beastie boys - an open letter to nyc (rub 'n tug remix) (mp3)

startship orchestra - new york new york (mp3)

new york city. nyc. the big apple. the city that never sleeps. the capital of the world.

america's largest city goes under many names, meaning many things to many people. on the streets of manhattan there's a constant buzz in the air and a perpetual feeling of electricity flowing throughout (apart from the one obvious instance). i always think that due to the pull of the city, there's only three options for the rest of us non-new yorkers - either you never visit, you only go there once and ain't too fussed (shame on you!), or you end up heading back as many times as you can afford through your lifetime. i'll place myself firmly in the latter camp, and can't wait to get back.

so much great art, literature, film and music has come direct from the five boroughs, and it has become surely the most influential city on the planet. the sheer mass of creative individuals leads to quality in these media forms, quality and kudos which is further boosted worldwide due to the direct connection to it's birthplace. if someone was to list all the tracks based on new york, it'd be one hell of a list (oh look, someone did!), so i thought i'd choose a few of my personal favourites, staying within the so-called boundaries of our broad musical remit.

first up is a meeting of two groups of new yoikers, with hipper-than-thou duo rub n tug remixing the beastie boys "open letter to nyc". well, some might say remixing, others would probably refer to it as "stealing the lions share of steve miller's epic disco-not-disco classic macho city and throwing an acapella over the top". call it what you will, it's still dancefloor dynamite and a hot slice of the big apple. second up is a bit of discslow (see what i did there?) from starship orchestra's little known "new york new york", released in 1980 and a bit of a best foot forward favourite.

two more tracks, and a little on my own new york experience coming soon ...