With the accent on Anglo Asian & Australian authenticity, for our Podcast & Track of The Week choices this week we land on a peak time podcast production that packs a prolifically powerful punch, while having immediately engaged with an impressive track interpretation our mind marriage with this magic mode mix was inevitable and with download/stream options a click away on the large images below, we dish up our devotion on both beneath
With the mounds of music we listen to each & every week, it is sometimes difficult to choose between the tons of towering tracks or pick out that perfect podcast that ticks our tip top box, although when a production jumps out & hits us superbly squarely between the eyes (or should we say ears), then that choice becomes simple. And that is exactly what we found with both out selections this week, the podcast so perfect & the track so towering that the decision, while made with speed, was far from snap as not only are the two producers right up there in terms of our tip top choice criteria, but the Anglo Asian & Australian authenticity of each makes the mix blend beautifully and that’s even before we talk turkey on their pulsating productions.
So let’s do just that and propel our “Podcast of The Week” & its producer, we heading down under and to Sydney where we find terrific talent Alex Taylor, also known in production circles as Taylor Square, this accomplished Antipodeans’ career behind the D.J. decks & in the recording studio just that, he having played right across his homeland Australia as well as in Asia, Europe & America, the list of clubs he has performed in reading like a dream come true, the likes of Space & Pacha in Ibiza, Heaven & The Ed in London and Happy & Snowball in Singapore to mention a few. But while Alex still has touring in his blood, regular trips across to Asia as well as annual homage’s to here in London as well as his adoring Ibiza where close pal & occasional recording partner, Peyton Christopher is based & where we will find Mr Taylor pretty soon this summer, his beloved Australia is where he stamps his mark the most, his CV quoted as reading like “…the Who’s Who of the Australian dance party history…” and they aren’t wrong, as the mere mention of Mardi Gras, Sleaze Ball, Azure, Fuzzy Parklife, Gatecrasher, Red Raw, & Two Tribes will make even the relatively unacquainted to the Aussie clubbing scene realise just how true that quote is. Mind you, it doesn’t stop there, as Alex has played for Madonna at a private party during her famous “Girlie Show” tour, while also adding a pre-gig cocktail party for U2 to his playing portfolio and with consistent yearly acclimations from the country’s most renowned authority, the Technics InTheMix Top 50, as well as best D.J. awards a-plenty, Mr Taylor is certainly among the best Antipodean achievers in the history of the business.
However, Alex Taylor story also extends into the recording studio and successfully so, as not only has he produced a double figure number of commercially released compilations, the most notable under the Ministry Of Sound label, his collaboration with Tall Paul producing “The Clubbers Guide To 2003”, but in his recording pseudonym, Taylor Square, known to some as an affluent Sydney suburb, but to us music officinal’s as simply Alex Taylor, a hefty handful of track productions, including “Something In The Air”, “Island Life” & our recent track of the week selection, the simply scintillating “Run Away With You”, a vocal & production collaboration that saw Alex team up with his pal Peyton and, with a pronounced push from Pagano, should see it soak in the success that its richly deserves. However, it is the mass & myriad of mixes that keep Alex the busiest in the recording studio, a never ending production line of podcasts marking his appearances in Australia & across the world as well as specialist devotions to his landing spots such as Ibiza & London, stand-out selections including his “Taiwan Pride”, his “OMG 2012”, & his “White @Marquee” podcasts the latter labelled as “Peak Time” and for us, showing Alex’s sound style at its superb best, a seamless mix of vocal house hits with deeper soulful selections & all-out euphoric & electronic energy that have made him the popular player he is. And in our “Podcast of The Week” selection, Alex once again ticks that brilliant box, his pressing marking his headline performance at Wild at Marquee an pulsating production of prolific proportions, we going as far to say he has pushed Steve Pitron off our podcast playlist premier podium, artist inclusions such as Etienne Ozborne, Lissat & Voltaxx, Federico Scavo and Prok & Fitch sealing the deal for us, while with works from Danny Verde, Carlos Gallardo and the late great Peter Rauhofer, the singular word colossal describes this captivating compilation completely. So it pretty much goes without saying that you should add “WILD ‘ Marquee” to your collection now by hitting on https://soundcloud.com/alex-taylor/superstar-wild-peak-time-podcast, while more of his “Peak Time” podcasts, of which this is just one, can be found under the link https://soundcloud.com/alex-taylor/sets/prime-time-podcasts-main-room, all well worthy of a position in your podcast playlist.
To our “Track of The Week” now and we are just waiting for the bias claim to come forward, although there can be no escaping the fact that Leomeo has yet again hit our heavenly music mark with his latest production, one that both swept aside a trail of tracks in contention for our weekly choice and swept us off our feet with its fabulousness. But then we have come to expect nothing much less from our Parisian pal, the simply stunning “The Sound Of C” single bringing this tremendous talent to our attention, his appearance at the London Global Dance Festival confirming our preference for both his performances & his productions. But while we have usually fallen into the podcasts picks trap with this pleasurable Parisian, this very much a reflection of the pressings that mark his weekend clubbing schedule that see’s Leomeo play right across Europe, the America’s & even back in his native Asia, we will hold our guilty hands up for overlooking the many private edit & mash-up mixes that have rolled off the Carandang mixing production line, re-works of Madonna classics “Into The Groove” “Erotica”& “Music” adding to hits from David Bowie, Rihanna & Will I Am, all released in the last couple of months &belying that hectic schedule of clubbing gigs, as Leomeo spends every spare second in the recording studio. And amidst these re-works are recent singles, “Do You Feel It” & “Give Me Luv”, both having grabbed our attention in previous focuses & newsletters, although “The Sound Of C” & its 2012 re-make remain his true track trademark, “The Bomb” not far behind in the singles stakes.
However, holding those hands up again, it is only now that we have marvelled in his mash-up’s & private mixes, predominately as, among some of the artists he has chosen, he picked on one of our favourite bands, Depeche Mode very much from the electronic era of the late eighties early nineties, although formed within the so called “Romantics” period when our music following was in its infancy, albums “Construction Time Again” & “Some Great Reward” still in our audio tape collection from the time. Yet a good thirty years later & we find this brilliant band still at the cutting edge of the electronic music scene, a world tour showcasing their latest album release, “Delta Machine”, having stopped off in Paris just three days ago. So, it seem wholly appropriate that our Parisian pal has chosen them to remix not just “Soothe My Soul”, here in original form
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt-28iNQnwY[/youtube]
but, as we have discovered, the single release from the album, “Heaven”, while it is the former that fills our Track of The Week slot, Leomoe’s incredible interpretation of the original not only transforming the track into a neo tribal & tech triumph, but immediately securing him an assured top ten position in our still to come Y.E. track chart. Indeed, such is its splendour, that this phenomenal production is also knocking hard on the door of “Run Away With You”, one already tipped to top our chart, so it might not just be a top ten that Leoemo is celebrating come 1st January 2014. So, while we have yet to assess his “Heaven” mix, in Leo’s sensational “Soothe My Soul” private edit, we have proof enough that our pal from Paris is cooking on gigantic re-working gas, https://soundcloud.com/djleomeo/soothe-my-soul-leomeo-private the place to head to add this heavenly house music mix to your collection.
So, that is our “Peak Time Prod & Magic Mode Mix” podcast & track of the week choices signed sealed & delivered and in both our Anglo Asian & Antipodean artists, we have two immensely impressive & talented individuals in whom we can rely on proving that, with their prolific productions & in their amazingly accomplished hands, “Music Is The Answer!” (DISCO MATT)
