Live Review: George Michelle reworks a dancefloor classic on 'Watchin' Me'

16 August 2018 | 1:26 pm | Emma Jones
Originally Appeared In

We all know it. Rockwell's 1984 classic, 'Somebody's Watchin' Me' is the stuff of dancefloor legend with its infectious hook, crisp 80s drums and glorious synths. The song has become something of a cult hit, and has been reworked, remixed, flipped, turned upside down and inside out so many times before. But, with GEORGE MICHELLE's latest single, the song has been sampled and infused with his trademark 90s industrial, garage and progressive to deliver something so much more.

Across just over three minutes, George Michelle's 'Watchin' Me' is as just about as euphoric as it gets. Practically made for a sunrise moment after hours of raving, George Michelle effortlessly amps up the emotion of his brand of house to get your body moving and your feels stirring, harnessing an undeniable groove and never once letting go.

George Michelle is the moniker of Maurice Santiago, a member of post-punk band Death Bells and founding member of Sydney label, Burning Rose. Of course, Burning Rose's warehouse parties and after-parties are infamous, but as for Santiago's George Michelle project, apart from a few releases on Bandcamp, the rest has really been a bit of an elusive mystery. With no social media, the only real media pick up with a brief mention by Santiago himself to Red Bull during an interview about Burning Rose, with Santiago saying, "People from punk bands are now making electronica and techno, experimental noise, pop, house and hip hop...fans are fully into it. I think that’s really cool.” Now signed to etcetc, we can hopefully expect much more from George Michelle to be out in the open, but until then, 'Watchin' Me' is more than enough to keep us going. 

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'Watchin' Me' is out now via etcetc. Buy/stream here.

Words by Emma Jones

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