Witness The Filthness...

As promised, here's my re-edit of the mighty Witness (One Hope) by Roots Manuva. You can buy the original here (iTunes)

The original is 100% guaranteed dancefloor success. I decided to re-edit it with an extended intro and added filthiness (courtesy of MS20 filter action, studio nerds) after being asked to play it nearly every Saturday night at Dogma for the past two years by ace bar-person Adrian.

There aren't many tunes I can stomach hearing again and again, but this is certainly one of them. Is it sacrilege to mess with a classic like this? You be the judge, this is a DJ extended edit with minor tinkering and sonic trickery - maybe you'd rather I just did the extended edit and didn't mess with the sound of the original? This version has been tweaked and tested for maximum dancefloor effect. Let me know either way...

Witness (Floorman MS20 Edit) by Roots Manuva (YSI)


The cheeky DJ Ayres remix of Work by Masters At Work that's been doing the rounds on Hype Machine is another Saturday night dead cert for me. Ayres takes the track deeper into dancehall territory than before to great effect - his version always ensures much lowdown posterior-wiggling booty action, yes indeed.

As the version I'd got was only 2 1/2 minutes long, I thought I'd extend the mix a bit. Posted here for your pleasure for a limited time only as I'm not sure whether this is available commercially or not (have just checked, there is a vinyl release which can be purchased at the excellent Fat City). Check DJ Ayres website for mixtapes and other download goodies.


Work (DJ Ayres Chinkuzi Remix) (Floorman Extended Edit) by Masters At Work (YSI)

East meets West

Recording a lot of my vinyl onto my laptop recently - been DJing with Traktor Scratch since last summer. Have to say I'm enjoying not carrying huge bags of records around (though selecting tracks isn't as intuitive as flicking through a box of 12"s - especially when tired or worse for wear), and I'm finding a whole new world of mixing possibilities opening up via the instant loop and fx facilities- not to mention the beauty of doing an edit and spinning it the same night via turntables. Must be a lot of dubplate pressing plants going out of business, which is a great shame. I heard this week that Nottingham's just lost a great pressing plant: starting to remind me of 10-15 years ago when everyone confidently predicted the death of vinyl, only to see it flourish once more...

Anyway, here's two tracks that'll always have a home on my drive-


Harvey & Diesel's Moton Edit of East by Billy Paul (YSI)

This takes me back to playing at Tim Lee's Tummy Touch nights at 333, many moons ago. A great edit of an even greater tune.


The Doors - Peacefrog (Floorman extended edit) (YSI)

From around the same time - a cheeky extended intro version of one of The Doors' finest moments from Morrison Hotel.


This week I've been mostly taking the digital razor blade to Roots Manuva's Witness - played a rough version of the edit last saturday night and got a great reaction. It's currently running at over seven minutes, and if the crowd like it this week, it'll be up for grabs next week, either here or via one of the blogs listed on Hype Machine who've asked me for tracks.

Sorry if this post's a bit hazy - too many nights with not enough sleep.

Stay tuned...