Le Youth has some smoothass disco goin on here with vocals provided by Cassie’s hit, ‘Me & You.’ And the only thing the original has over Le Youth’s funky production is that sexyass video below. Also not really feelin’ the Missy Elliot type raps near the end of ‘C O O L,’ but it still works out well enough.
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Mashups, like remixes, redefine the original and Bronze Whale is helping redefine what Alex Clare, Elliphant & Little Dragon sound like. These aren’t just some of the best vocals right now laid on electro music, but careful placement of each individual track. I can’t say I like what the two did with Yukimi Nagano’s voice of Little Dragon, but they did reinterpret Clare & Elliphant with electro precision. In fact, I didn’t even realize that the two mashups were made up the same two guys at first. It was a nice surprise though I must say.
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Charles Bordeaux did well for himself on Silence last year with two singles off his Fables EP, The Sandman & Blood Pacts I (The Weeds). The rest of his Fables album is mostly a mix of instrumentals that, although produced just as well, lack the story I like to see with Bordeaux. There is, however, one other story-made track on Fables. ‘The Forst and the Moon’ is as heavy on the synths as usual. Make sure to follow the song with the lyrics below.
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Like my run in with Tommy Lee and even our first time with Solange, I didn’t recognize the name until I looked it up. And unlike her sister, Solange has taken the alternate route and we keep digging up one fine style of soul after another because of it. First, her collaboration with Theophilus London – it’s worth a listen – and now with her single, ‘Losing You.’ Beyonce may have the popular vote, but Solange is teaming up with some quality producers who are putting the progress back into soul music.
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Bruno Mars is among the many mainstream musicians with so much talent in that voice of theirs and yet don’t seem to be hanging out with the right crowd of producers. Thankfully, my reliance on the remix community has paid off once again, this time Whyel goes electro-house on the Mars man. I can’t say I like the house solos that appear a few times throughout the ‘When I Was Your Man’ remix, but now that I figured out Whyel use to go by YoungLife, it makes a lot more sense. He’s done a few good house remixes.
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Headnodic’s The Iguana album is all sample free, but I’m still dying to figure out what lovely lady he got to lay down some vocals for Zaya. And until I do, take a listen to Headnodic’s smooth, culture song and help me figure it out.
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Terror Tone’s Tundra instantly reminded me of times out in London, back when I was there in ’09. I worked for Universal Music at the time doing digital marketing for a few of their rap artists. And as terrible as they all were and the rap scene in general out there, I think I’ve finally found something from England, and technically Toronto too, that’s got potential. And even though the Ragga Twins are nothing new to the scene, if anything quite the opposite, with Terror Tone’s garage edit, this puts a whole new spark to “UK rap.”
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Ghetto Funk’s yearly roundup of electro funk remixes wasn’t as eventful this year compared to last, but of course there was at least one funkadelic remix to highlight. Lewd Behavior’s remix of ‘Fell in Love with a Girl’ by The White Stripes is a bass rollin fanfare, ‘specially with those drops. I bet if Mr. White himself went funky with the electro, he’d probably tune the bass to something like this – it matches his sound that well.
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Luminaire is such a favorite of mine because he picks such good vocals. ‘Like We Used To’ is a simple dirty disco beat with a few verses repeated, but the vocals are chosen so well and the beat is matched up so right. –Gotta get him doin legit collabs soon though.
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Heading to San Fran tomorrow for the day, so I thought I’d share this treat with y’all. Sun Rai’s San Francisco Street sounds straight out of a hit tv show from the 70’s, 80’s… or today. But I can’t say I share the same sentiments of San Fran as Rai seems to – too dreamy. Hopefully one day, though.
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