You're Wilde! Wilde!

Kim Wilde- Cambodia

A Square World

Imagine there is an alternate reality to ours. Many things the same, some very different. Some just a leeetle different. In that world, Vitalic sometimes neglects his harder edged fancies, loosening his white knuckle grip in order to hold them palms up to the skies. In our world we have Mauno Kalevi to do that for us. And we get normal Vitalic. Our reality totally kicks the other ones ass.

Mauno Kalevi- Kirjastolaulu

Buy the 12" for one more Kalevi track and two fantastic tracks by Mark Du Mosch.

Terrible Band Name

The digital postman delivered this treat for all the no vowel dance supergroup fans out there...

Hey Sean,

So, before MSTRKRFT came to be, Al-P was in a group called Girls Are Short and my friend ran the label they were on, called UpperClass Recordings. When Girls Are Short broke up, Al was supposed to make a solo record under the name Horny Emotion. It never happened, but he did give a couple of tracks he had worked on to my buddy. It's a shame that it was never finished, because as much as I like MSTRKRFT, I would have loved this record, especially that Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam remix.

Adam

Sweet. Adam rules.

Anyway, two of the tracks are definitely unfinished which is a damn shame. As the tracks are now, they just hint at the groovy filter house jams they could have been, but as Adam says, the cover of Lisa Lisa is pretty sweet.

Horny Emotion- I Wonder if I Take You Home

Horny Emotion- 44

Horny Emotion- Oceanic

Fyah

I'm pretty sure all Phonat does is remix mediocre songs by The Young Punx (see here). Luckily, he's really good at it.

The Young Punx- Fire (Phonat Mix)

New York Story

Wow. This is an epic slice of the cosmos. Laid back groovy, yet so propulsive that you can almost feel the stars whipping by your face. And when those church bells hit... Wow.

Lee Douglas- New York Story

Get dat vinyl!

Leopold

Cassius- Rock Number One (Leopold Gregori Mix)

And in case anybody missed this one...

Leopold Gregori- Pigeon Dance

The Whole 12 Inches Vol 4 (Do the Math Edition)

Voyage is awesome. Okay, half awesome. Both albums here are very similar, starting off with a nice floaty disco tune, and then go into a more tribal track (Kechak Fantasy an obvious reference to George Kranz's Din Daa Daa) and then an asian influenced jam. My fave of the two albums, Fly Away then has a tropical island/ luau track (which is soooweet) just to mix things up. Then the second side of both records is caca. Just bad cheesy disco garbage not worth ripping. So you just get the A sides. All the songs are seamlessly mixed and their trip around the world gimmick is a lot of fun, like a disco version of Its a Small World. Enjoy!

Marlin 1978

Voyage- Souvenirs
Voyage- Kechak Fantasy
Voyage- Eastern Trip
Voyage- Tahiti, Tahiti...

Marlin 1977

Voyage- From East to West
Voyage- Point Zero
Voyage- Orient Express

Bulgari

Slowly tumbling and tumbling through warm pulsing starfields finally brought me here, to Bulgari. Bogdan Irkuk (a.k.a. Bulgari) just released his first ep entitled "The Distant" on Sweden's Rollerboys Recordings. With Bogdan Irkuk, Arken and Ultracity all creating such beautiful things, expect to hear a lot more from this label. Fans of anything cosmic, italo, electro, disco, Tangerine Dream, Moroder etc. NEED this. Beautiful analog tones, vocoder, warm melodies, machine music with the heart of man. The EP includes two other originals and two remixes, all well worth your time and money. Buy here or here or here or somewhere else. Just buy it.

Bogdan Irkuk (a.k.a. Bulgari)- The Distant Message

Dub Be Good

Yesterday I spent my whole evening cleaning house and ripping records and ran across a couple sweet dubs I'd like to share. The Hall & Oates dub was done by the one and only Jellybean Benitez and the Stevie Wonder one is on the b side of the Master Blaster 45. Master Blaster's got a lot of reediting going on and tons of crazy echo and the Hall & Oates dub is well... really nice. Its Hall & Oates ya know? Muted guitar, bouncy synths, its a spicy little groove.

Hall & Oates- Say It Isn't So (Dub Version)
Stevie Wonder- Master Blaster (Dub)

Its Automatik

Automatic Lover warms my cold robotic heart. I love the Sylvia original (Zartek has this rare track available in great quality. Yay for Zartek!), the Dee D. Jackson and Jay Jay Johanson versions and now this. Maxie Devine and Veerus sample Automatic Lover (don't know which one) and transform it into a club jam that lives on the dangerous fine line between the Kris Menace/Lifelike sound and straight up progressive house.

Maxie Devine & Veerus- Automatik
Dee D. Jackson- Automatic Lover
Jay Jay Johanson- Automatic Lover

Valerie

Has everyone been over to Valerie yet? I'm loving it right now. 80's fetishism with lots of great old Italo and electro and lots of newcomers like Apollo and College. Great new talents I've never heard of. AND they hipped me to this awesome Lifelike track that slipped by me. Apparently it was only was available on some strange 2004 Mini Cooper funded compilation. It bangs.

Lifelike- In My Car (Live Mix)

Synthacon

For anyone that doesnt know the story about The Tuss, heres the short version: it might be Richard D James or it not be. Google it, theres lots of fun conspiracy theories to be sifted through. If it is indeed Aphex (probably), then this is some of my favorite work of his in a long time. Its frantic, disconnected, and rushed, then suddenly, clear and beautiful. For a moment. Then everything unravels again. Much like my first few days of non-smoking.

The Tuss- Synthacon 9

PS
The link is back up on my mix a couple posts down. Get it. Love it. Tell me about it.

Amor De Robot

Borat? Oh my god. Funniest video ever. My buddy Marc sent me this video last year and I never really got over it. That guy that just lightly spanks his 303 throughout is just priceless. Unfortunately I've been told the above song was never actually released (somebody prove them wrong!) but hey, at least I've got this one.

Vocoder- Amor De Robot

Fluff

As with most Italo records, I know next to nothing about this one, and theres precious little info about it out there. As far as I know Lama made only one other track ("Nineteen Ninety Three") in their short 1983-1983 run, which despite my best efforts, has not been found. If anybody has a copy of that one, HIT ME UP!

I was driving alone through the desert the first time I heard "Love on the Rocks" and couldn't help but rewind it multiple times to fully appreciate the other worldly atmosphere it created within my Volvo. Should I ever get the chance to float on a fluffy cloud, I've got my playlist all picked out.

Lama- Love on the Rocks

All Work and No Play Makes Donson a Dull Boy

I've been sick for over a week, and haven't left the house in four days except to rent movies. I'm going crazy. I also quit smoking. I'm going crazier. One day I'll post more music and ramblings, just not right now, because I'm crazy.

Summer Jam Series Vol. 4

I'd like everyone out there to think its always summer here on Planet Arawa. Our blissful days spent stretched out on enchanted beaches and playing slo mo volleyball with Maverick and the boys. But its not true. Cold winter (and spring. damn it.) winds blow, freezing our hearts and, and encouraging our inactivity. This better stop now. I haven't taken the top down on my cute little white Jetta for months. I'm kidding. I drive a Volvo.

Today my buddy Rot suggested I post a mix I did 3 years ago in hope of coaxing the God of Summer out of his dirty crawlspace (I'm paraphrasing). After quick consideration I was all, "Fuck yeah!". I excite easily.

Where I lived for the first 22 years of my life (Ojai represent!) I had MY STATION. The one I used to request Weird Al and Arrested Development on just so I could tape it, the first one programed into my car stereo when I got older, the one I knew all the djs names. Q104.7. People from the 805 area code know what I'm sayin. Not that it was a great station, but it was mine. By the late 90s they had morphed from Top 40 into a hip hop and rnb format and hired DJs to do mix shows and all that. Then DJ Wicked happened. He did the morning mix, the mid-day mix, weekends, I'm pretty sure he lived there. He played mostly freestyle, miami bass, cheesey dance shit and the odd disco track with all the sweet tricks, double records, beat juggling, scratching, but was always fluid and never intrusive. Hot.

Anyway long story short, after moving up here I missed the constant freestyle barrage and concocted a little digital mix tribute to Wicked, sans crazy dj tricks. Its mostly stuff he played all the time (no crate diggin here people. this is pop dance), stuff that I thought he should of played and tunes that just sound better when the sun is out. A few missteps here and there but I think you'll like it. Pump it in your Jeeps, Benzos and white convertible Jettas.

Dear DJ Wicked,
I Love You.
Sincerely,
Sean Donson

Pause.

Cover Girls- Intro/Show Me
Mellow Man Ace- Mentirosa
Shannon- Let The Music Play
Nocera- Summertime Summertime
Noel- Silent Morning
Stevie B.- Spring Love
Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam- I Wonder If I You Take You Home
Connie- Funky Little Beat
Expose- Point Of No Return
DMX Krew- Sound Of The Streets
Lil' Suzy- Take Me In Your Arms
Debbie Deb/Daft Punk/R Kelly- Oh Yeah! Weekend Booty!
Kraftwerk- The Telephone Call (Razormaid! Mix)
DJ Laz- Red Alert
La Rissa- I Do Both Jay & Jane
Angelina- Release Me
2 Live Crew- Hoochie Mama
DJ Laz- Mami El Negro
Inoj- Time After Time
Rockell- In A Dream
Diplo- Diplo Rhythm/Percao
Inoj- Love You Down
DMX Krew- Honey
LL Cool J- Goin Back To Cali
Jordan Knight- Give It To You (95 South Mix)
Do Or Die/Phoenicia- Smoke & Ride/Rhythm Box
Medasyn- The Battle
95 South- Wet & Wild (DJ Laz Mix)
Devin The Dude- I Hi
FannyPack- Pump That
Savage/Timmy T- Swing/One More Try