As the name suggests, the 'Quick'n'Dirty Edits' will be roughly hewn, fast assembled reworks of mainly popular hits. The general idea is that I'll single out some core elements that are hidden in there somewhere, and do a spontaneous rework in a couple of hours or so- no polish or hefty revisioning. So these pieces may be rambling, uneven, ramshackle even, I don't care. It's what they're meant to be. And of course, I nevertheless expect you to give 'em a listen and hopefully enjoy them for what they are :)

First up, a cheesy classic by the much reviled Stock, Aitken & Waterman. While they deserve some time in afterlife Limbo for exposing the world to Rick Astley and Jason Donovan, they tend to catch too much shit nowadays. 'Roadblock' alone makes 'em okay in my book, and to be honest I think the Mel & Kim breakout hits are succesful attempts at making early underground house digestable for the charts crowd. 
Case in point: 'Respectable'. Ignore the awkward 'tuned vocal triggers' and pompous horn stabs, and you'll find an irresistible vocal hook, throbbing bass line and classic house piano. All of which features prominently in this remix, which was culled together from no less than 3 different versions of the song. Enjoy & like always: I really like to hear what people think (although I seldom get to hear it).

Quick'n'Dirty Edits 01-Mel & Kim-Respectable

Another one that's supposed to be quick'n'dirty! Although it wasn't really, this time... spent a lot of time getting the delay fx just right. But the basic edit was in place pretty fast, so it's a pass. Hell, who's gonna check anyways. You know what: I whipped this up in about 20 minutes, right :)

Everybody knows this from pop radio for ages, and it's gotten familiar the way only these played-to-death classics can. To the point where you barely register the song anymore, just the fact you recognize it. So much to my surprise, only recently I heard it on the radio and discovered this weird break towards the end where it briefly turns dubreggae as hell, headspin delays on the vocals & all. 
The moment's over all too soon, of course, giving way to more reggaelite pap. So I've built  a moody housetrack around that dub break, and applied lotsa delayed vocal snips. Since the loop is killer, there wasn't too much to add, really... I programmed the drumsynth, all the rest you hear is tweaked loops & samples from the original.

Hope you'll enjoy it.... tell me if you do and don't hesitate to spread whatever way you can.

Quick'n'Dirty Edits 02-Culture Club-Do You Really Want To Hurt Me

Some great new stuff is underway, in the meantime... I'm cleaning out the closet since it's been a while I've posted anything fresh.

And whatd'youknow: this one's actually pretty sweet, and a nice coda to last Culture Dub... a reggae version of the classic 'Be Thankful For What You Got', even more dubbed out for maximum headspace. One for the hot summer days y'all, enjoy.

One Blood - Be Thankful for What You Got (Chef's Gratitude Edit)

Last year we saw the sad passing of many a talented and influential musician. One of the most striking for me was definitely Ari Up, the seminal punk rudegirl, and Riot grrrl avant la lettre. Her music with the all-female (later mostly female) Slits was among the most joyous and uplifting early punk you can hear, and her later dub-influenced work with the New Age Steppers was what got me into the whole On-U Sound catalogue. If you haven't heard it, I cannot recommend it enough.

I very much liked this cover track on the B-side of the Slits debut single, and wondered why there hasn't been a dubbed up version released along the line somewhere- that driving bass groove just screams dancefloor tear-up from the get-go! So here's one, a slight re-edit with a heavy emphasis on the B-line, a dollop of dub effects added and some reshuffling. But nothing too fancy, just glad to share this somewhat forgotten gem with y'all!

Enjoy and as always: if you like, SPREAD! You've got the FB and Twitter button, it's not hard to do. Thanks!

Slits - Heard it through the grapevine (Chef's HearbySay Edit)

I learned about this track through Crispin J Glover's Facebook page (if you don't know him, well you should... great producer of many legendary house tracks- check his Discogs page) & immediately fell in love with it.
http://youtu.be/DRCgueckAXE
The original is a cute & charming foray into disco for Macca, but what immediately attracted me about this was the propelling bassline that drops in & out, and the weird breaks that take it into dub and eventually flamenco (yes.) 
I planned on doing a regular edit, extending the dancey bits a little and keeping the structure but that never works out for me. So in the end, all that was left is the bassline, some snips of the vocals and all the breaks sprinkled in between. Hope you'll dig it!

As always: if you favorite or download, drop me a line or post a comment. It's so much nicer when yr audience becomes more than a statistic in the right hand corner :)

Stay tuned!

Paul McCartney- Goodnight Tonight (Nightly Edit by Le Chef Tournel)

This was the first mashup I tried, and I seriously have no recollection anymore of how it came about. I think I was just discovering the wonderful solo records that the CS&N team put out after the classics they are best known for. Crosby's "If I Could Only Remember My Name" is an epic record, as is Stephen Stills' "Manassas"... I urge you all to seek them out.

And of course, d'Angelo's "Voodoo" is in my top ten of all time. Such a powerful collection of ideas, boldly executed... and it is his startling comeback that made me remember this track and the mashup project, so there's some nice karma for ya. 

In the mashup, Crosby provides the djangling guitar chords while d'Angelo has a chugging drum and bass track rolling beneath. Both take turns in some virtuoso close harmony, and the vocal styles match eachother beautifully.

Tell me what you think!

David Crosby vs d'Angelo - Children One Mo'gin

Another pairing of old time fave and newfound love. It took me a -very- long time to tune in to Wilco, although I had lots of friends who worshipped at their altar. In fact it was only when I saw them live a few years ago, that I realized this band was something else, and then some. After that I started paying attention to the arrangements, the clever twists in simple songs, and Tweedy's lyrics. He's definitely one of the finest songsmiths of our times, and simply has one of the best livebands touring behind him. They are simply spectacular.

And what can I say about the Beasties, other than they completely defined the way I look at, listen to, and make music? Of course "Paul's Boutique" was is & will always be the defining work for me, one of the most important records of the 20th century. But "Check Your Head" actually had the same effect, in a different way. In a way it is the purest hiphop album that ever existed- because hiphop is not a style, it is an attitude. The attitude to claim whatever you think is hiphop, to be hiphop. Once again the Beasties taught me there are no rules, there is no genre. There's only fun to be had with so many different sounds and flavours, and in a world filled with regulations and restrictions, music should be the place where we are free of all that, in order to become a bit more free in our mind. 

So take that with you, as you listen to this second unusual pairing. Tell me if you approve, and if not: why is that- is it in the principle, or in the execution?

Wilco vs Beastie Boys - Something's Got My Face

Get ready to yell "sacrilege".

These guys would probably lose all the hairs in their beards (except for Beard of course, who would lose his moustache) listening to this rework of their seminal track, but as they say all across the United States and outside: "fuck it."

How the intro beat didn't end up as a much-sampled break is beyond me, but I exploited the shit out of it here. Then there's the shoegaze treatment of the classic guitar line, some vocal snippets... and a bassline that somehow was inspired by the old dubhouse track "The Dollar" by Artery (http://youtu.be/uhhaUXKizro).

I've been sitting on this one for such a long time since it is... weird. Nothing that's there should work, and some will argue that indeed, it doesn't. But I've grown man enough to stand behind this piece of work, and maybe what you need in your life is some weirdness anyway.

Whatever may be the case: enjoy!

ZZ Top - Gimme All Your Lovin' (Chef's Hugs'n'Kisses mix)

You might not really understand what's going on in this one. Chances are that's because you don't speak Dutch. Even if you do, you might be from The Netherlands and in that case you still won't know what all the fuss is about- so allow me to explain.

Our latest minister of Culture has come up with a plan to turn our part of the country (Flanders) into a perpetual real-life rendition of Footloose. From next year on there will be a sound limit in place for concerts, and without going in too much detail: it will become illegal to play any louder than 100dB. Which may be fine if acoustic singer-songwriter is your only genre of choice. But if you have a taste for heavy bass and noise (like I do), you're shit out of luck. Artists that play inherently loud music will just have to find another hobby ('cause no one actually does this for a living, right?). All this at a time when in my home city of Antwerp I see music clubs being shut down one after the other, usually based on just one neighbour complaint. So if anything we need *less* restrictive laws, not more, if you ask me. But that's why i'm not in politics I guess...

I'm not even going into the question of scare tactics as a government policy (because officially this is all about preserving the sense of hearing of our youth). Fact of the matter is: people are pissed, and thankfully their rage is fueling some counteraction- which is always the fun part of rock'n'roll.
So this track is a remix (or more accurately: "version") of a protest song that was recorded by local rapper Halve Neuro and national punk institutuion Belgian Associality. Both sing in Flemish and will probably be laughing at me for writing all this shit in English. They spread the acapella of the track on Facebook, and encouraged everyone to download it and remix the hell out of it.

For my version, I went looking for the heaviest loudest bass-est rock track I could find in my Winamp. This turned out to be 'Return Trip' by Electric Wizard (http://youtu.be/fXpFV9sW2bI)... but that one proved to be so incredibly heavy and low-end it was actually impossible to mix *anything* over it (I still recommend finding it- it's massive).
So I had to go for the second most heavy track I found: 'A History Of Bad Men' by The Melvins. Great track by a great band as well, and works surprisingly well with the vocal. 

So if you're Flemish: verspreiden maar, en enkel luid spelen!
If you're anything else: put it in your exotica section & then you can play it to impress your hipster friends.

Halve Neuro & BelgAss vs The Melvins - 100dB Is History (version by Le Chef Tournel)

Pretty radical edit of an obscure disco track by Beautiful Bend.
Download at will, but please comment when you like this track, and message me when you use it in a mix!


Beautiful Bend-Ah-Do It (Chef's Redo-It)

A seriously MURKed-up version of the deep garage classic on 4th Floor. Maximum Thump Bass in here.

As always: download & share at will, but leave feedback when you dig it, and send me a message when you use it in a mix or share it online. We live for bigups :)

Arnold Jarvis-Take Some Time Out (Chef's Timed Out edit)

UPDATE: FIND A FREE DOWNLOAD OF THIS TRACK RIGHT HERE: https://cheftournel.bandcamp.com/album/chef-at-wok-dirty-edits-part-one

A Tribe Called Quest has been one of my longtime favourite hiphop crews, and this track always stood out for me because of the hazy atmosphere- they got the jazz indeed.

I tracked down the sampled original (it's Sonny Lester's version of  'Green Dolphin Street'), recreated the sampled bits & turned it into a slow burner in the style we know and love from Theo Parrish.
Sprinkled bits on top: some scratches, chorus & vocal snippets from the Tribe.

Enjoy this, and as always: favourite, download & comment if you like it. I really enjoy any feedback, it's how we grow as artists.

In other news: my first downmix of a decks'n'fx workout online now, go check it out: http://www.mixcloud.com/Le_Chef_Tournel/dancers-at-the-end-of-time-mix-by-le-chef-tournel-10-10-09/
45 tracks in 50 minutes! Deephouse to garage to dubstep to hiphop to funk- a crazy blend for y'all... DL link available at request.

ATCQ-We Got The Jazz (Chef's Parrish Tribe-ute)

Hiphop beat for upcoming D0PES1CK project
Sampled from Will Tura's 'Arme Joe'

Joey Arms

Le Chef Tournel has been deejaying funk, hiphop & then on to house, techno for about 15 years now. Released a couple of tracks on Aroma & WGW (Blasta LaVista and Sunny Meadows), then disappeared in a haze of bands and projects playing anything from chiptune to funk, bluesrock and even bluegrass country.

Now back on the producer's tip, I've released a first digital EP under the moniker SUNNY LAVISTA which you can download for free here: http://sunnylavista.bandcamp.com/
There will be 3 more of these in 2013, and we're also planning a limited edition release which wil feature new music as well as original artwork by my very talented co-worker STEEBZ (http://www.steebz.be/). 

DECKS'n'FX MIXES ARE ON MIXCLOUD, TAKE A LISTEN:

DANCERS AT THE END OF TIME - Soul Edge, Lee Curtis, Gonjasufi, Gene Farris, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Banana Republic... and many more
http://www.mixcloud.com/Le_Chef_Tournel/dancers-at-the-end-of-time-mix-by-le-chef-tournel-10-10-09/
TO YOUR SCATTERED BODIES GO - Sound Stream, Doc Daneeka, Beat Pharmacy, Antislash, Janelle Monae, Benno Blome, Rolling Stones... loads of others 
http://www.mixcloud.com/Le_Chef_Tournel/to-your-scattered-bodies-go-by-le-chef-tournel/

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