Articles tagged with beach

D-Mob – Put Your Hands Together

It’s my birthday today! In honor of this fact I thought I’d post a couple of faves. The first time I ever went to Chicago my family (curiously) listened to D-Mob’s A Little of This, a Little of That the entire time, and as a consequence I know most of it by heart. Most folks get into “We Call It Acieeed” (ok so maybe it does have an amazing video) but I’m partial to their take on D-Train’s “Put Our Hands Together,” which is a great romp of a hip house track.

Last year Boat Drinks!, an excellent reworker of tunes in the balearic style, did a lovely take on UB40’s “Don’t Break My Heart,” a vastly superior tune to most of their radio hits, and a surefire way to make me wish it’s simultaneously 90° and 1988. Grab it from his Soundcloud. I’ll be certain to crank it on my birthday beach trip tomorrow. Enjoy your weekend guys!

/// Brian Blackout

01-Diamonds-on-the-Soles-of-Her-Shoes-Todd-Terje-edit

Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes (Todd Terje edit) – Paul Simon

Over this past week I’ve been in South Carolina enjoying the beach, and last night my girlfriend and I were discussing Paul Simon’s Graceland, which led me to bring up this stunner of a Todd Terje edit. Todd Terje (aka the Terjelator) has recently become more known for his own excellent nu disco productions like Inspector Norse, which is shaping up to be the big Summer jam of 2012. But, he came onto a lot of radars as a master of balearic edits like this one. Songs that feel just right being played on a beach in the light of day. Songs that make you smile and want to hug everyone, or maybe watch Captain Ron or the Lion King

Originally released in ‘06, this edit, which Terje entitled “Diamonds Dub,” is among his best. Rather than trying to fill a dancefloor or improve the original, Terje has a fun, dubby take on this tune. The unassuming African polyrhythms of the original are brightened up a bit and brought to the fore. The slippery fretless bass takes a few moments to wiggle in the spotlight as well. Simon’s voice, liked the rest of the edit, is wrapped in a cocoon of a reverb. It’s as if during a performance, he’s running around the audience dancing with them as his band plays, before running back on stage to sing a couple lines. Find your local or not so local beach and some headphones and see if you don’t agree that this is sublime.

I’m sure the original Tangoterje vinyl is out of print. You can (and should) easily buy a copy of Graceland. Additionally you can try looking here for the edit.

/// Brian Blackout

Another week, another italo disco jam from me. This one is off of Rayko‘s recent Rare Wiri Heroes release on his own label, and is a reworking of Mike Oldfield‘s “Foreign Affair.” You may know Mike Oldfield from his most famous work, “Tubular Bells,” (a.k.a. the theme from the Exorcist) which has been covered at least a couple times during the italo era. “Foreign Affair” has had its share of covers too (this Balearic one is ridiculous, for example) but this sounds to be a straight reworking of the original vocal track.

If you’re not familiar with Rayko, this most excellent Spaniard has one of the most active Soundcloud pages I have ever seen, covering everything from boogie to blue-eyed soul, and you can find a lot of his recent reworks on vinyl from folks like Kojak Giant Sounds.

The original “Foreign Affair” makes you feel you’re running along a moonlit beach, glancing back with every step to check for approaching zombies. For this version, Rayko swaps out the original’s sinister arpeggiated synth work with a more amiable and danceable chug. When paired with the some sing-song vocals about finding that special international tropical beach that you’re looking for, it banishes the zombies and evokes images of sun-dappled tides flowing in across your feet. If you’re anything like me, you’re counting down the days until you hit the beach, so this is probably only going to make it harder to wait. No free DL unfortunately, but you can pick the digital download up easily on Junodownload.

/// Brian Blackout