Bless Mixtapes

The mixtape, need I say more.. We've been giving and recieving them for years. And we need them. Alot.

When I meet a person who I suspect has the potential of putting together a brilliant mixtape, there will be no hesitation. I'll just make one myself and wait for the other person return the favor. So I recieved an awesome one this week, that has been stuck on repeat. The theme was dirty powersound and I hope mine was as good, but you be the judge of that. Here's a small selection (personal highlights) of the one I got and the one that was given.

From the one I got

Crookers - Tee-Pee theme feat. Drop The Lime get it here (YSI)


Flinke Namen - Hak Um (Partysquad rmx) get it here (YSI)


Siriusmo - Die Rockwurst get it here (YSI)


Ratatat - Beans (freestyle) get it here (YSI)


From the one I gave

Skream vs Elephant Man - Wobble That War (Elected mashup) get it here (YSI)


Radiohead vs Ghostface Killah - Daytona 500 (Panza Zandahz My Iron Lung Remix)get it here (YSI)


KraK Attack - Big Girl Skinny Girl get it here (YSI)


Larry Tee - Licky feat. Princess Superstar (Herve Goes Low Remix)get it here (YSI)

Kuduro Riddims

Woohoooo, tomorrow morning I'll be off to Manchester for what might well be THE best party of the year. Annie Mac invited the creme de la creme of DJs and artists around to play at the Warehouse project, a temporary club under Piccadilly Station. It's going to be an exhausting night with live performances by Major Lazer and Buraka Som Sistema, and Toddla T, Fakeblood, Skream, Boy 8-Bit and DJ Zinc behind the decks!!!!! More exclamation marks: !!!!!!!!!

I think this is a very exciting time for dance music, with rhythms and musical elements from all over the world seeping into mainstream club music, entering the dance floor and making us shake our booties. Take tomorrow's artists for example. Diplo, the guy who played an important role in bringing baile funk out of the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, has now turned to dancehall with his latest project Major Lazer, in collaboration with Switch. With great success. Also Toddla T has a taste for Jamaican riddims (as well as for club house and garage). Buraka Som Sistema brings us kuduro, a genre which originated in Angola and was later transported to Portugal (its colonizer). And apparently kuduro is now huge in France, thanks to the substantial Cape Verde community. I stumbled on a selection of some excellent kuduro tracks at the Masala blog (a great blog BTW, even though I can only read half of it - they're from Montreal, so most is written in French). I pass two of those tracks on over here, both by Angolian artists. It's raw. Very raw. But that's how I like it!

Dog Murras - Midexa. Get it here (YSI).

Noite E Dia - Tiramakossa. Get it here (YSI).

Taken off the compilation Akwaaba Sem Transporte.

our latest flame

Dutch Dolls on both sides of The Channel are digging LA ROUX, with her flaming hairdo and a voice that makes the windows crack. As described on her Last.fm page she really is a 'siren'... If you haven't already heard it, have a listen and you'll hear what we mean. But it works sooo well with her electropoppy tunes! We're especially digging the godfather-of-dubstep-Skream remix of In For The Kill!

La Roux - In For The Kill (Skreams Let's Get Ravey Remix)
Download it here (YSI).

On her website you can sign up for her mailinglist and you'll get two MP3s for FREE, weehoo!