Groove Addix feat Chase Silva - Free To Be Me (Remixes)

This is a new release from the JRED Music label coming out later this week. It is an uplifting, inspirational Electro/Pop song with a soulful male vocal in its original version. This is a suitable track for all of the upcoming Pride festivities. There are additional remixes by Christian Hornbostel, House of Labs, Jared Jones, Paul Goodyear, Ricky Pellegrino, and Sweet Team. The Christian Hornbostel mix is techy and minimal. The House Of Labs are hard and perfect for peak hour. The Jared Jones mixes which are bassline driven are also suitable for peak hour play. Paul Goodyear's mixes are tribal, but they have a Hi Nrg flavor to them. Ricky Pellegrino provides a techy, Deep House mix. Last but not least is the Sweet Team mix which is a gorgeous piano-based House mix. Overall, every one of the remixes is excellent! It is a solid remix package for a great song.

Listen to clips and purchase here (iTunes) and here (Amazon)

Grade: A

Kimberly Davis - With You (Remixes)

This is the latest single from the big voiced diva who broke out in 2010 with "Get Up" and "Twist Of Love." Kimberly delivers yet another great vocal performance. There are 33 remixes, dubs, and edits spread out over 3 digital singles representing multiple styles including Dubstep, Electro House, Freestyle, Funky House, Big Room Tribal, and and Soulful House. Dave Aude, DJ Escape & Tony Coluccio, Paul Goodyear, Soulbeats, and Twisted Dee's mixes end up being the best of the bunch though all are pretty good.

Listen to clips and purchase the remixes: (JunoDownload)
Single #1
Single #2
Single #3

Grade: A

Cynthia Manley - Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You (Remixes)

The Frankie Valli classic has been redone for the dancefloor by singer Cynthia Manley. She was once the lead vocalist for Hi Nrg/Disco act Boys Town Gang in the 1980s. They released a cover of this song as well, but with another vocalist. Paul Goodyear, PnP, and Sinclair & Chatters provide the remixes. Paul Goodyear's classic-sounding straightforward funky house mix retains some of the chords and keys of the original. Phillip Mezzatesta delivers 3 different mixes. The 1015 Folsom mix is a peak hour slice of modern Disco while the Trocadero Delight mix has a harder bassline. The Endup mix has just a small sprinkling of vocals and is mostly instrumental. Sinclair & Chatters' mix has a nice Disco-House flavor. Cynthia does a great job on the vocals giving it a soulful quality.

Grade: A-

Wayne G feat Melissa Totten - Frozen

This is the second Madonna cover release that Wayne G and Melissa Totten worked on. The original ambient/electronic ballad was the lead single from her critically acclaimed Ray Of Light album in 1998. It had some exquisite remixes by Victor Calderone, Stereo MCs, and William Orbit. Melissa Totten's vocals are decent on this one, however, they are rather lackluster in comparison to the original. There are remixes for this one by Wayne G & Andy Allder, Tony Moran & Warren Rigg, Paul Goodyear, Jamie J. Sanchez, and JRMX. All of the remixers did a superb job on their respective mixes. It must be noted that the Wayne & Andy and Paul Goodyear mixes make use of a recreation of the orchestral bits from the original song. Overall, the Wayne G & Andy Allder and JRMX remixes are the standouts.

Listen to clips and purchase here:



Grade: B+

Paul Goodyear feat Caroline Lund - Outlaw

This is indeed a remake of the Olive song from 1997. Caroline Lund nails it vocally, doing great justice to the song. There are many remixes of this on the release, however, the standout versions are by Paul Goodyear, Casey Alva with Solar City, and Wayne G with Andy Allder. Paul Goodyear's trance/circuit mix is uplifting and pretty as it is hard-hitting. An instrumental version is also included on the package. Casey Alva and Solar City's circuit mix is perfect for peak hour play. Wayne G and Andy Allder's circuity electro/tribal mix well-produced as well. The additional mixes not reviewed here are good too.

Listen to clips of the mixes here:



Purchase MP3s and WAVs here (Juno)

 Grade: A

Karen Young - Rendezvous With Me

She was known for her fiery, energetic vocal performances during the Disco era. She is best remembered for "Hot Shot" which originally came out in 1978. "Hot Shot" was re-released with new mixes in 2007, nearly 10 years after another update.

"Rendezvous With Me" was originally meant to be a followup to "Hot Shot", but it never saw a release and remained unreleased up until now. A fresh new production has been constructed and that is the MaxRoxx mix. It's Funky/Disco House at its best. The pianos and horns really work well. Zathan Radix's mixes are a bit harder. His have a really fun strings loop which does call to mind Moto Blanco's work. Paul Goodyear's mixes are even harder and darker. These are more circuit oriented. The core sounds resemble the original.

All versions utilize the vocals extremely well. Karen's vocal performance is really great. The vocals sound like they were recorded very recently. And the remix package is great as well. A little something for everyone.

Buy all of the remixes of "Rendezvous With Me" here (Perfect Beat's digital download store)


Grade: A

Kristine W. - The Boss

This has been in the works since early 2006. In June of 2006, Junior Vasquez played a few minutes of a version him and Fumi Kondoh had been working on during his XM radio mixshow. From then until recently, there have been very mentions of this project. But just a few weeks ago, it was announced that a full release of this Diana Ross cover would be happening. As of a couple days ago, it was announced that fans can pre-order a special CD single of remixes of this on Kristine W.'s website. The actual release is scheduled for February of this year. There had also been word that the digital release would precede the CD release on January 1 of this year on Masterbeat.com however, that may be delayed for a few more days until the site is launched.

The lineup of mixers on this one is particularly good. Johnny Vicious, Tracy Young, Paul Goodyear, Love To Infinity, Jamie J. Sanchez, Wayne G. and the Perry Twins. There could still be more.

The CD maxi has the following tracklisting.

01. Love To Infinity Radio Edit (3:52)
02. Tracy Young Radio Edit (4:16)
03. Johnny Vicious Radio Edit (4:25)
04. Paul Goodyear Radio Edit (3:19)
05. Jamie J. Sanchez Frisco Radio Mix (3:42)
06. Love in the Club Mix (6:46)
07. Tracy Young Big Club Mix (10:07)
08. Paul Goodyear Circuit Mix (9:34)
09. Paul Goodyear Funky Downunder Mix (7:43)
10. Too Vicious Club Mix (8:22)
11. Jamie J. Sanchez After Midnight Club Mix (9:13)
12. Emoticon Chill Mix (4:16)

Based on the 2006 Junior version, the vocals were quite good. Very faithful to Diana's original, but of course, Kristine nails it. Look out for this one really soon.