You have to believe

For the most part, this summer has been kind of a let down for me as far as new music goes. Oh, sure there are a few songs that have just been released that have kind of redeemed the summer. Up until "Celebration", there was no "song of the summer" like there was the year that "Two Times Blue" dominated my listening habits all summer. As far as 2009 goes, I grew pretty fond of Cascada's "Evacuate the Dancefloor" (it definitely fell into the "if loving this is wrong, I don't wanna be right" camp), but it had a pretty limited shelf life as I anticipated it would. And now if you combine "Celebration" with new Bananarama and new Whitney Houston, things are turning around a little bit.

Apparently, the unifying theme of what I'm liking this summer is "everything old is new again." That makes me feel kind of old honestly, as if the next words out of my mouth are going to be "I don't know what it is with kids these days." Seriously, I am not that cranky. The problem with the new music this summer is that it has been almost what I want. And much like someone almost hitting the right notes, that has made it just that much more grating.

So continuing in the previously mentioned theme, this song arrived on my radar the other day. I haven't the foggiest notion who DJ Agent 86 is, but man, do I recognize those vocals. It is ONJ's "Magic" and it was one of the defining songs of my childhood. Only now, it is all grown up and ready for the dancefloor. Olivia's vocals don't start until about 1:40, so be patient.



At first I found it to be a bit cheaply done, but the more I listen to it, the more the production really fits. It's kind of a dub, but not really. It uses just enough of the vocal to be recognizable, but not so much that it ends up being the original song put over a generic backbeat.

It really got me to thinking that someone - anyone, really - needs to go through Olivia's back catalog and spice up a lot of her songs in this fashion. Lord knows I'd plunk down my hard earned cash for them.

(photo via)