Kraftwerk Kovers

Anybody who has ever read this (both of you) will know I have a softspot for Kraftwerk.
And it seems I'm not alone, it appears there is a robot army out there dropping covers and reinterpretations of the 'Werk at every opportunity.


Luckily for lazy buggers like me, DJ Food of Sold Steel and Coldcut fame has lovingly collated them in a mix series called, Kraftwerk Kovers. Not content with dropping robotic moves at every possible opportunity, I'm sharing the robot goodness, right here.....


Here's Senor Coconut with Home Computer in a meringue style...

Orbital Electro Mix

To be honest, Chime and Belfast aside, I never really had much time for Orbital. However they are veterans of the scene and redeemed themselves a little bit by throwing down this classic electro mix on 6 Music a couple of weeks ago:

Download here:

PHIL HARTNOLL OLD SKOOL ELECTRO MIX

Shannon - Let The Music Play
Newcleus - Automan
Kid Frost - Rough Cut
Roxanne Shante - Bite This
Hashim - We're Rocking This Place
Imperial Brothers - We Come To Rock
Afrika Bambaatta - Planet Rock
RSW - The Phantom
Ryuichi Sakamoto - Riot In Lagos

Here's a robot:

It's Great When Your Straight

All this sunshine puts me in a real Balearic mood, so whilst I pad off in my espadrilles for another cold San Miguel, I'll share this mix from a young DJ by the name of Phillip Harvey. Check him out ont Facebook here. Contradicting my earlier thoughts on Indie, this is a little different to my usual fodder.

The original spirit of Balearic encompased dance, pop, hip hop rock and all points in beween, so I thought this excellent mix was a fitting tribute.

Over to Philip Harvey for the intro whilst I pull up a sun lounger.....

"So here's the latest effort. It's called 'The Ind-iza Sunset Terrace Mix' and as the title suggests, was inspired by an open roofed Ibizan terrace (but using indie artists as opposed to dance).

It's been a while in the making. 73 minutes, 38 tracks and 30 years of music. There were endless hours of editing, chopping, looping and tempo-anchoring of tunes. And that's before mixing them together. Then it was quite a task seeing what worked and what didn't, taking tunes out and adding new ones until I was satisfied the remit had been answered.

It's something of a concept mix. The idea is that it's for an Ibizan terrace as the sun is going down. Except only using indie artists (with a couple of exceptions). So picking the playlist was incredibly difficult as I was trying to create a very specific atmosphere. And there isn't really indie music out there made with this kind of atmosphere in mind. It had to be stuff you could dance to but not party music, epic and optimistic but melancholy at the same time.

Download it here:

Tracklist;
• Intro
- Placebo 'Passive Agressive' (Brothers In Rhythm Remix)
- TV On the Radio 'Staring at the Sun'
- Zoot Woman 'Saturation'
• M83 'Couleurs'
- (The Killers 'When You Were Young' (Acapella))
• Animal Collective 'My Girls'
- (Animal Collective 'My Girls' (Gigamesh Proper House Remix))
• Simple Minds 'Theme for Great Cities'
- (Hard-Fi 'Hard to Beat' (Axwell Mix))
• MGMT 'Kids'
• Talking Heads 'Once In a Lifetime' (Funk Fusion Remix)
• Friendly Fires 'Skeleton Boy' (Air France Remix)
• VHS Or Beta 'Alive'
• Vampire Weekend 'The Kids Don't Stand a Chance (Chromeo Remix)
- (The Holloways 'Generator')
• Planet Funk 'Chase the Sun'
• Cut Copy 'Out There On the Ice'
• The Whip 'Sister Siam'
• Roxy Music 'Angel Eyes' (Extended Mix)
• Kings of Leon 'Be Somebody'
• Mystery Jets 'Half In Love With Elizabeth' (Delorean Remix)
• Arcade Fire 'No Cars Go'
• Peter, Bjorn & John 'Young Folks' feat. Victoria Bergsman
• Peter, Bjorn & John 'Young Folks' feat. Victoria Bergsman (Cousin Cole)
• New Young Pony Club 'The Bomb (Kaos Disco Bomb Extended Dub)
- (Foals 'Like Swimming')
- (Peter, Bjorn & John 'Young Folks' feat. Victoria Bergsman (Punks Jump Up Mix
• Foals 'Olympic Airways'
• Bloc Party 'I Still Remember'
• Morrissey 'Suedehead'
• Joy Division 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'
• Joy Division 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' (Arthur Baker Remix)
• M83 'We Own the Sky'
- (Man Like Me 'London Town' (Doorly's Cockney Wideboy Remix))
• Spiritualized vs the Beach Boys 'Wouldn't It Be Ecstasy'
• Jack Peñate 'Tonight's Today' (Extended Mix)
• Doves 'There Goes the Fear' (U.N.K.L.E. Remix)
• DJ Shadow 'Blood On the Motorway'
- (Snow Patrol 'Shut Your Eyes'

R.I.P. Michael Jackson

So Michael Jackson is gone. I’ve seen plenty of comment about this, some positive some down right stupid. However whatever you say, Jackson changed the face of popular music beyond recognition. Quite aside from practically inventing the music video genre, breaking MTV and propping up Motown, Jackson alongside Quincy Jones moved black music into the heart of pop, creating a legacy that undermines all but the blandest, whitest of today’s music. Before Thriller, there was soul, funk, and disco and then there was every other type of music, including pop. By exhibiting a healthy disregard for genre, Jackson quite literally defined his music as what was to be known as pop, a decision that resonates with almost everything of any note since.
Easily as influential as the Beatles, Velvets or any other rock ‘n roll band, Jackson the man may have been a questionable proposition, but his music lives on….

Download:

Michael Jackson Tribute Mix by DJ Premier