The Human League's long and impressive career is certainly worth celebrating and since the band has decided to celebrate it with a Dare theme, I thought this site should do the same! So I've teamed up with some talented DJ's and music fanatics from around the world, who in the past has made themselves noted on the web with some great edits of Human League classics. And I've asked them to do some exclusives versions of tracks from the Dare album as a joint venture with The-Black-Hit-Of-Space.dk, which will be put online in the coming weeks, as we count down to the Dare 2007 Tour.
The best has been saved for last as the project ends with an overture. Conducted and orchestrad (with his one man digital band) by no other than Michiel Von Bokhurst, better known as Voice Of Buddha, dutch producer and mastermind and remixer behind the official single release of Love Me Madly? in 2003. You can learn more about the story behind the release here. Now retired to the Carabian, working as a DJ, I got him out of his retirement to make a contribution to the fan mix project. And he surprised me by not putting out a disco stomper of a track, but instead opted for a delicate, symphonic megamix of Dare tunes, inspired by Anne Dudley's classy overture mix of ABC back in the early eighties. Very different to the other fan mixes and I luv it! I think the word I'm searching for is "beautifull"! It was originally planned for release in late December, but it turned out to be a bigger task than first anticipated to reconstruct an entire symphonic orchestra digitally. But it was well worth the wait. Enjoy.
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And to round off the whole Dare 2007 Fan Mix project, Stig Olsen, The Human League's official graphical designer, very kindly put together some cover art in case anyone wants to make a cd for the car or stereo with all these fantastic mixes.
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First bonus mix is from Tomislav Socaé, who broght us the excellent Dodi's Crossover Mix of Darkness in week 2. This time he gives Do Or Die the extended treatment and clocks up 8.40 minutes of pure delight. Well worth the wait!
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It's the big finale! And what a way to celebrate the new year! The last contribution is a testament to how well liked The Human League are in the music business. It's from no other than Paul Dakeyne! YES! THE PAUL DAKEYNE of DMC fame and later in his own right as remixer for a wide range of artists, including personal favourites Boytronic, Yazoo, Soft Cell and Erasure. You can learn more about him on his myspace site here. He did off course make the excellent Megamix "The Return To The League Of Humans" for DMC back in 1988 and that was my window to contact him. And he was very accommodating when I asked him if he was interested in contributing. As it happens he already had made a mix of a Human League track from the Dare era together with another wellknown mixer from the DMC days, Chad Jackson. This is what he had to say about it:
In 2002, myself and another DMC associated guy, Chad Jackson, were both asked by our then management to collaborate on a Human League related rework which was originally due for Ministry of Sound to release (they never did due to various reasons, and it's sat 'on the shelf' for 5 years now..). It's a remix (using just the record and NO multitrack) of 'HARD TIMES'. It has never been released or played on mainstream radio so therefore is a true 'never before heard' production. It was so dissapointing to Chad and myself that it has never had a general release, so we'd like you to have it for your fansite.
Technically Hard Times is not from Dare, but it was a bonus track on the US CD edition of the album, it was a b-side to Love Action (I Believe In Love), it featured on the Love And Dancing remix album and it rounded off the Dare set list on the Dare 2007 Tour, which is all good enough excuses for me to bring you this gem ;-) I love what Paul and Chad has done with the track and the extra bits and pieces added fits perfectly with the track and still stays loyal to the original version. Happy New Year!!
Mat MacKenzie strikes again! The Dare 2007 puzzle is complete as Mat delivers another masterpiece, following up on his magnificent mix of Love Action (I Believe In Love) in week 11. As the awaken reader will have noticed, Do Or Die was the last piece missing and Mat really has given it a boost. Instrumental with lots of cool sounds and melodies added, but still keeping recognisable parts of the original. Brilliant! Keep checking this page for the big finale on New Years Eve.
Click on image to download the mix.
Counting down to the big finale on New Years Eve and celebrating X-mas by upping the frequence of mixes posted. This mix is done by dutch remixer/producer Matt Pop (http://www.youtube.com/DjProducerMattPop). He got my attention with his excellent remix of Pet Shop Boys' Home And Dry, which was purely based on the music from Open Your Heart and you can check it out here. He also quite recently did a great remix of One Man In My Heart, which you can check out here. Matt was very enthusiastic when I asked him to contribute and quickly came up with a stomping remix of I Am The Law. Lots of new melodies, sounds, beats and a cool bassline added and it instantly got my foot tapping. Hope your feet like it too!
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Merry MiX-mas! And here's your present! The next remix is done by another friend of mine, Lasse Mønsted, and it's a mix I've been looking forward to hear as Lasse comes from more of an industrial background compared to many of the other contributors. He's part of the industrial rockers pAn And The G9 Slug (check out there myspace site here) and on his own makes more melodic, partly instrumental electro under the name BorderRun. Remixed by Lasse and produced by pAn, this version of The Sound Of The Crowd takes on a whole new direction for the track. Lots of new melodies and cool sounds added, but still keeps parts of the original intact. I like!
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This weeks contributor is Mat McKenzie from the UK and the driving force behind the excellent electronic outfit Hypnotica (www.hypnoticbeats.co.uk). He is a self confessed electronic music addict for the best part of 30 years, which make him a perfect match for this project! You can learn also learn more about his music at www.myspace.com/hypnoticelectrobeats. Back in 2005 he made a remix of Love Action (I Believe In Love) that he never got released and he was very generous to donate it to the fan mix project. And I really like what he has done with the track. Very much remixed and instrumental, but still recognisable. It's gone in a different, more laid back direction to the original and it works a treat.
Click on image to download the mix.
Things are hotting up! This weeks contributor is no other than Rod Laymen of DMC fame! Remixer extraordinaire for many years and also branching out into production. You can learn more about him at www.rodlayman.co.uk. If the name rings a bell in Human League terms, it's because he was the creator of the excellent Music Factory Mastermix of Human. And that was my opening for contacting him for this project and he was more than happy to help out: I have always been a big Human League fan, their tracks, especially The Sound Of The Crowd and Love Action inspired me to take up production and dj -ing. I remember listening to them constantly in my car when I was 18 years old, now 43 it seems such a long time ago! When I was dj-ing back in the early eighties I loved playing their tracks as they always sounded so awesome over the club systems. That original electro sound is much copied today! I take this as quite a testament to The League's standing in the music industry, that a guy like Rod takes time out of his busy schedule to celebrate the bands music and career. And how he celebrates! He's created an awesome mix of The Sound Of The Crowd with added beats and blips and it sounds fantastic.
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This weeks contributor is to many websurfing Human League fans, as Austrailia's John Von Ahlen launched the second ever Human League website Hysteria! And since it merged with the first one (Dare!), it became THE HL website of the late 90's. Since then he has excelled with some truly excellent remixes of A Doorway that was released in 2005. He was in my mind from the beginning for this project, but I didn't contact him as his HL mixes was posted by www.league-online.com and I didn't want to step on anybody's toes. But since he approached me, I jumped at the chance to get him and his vast remixing talents onboard. John works as a producer in the Subterrane Recording Studio (www.subterrane.com.au) and produce music for other people. He also has his own band The Tenth Stage (www.thetenthstage.com) where ex-Human League-member Ian Burden played Bass Guitar on their self-titled debut album. All this musical knowhow and passion for the League really shines through in the stunning remix he delivered of Open Your Heart.
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This weeks contribution is from Great Britain's favourite son David Power, also known as KraftwerkDave. Huge League fan and has in the past demonstrated great skills in revamping a Human League tune with the excellent remix of A Doorway from 2005 and the brilliant instrumental version of Crow And A Baby from 2003, both released online. So he was well up for it when I asked him to contribute to this little project and soon delivered a magnificent version of Darkness. Remixed, but very faithful to the original with bits and pieces of cool electronics added to the song. I love it and I hope you do to.
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Marlene is at it again! After bringing us the excellent Cygnet Mixes of Seconds and I Am The Law in week 3, she has now done a rather fetching mix of Love Action (I Believe In Love) with added beats for danceability. And it works great.
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Next in line is Austria's own Floyd Anderson, another prominent member of the blogspot mix community. You may know him better as Chronovisor, mastermind behind the excellent chronovisor mix v1.0 of You Remind Me Of Gold, Being Boiled and Total Panic, all released on http://chronovisor.blogspot.com. And with a track record like that he was another obvious choice to ask to do a mix for this project. He was very happy to help out and he really came up trumphs with an marvelous extended version of Seconds.
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This weeks contribution is one I'm especially proud of, since it's made by a friend of mine, Michael Kjeldgaard, AKA Mike Billa. He was all fired up when I asked him to remix a very specific Dare track that I didn't think many others could really do much about. He's a professional musician who has done a wide range of productions and collaborations under different names, but his real passion is the electronic scene and he had a hit on the trance scene with the project Psygone. Check out www.myspace.com/mikebilla for more information. And he didn't let me down when he presented me with an utterly brilliant remix of Get Carter. Beeaauutiifuullll!
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This weeks mix is supplied by UK's own Sean Turner, mastermind behind the band Ex-Rental, and his connection with The Human League runs deep. He's the architect behind the excellent www.blindyouth.co.uk about the early years of the band, he had a major hand in the release of The Golden Hour Of The Future album and he did the brilliant Mile High Mix of Empire State Human that was sadly rejected for the Very Best Of bonus CD in 2003. And if that wasn't enough, his band has in the past performed and recorded both Black Hit Of Space and Don't You Want Me. The latter was originally performed with Sarah from Schmoof at the London Launch Party for the Very Best Of album in 2003. They intended to record it properly in the studio, but never got round to finishing it, so Sean was very kind to donate an great instrumental re-edit of their labours.
Click on image below to download the mix.
This weeks contributor is Marlene, AKA Cygnet, South Africa and New Zealand's favourite mixer and another member of the very productive mix community at blogspot.com. She was very enthusiastic when I approached her to do a mix for this project and she seemed like a perfect match with her talent for doing the classic extended mix, as demonstrated numerous times on http://cygnetcommittee.blogspot.com/. And she didn't disappoint, in fact she excelled and came up with 2 brilliant mixes at once! A delicious mix of I Am The Law with a sort of twisted added beat and a very cool extended mix of Seconds.
Click on image below to download the mixes.
Next up is Croatia´s
finest mixer Tomislav Sokac, better known as Dodi
of Dodi´s Crossover Mix fame. Another obvious choice with his expertise
in making the classic extended version, perfected on many tracks at
http://dodis-crossover.blogspot.com/.
And he has shown in the past to have a knack for bringing the best out of a
Human League track with some excellent re-edits of Louise, Human and Life On
Your Own. And he really has stepped up to the plate with his contribution to
this project, a fine 8 minutes+ version of Darkness with a brilliant ambient
intro of the song.
Click on image below to download the mix.
First up is the "international music fanatic" Max, the mastermind behind the excellent DreamTime mixes at http://dreamtimemix.blogspot.com/. With his love for the classic 80s styled extended versions, he was an obvious choice for this project and he has already shown how to re-edit a Human League tune with the brilliant "DreamTime Mix" of "The Lebanon" from last year. And thankfully he was more than happy to contribute to this project with an great 9 minutes+ version of "The Things That Dreams Are Made Of".
Click on image below to download the mix.
