BPM Edition 2009 v1 | Take 5 - a podcast by Keith a.k.a. K j A M

Wrapping up the final installment of BPM Edition 2009 v1, I take you on a journey of some serious electro-funk.  As promised, I've added some sweet re-makes from the 90's.  First up, is the Buzz Junkies take on the massive Darude classic "Sandstorm".  Okay, that song is really early millennium, so it's a couple of years off, but who's counting?  Anyhoo, for those too young to remember, this was so big, it even got played on top 40 radio.  It spurned so many remixes (official and unofficial) it was nauseating.  Then came the mashups.  OMG, I can't begin to tell you how many of those there were (and you thought "Pjanoo" mashups were overdone).  Regardless, the BJs took this one by the horn and blow it through the roof!  Then we've got "Sweet Dreams" a remake of the LaBouche classic, though the vocals aren't up to par when compared to Melanie Thornton (may she rest in peace), but the ReCover Project lay on a nice electro layer and dropped the cheesy rap for the perfect trip down memory lane that can still fill floors.  This, of course, is followed by the Ruffneck classic "Everybody Be Somebody" which made an appearance on one of my 90's classic editions from last year.  Thomas Gold and Matthias Menck give it a serious electro workout that's not only worthy of the original but damn near surpasses it!  I also had two 80's remakes ("Electric Avenue" and "She Blinded Me with Science") that were decent enough, but still not worthy of this mix.  Possibly the biggest surprise in this category is "Magic" by Vinny Troia & Dave Aud?.  Why?  Because this is actually a remake of an old Barry Manilow tune "Could This Be Magic" from the seventies that was later turned into a #1 disco hit for none other than Donna Summer.  Granted, they dropped the over the top drama of Barry's original and left out the sweeping strings of Donna's version, and just left the lyrics, re-creating a different song altogether.  Is it great?  Not really, but I was intrigued by the way they used the lyrics to create an entirely new song, thus its inclusion.



Other songs definitely worth mentioning are the Freemasons' re-rub of "If" originally from their "Shakedown" album a couple of years back.  In fact, I think this is probably the sixth or seventh release from that album that got re-worked for single release.  If you remember Gusto' "Disco's Revenge" and Katherine Ellis' "Touch Me" originally appeared on that album and went on to greater heights in clubland during 2008.  Probably the song that surprised me the most is Kidda's "Under the Sun".  Used in a Bacardi commercial, it apparently was floating around the Internet last year, but didn't get an official release until mid-November.  How I managed to miss this is beyond me, because this song absolutely rocks!  Just think of the good old days when Fatboy Slim was rocking it with the likes of "I See You Baby" and "Rockafeller Skank" and you'll get the picture.  Equally, the Jason Heard vs. Flashlight "My Girl" is a dirty, nasty romper with a funky guitar riff that will stick in your head long after you leave the club.  I expect huge things for this song in the coming months.  Rounding out the mix you get "Everybody" by Russia's Rudenko.  While it may be too soon to tell, he is someone you might want to watch because this song is smoking!



As I got down to the end of the mix, I still had a handful of great tunes that I didn't use.  So, I've moved those off to the side for use in the next BPM installment, probably sometime in March or after WMC.  Weather is really cooperative today and it looks like we're going to have a fabulous weekend so mixing won't be in the cards as Rick and I will certainly take advantage of the beautiful weather.  Nevertheless, I promise to have the 2009 Winter Edition up and ready by the end of next week.  I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend and I'll catch you guys ...

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