Bumps: Funk Moguls v Avicii 'Superstar Levels'

Levels by Avicii is a massive tune worldwide. However, it's not entirely suitable for every d-floor, and there are more than a handful of pretty rubbish edits floating about. This one, by the Funk Moguls, is most certainly not one of those. It's a cracker. Slowing the tempo to 120bpm (but you can pull it back a little further, trust me), the Czech pair throw on an acapella, chop up the hook, slap on a break and voila...

Bumps: Fat Freddy's Drop 'Shiverman' (Soane remix)

Gee, I hope I don't get in trouble for this! The hard-to-find Soane remix of Fat Freddy's Drop's scorcher Shiverman is a masterclass in tension and release - and a track I seem to get asked about both on radio and live quite often. Apparently it's a tough one to locate, so feast your ears here and enjoy!

And to Soane: get better soon, bro, our thoughts and wishes are with you and yours...

Review: Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie XX 'We're New Here'

GIL SCOTT-HERON & JAMIE XX
'We're New Here'
[XL/Young Turks]

We've every right to be dubious when labels pair up hip, young zeitgeist producers with respected, legendary older artists, particularly thanks to the recent release of a few disappointing collaborative efforts (did some mention Jack White and Wanda Jackson?). We're New Here is different. How? For a start, this is a remix album. Then there's the source material: living-legend Gil Scott-Heron's 2010 epic/comeback, I'm New Here. Young Jamie Smith (drummer/producer for world-conquering UK indie three-piece The XX) has completely reworked thirteen tracks from the original album sessions, placing Scott-Heron's disembodied vocals amongst pulsing, spidery soundscapes. While sounding excitingly modern, like Burial or James Blake, We're New Here is endearingly reverent, even adding a degree of warmth to the intentionally deep, dark originals. Smith also samples snatches of vocals from Scott-Heron's work in generations past, providing for some kind of deep, philosophical inter-generational link. Whatever. This is proper dance music, 2011-style.

4/5 stars

Review reprinted courtesy of Waikato Times

Radio Ponsonby Record Review: Sola Rosa - Get It Together (The Remixes)

Sola Rosa
Get It Together - The Remixes
[Way Up/Rosa Recordings]

Over the last decade Andrew Spraggon has taken Sola Rosa from one-man bedroom recording nom-de-plume to fully-fledged, all-guns-blazing live band lineup, delivering a clutch of excellent studio albums along the way.

None are finer than last year's Get It Together: a body blow of significant proportions & a vastly under-rated album. Get It Together is all killer & no filler, boasting one of the biggest local tunes of the year (nay, decade!?) in Turnaround (featuring the bluesy, soulful vocals of Iva Lamkum), lovingly enshrined in the warmest, fattest production this side of the Black Stump.

So, I must admit it was with some trepidation I cracked the seal on Spraggon's latest venture, Get It Together - The Remixes.

Remix collections are notoriously hit & miss affairs, with some veering into the outer limits of what's enjoyably listenable simply for the sake of having the latest, coolest DJs involved; while others are blanded out beyond muzak in a half-hearted effort to please most-of-the-people-most-of-the-time.

This isn't like either of those. At all.

Sure, there's a host of globally recognised names involved: DJ Vadim, The Nextmen, Biggabush, TM Juke, Beatfanatic, Yes King, J-Star; alongside the lesser known likes of Thomas Blondet, Moo, Mr Boinkin & our own/adopted Jason Eli - but this is top drawer gear, mate! Each of the producers involved bring something fresh to the tunes they've tweaked, without losing the heavy-lidded, borderline Tex-Mex flavours Sola Rosa so consistently cook up.

The vocalists from the original Get It Together album all line up here again (longtime collaborator Spikey Tee, German songstress Bajka, US emcee Serocee & Wellington's waaay-more-than-promising Iva Lamkum), while the CD closes with a genuine highlight & new take on the instrumental track Del Ray, featuring a seamlessly flowing rap delivered in his native tongue, by the Chilean rapper Four-D, who sent his "mash-up" version to Spraggon over the internet, completely out of the blue!

Put simply: these remixes could play alongside most of Sola Rosa's back catalogue without sounding out of place at all. Being that Spraggon took the best part of a year sifting through remixes to select & program this collection we shouldn't be at all surprised. After all, the man's inescapable attention to detail as seen us all rewarded with a fine swag of musical riches for more than 10 years.

Here's to another ten - Viva la Sola Rosa!

NYNTEE'S RATING: seven & a half Cuba Libre's out of then
IN A NUTSHELL: Sola Rosa slide in sideways with a selection of top drawer. heavy-lidded remix treats

Check out the Radio Ponsonby Record Review with Nyntee, on Murry Sweetpants' Breakfast Show on Radio Ponsonby, every Wednesday around 8.25am. Tune in! 107.7FM in Auckland & streaming live.