Artist: Whatever Girl
Title: Activator (You Need Some)
Label: Yoshitoshi Recordings
By: Michael Schreiber | 31 July 2003
Tracklist:

• A: Dark & Lovely Mix
• B: Johnny Vicious Edit
• C: Original Jheri-Curl Sucker Wearin' High Heel Boots Mix
• D: Filterheadz Mix

Whatever Girl "Activator (You Need Some)"

Back in the early 90s when Junior Vasquez was master of the turntables at NYC’s legendary Sound Factory weekly, not only was the underground house music scene flourishing much more so than it seems today, but in direct relation to that was the widespread popularity of underground ballroom culture – better known as vogueing.

While some viewed it as just a scene of striking various poses on the dance floor as a form of competition, the real intent was to display an artistry that exuded control through looking powerful and beautiful. The DJs played an integral part by putting forth a soundtrack which called upon these groups (known as “Houses”) to begin their “runway battles” that ultimately became performances for all club goers to be spectators of. These tracks glorified them and were designed to make one feel fantastic, filled with themes of escapism, fantasy, control and manipulation.

While these exhibitions have for the most part disappeared as clubland has changed so much over the past 10+ years, many of these “runway tracks” are now considered classics that are still featured in the sets of many notable jocks today. And that’s just what Whatever Girl’s “Activator (You Need Some)” is. It was originally released on Johnny Vicious’ label, Vicious Muzik and was an international top 10 favorite including a spot on the European pop chart. It’s also known as a seminal Sound Factory classic.

The Deep Dish duo decided it was time for a new generation of clubbers to gain an education on what a true classic sounds like, proving that no matter how many years have passed by, one like this still sounds fresh and new when played today. It’s brought back in a fabulous Yoshitoshi vinyl double-pack with the inclusion of the re-mastered original, Johnny Vicious edit, new mix by Deep Dish and a brand new updated interpretation by the current hot production team, Filterheadz. This certainly won’t leave you thinking “why did they have to go and do these updates when the original didn’t need to be touched” as some of the other updated 2002 – 2003 mixes of old tracks that seem to surface all the time. Instead, the dub and re-edit both use almost solely the original’s same elements, just in different patterns.

I. Original Jheri-Curl Sucker Wearin' High Heel Boots Mix

This is a tribal house jam largely focusing on percussion as the driving force. Highlighted around the stuttered male vocal repetitions of “activator, activator, activator,” the drumming elements make this a very bouncy track specifically from the deep throbbing bass line and tin-drum rolling progression. Two other distinguishing characteristics include the continuous swirling high-toned spin-downs and squelching computerized one-note echoed punches that seem to be used for additional accentuated emphasis to the change-ups within the track. It’s quite long, clocking in at just about 13 minutes and easily finds its home in the sets of djs including Danny Tenaglia, Derrick Carter and Frankie Knuckles, for example.

II. Johnny Vicious Edit

Johnny seems to put the focus of his re-edit production on the original’s middle segment where we begin to hear a flowing key progression that comprises the bass element. Again we have the stuttered male vocals, 4/4 beat with hand-claps trailing, squelched key punches and swirling spin-downs. There is a female vocal soft speaking a phrase which is hard to distinguish as to what is being said, but important to note b/c then a small piece of it is repeated in a stuttered repetition for this mix’s long middle segment. Only about 5:38 minutes long, it’s a consolidated package of the best parts of the original.

III. Dark & Lovely Mix

This one has a more gritty and stomp-like edge. There’s a strong emphasis placed upon accentuating a drum pad beat played in a quick 4-beat fired-off progression above a computerized one-key continuous repeating loop. Still retained though are the original’s computerized squelches, swirling spin downs and triangular bell rhythms. At the five minute mark a dirty-bass filtered electric buzz sound follows along with “activator” repeating over and over. Also an African tribal call comes in that’s in the original’s intro and also heard in Deee-Lite’s “Build The Bridge.” Don’t be fooled by the “dark” adjective in the title though because the mix is quite upbeat and filled with energy.

IV. Filterheadz Mix

Filterheadz decided to be brave and go all out and create a brand new track, even to the point of having the male vocal re-recorded. And they did a damn good job which is easy to say based upon the buzz it’s already got as djs including Danny Howells, Roger Sanchez, Satoshi Tomiie and Pete Tong played it out over the past few months as an exclusive to this release. As they have done with their previous productions, they start out with a heavy fast-paced deep pounding beat. It’s coupled with an echoed monstrous sounding moan and echoed bell chime that leads into the new whispery, yet very pronounced “You need some activator” male vocal. A breakdown comes at 1:55 minutes with just looped cymbal taps underneath the vocal. Fading inward, a digital four-part chord progression increases in volume as the vocal becomes more echoed all leading to a complete drop-out conclusion of all elements slammed into the hard beats again. Another drop-out comes at 3:35 min., this time “activator” is stuttered until the melody fades in again and climaxes back into the beats. These segmentations really cut-up this track specifically so that the re-introduction of the beats each time invoke big explosions of energy to inspire increased dance floor movement.

You don’t have to vogue, do runway or anything comparable to enjoy this release – just dance as they already have invoked clubbers worldwide to do, with the original doing so for so many years. Truly “legendary!”