Radiohead is conducting another round of their remix project, this time for the song, Reckoner. More info available at http://radioheadremix.com/.
I had heard about the last remix project but never got around to having a go at it. This time I’ll download the individual song elements on iTunes and see what I can come up with. I’m a big fan of the remix, particularly the work of Matthew Herbert and Carl Craig, but this will be my first attempt at creating anything. Garageband has been collecting dust on my machine since it arrived in the mail, so I might as well try to do something useful with it.
A few preview tracks available through Gorilla vs. Bear.
Amplive’s Rainydayz Remixes
Recently installed OpenTape and created my first mux with it. Very easy process. This mix is mostly cover songs, with a sprinkling of remixes and tributes.
Mix: http://synthetictom.com/mux/covers/
Tracklisting:
Jose Gonzalez – Love Will Tear Us Apart
Firewater – The Beat Goes On
Johnny Cash – Hurt
Nouvelle Vague – The Guns of Brixton
Ellen McIlwaine – Higher Ground
John Forte – What a Difference
Club Sodade – Angola (Get Down Dub by Pepe Braddock)
Gift of Gab/Lateef/Mix Master Mike – Kalakuta Show
Nirvana – The Man Who Sold the World
Johnny Cash – One
Gary Jules – Mad World
Jill Scott – Slowly Surely (Theo Parrish remix)
Platinum Pied Pipers – 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (feat. Rogier)
It’s been a little while since a techno mix has really tickled my fancy the whole way through, but this mix from Matt Chester does the job. It’ll be a nice substitute this weekend while thinking of all the fun my friends in Detroit are having at the Detroit Electronic Music Festival. More info below:
matt chester – crater crawlers
www.11-hour.com/audio/mattchester_cratercrawlersmix.mp3
80 mins / 96 mbs
tracklist:
Jay Denham – The Truth – Disko B
Orlando Voorn – Soulparty – Finest Blend
Soundhack – Soundhack 1 – Hardwax
Billeebob – Sunshine – UR
Bumper – Tough Groove – Mdex
Kingpin Cartel – Fishfunk – Pure Plastic
Recloose – Maui’s Lament (B) – Rushhour
Moodymann – KDJ 16 – KDJ
Deeon – Happy – Dancemania
Random Noise Generation – Instrument of Change – 430 West
I-Cube – Chicago Sur Seine – Versatile
Theo Parrish – Falling Up (CC mix) – Third Ear
Traxx – Who’s Pussy Is This? – Dancemania
Todd Terry – Sunday Morning (Kenny Dope mix) – Tony
I-Cube – Disco Cubism (Daft Punk mix) – Versatile
Paris Mitchell – The Claps – Dancemania
Gerald Mitchell – Bellydancer – Motech
X-101 – Sonic Destroyer – UR
Brotha D – Rock The House – Dancemania
Soul Tech – Rock The Bells – Detrechno
Underground Resistance – Footwars – UR
Neil Landstrumm – Miami Vice – Tresor
Jay Denham – Sweet Jesus – Disko B
Shake – For The Lamented – Frictional
DJ3000 – Safe House – Motech
Stasis – Point Of No Return – B12
Shawn Rudiman – Approach – Finest Blend
Gerald Mitchell – Resident Warrior – Reincarnation
Convextion – Spice Tea – Down Low
Carl Craig – They Were – Planet E
Dark Energy – Mau Mau – UR
Neil Landstrumm – Tensions In New York – Tresor
Matt Chester – Desertification – 11th Hour
Derrick May – Icon (Montage) – Transmat
Muxtape.com has been my favorite site for the last couple weeks. The premise is simple: upload your favorite mp3’s and create an online mixtape that you can both listen to and share with your friends. The interface is sparse to the point that you wish it would offer more features, and I’m sure more are on the way (already within the last day I’ve noticed a “Buy This on Amazon” link appear next to track titles), but the simplicity keeps the focus on the music.
It’s been much abuzz among the Twitter/Geek crowd, and some tools have already been built to enhance the muxtape experience. The best example I’ve seen so far is a Yahoo Pipe that will provide muxtape recommendations based on your last.fm profile. This is only useful if you’re both a last.fm user and your profile accurately represents your musical taste, but similar tools are likely to keep popping up that will provide communication with other sites.
Here’s my muxtape: http://synthetictom.muxtape.com/
And my wife’s: http://bitchincamero.muxtape.com/
A Brazilian collection: http://alexdc.muxtape.com/
And a nice electronic one: http://dopebeats.muxtape.com/
I was never much of a vinyl collector, and as a result of that I was a latecomer to Metro Area. They released a number of well-received 12″s in the early 2000’s, and I was finally able to take those sounds home with me in 2003 (or was it 2002?) when I picked up their self-titled CD compilation released on the Brooklyn-based Environ label. Very nice tunes rooted in disco, with warm synths and lots of handclaps. I won’t try to explain their sound any further, but 5 years later I’m still loving this disc, and I’m glad I dug it out.
Metro Area is a duo composed of Morgan Geist and Darshan Jesrani. Geist has loads of solo material out there, all of which is definitely worth checking out. I’ve never stumbled across anything by Darshan Jesrani but I bet there’s something if you dig hard enough.
Metro Area – “Miura” (mp3) | “Orange Alert” (mp3)
To pass the time during my daily commute, I’m digging through my neglected CD collection and listening to some of my past favorites. Today I selected a DJ mix by Dan Bell (DBX) titled “The Button Down Mind of Daniel Bell,” released by Tresor in 2000. I picked up this disc back in the day when one of my primary ways of discovering new artists was through mix CDs. This album did not disappoint, and it was in constant rotation with me for a good two years. It introduced me to Matthew Herbert as well as Farben, and it also helped me to realize that Thomas Brinkmann was more than a German dude with a gimmicky two tone-armed turntable.
Thomas Brinkmann – Karin (mp3)
Nick Holder – Feelin’ Sad (mp3)
Shake – Detroit State of Mind (mp3)
The disc opens up with a mid-tempo track by Farben, and it carries this minimal tone throughout. Some of the standout tracks are “Karin” by Thomas Brinkman, featuring overlaid dialogue from a movie I can’t place; “Feelin Sad” by Nick Holder; and “Detroit State of Mind” by Anthony “Shake” Shakir.
While many tech-house mixes of this era tend–in my mind–to run a little too repetitive and monotonous, Dan Bell manages to select tracks that drive forward to a steady beat, but also feature subtle melodies that sustain my interest. Just at the point where I begin to tire of it, he switches up the tempo with the closing track by Shake, ending things on a Costanza high note.
So how does it stand up to the test of time? Surprisingly well. I think most listeners would be surprised that this mix dates back to 2000.
A quick mix of a few tracks: listen to it here. It’s close to 50/50 old and new material for me, with a slight skew to the old. I’m not too in the loop with new tunes these days, but I’m doing my best to remedy that. It’s quick, clocking in at 33 minutes, so give it a listen.
Tracklisting:
AmpLive – Videotapez feat. Del the Funky Homosapien
Matthew Dear – Death to Feelers
Recloose – Sampling Principle
3 Chairs – System Sauce
Slum Village – Fall in Love
Bullion – I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times
Bonobo – Noctuary (live session)
The Raconteurs – Call It A Day
Some of my starred items from Google Reader over the last week:
Daptone Doppelgangers – I’m not too familiar with Daptone (I think they’re a soul/funk record label in Brooklyn), but I’m a fan of a few of the artists mentioned here, and I’ll be checking out the rest soon.
Nice primer on The Kinks from Onion AV Club.
MP3s from 2008 SXSW artists, from Gorilla vs. Bear
Rainydayz Remixes: Amplive remixes Radiohead’s “In Rainbows” into a hip hop album, and it’s free! My favorite track is the one featuring Del.
Nigeria Special: I haven’t listened yet, but I have a feeling I’ll like it.
Just stumbled on a blog post from Gorilla vs. Bear linking to this guy’s Myspace page.
He created a musical blend of J Dilla beats and the Pet Sounds album from the Beach Boys. It contains 13 tracks and the runtimes are all fairly short… I think the entire collection clocks in under 30 minutes. But it’s nice if you’re craving some of that hippity hoppity, bleepity-bloopity instrumental stuff.
