Party Favorz

Party Favorz is back and swinging for the fences as we get back to our normal programming schedule the Back 2 School Edition featuring fall's biggest dance club songs. There's a lot to unpack here so let's get started.

We kicked off the set with Beyonce's Break My Soul, which was a little slow out of the gate before people started getting on board. The songwriting credits included the writers for the 90s Robin S classic Show Me Love but to me – there were zero similarities to either song. Both use the standard House music loop featured in most songs back in the day but with little resemblance to that earworm hook courtesy of the StoneBridge remix, which is what made the original a massive hit. Finally, DJ Mike D had the good sense to remix the song with that familiar riff and it works in spades. Still, the best remix of the track that flips and turns it into a big room crowd pleaser is from our good friends from Houston, Dirty Disco.

In fact, Dirty Disco appears to be the go-to for remixing the biggest songs hitting the charts these days, and for good reason. While they don't have a specific signature (which is one of their finest qualities) — they seem to approach each remix with a different mindset and give it what it needs to turn it into a massive dance floor scorcher. You will hear plenty of examples in this set but the one that really takes the prize is their remix of Calvin Harris' Stay With Me featuring Justin Timberlake, Halsey, and Timberlake. We all know superstar DJ/producer Calvin Harris has a lot of friends in high places but even they couldn't save this song. Enter Dirty Disco from stage left. They massively restructured the original and turned it on its head, which further showcased what the song could be. The remix is so massive and catchy that it got a feature spot in this set when it otherwise wouldn't have.

Another DJ people and labels should be keeping an eye on is DJ Ranny. He's been around a while but has proven himself to be more than just a big-room tribal circuit DJ. His WAP remix by Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B was a masterpiece several years ago. Party Favorz is proud to include his original Rave Bunny, which samples the Alice Deejay classic Better Off Alone and delivers an all-new smoking hot Future House song that should be on every DJ's setlist and on your Spotify playlist.

https://youtu.be/ok7xXlw8yQc

Back 2 School has not only the latest and biggest songs of the season but several earworms of the summer that have gotten new remixes that we here at Party Favorz can't get enough of. Also, there is a multitude of throwbacks included and I'll let y'all spot them as they come up because many aren't labeled as such.

One such song comes from the leftfield and was totally unexpected. One of our favorite Divas Miss Leann Rimes has dropped a cover of the Alanis Morissette classic Univited on YouTube. It's an acoustic cover with the accompaniement of piano only. Because the snobs in the music press wouldn't dare cover a country artist — even if they have had a strong presence in the club world for decades — Miss Rimes has teamed up with Dave Aude for a remix of this song, which is featured here and it's OMFG unbelievable. Anyone familiar with the original or is a fan of Alanis will get chills just listening to Leann ...

We have come to the end of Madonna's birthday month celebration and this last offering is a doozy! So much so, that I had thrown everything including the kitchen sink into this set and decided it was a bit much. Never mind that the set still clocks in at over 5 hours.

The biggest issue was there weren't many great bootlegs for Give Me All Your Luvin' and the one I was using hemmed really close to the Sultan & Shepard mix, which was high octane. In order to make that work, I had to add in the fabulous DJ Barry Harris remixes of Vogue and Deeper and Deeper, which are equally high-octane. They also provided me the ability to mix in the Dirty Disco remix of La Isla Bonita, which had a very tribal element to it that didn't work elsewhere. Everything worked but it all felt out of place in the overall set. I took everything out and moved a couple of tracks around, added the Wayne G remix of Celebration, which allowed me to re-add La Isla Bonita, and presto...MAGIC! For me, it's all about flow and making everything work together in cohesion even when you're changing gears within the mix.

I spent well over 2 weeks pouring through hundreds of bootlegs where 90% are less than stellar with the remaining 10% being good to fantastic. I have no issue with songs that only modernize the original but really like it when someone takes the song and flips it to something entirely different while still retaining the core essence of the original. A good example of this is the Parralox remix of Borderline. The remix still keeps it in the 80s era but moves it away from the pop sound of the original into a New Wave vibe that just works. Another is the Luxar remix of Justify My Love, which takes the dark sleazy Trip Hop version and turns it into something closer to what Nine Inch Nails would have done with the song dropping it into the middle of an S&M club. The grinding synth just gives it that extra sleaze the original is missing. There are many other examples included here.

I realize favoriting versions over others is subjective so it's entirely possible I may have missed your favorite version of a track. But, there is so much stuff y'all are already familiar with from past releases and a bevy of brand new remixes that recently came out and took over past favorites — I think everyone will be pleasantly surprised at just how good the final product came out.

I also want to mention that there are some notable mashups like the DJ Bill Bennett Erotica vs. Cafe Del Mar, which still holds up to this day. Though, I slowed the track down to 122 BPM from 126 BPM, which made more sense. Perhaps the first mashup, which is the most notorious of them all was the White Label Stardust vs. Madonna on Music Sounds Better On Holiday (other titles were listed as Holiday Sounds Better With You), which was released in 1998. At the time, there were several mashups with the French House classic including by Lisa Stansfield and Bette Midler but by far, the Madonna version was the most famous and likely the most famous mashup of all time. The quality was always shit from these vinyl rips and it's been added as a bonus track at the end of this set because the style and quality don't allow it to fit anywhere within this mix. I've dramatically cleaned it up and you can thank me later for that but even then, there's only so much you can do.

We've moved into the fourth phase of Madonna's career, which is still ongoing albeit in 4th gear as she works on deluxe anniversary editions of her past catalog from a recent deal with Warner Brothers (who already owned the majority of her catalog) but will bring over the rights to her last three albums MDNA, Rebel Heart and Madame X in 2025. As part of the deal, a movie autobiography is in the works with Madonna set to direct.

We all know that Madonna's heart is in touring and connecting with fans. I wouldn't be surprised if she's been quietly working on an album for the past several years while maintaining her familial duties as a mother but who knows? She's already missed the entire 70s and 80s dance/disco revival with popular music now moving into 90s House. Still, it would be a perfect time to revisit her old stomping ground by incorporating all these elements of dance she helped popularize throughout the decades sooner rather than later. Whatever she does, it will be in spectacular fashion.

Despite her reign as the Queen of Pop for much of the 80s and 90s — the hits from this period were harder to come by. Generally, this is an American thing, where radio programming is heavily skewed toward a younger audience and disregards aging pop stars. Her global hit Hung Up reached #1 in 41 countries but barely hit the Top 10 in the United States. This infectious earworm that sampled ABBA's Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight) hit all the right notes but resistance from radio in the states was due more to ageism than the song's popularity. Perhaps Madonna's biggest revenge with her continued racking up of #1 dance songs on Billboard's Dance Club chart.

Having grossed over $1.31 billion in touring — Madonna ranks as the #3 highest ranking act in revenue for touring just behind The Rolling Stones and U2. Of course, the Blonde Ambition Tour in 1990 is what kicked off one of the most ambitious productions in the history of tours and set the benchmark for future acts to achieve.

Everyone is aware that Madonna recently released Finally Enough Love commemorating her 50 #1 Dance songs on that chart.  The Ultimate Dance Collection is strictly made for fans longing for a continuous mix of her biggest hits so please support the release of her multi-disk set.  You can also stream it on Spotify.

Volume three of the Ultimate Dance Collection features remixes from the albums Confessions on a Dance Floor through Madame X  with multiple fan favorites that were never released as singles from these albums. Some of these favorites include songs like God Control, Devil Pray, Future Lovers, Forbidden Love, Heartbreak City, and Masterpiece amongst several others.

Party Favorz has spent the better part of two weeks pouring through hundreds of bootleg remixes. The final release in this series will be The Ultimate Bootleg Collection, which is shaping up to be one epic fan-made tour de force. Look for that to drop next Saturday. Until then...ENJOY!

Album: The Ultimate Dance Collection Vol. 3

Genre: Electro House, House, Future House, EDM, Progressive

Year: 2022

Total Time: 02:50:26

1. God Control (Offer Nissim Rosh Hashana Remix)

2. Ghosttown (Victor Dinaire & Bissen Remix)

3.

Madonna month continues with The Ultimate Dance Collection Volume 2 and this one is a whopper! We've got a lot of ground to cover, so let's get right to it.

First off, you may be scratching your head and wondering why "Like A Prayer," "Express Yourself," "Keep It Together," and "Vogue" re-appear in this second volume. Simply put, the versions (except for "Vogue") on Volume 1 were the straight-up 80s dance versions. Before jumping into "Vogue," Madonna allowed Shep Pettibone to remix two of the biggest hits from her "Like A Prayer" album in the burgeoning House Music sound that was coming on strong in the underground dance music scene. While Shep's remixes are prevalent throughout the 80s, he was best known for the specific style that reflects the decade. I don't think he became a household name until his remix of New Order's "Bizzare Love Triangle" was re-released on their "Substance" album. Moving towards the House sound was Shep's way of adapting to the changing landscape. The synergy between Madonna and himself was one of many long-lasting relationships she built with DJs to fuel her music to wider audiences. It would have been blasphemy had I not included his versions of those songs that launched Madonna's movement into greater experimentation in her work.

Not only did the 90s provide fertile ground for Madonna's creativity but opportunities for her to poke the eye of the Christian right. "The Immaculate Collection," a collection of her greatest 80s hits included her 1990 #1 "Vogue" and two new tracks "Justify My Love" (written by Lenny Kravitz) and "Rescue Me." The video for "Justify My Love" was so provocative and controversial at the time that MTV would only air it after midnight. It was also the first video VHS to sell over a million copies. Soon after, Madonna dug her heels into House Music, Trip Hop, and Electronica bringing William Orbit on board — a move that would be pivotal by mid-decade.

She simultaneously released "Erotica" along with an exquisite coffee table book titled "Sex," which went on to sell 1.5 million copies. The book contained soft pornographic imagery and sadomasochistic acts that ruffled a lot of feathers at the time of its release and had a massive social and cultural impact that's lasted to this day. She took a lot of heat from fans and critics alike and frankly didn't give a fuck. She would later address the criticism in "Human Nature" the fourth single released from "Bedtime Stories."

Controversies aside, the 90s (into the early Millennium) represented two phases of Madonna in which this set could have easily been split in half. For creative purposes, the decision was made to let it evolve from one end to the other. The Shep Pettibone era gave way to William Orbit who transcended Junior Vasquez and ultimately gave way to Victor Calderone and Peter Rauhofer (who would later go on to be important staples of Madonna's dancefloor rule).  This was no easy feat for me to tackle, which is one of the main reasons why I took so much time off before releasing these sets.

For the most part, I allowed these songs to flow as they were originally intended with a few exceptions. There's no doubt that Junior Vasquez was a brilliant DJ, producer, and remixer. However, not unlike some of his contemporaries at the time (David Morales, Tony Moran, and Frankie Knuckles) — he tended to go off into the wilderness in his drops or even his intros to the point that sometimes they felt disconnected from the source material. Consequently, "Bedtime Story" received a course correction and was edited down for clarity. "Secret" was as well but to a lesser extent where the drop was cut in half by overlapping two segments ...

Party Favorz is finally ready to start rolling out The Ultimate Dance Classics featuring the and only queen of the dancefloor...MADONNA! With only two sets complete so far, each one has presented its own set of challenges to create.

This first set features all of her 80s output plus a couple of spillovers from 1990. This first stage of Madonna's career is where she made not only her name but tip the scales for women to be outright megastars. Whether it was the nude photos of her that were taken prior to her massive success and published in Playboy — which she proudly exclaimed that she didn't care — the tumultuous marriage to actor Sean Penn and the constant swarming of paparazzi, which ultimately ended in divorce or the lucrative tour deal with Pepsi, which ultimately led them to pull out of the deal after the outrage that ensued over the video for "Like A Prayer" forfeiting millions of dollars — Madonna was adept at creating controversy or how to handle it when it wasn't her own doing.

Volume 1 of The Ultimate Dance Classics is the soundtrack for those years and features a dazzling display of dancefloor scorchers along with smart pop songs that ruled the charts throughout the decade.

The nice thing about mixing 80s music is that electronic music at the time was based on a simple snare drum that kept perfect timing. Disconet and later Hot Tracks and Ultimix, which serviced the DJ community with club-ready staples always featured this simple beat throughout the mix no matter what type of style of music it was backing. That in turn made it easy for DJs to mix in and out with no need to be concerned over what key a song was in. Aside from updating the original recordings to match more current edits by Select Mix (another DJ service) and DJ Freddy Greene (a.k.a. Digital Visions), my biggest concern was with the flow.

I'd put together a mix and then go back over and over and rearrange the chairs on the Titanic to ensure everything transitioned with purpose. Thus songs from the same album weren't necessarily grouped together — but were grouped by the overall feel of the two connecting songs that would lead to the next and the next one after that. When you listen to it — it sounds cohesive and purposeful.

This is my second stab at creating an 80s set for Madonna, and I'm positive I did it justice. In fact, I couldn't be more pleased with how all of this has come out (including the upcoming Volume 2) so far. These sets are far exceeding my wildest expectations.

For those of you living under a rock — Madonna is about to release "Finally Enough Love," which is a celebratory compilation of all 50 of her dance songs that went to #1 on the Billboard Dance Club chart. While these songs are edits (with some being very rare) — please support her work as fans have been clamoring for her to release this for a long time. You can also stream it along with all her hits on Spotify.

I'll be back next week with Volume 2. Until then...ENJOY!

Album: The Ultimate Dance Classics Vol. 1

Genre: Dance, Club

Year: 2022

Total Time: 01:50:00

1. Open Your Heart (Shep Pettibone Mix)

2. Express Yourself (Ultimix pt. 1)

3. Everybody (Digital Visions Re-Edit)

4. Where's The Party (Extended Remix)

5. Lucky Star (Select Mix Remix)

6. Angel (Digital Visions Re-Edit)

7.

Originally, the plan was to create a Block & Crown Legacy set that was to be released in November but time constraints got in the way and so the project was shelved. Coming up on the holiday weekend, I decided to pull out all the tracks I've amassed over the years of classic mashups and bootlegs by these (guys?) and create one giant throwdown party.

Not much is known about this duo or even if it's a collective of one (kinda like Party Favorz). Over the years, many of these songs have appeared on various Dance Club, Peak Hour, and Disco House releases while the majority have not. They have no explicit style but share an affinity for dance music in all its glorious forms. Many songs will be a familiar hook from a classic disco song or 80s dance track that's been mashed with an equally familiar Hip Hop song from the 90s. Oftentimes, they use the original vocalist while other times it's a different singer made to sound like the original. Either that or the vocals were altered possibly due to licensing rights. The titles of the tracks will mostly be unfamiliar to you until you listen to each song and you'll be like "damn! I know that/these song(s)."

While Block & Crown have owned this space for quite some time, other DJs have dabbled in it as well. People like Richard Grey, Softmal, Nari, Lissat, and others have also generated a bunch of these mashups. More recently, Ghostmasters, The Soul Gang, Ghostbusterz, and Disco Gurls have been picking up a lot of the slack. I could be wrong but I believe the people behind these aliases are Nacho Chapado & Ivan Gomez who have been distributing these remixed gems on their Guareber Recordings imprint. Their focus has been primarily on 80s dance though occasionally they stray from that decade.

I've pulled from many of the best to create this early summer dance classics throwback that can be enjoyed at BBQs, family outings, or poolside by every age group. This set includes songs from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, and even a couple of recent songs that meld into the overall vibe of this set. Some songs are just straight-up reworks reimagined for today's dancefloor much like our 'Thank God It's Disco' series but expanded into a wide range of decades.

A lot of songs were removed because of the difficulty of mixing them into a seamless set. This is generally because many of the endings of the songs weren't DJ-friendly and just cut off. So, there was a lot of great stuff that had to be dropped.

Nevertheless, I've had the 'Summer Throwback Dance Party' on repeat for the past week and it is one epic party throwdown to be shared and enjoyed by all. If you want to forget about inflation, high gas prices, high rents, or the great American experiment going down the drain — this is the one set that will allow you to escape, even if only for 5 hours. Yup, it's massive!

I've got all the songs compiled for the annual Beach House series and expect that to be released this next week. This particular Disco House series is taking a new direction, which I'll get into when it drops. Until then...ENJOY!

There's a skip in 'Ghostbusterz - For The Ladies (Original Mix)' which cannot be fixed and is embedded in the song. Think of it like an old school vinyl listening session.

Album: Summer Throwback Dance Party

Genre: Dance, Disco, House, Hip Hop

Year: 2022

Total Time: 04:57:54

1. Block & Crown - Summertime (2020 Clubmix)

WARNING: DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU'RE EASILY TRIGGERED. Just scroll down and click on 'download.'

As I discussed in my rant about the leaked opinion by the SCOTUS at the end of the Gay Anthems For A New Generation 2022 Volume 3 — everything I said has been set in motion.

Yesterday's opinion abolishing the right to abortion sets back 50 years of precedent. Not only does it relegate women to second-class status but gives states complete and total control over their uterus. In several states, these laws are already on the books or coming to a backasswards christofacist state near you shortly. There will be no exceptions for incest, rape, or the health of the mother. Women who have miscarriages, will be dragged down to the police station and interrogated. Unless you're wealthy or have connections — many of these women will be found guilty and given lengthy jail sentences for murder. Other women who have ectopic pregnancies, will be forced to carry the baby to term and not only deliver a dead baby but will kill the mother in the process.

Virtually nothing changed in the final opinion but there were several concurring opinions of varying degrees and three descents. One of the concurring opinions was by self-proclaimed originalist Justice Clarence Thomas a.k.a. Uncle Tom. Because the court struck Roe v. Wade down reasoning that the Constitution does not mention abortion and that there's no guaranteed right to privacy under the 14th amendment's due process claims — he specifically stated that the court needs to revisit past rules that codified the rights of contraception, same-sex marriage, and same-sex intimacy — all rights won under in various court rulings using the same argument that legalized abortion. Never mind that under the original text of the Constitution, Justice Thomas is considered only 3/5 human. Equally, he conveniently left out inter-racial marriage, which was also won using the same legal arguments for the above and which he currently maintains with his batshit crazy wife Ginni Thomas. Expect to hear her name a lot in the coming months for her part in trying to overthrow our government.

In a concurring opinion, Justice Thomas wrote that the court should "reconsider" rulings on contraception, same-sex relationships, and same-sex marriage. -Business Insider

So for everyone that thought this case doesn't affect them — you're in for a rude awakening.

During this same term, the court overturned a 100-year-old law in New York that had stringent requirements for open carry (of guns) in public spaces. All this after the mass shooting in Buffalo and Ulvade while for the first time since the 1990s — a bipartisan gun control bill passed the Senate with the support of 14 Republicans. Mind you, this bill does some good like placing extra scrutiny and background checks on anyone 18 - 21 purchasing a firearm and it closes the boyfriend loophole preventing abusive boyfriends from obtaining a gun. This is not a game-changer but it's a start.

Meanwhile, Congress had to pass additional funding to protect the six radical right-wing justices and their extended families because of their activism. So protection from guns for thee but not we.

During this same term, the court has further eroded the separation of church and state forcing taxpayers to pay for the religious indoctrination of children. You seriously cannot make this shit up. This court is unrestrained and relishes the fact that they get to impose the will of the Catholic church on secular society. I have a long history with the church, which I won't bore you with because it's personal and deeply painful.

Don't be fooled by inflation and high gas prices as being a Democrat issue.

I decided to surprise everyone by dropping volume 2 of the 2022 Catch-Up series a day early. Lately, the summer weather has been hotter than hell as we had a high of 102 degrees yesterday and a short-lived massive storm complete with hail that I got stuck in. Life is coming at everyone fast so I figured why put off what you can give the people today.

If you thought any songs were missing from yesterday's drop — they're likely included here. I threw in a few extras to round the final set out and the end result is an early summer party you don't want to miss.

Some of you may have been disappointed that I spent so much time sending up all the Gay Anthem series in lieu of new music but to be honest — something is off about new releases. They're just not there and most of what is there is fairly generic. It appears that either the DJ services I rely on are either about to go under or there's just not enough new content that's being delivered on a regular basis. It's hard to tell but when I dive into the world of YouTube, I'm not seeing a whole bunch that's wowing me at the moment. Putting this series together was one of the hardest things I had to do. Don't get me wrong, what's here is stellar and certainly, there was enough to fill two sets with a little help from last year's late entries and a few filler tracks. Still, I couldn't justify putting out redundant sets and passing them off as new material even if there were indeed new big releases from say Lizzo.

I've been working my ass off to deliver those Gay Anthem sets for you folks and in the process lost several subscribers (some of them longtime) while picking up 5x as many during the same period. I don't think those folks will stick around but if they do, welcome.

In short, I'm exhausted and need to recharge my batteries for at least a week. Don't plan on anything new this next weekend but I do have plans for a duel-release just in time for July 4th celebrations. In fact, I'll be trying something different. I'll definitely be dropping the next Peak Hour set and I have another party set that's not like anything ever done before on this site that I think everyone will enjoy. It's something I had originally planned for November but put off due to scheduling issues but I think now is the perfect time to go for it.

Still, July will bring our usual releases like our annual Beach House, Summer Sweat, and Summer Heat series that covers all our bases. I may shake up the Beach House series but to be honest, I haven't even started looking at those tracks yet so no decision has been made. Party Favorz is also anticipating the release of a new Beyonce hybrid dance and country album at the end of July and I fully expect it's going to be HUGE. I anticipate an early release that should make it onto the aforementioned series.

In the interim, I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend. I'll be back in a couple of weeks with a double-hitter. Until then...ENJOY!

Album: Catch-Up 2022 Vol. 2

Genre: Dance, Club, House, NuDisco

Year: 2022

Total Time: 03:00:04

1. Mabel, Jax Jones & Galantis - Good Luck (Extended Mix)

2. Gayle x Joel Corry - abcdefu x Lonely (Adam b Edit)

3. Oliver Heldens, Tchami & Anabel Englund - Low (Extended Mix)

4. Oliver Heldens, Nile Rodgers & House Gospel Choir - I Was Made For Lovin' You (Extended Mix)

5. Majestic feat. Nono - Time To Groove (Extended Mix)

6. Mark Knight & Darius Syrossian feat. Prospect Park - Get This Feeling (Extended Mix)

7. Lucas & Steve feat. Laura White - Set You Free (Extended Mix)

8. Kungs - Clap Your Hands (Robin Schulz Remix)

9. David Guetta, Felix Da Housecat & Kittin - Silver Screen (Shower Sce...

The original set was created in one take and has since been tightened up with smoother transitions. It's also been shortened by 1minute. If you're fine with the original raw remix, there's no need to download the new version.

As promised, Party Favorz has officially switched gears into summer mode with the release of our annual Catch-Up for 2022. This set features the biggest and I mean the BIGGEST Dance Club songs of the year right at the midpoint. As typical of past releases, songs released in the last quarter of the previous year are also included because they had so much staying power — they remained in heavy rotation on streaming and in the clubs well into 2022. To be honest, the club business still hasn't fully recovered to the point that it appears Billboard has officially done away with the chart, which started in the 1970s as the Disco Chart. Who's to say if it will ever be back but the one remaining chart they offer in dance music (Electronic Dance Music) isn't worth a grain of salt and frankly not even worth bothering with.

For now, all decisions for songs included in this series are based on YouTube and Spotify streams and we're confident we got it right.

The Catch-Up series also includes new releases that either will be or should be summer hits and are solely based on editorial decisions about what we think should be on your radar. While there are several of these songs included across these two volumes there are definitely some notable ones we think deserve your attention.

First among these is a song released in the late fall of 2021 that apparently never came to our attention. Anabel Englund's 'Midnight Rapture' is an earworm delight that samples the Blondie #1 classic 'Rapture' from 1981. It's in keeping with many artists diving into their parent's record collections and pulling out delights from the decade and re-working the songs with fresh lyrics and a whole new vibe while keeping the original intact. Englund even creates a spoken-word interlude, which is more appropriate today than Debbie Harry's wonderbread rap on the original. Still, if you're not familiar with the song it's a pure delight. You should add it to your Spotify or Apple Music playlist.

Sofi Tukker (a Party Favorz favorite) is back with a couple of earworms for your summer listening. 'Original Sin' follows their trademark sound complete with the 1960s bass riff Tucker Halpern injects to great effect into many of their biggest songs. The Crush Club remix takes into deeper house terriorty but injects a euphoric and uplifting riff into the song about halfway through and is repeated again towards the end. You can add it to your Spotify or Apple Music playlist.

Our biggest pick here is 'Summer In New York' where Sofi Tukker lay down their cool kids indie vibe. Sofi even adds the familiar Suzanne Vega riff from her 1980s song 'Tom's Diner,' which was given the house treatment by DNA in the early 1990s. I'm fairly certain this is Soffi doing it herself and the song does not rely on this injection to make it the surefire summer anthem it is. Instead, it's almost kind of casually thrown in because it fits the whole vibe. If this song isn't on your Spotify or Apple Music playlist — it should be.

Ahh yes, it's that time of year when the dead foilage comes alive and pollen fills our membranes reaking havoc on our sinuses while covering our outdoor belongings in a flourescent dust that seemingly never goes away. I'm talking about spring the often most desired and detested time of the year. It's that transition from a cold dank winter (milder and milder year over year) to temperate days with lots of sunshine, rain and in the United States — tornadoes.

Put all of that aside for a moment and distract yourself with the Party Favorz annual Spring Edition 2022, which is chock-full of big tribal beats, big room progressive heat and the biggest divas. Someday, I should make a calendar of all the cover art from our annual series because this guy is sizzling!

I'm dropping a double-hitter this weekend for a couple of key reasons: 1) this set came together flawlessly and if I sit on it for a week — new tracks will drop during that time making me compelled to add them, which just mucks everything up. 2) Our lease is up on July 3rd and since we have to give a two months notice, I'll be hitting up the glutton of new properties in our county this next week so I can be locked and loaded when I start negotiations early. All signs indicate that our complex is raising rents by $300, which in this area makes no sense. We have a 2/3 occupancy rate and there are literally dozens of new housing complexes that have been built in the past couple of years here. Add to that a sizeable amount that were already built between the 80s and just 10 years ago and there's a lot of options. We never bought a house because there's too many responsibilities involved and frankly, we don't have any kids.

Truth be told, we've lived here since this place was under construction in 2017 and would like to remain here for a couple more years. Rick has talked about moving back to South Texas where we're from to be closer with his family but the reason I left the entire state was to get away from there. My father is deceased and my mother and sister now live in North Texas about a 10 hour drive from there (yes, Texas is a big ass state) but that wouldn't be for another couple of years if we decided to.

My goal is to be able to negotiate a new 24 month lease with a moderate increase that buys us enough time (because we hate moving) and by then, our plans could change depending on what direction the United States takes in its governing. Personally, I see things going south quick, which is why we'll be renewing our passports shortly to be prepared for the worst.

Touring these properties and gathering information, rates and desirable locations takes a lot of time. Don't ever go by listings online as I've found in the past the rates are inflated. It would be foolish not to go to the physical property to see what they're not showing you in these apartment finder apps. That and they almost always have move-in deals like the $2,000 debit card we got for moving where we're at now. Funny how they always show a ton of pictures of the lobby as if that's where you're going to be spending the majority of your time. I get that first impressions are important, but that's not what people are looking for when looking to move.

Anyhow, I digress. Just hope we aren't moving in July because that will definitely muck-up the Party Favorz summer release schedule.

I do plan on getting ahead of the curve for Gay Pride this year. For one, there's going to be a massive update to our earlier Gay Anthem and Pride Classics series and I may even release the annual Catch-Up series early this year. All of this isn't set in stone and needs to be thourougly vetted before I decide the right path ...