Put on those red shoes...

...and dance the blues!

Well, I won't be hitting the dance floors this weekend, as I am saving myself so that I can fully embrace the celebrations for my 30th birthday next week - however, in my head, I am always wearing my red shoes and dancing the night away!

So this week has been a fantastic week for me musically. I've managed to combine a great mix of new and old, band stuff and electronic, I've embraced genres I hadn't really heard before, tried new artists, and found great stuff by some of my favourite producers. Unfortunately, there isn't enough space or time in a blog post for me to share everything with you, but I am going to try to share the best of the best.

First of all, I am going to ask you to help a talented friend of mine, who has entered a Sasha remix competition. The challenge is to remix Cut me Down, which is a great track anyway - however Supercell has well and truly risen to the challenge and come up with a fantastic remix! Please give this a listen, and click on the facebook "like" button to show your appreciation! I'm not into nepotism, and don't share tracks that I'm not too enamoured with. Plus, the music I've heard this week has been at such a high standard that for this to be included speaks volumes.

Click here to listen and vote! Also please ask your friends to vote as well.

Earlier in the week, I spent a very enjoyable day introducing a friend to the delights of two of my all time favourite albums - Blood Sugar Sex Magik, by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and also the Nirvana Unplugged in New York album. These are both seminal albums of the 1990's, and every track on each of them is incredible. They hold so many memories, and are as enjoyable for people now as they were when the albums first came out. It has been hard to choose just one from each of them, but here goes.

RIP Kurt Cobain - this track is called All Apologies, and it is Kurt's voice that really makes this. Also how young does Dave Grohl look in the video? :)

This track is Blood Sugar Sex Magik, and it is absolutely great - the whole album has a kind of funky, rude and raunchy feel to it, and while it is hard to pick a favourite off it, this has to be up there with the ones I like the best.

Time for something a little bit different now - this is a PsyBreaks mix by Hedflux, and it is absolutely great! Perfect to work to, it has a lot of energy, some really gorgeous sounds, and it's really helped me concentrate this morning. I'm looking forward to checking out the older mixes on the Hedflux soundcloud page. Click here to listen.

This next track is a cheeky remix that the fantastic drum and bass production duo Camo and Krooked have done of Raise your Weapons by Deadmau5. A version of this is to be released, however this one is just for them to use in sets - this was taken from the intro to their guest mix on the Annie Nightingale show on Radio 1 a few days ago, which contains some other fantastic little gems. Click here to listen, there is a download link in the description, and make sure you check out the tracklist.

I was blown away when the AC/DC bootleg of Thunderstruck that they have made kicked in - it was a serious WTF is this moment!!

DJ Marky and S.P.Y can't really do anything wrong at the moment in my eyes (Yellow Shoes is one of my fave current tracks!), and while this one is a couple of years old, I'm sure you will agree that it is awesome. :)

This is the full Sigma remix of Collie Budz - Come Around, and again while it's not very new, it is a perfect summertime track. You can't help but smile when you listen to this!

Next up, we have an epic remix of Swedish House Mafia's modern classic, One - this is by AJ Myst, and I love it!

This next track, I have been waiting for forever! This is an absolutely fantastic hard dance track from Munkjack, called Smack my Bits up. I just love the carnival atmosphere of it, I absolutely defy you to listen to this without tapping your toes, or shaking your booty as I have found it impossible! Each time I hear it, I am almost propelled towards the dancefloor! Click here to check this out!

The last track for today is a new remix from Firefarm and Solution - this is a remix of Requiem for a Dream, and it's gorgeous! I love it! I've listened to this so many times this week! I really can't wait until I have the opportunity to see these guys again, I hope I don't have to wait too long!

The Wonders of Soundcloud
I have been encouraging a lot of people to sign up to and make best use of Soundcloud recently for following artists - along with subscribing to uploaders on YouTube, it is a great way to keep up to date with studio sets, live mixes, new tracks etc, and when you follow artists, their work and comments appear in your dashboard, in the same way that your news feed works on facebook.

If you like the type of music I share, then click here to check out my profile, and see who I am following. Once you are signed in, you can easily click on the add symbol next to each name, and follow them yourselves! (Sorry if this is basic to some of you, but I've discovered a lot of people who didn't realise how much good music you can find this way!)

This is a Tribute

Today, I have quite a list of music to get through, some of which was originally meant for yesterdays blog before those inconsiderate souls at Hospital Records announced their line-up for the Hospitality Leeds event, which of course meant that my whole schedule was thrown out haha! I’m not complaining though as I am still very pleased about the line-up, and keep getting gorgeous shivers of anticipation whenever I think of how good it is going to be to see particular artists.

Anyway, on to the delights that I have in store for you today.

Firstly, I have a great track that is a few years old now that has been going around my head for days!! This is an awesome bit of rock from Tenacious D, and listening to it takes me right back to my university days, and reminds me of happy days and good memories. In fact, I will dedicate this to all of the friends who shared those university years - This is a Tribute! 

Next up, I have an important remembrance to make. Nate Dogg, a legend in the rap world, passed away on the 15^th of March from complications that had arisen due to strokes that he suffered in the past. I love some of the stuff he did back in the 90’s, and at the turn of the millennium – in fact I prefer his older stuff to the more recent music that he released. So Rest in Peace Nate Dogg – I hope you’re at rest now. Here to remember him by, we have Regulate by Warren G feat Nate Dogg.

This next track is absolutely gorgeous – this is Moby at his piano driven orchestral best, and is from the soundtrack of the film Heat. It is an incredibly moving and powerful piece of music, and well worth a listen. This track always puts me in a reflective mood, and makes me take time to stop and take stock of my life.

This next track is a bit of a treat for you – this received its first airplay on Tuesday night, on Rinse.fm; it is the result of a collaboration between Thom Yorke, Four Tet and Burial, and is called Mirrors. I’ve listened to this quite a few times in the last 24 hours, and I have to say that I enjoyed it the first time I heard it, and yet with each consequent listen it has grown on me even further. 


Also, if you search on YouTube there is another track that these guys are to release called Ego - this is worth checking out too!

I absolutely love this next track, and I had forgotten about it until my friend Katie posted it on facebook earlier this week.  This is a really intelligent well engineered track, it just works really well, fantastic!

Time for one last old favourite, before I include some download links for a few DnB mixes that absolutely cannot be missed. This track is a classic, and needs no further introduction or explanation other than to say – YES!!! Love it!!!

Lastly for today, here are some download links for you to enjoy. Click here for Cyantific's Fabriclive Critical Sound Mix, and click here for Cyantific's Disconnected VIP mix. Both awesome! Can't wait to see his set at Hospitality Leeds.


As always, I hope you've enjoyed listening and if you enjoy the music, please pass it around!

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.