JOHNNYJUICE

UK’s monthly dancehall jam, The Heatwave released mix of summery dancehall and reggae jams, just in time for the weekend. Blast it out your car windows and boomboxes! The mix features tunes from the likes of Laden, Mavado, Busy Signal, Tifa, Beres Hammond, Richie Spice, Mr Vegas and Buju Banton.

Full tracklist

1. Laden – Really Like You
2. Gappy Ranks – Gyal Mi Love
3. Voicemail – Ride Mi Bike (Gold Mine Riddim)
4. Gyptian – Money Man (Gold Mine Riddim)
5. Buju Banton – Buy Love (Gold Mine Riddim)
6. Richie Spice – Soothing Sound (Indiscretions Riddim)
7. Konshens – Straight Forward (Indiscretions Riddim)
8. Busy Signal – Beep (Indiscretions Riddim)
9. Mavado – Neva Believe U
10. Equiknoxx & Gerusalem – Cobba Cobba Riddim
11. Lil Joe – Wine (Cobba Cobba Riddim)
12. Tifa – Single (Cobba Cobba Riddim)
13. Spice – Badmind (Cobba Cobba Riddim)
14. Cecile – How It Feels (Hot Peppa Riddim)
15. Anthony B – Roll Mi Gal (Hot Peppa Riddim)
16. Mr Vegas – Mi Believe (Hot Peppa Riddim)
17. Mr Vegas – Old School Hustling (Heavenless Riddim)
18. Major Lazer feat Mr Lexx & Santigold – Hold The Line
19. Gappy Ranks – Put The Stereo On
20. Erup & Nature – Trample Dem (Multipurpose Stadium Riddim)
21. Beres Hammond – I Feel Good (I Feel Good Riddim)
22. Beres Hammond & Donovan Germain – I Feel Dub (I Feel Good Riddim)
23. General Degree – Jah Will Provide (I Feel Good Riddim)
24. Delly Ranx – Pleasure Pain (Comfort Zone Riddim)
25. Buju Banton – Pretty Every Time (Comfort Zone Riddim)
26. Cornadoor – Chocolate Fudge (Rougher Yet Riddim)

Right click here for the MP3: http://www.theheatwave.net/mixes/theheatwave-earlywarming.mp3

I had a chance to see the Smalltown DJs awhile ago at The Rub and they killed it, definitely a great show. Just last week Smalltown Romeo made a sort of electro/indie/pop-ish mix to promote the fantastic work of Ben Tour. It’s a fun, energetic mix with a bunch of new songs thrown in with the classics. You should definitely take a listen:
Lifetime Collective // Ben Tour // Smalltown Romeo Mix

DJ Rec One and DJ Nugget do a fantastic job of compiling the work of one of the best R&B and Hip hop producers who ever did it, DJ Premier. If you are completely new to rap music listen to this for an education and even if you’re not an avid rap fan you’ll definitely recognize at least a couple tracks of Premier’s. If you are already familiar, one glance at this tracklist and you know it’s golden.

Coming in at almost an hour and a half, it’s prefect for these rainy Fridays.

Tracklisting

1. Rec One in Deep Concentration
2. Krs-One – MC’s Act Like They Don’t Know
3. Jeru The Damaja – Come Clean
4. Blahzay Blahzay – Danger
5. Rakim – New York (Ya Out There)
6. Nas – Memory Lane (Sittin’ in da Park)
7. D&D All Stars – 1,2 Pass It
8. Fat Joe – Dat Gangsta Shit
9. Group Home – Supa Star
10. D’Angelo – Devil’s Pie
11. Memphis Bleek – Hand It Down
12. AZ – The Come Up
13. The Crooklyn Dodgers – Return Of The Crooklyn Dodgers
14. All City – The Actual
15. The Lox – Recognize
16. Raekwon – Sneakers
17. M.O.P. – Stick To Ya Gunz
18. Guru ft. Mendoughza – Back 2 Back (Rec One & Nugget Back 2 Back Interlude)
19. The Notorious B.I.G. – Unbelievable
20. The Notorious B.I.G. – Kick In The Door (Rec One & Nugget Group Home Remix)
21. Gangstarr – Work
22. Gangstarr ft. Big Shug & Freddie Foxxx – The Militia
23. Freddie Foxxx – Lazy!!!
24. Freddie Foxxx – The Lah
25. Nas – Nas Is Like
26. stevie nicks pon coolie dance riddim – BEP Empire
27. Das Efx – Real Hip-Hop
28. Royce Da 5’9 – Boom
29. Gangstarr – Battle
30. Kingz Kounty – 718
31. Pitch Black – It’s All Real
32. Snoop Dogg – The One and Only
33. Capone-N-Noreaga – Invincible
34. Ras Kass – Goldyn Chyld (Instrumental over Premier’s Peace Of Mine Interlude)
35. Janet Jackson – All For You (DJ Premier’s Top Heavy Remix)
36. Christina Aguilera – Still Dirrty
37. Sonya Blade – Look For The Name
38. Rah Digga – Lessons Of Today
39. Paula Perry – Extra Extra
40. Group Home – serial Rap Shit (R.I.P. Interlude)
41. Big L – The Big Picture (Intro)
42. Big L ft. Big Daddy Kane – Platinum Plus
43. Big L – On The Mic (Rec One & Nugget Classic Gangstarr Remix)
44. Gangstarr – Full Clip
45. Nas – N.Y. State of Mind
46. Sauce Money – Against The Grain
47. The Notorious B.I.G. – Ten Crack Commandments
48. The Notorious B.I.G. ft. Redman & Method Man – Rap Phenomenon
49. Das Efx – No Diggedy
50. Jay Z – A Million and One Questions
51. Royce Da 5’9 – Hip Hop
52. Arrested Development – Ease My Mind (DJ Premier Remix)
52. Terence Trent D’arby, Nas, Krs-One & Rakim – Classic (DJ Premier Remix)
53. Gangstarr – You Know My Steez
54. Buckshot Lefonque – Music Evolution
55. DJ Premier Outro

A friend recently put me on to Kutiman, an Israeli musician and artist who has some fantastic releases. Kutiman uses found footage from YouTube to create original compositions. He is literally sampling from YouTube; taking drums from one video, vocals from another video, bass from another and so on, cutting them up and arranging them into a new composition. His arrangements are so precise that I was skeptical at first, however he includes links to the original footage in his credits, allowing listeners/viewers to check for themselves. This also gives exposure to the authors of the samples, increasing hits to their videos.

Cutting up video footage isn’t anything revolutionary, but the idea that YouTube could be used a pool of potential samples is pretty intriguing. YouTube is not not only archival but also an accurate manifestation of pop culture. All copyright issues aside, having such assets at their disposable is pretty amazing for artists.

It’s also creating unlikely collaborations. The artist who post their videos on YouTube are out looking for exposure, they want to get their videos seen and music heard. I would be interested in hearing what the original authors think about having their work sampled. In a way this method gives more credit to the artists, by actually showing them perform,rather than sampling straight audio.

Check out all of the videos here:
http://thru-you.com

Here is a mix that should be played exactly as its title describes, on a beach (or the 6 train  if you live in NYC) at midnight. It’s a great blend of new and classic synth pop songs that carry the listener through peaks and valleys. I admit that the first couple times I heard this mix that I wasn’t super into it. I was working on-location one day and this was one of the only mixes I had available on my laptop so I gave it another try and I’m really glad I did.

It’s the perfect background or driving music but every now and then a familiar song or blend will come on and make your ears perk up. There are also some really great custom mixes and blends in here that give a unique perspective on classic sounds.

Midnight Beach Mix by Youth

Clashing Egos – Aminjig nebere (Joakim’s Afrobot Mix) – 2005
Dolle Jolle – Balearic Incarnation (Todd Terje Remix) – 2008
Youth – Dark Moons (Exxxxclusive mix) – 2008
Maroon 5 – This Love (Cut Copy Galactic Beach House Mix) – 2008
Lexx – Axis Shift (Original Mix) – 2007
Aeroplane feat.Kathy Diamond – Whispers (Original Mix) – 2008
Human League – Don’t You Want Me (Extended Mix) – 1981
Kate Bush – Running Up That Hill (Ashley Beedle Edit) – 2007
Stevie Nicks – Smile At You (Youth’s Going Home Dub) – 2008
Brando – Rainy Days (Extended Mix) – 1983
Neon – Skydiver (Extended Mix) – 1981
International Music System – Dancing Therapy (12″ Mix) – 1984
Neon Neon – I Lust U (Original Mix) – 2007
ABC – The Look of Love(Radio Edit) – 1982
Wide Boy Awake – Slang Teacher (12″ Mix) – 1982
The Breakfast Club – Never Be The Same (Shep Pettibone Mix) – 1987
Fleetwood Mac – Big Love (Arthur Baker Piano Dub) – 1987
Mike Mareen – Dancin in the Dark (Galactica Remix) – 1985
Elke – Blue Dream Lover (Youth Midnight Surf Mix) – 2009
Bag Raiders – Shooting Stars (Instrumental) – 2008
Midnight Star – Midas Touch (Acapella) – 1986
America – Horse With No Name (Original Mix) – 1971

Download it here:

http://www.divshare.com/download/6440270-ec8

As a music lover and an interactive designer I jumped when I got the chance to work for TuneBooks a few years ago. Their idea was simple. People were downloading entire albums from iTunes and not getting the little book that comes when you buy the physical CD. People weren’t getting all of the photos, credits, lyrics, stories and artwork that those books are usually filled with. TuneBooks made digital linear notes that would come free with your digital download.

The books we made were interactive flash movies converted into an iTunes friendly quicktime format. Users could browse around artist photos, song credits, lyrics and any other content they had. As we did more and more of these the labels wanted to incorporate more and more advertising and special features in them. We’d add links to websites where users could get dynamic content such as extra songs, download wallpapers, etc.. These external pages would have banners ads on them that would also frequently change.

I eventually moved on to to other things, as did the founders of TuneBooks. I always thought it was a fantastic idea and now I’m getting excited to see similar things happening in the mobile world. With iPhones now in the palms of their target audience, labels are pushing artist customized iPhone apps. The content has changed a bit from TuneBooks. You probably won’t find song lyrics in here, but you will find songs, videos, pictures and album-branded, exclusive content that dynamically updates itself.

This new model is creating a different breed of fans. Fans that are connected both to the artist themselves (via twitter, etc..) and to each other via mobile chat and artist based social & location based networking. Using the Kyte platform artists can customize their own iPhone apps that distribute songs, videos, photos and RSS feeds into the hands of their fans.

With strategic partnerships with Amazon, iTunes, and even Ticketmaster the purchasing power here is enormous. Imagine listen to your favorite track, by your favorite artist and then, based upon your phone’s GPS location, it alerts you to their next tour date and asks if you would like to buy a ticket? How cool is that?!

Right now the selection of artists is rather limited. I’m not sure if I’m ready to have streaming Pussycat Dolls content on me at all times, but someone let me know when the Wu-Tang app drops.

Check out these articles for some interesting reads

iPhone apps for Lady Gaga, Pussycat Dolls and other UMG artists
Kyte Offers Branded iPhone Apps for Celebrities and Musicians

DJ Tuco just dropped this baile funk mix for Discobelle. It’s got a lot of popular songs on it, or at least a lot of songs I’ve heard on other baile mixes. He talks about each of the songs, and why he chose them in the article. Here is a snippet:

I recently spent a month in Rio where I hooked up with a lot of people and had a blast, during my time there I picked up a lot of music mainly Baile Funk so I decided to throw a mix together.

You can read the rest of the article here:
http://www.discobelle.net/2009/02/20/mixin-it-up-dj-tuco/
Also download the mix here

Awesome new talk on TED about Siftables, toy blocks that recognize spacial relationships. As you can see from the demo below the possibilities for these are pretty limitless.