Monday Morning Freshness!!

Well, the sun is shining, and it has to be said that I am feeling pretty fantastic for a Monday today! Although the quiet weekend I had after a very drunkard Friday night probably has a lot to do with that. So this weekend, I have slept a lot, and mostly watched in horror as the disaster has unfolded in Japan - again all those people affected by this tragedy are in my thoughts, and I am sending all my positive thoughts that the nuclear emergency doesn't get any worse.

Today I'm going on a bit of a retro tip to start the week, and will be taking you all back to my teenage years for the first couple of tracks.

I used to absolutely adore the Smashing Pumpkins, until around the turn of the millenium when their ego's became too big for their boots. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is a great album though and this is one of my favourite tracks of theirs.

I grew up with David Bowie, and to this day he remains one of my idols - he is the very definition of an all round creative genius, and someone who I feel really pushed creative boundaries for many many years. I also feel very strongly about awesome songs not being covered or remixed by inferior artists, as it can ruin the original - however this is an exception to that rule, as this Unplugged version of The Man Who Sold the World by Nirvana is one of the best covers of any great song that I have heard to date, and in my opinion it totally did the original justice. (This could well be however because Nirvana are not an inferior band, however I am sure you can all think of many songs that have been covered by rubbish acts that have been spoilt!)

This next tune is also a remix of a great original, and was one that I first heard on the Timo Maas CD given out on the cover of Mixmag a few years ago. It is a remix of Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence" and in my opinion, it is a really beautiful haunting track. This has always stuck in my mind from the very first time I listened to it, and it made a bigger impression still on me when I read that Depeche Mode don't generally like remixes of their tracks, however they absolutely loved this one!

Some exciting news this morning - the Brookes Brothers release their debut album at the end of April, which is something that I personally can't wait for. Their first single of this forthcoming album will be released soon, and they recently did the guest mix for Crissy Criss on Radio 1 Extra - no download link unfortunately but click here to listen again to this mix.

This track is the first single to be released from this album, and has a release date of the 21st of March so not long to wait! Delicious! :)

This penultimate track of the day is yet another delicious tune, this time from Plastician, who previously went by the name of Plasticman. He is actually in Leeds this week, playing at Bigger than Barry tomorrow night - if I could legitimately play out on a school night these days, I would be there with bells on, however being a sensible (ish!) member of the working masses I now have to force myself to behave when I have work the next day. However for those of you who are students, or who don't have work on Wednesday (or who don't have the same conscience as I!), I would recommend getting down to this one as you would be in for a treat! Click here for more info!

This last track is great, its a Sigma remix of Special Dedication by Topcat, and it is just fantastic! It has a lovely deep jungley kind of sound to it, and lots of energy - I just love it!

Enjoy! That finishes the listening for today, I hope that you like them, and please spread the link about if you do. Hopefully that will keep you going until tomorrow's update.