It's Happened Before

If like me you've had a week to forget, then a bevy of beauteous, bouncy beats is just what the doctor ordered....

....as long as the doctor is Dr. Syntax, that is, former Fluke fellows Mike Tournier and Jan Burton, whose remix of AIR-adjacent Gallic gents Mellow gets today's selection off to a rollicking start.

Staying in France briefly, Fred Falke invites German chums Axel Bartsch and Asem Shama aka VanGuard back to stay at his, the results a stuttering, juddering night in the studio.

Purple Penguin was a record shop, a label, a recording artist and a way of life in my beloved birthplace Bristol. Whilst they were never as massive as, er, Massive Attack, Tricky or Portishead, they were purveyors of mighty fine trip hop music, as debut single Passion attests.

The music of Cantoma aka Phil Mison was a relatively recent discovery for me, though the song selected here - a remix of North Shore by London boys Conrad McDonnell and Dan Tyler aka Idjut Boys - was released as a 12" single way back in 2010. Like a Balearic breeze blowing through your mind.

Pet Shop Boys really need no introduction, neither should DJ and producer Danny Tenaglia, but their coming together for a remix of 1996 single Before was really rather inspired. One of my favourite PSB tracks from that period and inspiration for the title of today's selection.

Hot Chip have been circling around in my consciousness since my post on Alexis Taylor's current single on Wednesday. In 2011, Dan Snaith took time out from his Caribou day job to put out music as Daphni. Dan was invited to remix Hot Chip's single Night And Day, a Record Store Day 12" single in 2012 which hits hard and doesn't give up.

The Other Two is a tongue-in-cheek, raspberry-blowing reference to the fact that whilst New Order stalwarts Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook were getting attention for their projects, Gillian Gilbert and Stephen Morris quietly got on with making music of their own. Ashley Beedle is on typically fine form on this dub remix of 1993 single Selfish.

Closing this collection are The Woodentops and, in keeping with today's title/theme, it's happened before. The remix of A Pact by Skyscraper HiFi aka Jon Dasilva and Jonas Nilsson originally featured last March on the Dubhed selection It's A Glamorous World, but that feels long enough ago to justify another appearance here. A chuggy, huggy masterpiece.

I hope that's got the blood flowing and the head cleared. If not, you may require urgent medical assistance!

1) Paris Sous La Neige (Vox Remix By Dr. Syntax) (Edit): Mellow (2000)

2) Back To Stay (VanGuard Remix): Fred Falke (2009)

3) Passion (Vocal) (Single Version): Purple Penguin (1995)

4) North Shore (Idjut Boys Version) (Instrumental): Cantoma (2010)

5) Before (Danny Tenaglia's Underground Mix): Pet Shop Boys (1996)

6) Night And Day (Daphni Mix): Hot Chip (2012)

7) Selfish (The East Village Dub): The Other Two (1993)

8) A Pact (Skyscraper HiFi Remix B): The Woodentops (2025)

It's Happened Before (45:58) (GD) (M)

Reinvent, Remix, Reveal

Marina & The Diamonds to round off the week, with a baker's dozen of remixes drawn from the three albums, The Family Jewels (2009), Electra Heart (2012) and Froot (2014).

Marina has performed and released records mononymously since 2018 but her earlier material is still fertile ground for reworks and re-edits. Interspersed with the contemporaneous remixes by 'name' artists such as Fred Falke, Benny Benassi and Blood Orange/Devonté Hynes, here you'll find some fan-based versions by Solitary Jewel, Gabrielle B, Exile and MATDMixes. 

 

Several of these bootleg mixes imagine a parallel universe where Marina was born twenty years earlier and became a huge star in the 1980s. Sounds odd - and the accompanying Photoshopped images are even odder - but strangely it works.

I've been a fan of Marina since hearing I Am Not A Robot for the first time in 2009. In an overcrowded world of pop, she's found a place somewhere between Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey that's unmistakably her own and continues to explore new territory with each album, whilst retaining the irresistible hooks of those early singles.

 

For more treasures, the official Marina website is chock full of visual and aural delights.

Oh, and a very belated happy birthday to Marina Lambrini Diamandis for 10th October.

 

1) Electra Heart (Alternative [Hard Rock Inspired] Version-Remix By Solitary Jewel) (2021)

2) Oh No! (Grum Remix By Graeme Shepherd) (2010)

3) Shampain (Fred Falke Remix) (2010)

4) Mowgli's Road (Mille Remix By Mille Ponken) (2009)

5) Froot (Synthwave Electro Remix 80s By Gabrielle B) (2022)

6) Obsessions (Ocelot Remix By Aaron Peacock) (2010)

7) Teen Idle (1987) (Exile 80s Ballad Remix) (2022)

8) Living Dead (Extended Mix By MATDMixes) (2020)

9) I Am Not A Robot (Penguin Prison Remix By Chris Glover) (2010)

10) Radioactive (Blood Orange Remix By Devonté Hynes) (2011)

11) Blue (Holychild Remix By Elizabeth Nistico & Louie Diller) (2015)

12) Hollywood (Monarchy Gliese Remix By Andrew Kornweibel & Ra Khahn) (2010)

13) Primadonna (Benny Benassi Remix) (Full Length)  (2012) 

Reinvent, Remix, Reveal (1:12:20) (GD) (M)

Take A Glimpse Of The World

Dusting off more old tunes that haven't popped up on my playlist for a couple of years, predominantly propelling beats with a brief change in pace and (bendy) bass before a rousing run off into the weekend. 

 

My family is sleeping peacefully, Friday is a day off from work and I have a long weekend to look forward. So many do not have that luxury. I continually remind myself how fortunate I am. 

 

Peace be with you all.

1) Going, Going, Gone (Mindwarp Mix By Scott Christian): Information Society (1993)

2) Little Bird (The Brian McCombs Blue Jay Anthem Mix): Annie Lennox (2013)

3) San Francisco (Fred Falke Remix): Citylife ft. DD (2008)

4) The Great Commandment (Acid Commandment Vocal) (Remix By Justin Strauss): Camouflage (1988)

5) Isolation (Time Tunnel Mix By The Grid aka Dave Ball & Richard Norris): Parchman (1993)

6) Hook R: Fortran 5 (1993)

7) Bendy Bass: VCMG (Vince Clarke & Martin Gore) (2012)

8) Rapture (Armin Van Buuren Remix): iiO (2001)

Take A Glimpse Of The World (56:06)

A Crawl Around The Clubs Getting High

Dusting off some sorely neglected (by me, at least) club cuts, ready for the Friday dancefloor, personally these days a patch of carpet between the sofa and the TV. I'd forgotten how much I love these songs: the Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and Cortney Tidwell tracks are particular delights; Fred Falke and Mark Pritchard are guaranteed to get me shaking (although there's now a simultaneous creaking and rattling); the brief detour to Japan via 5th Garden & Pizzicato Five brings a smile every time; Prins Thomas, James Zabiela & DJ Q bring some serious beats and, to cap it all off, one of my favourite ever remixes by The Orb. The original version of Home by PWEI supplies today's post title. Happy Friday, everyone!

1) Carambola (Mark Pritchard Remix): Azymuth (2000)

2) I Feel Bonnie (House Mix): Hot Chip ft. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (2010)

3) Kanal (Prins Thomas Sure Oppstøt): Telephones (2010)

4) Don't Let Stars Keep Us Tangled Up (Ewan Pearson's Objects In Space Vocal Remix): Cortney Tidwell (2007)

5) Candy (James Zabiela Remix): Spooky (2008)

6) Animal (Fred Falke Remix): Miike Snow (2009)

7) Cooking (Arling & Cameron High Pressure Mix): 5th Garden (1998)

8) Love's Theme (Saint Etienne Mix): Pizzicato Five (1997)

9) R U Still In To It? (DJ Q Remix): Mogwai (1998)

10) Home (Orb Sweet Sin And Salvation Mix): Pop Will Eat Itself (1995) 

A Crawl Around The Clubs Getting High (1:16:17)

Falke Music

Fred Falke's guaranteed to bring a little uplift to any song, often creating a pleasing tension with the melancholy lyrics and vocals. This is a selection of his earlier remixes, initially with fellow French DJ Alan Braxe. 10 remixes, 10 years, 1 per year. As Kelis so succinctly puts in Bossy, "uh uh, watch the beat go".

 

1) Sunny Days (Fred Falke Remix): Patterns (2013)

2) Bossy (Alan Braxe & Fred Falke Remix): Kelis ft. Too $hort (2016)

3) Heavy Cross (Fred Falke Remix): Gossip (2009)

4) Good Morning To The Night (Fred Falke Club Mix): Elton John vs Pnau (2012)

5) Take It Like A Man (Alan Braxe & Fred Falke Remix): Dragonette (2007)

6) Holler (Fred Falke Remix - Extended): Rebecca & Fiona (2014)

7) The Look (Fred Falke Remix): Metronomy (2011)

8) Black History Month (Alan Braxe & Fred Falke Remix): Death From Above 1979 (2005)

9) Dancing On My Own (Fred Falke Extended): Robyn (2010)

10) Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix): The Whitest Boy Alive (2008)

 

Falke Music 2005-2014 (1:08:14)
 

Norwegian Would

Peace Or Love (full album preview): Kings Of Convenience

 

Twelve years since their last album, and just over 20 years since their first, Kings Of Convenience release their fourth album, Peace Or Love, today (18 June) and it's like they've never been away. Built as usual around the beautiful-with-a-hint-of melancholy melodies and harmonies of Erlend Øye and Eirik Glambek Bøe, a couple of songs feature Leslie Feist, my favourite currently being Love Is A Lonely Thing.

 

Kings Of Convenience videos also make great creative use of the seemingly dull concept of two guys strumming acoustic guitars and lead single Rocky Trail is no exception:

 

Rocky Trail: Kings Of Convenience (2021)

Despite the small-but-perfectly-formed Kings Of Convenience catalogue, Erlend Øye is a prolific artist, with solo albums, collaborations (La Comitiva) and more funky four-piece The Whitest Boy Alive.

Here are a few highlights from You Tube, in no particular order and not intended as a 'best of':

Lockdown Blues: Erlend Øye & La Comitiva (2020)

Misread: Kings Of Convenience (2009) 

Sheltered Life (Radio Edit): Erlend Øye (2003)

Toxic Girl (Monte Carlo 1963 Version): Kings Of Convenience (2001)

Golden Cage (Album Version): The Whitest Boy Alive (2006)

La Prima Estate (Cover of Bruno Martino): Erlend Øye (2013)

And here is a fun live performance by The Whitest Boy Alive in a Berlin shop window:  

 

1517 (Live in Berlin): The Whitest Boy Alive (2009)

And to finish on a (natural) high, here's one of my favourite ever Fred Falke remixes. The uplifting beats are underpinned by a sense of loss and regret and the simple but brilliant couplet,

 

So of course I miss you and I miss you bad
But I also felt this way when I was still with you

 

Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix): The Whitest Boy Alive (2006)

 

Sorry, I got a bit sidetracked there. Did I mention that there's a new Kings Of Convenience album out?

Buy Peace Or Love via Kings Of Convenience official website