Just Keep Dancing

It's Sunday but it's also a long weekend in most places, which means you may be tired, but you may also be headed out again tonight. With that in mind I've put together a list of extended dance type tracks, old and new; just some of my favourites these days.

Again I've turned to Spotify as most of these tracks are not on Soundcloud, but unlike my new music playlists I've put these in a 'cohesive' listening order. It starts with more throwback disco/dance grooves, with legends like The Cure, Barry White and a repacked version of The Stooges. Then we get two of the hottest dance tracks of the moment with Peggy Gou and Offaiah, before hitting the finale of Snarky Puppy. That track, "Lingus" is by far and away my most played track in the last few months and I still can't get enough of it. It is the oddball in this list but I just needed to share it, and this felt like the right time to sneak it in. Hope this makes your Sunday and weekend more enjoyable. Cheers!

Sunday Disco Delights

Yada yada yada, I love disco. Disco, disco, disco. There's nothing that I go to more frequently or enjoy so unabashedly as much as disco. Whether it's the strings and things, funky bass, gooey grooves, loving lyrics or just the anything goes ethos, I just cannot get enough of disco old and new. It's just the perfect mixture of live elements with repetitive electronic grooves. Today I've decided that I ought to showcase a small sampling of some of my favourites of the moment, from some of my most trusted sources. There's the ever awesome and expanding library of Funkingham (specifically Pimpin Willie) remixing the sublime Sade, the preeminent Dimitri From Paris, and supreme being SanFranDisko. The other two tracks are just as juicy and jam worthy; Cordycep I found through Greg Wilson and the "Everybody Dance" edit comes courtesy Dimitri From Paris, who referred to it as his all-time favourite. I leave you now to enjoy these disco delights and hope they give you strength this Sunday.Note that every other track is available for free download. Don't sleep!

Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants To Rule The World (Pied Piper Remix)

This morning I had the urge to find myself some more epic disco edits, so I set out on soundcloud digging endlessly through future bass, and hybrid dubstep/trap tracks. It felt nearly impossible, even using the chart function to search, there was almost nothing except full mixes. Then I found a remix of Loleatta Holloway's "Love Sensation" by London producer Pied Piper. It's a massive 10 minute, vox led, version of the classic disco number, and boy is it full of fun. I then looked further at Pied Piper's account and found exactly what I was looking for, among endless disco edits, this remix of Tears For Fears. What makes this, and all of Pied Piper's mixes so sensational, is his omniscient approach in crafting a well rounded, epic creation (it's important to note that I mean to use epic as a noun and not an adjective). The groove of the "EWTRTW" mix starts right away with samples lifted directly from the original. Anyone that's heard the Tears For Fears version will immediately recognize the trademark drum sounds. Pied Piper's rebuilt the foundation, slowly adding in elements, as though sprinkling spices into a special sauce. That combination of elements have a savoury taste, warming the soul with sublime groove. As a sucker for both disco edits and 80s, this one really hits the spot, as do many of the others on Pied Piper's page - well worth a look and listen.  Grab the free download via Hypeddit here.

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Five tracks to get you back in the groove

With summer unofficially over, and my baseball team unceremoniously knocked out of the playoffs, I've hit a wall, not wanting to start the next chapter. As always, I find myself turning to music to not just lift me up and help me move on but to re-calibrate my body and soul. Music is incredibly powerful because of its inherent personal appeal; it connects listeners through a shared experience, but in the end, its strength lies in its existential capacity. Today I've compiled five tracks that ooze with groove, both literally (grooves in vinyl) and figuratively (try not to dance to these tracks). These five tracks are full of funky disco vibes and show no shortage of uplifting energy. The first, Flying Mojito Bros remix of Crosby Stills and Nash "Turn Your Back On Love" came to me yesterday, as I was trolling the web for something to write about and immediately appealed to my love of old groove tracks. The content is killer from the guitar to the bass and the lyrics to the vocal harmonies. This is the track that inspired this playlist.

Fittingly, the V4YS remix of Marvin Gaye "Where Are We Going" followed the Flying Mojito Bros, via souncloud's related tracks feature. With that rolling intro, and bright keys the disco is strong throughout and is incredibly infectious. Grab the free download here.

Diving deeper into the disco vibes comes, The Immortals' "Ultimate Warlord." It's fun, funky and incredibly lighthearted. After hearing it for the first time on a long trip home, it woke me up and got me home safely, inspiring me to become "The Ultimate Warlord."

From 1979 to 2016, is Breakbot's remix of Fatima Yamaha's "Love Invaders," which sounds at home in either decade. It's an absolutely awesome slice of carefree disco funk, proving once again the combination of Breakbot and Fatima Yamaha is without parallel. If you like this be sure to check out their cross contamination "2GOOD4ME," which is also a free download.

Rounding out this five-some of uplifting funk, is one of my favourite tracks of all time, my second most played Boy 8-Bit production, and 7th most played track of all time, his remix of Vandroid's "Master and Slave." The combination of Boy 8-Bit's bleepy chiptune quality, playfully poignant percussion and awe inspiring, soundtrack-esque arc makes it the perfect capper for this playlist. I have gone to this track nearly a hundred times on my iTunes alone and will continue to count on it to change my mood and get me back in its inescapable groove. I just hope one of these five tracks speaks to you the same way this track speaks to me, and you can count on it the way I count on Boy 8-Bit.