50 WAYS

The problem is all inside your head
She said to me
The answer is easy if you
Take it logically
I'd like to help you in your struggle
To be free
There must be fifty ways
To leave your lover

                                             --Paul Simon

50 ways b'more style...

50 Ways

SECRET SUNDAY LOVER

AXEL F

Besides being the lovable movie character portrayed by Ed Murphy in the 80s crime film series Beverly Hills Cop, Axel F is a monthly DC club event at LIV on U Street and 11th.

Axel F was started by DJ Jahsonic to highlight the best in Jheri Curl Funk, Champagne Soul and New Wave from the 1980s (and late 70s). In other words, some of the best dance music in the post-disco era.

Be sure not to miss out as Jahsonic and his crew of devoted 80s music lovers team up tomorrow nite (Saturday, Feb 26) for the second installment of Axel F - the club experience.

Here's a little taste - the Axel F mix by DJ Jahsonic.

DJ Jahsonic - Axel F mix

TOUCH ME

Fonda Rae was an early 80s singer whose voice featured on many a dance floor gem, such as the Rainbow Brown obscurity Till' You Surrender and the classics Over Like a Fat Rat and Touch Me (All Night Long).

Fonda Rae & Wish - Touch Me (All Night Long)

Fonda Rae - Over Like A Fat Rat (Bob Blank mix)

TURN IT ON

Kim Wilde - Turn It On

DUCK SAUCE

Duck Sauce aka club celebres Armand van Helden and A-Trak are responsible for last summer's Barbara Streisand. More memorable is their remake of Final Edition's I Can Do It.

LOVERS HOLIDAY

BIG DANCIN

The Lucy Pearl 2000 classic Dance Tonight cut up and put together in da B'more style.

Bounce Crew - Big Dancin' (Dave Implex's Bit More Dancin' Edit)

BABY BABY BABY

THE TWELVES

Brazilian producer duo The Twelves playing live at U Street Music Hall tonite. The Twelves have delivered a series of impressing remixes over the last couple of years. Check out a few...

Metric - Help I'm Alive (Twelves Remix)

Metric is a Canadian indie rock band with a cool looking and great sounding lead singer called Emily Haines. I liked the original of this song, but the remix is even better.

Across the Atlantic, Northern Irish indie popsters Two Door Cinema Club released their Something Good Can Work back in 2009. It sort of became a spring anthem for me in 2010 as I moved to DC. The Twelves stay true to the original feel of the song in this reworked version.

Two Door Cinema Club - Something Good Can Work (Twelves Remix)

Fever Ray a.k.a. one-woman band Karin Dreijer Anderson released one of the most amazing albums of 2009. She is also one half of the Swedish electronic duo The Knife.  Karin's album "Fever Ray" has that mysterious feel to it. The combination of her unique and sometimes disturbing voice and the electronic sounds that accompany it transcends time and place. It is the work of a true musical genius.

One of my favorite tunes from the album is Seven. The Twelves do a good job in taking the hypnotizing, low key original, making it a more upbeat tune.

Fever Ray - Seven (Twelves Remix)

This next remix came as a bit of a surprise. The Twelves takes the 80s electro-tinged teen pop anthem by my Norwegian compatriots A-ha and turns it into something else - indeed a quite enjoyable tune. The lead singer of A-ha is still as bad taste today as when he was a teen idol back in the 80s. The other two band members have fortunately moved on - one becoming a decent rock artist and the other a pretty good painter, though A-ha have reunited numerous times over the years.

A-ha - Take On Me (Twelves Remix)

I really don't know much about these next guys - Undershower - but the Twelves rework of Killer Sexy Guy is ... well ... killer sexy.

Undershower - Killer Sexy Guy (Twelves Remix)

This last remix is really cool. New Young Pony Club is a five-piece rock band from England. The Twelves take a decent post-punk song and turn it into an electro rock bomb.

New Young Pony Club - Get Lucky (Twelves Remix)

ELEKTRIK SOUL