There’s a rather gorgeous looking and sounding Kim Wilde multi CD boxset just released covering Kim’s years at the legendary RAK Records. One disc is dedicated to remixes and quite rightly some of these brand new reworks are grabbing all of the attention. What’s great is that the label have resisted the urge to just include 20 versions of ‘Kids In America’ – favouring some lesser known albeit fan faves. More about that shortly.
Where better to start than with Project K. This fella has been in our ears an awful lot lately. He charted 2nd on our remixes of the year for ’23 thanks to his Night at 54 Mix for Dannii Minogue’s ‘I Begin To Wonder’ (part of the 20 year anniversary release of ‘Neon Nights’). Earlier this month he blew us away with more disco dynamite courtesy of his delicious work on ‘Videotheque’ as part of Ricky Wilde and NINA’s ‘Remixed Hearts’.
His contributions to this new boxset are quite outstanding. Perhaps truest to the original, of his work here, is the take on ‘View From A Bridge’. All of the drama of the original is here but with a squelchy and energised synthbeat making it more danceable than we are used to. Project K’s spin on ‘Water On Glass’ is bolder still with a snappy synthwave reinvention – initally quite sparse before introducing a housey piano and building into a throbbing ravey wig out of a climax (oo-er). Most surprising but at the same time pleasing is the total reinvention of ‘Love Blonde’ as a late 80s club banger (the original landed in ’83). Working to a brief of “what Jellybean or Pettibone might have done with this…” really seemed to inspire Project K. ‘Love Blonde’ is now unrecognisable as the rockabilly swinger it once was and we even hear a bit of Krush’s ‘House Arrest’ going on. If you are going to remix Kim Wilde then we really favour bringing something as fresh as this to the table. Genius quite frankly.
Earlier we mentioned how pleased we were to see some less obvious choices given the remix treatment. ‘Take Me Tonight’ is a track from Kim’s 1982 ‘Select’ album and was chosen as the b-side to ‘View From A Bridge’ back in the day (as well as being a single outside of the UK). Luke Mornay has taken this one on and revved it up somewhat into a synthy sci-fi darkwave groover – crisp and punchy but also keeping Kim’s vocal very present. Another highlight from this carefully curated set. Matt Pop also features on remix duty including extended versions of his takes on ‘Chequered Love’ and ‘Cambodia’ (the latter song gaining a new audience across Europe right now thanks to the heavy sample included on Ofenbach’s ‘Overdrive’ which has just hit 100 million Spotify streams – prompting Kim and Ricky to incorporate it into their recent live shows in France – more genius!).
It was recently announced that the remix elements of this box set will be available on a limited red vinyl as part of Record Store Day in April. Deep joy – another 3am start to get in the queue. See you there Wildefam! These mixes tell us it will be worth it.
‘Love Blonde: The RAK Years’ is out now on Cherry Red Records.
It’s both fair and accurate to say that the indie disco poppers have won New Music Friday this week. We love each of this fizzy and bubbling quartet and thought we’d collect them together for your listening pleasure.
Midnight Prisms follows her delicious and catchy as all heck ‘Spin Me Again’ (which we have had on lock for days) with the equally divine ‘New Age Disco’. As we commented previously Midnight Prisms is snuggling in very nicely to the spot presently vacated by Class Actress – that of glittery and luxurious sounding indie disco. The outro is a bit Blondie too. Also as per the previous single, the artwork is perfectly matched to the grooviness of the music.
Next up we have our beloved T&D Hall of Famer Holiday Sidewinder. Recent single ‘Cliffhanger’ with Kim Wilde hasn’t left our head yet and now here comes ‘Crystal Bay’ to lodge deeper into our brains. These taster tracks have suitably tantalised us for the ‘Last Resort’ album for which you can now pre-order a rather stylish vinyl copy.
Michaela May has had a bunch of top notch singles over the past year or so and her newbie ‘Ultraviolet’ might be the best of the lot. Loving the lyrics on this one as well as the gently funky 80s guitar riff. She’s a damn fine pop star and a full length album would be most welcome.
Finally please make way for the most fun single of the day – coming courtesy of Vanity Fairy. It’s called ‘Top of the Pops’ and it feels very much a throwback to a 1982 episode of the much loved pop music TV show. It’s like Alison Goldfrapp or Kate Bush singing over a Kelly Marie track. We now need a Vanity Fairy cover of ‘Feels Like I’m In Love’ with bells, whistles and a whole heap of sparkle.
‘Scala Hearts’ – the beautiful collaboration album between writing/producing legend Ricky Wilde and the Queen of Synthwave NINA – was our album of the year for 2023. The record drew praise, admiration and respect from across the synth scene as well as making a dent in electronic music charts across the world (even placing an entry on the UK Official Chart Company download album chart). ‘Scala Hearts’ was ripe for a remix or two – however the 19 track epic masterpiece we share with you today could not have been predicted. Welcome to the sonic world of ‘Remixed Hearts’.
Across the 19 reimagined tracks we dare you to find a more diverse yet somehow cohesive collection of remixes in the synthwave scene ever. We should say from the get go this transcends the scene, reaching out further, wider and with more vision than can be comprehended upon first listen. On repeated plays the sheer musicality, production skills and darn right care and attention on display truly reveal themselves. Let’s walk you through this track list/cast list!
Ricky Wilde has himself been known to be quite the dab hand at a remix, most recently for Bunny X and indeed NINA herself (see ‘Perfect Paradise’ and ‘The Wire’ respectively – both of which were so impressive that big sister Ms Kim Wilde jumped on board upon hearing them, adding her own unique vocal magic). He opens this set with a surprisingly upbeat and danceable spin on one of the ‘Scala Hearts’ darker moments – this being the emotional and wrought ‘Living In Sin’. It’s clear Ricky found a way to dance away his cares with this arms aloft Ibiza-ready anthem.
We had the pleasure of being present in the Wilde studios when Ricky played his friend and ours, Mr Steve Anderson, ‘Lovers On A Beach’ for the first time. We recall Mr Anderson planting the seed of an idea for a remix way back then before ‘Scala Hearts’ was even properly born. You’ll be aware the song is a pretty niche Kim Wilde b-side from 1984 and NINA made it her own on the original ‘Scala Hearts’ album. Steve does what only Steve can do – giving hints in the intro of his classic (well, legendary actually – like we’re talking all time best ever) Brothers In Rhythm remixes of Kylie’s ‘Confide In Me’/’Where Is The Feeling’. That means drama, foreboding, sensuality and electronic cinema! This is before the Italo glitter bomb finally explodes and NINA further morphs into the Euro-disco siren she so effortlessly embraces – her voice was born for this. If you loved Steve’s reworks of Louise’s greatest hits as part of her career spanning collection this is the remix for you.
What can we say about Project K……this is the track on ‘Remixed Hearts’ which placed the biggest smile on our faces. Apparently the brief was “disco the shit outta ‘Videotheque’ please” and we can confirm the objective was met in the most delicious way. Project K is no stranger to a Wilde remix (appearing very soon on a new Kim Wilde Rak era boxset pumping some disco joy into some Kimmy classics). The chap was also responsible for placing 2nd on our year end best remixes list last year for his sumptuous work on ‘I Begin To Wonder’ – the best part of Dannii Minogue’s ‘Neon Nights’ reissue. ‘Videotheque’, in his hands, really does sound like it’s being played in Studio 54 with Rollerena freewheeling around the venue. It’s so full of joy – it sparkles, bubbles, lifts spirits and leaves us feeling pure elation.
Just when Ricky and NINA thought they had the ‘Remixed Hearts’ tracklisting nailed down, the concept of a remix competition was mooted. Sure enough stems for ‘Causeway’ appeared on line with NINA inviting folks to submit their best efforts and to a pretty sharp deadline! It’s fair to say the original plan had been to have just one winner but the standard was so exemplary that a handful was selected. The first of those is from TLF who has made us see ‘Causeway’ in a whole new light – it’s like it was MEANT to be a Years & Years-esque housepop banger. Very much a highlight of this collection here at T&D.
Next up a true production and remix legend and someone who has graced these pages many times before – the one and only Initial Talk. We’ll admit that many Initial Talk remixes end up prioritised for us over their original versions such is the nature of this visionary talent. We think our Initial Talk love affair commenced with Kelli-Leigh’s ‘Do You Wanna Be Loved Like This’. ‘LA Dreamers’ gets the New Jack/Jill Swing treatment – but the later afternoon laid back version rather than nighttime heater! We just never dreamed we’d ever hear Ricky and NINA this way – such a feat.
Oscillian, Ricky and NINA have worked together before – joining forces to create two of the extra special tracks on NINA’s ‘Synthian’ album – ‘Runaway’ and ‘Gave Up On Us’. On ‘Fade Me Out’ Oscillian goes up another level – listen to this remix and tell us you don’t see spaceships, sci fi galaxies, shooting stars and moon walkers. This simply has to soundtrack a poignant cinematic moment at some stage. Wilde fans note – this could be a part 2 to Kim and Ricky’s ‘Stay Awhile’. We played this song at 5am yesterday whilst driving in darkness through a deserted city with streetlights reflected in the puddles created by heavy rainfall. It was a moment.
SLACKMACHINE keeps the gorgeous ‘Causeway’ pipes but adds a heap of nightclub throb and BPM – again taking the track into a different direction. It’s a great use of the vocal lines Ricky and NINA deliver together and yet again show that NINA could as comfortably be a dance diva as she could a disco siren.
The Dakeyne Dub of ‘Videotheque’, if there’s any justice, will burn up DJ mixes and sweaty dancefloor for months to come. It’s a choppy and relentless throbber expertly extracting some divine vocal moments and making them incessant earworms. Quite frankly, it slaps and makes us want to throw our old bones out there and make the most ridiculous shapes possible. WE CAN DANCE FOREVER (and we probably will).
Here’s the total wild(e) card! The Electric Penguins rework of ‘Gold Heart’ is as bonkers as it gets. It’s a psychedlic proggy stomp with elements of a kids TV theme we can’t quite place. It has no business working yet it’s another joy giver, making the left and right corners of your mouth turn upwards! MGMT meets Ivor The Engine? We jest – it’s a hoot yet also brilliantly crafted.
Rayne Reznor’s version of ‘Causeway’ truly scared us. It’s got a genuine menace to it – those synths are icy and we’re convinced monsters lurk in the production. Something eerie was at play in the Rayne Reznor studio when this came to life. And we’re entirely here for it. Again, the skill of taking something as delicate and feminine as ‘Causeway’ and making it the soundtrack to a synth heavy horror movie. Dangerous and magical is right.
Synthwave can be a bit of a male dominated space production wise and so it’s very welcome to see ‘Remixed Hearts’ feature two female remixers. The first of those comes courtesy of our dear Aussie Brigitte Bardini who has reimagined herself in the past year – going from indie folk songstress to techno dark mistress! It’s the warmer techno version of herself that Brigitte pours into ‘Living In Sin’ indeed giving it a softness that only a woman’s touch could deliver (some nice extra vocals too).
There’s plenty of synthwave royalty on ‘Remixed Hearts’ and Parallels, former tour buddies of NINA, give ‘Night and Day’ a faithful and high quality synth work out. There are hints of City Pop as well as synth noir a la Johnny Jewel.
There was absolutely no way that L’Avenue was not going to be involved with this project. We’ve been waiting for the longest time to hear what NINA might sound like with a L’Avenue production – dream team surely? And we’d be right. The classic L’Avenue polish and crystalline production makes ‘Fade Me Out’ feel like a Propaganda track from yesteryear that we missed. Dare we say the operatic vocal pays homage to Kim and Ricky’s Reprise of ‘Cambodia’ – it feels like a religious experience and we might have seen God when listening to this for the first time. Yet another standout moment amongst so much brilliance.
The Bearly Disco remix of ‘Causeway’ brings out the PWL disco side of Ricky Wilde we never knew existed! It’s like he’s become the 4th member of Big Fun overnight!! It sits so perfectly alongside the Project K track and adds weight to our demand for a NINA discopop record in her musical future. We’re pretty certain that both Bearly Disco and Project K wouldn’t need to be asked twice to get involved with that – such is their mastery in this arena.
Wolfclub, being New RetroWave label mates with NINA and Ricky, were a no brainer choice for ‘Remixed Hearts’. ‘LA Dreamers’ is even shinier and with added sophistipop values – Ricky almost sounds like his hero Nik Kershaw on this. Another idea we are speaking into reality is a NewRetroWave label gig in the UK – imagine Wolfclub and Ricky/Nina playing a show together. That’s some powerful pop passion on stage.
Makeup and Vanity Set ensures there’s a synthwave spin on ‘Lovers On A Beach’ – maximising NINA’s aching vocal to full effect. The synths properly pulsate and the robovocal treatments add a new flavour before some unexpected rave beats bust out in the closing quarter.
Just when you thought all styles and genres had been exhausted Chrisarama comes along and leaves you breathless with his take on ‘Causeway’. It’s now late night synth jazz and we are picturing classic US TV shows like Midnight Caller and Moonlighting which would have gobbled up a production like this for their soundtracks. We’re also now wanting a Ricky/NINA cover of Double’s ‘Captain Of Her Heart’ for some reason after hearing this sublime Chrisarama creation.
For the penultimate track it’s more of that female energy the project so rightly deserved, thanks to PYN (whose ‘Beat Drama’ album from last year is a pop dance masterclass). This was one of the real surprise packages for us and in the best way. ‘Fighter’ has become a William Orbit/Madonna ‘Frozen’ era epic trip hoppy masterpiece – we have to mention a truly stunning example of cello playing by Marelise Pollard which PYN recorded just for this remix. This is quite exceptional all round. Hypnotically exquisite.
It’s likely no accident that ‘Remixed Hearts’ closes with a collaboration with Radio Wolf. We won’t say too much but keep your eyes out on Spotify in early March to see what NINA does next – you’re in for a thrill. Musical chemistry aplenty on Radio Wolf’s spooky and David Lynchian reimagination of Ricky and NINA’s ‘Causeway’. It’s a little unsettling and a lot beautiful. NINA’s vocal flies around with whispers from Ricky while Radio Wolf builds an enormous cosmic soundscape, feeling almost an extension of the Oscillian sci-fi adventure we were taken on earlier in the set. Bringing this record and indeed this project to a close with this emotional heavyweight leaves us spent – but eternally grateful that ‘Scala Hearts’ and ‘Remixed Hearts’ exist in this world and our lifetime.
To close, what these remixers had to work with was 9 truly outstanding songs (7 Ricky and NINA compositions and the 2 covers – one of which is of course a Ricky co-write). Their collective imagination took flight to reinterpret these beauties in such astounding ways. ‘Scala Hearts’ set the bar for synthwave and now ‘Remixed Hearts’ is the standard to aim for on a remix project.
Darn it if we haven’t missed yet another 2023 album release which surely would’ve made our year end top 100 had we known about it (spoiler – new rules for this year when we will include any new discovery made in year irrespective of when the album dropped!). Dani Sylvia’s ‘1:11’ is fair brimming with 80s tinged pop bops.
A reliable and tastemaker poster (there aren’t too many of them these days) on the Popjustice Forum flagged Dani’s ‘Sammy Don’t Know’ as a quality synthpop listen and he’s not wrong (thanks Weather Conor). It’s like a Laura Branigan meets Kim Wilde if covered by MUNA synthwavey diamond. It led us to check out the album in full and indeed ‘Eli, Can I Come Over Tonight’ is a 1975 at their most power-poppin’ proper blast of fun.
Dani keeps the music coming in 2024 and just a week ago released a new single ‘You Broke My Mirror’ which is part of a forthcoming EP leading to a headline gig at Oslo Hackney (a great venue just FYI) in May. The new tune is less 80s (although there’s a stirring guitar solo!) and more contemporary with a glitchy yet slick production – part Haim, part Nina Nesbitt?
We do enjoy a musical recommendation from an artist we love – and the song we are sharing today comes courtesy of a shout out from T&D favourite They/Live who put this on her socials earlier (by the way we think there might finally be a They/Live album in follow up to ‘Ablation’ on the way soon).
Before we’d even hit the play button, the gorgeous cover art for ‘Spin Me Again’ from Midnight Prisms (AKA Alicia Beck) told us this was going to be in our wheelhouse. And boy is it ever. Soft synthed sci-fi indie disco is what you’re getting here – mixing up the best of the respective Pr0files, Class Actress and Lou Hayter styles to stunning effect. The production is sparkly and spiky at once with Alicia’s vocal ranging from a whispered caramel coated coo to a powerful belt. Very likely to be found included in our best of the year column in 10 months time – what this space!
Escape To Life is the new project for composer of film soundtracks and concert works, Ryan Walsh. An album as Escape To Life will follow later this year and if the first single ‘Daniel, Alone’ is anything to go by it’s going to be quite breathtaking. ‘Daniel, Alone’ is a collaboration with vocalist and songwriter Ullah and together they’ve created a sonic experience which instantly recalls Emma Louise’s debut album ‘Vs Head Vs Heart’ (which as T&D readers will know is an ALL TIME favourite record of ours). Heartbreak has never sounded so good. The production is nothing short of spectacular and cinematic (entirely clear why Ryan has scored for moving pictures!). We are very invested in where this project goes next and will be found wallowing/luxuriating (we can do both right?) in the dark beauty of ‘Daniel, Alone’ for weeks to come.
The Landing is an artist who has been on our radar for sometime and we’re sure we’ve shown him some playlist love in the past! Somehow those flippin’ algorithms weren’t working for us at the back end of last year when The Landing’s new album ‘Beautiful Human, Beautifully Human’ (ahem) landed. We’ve made up for lost time this Saturday afternoon by hitting the repeat button and we can confirm it’s quite incredible from start to finish with no skips necessary.
There’s a pervading sense of the end of the world and escaping to another galaxy far, far away in the lyrics and song titles. It’s not a morose affair though, offering glimmers of hope that all will be OK. Musically it’s got spacey synths, boogie, gentle funk and heaps more alongside some smooth vocals. By about our fifth listen ‘Outersphere’ really got us good – we realised that it has been a single previously and were not prepared for the breathtaking artwork (see the bandcamp link below). The track is like Gotye meets Yatte/Duett (on their collaboration record) with a hint of Au Suisse’s masterpiece from 2022. Lyrically it’s poetic, poignant and brilliant;
“This is how the story goes, the more you learn the less you know Hold on just to let it go, wander and you’ll make it home so I won’t be here this time next year, You’re looking at the engineer, all aboard the outersphere Beautiful, beautifully human being”
These words really stopped us in our tracks and we paused to properly appreciate them (thanks The Landing for including them on the bandcamp page for the single).
We’ve also shared ‘Just For Fun’ which commences with an invitation to “take off for the stars” suggesting a form of escapism we might all be craving based upon the state of the world right now. The production is silky and offers a bit of warm disco/yacht pop (there’s even a reference to the “pale blue ocean” – unclear if referencing a coastal poolside vibe or indeed the sea of tranquility!).
The Landing’s ‘Beautiful Human, Beautifully Human’ is out now wherever you stream/download. In the words of ‘Just For Fun’ we encourage you to “…get lost and find your (our) way”
Late last year Tig released new music having just stepped away from her career in the legal industry. ‘Gingerbread House’ was the song which grabbed our ears and it’s included on the 4 track EP ‘Inside Voices’ which is out now. The two previously unreleased songs have really struck a chord with us (these being ‘Arrival’ and ‘Ran Into Myself Today’) – they’ll most certainly appeal to fans of Tig’s countrywomen Missy Higgins and Ainslie Wills (the latter is even involved here with string arrangements). Piano led and lyrically reflective, capped off with that gorgeous voice, this is a short collection to get lost in in a moment of quiet solitude. A natural storyteller is at play here. Please see the YouTube links to the 2 new songs and the Spotify link to the full EP is also below.
We have a decent bit of history with Florian – pretty much sharing every single and also a remix or two going back to 2018 when we fell in love with ‘Sweet Devotion’. There’s been a warmth and sunniness to much of what Florian has done but today she flips the script. ‘fr33ze’ is a stone cold steely banger with an industrial crunch akin to Poppy or Slayyyter – but the thing is Florian is just incapable of not making everything into a big pop moment even when putting us in the deep fr33ze. We feel a new era incoming.
Teases and Dares 