I was away

I'll write more about that at some point, but it was mostly work except for some fun hanging with gamers and some great conversations with coworkers and another excellent trip to Anvil Bar in Houston which I recommend very highly for its drinks and knowledgeable/talented staff.

This post is to say that I've either caught up or given up on catching up on social media stuff so if something happened in the last couple weeks that you want me to know about I would love an update or a pointer or something.

And now... *poof*

Let's see how long it takes to post this (music)

I'm starting this on Monday after a week away during which I knew I wasn't going to get time to write up music. I logged 51 hours for work last week, so I'm still kind of zonked and I've got a ton of things I should be doing at work, not least of which is filling out my damned expense reports so I can get, you know PAID BACK for these trips. But I digress. This is about the open tabs, of which only a couple are typical for me. Given the length of time involved this might be a longer post than usual. We'll see when it's done.

https://soundcloud.com/claptone/roisin-murphy-evil-eyes-claptone-remix
The Claptone remix of Roisin (damned if I can do those accent characters) Murphy's "Evil Eyes" is a hot hot bouncy track. Murphy's musical work is hard to characterize since Moloko split up. This track is minor-key and kind of quirky in the original. Claptone turns it into some high-energy dance with her vocals mixed in, but the remix is large his work.

https://soundcloud.com/dj-f-r-1/willst-du-played-a-live-extended-beatshakaz-mix-mashup-germany
From a set played by DJ Purple, a Mashup Germany track I don't recall hearing before. This isn't precisely the edit she played but it's the closest I could find online. I wish there was a track list because I'm not sure what the source material is and since it's in German I'm pretty hopeless on identifying sources. Still, it's a fun mix of energy.

https://soundcloud.com/elohimelohim/elohim-she-talks-too-much-gosh-pith-remix
I confess I first clicked on this track because I misread "gosh-pith" as "goth-pit" then was very surprised at how non-goth this track is. The original (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WlzWbMrbjQ) didn't attract my attention when it came out a few months ago. It's sort of minimalist electronica. Like a lot of remixes, this one takes out the vocal track and general feel of the song and then builds something entirely new around it. It's still electronica, but much more upbeat and happy-bouncy. I quite like it and will be looking for more Gosh Pith listening.

https://soundcloud.com/alexguesta/alex-guesta-remake-seven-nation-pride?in=alexguesta/sets/free-download
This is a wonderful and brilliant combination of two things - a soulful Motown feeling and the striving urgency of Seven Nation Army, one of the best drum anthems of the past couple decades. Alex Guesta handles the mix with a deft touch, keeping the track out of the range of simplistic dance bangers but still leaving me rockin' along.

https://soundcloud.com/raven-ouse/beautiful-heart-ravenouse-mashup
An atypical mash-up for me - a light, dancey, summer mix with lots of electro-woo and simple house rhythms. But Raven#ouse (yes, that's actually how they label themselves) has done a good job of mixing the three source tracks together. I thought I knew what the sources were but Raven#ouse's response to me on Soundcloud proved me wrong. Shows how much I know about pop music I guess.

(And since it's taken me three days to get five tracks minimally written up I'm hitting post on this damned thing lest it drag on forever. There are more tabs, but not for now.)