Archive for the ‘mix’ Category
DJ Chilly’s El Sonido is definitely one of the dopest shows on KEXP. Every Monday from 6 to 9PM, Chilly selects the choicest tunes from all over Latin America and the rest of the Spanish and Portuguese speaking world, spanning genres, generations and cultures like it’s no thing. It’s a guaranteed three hour fiesta for your earholes. So, when Chilly asked me and Toast to come on as guests and do a 30 minute live DJ set, we couldn’t refuse.
It’s our first live radio gig, so please excuse the roughness around the edges. We’re still proud of our little mix, though. Hope you like it. Shouts out to Chilly!
Guyana and Suriname (formerly known as Dutch Guyana), along with French Guiana, are usually completely neglected when people are discussing anything to do with South America, let alone it’s music. I’m not gonna lie. I tend to forget that there are places on the continent that the English, Dutch and French colonized too. Thankfully, Afropop Worldwide has released this top notch mix of Guyanese and Surinamese music, produced by Marlon Bishop and mixed by Geko Jones, to cure our collective musical ignorance of this awesome corner of South America.
So what exactly does the music of the Guyanas sound like? Well, imagine a place that’s situated on the Northeast South American coast, between the Caribbean and the Atlantic, that is mostly Amazon rainforest. Add four hundred years of European colonization, African Slavery, Chinese and South Asian (they say East Indian) indentured servitude, and a whole lot of subsequent immigration from all over the globe, and bam – it sounds like this:
Zeta Barber a.k.a. Zachariah Tucker is a man of many talents; ranging from music production to clothing and digital design – and he can give you one of the cleanest fades around. However, Zeta stands out from the throngs of self-styled muli-entrepenuers of modern hip hop culture in some very important ways. For starters, Zach’s heart matches his artistic skill and hustle. Over the last 6+ years, he has initiated countless collaborations with artists stretching the Puget Sound - scouting diverse acts from the hood to the hills to feature on his “All-City Chop” mixtapes, all while promoting and supporting the hell out of damn near everybody in the 206 hip hop scene.
His newest project finds dj Zeta Barber & The Forces of Nature at new creative-collaborative high. SoundBody represents a evolution grounded in the chop style - with a smooth osmosis of bounce, 90′s R&B nostalgia, and just the right amount of mystic blip-hop to keep it fresh. Tender Bounce is my jam! Laced with the airy vocals of True Brilliance (see indeed)- the result is another good musical look for Seattle, from a good dude.
A recent mix by Detroit-based producer Fake Gold Chain is currently girding through my speakers and countless other speakers in Europe and parts unknown. Given how intrinsically Detroit electro this music is, chances are listeners around the globe will gravitate to it more than American audiophiles. Frankly that’s the way it’s always been.
Fake Gold Chain recently put out a mix called The Law of Club and Fang that delves into various parts of either Juan Atkins-style early techno, soul-driven Craig Huckaby type blacktronica and then veers into areas that are exclusively his own. For more on the project, go check out The Loop.
The Law Of Club And Fang: A Fake Gold Chain DJ Mix by Fake Gold Chain
With the post, I’m also announcing the end of my semi regular Detroit Heat post here at LxNxM. The city is so all over the place with music that makes global listeners fawn… much of which we’ve posted without the Detroit Heat moniker that I’ve decided to give it some rest. You can be on the lookout for the full podcast/CD/DVD/straight to HBO mini movie in the near future. Until then, keep Detroit on your radar and listen to Fake Gold Chain.
I’m a sucker for Christmas reggae tunes. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine that comes to light every holiday season. I’m glad to see that our favorite Swedish soundsystem, Safari Sound, has no shame in the Christmas reggae game too. Merry Christmas, y’all!
Talented music producer Mark de Clive Lowe recently released his ninth solo album, Renegades, last month. The record has a variety of high quality features (Sheila E, Pino Palladino, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Ovasoul 7) and should be a fun digital stocking stuffer for anyone who likes downtempo, nu-house and synthed out soul.
As a sort of anchor to keep people interested in that project, fellow producer DJ Spinna revisited MdCL’s catalog and plucked out some of the finest jams he could find. Check out a fresh, free mix below with 34 tracks of MdCL productions, remixes and collaborations with Kenny Dope (Masters At Work), DJ Spinna, Phil Asher (Restless Soul), Zed Bias and more. If you want breaks, soul, lounge, house or downtempo, it’s all here. This is the definition of adult chill out music.
I just got back from a two week long European vacation yesterday, and the jet lag is real. After pulling an all-nighter, I left Amsterdam at 11AM, flew for ten hours in a giant metal tube, and arrived in Seattle at noon (the same day). How’s that for a mindfuck?
After unpacking, starting a load of laundry, and getting a steaming bowl of duck noodle soup from my favorite noodle shop, I fired up the Macbook and started clicking through my favorites to catch up on some blog action. I didn’t make it too far, as I started to pass out about five minutes into it, but I did find this incredibly appropriately titled mix featured on Largeup.com’s Mixtape Mondays from last week.
Montreal’s finest, Ghislain Poirier, comes through with some serious heaters on this mix(tape), which features LxNxM favorites Bonjay, Emvee, Boogat, Spoek Mathambo, Dubbel Dutch, and mucho mas. I’m not sure how this worked out or what the connection is, but the mix was made for Aritizia, a boutique specializing in women’s clothing. Check em out, I guess.
I’d write more about how awesome this mix is, but my brain is still a little melty from traveling through space and time. I think I’m just gonna let this one play on repeat until I start feeling normal again.
Shoutouts to DJ Smutlee for putting out a dancehall mixtape that’s actually worthy of blogging. It’s a been a minute.
The London club DJ, mixtape maker, & blend specialist does what he does best on this 61-minute mix, which features a bunch of new jams, a couple tried a true classics and smattering of original mashups. Smutlee has made quite a name for himself in the moombahton scene lately, but it’s good to see that he’s still as keen on the dancehall as ever. Hope y’all enjoy this one as much as I do. It’s on steady bump. Hit the jump for the massive tracklist.
I’ve always been a fan of what Kenny Fresh and his Frsh Slcts website chooses to highlight in terms of being a tastemaking blog. I figured it was an entire crew of writers, designers, DJs and whoever else making Frsh Slcts happen until I met Kenny Fresh (aka Knny Frsh) in person here in Seattle and he dropped a nugget on me that I’ll always remember: “Naw man… it’s just me, that’s why I’m only able to post so often.” Well, nobody truly works alone, but still, there’s a whole heap of good taste in that man’s head and when he decides to post something folks should take the time to check it out.
Roughly a week ago, he dropped a mix of gems that were making him excited a couple of years ago. He enlisted the help of Portland DJ/producer Doc Adam to mix everything and what you get is a retrospective of timeless music that does not deserve to die due to people’s wack ass internet attention spans. Everybody is trying to either be current with the music they highlight or look toward future sounds/stuff that’s super retro. That’s fine. But what about the hot shit from 2008 that DJs act to cool to drop on the dancefloor now cause it’s “old.” Give me a break. Apparently Frsh Slcts agrees. Peep their highly eclectic mixer for free now. Full tracklist below the jump. Fans of Platinum Pied Pipers, Ta’raach, Little Dragon, and SA-RA should consider this mix an audible high five.
