Electronic artist Manic Focus (aka John "JmaC" McCarten) has just released a bootleg remix of Tracy Chapman's "Give Me One Reason," giving the '90s hit a funky electro-soul makeover. "Give Me One Reason (Manic Focus Remix)" premiered last week on This Song Is Sick and is available for free download via Manic Focus' Soundcloud; you can give it a listen below.
Manic Focus manages to keep the vocals on Chapman's 1995 epic hit entirely intact--arguably the very spirit of the song--while turning it into a completely new, totally danceable future bass track. In his description of the track on his Soundcloud, McCarten shouts-out fellow electronic artists Loudpvck, crediting their recently released sample pack for a number of the sounds used in this remix. As EDM Sauce points out in their coverage of the track, "the remix consists of gentle bass lines during the build and catchy chimes and drums in the melody. You can really pick up the Soul vibe that is often felt in Manic Focus' music on this one!"
Manic Focus' remix is far from the first reworking of "Give Me One Reason." Kelly Clarkson recently dusted-off Chapman's tune both on tour and on SiriusFM, hurling it back into the spotlight with her own soulful rendition. Over the years, Chapman herself has offered various renditions of the track--she played it on Saturday Night Live a few years before releasing it, then a few years later brought it back out in a duet with Eric Clapton was a part of the 1999 live installment of the Very Special Christmas compilation series.
Like other artists on Griz's All Good Peoples label, which released Manic Focus' first full-length album last year, Chicago-based McCarten's Manic Focus project is known for fusing soulful blues with hard-hitting bass in a similar vein as Pretty Lights. On last year's Cerebral Eclipse, Manic Focus enlisted the collaborative efforts of other artists known for creating hip-hop infused electro-soul dance tracks including Dominic Lalli of Big Gigantic and Michal Menert of Pretty Lights Music among others; he has also worked on side projects with artists like Break Science.
Manic Focus is currently touring; check the artist's Facebook page for more information.
