Dua Lipa & The Blessed Madonna

Club Future Nostalgia

Warner Music

CD/Vinyl/DL

Available Friday 28th June

WITH THE HELP OF THE BLESSED MADONNA, DUA LIPA TAKES US FROM THE DISCO TO THE CLUB!

Whilst 2020 has undeniably been a terrible year for most of us it certainly seems to be Dua Lipa’s year! Having released her second album the chart topping ‘Future Nostalgia’ in March she is now following this with a remix album ‘Club Future Nostalgia’ less than six months later.

Future Nostalgia is a retro inspired disco pop album which was inspired by artists such as Kylie, Madonna, Gwen Stefani, Jamiroquai, Blondie and Olivia Newton John amongst others.

I am of an age where I fondly remember the great remix albums of the late 80’s and early 90’s by the likes of Chaka Khan, Janet Jackson, Madonna, Blondie and Diana Ross and as a huge fan of the ‘Future Nostalgia’ album I was very excited to learn of this project. Having now heard Club Future Nostalgia, I can honestly say it does not disappoint…

Club Future Nostalgia takes the original albums 11 tracks (some of which feature more than once) which have been remixed by a host of top remixers and producers such as Horse Meat Disco, Mark Ronson, Masters at Work and Mr Fingers and featuring collaborations and contributions from Madonna, BLACKPINK, Gwen Stefani, Missy Elliot, Jamiroquai and Neneh Cherry and more and adds 3 new tracks all skillfully and seamlessly mixed by The Blessed Madonna.

The album opens with an introduction from Dua Lipa welcoming us to Club Future Nostalgia before the fun starts. The remixed songs are all very different from the original album versions with retro sounds, scratches, beats, samples and guest vocals galore. The nonstop mix from The Blessed Madonna pulls the 17 different sounding tracks together and the album becomes a triumphant DJ set you that would hear in a club.

For me the highlights of this album are Boys Will Be Boys (Zach Witness Remix), Love Again (Horse Meat Disco Remix), the anthemic and euphoric new track Love Is Religion, Break My Heart/Cosmic Girl, Dua Lipa and Jamiroquai (Dimitri from Paris Edit) as well as the albums lead single Levitating featuring Madonna and Missy Elliott (The Blessed Madonna Remix).

Following the success of Future Nostalgia – which is in my opinion one of the albums of the year – this remix project is the perfect way to follow and compliment this. With each listen to Club Future Nostalgia you hear something new and different and whilst it is familiar and retro sounding it is also incredibly fresh and of the time and it has certainly had me up and dancing

Whilst clubs remain closed due to the global pandemic this album means you can create your own club in your lounge, kitchen, bedroom or wherever! To quote Dua herself “You are locked into Club Future Nostalgia” and I for one am happy for the key to be lost.

This summer Dua Lipa should have been celebrating the success of her hit-packed, UK Number One album ‘Future Nostalgia’ on the road. Arena dates across Europe were locked in, with the final victory lap being a handful of festival shows, including a trip down to Worthy Farm for Glastonbury. But we all know what happened next.

With this summer’s music calendar halted, how do you fill your time after releasing your critically acclaimed (five whole stars from NME) second album? Inspired by a fan’s Zoom dance parties soundtracked by the record, Lipa opted, she’s said, to “take the party up a notch” and secretly work on this remix project. She enlisted the help of American house and techno DJ The Blessed Madonna, and together they set about reimagining each song from the record (and a few extra) for the club.

‘Club Future Nostalgia’ is less of a remix album, and more of a lovingly crafted mixtape. In among reworking of songs from ‘Future Nostalgia’ are snippets and samples from pop classics (including Neneh Cherry’s ‘Buffalo Stance’ and Gwen Stefani’s ‘Hollaback Girl) and house and soul records.

The remixers and collaborators are genre-spanning and varied. On the one hand you have a glittering roll call of mega-stars that includes Madonna, Gwen Stefani, Missy Elliott and Mark Ronson; and on the other there’s exciting new talent in form of Yaeji and Jayda G. And they all rub shoulders with cult legends such as Detroit House hero Moodymann and Hot Chip‘s Joe Goddard.

‘Club Future Nostalgia’ is a pick-and-mix bag that flits between modern pop, ’80s soul and floor-filling house. There are moments of total euphoria – the jubilant opener from Joe Goddard, who adds his own twist onto title track with Hot Chip-style synths and Daft Punk-inspired whirrs, is the sound of a secret Glastonbury DJ set at 3am. Horse Meat Disco’s take on ‘Love Again’ is equally exhilarating, filled with strutting beats and funk-laced instrumentals. There are moments of icy coolness alongside this, too, as when Yaeji reimagines ‘Don’t Start Now’, fusing the bombastic pop with stonking trap and house, turning it into the sound of pranging out at a rave in the early hours of the morning.

There are also outings for several unreleased songs. ‘That Kind Of Woman’, which oozes early noughties disco à la Kylie, gets the remix treatment by Jacques Lu Cont (the moniker of English artist and DJ Stuart Price); and The Blessed Madonna’s version of ‘Love Is Religion’ is a pop-house belter with a singalong chorus.

High profile team-ups add some star power into the mix, but sometimes feel shoe-horned in for this purpose. While the recent The Blessed Madonna remix of ‘Levitating’, which features Madonna and Missy Elliott, is a fist-pumping call to the dance-floor, Mark Ronson’s squelching version of ‘Physical’, which includes guest vocals from Gwen Stefani, is lacklustre.

Largely, though, it’s an exciting and eclectic adaptation. It was a savvy decision to recruit The Blessed Madonna: the result is a collection exciting, genre-splicing remixes that you could genuinely imagine hearing in the club. It may not have been the album celebration Lipa was planning, but ‘Club Future Nostalgia’ feels like a party all the same.

Details

Release date: August 28

Record label: Warner

Out Friday 28th August, Club Future Nostalgia is a stellar collection of brand-new remixes and features from an incredible roll call of superstars, underground heroes and some of the world’s finest dance music talent.

Featuring remixers handpicked by The Blessed Madonna, the mixtape also includes classic house and pop samples woven into the mix. Marea Stamper aka The Blessed Madonna is a Kentucky-born, Chicago-adopted and now London-based DJ and producer who has become one of the most celebrated names in global club culture.

The album is an eclectic and euphoric mix of the past and present, a celebration of musical worlds coming together, with 90’s house blending seamlessly with 2020’s finest pop and remixers, a splash of 80’s soul and a few noughties musical gems added to the blend

Club Future Nostalgia features musical collaborations with Gwen Stefani, Madonna, Missy Elliott and BLACKPINK as well as remixes by the legendary Masters At Work, Godfather of house Larry Heard – aka Mr Fingers, Japanese superstar Gen Hoshino, multitalented artist/producer Mark Ronson, noughties remix king Jacques Lu Cont, Erykah Badu producer / collaborator Zach Witness, UK DJ/producer Midland, Horse Meat Disco – the touchstone for all things disco, Hot Chip and 2Bear’s Joe Goddard, queen of the underground Jayda G, DJ/remixer supreme Paul Woolford, Korean-American electronic star Yaeji and Detroit House Legend Moodymann.

The Blessed Madonna has used samples to thread together these remixes, mixing classic pop samples from the likes of Neneh Cherry, Gwen Stefani and Jamiroquai, plus phrases from iconic house, soul and disco records, by artists such as Robert Owens, The Art Of Noise, Cajmere, Gaz, Lyn Collins and Larry Heard.

“The last few months have been surreal. I’ve watched you all dance in your homes and on your Zoom parties to Future Nostalgia like you were in the club with me. It brought so much joy to my days spent at home, even though I would’ve much rather been playing these songs live for you all on the road,” Lipa said of the album.

“During this time, I decided to take the party up a notch with the incomparable The Blessed Madonna, who secretly helped me to craft the mixtape that would become “Club Future Nostalgia”. We invited some friends and legends to join in on the fun with us”.

Club Future Nostaglia is out on Friday 28th August.

Source: Media release

Out in Perth