The Twelves can't seem to miss. They are the class of the remixing world at the moment, and their most recent song choice, a cover of Daft Punk's Nightvision, is top notch. Recent efforts by them include:

Take On Me (Twelves Remix) - A-Ha

Help, I'm Alive (Twelves Remix) - Metric

Aerodynamic (Twelves Remix) - Daft Punk 

and, of course, the track I just mentioned, which is just one more example of the Twelves' success with regards to carving out an awesome, slick and recognizable sound for themselves. 

Night Vision (Twelves Cover) - Daft Punk

French Grizzlies

Fred Falke is a gun. And not the kind of gun that Megatron turns into, more like the kind that makes really awesome tracks, whether remixed or original. In fact he is such a gun that he played bass on Daft Punk's albums, for the uninitiated into French House-dom. If that's not enough of a name check, I don't know what is.

So since Fred has made a mini-return to the blogosphere after what seems like an ages-long absence (in reality probably two weeks) with two remixes I have just recently come across, and a couple relatively unlikely original song sources as well. 

The first is a take on a track by garage-rock-soul-diva band The Gossip, whose singer belts 'em out like she's Aretha Franklin Jr, except instead of soul and funk backing her up it's huge dirty indie rock. Fred cleans them up a bit here but Beth's pipes remain untouched.

Heavy Cross (Fred Falke Remix) - The Gossip

Grizzly Bear are certainly someone I never expected to translate well to the electronic realm, as their quirky glitch-folk style is a bit short on rhythm and heavy on weirdness, but this track is a reminder that sweet remixes are only as impossible as we want them to be... 

Two Weeks (Fred Falke Remix - Grizzly Bear

I've never heard of Mini Viva, and quite frankly have never listened to them despite the Fred Falke mix of Left My Heart In Tokyo being ridiculously sweet. I know nothing about them except that this track makes me want to strut around downtown Tokyo wearing red cowboy boots, jeans four sizes too small and a snakeskin suit jacket.

Left My Heart In Tokyo (Fred Falke Dub) - Mini Viva

And an old classic 

Intro - Alan Braxe & Fred Falke

WHOA

Well if anyone reading this happens to read other, more reputable blogs (i.e. every other blog on the internet, including Harry Potter erotic fanfic blogs) they may have come across this track recently but anyone who hasn't will be thanking me as soon as the fat bass and warbly jangly synths ninja kick them straight in the face. I won't say too much and spoil it but suffice to say that failing to download this track may be the single biggest mistake you make in all your natural born life. Or maybe not, I don't know. Either way just listen.

Lisztomania (Alex Metric remix) - Phoenix

CANADA

Above is on page 1 of a google image search of "canada music." While I am not sure this image is a 100% accurate representation of what Canada has to bring to the table musically, it is certainly awesome.

More importantly, here are some actual Canadian artists, who may or may not be naked and playing keytars.

K-os has been somewhat off the radar lately, but popped up recently in the blogosphere, albeit briefly. The track initially caught my eye because it is a remix of what is by far my favourite Tokyo Police Club track, Your English Is Good. I was curious as to how a straight-up indie rock track could be interpreted by a hip hopper, and frankly skeptical, but I think it is mostly a success.. the remix is much more subdued than the original, and k-os contributes a pretty slick verse.

Your English Is Good (K-os Remix) - Tokyo Police Club

On a lesser known note, Bit Funk came my way via the excellent Binary blog. Binary has been consistently flogging a new style they call dreamwave, which is a lot like what you would imagine based on the name... big smooth spacey synths and vocals. Bit Funk is Canada's contribution to this style, and it is slick as fuck. 

Love Scientific - Bit Funk

Deadmau5 is pretty well-established from the perspective of any electronic music aficionado, but his tracks are worth retreading... Calvin Harris' latest single is pretty ace on its own but Deadmau5's remix eclipses it, in my humble opinion. Harris' sound and Deadmau5's don't seem too compatible on the surface, as Harris (especially on this track) is all about big summery, light-hearted anthems, whereas the mau5 is dark, long and winding... the two are entwined perfectly here however

I'm Not Alone (Deadmau5 Remix) - Calvin Harris

And for kicks, here is a recent Deadmau5 fave of mine...

Not Exactly - Deadmau5 (.m4a version)

Late night mix tape

Here is a mix tape for the lovely month of May. It will take you on a journey. A journey to BEATS.

May Mix Tape 

Track list

Friendly Fires - Skeleton Boy (Grum remix)

The Knife - Heartbeats (Rex the Dog remix)

CSS - Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above (Spank Rock remix)

Crystal Castles - Vanished

Dirty Vegas - Days Go By

Friendly Fires - Paris (Aeroplane Remix ft. Au Revoir Simone)

Vyle - Second City 2008 (Norrit remix)

Cadence Weapon - In Search of the Youth Crew

Mujava - Township Funk (Diplo remix)

The Count + Sinden - Beeper (A-Trak remix)

Mr. Hudson & The Library - Ask the DJ

Mapei ft. Stuffa - Pretty Girls (Sinden remix)

The Bloody Beetroots - Dimmakmunication

The Bloody Beetroots ft. Steve Aoki - Warp 1.9

Armand Van Helden - Illin' N Fillin' It (Malente's The Monster Is Loose remix)

Proxy - Raven (Crookers remix)

Brodinski - Bad Runner (Crookers remix)

Mark Morrisson - Return of the Mack (Spencer & Hill remix)

Ladyhawke - Paris is Burning (Cut Copy remix)

Empire of the Sun - Walking on a Dream

Futurecop! - Transformers (Ghosthustler remix)

The Kids are RADIOACTIVE - I'm Sorry

Deadmau5 - Not Exactly

Wahhhhzoooooh

If Billboard's list of number one dance hits in the USA is any indication, in 1999 the club and dance scene in North America was dominated by the likes of Cher, Madonna, Enrique Iglesias and "Funky Green Dogs." While lack of taste in North America is certainly not surprising, and while I wouldn't try to claim that Billboard charts are 100% accurate as a barometer of taste, the fact remains that many club-goers in the US were subjected to an awful lot of ordinary dance music.

On the other hand we have Europe, particularly England, France and Germany. While there isn't as much data on overall plays in Europe, historically musical movements (outside of hip hop) have started in Europe and moved across the pond some time later.. Basement Jaxx are featured on that 1999 list, but the style they helped create has taken much longer to arrive full force in North America. Similarly, Daft Punk scored a couple of massive singles that crossed the Atlantic in the mid-90s, but "popular" North American tastes remained focused on garbage like rap-rock and watered-down wanky hip hop. Meanwhile from the 90s on, the subject of this post was toiling away in France, and becoming fucking good in the process.

Monsieur Oizo

Oizo is a member of Ed Banger records, one of the more illustrious record labels in electronic music. Fellow artists include Uffie, Busy P and Justice... no lightweights around there, let me tell ya. For me, his greatest asset is his eclecticism...he is generally just weird as fuck, but he can just easily write a sick hip-hop influenced beat as a sound-system smashing club banger. 

Remember how people in the US were listening to Whitney Houston in 1999? Well French clubs were rocking a Oizo track in that year called Flat Beat. I'd try and describe it but the attempt would be futile. It doesn't quite have the massive bass and frantic energy that more recent club hits have had, but listening to this track and realizing it came out ten years ago is a clear indicator of Oizo's influence and general forward thinking... legendary track.

Flat Beat (16 bit remix) - Mr. Oizo

Jumping ahead a few years, Oizo's latest album, Lamb's Anger, was released in November of 2008. The single, Positif, bears the unmistakable watermarks of Oizo; big buzzy synths, choppy breakdowns, and vocal samples by some hot-sounding French bird.

Positif - Mr. Oizo

And my personal favourite Oizo track, and not just because of the name. Gay Dentists starts out choppy and abrasive as fuck, but the slow formation of a ridiculously danceable beat is well worth the wait. The drop took me by surprise the first time I heard it, and boy was it a pleasant surprise. Wait till about the 2:00 mark.

Gay Dentists - Mr. Oizo