It isn’t very often that I repost something I’ve found on a blog, but special artists call for special exceptions. I stumbled across this Alphabeat remix by the likes of Radioclit, oh so popular with me due to their grand contributions to the dj-mix canon. Its got the same clavésque beat that they feature prominantly on the Wawaba remix; almost straight up West-African. I love how that poppy horn line just rides the drums for a good couple of minutes before the clitspit pops the Alpha-boys drops: tonal semi-whine and “woo-woos” never sounded better. Popjustice reports that The Alphabeat crew just landed major-label distro in the UK, so it can’t be long before they’re headlining small clubs in college towns and metropoles here in the states. Not sure how I feel about this mix by Frankmusik. It’s very Lo-Fi-Fnk, which is not a bad thing.

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“Lil’ Star,” a 2007 single off the album “Kelis Was Here,” is a little slice of Disco-Pop heaven. She even gets Cee-Lo to add his golden pipes to the chorus. This is by no means a new track, but it finally dawned on me just how good the mixes are so I have to post. This joint is a throwback to the early days of the 12″ record, when mixes extended the best bits and vamped the vocal hooks. Prior to the 1970s, the decade when DJ culture really entrenched itself in NYC haunts such as The Loft and The Gallery, the 12″ record, was unheard of. Discos actually influenced the technology and DJs, in hopes of pleasing their audiences, became producers. The 45/7″ was just too small to accommodate. Now the technology is in a big black nebula again, with amateur edits pushing DJs to innovate on the fly and challenging those nostalgic heads who don’t keep up with the rapid evolution of their dance floors. I love this shit.

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British Indie bands always have an easier time balancing club ready, four-to-the-floor backbeats with substantial lyrics. This one’s all about refusing to leave the coast despite the increasing risk of being swallowed by a wall of water; a global warming call to arms shall we say? Well, it is substantial for me considering that I barely discern the content of most the music I get into, and that’s mostly because my brain latches onto the subtleties of production and can’t process the extra info. Athlete’s one of those bands that came out after The Strokes and with no real interest in replicating the Electro-clash playbook. You know the type – first American record out on Astralwerks, some cute videos and a lot of bangs. Stereogum posted this track back in August after Camp America won some sort of remix contest sponsored by the band’s label. It’s really just a great song for jamming in your car to. Especially on gloomy Providence days like today.

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