The phenomenon of dancefloor-friendly edits that beef up and emphasise the rhythmic qualities of classic older tunes has rarely, if ever, touched on New Zealand's own musical heritage. And that's a shame. But – hey! – maybe it's changing.
Last weekend I noticed this funky retake on Grey Lynn's own Yandall Sisters:
It's the work of Auckland DJ duo DiCE, who are Dave Ti and Christiaan Ercolano, formerly of House of Downtown. They also recently sprinkled some nu-disco fairy dust on Jon Stevens' cheesy chart hit 'Jezebel':
And they're both free downloads! DiCE have their own jams available on their Soundcloud, but I for one, hope they also keep up the heritage edits. By consensus among local history-pop pickers, Mark Williams' 'House for Sale' needs the treatment next, but I could see a magnificent 12" vinyl package of three or four of the best being a great thing. If you want DiCE to play your party, they're here.
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Meanwhile, Lewis Tennant covers The Rise of the Sound Systsems in Aotearoa for Audioculture and it's a very good read.
Fresh Auckland electronic producer Peach Milk takes The Wireless though her debut EP, track-by-track.
And on the RNZ website, A Strange Celestial Road, the comprehensive multi-part Sun Ra documentary from Concert FM is a deep treasure.
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Tunes!
Fatigue got very much the better of me last night and I missed Shayne Carter's show at the Tuning Fork. I'm consoling myself with this awesome 2012 live recording of 'Seed' that Shayne posted recently:
Auckland-born London-based deep house purveyors Chaos in the CBD have created this lovely long mix and made it a free download:
And finally, gotta run because I'm expected in Hamilton ... modern dancefloor bangers aren't generally known for for their irony or sense of humour, but this one (free download) breaks that rule rather magnificently.
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