mercredi 11 mai 2011

J0m@nda - 1 Cr1ed The Tears (1994)

It's strange that Jomanda don't get more credit. They were pioneers of a garage / house / even rave sound (having started in 1988), the lyrics were pretty good (although they almost always revolved around love), they've been heavily sampled (Felix, Micronauts...) and had the cream of the day's remixers on their case. They basically set the scene for a slew of girl groups such as EnVogue, and they could really sing!

You can still find their albums around, but many of their great remixes are now unavailable.

I Cried The Tears was the groups's last single, with E-Smoove making a competent if rather classic effort. However, the big surprise comes from Ralphi Rosario. I had always assumed that he had spent his career surfing on the success of You Used To Hold Me (for me, his only hit), but here he shows how to work a track in different flavours and transform it into something even better (surely the aim of all remixes?).

I decided to take three of his mixes and combine them into one long one. This involved cutting some of the mixes down a little to avoid fatigue, and the blending was a little tricky in spots, but I think the result is pretty good. If you like your piano house, you're going to love it!

You can listen and download below, and I urge you to check out all the other Jomanda singles. There's a lot of classic stuff there.

mardi 5 avril 2011

Tia Carrere - I Wanna Come Home With You Tonight (1993)

I can't believe I haven't posted this one before actually. It was one of my early edits, and is still one of my favourite tunes (after 18 years. Eighteen years!)

Tia Carrere is best known for her role in the two Wayne's World films, and it's probably thanks to them (and her shapely figure that many an adolescent has apparently fantasized about) that she got her album deal with Reprise Records.

I Wanna Come Home With You was the too-saucy-for-radio b-side to State of Grace, which may explain why some bright spark product manager at Warner decided to have it remixed by Masters At Work, to get some club play if nothing else. Firing on all cylinders, and in classic Kenlou style, Louie and Kenny turned in one downtempo mix, a house vocal and two great dubs.

With its repeated "I wanna cum, I wanna cum" chorus, the song - penned by 80s master songwriters Climie & Fisher - deliberately played up to Carrere's slightly slutty image; the Sex Dub had her moanin' and groanin' like mad, so much so that it was not deemed too risqué ro be included on the CD-single.


In fact, it looks like the CD is pretty rare now. It wasn't even on Discogs (I've created the entry now, a long and exhausting process. I love Discogs but it wish it were simpler to use). The Masters At Work mixes are brilliantly crafted, and I couldn't resist putting the dub and 12" version together to make one rather epic 17-minute version. Hope you like it.

As usual, there is no legal way to buy the track now, yet another example of music made unavailable by a major for nearly two decades. Listen and/or download below.

samedi 12 février 2011

Urban Blues Project feat. Jay Williams - Testify (1997)

I have to admit I missed this one when it came out. Too cheesy perhaps? Or perhaps the sleeve was just too damn ugly (c'mon, it's a disaster). However, with hindsight (and closer listening to the Roger S. and Mousse T. mixes) it really is insanely catchy.

And after buying all the mixes from (increasingly interesting site) Traxsource, I decided to hook the Mousse T. vocal up with the dub, trim things down a little, and tag on one of the Matthew Roberts mixes to make an irresistible, ever-evolving l-o-n-g version: 16 minutes! Have a listen below.



I haven't put my version up for free download because the tracks are available to purchase legally, but if you contact me with a proof of purchase (from anywhere), I'd be happy to pass it on :-)

Fancy seeing Jay Williams diva it up big style? Check this out...