New Purchases: Lesley Roy, Solange Knowles, Robyn, The Sounds & Andreas Johnson

I am clearly not very financially responsible. I recently bought a shitload of new music, despite there being smarter things for me to spend my money on right now. Oh well. Splurge a little. I've been buying more and more dance music lately. Rare CD promos as well as digital tracks. My two new favorite sources for dance remixes are Masterbeat and Discogs. Masterbeat is an iTunes-like site with a cool, sleek interface and tons of selection. They have frequent "exclusives" and while they are a bit pricier, I prefer to get my tunes legally whenever possible.

Discogs is a Wikipedia-like site where people upload their own music collections, filling out a detailed form with information about the music including writing credits, producing credits, even who was playing what instruments in the band. I've often used Discogs as a resource for hard to find dance remixes and album art but recently I've started taking advantage of the sites other services. Once you log in, you can create a "Want List" of tracks you find on site that you want. When other users decide that they want to sell these tracks out of their collection, you get an email letting you know that something is available from your "Want List." There is a ton of dance music on the site and I've recently purchased a few CDs and promos.

Let's review my recent purchases.

Lesley Roy - Unbeautiful (Remixes): Lesley Roy has been an artist on my radar for the past year or so. Originally from Ireland, she is signed to Religion Records and licensed by Jive in the U.S. Her album Unbeautiful was released last year and her first charting single "I'm Going, I'm Gone" served as the theme for MTV show Exiled. Her current single, "Unbeautiful" charted last year but recently has seen a resurgence in popularity. I first heard that Jason Nevins was on the remix but was pleasantly surprised to find new mixes by Mike Rizzo and Matt Pendergast as well. You can pick them up on Masterbeat. **(I recommend the Mike Rizzo or Jason Nevins remixes personally)

Solange - T.O.N.Y. (Remixes): Solange Knowles' new single appears to be "T.O.N.Y" off her brilliant second album Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams. First single, "I Decided" and follow up "Sandcastle Disco" both received an impressive slew of dance remixes and "T.O.N.Y" is following suit with remixes by Zoned Out, Lost Daze, Mark Picchiotti and Dan McKie. This was definitely one of my favorite tracks on Solange's album so I'm pleased that it's getting the remix treatment. Here's hoping for another Billboard Club/Dance #1! Get your copy on Masterbeat! **(I recommend the Mark Picchiotti or Lost Daze remixes)

Robyn - Keep This Fire Burning (Remixes): Off of her 2002 Swedish album, Don't Stop The Music (which I picked up when I was in Stockholm a few years back), "Keep This Fire Burning" is a track that went on to be covered by British R&B/Soul singer Beverley Knight in 2004 and more recently last year by British dance act, The Outsiders featuring vocals by Amanda Wilson. Robyn's version has always been my favorite and when the Maxi Single became available on Discogs, I snatched it up immediately! Remixes are by Cherno Jah, Martin Lanquist, Twin, DJ Benji and Sebastian Ingrosso. I'm so happy Robyn was at least nominated for a Grammy this past year and look forward to hearing what else she has in the cards. Also...if you get the chance to see her live...do it! She's fantastic!

The Sounds - Painted By Numbers (Remixes): Further proof that Sweden puts out some of the best music out there today! The Sounds are a New Wave band lead by lead singer Maja Ivarsson and backed up by Felix Rodriguez on guitar, Johan Bengtsson on bass, Jesper Anderberg on keyboards/piano/guitar and Fredrik Nilsson on drums. "Painted By Numbers" was a single off the group's 2006 album Dying To Say This To You. Remixes are by Soul Seekerz and Hassassins and I found the UK Promo CDR on Discogs.

Andreas Johnson - Glorious (Remixes): Andreas Johnson is another Swedish artist whom I have heard of before but never paid much attention to. While perusing Discogs the other day, I stumbled upon his 1999 single, "Glorious" which I had heard before. The single, off his album Liebling peaked at 4 on the UK single charts and was released in the US with quite an impressive list of remixes in 2001. With mixes by Hani, Hybrid, and Angelica Villella I couldn't NOT get it! The boy is quite cute, which didn't hurt. You can find some of his music on the US iTunes store.