Sorry I’ve been a bit absent this month. If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll know that I’d had a bit of a rough one. It’s all Doug TenNapel’s fault (again).

You can read a summary of it on my other blog. And I have a few Twitter threads that continue to elaborate on it. Here, here, and also here. I’ve blocked approximately 100,000 people because of all of this, so if you see any death threats or homophobic content directed my way on Twitter, please report it. Thanks.

In the meantime, how about some fun happy songs for fun happy times, should they ever return again.

I hope all of you America are doing the best you can to stay safe, and ignoring the asshat ignoramuses who aren’t.

Earth, Wind and Fire
Let’s Groove (Restless Soul Inspiration Information Mix By Phil Asher)
Shining Star (DJ Jin Asakusa Samba Remix)
September (FPM Beautiful Latin Mix)
Boogie Wonderland (Inspiration ’83 Mix By Slowsupreme)

Not to bring things down again, but it was recently announced that the fantastic Shibuya Recofan store would be closing down soon.

This place has a great and diverse selection of LPs, but for me their selling point has always been their jaw-droppingly massive CD section. When we found out that they were closing, my friend and I spent over two hours just browsing their used CDs, and we still weren’t able to get through everything. I’m going to have to make a return trip soon.

They just have everything, both cheap and pricey, mainstream and obscure, import and domestic. You want an SHM-CD paper sleeve re-issue of Manfred Mann’s first album? They got it. Want the budget re-issue in a cracked jewel case for Â¥500? They got that too.

And every time I go there, I end up picking up something that I didn’t even know existed, like this strange Earth, Wind & Fire remix compilation. It’s called Soul Source, and from what I can gather it was only released on CD in Japan and Australia. It’s amazing, and I would have never even known that CD existed if it wasn’t for Recofan. Who knows what amazing, weird, and rare releases I’ll never discover after Recofan shutters for good. I shudder to think.

Oh yeah, this was supposed to be about happy times.

I’m sharing the biggest tracks on the album here. Let’s be real, you buy an Earth, Wind & Fire remix compilation to hear remixes of these four songs, anything else is a bonus. The rest of the album is pretty good, but these mixes blow the others out of the water, mostly because the original versions of these songs are all stone-cold all-time killer dance classics. We were lucky we got to live in a world that had 70s and early 80s Earth, Wind & Fire, I tell you what.

Of these four, my favorite is probably the remix of “Let’s Groove” by Phil Asher. Great acapella opening that transitions to a solid remix, even if it doesn’t change it from the original all that much. Let’s be real, it wasn’t broke, why try to fix it. The mix of “September” is interesting and brave, taking the original track and injecting it with a Latin style. I don’t know how well it fits together, and the original is of course the superior version, but it ain’t bad. “FPM” is Fantastic Plastic Machine, a dope as hell dance act from Japan that’s been making radical dance and club music since the late 90s. I recommend a lot of his work from the late 90s and early 2000s, but avoid all his YMO remixes, they’re atrocious.

I don’t know much about the other two remixers, but their mixes are great too. The “Shining Star” mix really changes the original instrumentation by adding what feels like mountains of percussion, but it doesn’t change the overall structure of the track, which is good. The “Boogie Wonderland” remix is way more electro than the original, with some good squelchy acid sounds put in. I could listen to squelchy acid sounds all day, so I approve.

Again, stay safe out there. If you’re looking for some content to absorb as you hopefully stay home more than usual, I have been updating my other blog, and not just with posts about has-been bigots. I’ve been doing a retrospective of MTV’s Top 100 of 1985. Check out part one here! I up to part four now and hope to get part five done this week!