I Guess I Must Be Having Fun

Back to the 1980s for some weekend fun...but not as you know it. A clutch of brave DJs and producers - Danny McLewin & Tom Coveney aka Psychemagik, Ben Zaven Crane aka Mojo Filter, Blake Robin aka Luxxury and Nicolas Laugier aka The Reflex - have taken on some iconic songs and re-edited and re-imagined them for the 21st Century.

Opinion may be divided on whether the edits open the music up to new and interesting interpretations or whether, crudely put, it's a bastardisation of classic songs that should have been left alone. The fact that I've compiled and posted this selection probably tells you which way I'm dancing (badly) on this one. 

 

1) This Must Be The Place (Naive Edit By Psychemagik): Talking Heads (2010)

2) Arabian Knights (Mojo Filter Banshee Edit): Siouxsie & The Banshees (2012)

3) Rock The Casbah (Luxxury Edit): The Clash (2013)

4) It's My LIfe (The Reflex Re√ision): Talk Talk (2019)

5) Going Underground (The Reflex Re√ision): The Jam (2017)

6) Blue Monday (Luxxury 'How Does It Feel' Edit): New Order (2016)

7) Rapture (The Reflex Re√ision): Blondie (2017)

 

I Guess I Must Be Having Fun (47:54) (Box) (Mega)

Alien Feelings

After her stellar performance at Glastonbury, time to spotlight my favourite dancefloor diva. Diana Ross? Sod that, it's Róisín Murphy.

 

Bless the BBC and their Glastonbury coverage. Having the iPlayer app means that I've been able to dip in and out of the festival over the weekend and I can continue to do over the next week. It's absolutely not the same as being at a festival but some artists really pull out all the stops to provide the audience in the field and at home. 

 

Róisín kicked off her set like it was one of those Top Of The Pops "live across the Atlantic" performances that they featured in the early 2000s, backstage, travelling band walking behind her as she launched into a version of Moloko's Fun For Me. Even when Róisín arrived on stage, her eyes and performance were locked on the people at home, detracting attention from the band taking up position behind their kit. And then, as it remembering the thousands of people right there with her, Róisín skipped to the front of the stage to complete the song.

With as many costume (or accessory) changes as there were songs, it's an hour and half of pent up joy, finally released to an appreciate audience. Even on a Sunday night, sitting shattered on a sofa (try saying that ten times in quick succession), I felt my energy levels and sense of well-being rising.

 

In an amateur attempt to recapture that sense of euphoria and forestall the reality of a Monday back at work, today's selection features Róisín Murphy in uptempo mode, from (I think) her first solo outing before Moloko split covering Pulp to remixes from the superb lockdown panacea, 2020's Róisín Machine. What an absolute legend.

Oh, and early love and best wishes for Róisín's birthday next Tuesday, 5th July.

 

1) Sorted? (Cover of 'Sorted For E's & Whizz' by Pulp) (2002)

2) Murphy's Law (Cosmodelica Remix) (Full Length) (2020)

3) Sow Into You (Bugz In The Attic Remix) (2005)

4) Movie Star (Sam & Di Angelis 'For Jodie Harsh' Remix) (2008)

5) Unputdownable (Prosumer Remix) (2015)

6) Slave To Love (Single Version) (Cover of Bryan Ferry) (2008)

7) If We're In Love (Matthew Herbert's Lovers Remix) (2005)

8) Evil Eyes (Hercules & Love Affair Remix) (2015)

9) Primitive (Album Version) (2007)

10) Incapable (The Reflex Re√ision) (2021)

11) Overpowered (Kris Menace Remix) (2007)

12) In Sintesi (Psychemagik Remix) (2014)

Alien Feelings (1:11:00) (Box) (Mega)

Slip Into Something More Comfortable...

June 2015 mix, re-posted on my Mixcloud page in 2020, which includes the Hannes Fischer remix of Summertime Sadness that I mentioned in Sunday's post. Starting with Christopher Guest as Spinal Tap's Nigel Tufnell and finishing with John Thaw as The Sweeney's Jack Regan, and slipping in a few of my amateur edits along the way. Simplesmente is a simple splice of two Tom Middleton mixes. I like the Edie Sedgwick/Nightmares On Wax mash-up and I think the Shift K3y/Lana Del Rey segue works well although in retrospect I maybe should have extended the intro of the latter. And, of course, any excuse to shoehorn in a Julian Cope song...

 

1) "This one goes to 11…”: Spinal Tap (1984)
2) Slip Into Something More Comfortable (Original Instrumental Version): Kinobe (2000)
3) Edie Sedgwick Bleu My Mind (Khayem Mash-Up): Nightmares On Wax ft. Edie Sedgwick, Andy Warhol & Merv Griffin (2015)
4) Irganda (Red Snapper Remix): Songhoy Blues (2015)
5) Once In A Lifetime (Luxxury Edit): Talking Heads (2015)
6) Simplesmente (Tom Middleton Balearic Cosmos Remix) (Khayem Re-Edit): Bebel Gilberto (2015)
7) “Let’s face it Roger, that dress is you”: Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder & Christopher Hewett (1967)
8) Get Lucky (Live Medley @ MTV Awards): Daft Punk ft. Pharrell Williams, Nile Rodgers & Stevie Wonder (2014)
9) Not Into It (Original Mix): Shift K3Y (2014)
10) Summertime Sadness (Hannes Fischer Radio Edit): Lana Del Rey (2013)
11) Au Pays Des Merveilles De Juliet (Psychemagik Tour De Force Remix): Yves Simon (2014)
12) I Left My Wallet In El Segundo (Independence Mix By Norman Cook): A Tribe Called Quest (1990)
13) Rhythm & Blues World Service: Alexis Korner (1967)
14) State Of Independence (Long Version By Quincy Jones): Donna Summer (1982)
15) The Forest (Richard Norris Remix): Black Rivers (2015)
16) Wonderwall (Liam Gallagher & The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra IDC Mix): Oasis (2014)
17) Let Me Down Gently (Prins Thomas Diskomiks): La Roux (2014)
18) Burning Disaster (Groove Armada Bedtime Story Mix): Language Lab (1999)
19) Sunspots (Album Version): Julian Cope (1984)
20) “Get your trousers on, you’re nicked”: John Thaw (1975)

 

Slip Into Something More Comfortable... (1:21:11)