The good bits (music)

[drwex]

Between traveling and some big heaping doses of Do Not Like in my random musical samplings I've not had enough material to be worth a post in a while. I still have a bunch of tabs open on things I might blog about but let's start with a few clear winners.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Chk_Chk_Chk/track/AMFM
The group's official name is "!!!" - yes, three exclamation marks. I'm just going to call them Chk Chk Chk, particularly since that's how their site (http://www.chkchkchk.net/) is found. I'm having a hard time classifying the sound here. It's got some high-BPM beats, very strong electro influences, but overlaid with a mellow almost trancy vocals. The AM/FM track is a real throwback style to early 90s electro; the second track, a Hot Chip (http://www.myspace.com/hotchip) remix has a thumpier house beat, fast-rap lyrics and a much funkier groove. I like both of these, but in very different ways.

http://djsteveboy.com/groovelectric.html
DJ Steveboy's latest mix has a goofy name ("Lotion") and he plays it as a lighter mix, but he's found some excellent tracks with a lot more energy than he lets on. It's got definite danceable funk lines and wicked cool rhythms. Unfortunately his sources are hard to duplicate. For example, there's a track -- Tone L0c- Wild Thing (Punx Squad Mix) -- that just rocks my socks but damned if I can find it. Apparently it's known as Moguai vs Tone L0c elsewhere (http://www.moguai.com/?a=457) but still no MP3 I can point you guys to. However, see below.

http://www.nuttymp3.com/mp3/608863
This track, known mostly as The Bongo Man - Ugwanga (Vortex Remix) is probably the best item off the Steveboy mix. Turns out The Bongo Man (aka Tony Thomas) has an EP of remixes of this track. Five of 'em are on iTunes for $5 and you can find others around with some searching. Of all of them I love this one best. It's a DEEP deep house mix with a lot of energy but not too many BPM and some excellent electro riffs over the bongo sounds. The MP3 linked above is about a 1:30 teaser for the longer track, which you should definitely get.

http://www.mashup-industries.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=317&Itemid=27
What if you took Rihanna and Cyndi Lauper, feed them some speed, and threw them both into Benny Benassi's studio? You'd probably get something like this. It's goofy and if you don't like the original artists you're not going to like the mash any better, but I do and I did.

http://audioporncentral.com/2010/06/world-premiere-dj-schmolli-no-good-cockeyed-tiger.html
OK, more confession time. I used to listen to "Eye of the Tiger" more or less obsessively. It was a great track to put on Really Freaking Loud while trying to pound out a big block of code. Here DJ Schmolli has built a six-track mash including Survivor's one hit. The most prominent elements are the various vocals that he's pulling in, primarily the chorus from Monosurround and The Prodigy's looped lyrics. That said, one of the best parts is about halfway through the mix when he swaps in the Survivor lyrics over other melodies, and then swaps things back again.