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Roy Davis Jr. is one of Chicago's most well-known and respected house music Dons. Soul-inflected uptempo tunes have remained his forte, carrying that flag through impeccably curated and mixed DJ sets the world over (hear a recent live set from this past summer over at the Sunday Best website) and a discography that has spanned more than a few decades and sub-genres. Now the people at Scion A/V have turned a piece of Davis's music over to a more contemporary set of producers, soliciting versions of his tune "I Have A Vision (feat. Erin Martin)" for the next installment in their stellar ongoing remix series. We've been given an exclusive preview of our man The Juan MacLean's version, which is, in a nutshell, epic space war acid house; Larry Heard caught in Titan A.E. or something like that. Grab the track below, and look out for the official release of "I Have A Vision" on January 27th, featuring additional reworkings from legends-in-their-own-right Fred Falke and Todd Edwards.
Before the break for the new year, TheFADER.com posted a new remix of Little Boots' "Meddle" by blogger/dj/remixerBaron Von Luxxury, who made like he did with Glass Candy's "I Always Say Yes" earlier this year and added some syrupy disco bass and conga breaks to an already stellar tune. It's a pretty great version, so head over to The FADER to cop that, and grab a couple of other jams from Luxxury, including the Glass Candy remix, right below.
My friend Mikey from GIRLS (nyc) sent me the Still Out record a little while back, I put it in my car stereo and it didn't leave for over a week. There has been a rumbling for a couple of years now coming from (mostly) Brooklyn of bands that get the magic equation of the Jesus & Mary Chain. Combining fuzz, distortion, sexy weary vocals and (the tricky part) catchy hooks, pop shoegazer gold is snaking it's way across the East River. The Still Out is Josh Stoddard and Arjun Agerwala and since the recording of their first record, they've added Matt Sumrow and Nicole Gehweiler (both formerly of the Comas who opened for the J&MC) and Mikey Jones (who plays in GIRLS (nyc) with Matt) to their live show. Crystallized will be re-released this spring on Hi-Speed Soul, grab "Where We Go" for a taste and keep an eye out for these 'gazers.
To answer a question they'll soon tire of hearing, Harlem are not from Harlem. They're from Austin, Texas (by way of Los Angeles), a place full of cheap beer and cheap rent and lots of sun; basically a perfect spot for a trio of dudes to play music that sounds like The Move sped up to +8 and not really have to do much else. Their self-released debut album Free Drugs;) dropped last year (get it at their MySpace), a dizzying sprint through lo-fi garage tropes that we thought was pretty awesome, and by awesome we mean it sounds like sociopathic doo-wop with guitars. We asked them for some tracks and they were cool enough to send over two songs from the album--one with a simple title, the other not so much--so save these for when you leave work and unwind accordingly.
If you're band is rocking--count 'em--threedifferentMySpaces, then things are either going pretty well or you're being copped by hella nerds and even that kind of internet fandom isn't so bad for your profile. Such is life for The Twelves, the Rio-based production duo that's been blog-killing lately with tasteful, Euro-glancing electro refixes for groups like Black Kids (who they actually made sound good), M.I.A., New Young Pony Club, and Thieves Like Us. The people at Bacardi's B-Live program--responsible for thoseChromeoremixes awhile back--caught wind and solicited an unreleased track from the two, "Be My Crush," which was in turn sent over to The Juan MacLean for some remix work and then gifted to us exclusively here at RCRD LBL. While Juan's remix game isn't all that frequent, it is time and again off the charts, and his usual rub-a-dub basslines and haunting disco synth washes are all over this track like they are on "Happy House." For more info on The Twelves you can watch a few clips the Bacardi people made for them down in Rio right here, and come back tomorrow for another exclusive remix from the bald-headed dance man.
Sounds like: Jaques Renault, Thieves Like Us, Holy Ghost!
FreQ Nasty, aka Fiji-born, New Zealand-raised Darin McFayden, was the producer behind "Creator," Santogold's supersonic swingbomb single that detonated many a dancefloor in '08 and just might be the best track on one of the year's most extremely well-received albums. While that beat was arguably his big break, Nasty has been making moves in the drum and bass and breaks scenes for over a decade, producing and deejaying an impressive amount of diverse, subsonic material that not only informed his work on "Creator" but also the labyrinthine, genre-hopping mix he made for Fabric this year, Fabriclive.42. "Peacemaker" appears in its original form in the early minutes of that mix, but this dub version--a grinding amalgam of dancehall, breaks, fidget-house, and high-energy dubstep--is tipped to appear on his pending new artist album, due sometime this year but still lacking an unconfirmed tracklisting, release date, or label. If "Creator" and his Fabric mix are anything to go by, he'll be shattering enough basebins and year-end lists to make us forget those gnarly white dude dreads.
After over 18 years in the business, seminal NYC house label Nervous Records is looking back upon its catalog with paternal pride. In doing so they've selected some of their favorites from Kerri Chandler, Masters at Work, Josh Wink, Danny Krivit and more to be remixed and stitched together by Marlon D. on Nervous Nitelife: House Classics Remixed. Chandler's 1997 classic "Rain" is one certain highlight, its aqueous pads sloshing up and down the scale as a vocalist sprinkles vocals like droplets upon the dance floor. This compilation assures a new generation of house lovers will get Nervous.
Sounds like: Theo Parrish, Masters at Work, Chez Damier
I spent this video watching these red-suited guys place the Hot Chip dudes on a large canvas, adding inflatable orcas, blenders, spray paint, laundry, sand, marinara sauce, pepper, and a bunch of other crap and thought "What are they making?" Turns out it's a large picture of a monster attacking some cavemen (and Alexis as Orpheus?) near a volcano. This is essentially a metaphor for every Hot Chip record, if the "monster" was "techno" and "cavemen" was "soul."
The Black Crowes got a lot of flack; either for being long-haired throwback rocker dudes or for having a lead singer who was basically an American Bobby Gillespie, with the famous actress wife and lame dance moves to boot. But you know what? Dudes could jam. I mean, Rick Rubin found them and put their records out and Jimmy Page thought them worthy enough to do a big live disc with all these Zeppelin tunes. That has to speak to something. I guess this clip doesn't do much to make them look cool--dudes, red velvet, seriously?--but there are far worse things than watching six longhairs (sans drummer dude) slay that riff.
This was Missy's first single and you'd be hard pressed to convince me she ever topped it. She just sounds so careful in the verses, tip-toeing through each line like Jay started doing on Kingdom Come to lesser results. Also, this video might be the only time driving a Hummer looked OK and has Lil Kim wearing Chanel suspenders. Holler nineties excess!
![The Twelves - Be My Crush [The Juan MacLean's B-LIVE Rio Mix]](/cms/rcrdlbl/albums/99c370a6215e50a7c6104999e04a6b1f_tiny.jpg)
