Close to the edit, again...

The edit is becoming popular again. This is a good thing. For me, it's a nice nod back to the origins of the 12" and the techniques used in the art of extending a tune just by using the bare bones of an original track. Remixes are good, don't get me wrong a different take on a track can take you by surprise, but sometimes you just want the flavour of the original to last that bit longer...

Track : TANGOTERJE - "CAN'T HELP IT"

First up is this belter from the prolific and elusive G.A.M.M stable. G.A.M.M are a sub-division of Sweden's Raw Fusion Records and they specialise in great edits, bootlegs and the like. I'm not sure about the legality of their work as their output is strictly limited edition fare and they don't have a website for more info on the folk behind them...

I've been a fan of G.A.M.M for a while now, especially the stuff by Red Astaire (If you can, check out his "The Wildstyle" track. A block party themed retake of James Brown and Afrika Bambaataa's "Unity"). But recently there has been only one G.A.M.M release that's never far from my ears and that is the above track by Norwegian, Todd Terje.

He takes the Stevie Wonder penned "I Can't Help It" from the classic Michael Jackson album, "Off The Wall", and extends it beautifully. He adds a beefier beat to the proceedings and some extra percussion, which is showcased in the fine Body & Soul style breakdown in the middle. The chorus to this is incredibly catchy and it's good to hear an old Jacko record without all his "ee hee" noises...

I love it, but I can't help but chuckle when I hear it. That's because it was butchered recently as the pay off to Cassetteboy's cheeky Jacko cut up "Apple Cak (Shitbox)".

If you love your edits in that mighty fine Yam Who? style then you are going to love this. And yes, I keep name dropping Yam Who? and promising a Yam Who? post on here... Honestly, I'll get around to it someday...

Track : THE SISTERS LOVE - "GIVE ME YOUR LOVE (DANNY KRIVIT EDIT)"

I had intended to post Ashley Beadle's edit of Curtis Mayfield's "Do Do Wap Is Strong In Here" from the recent "Mayfield Remixed" album, but I then remembered a great edit of a cover version of his classic "Give Me Your Love" by Danny Krivit. And you can't really do a post on edits and not feature one by Krivit. The guy is a legend in the field. You can't get better crudentials than learning your trade from such dance music luminaries as Larry Levan, Francois Kevorkian and David Mancuso.

The Sisters Love take on "Give Me Your Love" is pretty faithful to the original, but it's great hearing a strong female vocal version of it. Krivit extends it by letting the groove loose on a few occasions whilst layering the breathy noises of the singers over the top.

There's not much else to say, but if 70's funk and soul are your thing, then the horns, strings, beats, handclaps and vocals are going to be right up your street.

Track : TALKING HEADS - "THIS MUST BE THE PLACE (THE MAYBE RUTHIE MIX)"

I featured the original version of this on The Pipe way back in October last year. It was with some apprehension that I downloaded this edit by Mr Trick from Get Your Bootleg On back in September of this year. "This Must Be The Place" is one of my favourite Talking Heads songs and I was scared incase he had mucked about with it too much. Thankfully, he hasn't. Just a few echoes to Byrne's vocal, letting the rhythm and melody have time to itself and extending my favourite bit of the track...

"Hit me on the head / I go Ooooooooooooooooooo".

An excellent edit.

Track : THE DOORS - "BOSSA ROCKER"

Seeing as this one has been requested a few times in the forum, I've put back up this killer edit of "Break On Through" that I posted about back in July. So if you didn't get it then, then now is your chance.

Go Visit : Raw Fusion Records / GAMM Discography
Go Visit : Michael Jackson
Go Visit : Danny Krivit @ Ibadan Records
Go Visit : Talking Heads
Go Visit : Mr Trick
Go Visit : The Doors

Go Buy : Tangoterje - Can't Help It 12" @ Juno Records
Go Buy : Michael Jackson - Off The Wall
Go Buy : Danny Krivit - Edits By Mr. K
Go Buy : Talking Heads - Speaking In Tongues
Go Buy : The Doors - The Doors

Feel free to leave a comment about these tracks in The Pipe section of the forum.

Ta,
Budgie

Oh, and one last thing, if you love edits then you can do no wrong in visiting the blog DREAMTIME MIX. Alongside posting the odd curio, the guy has made edits of some excellent tracks by the likes of Simple Minds, ABC, OMD and now he seems to be on a Style Council phase. He's always worth checking out.

The Pipe's server problems have now been resolved...

Things should be back to normal now, so apologies for anyone who has been trying to get any of the tunes.

No new tracks just now though, I'll sort something out for the beginning of next week.

In the meantime, the following posts are now back and active :

Lost Bootlegs / Have Beat. Habe Head. Will Nod / Flogging A Dead Horse / All Becomes Music / Music For Adverts

Feel free to leave a comment in The Pipe section of the forum.

Ta,
Budgie

The Pipe is down for the time being. Server problems.

Keep an eye on the forum for further details on when it'll be back up.

Ta,
Budgie.

3 Heartbeats.

Every now and then there is a television advert that will stop you in your tracks.

There are two that currently do this to me. One is the Orange ad with the couple dancing around their house to the echoing piano lines of Brian Eno's beautiful "1/1" from his "Ambient 1 : Music For Airports" album and the other is the advert for Sony's new LCD TV, Bravia.

Firstly the visuals caught me. An empty San Francisco street is invaded by hundreds and thousands of coloured super balls all bouncing in slow motion down the hill. Going on the sheer number of them, it's pretty impressive stuff. Even more impressive is the fact that there is not one bit of CGI involved. Every ball you see is real and the whole scene was captured in one take using 23 cameras.

Then the music hit me. It works in perfect harmony with the advert but for the first few times I watched it I found it ruined my enjoyment of it. Not because at first I thought it was at odds with the visuals, it was more because I recognised the song, not the singer, and I was tearing my hair out trying to work it out. Then a "eureka" moment occured when I fathomed out it was a tune I knew incredibly well (well, for a couple of days I didn't...), and loved, entitled, "Heartbeats".

As cover versions go, the version in the advert by Sweden's Jose Gonzalez is done incredibly well. The reason I was caught off guard was that the versions I knew were both heavily electronic and featured a female vocal, not some soft voiced fella strumming a guitar.

I say versions above as the two versions of "Heartbeats" I know by fellow Swedes and brother and sister electro kooks, The Knife, are totally different.

The first version I had heard was the Rex The Dog remix of it at the tail end of last year. A stuttering, uplifting, 80's influenced dance track that pretty much showcased Rex The Dog's remixing skills. The next time I came across the track was when I picked up The Knife's "Deep Cuts" album. I didn't like it at first as it is at least half the speed of the Rex The Dog cut, but over time I have grown incredibly fond of it's slow motion electro pop goodness. The video was interesting too, a few kids on skateboards zig-zagging in slow motion down a San Fransisco street...

Track : JOSE GONZALEZ - "HEARTBEATS"

Track : THE KNIFE - "HEARTBEATS"

Track : THE KNIFE - "HEARTBEATS (REX THE DOG REMIX)"

Go Visit : Jose Gonzalez
Go Visit : The Knife
Go Visit : Rex The Dog
Go Visit : Sony / Bravia to see the advert and some featurettes on how it was made.

Go Buy : Jose Gonzales - Veneer
Go Buy : The Knife - Deep Cuts
Go Buy : The Knife - Heartbeats CD Single @ Juno Records
Go Buy : Sony Bravia 32" LCD TV

Feel free to leave a comment about these tracks in The Pipe section of the forum.

Ta,
Budgie

Ambience from Sweden Via Lithuania...

Way back in June I featured a track called "Otnemem" by Octex (the post can be found here). It was taken from a great compilation of dubby electronica and techno entitled "Flow:ers" and it was available for free via the Lithuanian internet record label Sutemos.

I had been meaning to do another Sutemos post a couple of months back when I had noticed that they had released another great, and again free, compilation entitled "Red, Green, Blue And Other Summer Feelings". Though still ambient and electronic in nature, that compilation focused more on a Post Rock sound and has many a droney and feedback filled moment amongst it's mostly vocal inclusions.

One band / producer stood out on that album as he managed to get 2 of his tracks onto it. He is a swedish producer who goes by the name of Stockfinster.

The 2 tracks on that album were "All Becomes Music" and the beautiful vocal track "A Crack In Time", and that word "beautiful" is going to crop up a lot when I mention his music....

I hadn't decided which one of those two would get put up on The Pipe, but I had made a note to put at least one of them up. When I finally did get around to doing so, I then spotted that Sutemos had put together an album length compilation of Stockfinster's work. The album "All Becomes Music" was then duly downloaded and for the past few weeks I have been having my ears caressed by it's beautiful mix of electronica, ambience, live instrumentation and choice spoken word samples.

According to Sutemos, Stockfinster has been making music for quite some time and after venturing over to his own site I saw that there are 3 free albums worth of material to download. It's from these 3 albums that the "All Become Music" compilation is collated from.

And what a compilation it is. Both of his tracks from Sutemos' "Red, Green, Blue And Other Summer Feelings" make a welcome reappearance alongside some other truly beautiful moments. The sad, but uplifting, John Hannah / Four Weddings And a Funeral sampling track "Dismantled" is stunning, "Last Report" with it's rhythmical and spacey darkness shows a different side to Stockfinster and "Clark Kent" shows that he is as accomplished a producer as Ulrich Schnauss in creating that sort of shimmering, warm, electronic, shoegaze sound.

In fact, if you like your electronica and ambient in that Ulrich Schnauss mould then you'll love Stockfinster.

Track : STOCKFINSTER - "ALL BECOMES MUSIC"

This is the opening track on the album. It's initial dark atmosphere is soon lifted with the appearance of some fine Eno-esque treated piano and then when the spoken word piece appears, possibly Bjork, the track is set adrift on a slow motion beat accompanied with some beautiful Cocteau Twins / Slowdive style female vocals.

Track : STOCKFINSTER - "IN TRANSIT"

I plumped for the last track on the album as I really like it's fragile, almost invisible quality about it, which is backed up nicely by the use of the sample "I simply am not there". Very simple chords and tones make up the track and create plenty of space over a non intrusive rhythm. It does build up, but not to some sort of crescendo. The appearance of some barely there strings towards the end finishes the tune off nicely.

Beautiful!

If you like what you hear, then both links below feature his work either in zipped album format or as individual tracks.

Go Visit : Stockfinster
Go Visit : Sutemos

Feel free to leave a comment about these tracks in The Pipe section of the forum.

Ta,
Budgie