TFI Friday #10

Welcome to the return of our weekly updates. This week I have a few tasty treats for you folks that'll hopefully brighten up your weekend in this frankly astonishingly bad weather. I'm usually Mr. Cold when it comes to weather but even I have to admit that this is beginning to take the piss. Where I live, it has been snowing non-stop for a good two weeks now and it doesn't look like its going to stop any time soon. I haven't seen anything like this, well, ever really. Could this be the result of global warming? I've no idea. Aren't we supposed to be overdue an ice age by a couple of hundred/thousand years? Again, who knows, I just hope it goes away sometime soon. Either way, make the most of your weekend and enjoy the tracks.

The Proxy - Think First
Filthy Rich - Make You Freq (Miles Dyson Remix)
Digitalism - Taken Away (Disco Trash Music Remix)
Laidback Luke - Need Your Loving (Felix Cartal Remix)
Kylie Minogue - Wow (MSTRKRFT Remix)

The All-American Rejects

Have I gone out of my mind? Why am I posting about an alternative rock/pop band? The truth is that I'm not really posting about them but rather some pretty nifty remixes that have been done in recent times. As always, there is a strong possibility you may have heard these tracks if you've been visiting any major electro blogs in the past couple of months, but we here at AHC believe that it is often better to re-post older tracks that are actually really good rather than concentrate on newer stuff that we don't find as appealing. Obviously we want to keep you as up to date as possible with regards to the latest releases and what is getting hyped at any given time, but we're not gonna post a track we aren't feeling just because a big name is attached to it. Sometimes it is better to revisit older material rather than focusing on getting newer tracks posted just because they're new.

The two tracks I've chosen for today's post are The All-American Rejects - Gives You Hell (The Bloody Beetroots Remix) and The All-American Rejects - The Wind Blows (Felix Cartal Remix). Admittedly, The Bloody Beetroots have been impressing me less and less in recent times. With the initial surge of remixes that propelled them into electro royalty it seemed like everything they touched turned to gold. Their remixes frequently tore up dancefloors and had listeners eagerly anticipating their next release. So what went wrong? Well, nothing really. They kept the same formula and it kind of got a little repetitive. Their debut LP didn't exactly blow me away but there were a few good tracks on it. While this All-American Rejects remix isn't exactly mindblowing, it has a nice beat and doesn't stray too far into the fidget house genre instead keeping its electro roots by descending into the realm of solid, bassy synths. Secondly, we have The Wind Blows which is remixed by Felix Cartal. In my opinion, Felix Cartal can do no wrong and it keeps me awake at night knowing I've yet to see him. His releases and remixes are constantly dirty, constantly inspiring and constantly upbeat. In other words, he makes filthy music you can dance recklessly to. The Wind Blows is a good example of this because rather than taking time to build it up and unleash hell instead he unleashes it from the get-go chopping up vocal samples to fit the beat. This isn't his best production but it will most certainly make you wanna go out and destroy some dancefloors and that can only be a good thing.

The All-American Rejects - Gives You Hell (The Bloody Beetroots Remix)
The All-American Rejects - The Wind Blows (Felix Cartal Remix)

TFI Friday #5

I don't know what it is about today but I have a really good feeling about it. I was woken up reasonably early this morning with the sun completely blasting me through my windows. Considering it is November, to say it was a much needed climate surprise would be the understatement of the century, especially considering that the United Kingdom is supposed to be getting hit with one of the worst storms of the year.

To make matters infinitely better, I am around 80% sure we're doing a RoboCop marathon tonight which may not sound like much but for some reason I'm looking forward to it perhaps more than I should be. After watching the frankly disappointing and unrealistic love drama/comedy Adventureland last night, I need some vigilante justice enforced with extreme prejudice to balance myself out. Enjoy the tracks.

Felix Cartal - Montreal Dreams
Crookers - Big Money Comin'
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll (A-Trak Remix)
Les Petits Pilous - Wake Up
The Proxy - Dance In The Dark

Music To Shower To

I can't sleep. I mean, I really can't sleep. I awoke at 7:30am today in pitch darkness and have been tossing and turning ever since then. I know this doesn't sound bad but considering I only went to bed around half 3 I'm sure you can empathize with me. It isn't all bad though. I'm sitting in my ludicrously comfortable reclining chair with an ice cold pint of Dr. Pepper beside me. Although I was planning on making this post today, I didn't expect it to be so early, so please bear with me and my morning insomnia.

You may be wondering what the title is all about. We have a saying when it comes to relentless electro which revolves around listeners needing to get a shower if a song hits a certain level of filthiness that'll make their knees shake and their heads spin. I don't know about the rest of you, but there is something about grinding synths that just does it for us. Go to any club night in Belfast (and occasionally Dublin) that features this type of music and you can be sure to find us front middle causing chaos and generally acting like lunatics.

The title also has another more practical meaning though. I know a lot of people listen to music in the shower. That is a given, after all, it is human nature to want to be entertained in some shape or form whilst we go about our daily business, but has anyone taken the time out to listen to seriously dirty beats in the shower? The experience is like no other. In many respects it is a dangerous activity, due in large part to the fact that popping grooves in a limited spacial area during wet conditions is dangerous in itself. Either way, I don't know about you, but I believe in a little term called no risk, no reward. Obviously this can't be applied to every scenario but in this case I guess you'll just have to take my word for it. The songs chosen for today's post are songs I personally recommend you to experiment with, preferably in the shower, but don't blame me if you break any bones. I'm sure it'll be worth it.

Eric Prydz - Pjanoo (Dada Life Guerilla Remix)
Felix Cartal - Drone (extremely recommended)
The Toxic Avenger - Toxic Is Dead (Designer Drugs Remix)
Elite Force - Used & Abused (Zodiac Cartel Remix)
Armand Van Helden - I Want Your Soul (Dusty Kid Suga Dub)
Tommy Sparks - I'm A Rope (Yuksek Remix) (feel good track of the century?)

Back to School

Back when we were kids, this was effectively the worst time of the year. New shoes were a commodity, and a school bag was usually re-used from the year before. The signs that said "back to school" usually started to appear before summer even began and kids pretended not to see them, even while they were getting their new gear. When the kids got into school they caught up with their peers and then sat down for the inevitably grim first lesson. This "lesson" is dedicated to the many ruined summers caused by "Back to School" signs and the thought of having to go back to school.

Tracklisting:
B*B Intro 2 Dusty Kid - The Underground persistance
Boys Noize - Lava Lava (Feadz Aval Aval Mix)
Felix Cartal - Montreal (demo version)
Rollin' & Scratchin' - Daft Punk
DJ Mehdi - Signatune Edit v2 - More Kick
WildChild - Renegade Master (TC's Magnum Pi fix)
Dirty Squirrel - Bisquits
Daft Punk - Pheonix
Zombie Nation - Worth It Part 1
Moby - I Love to Move in Here (proxy remix) (TC's Shark Attack fix)
Mr. Oizo - Positif (Sawgood Remix) (TC's Warped Mix)
ABC - Smokey Sings
Tiga - You Gonna Want Me
Tiga - You Gonna Want Me (Tocadisco Remix)
Radioclit - Secousse (Crookers Spino Mix)
Britney Spears - Outrageous (Felix Cartal Remix)
Thunder Child - Im Gonna Give you More Cheese (Deadmau5 vs Bloody Beetroots)
Vandal & Blende - Healthy Boy (Re Edit)
Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal (Telemitry Remix)
Burns - Alternate
Run DMC vs. Bodyrox - It's Like My Bodyrox (Dani L Mashup)
T.E.D.D. - Lady Riding
Cassius - Feeling for You (Steve Ryback Remix)
Krazy Baldhead - Crazy Moth3f2ck8z (Midfield General Rmx) (Feat Tes)
Redial - Terror
Jay Robinson - Acid Line (Tom Deluxx Remix)
Justice - Culture Prophet Guide to Planisphere
D.I.M & TAI - Lyposuct
Boys Noize - Jeffer
Green Velvet - Flash
The Bloody Beetroots - Warp 7.7 (TC's Mad as Hell edit)

 >>>>>>>>>Thunder Child (B*B) - Part 1 - Never Lost It - 1hr 46 mins<<<<<<<<<<

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Tracks from above.
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Going to talk about a few stand out tracks in the mix, most of these are old news but I still want to give my 2 cents. These aren't necessarily thee standout tracks, as the aforementioned "thee" have been talked about by every blog under the sun.

Dirty Squirrel - Biscuits:
A nice downbeat techno track, that reminds me of some of the stuff that's on A Raver's Diary. I'm not entirely sure who "Dirty Squirrel" is/are, but some quick research leads me to believe its a guy from London and that the name he/she/they actually perform under is "The Dirty Squirrels". I'm surprised this artist doesn't have more exposure as the tracks I have heard are all top quality and they are tracks I'd love to hear on a night out. This is an artist I'm going to keep my eye on.

Britney Spears - Outrageous (Felix Cartal):
This track is dedicated to all those pretentious fucks who say they'll never put Britney Spears in a mix. Cartal, once again, dominates the original track to come out with something that's completely original in its own right. Expect Distortion.

Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal (Telemitry Remix):
This is an inspiring rework of the original. Its very upbeat and the flow is perfect. Telemitry has taken some artistic freedom with his use of synth in this rework, and it has worked to his advantage. He has also used some trademark vocal samples of Jackson, and slotted them into the right places.

T.E.D.D. - Lady Riding:
Here we have an interesting remix of the instantly recognizable classic Modjo - Lady (Hear Me Tonight). T.E.D.D. are a duo from the UK who have been making runs on the blog circuit for the past year or two. They first came to my attention with their track "Cocaine Dancefloor", a track that im very surprised wasn't been played more in the club's, but then again, the clubs i go to, are pretty much all 2 years behind when it comes to music :(. Lady Riding is a track which has some nice bass synths to it and great use of the orginal Modjo vocals.

Justice - Culture Prophet Guide to Planisphere:
This is an excellent edit of an already great quadrology of songs. Culture Prophet have combined all 4 parts of the Planisphere quadrology from Justice. They have reworked it just enough that I could listen to the track and not get bored, adding in their own glitchy sounds and distortions along the way and nice new touches a long the way, at once point, i'm almost certain that there is a sample from Genesis in there as well.

Thunder Child - Im Going to Give You More Cheese:
A mash-up of The All-American Rejects - Gives You Hell (Bloody Beetroots Remix) & Deadmau5 - The Reward is More Cheese. I'm not going to review one of my own mashups, I will cover my bases by saying what all dj's say, it's a bit rough round the edges.

I hope you enjoyed this first post.