SPAZZKID DESIRE (願う) REMIXES

It's been a while since I was first going to write about this but so many things get in the way of so many other things, don't they? You know what it's like. But finally here it is.

Spazzkid, whose music I have been enjoying very much recently, released an album not so long ago - in April actually - called Desire (願う). Besides housing the incredible 'Getting To Know You' and the euphoric 'Loving Free', the album is brimming with a loving touch and a sense of wonder: synths pop and wind like setting suns, bass rolls and bounces like cylinders of smooth marble, percussion is toyed with and pulled into place to construct infectious beats, real instruments on loop support faraway vocals. It is a chilled and tasty slice of the talents of Spazzkid, aka Mark Redito, who has created a vibrant playground of luscious noises that resonate wonderfully.

Then at the end of last month he released a 20-track album of remixes by a number of different producers, who seem to treat the originals so well that they might as well be remixing their own songs. Indeed, "affection" is a word used in the description of the album, simply called Desire (願う) Remixes, and that word is wholly applicable in this case. It could perhaps be because a few of the remixers are fellow members of the artist collective New Generation (e.g. DINOSAURUS REX, Meishi Smile, Saint Pepsi) and therefore take care to do their very best in their remixes - but then again that might not have any bearing on it whatsoever.

It is, in any case, a diverse record that provides such a number of different perspectives on Spazzkid's original, all of which suit Spazzkid's sound whilst adding a delicious slant to it.

It's difficult to focus on any one part of the album and to avoid being overly waffly, I'll just give examples of how nicely variegated the sounds of this album are. You have stuff like the Hotwax remix of 'If Not You Then Who', which is a mellow cloud of synth hung with heavy bass cut with a darker vibe that pervades the song, but then again you have SVNDAZE's remix of the same song which puts the spotlight on Spazzkid's vocals over the wholly calm sound of a koto, before leaping into a whirlwind of chillment.

Another favourite of mine at the moment, Wasted Nights, gives a characteristically 80s spin to the ultimately catchy 'Loving Free', loading it with modulated synths and epic drum machine snares - yet TELEPHOBIA gives 'Loving Free' a bleepy house remix, turning it into a dancefloor-friendly number, chopping and looping Spazzkid's original sounds. Meishi Smile's 'First Digital Love RMX' is a euphoric house treatment of the same song, whilst Saint Pepsi veils it in his lush retro vibes.

DINOSAURUS REX retains the same twisted chill of 'Kokeshi Doll' but Diego Mapa turns it into a clatter of percussive beats and ray-gun synth. There are so many more things to say but I'd just end up going on and on and on... in short, however, this is a wonderful listen from start to finish. It is by turns chilled and energetic, slow and fast, filled with a dynamic that you cannot help but get sucked into - it's a genuine joyride, or a free-fall through sound-representations of pleasure; Spazzkid has a lot of talented friends, that much is evident!

TRACKLIST
1. Getting To Know You (su na Remix) 02:58
2. Loving Free (TELEPHOBIA rework) 02:15
3. If Not You Then Who (SVNDAZE remix) 02:36
4. Candy Flavored Lips (bo en イパネマREMIX) 04:24
5. Marquez (KEV//BOT Remix) 05:07
6. If Not You Then Who (Touurs Remix) 04:27
7. 40 Winks (Tyord Remix) 03:33
8. Kokeshi Doll (mus.hiba remix feat Sekka Yufu) 04:11
9. Forgiveness (Thompost Remix) 05:49
10. 40 Winks (Justin De Guzman Remix) 04:56
11. Loving Free (Meishi Smile's First Digital Love RMX) 03:50
12. Kokeshi Doll (Diego Mapa Remix) 04:40
13. Getting To Know You (James Deen Remix) 02:57
14. Candy Flavored Lips (SimilarObjects Alpha State Edit) 03:26
15. Loving Free (WASTED NIGHTS Remix) 03:24
16. Kokeshi Doll (DINOSAURUS REX Remix) 03:04
17. Candy Flavored Lips (SAYURI Remix) 04:24
18. Getting To Know You (PARKGOLF Remix) 04:33
19. If Not You Then Who (Hotwax Remix) 04:13
20. Loving Free (Saint Pepsi Remix) 04:20

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Listen to Spazzkid on Soundcloud
Hear more Spazzkid on bandcamp
Visit Spazzkid's official site
Follow Spazzkid on Twitter
Check Spazzkid on Tumblr
Watch Spazzkid on YouTube

WASTED NIGHTS MIXTAPE #002 [FREE DOWNLOAD]

This guy is really pushing my buttons at the moment - and I don't mean that he is annoying me, but rather TURNING ME ON. Musically speaking, that is. Whilst the sun sits high in the sky I play this man's music and it just sounds perfect. He makes this sunny brand of sampling music, turning old sounds into new ones by chopping them up and mashing them together to create a future funk flavour. Sounds delicious right?

So anyway, yeah I wrote about him before. If you haven't already guessed from the title of this post, it's Wasted Nights of course. I wrote about him before, when I came across his song 'Palm' - I naturally went crazy when I first heard this, and I would've been dancing, juggling coconuts and attempting to make a tropical cocktail in every single vessel I could lay my hands on, but I have a broken knee. However, that's what my brain was telling me to do.

Little did I know he made these little mixtapes as well as his own music. They give you a nice insight into his - yes; his name is George Rosolac - taste in music. Which seems to be in the same vein as his own style, looking back to a when the music was happy and when most of the world was going through an economic boom (Cold War anyone?): yes, the 80s. I've heard people who actually lived through the 80s say that they hated it and the music was rubbish and the fashion was worse, but for me, yes for me and many others, who drew breath from the atmosphere for only a couple of years at the end of the 80s, it's an alien era filled with fun colours and fun sounds. The future was just around the corner. Then we got to the future and it's a bit troublesome - I've seen more revolutions and riots and civil wars on TV in the last 10 years than... well, than I've wanted to see.

So sit back and chill out to Wasted Nights's MIXTAPE #002, maybe even download it - cause ya can - and take it with you someplace nice, play it in your car and cruise round your local town, even if it's Nowhere-on-Sea or Lower Hibbingdon or whatever, and say with all your heart: "What recession? What war?"

It's gorgeous. Glitzing with muscle-bound drum machines, ice cold slap bass, infinity pool synth and soulful vocals, this medley of songs oozes the carefree, endless and unbeatable summer of youth, of fun, of pleasure, of dream-following unconquerable decisive happiness. Sun & rain, day & night, ebullient & chilled. Err... here's the track list. I've done links on em too so you also can explore the music of these artists.

1// Claws For - Can't You See
2// Audiosynthes - I Know We're Just Friends
3// No Crass - 4 p.m
4// Audiosynthes - Dead Cruise
5// Booty Thrill - Bungalow Funk
6// Sebastian - Arabest
7// Mattmiller - She Wants To Funk
8// Mix Chopin - Can't Buy It
9// Letherette - D&T
10// Bobby Tank - Sexy Thang

I hope that you enjoyed/will enjoy this. If not, then that's fine - the world would be a boring place if only ONE singular taste in music prevailed in the minds of everyone everywhere. If you did like it, you can also check out the earlier (1-month-old) MIXTAPE #001 - I hope these are monthly cause I loves em.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Like Wasted Nights on Facebook
Listen to Wasted Nights on Soundcloud
Hear more Wasted Nights on bandcamp
Check Wasted Nights on Tumblr

Listen to Wasted Nights mixtapes on SoundCloud

WASTED NIGHTS PALM

More fun. And I mean like seriously this time. Not that I ever didn't mean it any time before. And I also don't think I've ever said "more fun" either, definitely not to start a post anyway. Well here we are. And there is more fun - really. And this time the fun is from Italy. Wahoo let's go.

This is another one of those guys that comes from one of Saint Pepsi's musical collective machines, not New Generation this time but actually something different called Keats Collective. I am unsure as to whether this is an artist collective or an actual label, because I can't work it out. Oh well. But basically it's a collection of artists who are like-minded and similarly styled, with an emphasis on retro danceable sounds.

One such particular retro danceable sound is indeed the one I am talking about: 'Palm' by Wasted Nights. The real name of this guy is George Rosolac and yes he comes from Italy, a place called Orvieto, but also spends time in London. I could of course be wrong. It's a real nice track in any case.

Starting off with a huge bang, a satisfying wind, the song storms straight into staccato glitch samples and summer song samples. Breathy strings and a passionate saxophone intertwine, repetitions of the slap of the snare drum machine gun across the board alongside a vocal sample that is expertly chopped up and smacked down. It is a song that is full of modern attitude as well as the ambient sounds of an 80s summer smash hit - the energy in this song is pretty astounding. But it is sweet and short. A chopping board of zingy flavours. I could actually listen to that for like triple the time. That'd be a decent time.

There is an EP soon apparently. Let's hope so eh?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Like Wasted Nights on Facebook
Listen to Wasted Nights on Soundcloud
Hear more Wasted Nights on bandcamp
Check Wasted Nights on Tumblr