Archive for October, 2012

Blondie For President

Tuesday, October 30th, 2012

Got a great comment on my Romney Rant.

And by “great” I mean “fucking idiotic nonsense.”

Also, consider the very real possibility that people like Romney because Obama has been an unmitigated disaster. Take your pick:

ObamaCare
Attacking the church
Attacking small business
Benghazi
Israel
Iran
The economy, the economy, the economy, etc.

Romney, on the other hand, shines because none of the negative stuff you’ve posted is true. Obama’s re-election campaign has tried again and again to make stuff stick, but none of it works because IT’S NOT TRUE. The fact you’d believe any of it betrays the fact that you don’t know anything. Stick to talking about music.

I wrote a somewhat detailed response to this idiocy in the comment section for that post, and I suggest you look at it, but I wanted to talk about this a little more.

The above comment is pretty indicative of why America is going in the shitter: stupid liars who will stop at nothing to prevent change and progressive thought from taking a foothold in America. Obama isn’t “Attacking the church.” He’s never done anything of the sort. Demanding that religious groups treat women’s health the same as men’s health is not a “war on religion,” it’s a war against sexism and misogyny.

(And if you’re stupid enough to think that demanding religious organizations cover birth control in their insurance is a war on a church’s values, then why do those same religious organizations cover Viagra for men, even if they’re single or have no desire to have children? Yeah. Thought so.)

Like I said, I already went through all of these idiotic claims when I responded to twit, so I’m not going to do it again. But I want everyone to remember, this is the kind of shit that American progress is up against; idiots who will deny the truth even when its staring them in the face, all while slinging out their own pile of bullshit lies and distortions. I stand by my list of facts against Romney. Those are all true. Shit, nearly all of them are things he has said in public and stood by! The man is an bigoted prick who doesn’t understand the worries, concerns, needs and issues of the common person, minorities, the poor, the GLBT community, and just about anyone else who isn’t a rich white assholes. And trust me, rich white assholes love the dude and will continue to lie and distort the facts to help their own pocketbooks and fuck you over.

Is Obama perfect? No! Not at all! Not by a long shot. He has done a lot of things that I think are deplorable, but I think he’s the best bet America has had in a long time for the country to actually move in a direction that might  leave future generations better off. If nothing else, a vote for him is a vote against a racist, sexist, homophobic bigot, and that’s enough for me.

In other news, I hope all my East Coast peeps (and everyone else along the East Cost for that matter) are holding up alright. Remember everyone, even though America has a great system of disaster relief set up, it never hurts to toss a few bucks to Red Cross during these hard times. Even if they don’t need the money for this disaster, it will eventually come in handy. So do your part.

Now more Blondie!

Blondie
One Way Or Another (Damien’s Express Check Out Dub)
Rapture (K-Klassic Instrumental)
Rapture (Guru’s Fly Party Mix)
Rapture (Pharmacy Dub)
Rapture (Guru’s Fly Party Instrumental)
Rapture (Phactory Beats)
Rapture (K-Klassic Radio Mix)
Rapture (The Teddy Riley Remix)
Rapture (Dub Version)
Union City Blue (Diddy’s Power and Passion Mix)
Union City Blue (Vinny Vero’s Turquoise Mix)
Union City Blue (Burger Queen Peroxide Power Mix)
Union City Blue (OPM Poppy Mix)
Union City Blue (Burger Queen Babes In Toyland Mix)
Union City Blue (Vinny Vero’s Double Hand Dub)
See? Lots more Blondie! And most of these remixes are pretty great (aside from that “One Way Or Another” dub mix…ick). The singles that I culled these from actually had even more mixes, such as the full-length K-Klassic remix, but since you can get those on iTunes and Amazon, I didn’t include them here.

I already have most of  my next post written and I think I’m finally on the way to getting the “big announcement” ready! So hopefully this will be a pretty productive week.

Posted in Blondie, remixes | 1 Comment »

I Hate Romney. I Love Blondie.

Monday, October 29th, 2012

I haven’t been writing a lot lately and it’s been getting me down.

Actually the reason why I haven’t been writing a lot is because I’ve been down. So I guess it’s a vicious cycle. I get depressed, so I can’t write, which makes me depressed and repeat until I’m banging my head into my keyboard, eventually giving up, and then walking away from my computer, turning on my Xbox and booting up XCOM. (Seriously, that game is dope.)

But what’s making me so depressed?

I couldn’t figure it out at first. I was just walking around with this huge, painful knot in my stomach and an unending sense of dread in my inner being, not knowing what was causing it nor what could make it go away.

Then I figured it out, the senses of dread, despair and desperation would hit their fullest whenever I looked at the news. Specifically, whenever I found an article about the election.

Simply put: The possibility of Mitt Romney being elected president of the United States of America is making me depressed.

Actually, a more accurate statement would be: the fact that approximately half of America is going to vote for Mitt Romney to be President of the United States is making me oppressively, destructively depressed, launching me into a perfect storm pit of rage and sadness that my soul has never known.

I just…I can’t wrap my head around it. My personality has always been an odd combination of pessimism and optimism. I’ve slightly misanthropic, but at the end of the day, I’ve always thought that most people are good, or at least have the capacity for goodness in them. Never in my most hate-filled, antisocial, misanthropic nightmares would I think that the majority of the American people would actively support someone as disgusting, sickening, stupid, evil, foul, repugnant and bigoted as Mitt Romney.

I need to rant about this, I’m sorry. I think it’s good for my psyche. And hey, if you’re a republican and you’re like “I don’t care about this, I just want some music!” Well, then fuck off. Of course you don’t care about what other people think. That’s what makes you a republican.

Basically, my internal despair and anger boils down to the fact that a shocking number of Americans either don’t know or just don’t care about all the horrible and disgusting things that Mitt Romney has done. It leaves me dumbfounded that a possible majority of Americans have no problem with any of the following things that Mitt Romney actually said and did:

Tortured his dog (and thought it was okay).
Gay-bashed a kid in high school for having long hair.
Doesn’t think that poor people in America die from a lack of health care.
WROTE OFF 47% OF THE FUCKING NATION.
Advocated the bankruptcy of the American auto industry.
Said that “gay people are having families and that’s not right.”
Called corporations people.
Used racist language and symbolism in both his ads and stump speeches.
Put words in Obama’s mouth and built his entire campaign (and autobiography) off of it.
Attacked and berated women who were seeking abortions for medical reasons.
Hasn’t ruled out an attack on Iran, despite no evidence that they’ve actually done anything “wrong.” (By “wrong” I mean have the same weapons use white countries have).
Is against any kind of environmental regulation at all, and he joked about it.
Would like to see abortion illegal and defund Planned Parenthood. (although he sure lies about that a lot). (Seriously, a lot.)

Oh, and one time his wife doped up a horse to sell it at an inflated price, and got caught.

So yeah, the fact that America might elect a racist, sexist, homophobic, isolationist, alarmist, classist, anti-civil rights, anti-human rights bigoted out-of-touch hypocritical asshole kind of bums me out just a little bit. And the fact that most people aren’t as bummed out about it as I am kind of bums me out a little bit more.

But hey, there’s nothing I can do about it huh?

Other than vote.

And if you feel the same way as I do. Please. Please. PLEASE vote. It’s, like, kind of important for the future of America and stuff.

It’s also important for the future stability of my mental health/this blog.

So now that I have that out of the way, here are a shitton of Blondie remixes.

Blondie
Atomic (Armand’s Atomizer Mix)
Atomic (New Disco Mix)
Atomic (Beautiful Drum And Bass Mix)
Atomic (Diddy Pushes The Button Mix)
Atomic (Boom Mix)
Atomic (Explosive Ecstasy Mix)
Denis (The ’88 Remix)
Heart Of Glass (MK 12″ Mix)
Heart Of Glass (Richie Jones Club Mix)
Heart Of Glass (Diddy’s Adorable Illusion Mix)
Heart Of Glass (Original Disco Version)
Heart Of Glass (MK Dub)
Heart Of Glass (Richie Jones Dub)
Heart Of Glass (Diddy’s Adorable Illusion Instrumental)
Heart Of Glass (Diddy’s Remix Edit)
Told ya. Shitton of Blondie.

Now, not all of these are bangers. A few of these mixes are way too tailored for the dance floor and consist of little more than one section of the song looped ad nauseum. This is especially true for some of the “Atomic” mixes, which is a real drag because I love the original version of that song. Still, most of these are worth at least one listen, if for nothing else other than the complete randomness of their existence. I mean, seriously, a drum and bass remix of “Atomic?” I don’t know why that exists, but I’m sure glad it does.

The “Heart of Glass” mixes fair far better. Sure, there are some clunkers and drab dub mixes, but the “Original Disco Version,” “12” MK Mix” and several others are all great, understated mixes that are well worth your time. They’re all also epic in length, so clear your schedule.

Posted in Blondie, remixes | 22 Comments »

All You Ever Think About Is Sparks

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012

Went about a full week without an update! No, I didn’t forget that I had a blog, I was in NYC to see New Order!

New Order was awesome, but since I’m covering that for a magazine I really can’t go into much detail. I do have a lot to say about NYC otherwise though, in particular its record stores and I hope to get something written up about them rather soon.

I hope to do a lot of things. I’ve been teasing a big announcement both here and on my Twitter. Something I’ve been working on for a while. It’s still not ready. False starts. Illness. Distractions. Life. Things are getting in the way. It’s been very disappointing for me.

But I hope to get it all together soon. I know it will work out. And I think it will be something you will all be interested in. At least, I hope so. Shit. I don’t know.

It’s kind of been a long month.

Anyways, here’s a post I wrote before I went to NYC but couldn’t put up for various reasons. Enjoy the Sparks and keep checking here for my announcement (it will happen soon…I hope) and if nothing else, keep checking back here for some rad tunes. I got some stellar shit recently, both in NYC and in Pittsburgh, and I can’t wait to share it all with you.

Sparks
Fingertips (Extended Club Version)
The Scene (Special Club Edit)
Cool Places (Live with Jane Wiedlin)
All You Ever Think About Is Sex (Live)
Sparks is one of the most indefinably weird bands in the history of music. They’ve barely had any success in the 40+ years of their existence, and whenever they do manage to scratch the bottom of the Billboard charts or score a minor hit single it just seems like a crazy fluke, like someone at some computer pushed the wrong button. I honestly don’t know how they’ve managed to keep going this long. Are they freakishly popular in Europe or something? Do the brothers Mael have an incredibly successful side-business that they keep hidden from the public? Maybe they’re secretly drug lords or high-priced hitmen, and they partake in a life of crime to fund their quirky pop music. Sound weird? Possibly, but not as weird as half of their albums.

Sparks recently put out a 2CD 12″ mix collection. And while it’s not available in America, it is a pretty good representation of their early 80s singles output, and I recommend picking it up if you can locate a copy. It’s not all-inclusive though, and the mixes and live cuts above represent some of the stuff that didn’t make the collection. The live stuff is great, as is that mix of “Fingertips,” but the real highlight is the amazing club mix of “The Scene,” which takes a great song and makes it even better.

Posted in remixes, Sparks | 6 Comments »

Yabba Dabba Dumb

Monday, October 15th, 2012

I’m on cold meds right now and I feel like that whenever I’m on anything for my sinuses my copyediting skills vanish. So apologies for any drastic typos or poor sentence structure.

And now with that out of the way, here is the latest in my continuing efforts to provide you with the dumbest and most pointless remixes to ever grace the Earth.

The B-52s
(Meet) The Flintstones (Quarry Mix)
(Meet) The Flintstones (Bam Bam Tribal Beat)
(Meet) The Flintstones (Bedrock Dub)
(Meet) The Flintstones (Rock Charleston Dub)
Tell It Like It T-I-Is (MK Respect Mix)
Tell It Like It T-I-Is (Instrumental Respect Mix)
Tell It Like It T-I-Is (MK Underground Mix)
Tell It Like It T-I-Is (MK Mix)
Tell It Like It T-I-Is (MK Dub)
When The Flintstones movie came out in 1994, they of course had to include some version of the classic theme song on the soundtrack, and for this monumental task they turned to The B-52s, because when I think family friendly party music, I think The B-52s. However, in keeping with the original TV show’s “hilarious” tradition of taking popular bands and stars from the modern era and giving them stone age puns, The B-52s were credited as The BC-52s.

GET IT?!?! B.C.!??! Like the designated term B.C. (Before Christ) that is commonly associated with the prehistoric era? Isn’t that just so damn clever!?!

Sigh.

This is another case though where I wonder what came first; did someone get The B-52s and then figure out that their name could be so easily modified to fit the Stone Age theme? Or did someone think up “The BC-52s” all on their own and then ask The B-52s if they would do it (and by “ask” I mean throw a truckload of money at them). Maybe The B-52s agreed to do it because they heard that some people thought that “Shiny Happy People” was the worst song of all time and they wanted to give it a go at topping it.

Whoever thought of it was probably the same creative genius who decided to put “Walk The Dinosaur” by Was (Not Was) on the soundtrack as well. That’s not exactly deep digging for prehistoric cuts. I would have gone for “Caveman” by The Cramps, but whatever. You know that if they made the movie today some neanderthal would probably insist that “Dinosaur” by Kesha (I refuse to stylize her name) be put in there.

Needless to say, these “Flintstones” remixes are stupendously stupid, but since I’m a completionist who wants everything B-52s, I had to grab it. Now you get to hear it. I hope you’re happy.

After you listen to all four versions of “(Meet) The Flinstones” (and you have to listen to all four of them, I did), then cleanse your pallet with the non-Flinstones related track “Tell It Like It T-I-Is,” a far better tune from the underrated Good Stuff album.

Posted in B-52s, remixes | 3 Comments »

I’m the man in the box, buried in my killer beats dawg.

Friday, October 12th, 2012

I’ll be adding a bunch of singles and albums to my sale soon, so if you haven’t checked that page out, please do.

Okay, now that I have that out of the way, who wants to hear some incredibly stupid remixes?

I briefly touched upon this a few days ago, but I recently bought a metric crapton (that’s a lot) of DJ Mix singles. These are special 12″ singles that are sold to DJs only, usually via a subscription service, and they feature special mixes that are never made available anywhere else. Sometimes they’re unofficial bootlegs, other times they’re legit. Often it’s hard to tell.

Tonight’s mixes are from a 12″ single called Rock ‘n’ Beat Turbo 4. As if the name didn’t make it obvious enough, these are dance remixes of rock songs. Actually, if I wanted to get specific and accurate, they’re more just edits or mixes than full on remixes. A remix typically implies that the track was altered at the base level, and that the mixer in question had access to the master recordings or even recorded new material to interpolate into the original song. Most of these just extend the original songs’ breakdown and instrumental sections while throwing in some chorus effects and extra beats (hence that Rock ‘n’ Beat title). It’s all really weird and goofy and while a lot of the mixes are just “lets loop shit to make it longer” I find them all fascinating nonetheless, if for track selection alone, so let’s get into it.

U2
Mysterious Ways (Beat Box Mix)
I hate U2 more than the Thompson Twins, so I got nothing here. I think this is just a small re-edit though.

Alice In Chains
Man In the Box (Tore Up From The Floor Up Mix)
Okay, to start; this remix of “Man In The Box” is seven and a half minutes long. SEVEN AND A HALF MINUTES LONG! That is insane. How does one make “Man In The Box” seven and a half minutes long? Well, for starters you take the opening bars and repeat them about five times longer than they were in the original, then you do the same for the closing bars as well. Then you take the rest and loop the shit out it, add some extra drum beats and then pat yourself on the back for turning a grunge song about addiction and homelessness into a dance tune for the clubs.

Fuck the 90s were weird.

Counting Crows
Mr. Jones (The Sick Mix)
I never in a million remixes thought that I’d be deconstructing a Counting Crows dance mix on this blog but here it goes. Much like the “Man In The Box” mix this edit of “Counting Crows” expands the original song to a club-friendly six minutes mostly just by extending the opening and closing measures. This one is a little more obviously remixed though, thanks to the very apparent drum beat that is pasted in out of nowhere.

90s. Weird.

Melissa Etheridge
I’m The Only One (The Blue Mix)
Eight minutes. That’s how long they stretch this one out. Eight Minutes.  But hey, if you like Melissa Etheridge then that’s just eight minutes of awesome.

John Mellencamp
Wild Night (Maple Tree Mix)
Okay, I’ll be honest, I haven’t heard this song in 10 years and I’m not going to revisit the single version now. Based on my recollection of it, I don’t hear much of a difference here.

Bachman Turner Overdrive
Takin’ Care Of Business (Rippin’ Mix) 
This version of “Takin’ Care Of Business” incorporates a sample from Afrika Baambaataa’s “Planet Rock.”

Let that sink in before you listen to it.

Posted in Alice In Chains, Counting Crows, I refuse to create a BTO category, John Mellencamp, Melissa Etheridge, remixes, U2 | 2 Comments »

Dance Music With Exxtraneous Xs

Tuesday, October 9th, 2012

Eighties dance compilations are great because you never know what you’re going to find on them. For example, check out the four radically diverse songs that I’m featuring tonight. I grabbed them all from the same 2LP set, the descriptively titled Dance Traxx. In addition to these songs, the compilation also includes mixes of songs by artists as diverse as Mantronix, INXS, Steve Arrington and even Yes. Because remember kids, all you needed to make your song a “dance track” in 1986 was a good synth line and some drum machines!

Shannon
Let The Music Play (Remix Version)
This is my favorite kind of disco, if you even want to call it that (and I do). It’s after Moroder’s influence revolutionized the genre, but before synthpop really replaced it outright. Part traditional disco, part electro, and part electronic music; a perfect mix if you ask me.

Phil Collins
Sussudio (Extended Version)
A lot of people have pegged “Sussudio” as one of the worst hit songs of all time. That’s bullshit. Hell, it’s not even the worst hit single of 1985 (“Everytime You Go Away,” “Broken Wings,” I’m sure Corey Hart had something out that year that was worse, the list goes on).

Nor is it the worst single by Phil Collins (“You’ll Be In My Heart,” “Groovy Kind of Love”). “Sussudio” is not a bad song at all. It’s catchy, fun and upbeat. It’s not great, but I can’t see how anyone could be offended by it either. I like it.

However, it is probably one of the stupidest fucking songs of all time.

Do you know what “Sussudio” means?

It means nothing. Nothing at all. Not a damn thing. It was a fake word that Phil Collins improvised while composing the song. He couldn’t think of any other word that fit the song better, so he left it in. Lazy bald bastard. I mean, if that’s all it takes to make a hit track, why stop there? Why not a song called “Gobbly gook” “Blargh” or “omgwtfbbq?”

Actually, it wouldn’t surprise me if Will.I.Am or either of those idiots from LMFAO have songs in the works with those titles, so forget I said anything.

Laura Branigan
Gloria (Remix Version)
“Gloria’ is a pretty direct song when it comes to the lyrics, but it’s still hard for me to pin down exactly what Gloria is doing that is drawing the ire of Laura Branigan. She obviously wants Gloria to slow down, but is it because she’s sleeping around? If that was it then men would certainly be calling her, but that’s apparently not the case. Or maybe she is sleeping around and the men just aren’t calling her back?

I like to think that Gloria is a bit on the delusional side (hence the line about the voices in her head) and she just thinks she’s hot shit, but in reality no one is calling her, even though they got her number and the alias that she’s been living under.

Whatever it is, it’s really pissing off Laura Branigan. She really wants Gloria to know that she doesn’t approve of her lifestyle choices. In fact, I like to imagine that this version of the song is actually a toned down one, and that the original included verses like  “Gloria/get your shit together/I mean seriously, what the fuck’s your problem?”

Then maybe they could have gotten a fake Gloria (ala Roxanne) and she could have written a reply track with lines like “Laura/fuck you and your advice/I’m living my own life/I’ll date who I want to.” Then someone could’ve mashed them together into a rad megamix that would have been on Dance Traxx 2

Sigh.

I think about shit like this all day. Must be why I can never get anything done.

Stevie Nicks
Stand Back (Remix Version)
Stevie Nicks dance party! Quick, everyone grab some lace and spin around in slow motion while I go get a backlight! And some cocaine.

This version of “Stand Back” is only about 20 seconds longer than the original, and aside from that I really can’t tell much of a difference between the two. But I really wanted to work that Stevie Nicks dance party joke into tonight’s post and I couldn’t do that without putting this song here. So…yeah.

Posted in Laura Branigan, Phil Collins, remixes, Shannon, Stevie Nicks | 2 Comments »

Robert Palmer Is A Liar

Sunday, October 7th, 2012

Busy times coming up for me. In all the excitement and planning for my December/January trip to Beijing and Tokyo, I almost forgot that I’m going to New York in less than two weeks to see NEW ORDER. I know I’m having a good fall/winter when the trip to the most exciting city in America to see one of my favorite bands of all time is my “lesser” trip.

Still, I’m completely stoked to go to NYC, even with the whole “millions and millions of people” thing. I’ll be spending the majority of my time in Brooklyn anyways, checking out a seemingly endless selection of hipster-run record stores. If anyone has any recommendations for quality record stores in the NYC area, preferably in Brooklyn, let me know. I’m not looking to break the bank when I’m in NYC (that’s my Japan plan) but I hope to pick up a few good records while I’m there. Y’know, quality, highly regarded stuff like this.

Elton John & RuPaul
Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (Remix)
Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (Don’t Go Dubbing My Heart Mix)
Has Elton John ever been on an episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race? I don’t think so, someone’s agent is fucking something up.

Robert Palmer
I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On (Extended Dance Mix)
I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On (Dub Version)
I don’t believe that for one second, although at least it’s a lyric that makes sense. Has anyone ever figured out what “she’s so fine there’s no telling where the money went” means?

Ready For The World
Oh Shelia (Extended Version)
Oh Shelia (Dubstrumental)
Oh Shelia (A cappella) 
Ready For The World has to be one of the worst band names of all time, but give them credit, they were light years ahead of the whole “our band name is a complete sentence” trend that seemed to hit the Hot Topic set a few years back. They’re also light years better than As I Lay Dying,  Cute Is What We Aim For and This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb. Although at the same time you could basically describe their genre of music as “Prince.” But whatever, originality is for suckers, and “Oh Shelia” is a great slice of 80s cheese.

Posted in Elton John, Ready For The World, remixes, Robert Palmer | 5 Comments »

90s As Shit

Thursday, October 4th, 2012

Since I know some people only read my posts that have MP3s, I want to mention again really quick that I am currently selling some of my LPs and singles to help fund my trip to Japan. Check out my “For Sale” post and if you see anything you want, follow the instruction on that page.

Now let’s listen to some dope 90s remixes.

Information Society
Now That I Have You (7″ Remix)
Now That I Have You (12″ Remix)
Now That I Have You (12″ Dub)
Now That I Have You (12″ Alternative Remix)
Now That I Have You (12″ Alternative Dub)
Now That I Have You (12″ House Dub)
Information Society (who will herein be referred to as InSoc) occupy a weird space of electronica, “cyberpunk” and neo-hippie wackiness I like to call the early-90s. A time where ideas like the Sega CD, multimedia and the film Johnny Mnemonic seemed totally rad.

InSoc did a lot of wacky shit during this time. For instance, their first CD was a rare example of the CD+G format, which basically allowed for silly low-res karaoke style videos to play during the music. I remember popping in my copy of the album into my Sega CD and even thinking back then that it was pretty damn stupid.

What was cool though was the band’s idea to include tracks of modem noise on two of their albums. On Hack the modem tones could be decoded into a text file, while the story behind the modem tones on 1997’s Don’t Be Afraid (no longer the early 90s, I understand, but it was in spirit) could be used to start a wild goose chase on the Internet to find a hidden song. You can read about it here.

Anyways, I find it funny that surrounding all that wacky shit was a pretty damn great pop band who took a lot of the conventions of 80s synthpop and expanded upon them in a slightly more modern way that definitely made their overall sound feel very “90s,” at least for a couple years.

“Now That I Have You” is a lesser song (in terms of popularity) in the InSoc singles discography, but I still like it. I got all these mixes from a 12″ promo single. I don’t think that a non-promo version of this single was ever released.

Sting
Demolition Man (Soulpower Vocal)
Demolition Man (Jazzy Hip Hop Mix)
Demolition Man (Soulpower House Dub)
Demolition Man (Ridiculous Tribal Mix)
Demolition Man (3rd Floor Hump Mix)
Demolition Man (Hip Hop Dub)
I wonder if the makers of the 1993 Stallone/Snipes/Leary/Bullock opus Demolition Man came up with that name for the movie first and then realized there was a song with the same name, or if they got the idea for the name from the song? Either way, it’s pretty damn weird. When I think of non-stop action and adventure, I don’t think a Sting song that Grace Jones covered. But hey, I’m not in Hollywood.

The Grace Jones version is, of course, the superior version of this song. And it also has one of the most batshit crazy performance videos you’ll ever see. So I suggest you check that out. The Police version is…okay, but it’s just a little too jazzy for my tastes. I actually prefer Sting’s solo version over it, it’s one of the few times that Sting took something he did with The Police and made it rock harder.

These remixes, on the other hand, they’re kind of a letdown. As the titles indicate, they are more jazz, pop and hip hop-influenced takes on the song, with the heavier elements and guitar solos completely removed. They’re certainly great examples of how production can change the feel and even the genre of a song, but they still kind of bum me out. I assume someone out there will like them though.

Posted in Information Society, remixes, Sting | 1 Comment »

Yo! Wanna Buy Some Records? The Final Chapter

Monday, October 1st, 2012

So far, my efforts to sell my unwanted records have been an astonishing success, both here and on eBay. Thanks to all who have purchased anything from me, you’re really helping me out.

As a result of my success, I have decided to expand my efforts. Below is every album I plan on selling that is not currently on eBay. Want to buy any of these records? Read this:

HOW TO BUY RECORDS
If you see some records on this list you like, contact me at lostturtanble AT yahoo DOT com (formatted to avoid spam). Include in the email subject “I WANT TO BUY” followed with at least one of the records you are interested in. Give me an offer in the body of the email. If you’re looking for multiple records, I’ll give you a discount.

This is not an auction, I will not be playing different offers against each other. If one person offers me $10 for something and someone else offers me $20, I will sell to the person offering me $20, I won’t go back to the first person and give them the chance to outbid the other potential buyer.

After I see your offer I will either agree or counter. Once we come to agreement over a price I will send you a payment request over PayPal. YOU WILL HAVE 48 HOURS TO FULFILL THAT REQUEST. Failure to do that results not only in a loss of the records but a loss to ever buy records from me again. I will ship out your records the following business day. All US shipping will be media mail, unless you specify otherwise. International shipping is also available, but be aware that it is usually very expensive.

This list will occasionally be updated with new product, while items will be removed if they are sold or moved to eBay. I intend on keeping this post up until the first week of December, so if you can’t afford something right away, you have time! Unless someone else snags it up first of course.

When items are added to this list I will mention it both on a blog post and on Twitter. So if you want early dibs to anything, be sure to follow me on Twitter and get the heads up!

Happy hunting!

Oh, and since people were asking, here’s where you can find my eBay auctions.

AC/DC
Let’s Get It Up 12″ Single

Acid Folk
Perplexer

Adam And The Ants
Physical (You’re So) 12″ Single

Afroboogie
Only The Strong 12″ Single

Against Me!
Against Me Is Reinventing Axl Rose (White/Pink) SOLD!
Don’t Lose Touch (Mouse On Mars Remix) 12″ Single
From Her Lips To God’s Ears 12″ Single

Araknofobia
Arachnophobia 12″ Single

Arcade Fire
Keep The Car Running/Broken Window 7″ Single
Neighborhood #3 (Lights Out) 7″ Single
Intervention 7″ Single (Sealed)
Wake Up 7″ Single

Richard Ashcroft
A Song For The Lovers 12″ Single

Ayla
Liebe The Remixes 12″ Single

Baby Ford
Fetish 12″ Single

Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force
Planet Rock 12″ Single SOLD OUT!

Bebop Deluxe
Live! In The Air Age
Sunburst Finish

Bedrock
Set In Stone/Forbidden Zone 12″ Single

Big Audio (Dynamite)
Looking For a Song 12″ Promo SIngle

Big Country
East OF Eden (Extended Version) 12″ Single

Big Star
1# Record 2010 Yellow 180g repressing

Braindead Sound Machine
I’m In Jail 12″ TEST PRESSING
Where The Pavement Ends 12″ Single

James Brown
Living In America 12″ Single
The Payback Mix 12″ Single SOLD!!

David Byrne
3 Big Songs
Music From The Knee Plays

Beck
Sexx Laws 12″ Single (Transparent) SOLD!

Black Eyed Peas
Request Line 12″ Single (Fuck you it’s a great song)

Blackalicious
Blazing Arrow

Bizarre Inc.
Keep The Music Strong 12″ Single

Chris ‘n’ Cosey with The Eurythmics
Sweet Surprise 12″ Single

Elvis Costello
High Fidelity 12″ Single

Crookers
Il Brutto 12″ Single

Billy Currie
Transportation

Dajjamondo
The Phoenix/The Big Hum 12″ Single

Die Warzau
Liberated 12″ Single
Never Again 12″ Single
Funkopolis 12″ Single

Dixie Dreggs
Dregs of the Earth

DJ Krush
The Message of the Depth
Zen

The Doobie Brothers
Listen To The Music (Remixes) 12″ Single SOLD!

Duran Duran
The Relfex (Picture Disc)
Mixing (Includes HUGE POSTER and awesome 8×12 band portraits) SOLD!

Missy Elliot
Cop That Shit 12″ White Label Remix Single

Brian Eno
Fourth World Vol. 1 (w/John Hassell) SOLD!!!
Ambient 2 The Plateaux of Mirror (w/Harold Budd) SOLD!!!
Ambient 3 Day of Radiance (Laraaji, produced by Eno) SOLD!!!
Ambient 4 On Land SOLD!!!

Eon
Basket Case

EPMD
I’m Housin’ 12″ Single

Euphoria
I like Noise/Genocide 12″ Single

Everything But The Girl
Temperamental 12″ Single

Exotic Birds
No Communication 12″ Single SOLD!
Day After Day 12″ Single SOLD!
Exotic Birds SOLD!

Jake Fairley
Crisis

The Farewell Party
Here

Ade Fenton
Ade Fenton vs Wet Musik

Fischer-Z
Going Deaf For A Living
Word Salad

Fishbone
Freddie’s Dead 12″ Single

The Five Man Electrical Band
Good-Byes & Butterflies

Front 242
Tragedy For You 12″ Single

Front Line Assembly
Digital Tension Dementia 12″ Single
Millennium 12″ Single

Game Theory
Lolita Nation, still in shrink wrap

Guns N Roses
Lies

Jan Hammer
Make Love

Jazzy Jeff (the other one)
Rock It (Rock It) 12″ Single

High Priest
Ghost In The Drummachine 12″ Single

Herbie Hancock
Sound-System

Paul Hardcastle
Don’t Waste My Time 12″ Single
Rainforest 90

John Hassell
Personals 12″ Single

Heaven 17
Who Will Stop The Rain 12″ Single

Don Henley
All She Wants To Do Is Dance 12″ Single

Lauryn Hill
G Spot Factor EP (Bootleg Remixes)

Humante
Love Stimulation 12″ Single

Hypertrophy
Beautiful Day 12″ Single

Ice-T
New Jack Hustler 12″ Single

Jacky Dean Foundation
Caravan of Love 12″ Single

Jean-Michael Jarre (With Hank Marvin)
London Kid 12″ Single

Daniel Johnston
Hi, How Are You (2007 Re-Press) SOLD!

Elton John
Honky Chateau (Chinese Bootleg)

Jon The Dentist
Shindo 12″ Single

Grace Jones
Slave To The Rhythm 12″ Single SOLD!!

Howard Jones
The 12″ LP (Promo, no cover)
Things Can Only Get Better 12″ Single

Justice
Waters of Nazareth 12″ Single

Evelyn “Champagne” King
Give It Up 12″ Single

Klubbheads
Discohopping 12″ Single

Interactive
Dildo 12″ Single SOLD!!

INXS
Devil Inside 12″ Promo Single
Disappear 12″ Single
Suicide Blonde 12″ Single
What You Need 12″ Single

Kitchens of Distinction
Love Is Hell 12″ Single

Laibach
Sympathy for the Devil (Picture Disc)

Annabelle Lamb
Riders On The Storm 12″ Single

Paul Lekakis
Boom Boom (Let’s Go Back To My Room) 12″ Single

Level 42
World Machine (The Shep Pettibone Remix) 12″ Single

Love Child Orchestra
Whole Lotta Love 12″ Single

M.I.A.
Paper Planes (Homeland Security Remixes) 12″ Single

Marschmellows
Flash Fried 12″ Single

Mastodon
The Hunter (2LP Deluxe Edition) SOLD!
Live At the Aragon (DVD Missing) SOLD!

Me First And The Gimme Gimmes
Ruin Johnny’s Bar Mitzvah SOLD!

LCD Soundsystem
Tribulations 7″ Single (with poster) SOLD!

Meat Loaf
Paradies By The Dashboard Lights 12″ Single

Bporis Mikulic
Hersey

Mix Master Mike
Atmosfear
Bangzilla

Hugo Montenegro
Moog Power SOLD!!

Muse
Supermassive Black Hole 7″ Single Picture Disc SOLD!

Mussolini Headkick
Themes For Violent Retribution

My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult
Sex On Wheelz 12″ Single
Sex On Wheelz 12″ Promo
Sexplosion! SOLD!!

Murk
Time 12″ Single

National Lampoon
That’s Not Funny, That’s Sick! SOLD!

NWA
Express Yourself 12″ Single SOLD!!

Mike Oldfield and Roger Chapman
Shadow On The Wall 12″ Single

Pearl Jam
Amonst The Wave 7″ Single (Sealed) SOLD!!

Phoenix
Fences (Pink) (RSD Exclusive) 12″ Single SOLD!

Ariel Pink
Baby 12″ Single

Plastic Little (With Spank Rock and Diplo)
The Jump Off

Portishead
Portishead SOLD!

Roxy Music
Dance Away 7″ Single (JAPANESE IMPORT)

Roger Powell
Air Pocket

Power Station
Get It On 12″ Single SOLD!!

Billy Preston
The Wildest Organ In Town!

Pressure Drop
Silently Bad Minded 12″ Single

Primus
Green Naugahyde SOLD!

Quadrophonia
Schizophrenia 12″ Single
Quadrophonia 12″ Single

R.E.M.
Everybody Hurts (Orange Vinyl) 12″ Single
Everybody Hurts (White Vinyl) 12″ Single
Finest Worksong 12″ Single
Finest Worksong 12″ Promo Single
S. Central Rain (I’m Sorry) 12″ Single
The One I Love 12″ Single

Alex Reece
Feel The Sunshine 12″ Single

Richard Humpty Vission
Alright (The Remixes) 12″ Single
Soul-Tronik “The Musik” 12″ single

Steve Reich
The Desert Music

Chris Rock
Champagne 12″ Single

Sasha + Digweed
Expedition (3 LP Unmixed Version)

Schooly D
Where’d You Get That From 12″ Single

Science Dept.
Persuasion/Repercussion

Peter Schilling
The Different Story 12″ Single

Sebadoh
The Freed Man (Repressing)

The Senate
The Original Sin Megamix 12″ Single

Shiek Moxo
Look Into The Magic Eye 12″ Single

Simian Mobile Attack Disco
Attack Sustain Delay Release

David Sylvain
Gone To Earth
Secrets Of The Beehive

The Smiths
So This Is America (Bootleg)

Snatch
Another Brick In The Wall 12″ Single

Spank Rock
Yo Yo Yo Instrumentals

Bruce Springsteen
Streets Of Fire JAPANESE IMPORT 7″ Single

Sting
If You Love Somebody Set Them Free 12″ Single
We’ll Be Together

Vincent Stormfield
Sweet Harmony ’92 12″ Single

Styx
The Grand Illusion (With original poster)

Morton Subotnick
Silver Apples Of The Moon

Sugar Daddy
Another One Bites The Dust 12″ Single

Supernova
Justice 12″ Single

System Of A Down
Chop Suey! 7″ Single (Clear, numbered)

Geggy Tah
Whoever You Are 12″ Single

Talking Heads
Workshop Image (Bootleg)

Techno Madness
Techno Madness 12″ Single

Tone-Loc
Wild Thing (Peaches RMX) 12″ Single

Torch Song (William Orbit)
Don’t Look Now 12″ Single

Toro y Moi
Causers of This SOLD! 
Undernearth The Pine SOLD!

Two Nice Girls
Like A Version 12″ Single

UB40 with Chrissie Hyde
Breakfast In Bed 12″ Single SOLD!

Armand Van Helden
Flowerz 12″ Single
Kentucy Fried Flow 12″ Single

Various Artists (That’s the name of the artist)
8 8.5. 9 12″ Single

Vector
Please Stand By

The VHB
Beethoven Fifth (Street) Symphony 12″ Single

Violent Femmes
s/t (First Printing) SOLD!!

Joe Walsh
Barnstorm

Whale
Crying At Airports 12″ Single

Whirlwind Heat
Pink 7″ Single SOLD! (To a real prick)

The Who
Live At Leeds (with all the inserts)

Wink
Are You There 12″ Single

Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Maps 7″ Single
Pin 7″ Single (Red Transparent Vinyl)
Gold Lion 7″ Picture Disc

Xymox
Phoenix of MY Heart

Soundtracks
2010
Altered States
Antartica
The Awakening
Battle Beyond The Stars
Battle of Neretva
Battlefield Earth (The soundtrack of the Book)
Beastmaster
Black Rain
Bright Lights Big City
Capricorn One
Carrie
Clash Of the Titans
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (MOOG Version)
The Company of Wolves
Cooley High
The Dark Crystal SOLD!!
Dark Shadows (TV Show Soundtrack)
Down And Out in Beverly Hills
Dreamscape
Emmanuelle
Empire State (with bonus 12″)
Enemy Mine
The Final Countdown
Ghost Story
The Green Hornet (TV Show)
The Hobbit (Complete Original Soundtrack including dialogue, music and songs)
The Howling
The Hunger
Intervista
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978 Version)
King Kong Lives
Laugh-In ’69
Listen To The City
Midnight Run
Mishima
The Mission
Night Hawks
A Nightmare On Elm Street 3 (12″ Single for Dream Warriors by Dokken)
The Omen
The Omen II
Poltergeist
Poltergeist II
Quest For Fire
Sacco & Vanzetti
Leviathan
The M Squad (1959 TV Soundtrack featuring John Williams)
Mallrats (Sealed) SOLD!
Modesty Blaise
Mutant
Midnight
The Neverending Story
Night Breed SOLD!
Out Of Bounds
Outland
Rambo First Blood, Part II
Red Faction Armageddon (Video Game soundtrack)
Russ Meyer’s Soundtrack Collection
The Return of the Living Dead
The Seven Samurai/Rashomon
Sex, Lies, And Videotape
Sisters
Scream For Help
The Swarm
The Twilight Zone (TV Series Soundtrack Volume 2)
The Twilight Zone (TV Series Soundtrack Volume 4)
The Twilight Zone (TV Series Soundtrack Volume 5)
The Twilight Zone (Film Soundtrack)
Witness
The Untouchables
Urgh!
Wild In The Streets

Compilations
Back To the Grindstone (Fact 22, Mental Anguish, Nomuzic and more)
A Bunch of Stiffs
California Jammin (Bootleg with Deep Purple, ELP and Pink Floyd)
California Jam 2 (Heart, Santana, Dave Mason, Aerosmith and more)
A Factory Quartet (The Durutti Column, Kevin Hewick, Blurt and The Royal Family & the Poor)
Grid Slinger
Horse Meat Disco III
Live For Life (REM, Jeff Beck, Bob Marley, Bangals…)
Two Revolutions (DNB Mix)
Scream The Compilation (Jane’s Addiction, TSOL and more)
London Funk All-Stars
Maiden Australia
Om Lounge
Platinum On Black II (Remxies of Brand New Heavies, New Order, Everything But The Girl and more)
Y4K Part One (Nubreeed and Dirty Fours)

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

Depeche Minogue

Monday, October 1st, 2012

Records are like drugs, and a good record dealer is like a good drug dealer in that he/she knows just what it takes to separate you from your hard-earned dough.

I was at Jerry’s Records last week (as I am apt to be) and within seconds of walking in he tells me that he has boxes of singles that I’m going to want to look through, boxes filled with “the kind of shit I like.”

Sighing, because I am trying to save money, I am led to the boxes, where I proceed to grab about 50 bucks of awesome 12″ singles from Sparks, Aztec Camera, The B-52s and more. As I go to pay Jerry, he points to two more boxes and says “oh, you should look through these too, they’re all rare DJ mix records.”

I glance over at the stack of boxes and turn my head away, “No!” I say with the kind of authority a junkie says when presented with a hit, “I’m trying to save money, whatever is in there, I don”t need it.”

“Are you sure?” I got some good stuff in there?”

“No, I need to save-”

“I saw some rare Depeche Mode in there.”

“Where are these records again?”

Sigh.

Anyways, he was right. Those boxes did have some pretty oddball Depeche Mode stuff. Oddball Depeche Mode stuff that I of course bought. So enjoy.

Depeche Mode
Mega Mix Part 1
Mega Mix Part 2
Depeche Mode Medley 1987
The two “Mega Mix” tracks are taken from an unofficial 1990 single put out by the bootleg label On-USound, who released several bootleg mixes in the late 80s and early 90s. Despite being a bootleg, it’s very professional sounding, and rather creative as well, incorporating album cuts, single remixes and even some live stuff. Quality shit all around.

“Depeche Mode Medly 1987,” is an official remix, but ironically it’s not nearly as good as the bootleg mix, and the single from which it came is incredibly unprofessional and cheap looking. First of all, it has no real title, just a generic “M” logo at the top, it turns out that it’s from a DJ remix series that was just called “M.” This is the first in the series, so its official name is M1.

On side one are the two standard versions Enigma’s “Mea Culpa” and Eon’s “Spice.”  Good songs to be sure, but they really don’t have much in common so their combined inclusion is bizarre. Furthermore, “Mea Culpa” is spelled wrong (“Mia Culpa”) giving the whole thing a very amateur feel. The DM medley takes up the B-side, and like I said before, it’s not as good as the bootleg mixes, but if you’re like me and worship the Mode, it’s worth a listen if for curiosity sake and nothing else.

Kylie Minogue
Confide In Me (The Truth Mix)
Confide In Me (Big Brothers Mix) 
I’ve mentioned this in the past, but my knowledge of Kylie’s early 90s output is really limited, thanks to be me being in the one industrialized country on the planet who didn’t care about Kylie Minogue during most of the decade. As such, I’ve been trying to catch up ever since. I just heard this song for the first time when I picked up this single last week and, damn if it isn’t one of the best pop songs I’ve heard in a long time. This is an amazing tune: dreamy, sexy, beautifully-produced and, most of all, perfectly sung by Kylie. Damn. It’s annoying that this song wasn’t a hit in the states. How the hell did that not happen? My country is dumb.

Also, while “The Truth Mix” is probably the better of the two, I love the “Big Brothers Mix” because it discos the fuck out the song. Fabulous.

Posted in Depeche Mode, Kylie Minogue, remixes | 2 Comments »