feel like the remix actually sounds more like what should be “the original mix” to me. The pads, pianos, and beats have such a smooth old school Chicago deep feeling to them but when the horns come in is when it all starts to come together. Antony sounds wayyyyy too much like Morrissey, it seems as though a vocal house track would be exactly wrong for his voice. But it isn’t, and Frankie’s dub effects on the vocals adds even more lushness to the mix. This is just about a perfect dance tune to me, and it has skyrocketed into pole position for track of the year as of right now. It really has a nice hot summer night feeling to it which makes it even better for playing around this time. Usually I don’t subscribe to the idea of a person’s production being “elegant”, but it is songs like this that make me reconsider. Lovely.
6 Comments
Gotta say, your props for the Knuckles rmx of that Hercules track truly baffles me. Maybe cause I think the original is complete cack too, but I just don’t get it. at all.
you know, the original now sounds pretty weak to me. the knuckles mix is just silly good, i dont know what to say about it. you like italo so it cant possibly be too gay sounding for you so i dont know what the problem is 😉
have you heard the kevin saunderson remix of ‘you belong,’ tom? the clips of it available online make me think that it could be even better than the knuckles remix of ‘blind.’
not sure if i think it is better, but it is definitely way more interesting than i anticipated since i havent been feeling kevin for a minute. he chopped the vox up all uk garage style and threw in some good life sounding chords, i like it!
it is really hard to explain what makes the Knuckles remix so beautiful. I was pretty prejudiced when I first listened to this remix because I don’t feel the original, just like you. while listening I was searching for words to explain my dislike for it but at the end of the song I sang along. and I’m usually not so much into that kind of disco stuff, but the remix just works for me…
cool that you mention Fred P. he really is super talented guy who gets too little attention. the 4th dimension ep blew me away just like his no looking back ep. also, if you ever get the chance to see him dj then you should take it.
“you like italo so it cant possibly be too gay sounding for you so i dont know what the problem is”
haha. my problem is it sucks donkey cock. 😉