Nick Reach Up and Steve Mac are no strangers to collaboration, with their track Do It earning support from the likes of Fatboy Slim, Mark Knight, Majestic and more following its release last year.
Now, the pair have just released a remix of A Man in Love with Love by Irvine Welsh & The Sci-Fi Soul Orchestra feat. Shaun Escoffery, which can be found here. The track is taken from the album to accompany Irvine Welsh’s new novel, Men In Love.
Separately, Nick has remixed the Gadjo classic I’m Watching You, which has just been released on Armada – check that out here.
Following on from both releases, 909originals was delighted to chat to Nick and Steve about their all-time top remixes, starting with a bona fide classic.
Mory Kante – Yeke Yeke (Hardfloor Remix)
Nick: I was lucky enough to be making and selling smiley T-shirts in Ibiza in the summer of ’88, and thus the original version holds some lovely memories of that era. This Hardfloor mix aced it though and took it to another level.
Steve: Another moment for Hardfloor, the kings of the 303. I think they used six of them at once. Robert Armani was another Hardfloor classic remix. They just had that sound in the ’90s, in between house, techno, and trance. I love that.
Tori Amos – Professional Widow (Armand’s Star Trunk Funkin Mix)
Nick: Have you ever listened to the original version of this? It’s the sort of thing that would clear the floor in most clubs, so for the remix to become such an enormous club record was quite the turnaround. Irresistible and unavoidable when this juggernaut started smashing its way through clubland, this is one of Armand Van Helden’s greatest pieces of work.
Steve: Personally, not my fave Armand mix, but with this remix he managed to get Tori Amos to the number-one spot in the UK. “It’s gotta be big” – of course that hook line worked in the Ritzy clubs as well as on the real dancefloors. A genius remix. Nobody can touch this man when it comes to the remix.
Todd Terry – Jumpin’ (Rhythm Masters Remix)
Steve: Coming up to its 30-year anniversary, this is the remix that kicked my career off. It went to number 7 in the pop charts, which is insane for pretty much an instrumental club record. This was made using an Atari 1040 computer and an Akai S3200 sampler. I spent seven days just editing and looping samples. We didn’t have audio DAWs back in the day, so everything was done in samplers. When I finished the remix I knew it was a biggie, but didn’t know it was gonna completely blow up. The hard work paid off.
Nick: Steve and Rob did an amazing job on this remix. The combo of Todd and the guys was the perfect match, and this used to take the roof off! I play it sometimes at Reach Up parties and it still does… I may even have played it at Beyond the Pale – but maybe not! Haha, that festival is a beautiful blur!
Ace of Base – Living in Danger (Armand Van Helden’s For the Big Clubs Only Mix)
Steve: This is a great example of taking a really shit pop record and turning it into a dancefloor monster. This is one of Armand’s early remixes. I remember the first time hearing this and thinking, “What the f**k is this?” Armand went on to be one of the greatest remixers of our generation.
Nick: The only remixer to make it into our list on two occasions. When we got this list going, we both independently picked different Armand remixes, which says a lot. I think I bought this on import at the time, as in general if a hot new import remix or killer white label dropped in that era, you couldn’t hang around – you had to grab it when you could! It wasn’t like you could stick a post up on Facebook to see if any of your mates could send you a file…
Scott Grooves, Parliament Funkadelic – Mothership Reconnection (Daft Punk Remix)
Steve: The first time I heard this, funnily enough, was on MTV. I had just been on a night out at the old Zap Club in Brighton, late ’90s. Came home with some friends, put the TV on, and this came on, and it was like, “what the f**k”. Just the sampling, phasers, loops, filters. Straight to the record shop the next day to get two copies. Daft Punk didn’t do many remixes, but when they did you f**king knew about it.
Nick: It was great to see Thomas Bangalter back behind the decks again recently after such a long absence. Daft Punk have provided many electrifying and beautiful moments for dance floors worldwide, and I hope they might even give us some new music again one day.
Check out the Nick Reach Up and Steve Mac remix of A Man In Love here.
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