if you're like me, then you played out annie's debut lp anniemal about 6 months ago. fortunately for me/you, there are probably a ton of great remixes floating around out there just waiting to recapture my/your interest, like mylo's remix of chewing gum. chewing gum was actually one of my least favorite songs on the lp, but that was because i think it was a good idea that never quite came to fruition. mylo fixes that problem with a handful of 80s synth sounds... the most notable and repetitive of these reminds me of queen's radio ga ga (coming soon with its own post).

if anyone out there isn't already hooked on the lemon-red mix series, jump on that shit right goddamn now. the new caps & jones mix is just slaying me. i love it when you feel giddy listening to something for the first time, when shit just keeps getting better and better and you are all FUCKING YES, THIS IS WHY I LISTEN TO MUSIC. it only happens to me a few dozen times a year, but oh my god what a wonderful high. if you don't feel this, you are a lost cause.

kraftwerk are right, bicycling is so fucking techo [edit: this is now NOT a (goatse'd) direct link, but you have to scroll down and click on the tour de france photo yourself. apologies for being a retard and searing y'all's retinas]. i rode my ass off this saturday, and i was totally feeling the robot groove for most of it. there's something hypnotic and wonderfully annihilating and about that grinding, repetitive, minimal motion. i need to be in like 100x better shape, have a much nicer bike, and wear some sort of silvery spandex suit to be worthy of ralph und florian though. i think this might be a more apt soundtrack to my raggedy ass wheezing up hills...

i moved out of our house today, was sad to leave. i listened to this song on repeat for a few hours late last night while packing. ada dials the nostalgia up to 11, and i am such a sucker for it. what a beautiful remix.

today is the birthday of valerie simpson from the group ashford and simpson. i'm not a huge fan, but i like a few of their songs, including stay free. it sounds very travolta disco - not something i would pick out to listen to first thing in the morning, but it has occasionally popped up in the middle of an itunes party shuffle to pleasant effect.

i seem to recall reading once that the duo wrote the song 'ain't nothing like the real thing'. a quick look at allmusic confirms this and reveals that they also wrote 'you're all i need to get by' as well as a few other r&b classics.

so in case the title of this new blog didn't tip you off, i'm currently rather obsessed with the music of arthur russell. this thread on ilm—specifically someone posting that 19 minute long piece of fucking brilliance off of zummo with an x—rekindled the interest that the world of comp had piqued. but now i am goddamn hooked, dude is amazing. i have been listening to everything ar-related that i can get my hands on. the world of echo album is so worth tracking down; "keeping up" was one of my favorite tracks off the soul jazz comp, it's like an album full of russell in that sort of mode.

tracks currently being played on repeat when i'm away from the record player: kiss me again (a side), a full on disco monster, complete with wailing diva, super catchy piano riff, and bongo breakdown (!), can not get enough of this; in the light of the miracle, a crazy 13 minute long cowbell laden groove (zummo kills it on trombone here as well); keeping up, a six minute breathy-reverb-cello-swipey sad/happy makes you want to float away song; that's us/wild combination, which reminds me of a paul simon song; the aforementioned a side off zummo with an x. these are probably a rather random selection, there are so many other tracks of equal brilliance on the albums/comps/unrereleased stuff, you should go listen to them all. i'll cut you some slack if you just listen to these first though.

still looking for: 24→24 Music, the other side of zummo with an x, other stuff i'm probably not even aware of.

trying not to pee my pants after reading (at the audika site): "Arthur recorded close to four hours of music with the intention of having someone complete and remix the composition. As all of Arthur’s dance music was done in collaboration, we were committed to finding the best. We are excited to announce that our friends the DFA will be handling the chores of mixing and editing the track for release also in October."

to not study for the qual.