Fifty Five Minute Edit Mix

There have been a lot of really good edits out in the wild over the last few years and the thought of slinging a bunch of them together into a Sunday mix became irresistible. In the fifty five minutes below you'll find various artists from the last sixty years of popular culture re- edited and rejigged into new shapes including Gil Scott Heron, Gordon Lightfoot, The Residents, Voice Of Africa, Monsoon, Siouxsie and The Banshees and Les Negresses Vertes. This mix is only part of the story- volume 2 (and maybe 3) will follow shortly. 

Fifty Five Minute Edit Mix

• Western Revolution
• Totem Edits 12- Feel
• Resident Rockers
• Totem Edits 03- Hoomba
• Lonely
• Trading Places (6PM)
• Arabian Knights
• Totem Edits 14- Zombi

Western Revolution was  released on 12" vinyl only, part of Coyote's Magic Wand Special Editions Volume 2, along with Lonely and two other edits (Love Home and Luca). Western Revolution is a live sounding, laid back groove with the unmistakeable voice of Gil Scott Heron advising us about the results of the revolution and theta there will be 'no re- run, brothers and sisters, the revolution will be live'. Lonely picks up where Monsoon's 1981 single Ever So Lonely left off and extends it out.

Totem Edits have become fairly essential recently, a page at Bandcamp for the edit work of Leo Zero and Justin Deighton (with plenty of input from Sean Johnston). One to watch. I posted Feel fairly recently, lovely drawn out funky folk built around a 1967 Gordon Lightfoot song, The Way  Feel. Totem Edit 03 has Voice Of Africa's 1990 Balearic beat smash Hoomba Hoomba close to its core. Totem Edits 14 is one of my favourite recent edits from the pair, a wonderfully absorbing version of Les Negresses Vertes' 1989 French punk/ folk/ Balearic song Zobi La Mouche. 

Resident Rockers is part of a two track EP on the recently reinvigorated Eclectics label, San Francisco avant garde/ art punk rockers/ giant eyeball headgear wearers The Residents bent into new shapes by someone very familiar to this blog. Find Eclectics and the EP here. 

Jezebell are masters of the edit, a sample forming the basis of a completely new track, something old being reworked into something new. Trading Places was a six track pair of EPs from 2023, split into two parts, daytime and nighttime versions. In the 6PM take Siouxsie Sioux's Peek- A- Boo gets reworked and taken for a spin round the floor. 

In 2015 Mojo Filter, an edit veteran, took The Banshees 1981 single Arabian Knights, Siouxsie's post punk psychedelia re- jigged into new shapes. Going from Peek- A- Boo to Arabian Knights seemed like too good an opportunity to miss. 

Trading Places

Out today from Jezebell, two new three track EPs with a single starting point but multiple routes- Trading Places (Daytime and Nightime Versions). Jezebell are Jesse Fahnestock and Darren Bell. They have an Ibiza takeover imminent, and these six tracks tell the story of a night out, the ebb and flow of day to night and back again in musical form. The six tracks, Trading Places 11AM, 3PM and 6PM on the daytime EP and Trading Places 10PM, 2AM and 5AM on the Nighttime, all began with the same initial sample and span out from there, ideas shuttling between them, music as infinite possibilities. Songs begin with a single spark- an idea, a riff, a sample, a line, a beat- and the decisions taken then fix that track/ song for the creator (and for the listener at the end). The six tracks here show what can happen when you take not just one route, but several, when ideas are followed not just this way, but that way too. Endless possibilities, nothing is fixed.

Trading Places (11AM) launches the day in easy style, a low-slung start with mid- paced drums and a padding bassline. Handclaps, a repeating synth part, bubbling sounds and eventually a horn part. Take a swig, get a little perked up, it’s still before lunch, no need to go mad.

3PM is a good time to be out, the whole day and night ahead, all sorts of possibilities in front and choices to be made. The track kicks a bit harder than 11AM with a clipped, choppy  guitar riff and looped ‘ah oh oh’ backing vocal. The funk bass synth bumps away. Upbeat, feel good, nothing to worry about.

6PM. You’re in the mood now, you’ve been out for a while, everything’s nicely groovy, the sun is out and the beer is cold. The track slides in lazily, catching your attention as it builds, synths parts and some hand drums. At thirty seconds the rhythm kicks in and pulls you forwards, the kick drum becoming more insistent. The vibrating synth toplines hit and there’s the stutter of a vocal sample. A female voice weaves her way in, suddenly and unexpectedly revealing itself as Siouxsie Sioux, imperiously saying peek- a boo. The bass pushes forward wrapping itself around the track and then Siouxsie’s back, ‘strobe lights pump and flicker… that’s right now hit the floor’. Not a request, more a command.

10PM. But then without you really noticing when, it’s gone dark and you’re somewhere else, somewhere familiar but with that thrill of the unknown. Lights and sound beckon, the thump of bass and the slight breathless feeling as the bass hits, feeling in the chest. ‘You know it’s us… start the music’ the voice says, ‘no trading places…’. Hypnotic and enveloping sound, music bursting out of the speakers and into the room, building. You couldn’t stop yourself now even if you wanted to. It’s out of your hands, the music’s in control. Breakdown and whooshing sounds at five minutes in give a pause for breath but only for a moment because when that kick drum comes back you’re moving again, caught in the moment.

2AM. Oh heck. Sirens. Throbbing bass. Speakers vibrating. Senses distorted. Smoke and dry ice. Everywhere. Your friends have vanished. No matter. The people you’re dancing with are our new friends. Everyone locked in to the same moment, the same feeling. ‘You you you… get up get up’ a voice says, somewhere in the mix, behind you maybe, or above you. Another vocal, chopped up and re- arranged. Limbs moving, hair now sticky with sweat. Drinks ordered and poured. Nods of recognition on the floor as the bass comes back. Smiles. Cheers. Whistles.

5AM. It’s late now. Or early, difficult to tell which. The voice is back, the one saying, ‘you know it’s us’. Things are slowing down slightly, the groove less insistent, the tempo a little slower. The voice there again, ‘Leave no traces/ Know your rights/ No trading places’. But things aren’t really easing up, the groove is still strong, the snare still cracking, the bass wanting to push you for one last spin round the floor, no let up even now, lost in it all. At dawn.

Both EPs are available from Bandcamp from today, Daytime Versions are here and Nighttime Versions are here. I recommend both as you can probably tell. 

I Burst Out, I'm Transformed

In 2007 goth punk queen Siouxsie Sioux released a solo album called Mantaray, ten songs taking in pop to glam with some cabaret inbetween along with some undeniably Siouxsie- esque rock. The woman herself is in fine voice throughout, fired up by working with new and different people. Album opener Into A Swan was inspired partly by her divorce from Budgie, partly by working with Basement Jaxx the year before and partly by the arrival of Egyptian percussionist Hossam Ramzy (who'd previously worked with Robert Plant). Siouxsie took all this and threw it into the pot, a song about starting anew, being transformed, becoming a swan. 

In 2007 Andrew Weatherall was a little more niche than he is today, feeling his way into a solo career under his own name and about to begin a streak of remixes that put him back at the top of his game. He got his hands on Into A Swan and turns it into a dancefloor smash, fast and intense, kickdrum pounding, with whistles and snares and a jacking bassline. Siouxsie's vocal survives almost entirely intact. There are breakdowns and grinding sounds, squalls of guitar and thunderous percussion. In the second half the pace gathers further, Siouxsie spinning as the strobe flashes and singing, 'I feel a force I've never felt before/ I burst out I'm transformed'. 

Into A Swan (Weatherall Remix)

Interlude

Interlude was a Morrissey and Siouxsie Sioux two-for-the-price-of-one special, released in 1994, and a cover of a 1968 Timi Yuro song. They've both got distinctive voices that work well together and complement each other nicely, Siouxsie rich and deep, Morrissey wobbling and higher, but somehow, somewhere along the way, it doesn't quite catch fire. In his autobiography Morrissey gives Siouxsie a proper slagging off. But then, he gives almost everyone who appears in the book a proper slagging off so it's difficult to know how much to read into it. I've a vague recollection that Siouxsie was uncomplimentary about the whole experience in an interview as well. Morrissey's guitarist and producer of this single Boz Boorer said Siouxsie was 'a complete joy' to work with and according to a well known online encyclopedia the falling out happened after the recording when Morrissey and Siouxsie disagreed about the content of the video- a video which was never shot. One of Morrissey's most recent Best Of compilations has a version of this with only him singing it- a slight at Siouxsie if ever there was one. Despite all of this playground drama, bitchiness and a bit of an air of let down, I quite like the song, every once in a while.

Interlude (Extended Version)

They're Coming Out Of The Walls

Right then, enough of the balearic stuff. This is a slinky, groovy little number and no mistake- from Anima Animus, The Creatures 1999 lp. And it gives me an excuse to post this rather excellent gif of Siouxsie doing her thing. The Creatures were a side vehicle for Siouxsie and drummer Budgie, with the emphasis on, obviously enough, voice and drums and percussion. The Creatures released four albums between 1981 and 2005 and they all have something going for them. The band ended when Siouxsie and Budgie's marriage ended.

Another Planet

Kiss Them For Me

This 1991 single was a big hit in the US for Siouxsie and the Banshees- Stephen Hague production, Talvin Singh on tabla and backing vocals, a Schooly D sample- but I think it may have slipped through the net here. Siouxsie was possibly a bit old hat in '91 but this song shows somebody's finger was on the pulse. It's begging for an expansive remix too. Listened to in 2014 it sounds like perfect, glittery pop music. And there's nowt wrong with that.

Kiss Them For Me

Jeepers Creepers

You might have thought that by 1988 Siouxsie and The Banshees were past their best but this No. 16 hit would suggest otherwise. There's still some good ole gothic melodrama and sexiness combined some genuine pop and a nod to late 80s hip hop as well. And an ascending and descending accordion riff that carries the whole thing along with Gallic flair. Peek-A-Boo began life as a B-side based around a John Cale sample but soon turned into a potential A-side and took a year to record, partly due to Siouxsie singing each line through a different mic.

Peek-A-Boo

The video is dead late 80s...

Harmful Elements In The Air

Let's start the week with Siouxsie. 1978's number 7 hit Hong Kong Garden managed to sound icily cool while being about a Chinese takeaway in Chislehurst. Paul Morley wrote 'Its Oriental authenticity, its flickering eroticism, its simple beauty pushed it deep into the charts'. If I ever write anything like that, feel free to tell me to delete the post. In fact, the whole blog. The song survives Morley's description.

Edit. Grammar (possessive apostrophe) corrected. Thanks to DavyH. Apologies to Paul Morley.

Hong Kong Garden

Jeepers Creepers

Dance floor re-edit of Siouxsie and The Banshees Peek-A-Boo anyone? It's alright, quite goth funky and icy, but somehow both perfectly serviceable and somewhat pointless. By Spec apparently.

Think I may have fixed the link thing too.

Peek A Boo (Spec Goth Re-Edit)

Siouxsie 'Into A Swan' (Weatherall Remix)

We havn't had any Weatherall for well over a week here at Bagging Area, and to be honest between all the pro-Weatherall blogs there can't be much left to post, but here's a remix from 2007. Punk-goth Queen Siouxsie Sioux's Into A Swan, from her first solo album Mantaray, which was pretty good if memory serves. Weatherall takes Siouxsie for a spin round the dancefloor, fairly successfully, though this may not top anyone's list of favourite Weatherall remixes.

Someone asked me recently, Siouxsie or Debbie Harry? and I answered Siouxsie without even thinking about it. Maybe that's just me. She's a bit scary though.

Into A Swan (Weatherall Remix).wma