MJ vs Spirit Catcher & The Reflex – Voodoo Thriller Knight (Dave Canto’s ‘Are You Scared Yet’ Refix)

This is my personal reinterpretation of MJ‘s classic: ‘Thriller’, taken from the best-selling ‘Thriller’ album produced by Quincy Jones and first released in November 1982 at Epic Records (Los Angeles). I consider it as a tribute to the greatest singer, dancer and performer of all times: ‘The King of Pop’. How did I proceed? During my performances as a deejay, I noticed that the following 2 tracks fit really nicely together:

1. Spirit Catcher – Voodoo Knight (Live Remix)
2. MJ – Thriller (The Reflex ‘Halloween Disco’ Edit)

Below you can find a short biography of Spirit Catcher as blogged by Resident Advisor:

Spirit Catcher have become one of the most in-demand house acts, gracing the finest underground labels with their polished future disco sound. But to those who know them, Thomas Sohet and Jean Vanesse are simply a pair of Belgian misfits looking for life and love between the keyboard keys and the automated faders. Two kids born into the sounds of the seventies, then immediately grabbed by the cruel talons of music and doomed to seek solution in the groove. Luckily, through the help of well-meaning record labels such as Silver Network, Freerange, Winding Road, Missive and Moodmusic, we can all listen in to the frenzied disco workouts through which they exorcise their murky pasts.

Spirit Catcher sampled a tiny, but catchy part of MJ’s ‘Thriller’, for the original ‘Voodoo Knight’ release on Moodmusic back in 2005. It devastated dance floors all over the world and catapulted the duo into the big league of producers. Even after 4 years of constant touring and remixing, ‘Voodoo Knight’ was still one of the highlights on their debut album ‘Night Vision’ at 20/20 Vision in 2007. To re-vitalize this classic, they released a killer live remix in 2008 which they had been playing already at their liveshows with great success.

The Reflex has captured the world’s attention and built an impressive army of fans along the way by taking remixing and audio editing to new heights with his ‘Revisions‘. This motto describes accurately the expert craftsmanship involved in turning stems into brand new versions combining creative mixing skills with the connections to track down exclusive multi-tracks. This London based French producer and remixer is well-known for his beautiful edits and reworks using the original sounds from the multi-track master tapes or stems of famous producers and artists around the world. With his impeccable knowledge and musical skills, he twists and rearranges these originals into gorgeous extended workouts. He can literally breathe new life into old classics, like he achieved with his ‘Halloween Disco Edit’ of MJ’s ‘Thriller’ using only the acapella and instrumental versions of the original tune. His extensive catalogue of remixes will be played for years to come. It’s more than an edit, it’s ‘The Reflex Revision’.

Spice up your Halloween and blow this refix through the speakers! Can you dig it?

Featured Artists:

• MJ
• Vincent Price
• Jean Vanesse (Spirit Catcher)
• Thomas Sohet (Spirit Catcher)
• Nicolas Laugier (The Reflex)

Featured Tracks:

• Spirit Catcher’s ‘Voodoo Knight’ (Live Remix) taken from ‘Voodoo Knight Remixes’ EP (2008)
• MJ’s ‘Thriller’ (The Reflex ‘Halloween Disco’ Edit) taken from ‘Revisions’ EP (2013)

Featured Labels:

• Moodmusic
• 20/20 Vision
• Revision Records
• Epic Records

Listen to MJ vs Spirit Catcher & The Reflex – Voodoo Thriller Knight (Dave Canto’s ‘Are You Scared Yet’ Refix). Please comment, share & support!

Avicii & Clockwork vs Green Velvet, Nicky Romero & A.M.R – Flash Levels (Dave Canto’s ‘Good Feeling’ Refix)

This is my personal refix of Avicii‘s smash hit: ‘Levels’. Although it isn’t the kind of music I like to spin nowadays, I do want to share this mashup with the rest of the world. How did I proceed? During my performances as a deejay, I noticed that the following 2 tracks fit really nicely together:

1. Avicii & Clockwork vs Green Velvet & Nicky Romero – Flash Levels (A.M.R Bootleg)
2. Flo Rida – Good Feeling (Original Mix)

The first track is an unofficial bootleg by A.M.R who mashed up the Clockwork Remix of Avicii’s ‘Levels’ with Nicky Romero‘s interpretation of Green Velvet‘s classic: ‘Flash’. The second track is taken from the ‘Wild Ones’ album that was released by Flo Rida in 2012. He sampled Etta James‘ epic vocal, just like Avicii did in 2011. I already had live mixed both tracks at several gigs, which brought me to the idea of recording it in Ableton Live as well. During the process, I played around with panning, which means moving the audio signal from one output to the other. If you listen carefully, you’ll hear Etta James singing alternately through the left and right speaker and vice versa. Near the end you get surprised by a fat dubstep break. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as the audience does time after time!

Featured Artists:

• Avicii
• Clockwork
• Green Velvet
• Nicky Romero
• A.M.R
• Flo Rida
• Etta James

Featured Tracks:

• Avicii – Levels (Clockwork Remix)
• Green Velvet – Flash (Nicky Romero Remix)
• Avicii & Clockwork vs Green Velvet & Nicky Romero – Flash Levels (A.M.R Bootleg)
• Flo Rida – Good Feeling (Original Mix)

Featured Labels:

• Le7els
• Relief Records
• Atlantic Records

Listen to Avicii & Clockwork vs Green Velvet, Nicky Romero & A.M.R – Flash Levels (Dave Canto’s ‘Good Feeling’ Refix). Please comment, share & support!

Stereo The Contest

A couple of weeks ago I participated in Stereo The Contest organized by TK Projects at my home town Turnhout. I had been selected among 14 other deejays to perform on stage and play a 20 minutes DJ-set. Every participant had to stick to one out of 3 different styles:

• electro
• house
• minimal / dubstep

A professional jury consisting of music business members had to select one winner in every genre. Brian-V, a well-known house DJ and owner of the Prime Records Belgium label, had not only been invited to play at the afterparty, but he fulfilled a crucial role in the selections after the contest as well.

To prepare for this contest I took the opportunity to join DazZs Audio (Jordi) and Wezzelby (Wesley) during their promodays at fashion store Labels. I had a great time spinning records, distributing flyers and making lots of fun. I could already drop some tracks and watch the people’s response in the streets. This helped me when picking the right records for my electro set back home. I wanted to make it sound dirty without loosing its funky character. To highlight this even more, I chose Kraak & Smaak‘s brand new track called ‘Dynamite’ to kick off with. You’ll be sensing the same groovy beats throughout this set.

This is the complete playlist of my Stereo The Contest set:

1. Kraak & Smaak – Dynamite (Original Mix)
2. John Acquaviva & Lützenkirchen – Zombie (Original Mix)
3. Boys Noize – Oh! (A-Trak Remix)
4. John Acquaviva – Monster (Original Mix)
5. Jin Sonic & Dive – Play (Wolfgang Gartner Dub)
6. Acid Jacks – Awake Since ’78 (Original Mix)
7. Savant Garde – Trigger Happy (Olivier Giacomotto Remix)
8. Dada Life – This Machine Kills Breakfasts (Original Mix)
9. Kid Dub – Tetris (Tocadisco Edit)
10. Wolfgang Gartner – Front To Back (Original Mix)
11. Deadmau5 feat. MC Flipside – Hi Friend (Original Mix)
12. LFO – Freak (Original Mix)

During the afterparty at Club 1900, I shared the decks with DazZs Audio (Jordi) and Wezzelby (Wesley) again. These guys already have a strong reputation as DazZelby, thanks to their quick mixing skills, original track selections and self-made mashups.

Conclusion: the first edition of Stereo The Contest was a great success and I’m looking forward to the next one. Bonkers!

Sweet Coffee Remix Album

Some time ago I’ve posted a small request on Sweet Coffee’s website:

I was wondering if there’s also coming out an album full of remixes or long 12’’ versions of Sweet Coffee tracks in the near future? Do you have any plans for making such an album? I’m a big fan of all your tracks, but sometimes these are just a little too short to put in my DJ-sets. It would be great to use more of your future soul sounds during my DJ-gigs.

I’m sure, you guys know how to (re)mix a track, because one of my favourites is still “Red Carpet vs Kings Of Tomorrow – Finally Alright”. This track by Raffa really rocks the sunny place! R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

Even the same day I’ve got already an answer. This is their reply:

Many thanx for the nice comments. We really appreciate it! There are some singles which have been remixed to be more club friendly. But a remix album is not a bad idea. Who knows? In the future maybe?

The track “Red Carpet – Allright” was made by Patrick and me (Den Hétrix & Raffa). The track “Red Carpet vs Kings Of Tomorrow – Finally Alright” is a mish mash of the 2 songs. We also love it! Keep it sweet!

Petrol Demo Mix 2008

Last week I was very busy making a new demo mix to participate in Petrol‘s yearly DJ-contest called ‘Microob’. It took some time before having a smooth mix with nice transitions between the tracks. So let’s tell you a little secret to get your own mixes right.

When the current track is almost finished, obviously the next track has to come in. But when is the right moment to switch over to the next track? Each track consists of 3 parts: begin, middle and end. In the beginning a track is building up and bringing the crowd to a climax when reaching the middle part. Then it’s holding on this uplifting sample to keep you dancing on the beats and finally it starts running down till the end of the track. The trick lies in detecting when the current track will start running down. This moment triggers the next track to come in. Now you get a cross-over period between both tracks. You’ll see that the new track reaches its first climax while the old track stops playing. This way of mixing makes you a good performing deejay!

This is the complete playlist of my I love Electro House set:

1. Djuma Soundsystem – Les Djinns (Trentemoller Remix)
2. Dave Spoon – At Night (Breaks Mix)
3. Plastic Funk feat. Dollarman – Let me see your hands (Original Mix)
4. Black Strobe – Innerstrings (No Shuffle Mix)
5. Evermore vs Dirty South – It’s too late [ride on] (The Disco Boys Remix)
6. Ida Corr – Let me think about it (Fedde Le Grand Remix)
7. Natural Born Grooves – Candy on the dancefloor (Lick That Candy Remake)
8. Corenell feat. Ann Bailey – Pride [a deeper love] (Electro Clash Mix)
9. Wess Vall – Los Banditos (Original Mix)
10. Fedde Le Grand – Put your hands up for Detroit (Original Mix)
11. Shameboy – Strobot (Original Mix)
12. Digitalism vs The Similou – All This Zdarlight (Bootleg Version)
13. Kurd Maverick vs Outwork – Electro Rub (White Label Mix)
14. Booka Shade – Darko (Original Mix)
15. Djuma Soundsystem – Les Djinns (Def Jaguar Remix)

So listen to my contest demo mix and start practicising yourself. Good luck!