- Album
- Keep Up
- Label
- GOTTA MOVE
- Downloaded
- 14
- About:
- In 2007, it took only a few bars to get pulses racing: a sturdy bassline, I-Fan’s commanding vocal and a groove that propelled Funkerman far beyond the Dutch house scene. Almost two decades later, US-based Kurdish-Iraqi producer Sama brings “Speed Up” back to the dancefloor. Their collaborative rework, fittingly titled 'Keep Up', is released via Warner Music Central Europe today.
The original paired the slightly abrasive electro-house sound of its era with a warmth and funk lacking in many late-2000s club productions. “Speed Up” hit hard, yet I-Fan’s instantly memorable hook also gave it clear pop appeal. After being released internationally by numerous labels, the track was signed by British house institution Defected Records and named an “Essential New Tune” by Pete Tong. It became Funkerman’s international breakthrough in 2007 and remains a house classic whose bassline and hook have gathered remarkably little dust.
Sama does not treat that legacy like a museum piece. Her production sounds fresh, precise and crisp, continually shifting the track’s dynamics to keep it in motion. At one moment, she chops I-Fan’s original vocal into clipped fragments; at the next, grooves roll and rumble into the mix from behind. Then a rich, disco-inflected bassline pushes in from the front, driven by rapidly struck cowbells. “Keep Up” retains the original’s immediacy while replacing its electro-house edge with a more agile, globally minded club sound.
The lyrics are equally preoccupied with acceleration. The protagonist promises his counterpart a physical and emotional rush, challenges her to match his pace and eventually takes the flirtation behind closed bedroom doors. Desire becomes a playful race in which hesitation is not part of the plan. The song needs little more of a plot: its repeated lines form a confident, sexually charged hook that translates the music’s forward momentum directly into words.
With the rework, Sama stays true to her open-ended understanding of club music. Her formative experiences as a raver, her Middle Eastern roots and the years she spent living in Africa and Europe all feed into a sound that refuses to belong to one place alone. On “Keep Up”, that perspective meets a piece of house history – not as a nostalgic throwback, but with its eyes firmly fixed ahead.
- Duration
- 03:01:27
- Size
- 12.5 Mb.
- Listened
- 102
