To make that purchase even more worthwhile, Warp added a new B-Side to the non-UK version which has DJ Nonsense taking the song into darker realms.

Nonsense’s grimier, glitchier interpretation of the percussion and secondary melody adds another dimension of creativity to the original dance floor shaker. The weakest part of this mix, however, is his attempts at making the Mujava’s knob twiddling main melody his own. With a song so wildly popular right now, it is totally understandable to want to leave only bare signifiers of the original song. In fact, that’s a characteristic of many good remixes.

But the main melody was the orignal’s most powerful - and recognizable - part, and any artist taking this song on as a remix would do well to at least allow it to run through in full at least once or twice. Indeed, Nonesense’s take on it is worthwhile, and this is not an argument about excluding it. Not including the high point of the original in the remix at all? That was a mistake. The remix is also a bit loopy and repetitive after a five minute running time (in headphone listening, at least.)

In the end, the moody sound design and tough rhythm that Nonsense brings to the table definitely adds value to the single. It just doesn’t stand on its own.

With scenes of Jim Crow’s rural South fresh in my mind from a recent reading of Richard Wright’s autobiography, Blackboy, I finished up a painting and listened to music. Deep in thought, the music didn’t fully catch me until the lyrics of Dead Prez’s "Animal in Man" played. The rural setting of the song - a black militant hip hop rendition of Orwell’s Animal Farm - made it particularly poignant. It was a moment that brought to clarity this vague opinion that had been forming all these years. Although I’d heard it countless times, it was then that I decided:

It is one of the best hip hop songs of all time.

The first reason this argument needs to be taken seriously is the thoughtfulness of the subject matter. The duo tell their version of Animal Farm; where the animals revolt against their violent slave master only to be once again enslaved by one of their own. The biggest difference in the two forms is that Dead Prez have more faith in the oppressed. When the pigs start to become dictators, Orwell’s farm can’t be sure what’s happening. But in this version they are instantly aware.

The next reason is the quality of the song itself. Rhymes are never sacrificed for the sake of the story. Nor are any unnecessary words added to make a rhyme. The lyrics are uniformly consistent, never veering from their tale. The delivery is good enough to be listened to A capella, while the enunciation is clear at all times. And the beat, although not worthy of the title of the best on it’s own, completes the song’s overall deservedness. With it’s variety of live instruments, it is intricate yet not too busy, allowing the lyrics shine while adding to the dynamism.

Although I have a number of issues with Dead Prez on the whole, I wouldn’t hesitate to include "Animal in Man" on my limited list.

Be forewarned, however, ‘cuz this ish is not for the faint of heart. It’s a caffeine-pill-washed-down-with-Redbull, insert-illicit-drug-here fueled journey. Dude hits Speed Racer tempos for most of the entire hour.

He hits enough of the appropriate notes (selection-wise, if not compositionally) to satisfy the majority of heavy bass fans. No specific genre could claim this mix. But it’s confined to UK style wobbly, electronic bass. While other forms of bass infused sounds exist, this mix is havin’ none of that.

For a British bass dweller, Kanji has got a healthy interest in the scene here in the States. Nearly a third of the names in this remix saturated, 23 cut mixtape hail from the East Coast. Mostly, this role is filled by Trouble & Bass, the bassline kings of New York, and dubstep overlord Starkey, who also reps T&B, but calls Philly home. Since NLLR is based in Brooklyn, this may come as no big surprise.

On a related note, Franki Chan, founder of IHeartComix, dropped a mix for NLLR as well. It’s also worth your expensive time.

Before we even get into this joint, Culture System would just like to apologize for posting a video with dancing iTunes characters and cats with monitors on… That said, today we present to you Wittyboy on production and the Doctor on the mic.

Wittyboy’s bassline mix of Doctor’s "Calm Down," is more than a dance mix - it can stand alone from the original, which was produced by the larger than life Cotti.

His beats shuffle through a variety of sounds and rhtyms, which keeps it interesting. Granted he stays within the comfortable confines of the bassline genre with a standard percussion and basic wonky bass. But it’s top of the game in this respect. And he adds a nice flute which really stands out. One could even make the argument that the flute makes the song remorseful - a fitting touch considering the lyrics - but that would break down once the wobbles kick in.

Doctor comes correct himself, with a smooth delivery and voice, consistent subject matter and a point to be made which he drives home with dense rhymes and numerous similes. It might even be called positive, which is what Cotti says he’s trying to encourage.

Given the quality of the rhymes, it was a good move on Wittyboy’s part to leave them untouched. Unfortunately, he leaves the hook to itself as well, which is dumb repetitive. And he drowns out the lyrics a bit, so if you want to understand them, you might want to listen to the original first. But you’ll be sure to come back to this version.

Called "Dark Dancer," the song is made by a French group named Polymik. There’s really no need to go into a detailed review of the song - it’s your basic housey electro-disco revival joint in the vein of IHeartComix or Boys Noize. Granted, this has officially become a style now, but rather than just hopping on a bandwagon, these dudes come correct with it.

Their profile photo had me a little skeptical, though - a mummy face with a stitched-closed mouth - but I like a lot of that industrial stuff, so I gave it a shot. I mean, I’m not exactly carving 666 into my desk or anything, but yeah, give me some musical S&M and I’ll dance to it.

These two selections were chosen from a review of nearly 200 entries out of the 650 entries currently submitted. (That number grew to 670 by the time CS was finished reviewing them.) Both deserve to make it to an actual "Naked" RMX release. After the jump, listen to some more notable mentions.

In her post, she backs up her manager’s claim that DP gave Lynn permission to bite "Technologic." And although there was no reference to DP on her website, like he claimed, DP’s manager did show some love for her in a blog post that I overlooked. Actually, I saw the post back then, but didn’t realize that the author was Daft Punk’s manager. As far as all that goes: my fault.

And although she resorts to name calling, and ragging me as an "eeediot," I still say that I like the cut, and would even prefer to listen to it over the DP original. But it still needs a more prominent reference to Daft Punk. Just because someone gives you permission to bite doesn’t make it all better. If somebody in a graffiti crew flips a style like someone else that’s down, they still lose a measure of respect. The fact that Lynn hasn’t put out much of anything else doesn’t help her either.

But in the sake of good faith communication, I’ve included the original review I wrote with a couple small edits. Read it after the jump.

The Gutter of Gutters

Damn, ma’s not lettin’ anyone forget just how gutter the city she comes from is. Best to put the kids to bed before this one.

In "Kingston Logic," Terry Lynn’s first single, released on Phree, she tells a story about her hometown, the capital of Jamaica, that covers violence, murder, drugs, and everything in between. On first listen, you might mistake the lyrics for a pop song. But the hard ass, grimy electro beats will give you your first clue to the object of this dark tale. The video might help you visualize thing too. (Just a bit…)

On her website, she says the violent imagery she produces is not meant to glorify, but is just an attempt to paint an accurate portrait, and I find this legitimate. Besides, who wants a collection of nothing but Prozac music. She even says her full album, scheduled to be released this spring, will make an attempt at a broader range of subject matter. Lynn says the search for peace is what inspires her to make music. and some of her blog posts concerning the violence raging in her hood make me more likely to believe her. (At the same time, the posts could just serve to strengthen her rep in an industry where street credibility is more important than talent.)

But I still take issue with the first person story telling; all of the images of her holding weapons and what not. Why’s every artist gotta put themselves in the role of the gangsta? Why not tell a story about someone else doin’ the dirtiness?

She’s also going to be eventually posting free downloads on her web site. "I know what it’s like to want something and can’t afford it. I’ve been there, am there. Support me if you can." That sounds like a good thing to me. I can dig that.

Everybody likes a throwback right? So why not get down with some real OG-ness? I recently came across this cut from 1962 by Gershon Kingsley called "Hey, Hey," and this ish really is just nasty. Off of his seminal album Music To Moog By, the song sits in the shadow of its more famous counterpart, "Popcorn," but really deserves more recognition. Kingsley rocks his Moog keyboard in an attempt to show the world that electronic music can be real music and flips his undulating melodies with his horror-like theme and "Hey… Hey, Hey!" vocal sample.

 As a testament to the influence this dude has had, listen to "The Horror," by RJD2, and you’ll probably recognize the "Hey, Hey," break in there. Or you could listen to the 79 versions of "Popcorn" that WMFU has posted on their blog, including one by Kraftwerk. Yeah, Kraftwerk remixed him. Or peep the covers to the right, where the Beastie Boys paid an undeniable tribute to my man with their benchmark downtempo joint that I’ve mentioned before, The In Sound From Way Out.

It’s called "Thunderous Bumps" and is made by Back from Japan who takes a remix of Justice’s "Phantom Pt I" called the "Lite Ghost Remix" by Thunderous Olympian (which is pretty hot on its own) and mashes it up with some Spank Rock vocals from the song "Bump" and I found it on a mixtape made by Finger on the Pulse. (Okay, I added that last part just to make it seem more complex.)

Homeboy’s album, Romantics of the Rhino, is probably equal to the overall body of work by RJD2, Shadow, or Prefuse - if not better. Problem is, it lacks any of the obvious hits or standout tracks that attributed to those artists. Not to be misunderstood: this album hits the spot, and I love to listen to it while I work. But it just never reaches that level of intricacy which would merit a long sit down where listening is the main activity.

Still, in a world where anybody can distribute their shit, and we’re not dependent on huge distribution systems, my man’s work should shine a little. When the dust from the digital revolution settles (as geeky as that sounds), hopefully dudes like this will be able to afford the entire alphabet for their soup. And maybe billion dollar, blockbusting, baby dropping Britneys wont exist either.

Anyway, I got a couple MP3’s here. These are two of the best songs off the Rhino joint.

Read, watch, listen. That’s the theme of the day.

Preferences and Professional Ish

Blockhead’s music is a staple for many downbeat and underground hip hop heads, but he isn’t messing with any of that.

Granted, his instrumental joints are a natural addition to that "Ninja Tunes sound" that thrills downbeat fans. And he also produces the beats for some of the idols of underground hip hop cyphers like Aesop Rock and Cage. Nonetheless, he just isn’t feeling that kind of music.

"I don’t need to listen to a thousand white rappers tell me about their feelings. I just don’t care," he told me in a recent interview. "Underground hip hop can be really pretentious and kind of selfish."

"I know that Aesop is a very influential dude to a lot of underground rappers," he went on, trying to advise kids coming up on the circuit. "But at the same time, I think that even he’d admit that he’d rather they listen to old Rakim than him to get their influence."

True to his statement about his preference for commercial hip hop - if he had to listen to something new - a tinny Clipse ring from his celly interrupts us a few times during our discussion.

Okay, so if not underground hip hop, then what about downbeat, you might ask?

Nope.

"I don’t listen to downtempo music, I just make that kind of music sometimes," Tony Simon says.

In fact, if it wasn’t for one of his earlier labels asking him to make an instrumental album, he never would have done so. "At that point," before Music By Cavelight, his  first full length instrumental album, "I’d listened to the Shadow album maybe twice."

Regardless of who’s idea it was to explore instrumental work, Blockhead is keepin’ it movin’, On Wednesday, he kicks off a two month tour in Philly to promote his new solo joint called Uncle Tony’s Coloring Book, which drops next Tuesday.

A departure from his other solo work, his new instrumental album is more uptempo than the others. His reasoning behind this move was to "broaden the spectrum of what people might expect" from him.

"I got kind of pigeon holed after my first album as like downtempo and depressed guy," the former, self professed "wack rapper" says. "I’m just not that dude." While a little faster, the album does continue much of that melancholy vibe which put him on the map.

Unfortunately, the album will only see limited release. Between only 5,000 and 10,000 copies are slated to be pressed, it won’t be released in Europe, and iTunes will not be carrying it either. That’s the problem with making an album composed entirely of samples. His label doesn’t want to deal with the heat. "They’re just scared," he admits.

Adding to the troubles, his work for Aesop ran into sample problems too. "We had to totally rework four of the seven beats I did," he tells me.

But Uncle Tony will be farther under the radar than the Aesop album, and that’s actually the way he likes it. The smaller distribution lets him choose the samples he wants to, without having to deal with the legal troubles he might otherwise encounter. "When I made this album, I didn’t really intend it to be a big release. So, it’s kind of working out exactly how I thought it would."

To see all the video clips of the interview, click here.

Thanks to JayCut for providing gear.

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