Recently Played: Carl Craig remixes

That Carl Craig dude has been turning out a grip of hot remixes lately, no? Below are the usual suspects, songs you can find on a dozen other blogs, but I figured I'd post these in an effort to better misrepresent myself as someone who keeps his freezer stocked with glowsticks. Y'know, for the weekend...

Junior Boys – Like A Child (Carl Craig Remix) (2007)

Its no secret that Kelly and I love the Junior Boys. I think their last album contains something like seven of Kelly's top ten most-played tracks, according to her iTunes stats. “Like A Child” is one of several highlights of that album, and needn't be tampered with. And yet, is Jeremy Greenspan's voice not tailor-made for a house anthem? Carl Craig doesn't give us that house anthem, but starting by substituting fingersnaps for the original's handclaps, he does give us something hushed, eerie, yet propulsive. It's a slow builder, a “pot boiler” I believe they call 'em, and it's one of my favorite tracks of 2007.

Rhythm & Sound – Poor People Must Work (Carl Craig Remix w/ Bobbo Shanti) (2006)

Phillip Sherburne's already been all up in your grill about this poverty and starvation dance floor filler, I expect, so I'll just let you listen. Ah, except that I'll add that Rhythm & Sound's See Mi Yah Remixes is well worth your attention. And that I should really devote an entire post to this now-defunct duo in the near future.

Tony Allen – Kilode (Carl Craig Remix) (2007)

Another shoe-in for my faves of 2007, Honest Jon's Records put out a 12” this year featuring not one but two jaw-dropping Carl Craig interpretations of Tony Allen's afrobeat update “Kilode.” His “Straight Mix” (not this one) is on, believe it or not, a post-punk vibe sure should knock socks off the ESG fan in your life. But since we're looking to the club today, I give you the A-side, in which Craig crafts a Detroit approximation of afrobeat rhythm, percussively layered throughout with staccato synth blasts. At about the 4:00 mark, things get outrageously good. The stage is cleared, and out saunters a low keyboard melody so deliciously fat, you'll swear you can hear Eddie Murphy stuffing a banana into a tailpipe (if you catch my meaning) (and I think you do). To say that this record has been playing on my headphones nonstop, well, that's what they call the art of gross understatement. Honest Jon's says they're mere hours from selling mp3s on their website, so be sure to get the rest of this record, as well as the Mark Ernestus and (OMG) Moritz von Oswald remix records.