Gossip - A Joyful Noise RMX EP

The Indie Rock group known for their quirky and fun songs have enlisted the help of a number of remixers to do reworks of songs from their latest album.

Haji And Emanuel - The Pressure

This is a remake of the early 90's track originally recorded by Sounds Of Blackness. It had a number of remixes by Frankie Knuckles, CJ Mackintosh, Terry Lewis & Jimmy Jam, Booker T, and Junior Vasqfuez with Razor N' Guido. Seamus Haji and Paul Emanuel have teamed up with singers Beverley Knight and Bryan Chambers to take on this classic. Covering this classic is no easy task as the legendary Ann Nesby provided the lead vocals on the original. Unfortunately, Beverley and Bryan are unable to deliver the power and emotion felt in the original. Their vocals are not bad at all, but they are just not at all on par with the original. Haji and Emanuel's production is pretty good though.

Listen to the original Sounds Of Blackness song.

Listen to the Haju & Emanuel update.

Grade: C+

Rihanna - Take A Bow (Remixes)

This song was screaming for club mixes given the lyrical content. There are remixes by Tony Moran & Warren Rigg, Seamus Haji, Subkulcha and Groove Junkies.

Tony and Warren previously remixed her wrenching ballad "Unfaithful" from her last album and turned it into a floorfiller. They have repeated history with another amazing mix. Given the difficult vocal stretch, they do well with what they are given. The mix does drag on just a little bit in some places, but that's only a small problem. The radio edit of their mix is perfect though. All the essential elements and portions are kept. They also completed a special dub version which remains unreleased at this time.

Seamus Haji's mix is a bit more accessible. It's his usual best. The vocal stretch on this mix sounds just right. This one will be more appropriate for radio and mixshows.

Subkulcha and Groove Junkies' mixes are in a similar vein, however, they aren't as strong as the other mixes, but they aren't bad.

The Moran and Rigg mixes are the highlights of the package. Overall, the whole package is pretty good.

The mixes are available for purchase through iTunes and Amazon.com.

Grade: A

Head to Head Battle: Buzz Junkies vs. Booty Luv - Don't Mess With My Man

This is not the first time, nor the last time that two (or more) covers of exactly the same song on different labels have been released within a very short time span. This time the song being covered is by Lucy Pearl from 2001 which had a set of palatable remixes by Mood II Swing and Wookie.

First we have Buzz Junkies featuring Elesha on the All Around The World label. AATW has released a good number of covers every year for the last several years. Mixes are by Moto Blanco. The Moto Blanco mixes are quite simple and straightforward. They are pretty good.

And then we have Booty Luv on Hed Kandi (in association with sister label Ministry Of Sound). Their cover is a bit more electro-sounding. This is their fourth cover in a row. "Boogie 2Nite" (originally by Tweet), "Shine" (originally by Luther Vandross with some amazing mixes by the Freemasons) and "Be Without You" (originally by Mary J. Blige, and was also covered by the AATW label's WiFi; it is worth noting that this was not issued as a single but was just for a compilation). Mixes for this one are by Seamus Haji and Thomas Gold. This single is to precede the release of Booty Luv's debut album Boogie 2Nite by a week in September.

Vocals on both are rather decent. The Buzz Junkies one is slightly better on vocals though. Same with production of the Moto Blanco mixes. The Booty Luv's remixes are decent too. Seamus Haji's mix is highly reminiscent to his mix of "Boogie 2Nite." The Thomas Gold mix is much funkier.

The Winner: Buzz Junkies featuring Elesha

Buzz Junkies featuring Elesha
Grade: A-

Booty Luv
Grade: B+