This is 'Mega'!

Brand new, big club tune from the Count & Sinden, 'Mega'.

Some great dance remixes for your pleasure

Fun house (Digital Dog remix), Pink



Head will roll (Tiesto remix)- Yeah, yeah, yeahs



And a great mashup: Nelly Furtado versus MJ versus Timbaland, by Kings of Orange and the mashup monsters

Rye Rye- Bang (feat. M.I.A.)

From the 'Fast & Furious' movie soundtrack, the brilliant track 'Bang', by Baltimore artist Rye Rye, who is the first act signed to M.I.A.'s record label N.E.E.T.

Love the gritty, urban feel of this tune and love, love, love the dancing! This is such a Partyzone track and vid. Enjoy!

Röyksopp's latest release 'Happy Up Here'

This is the first release of the forthcoming 'Junior' album by the Norwegian electronic/dance music duo Röyksopp. The album will be out on the 23rd of March and- if this track is anything to go by- it's gonna be (as James Hyman would say ; ) the rinse! This track is very approapriately named 'Happy up here' & it does put a smile on my face. I will even go as far as saying that it's my favorite Röyksopp track so far. I'm looking forward to the rest of the new material.

2009 remix of Storm's 'Time to burn'

Big up to the power and interconnectedness of the Internet! I blogged about the 2009 remake of ‘King of my castle’ and got a personal ‘thank you’ note through MySpace from the man responsible for the remix, Rowald Styen.

And now he has contacted me again to tell me about his latest adventure, a 2009 remix of Storm’s ‘Time to burn’.

As I watched the Utube clip, I got so bloody excited. I try not to swear these days (all part of becoming a mum, I guess ; ) but throughout hearing the tune, I couldn’t stop myself from saying: ‘F*****g hell...F*****g hell’, whilst grinning from ear to ear.

This is the kind of track that can always re-ignite my passion for dance music. As I hear it, I am transported back into a club, hands in the air, shaking my head in disbelieve at the giganticness of this tune. Big up! Of course, the original was already fantastic and gigantic, but I always found that there were a few moments where the track crossed from being accessible to being a bit cheesy and even other mixes that have come out since have not been able to remove that occassionally cheesy feel. Rowald Steyn, in my opinion, is the first person who’s managed to do that.

I am also happy to hear Mark Spoon’s legacy carried forward. I always worried for him and his wild partying ways and, sadly enough, it was a fear that turned out not to be unfounded. He died of a suspected heart attack in 2006. Rest in my peace, my friend!

Mark Spoon, by the way, was at the heart of my infamous ‘wandering around the streets of Berlin in a dressing gown’ incident. I’m not sure if I have ever shared that story yet. It’s a bit of a mad one.

Anyway, check out this 2009 mix of ‘Time to burn’...

Still available as free download: the new Prodigy single!

Invaders must die is the name of the new album from the Prodigy and the title track will be available as a free download from their site for a few more days. Don't miss it!

I have to admit, for a while I felt like Liam had 'lost himself' somehow and I wasn't as crazy about the stuff he had done in the last few years (I also have to admit that I haven't heard everything he has done in these last years. Maybe I missed a gem somewhere)

But anyway, if he did lose himself for while, he's back now! And so are the Prodigy! What a top tune. Can't wait to hear to hear the whole album. This is what they are all about. Gritty, dark, intense dance music that just blows your head off. And I can already imagine them onstage with this track.

Having seen thousands of live performances over the years, I think that Prodigy are the best live act ever!!!!! And- of course- also the best dance act ever!!! (anyone disagree with me on that one?)

Good to have you back, old Braintree posse.



Obviously, I have many good memories of the Prodigy as I used to spend a lot of time with them. I'll share some of my favorites in the coming days.

Nineties hits in the Dutch chart

I've just found out that 'King of my castle 2009' has entered the Dutch chart at number 29. 'Infinity 2008' is at number 2 and 'Show me love' is still number 1. Bring back the nineties!

Wamdue project, King of my castle 2009

Another club classic gets the remake. This time it's the old Stricly Rythm smash, 'King of my castle' by 'Wamdue project'.

DJ/Producer Rowald Steyn has done his magic on the track this time. It was, of course, brilliant to begin with and sounds great in it's 2009 jacket. Could it follow in the footsteps of Robin S. and become another number one hit?

Some silly trivia for you...King of my castle was in the UK charts in 1999 and- in that year- was the track with the longest name in which none of the letters were repeated (unbelievable what people keep track off)

Thanks to Eurodance blog for pointing me towards the Armada Music site. I looked it up after seeing the clip of Dobenbeck on there (nice summery tune...fits my tropical lifestyle)

Anyway, here's 'King of my castle 2009'

Robin S, number 1

Unbelievable! Robin S is at the top of the charts again in Holland with 'Show me love', the track that topped the UK dance charts in '93.

She re-released it '97, when it got to number 9 in the UK's pop chart. She then released it again in '99 & once more in 2002, without much luck (It only reached number 61 in the UK)

But Robin S has proven that perseverence pays off in the end. Because now there is the 2008 version of the track and she has finally reached a number 1 spot again. And this time not even in the dance chart, but in the general (pop) charts. Good on her!

And it just seems to show again that people are getting nostalgic about the nineties and nineties dance music. In the Dutch top 10 right now there is also the the track 'Infinity (2008)' of the Guru Josh Project. A track that was a huge hit at the end of the eighties/early nineties.

I am, of course, all for this. All these old tunes bring back so many great memories. And it's good to see that people are still appreciating the (dance) music from those days.

Chase & Status ft. plan B, Pieces

I know I am late with this one as it is number one in the UK dance chart. But I gathered that many readers of this blog are from outside of the UK, so I'd like to share it anyhow. This track already blows my mind when I listen to it at home, so I can imagine the impact it would have when you hear it booming out in a club. F*****g brilliant!

The return of a legend, Grooverider is free!!!!

Dego from 4Hero and I had been writing backwards and forwards to each other through MySpace about the fate of Grooverider. Dego kept posting the words 'Free Grooverider' on MySpace and, seeing as I had been wondering about how Grooverider was doing (see an older posting), I contacted Dego and we started talking about what we could possibly do for 'the Rider'.

Lucky enough, we didn't need to do anything anymore as Grooverider got his well-deserved pardon earlier this month during Ramadan.

See this from Music News.com:

Grooverider is back in the UK after serving seven months of a four year sentence in a Dubai prison. The 'Rider, real name Raymond Bingham, was arrested in November 2007 at Dubai airport on charges of possession of 2.16 grams of cannabis.

In February, he was sentenced to four years in prison. After his lawyer, Mohammad Al-Reda, was unable to get the charges dropped during an appeal, Grooverider’s only hope of returning to England was during the religious festival of Ramadan, when 700 Emirati and ex-pat prisoners are traditionally pardoned.

In August, Grooverider heard his name was on a list of potentials, but it wasn’t until Monday 1st September that he heard he was being released.

Grooverider finally returned home on September 4 and we can now all breathe a collective sigh of relief.

To celebrate, Lock N Load Events have teamed up with Groove Connection and Alchemy to put on the party of the year with a stellar line up selected by the main man himself!

Joining Grooverider at KOKO on his return to clubland will be an all-star supporting cast of friends and special guests. First up is of course the long-awaited 2 hour B2B set between Grooverider and partner Fabio. Alongside them will be Shy FX, Dillinja, Bailey, Mickey Finn and Jumping Jack Frost, with MC’s GQ and Fats on the mic, with more DJs to be announced.

This party is going to blow up big time! Get down there if you can. It's on Saturday the 11th of October at Koko. Good to have the Rider back!

Giant Jr. versus Eartha Kitt, I want to be evil

This is a huge club track in the UK right now. The marvelous 'I want to be evil' from Giant Jr. I'm not quite sure who Giant Jr. actually is/are. Does anyone have any information or pictures of them apart from barbie and ken dolls?

There's some great mixes of this track floating around too. Enjoy!

Like meeting an old friend again...

We went out clubbing last night to the Playboy party at Confession, which is a new club here in Aruba. And you know what? I honestly can not remember the last time I was in a 'real' club. I mean I've been to parties on the beach and to small-scale bar/clubs in the last few years, but I just haven't been to a straight-forward big nightclub with pumping house music.

But it was like meeting an old friend again. Like we hadn't seen each other for only a day. I guess I have spent so much time in clubs, it's like I have taken out a lifetime membership that just hasn't expired yet.

It was great! Danced solidly the whole night...God bless dance music!

Another old-school dance gem! Josh Wink's 'Higher state of consciousnes'

This is one of those tracks that I had kind of forgotten about until I heard someone play it again on the radio. I nearly blew up the speakers of my car! Man, this track is still insane. It's one of those tunes where you try and dance harder and harder as the pitch raises at the end until your limps nearly fly off your body (well, that's how it feels to me anyhow; )

Funny I forgot about this though as I am even in the video (only for a second, but still...)

South African dance music, Dr. Mujava & Township funk

This fantastic clip has been floating around on the Internet for a little while now and has been picked up by the legendary Warp label. It will get a worldwide digital release on August the 11th, with a general release on September the 15th. Marvelous stuff!

Spoon, Harris and Obernik video, Baditude

The trio of Spoon, Harris & Obernik already had more than enough respective club credibility to their names before teaming up for what quickly became one of Pete Tong’s Essential New Tunes in ‘Baditude’.

Massive party tune, average vid....

BTW, I really wanted to post MGMT's 'Electric feel' on this blog too, but they won't allow you to embed it. How crap! Do have a look at it on Utube. It's a fantastic video and very cool track.

You've come a long way baby!

I've always been a sucker for Drum n Bass. There's nothing like the full body work-out you get when dancing at a good DnB night. When the DJ was really good, I didn't even want to intoxicate myself in any way as it could get in the way of my dancing (you never know how things might 'fall' from time to time, know what I mean?)

Some of the most memorable club nights I have ever attended have been DnB nights, with a vibe that is impossible to explain to anyone who wasn't there. It was a mix of danger, decadence (at a later stage) and explosive devotion from its followers. Instead of putting their hands up in the air, people would throw flames up or just hold up their lighters on the highest setting (DJ Hype told me that on some nights people were even firing guns in the air, although that would have been a bit too much danger and excitement for my liking). The crowd on the dance floor and around the DJ booth would just go insane on some tracks, demanding several 'rewinds' to keep them happy.

The Partyzone was around at the early days of Jungle, which over time became Drum and Bass. I remember interviewing the likes of Goldie, Roni Size, DJ Krust, DJ Hype, Zinc, Fabio, Grooverider, etc. on a regular basis. Now, it took a fair while to get accepted by those in the jungle/ Drum and Bass scene. Many were very anti media and thought that we (James Hyman and I) were just jumping on the bandwagon. So some of my hardest interviews have been with DJ's and producers from that scene. My God some of them were moody. Although none of them ever beat Rebel MC. He was the biggest s**t I've ever had on the show.

Still, like I said, I did love the DnB scene. And the best set I ever watched was by DJ Hype. I can't remember the name of the night, but it was somewhere in Germany. When Hype played the stage was full of other DJ's, producers, etc. Normally people would leave after their set was done, but here they had nowhere else to go, so everyone stayed and watched Hype. And they all just freaked out when they saw him play. The guy is a bloody genius & he mixes with an ease that I have not often seen in anyone else, he even looks slightly bored or disinterested whilst doing it. It's such a turn-on to see such a genius in action. So I did end up have a slight crush on him back then. Not that the guy was particularly good looking, but just because he was so cocky and talented. I never told him or anyone else, though : )

I've always had a soft spot for geniuses. I can't help it. It's just so bloody sexy to see that kind of confidence and skill. Guess that's why I ended up marrying a genius myself (no, not a DJ, but a man with many talents including football, search engine optimizing, other 'nerdy' computer stuff, plus an outlook on life that's genius in itself ; )

Anyway, I'm digressing...back to DnB.


The minute I moved to another kind of jungle (the one here in Central America) I stopped looking at what was happening in the DnB scene. I literally haven't looked back since that November in 2001 when we moved away from London. I still listened to my old DnB music when working out, but that was it. But recently I decided to take a quick peek at what's been happening in that world.

And it's great to see things like DnB TV , to see all the old faces still doing their thing & to see the talent that has emerged since I disappeared from the scene, like Logistics and of course Pendulum. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!

Oh, I do miss a good dance now and then.....

The only ever Aphex Twin TV Interview! (part 1)

This was a very unique interview. I had been warned beforehand that Aphex Twin (Richard D. James) only answered questions with yes or no. If he answered them at all. Well, I had no problem getting him to talk. It actually became quite a revealing interview. Enjoy!

Great radio

All dance music lovers (especially old Partyzone fans) should listen to James Hyman's "The Rinse" on Xfm. It is a brilliant, trainspotty type of show that will surely introduce you to a gem or two. James Hyman, of course, was the main brain behind the Partyzone & when you listen to his radioshow you'll notice how similar it is, it's like the Partyzone on radio (See? It didn't really die ;)

"The Rinse
James Hyman presents a two hour eclectic mix, covering all genres of club, DJ and dance culture. Tune in for monster giveaways, guest mixes and interviews with key DJs, producers, remixers and artists, and offer up your shout-outs and requests.
The Rinse is on every Saturday Night (9pm-1am, UK time)"