040. M&S pres. The Girl Next Door – Salsoul Nugget (If You Wanna) (M&S Extended Vocal)

The other day I was messing around online, trying to find info about a track off the legendary disco label, Salsoul. Not before long I was listening to youtube videos when I stumbled across Double Exposure’s Everyman. A handful of neurons in the deepest recess of my brain started to tingle in recognition of the tune; I recognised the sample. It took me a full day to remember the tune.

Back in 2001, a funky filtered disco sampling house number hit the charts and stayed at the business end for weeks on end. Cutting elements from both Double Exposure and Loletta Holliway, M&S’s Salsoul Nugget provided an excellent example of how sampling could, and should, be done. The promo brought desperate elements from differing sources to create something new. However, with its success and crossover it was felt that an additional vocal should be added to give commercial appeal. Generally, attempting this manoeuvre offers a poor finished product, but in this case the vocals really add something extra to the track.

For some reason though, its massive success failed to translate to any kind of long term classic status. I do wonder if this track was dropped would the floor remember it? Even if they don’t, surely its own production merits can carry it to a new audience? There’s only one way to find out.

M&S pres. The Girl Next Door – Salsoul Nugget (If You Wanna) (M&S Extended Vocal) by dcp84

M&S pres. The Girl Next Door - Salsoul Nugget (If U Wanna) (M&S Extended Vocal)
[FFRR : FXXDJ 393]
(2001)

Discogs: £6.50

012. Felix Da Housecat - Harlot (Justin Robertson Remix)

Felix Da Housecat is without doubt a talented producer. While his DJ skills are not entirely flawless he is by no means boring behind the decks. Sadly, his A side mix of Harlot just lets us down. Some nice elements are thrown in, but overall the final product doesn’t seem to work. Everything changes when you flip the record over and place the stylus on the B side. Justin Robertson reworks the substandard electro mumblings into a utility laden dance floor workhorse. The sleazy vocals and warm synths retain the feelings of its electro origin, but the four to the floor kick and driving percussion bring into focus the worlds of house and techno. This is where the track fundamentally shines. Robertson has delivered us one of those multi-purpose, all terrain tracks which are at once functional and danceable. For the astute DJ this track can comfortably sit at home in an electro, house or techno set.

Felix Da Housecat - Harlot (Justin Robertson Remix)
[City Rockers : ROCKERS03]
(2001)

006. Jeff Wayne - The Eve Of The War (Hybrid's Fire In The Sky Remix)

Without wanting to sound overly pretentious, this piece of music is exactly what this blog was intended to highlight; music which is intelligent, which arrests your attention, and above all, rewards listening. Hybrid take Jeff Wayne’s very familiar score and inject it with dark and gritty sub which just begs to be played as loud as your audio equipment will permit. The result is a sinister, brooding sequence which in my opinion suits the tone of the source material much more accurately. This adds the missing element to the original which, despite Wayne’s obvious compositional talents, descended into an altogether funkier realm. Thankfully, Hybrid yet again demonstrate that electronic music must not be confined to generic samples or unoriginal programming. Brakes would be a far more boring world with out their influence.

Jeff Wayne - The Eve Of War (Hybrid's Fire In The Sky Remix)
[Columbia : WAR 001]
(2001)