Category: Featured

SONG OF THE DAY: Stanton Warriors – “Cut Me Up”

Breakbeat duo Stanton Warriors have unleashed a barrage of mashups, white labels, remixes, and tracks over the years, and you never know what their tracks are going to sound like.? For “Cut Me Up,” they’ve jumped on the ’90s train with their own unique spin.? Starting off with a Quadrophonia-era old school techno vibe, the track builds up to modern big room electro and then a really cool videogame noise drops it back to breakbeat.?? The appeal of this track isn’t just the flashback, but the way all the different classic and current sounds are blended cohesively to create something that is 2013 (rather than 1993). ?Forthcoming remixes by Etc Etc, Cause and Affect, and London Jay will no doubt take the track all over the map.? The video is a bit violent, showing a pack of skater chicks getting violent revenge against guys who did them wrong – I am guessing the blood is the tie in to the track title.??

Image Courtesy of Central Station/Universal.

SONG OF THE DAY (SUNDAY FUNDAY): Jody Watley – “Nightlife”

The original high fashion dance diva is back with a new ode to clubland. On “Nightlife,” Jody Watley sings the universal story about escaping the problems of daily life, putting on something fun, and going out to dance. Blending soul, disco, and house, the track uses what sounds like real instrumentation and horns- which gives it real depth. Also adding depth are the background vocals from her fellow Shalamar lead, Gerald Brown. Jody sounds great as she always does, and you can tell she is having a good time with the song (that she cowrote). Always in tune with the underground, she namechecks both “waacking” (the classic disco dance focused on syncopated arm movements) and her loyal LGBT following with “get my drag on.” “Nightlife,” like Jody herself, exudes class as she aims to unite the world through music and clubbing. World peace through dance music, it could happen…

Image Courtesy of Peace Bisquit.

SONG OF THE DAY: Infinity Ink – “Infinity”

This one is a bit difficult to write about.? London duo Infinity Ink released the buzz track “Infinity” over a year ago.? A throbbing piece of minimal electro house with a ’90s vibe (and a possible reference to Guru Josh), the incessant bassline is instantly memorable and similar to heroin with its addictive nature.?? The spoken male vocal adds to the trippy vibe, as do the two music videos – the kaleidoscopic original video released on Crosstown Rebels and the Trainspotting-esque hallucinogenic video created for major release on Warner a year later.

A plethora of official remixes exist, with Skream’s speed garage take getting a lot of buzz.? Over the past year, this track and bassline has been covered, mashed, and reworked in an infinite number of ways – some of which are quite amazing, and in one way that is clearly diabolical – namely “Can’t Believe It” by Flo Rida and Pitbull. It’s not that there is anything innately wrong with Flo Rida and Pitbull’s modus operandi of singing/rapping over electro tracks as it has created some fun party tracks (“I Cry,” “I Know You Want Me,” “Good Feeling,” “Don’t Stop the Party”). However, “Can’t Believe It” is so horrifically bad and lazy – the raps don’t even fit over the beat – and are so smutty as to appeal to middle school boys.? Not to mention the video, which rips off “Butter’s Theme.” While Inifinity Ink have received criticism online for allowing their track to be sampled, they said on their Facebook page, “Given the choice between Flo Rida using our original bassline or Flo Rida making an almost exact copy of it, we gave permission for it to be sampled.”? With that in mind, we strongly suggest you ignore “Can’t Believe It” and embrace “Infinity” if you haven’t already.

Image Courtesy of Big Beat.

Image Courtesy of Big Beat.