This is my church. This is where I heal my hurt

We've enjoyed listening to the fantabulosa Paul O'Grady back on the radio again. The (gulp!) King's Speech has been delivered. The dinner's starting to digest. We're swilling in a combination of sherry, port and gin.

Time for something a bit energetic to blow out all the cobwebs, and burn off a few of those roast spuds!

With the sad news of the death of the "godfather of hands-in-the-air trance anthems" Maxi Jazz, the charismatic lead singer of Faithless, what else can we do but turn the volume up to eleven - and rave on?!!

Faithless - Insomnia

Faithless - God is a DJ

This is my church
This is where I heal my hurt
It's a natural grace
Of watching young life shape
It's in minor keys
Solutions and remedies
Enemies becoming friends
When bitterness ends
This is my church

This is my church
This is where I heal my hurt
It's in the world I become
Content in the hum
Between voice and drum
It's in change
The poetic justice of cause and effect
Respect, love, compassion
This is my church
This is where I heal my hurt
For tonight
God is a DJ
This is my church

RIP, Maxi Jazz (born Maxwell Fraser, 14th June 1957 – 23rd December 2022)

An EDM recipe

My kind of cookery!

Rylan just played a really catchy choon from 2018 on his Radio 2 show. I have heard it before, but I have always thought it sounded like something else - and that "something else" always eluded me. Now, with a little research, I think I may have solved it...

...take a pinch of this...

2 Unlimited - Get Ready For This

...and a dollop of this...

Faithless - Insomnia

...and you end up with this!

Europa (Jax Jones & Martin Solveig) with Madison Beer - All Day and Night

A delicious recipe, indeed.

I'm alive, the man with the second face

Because of football, the media here in the UK (including the BBC and all the newspapers) have been going mad for reminiscences of 1996 [the last time the England national team came close to winning the European Championships; they're playing against Italy tonight in this year's final], so I thought I'd do an appropriate post...

Scary as it seems, dear reader, each and every one of these classic choons is a quarter-of-a-century old!

Underworld - Born Slippy (Nuxx)

Faithless - Insomnia

Los Del Rio - Macarena (Bayside Boys Remix)

Gina G - Ooh Aah...Just A Little Bit

Beautiful South - Don't Marry Her (Fuck Me)

Prodigy - Firestarter

Spice Girls - Wannabe

Stretch & Vern presents Maddog - I'm Alive

Babybird - You're Gorgeous

Deep Blue Something - Breakfast At Tiffany's

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS!! Where have they gone?

Everything old is new again

Again, it has been ages since I presented a selection of "newer" choons that have caught my ear of late. So, without further ado - here's a selection for your delectation. Typically for moi, inevitably the list is largely made up of familiar artists making comebacks and a rather interesting cover of a 90s banger...

First up (of course) is the new one [so soon?] from Our Princess Kylie! This is right up our street...

Kylie Minogue - Magic

Begging the question "why remake a classic?"; nevertheless next up is a rather faboo effort from (surprisingly) telly's fashion makeover queen, some anonymous DJ from Swindon and a former vocalist with Basement Jaxx:

Gok Wan X Craig Knight feat. Kele Le Roc - Let Me Be Your Fantasy

Speaking of the 90s "Decade of Dance", how about the welcome return of the creators of such eternal anthems as Insomnia and God Is a DJ, with quite an odd love song to (ahem) a keyboard..?

Faithless feat. Nathan Ball - Synthesizer

This one is quite remarkable - a track that features "The Queen of Fucking Everything" Madonna, but only in the background? It's obviously Miss Lipa's moment, but hell's bells - even Missy Elliott appears in the video! Where's Madge?

Dua Lipa feat. Madonna and Missy Elliott - Levitating [The Blessed Madonna Remix]

And, finally - the best track of the week is by a band that not too long ago were thought of as a bit of a "variety-show" throwback, dismissed by the kids as passé. Nowadays, they have the kudos of being gifted a track for their last album by none other than Benny and Bjorn, and this track is written by the cooler-than-cool Sia! I love it...

Steps - What the Future Holds

As always dear reader, let me know your thoughts....

Keep the beast in my nature under ceaseless attack

One of the bloggers I follow, Cookie over at Doing Hard Time in Shaker Heights, is feeling sorry for himself. The eyedrops he's on contain steroids, which means he "can't get no sleep". I was looking for something appropriate(?) to play - such as Faithless' timeless dance classic - when I came upon this instead - excellent orchestrated versions of Insomnia and other choons from the mega-clubbing '90s, courtesy of the BBC Proms 2015 "Ibiza Prom", with DJ Pete Tong and the BBC Heritage Orchestra.

Of course I love it...

Pete Tong and the BBC Heritage Orchestra - Insomnia (Faithless)

Pete Tong and the BBC Heritage Orchestra - Right Here Right Now (Fatboy Slim)

Pete Tong and the BBC Heritage Orchestra - One More Time (Daft Punk)

Pete Tong and the BBC Heritage Orchestra - Lola's Theme (Shapeshifters)

Brilliant! I wish I had been there.