"How are you feeling?" I asked as he inhaled the combustion of raw plant material, with the hopes to rid himself of sobriety and subsequently alter his consciousness in order to gain a different perspective on the world we are surrounded by. "I don't feel anything", answered my friend with the innocence of a child pertaining to the events to come. "Give it a few minutes, let it creep up on you", I replied, knowing that within the span of a few moments, he would not be the same for the next 3 hours.

Right after having said that, I took out my earphones to listen to some music, for we were on a mission to gather food at the nearest Harvey's, which was 20 minutes away. I was in the mood for the Kink (Strahil Velchev) remix of Jimpster's "Porchlight and Rocking Chairs" that just so happens to kick off the second instalment of my set!

As it turned out, only mere minutes following my retort, my friend was holding his head, apologizing in advance for the stupidities that would ensue on his behalf; "Whatever I do, please take care of me."  I only realized the pertinence of his statement after looking behind me to see him falling very much behind, with his eyes closed - quite a common reoccurrence throughout the night -, shooting lasers out of his hands (onomatopoeias included for hilarity);

- Nikhil?
- Yeah?
- Could you teach me to be calm?
- Well, for starters, I don't shoot lasers out of my hands, and I prefer keeping my eyes open when I cross streets.
- Oh, yeah, that's definitely a start.

As Kink's remix was coming to an end, hints of the following tune began to mesh into the final bars; Sello's alternating drums became more pronounced on every hit. As the new piece constructs itself over time, soft, muted synths make their appearance along with a diverse vocal repertoire that really makes you wonder about the structure of the Sello's "Praise Him" in particular, for the buildup constitutes more than half of the entire song. Nevertheless, if you have the patience for it, this piece is definitely worth a listen.



At approximately 3 AM we all headed up the mountain towards the city observatory. Thankfully, I had downloaded Lontalius's album of shorts entitled "The World Will Never Know About Us", which is saturated with feelings of longing, loneliness and what have you. The replay button came in very handy.


As we reached the summit of the mountain, an encumbering sentiment of happiness purveyed throughout the group, for who doesn't like to peer into the city lights in the middle of the night, the moon caressing every building ever so lightly. It was a good ending to a fun night.

It was approximately 5 AM when I stumbled into my apartment with one thing in mind. Riff Raff. In fact, he recently collaborated with A$AP Rocky for Noisey's segment entitled "Back and Forth". Watch the first part in it's entirety below.

     Ear tears, a term popularized by the Hawt’s own Nikhi as a clever way to equate visual representation of emotion with sound, is what I’m using this week for lack of inspiration. Lately, my brain seems to fart more often than that of the average human being and in writing this post, I was unable to find a word other than ”weep” to rhyme with “deep.” I deem it sad that I had such a difficult time searching for a rhyme for a word so often heard, although my ego after this sentence finds confidence in my ability to remedy my lack of a knack for rhyming. As always, my introduction is completely independent from whatever it is I write about, so fast forward to the music.

     He calls it a remix, but he’s giving the song away for free and something tells me the label wouldn't approve, so I’m inclined to call it a bootleg. Moon Boots’ skewed categorization aside, the rework of CHVRCHES’ “The Mother We Share” that he recently posted to his SoundCloud page is marked with an indelible nu disco stamp, yet interestingly features a genre ambiguous house/deep house/disco bassline that keeps me puzzled. It’s stuff like this that makes him my favorite French Express artist.

CHVRCHES – The Mother We Share (Moon Boots Remix)

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     In my opinion, Bondax’s “Giving It All” received far too much praise around the time of it’s release. It’s undeserved hype of this sort that overshadowed the subsequent release of Giving It All (Remixes) EP and the nu disco treasure buried within. Not to be outdone by the equally undervalued remixes of Joe Goddard and Friend Within, French Kiwi Juice separates himself with one of the most summer-suited songs in a long time, with brightness emerging from every single clip that comprises this piece. While the timing may have been off by a few months, this one is sure to help keep warm in the harshest of climates.

Bondax – Giving It All (French Kiwi Juice Remix)

iTunes

 

     The third track this week is one of two from Konstantin Sibold, a young producer hailing from Stuttgart, Germany. What I love about this remix is its simplicity. Instead of weaving the deep and acid house from “No One Gets Left Behind” into a web of convoluted cacophony, Sibold mixes the subgenres in the most explicit way possible, keeping the whole of the track intact as deep house and isolating an acid house element as a hook. The result is stunning; the contrast of these two opposites takes center stage and makes this remix as danceable as is it relaxable. I realize that “relaxable” isn’t a word, but if you read the introduction, you’ve learned about how I deal with rhymes.

DJ Yellow & Flowers and Sea Creatures – No One Gets Left Behind (Konstantin Sibold Remix)

Beatport

 

     Get Physical may be my favorite label at the moment. Its Poésie Musik sub-label has released some of my most cherished tracks of late, like the Martin Roth remix of “Balloons” and the Gui Borrato remix of “My Head is a Jungle.” In Poésie’s latest offering, a drab and lifeless production is saved by the magic of Konstantin Sibold. While Sibold’s “disco” remix of “Into You” may be the most popular from the release, it’s his “years ago” mix that best captures the essence of the track in my opinion. With deep, stabbing, synth sounds acting as both hook and bassline and the strength of some relatively bare percussion sounds, the song turns into a track  more than worthy of Get Physical.

Jonas Woehl ft. Fabian Reichelt – Into You (Konstantin Sibold Years Ago Remix)

Beatport – iTunes

 

     The video of the week is another interview with RiFF RaFF, because I’m lazy and the guy is just funny.

 

     Have a great week!

The completion of my weekly quiz marks the beginning of the weekend. In other words, it's time to drink beer upon beer upon beer until one passes out in the comfort of a warm, welcoming floor. As the sunlight dawns the following morning, a headache seeps itself into one's consciousness, as a symbol of your sins of the previous night; no need for worries, multiple glasses of water and ample rest is all one needs to restart the cycle Saturday night.