Music For Robots

July 23, 2004 | Posted by Blair at 1:29 PM

funny how i blinded myself...

a friday dance quickie:

"Diamond Girl" by Nice & Wild -- awesome freestyle classic! everyone loves this song, regardless if you've ever heard it or not. this comes off the original 12", but damn, i'd love to get ahold of this freestyle box set.

"Die Sleeping (Ulysses EBM Mix)" by kap10kurt -- this is probably my favorite electro-house song, because of that damn saw synth that comes in at 1:30... whooo, that's a hand's in the air moment, no? this isn't being printed anymore, but you can probably find it at your local dance music store, or on gemm.com. (plus there's a handful of freebies on the kap10kurt site)

"Red Alert (Steve Gurley Mix)" by Basement Jaxx -- i love this song, i love these guys, and this mix, well, its something different, but its still pretty awesome - remember when UK-Garage/2-step was supposed to be the next big thing? how come it never took off in the US? anyway, this song is what broke the Jaxx through to the mainstream - they'd been huge in the underground house scene in London, starting in their Brixton neighborhood, and before they signed to XL they'd released stuff themselves on their Atlantic Jaxx label, starting in 1994! booya! why not buy it?!?

Comments

Actually, "Diamond Girl" is by Nice & Wild. Nice & Smooth's big hit was "Sometimes I Rhyme Slow" which is famous for its sampling of "Fast Car." Its an amazing song in its own right. Smooth B Greg Nice Slick Nick Click!

Posted by: CHRIS at July 23, 2004 2:43 PM

thanks for the correction - i knew that but still typed smooth instead... pre-coffee i'm useless!

Posted by: robot blair at July 23, 2004 3:12 PM

Is it Steve Gurley? Or Steve "Silk" Hurley (of Detroit house fame)?

Posted by: Geoffrey at July 23, 2004 5:20 PM

It seems that Simon Ratcliffe of the Basement Jaxx was also involved in the infamous UK hardcore tune "Ephemerol" as part of Tic Tac Toe. discogs.com confirms this. I should probably say "famous" but it sounds darker when you say "infamous".

Posted by: DigitalDjigit at July 23, 2004 10:12 PM

Geoffrey- Discogs.com says it is Steve Gurley, not Steve "silk" Hurley or even Ray Hurley.

UKGarage "next big thing"- it was a big thing (can't expect everything to translate across the waters), it is still being made/sold/played on pirate radio and just like DnB, was absorbed into (or evolved into) other musical genres.

Posted by: c at July 24, 2004 12:09 PM

'c' - by 'next big thing' i meant here in america. i personally like it a lot - i'm a huge streets fan, who i think successfully bridges underground and pop, and does it with garage beats. unfortunately its pretty tough to get garage in the US in general.

thanks for the comments guys!

Posted by: robot blair at July 24, 2004 4:07 PM

UK Garage/Two Step failed in America for one reason, and his name was Craig David. That shit just didn't fly over here, and for whatever reason he was lauded as the ambassador of two step. He even got some play on MTV, but that shit was just watered down timberlake stuff, and no one really bought it.

At least that's what I remember. I could be totally wrong.

Posted by: robot mark at July 24, 2004 5:01 PM

I see your point robot mark, he may have started out singing on UK Garage tracks but I doubt any of that material (early Artful Dodger collabs) would have reached a US audience in its original form. (Yet he was marketed as "ambassador of two step"?)

robot blair, interesting to hear you like the streets' stuff. Anyway before this turns into a garridge blog...

Posted by: c at July 24, 2004 10:13 PM

dude i posted the album version (i think) of this track on my blog last week, it's kick ass.

but i need to know, 'cuz i don't have the album sleeve, who is the SINGER???? she's amazing!

thnx robots.

Posted by: su at July 27, 2004 5:50 AM

su- if you are referring to the jaxx track:
Vocals by Blue James.
Backing vocals by KDL Allstars.
Contains a sample from 'Far Beyond' performed by Locksmith.