ARTIST...: Don Laka
TITLE....: Stages / I Wanna Be Myself
YEAR.....: 2026
LABEL....: Running Back
CAT.NO...: RBSSS12
GENRE....: Funk
TIME.....: 21:46
SIZE.....: 41.77 MB
QUALITY..: 268kbps/48.0kHz/Joint Stereo
ENCODER..: LAME
SOURCE...: Vinyl
RLS.DATE.: 2026/08/16
WEBSITE..: https://www.discogs.com/release/37591860
TRACKLIST
A1) (08:35) Stages (Prins Thomas Edit)
B1) (07:19) I Wanna Be Myself (Gerd Janson Edit)
B2) (05:52) Stages (Original 1986)
Some tracks donÆt need fixing. They just need a bit more room.
South African composer and keyboard wizard Don Laka has been quietly sitting in DJ
bags for years, especially with people who like their synth music warm, slightly
mysterious, and impossible to date properly. Somewhere between jazz funk, township
pulse and studio electronics, but really just its own thing.
Stages was an obvious candidate for extension. Prins Thomas did what he does best
here: opens the arrangement, lets the synth lines breathe, stretches the groove until
it starts floating a little higher off the ground. Nothing forced, nothing added for
the sake of it. Just more of a very good thing.
I Wanna Be Myself gets a gentle nudge from Gerd Janson. The idea was simple: keep the
personality, and give DJs a version that lands naturally in a modern set without
losing the original charm. ItÆs still the same track, just standing a bit straighter.
And because the source matters, the original version of ôStagesö is here as well.
Always good to remember where the magic started.
Three versions, no drama. Just strong music that already knew what it was doing.
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