The fight for diverse and conscious voices

I keep accumulating music tabs as I'm trying to get work done between the multitude of meetings this week. Let me try to close a few here since I have no idea when I'll get time to do another music post. Five entries, five different music styles, GO.

https://soundcloud.com/fortknoxfive/cinco-to-the-brinco-feat-empresarios-basement-freaks-remix
I found Fort Knox Five originally through DJ Steveboy who uses their stuff a lot in his sets. Here they're bringing a "Latin Funk" track, a concept that I had no idea existed and am immediately in love with. "Cinco to the Brinco" bounces back and forth between Spanish and English and across a variety of musical styles - there's obvious Latin and funk and some glitch and some electro thrown in. Nice bass, nice horn bits, very much my kind of thing.

https://soundcloud.com/machetehacks/wake-up-machete-cut
Rage Against the Machine takes me back to a period of my musical past when I was listening to a lot of harder-edged stuff. RAtM, Rammstein, Godsmack, etc. This is a modern electro-fuzz remix of "Wake Up" done by someone calling themselves Machete. Like a lot of modern reworks it doesn't quite seem to know what to do with the vocals which is a shame, I think because although the intense drums and screaming guitars are key features of this genre so are the intense vocals. RAtM were particularly known for anti-establishment lyrics and you can't just ignore that.

https://soundcloud.com/gwen-stefani/make-me-like-you-rac-mix
https://soundcloud.com/panicatthedisco/panic-at-the-disco-victorious-rac-remix
For contrast, here's a doube-shot of RAC. First up, a remix of Gwen Stefani's "Make Me Like You". The music in this one is almost disposable pop - what matters are Stefani's vocals and they're front-and-center in the remix. For contrast here's the original - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uljUDtv1Kw - and I think the remix is significantly better. The original has a tamped-down pop beat bouncing around; the remix has more of a dance beat and it's layered underneath the vocals rather than mixed side-by-side with them. Second is RAC's take on "Victorious" from Panic! at the Disco (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUChk0lxF44). Again, it's fundamentally pop, and the remix doesn't change that, but it does separate and amp up the vocals, giving it a dance slant.

https://soundcloud.com/freethepandas/dirty-ducks-luca-rezza-kanuri-original-mix-master-mp3
I had to investigate something with the label "panda funk" and I'm not convinced it was a good idea or a good label. There's a pandafunk.com that appears to be the label behind this, but the track is less funk and more electro-bounce. If that's your thing, Dirty Ducks & Luca Rezza have a stomp-inducing example of the genre for you right here. I'm still on the fence about this one.

https://soundcloud.com/djsfrommars/djs-from-mars-varanasi-ghats-original-club-mix-5
I've been meaning to post this since I first heard it a couple months ago and it kept getting pushed off. So let's close out this set with an awesome track from DJs from Mars. "Varanasi Ghats" takes its name from the stairs (ghat) constructed specifically so people can go down to holy rivers. This track steals liberally from Indian celebratory music both in the beats and the sampled vocals. These elements are assembled with the DJs traditional stompy style and the result is awesome. There's an invitation to remix that comes along with a purchase of the track but I'd be surprised to see someone outdo the original.

I have two half-formed posts in my head and am not having much luck fully baking them. So like I do when that's going on, I listen to music. This set of links isn't planned out so much as "a set of musical coincidences".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yk5_y6IERw&feature=em-subs_digest
Florence is coming to town. I was a big fan when she first got played on this side of the pond and have dropped off considerably since then. It's not like Infected Mushroom where the music has changed. Nor, I think, is it the old fogey of I-can't-like-anything-once-it-gets-popular. Florence is still doing her thing, except with a big stage now, bigger budget, and the trappings that come with that. In this live recording from last year you can hear her with a big-stage quality drum kit backing, two backup singers, a harp, and a full live horn section. I'm left wondering if that makes her (act) better or not. What attracted me to her was the combination of her voice and the deep weirdness of her lyrics. It has been a very long time since I've seen a show at a place so big they needed Jumbotrons - I forget what stadium-concert sound is like. She's very clearly having fun, though, and that's a strong incentive to try and see her when she comes around. Of course, the ticket price is likely to make me balk, but it's a thought.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLKIkmiLCzM
Also coming to town is Bob Mould. I've written about my admiration for him a few times in the past. Going to see him would be a no-brainer except it's at the Paradise, a venue I despise. Their sound quality is uniformly terrible, sight lines are mediocre, and it's never comfortable. But it's Bob Mould, and I'm going to go in part because we've lost some great talents recently and I feel like I want to appreciate the really great gray-haired performers who are still with us. And because, duh, it's Bob Mould.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTKzF9mTqII
This was one of the fine tunes in the New Year's Eve party soundtrack. The host who had programmed that night's set has different musical tastes from mine, but there's a fair degree of overlap to the point where it's enjoyable for me to notice something they've picked and inquire, or to suggest something they can check out. Here is Melosense with a deep chill track. Very 'night music' and slinky acoustic sounds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obS09VerQig
While we're still in the mellow part of this post, let me also introduce you to Phutureprimitive. This track came off Pandora's recommendations from my modification of sweetmmeblue's Glitch Mob station. The resemblance should be clear - bass electronica, with a strong beat and some stutter programming. "Kinetik" is also an acoustic-only track.

https://soundcloud.com/vicetone/pitch-black
Vicetones continue to supply me with lush, sweet club sounds. It's a house track, like their other work, but it's also uptempo and melodic (despite the title). As so often happens I wish to complain that the track clocks in at under 3 minutes - feels more like a teaser than a fully developed track.

https://soundcloud.com/rac/beautiful-heartbeat
Back in 2014 I noted that RAC mixes have this habit of slipping by unremarked. And somehow I managed to go all of last year without blogging any of his work. My bad - I do follow it but don't always notice and mark his entries in my stream. This one reaches out and grabs you (well, if you're me) entirely because of the vocals. Frida Sundemo fronted this track for Morten originally and this is RAC's mix. Her voice is excellent - I particularly like how she handles the minor-key bits without sounding whiny.

http://new.livingelectro.com/House/126120-best_of_2015_-_megamashup_extended_club_mix.html
I hope you've had enough of relaxing because the last two items are going to break that mode. First up is DJs from Mars' year-end megamash. This is the extended mix - I linked the original when it came out last month but I like this better. You get an extra minute and a half of ear teasers as a bonus and where I thought the end of the original mix was kind of a letdown, this one goes strong right up to the last 20 seconds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncxgwY77omA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiFRIzlt27g
About a decade or so again there was a thread in club music that was just generally called "hard". It featured very fast beats, electronica with distorted edges, insistent repetitive phrasing, and a lot of the tropes of club music at that time - sound samples, manga or Japanese animation elements, using horns or whistles as found sound, and simple message-oriented vocals. The first link is a recording of Marco V doing his hard anthem "Godd" recorded in 2005. I had forgotten all about this track - and really never was much of a hard fan - until a version of this got sampled in a DJ set I was listening to last week. I have no idea where the memory is from, but I remember thrashing to this track until my shirt was soaked with sweat. (I believe the track first came out in 2001 which only broadens the possible places/occasions - my best guess is one of the poolside parties that used to happen at Disclave.)

The second link is the V-Dubb remix of "Godd" and it's what started me on this as it was sampled in the DJ set and something in my brain pinged. This mix has some of the elements of the original but I think I can see how the edges are starting to soften and evolve into what house music would become in the years after. If you don't like hard techno you're not likely to enjoy this mix any more than the first, but for me it's a nice reminder of where EDM used to be when I was first dipping my toes into the waters.

I keep thinking I can do this post, what with all the meeting cancellations, but stuff keeps getting in the way. Let's see if I can close this out as the week ends. I've been a bit stressed out of late so this is mostly gentle relaxing stuff. Not ear-filler, but engaging soothing sounds.

https://soundcloud.com/nickraymondg/thomas-jack-symphony-original
Thomas Jack (http://thomasjackmusic.com/) is a new name to me. He's a young new DJ out of Australia who seems to specialize in deeper house/electronics. This track, however, caught my ear because of the way it uses traditional instruments. The piano/horn segment from about 2:00 to 2:20 is just beautiful and the entire track has symphonic sweep and bright touches. Yes, that's a house beat but I don't think this is like any house you've heard before.

https://soundcloud.com/nickraymondg/felix-cartal-feat-ofelia-new
CRNKN (https://soundcloud.com/crnkn) sounds like someone who should be producing hard-hitting floor clearers, but this is a vocal-driven, low BPM, electro-house track. The original is Ofelia (https://www.facebook.com/ofeliasings) a classically trained vocalist singing for Felix Cartal (http://www.felixcartal.com/) on a track called "New Scene". The track is off Cartal's latest EP, which I intend to grab and may blog again.

https://soundcloud.com/nickraymondg/cash-cash-take-me-home-ft-bebe
Another three-parter that mixes two distinct styles. From the top: it's Bebe Rexha (http://www.beberexha.com/#!) a New York-based singer/songwriter fronting for Cash Cash (http://www.cashcashmusic.com/) on a track called "Take Me Home". The original (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDo2SiW3JHU) is a kick-drum heavy track that pushes Rexha's vocals up and into dance space. The Flaxo (https://www.facebook.com/Flaxomusic) remix here is much more chill and stylistically varied, ranging from near vocal trance to prog to moombahton.

https://soundcloud.com/rac/imagine-dragons-on-top-of-the-world-rac-mix
RAC turns in another fine remix. This time he's working with Imagine Dragons' "On Top of the World". The original (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8PrTzLaLHc) is a pleasant hand-clapping dance rock track with afro-carib influences that came out last year. RAC builds up a lusher and more layered sound than the original, while still keeping its bouncy spirit intact.

https://soundcloud.com/nickraymondg/sub-focus-turn-back-time
With any luck the previous four tracks have you relaxed and feeling like you can let go, in which case you want to listen to this one. It's Steerner remixing Sub Focus's "Turn Back Time." The original (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWRJbHmvtIU) just came out in September and it starts out as a nice vocal house banger but drifts into annoying bloopy electronica. Steener strips out the most annoying bits and amps up the electro-house banger bits. A definite improvement on the original.

https://soundcloud.com/divideandkreate/get-lucky-divide-kreate-remix
This track has been making me crazy with that "I know this..." feeling. Divide and Kreate (http://divideandkreate.com/) is at it again, remixing favorites. This is his bootleg remix of the popular Daft Punk "Get Lucky". It's a good mix. What's making me crazy is the opener - the first 25 or so seconds where D&K has put the string bits. In the track comments I asked him about it and he said he played it from the vocal track. Which is fine, but that just tells me Daft Punk lifted this from something else. But frelled if I can figure out what.

https://soundcloud.com/nickraymondg/ghostbusters-kill-paris-remix
And finally, a remix to get you grinning. Kill Paris (https://soundcloud.com/killparis) takes on the thematic track from the Ghostbusters movies, giving it what he calls a "future funk" sound. That's not a bad descriptor for something that has heavy fuzz electronica but the fundamental timings of funk. It's a loving and danceable cover of the original.

Some seriously funky stuff in this batch, plus a surprise or two.

http://audioporncentral.com/2013/01/blende-surrender-circus.html
One of the things I like best about modern electronic dance music is that deep in the genome is funk. Sometimes it has to pass through disco to get here, but even that can be tolerable. This groovy funky dancey track is a collaboration of two UK-based artists who go by the names Blende and Surrender!. They have an EP coming out next month and this "Circus" is the first single off it. Boppin' good.

http://audioporncentral.com/2013/01/reset-stealin-your-soul.html
Last time I promised you TURBOFUNK and here it is. I do not believe it's possible to listen to this without turning it up loud. The track is by Reset! (http://soundcloud.com/reset-1) who are a new name to me but definitely now on my to-check-out list. There are two other mixes available, and of the three I think I like the original video version best. That's a narrow win, though, because both the vocal mix and the Monique Autoerotique remix are pretty good. Three times the turbo!

http://djsteveboy.com/groovelectric.html
DJ Steveboy's latest mix, "Chimera", is one of his funkiest, and finest in recent memory. It's got some good vocal bits, but the real win for me here is the middle acoustic sections, which spread across a variety of modern styles, all of which have some connection back to the base funk roots.

http://soundcloud.com/mashupgermany/mashup-germany-we-are-the
Mashup Germany continues to surprise and delight. He may be the most underrated mash-up DJ working today. Here he tosses off a casual 11-track beauty that I can't stop dancing to. This is a traditional dance-floor destroyer done beautifully. One of the things I like about his productions is that he's not afraid to let them be quiet for a bit. Listen from about 0:45 here to see what I mean. Then he starts to pull in "Kids" and the whole mix takes off. The bit up to 1:05 where the mix hits full stride is just brilliant, and who else would think of using "Tom's Diner" like that?

http://audioporncentral.com/2013/01/tegan-sara-fool-to-cry-produced-by-rac.html
I continue to think that one way to make the world better is to have more Tegan & Sara in it. This cover of the Rolling Stones' "Fool To Cry" was put together by RAC and it's a surprise and a delight. I'm not that fond of the original but the harmonies in this one really do it for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8e2fJfiddx4#!
This one I'm blogging because it took me by surprise. It's Heart, doing "Stairway to Heaven" as part of the Kennedy Center Honors Led Zeppelin. That's not hugely surprising, as Heart have done Zeppelin tunes for many years as part of their regular sets and the Wilsons have been forthright about how much Zeppelin influenced them. It was somewhat surprising to see them doing it with Jason Bonham and also how much I liked the orchestral arrangement. True, prog rock has a long and storied history of orchestral arrangements but part of what makes "Stairway" is its sparsity. The choral bits here just... work. The guest guitarist (unnamed here) is really good. And the bowlers are a nice touch.

A chance to get this week's post out on time, I hope...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRn2DAggPEE
http://audioporncentral.com/2011/10/goapele-play-los-rakas-remix.html
I didn't like this remix the first go 'round, but on re-listen it's growing on me. Goapele (http://goapele.com/) has one of those beautiful melodic voices that comes across tinged with gospel and soul flavors, but isn't using either of those styles. The first link is to the original, which is a little thin-sounding. What Los Rakas (http://losrakas.com/) have done is add Latin vocals and played up the snap beats to make the whole richer and more energetic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1S2pJmRk-Oo
http://audioporncentral.com/2011/10/sunday-girl-love-u-more-rac-mix.html
Another original-plus remix comparison. "Love You More" is itself a cover, (of Sunscreem - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4MPPOTarDM) by Sunday Girl, like the other track I found of hers last year. And also like that track this one is autotuned and has a heavy producer's hand in it. Once again the remixer - RAC (http://remixartistcollective.com/) in this case - has stripped down to the vocals and then rebuilt it entirely. The result is more bouncy and, I think, a much better use of her voice.

http://djsteveboy.com/groovelectric.html
DJ Steveboy's latest is a house tour de force (see what I did there?). He puts together 11 tracks sampling a variety of things that get called "house" music these days in a mix called "Open House." It's fun to listen to the variety, though no one of the tracks really leaped out at me as particularly noteworthy.

http://www.kraddyodaddy.com/anthems-of-the-hero/
Kraddy has put up the entirety of his new remix album for free download (and you can buy a copy, which I intend to do). I love reading the story of the album on his site. I think he's done a really good job of recreating much of the feel of 70s anthem-rock but with a modern, electronic feel. In particular I commend to your attention his take on the Sabbath classic "Iron Man".