Blog Archives
KANT – Close to the Wire (Timo Maas & James Teej Remix)
KANT is the Copenhagen-based producer team that initially made their name on the underground, rising up the cool hierarchy and keeping busy dropping official remixes for the likes of Jessie J, MØ and NERO amongst others.
An undeniable versatility has seen their early darker, more minimal production give way to a smoother, groove-laden style as demonstrated with last release ‘Nightcall’, racking up 3M streams on Spotify. Picking up tastemaker support on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra with the likes of Annie Mac, Danny Howard and Pete Tong as well as working with hype producers such as MK, it was KANT’s ability to crossover into a more accessible sound whilst keeping across labels like Black Butter, Toolroom, MTA Records, Hive Audio and Suara that’s made their journey so thrilling.
Now KANT comes with remix from two of the hottest producers of the moment in Timo Maas and James Teej – fresh from their huge cult smash with Paul McCartney earlier this year. This is their first release following the viral bootleg that ended up selling out at Phonica and now fetching upwards of £500 on ebay. Wrapping KANT’s original in a lush, muted electronic swathe, it minimalises and tribalises a melodic original to make it something exotic, colder and instantly club-ready. KANT’s numbers speak for themselves: 3M streams on Spotify for “Nightcall”, 1M views on Youtube, over 6M across the Top 10 streams on Spotify – this is the mark of an artist that people fall in love with. This new remix places them evermore in the zone of extreme musical rainmakers.
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Paul McCartney & Wings VS Timo Maas & James Teej – 1985 (Paul Woolford Rework)
‘Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five’ has taken the world by surprise in 2016. The record that brought Paul McCartney fame in the 1970s, reincarnated by Timo Maas and James Teej has now been reworked by the enigmatic production forces of Kerri Chandler, Paul Woolford and Tim Green for Virgin Records.
It was April this year when the mysterious white labels first appeared in select record stores and NME broke news of “the origins of a mysterious house remix of Paul McCartney,” Rolling Stone featured a rare dance record that has been “transformed into a club piece with the approval of Macca”. An instant classic, it was then hailed by Billboard to have “captured the imagination of music fans”.
Paul Woolford has been known under many aliases throughout his illustrious career as a dance music DJ and producer, such as the ground-breaking Special Request and Bobby Peru. But none are as renowned as his birth-name, with which he propels ‘Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five’ to new heights, elasticating its frequencies to an epic ten minute sound odyssey.
Check out Paul Woolford’s remix:
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Paul McCartney & Wings Vs Timo Maas & James Teej – 1985 (Tim Green Remix)
‘Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five’ brought Paul McCartney fame in the 1970s and now Timo Maas and James Teej have brought new life into it for 2016 on Virgin Records. Tim Green steps up for the first reinterpretation of the applauded record with a sleek and emotive remix that breaks into the heart of this special record.
Back in April NME broke news of “the origins of a mysterious house remix of Paul McCartney,” while Rolling Stone wrote that it had been “transformed into a club piece with the approval of Macca“. Many fell in love with the record instantly and Billboard mused that they had “captured the imagination of music fans”.
“The first concert I ever went to was Paul McCartney at Earls Court in 1993, I was 9 years old.’ Tim Green recalled. ‘It was a privilege to remix this new version, and I tried incorporating and respecting both versions in my remix.” Possessing the ability to effortlessly manoeuvre through the realms of house and techno, Tim Green has been responsible for countless high profile releases on highly revered labels including Cocoon, Dirtybird, Get Physical and brought his remixing skills to music from Friendly Fires, Cassius and Seth Troxler. He has constantly experimented across the spectrum of electronic music, stamping his work with ingenuity, fearlessness and fun.
Watch ‘Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five’ original video here as featured on Nowness.
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Paul McCartney & Wings VS Timo Maas & James Teej – Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five
The music industry has gone into a spin about ‘Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five’ over the past two weeks. Limited 12” test pressings sold out in hours, it went straight to number one in the record shops stocking them and sent ebay into overdrive ever since.
This is in no small part due to Paul McCartney being one of rock’s most iconic figures. From his frontman status within The Beatles to his solo outfit Wings, he trailblazed the 70s with a string of hits. Originally a B side, the luminous ‘Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five’ was first released in 1973 and took Timo Maas until 2009 to discover it. Amazed at how fresh the record sounded, he teamed up with musical cohort James Teej to contemporise this classic sound and bring a modern edge into it, now set for official release on Virgin Records Germany on May 13th.
The original ‘Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five’ was the closing track on the 1973 album ‘Band on the Run’ and found critical acclaim for Paul McCartney & Wings (the solo outfit the Beatles member founded with his wife Linda) through references to George Orwell’s 1984, yet it also tells an unlikely love story through its lyrics. Industry heavy-weights Timo Maas & James Teej elevate the track and spark it with electronic heat, creating a perfect storm between the past and the present.
Timo Maas’s career has had an undeniable impact on the electronic music scene. For 30 years he has travelled the globe, and garnered an illustrious production career putting his midas touch to music for Madonna, Depeche Mode, Fatboy Slim and earning a Grammy Award nomination for his Tori Amos rework. Also known for his indie-electronic label and band, My Favourite Robot, James Teej is Canadian born with over twenty years producing and DJing under his belt. Working at Timo’s countryside home in Germany this unlikely pairing have refined a vision and palette of sound that is a confident yet tasteful take on contemporary electronica.
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Róisín Murphy – Jealousy Remixes
The prolific production partnerships of Greg Wilson & Derek Kaye, Timo Maas & James Teej and the solo force of Citizenn take Róisín Murphy’s ‘Jealousy’ to new levels with fresh remixes of the smash single released earlier this year.
“Jealousy is a thunderous house vamp over the course of which Róisín gradually transforms from carefree lover to possessive bunny-boiler, her growing mania matched by the music’s unstoppable momentum. Pop-house pups take note: this is how it’s done.” The Guardian newspaper review, March 2015
Róisín Murphy’s compelling vocals are set in new bright landscapes by disco dons Greg Wilson & Derek Kaye, London retro-futurist Citizenn hot of the heels of his debut album on Crosstown Rebels and Timo Maas & James Teej. Co-written and produced by the great Sheffield bastion of house, The Crooked Man AKA DJ Parrot, formally of Sweet Exorcist (Warp) and All Seeing I (FFRR).
o+ Róisín Murphy has become one of the most competent, enduring and influential figures in the pop, disco and electronic music worlds. The Irish singer-songwriter originally broke into the charts as the frontwoman for Moloko, delivering music that was leftfield electronic and pop-orientated. Her consequent output, three stunning solo albums, and Mi Senti a beautiful Italian language EP with The Vinyl Factory alongside guest vocal presence on labels like Hot Creations and Permanent Vacation have ensured Róisín’s enduring legacy and constant evolution as an artist.
o+o ‘Jealousy’ was also mixed by the legendary Eric Kupper, who was a production partner with Frankie Knuckles and Dave Morales and whose K-Scope releases were a staple of 90’s American NY House.
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James Teej – Moonstalker EP
My Favorite Robot’s James Teej offers up the ‘Moonstalker’ EP via Galaktika Records mid March, backed with Simon Garcia, Sahin Meyer and Garnica remixes.
James Teej is most notably known as one third of Canadian outfit My Favorite Robot which has seen releases via Life & Death, No.19 Music, Hypercolour and of course My Favorite Robot Records, while also offering up solo productions under his own name principally via Sasha’s Last Night On Earth imprint of late. Here though we see James return to Barcelona’s Galaktika Records following ‘The Edge’ which featured on the label’s ‘Action Series III’ EP in 2011.
Across ‘The Moonstalker’ EP we see Teej offer up three original tracks, the first of which, title-cut ‘Moonstalker’, sees James provide a subtly evolving, low-slung number led by drawn out bass drones, bumpy rhythms and dreamy synth lines. Following is ‘Inside’ which lays its focus on squelchy acid sounds and trippy vocal murmurs, while the third and final original ‘Light & Love’ is an emotive number employing warm chord progressions and pizzicato string sequences alongside soulful vocal styling’s.
The latter half of the release sees three interpretations of ‘Inside’ on offer, Simon Garcia steps up first with his stuttering bass led take, Sahin Meyer takes things darker with broken drums and menacing bass tones sat alongside floating pads. Garnica then rounds things off with a lo-fi feel bringing wandering arpeggios and crunchy drum sounds into the limelight.
James Teej’s ‘Moonstalker’ EP is out on Galaktika Records March 16th 2015. Get it here.
Tracklist
1. Moonstalker (Original Mix)
2. Inside (Original Mix)
3. Light & Love (Original Mix)
4. Inside (Simon Garcia Remix)
5. Inside (Sahin Meyer Remix)
6. Inside (Garnica Remix)
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