Something happened recently while I was out riding my road bike in the heat and humidity of early July (in Westchester County, NY) that hasn't happened to me in quite some time. I was three-quarters of the way through my 4-1/2 hour ride with some friends when I began to hum, of all things, a Dance song. The reason this is largely unusual for me is that since I'm fiercely against listening to an MP3 player while cycling (too dangerous), I'll usually quietly sing or hum a rock song for motivational inspiration—something, say, from the various archives of either the Foo Fighters, or Taking Back Sunday, Led Zep, Pearl Jam, U2, Smashing Pumpkins, etc. In this case, it was Jussi Polet's excellently infectious new single, "Positive."
Jussi Polet (real name, no moniker), of Oulu, Finland, first arrived on the scene in 2004, remixing the Scott Bond Vs. SolarStone Trance song, "Naked Angel." He subsequently began to cut his proverbial teeth remixing other Trance artists—remember the old adage, 'It's not (only) who you know, it's what you know'—remixing the likes of Belmondo, Recluse, Fire & Ice's "Para Siempre," and working with fellow remixer and this single's label A&R producer, Heikki Liimatainen, the man behind the Supermodels From Paris remix. I think he's definitely one Finn to keep your eyes and ears peeled for this guy.
On the first track, the Radio Edit (3.25), your aural appetite is instantly whetted as the song immediately fades up, and you're off and running, bearing witness to an exceptionally catchy, progressive song with a fantastic bassline, a piano riff to match, some colorful blips and bleeps, and liberating vocals to round out the package, courtesy of the featured vocalist, the sweet-voiced Josie Dale.
The main lyrics of the song, "There ain't a problem that we can't solve, there ain't no dream we can't achieve, we'll face our problems, we gotta be rough…" is what I began to half sing-half hum as I was riding in the crazy hot NY heat. This song is not only in some ways cathartic, but the way Miss Dale passionately sings this newfound song, it doesn't matter whether you're partying in a club setting or at home, you'll understand why you too will also be humming this tune long after the night or day is over.
The second track, the full-length Original Mix (8.39) is idyllic and one of two mixes that you should definitely add to your playlist. It's the unabridged version and everything the Radio Edit wasn't able to fulfill in those seemingly short three and a half minutes.
Representing the Electro-House scene as heard on the third track, and remixed by Supermodels From Paris (6.11), is the other track that should be added to your playlist. With a fantastic Electro vibe and bassline to compliment the same rich vocals as the Radio and Original Mixes, it's not until the middle of the track that I really appreciated the way the momentum of the song had been creatively built up and then sustained, quite literally, a positive mood throughout—and why not! This is certainly one of the most infectious grooves that will no doubt be the backdrop of a plethora of 2007's dancefloors and will hopefully spawn more remixes to come not just out of this particular track but from Mr. Polet and Supermodels From Paris' burgeoning careers.
You also might want to check out Jussi's 'Big City EP,' a Trance project that, while I only heard minute-long snippets courtesy of BeatPort.com, they were really quite good and very hypnotic!
