The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper: Line Out: Mix

Start Your Three-Day Weekend With This Champagne Champagne/Cave Singers Mix

Megan Seling — Fri, 24 May 2013 14:32:51 -0700

Champagne Champagne just posted a mixtape "to hold you over while your boys are on studio lockdown working on a new album." This "Cave Singers Pop Rocks" sounds like sunshine:

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Vast Times : Panabrite's Mysteries of the Deep Mix

Dave Segal — Fri, 24 May 2013 09:49:40 -0700

Seattle synthesizer sorcerer Panabrite (Norm Chambers) is also a highly knowledgeable collector/selector in his domain of electronic/ambient/drone music. Below is another of his excellent Mysteries of the Deep mixes (now in its 13th edition), which highlights the intriguing work of a lot of superior but way-below-the-radar composers/producers.

Chambers elaborates: "A collection of some of my favorite current artists, people whose work really stands out in an endless ocean of synth and drone. I also included one of my upcoming tracks, an edit from a longform piece coming later this summer, since I feel it fit the overall mood and tone of the other tracks."

Panabrite released his Xenon District cassette May 21 on VCO Recordings.

Mysteries Of The Deep, Chapter XIII. Physical Continuum Tracklist:

N Chambers - Descent Overture
Piotr Kurek - Goddess Eye
Samantha Glass - Return to the Sky pt.3
Günter Schlienz - Presentation Two - Tape echo & Modular synthesizer
Bastian Void - Rotating Wave Display
Bitchin Bajas - Water 2
Giant Claw - Radiation Poisoning
Three Legged Race - Locked Eyes
Jan Jelinek - Jackdaw
Piotr Kurek - Becoming Light
Günter Schlienz - Presentation Five - Spring Reverb, Phaser & Modular Synthesizer
Brette Naucke - Rilea
Koen Holtkamp - Hoosick

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Radio Soulwax Moves at 500 Guitar Riffs an Hour

Dave Segal — Wed, 22 May 2013 11:55:33 -0700

Radio Soulwax compiled 500 guitar riffs in an ADD-friendly, hour-long montage of iconic chug and shreddage*. It's a pretty incredible piece of painstaking stitchwork. Wallow in the nostalgia and/or get turned on to new (old) shit. Either way, you can't lose—unless you just plain hate rock.

*I know it's a year old, but I missed it. You may have, too.

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Technoir: Maria Goetz's Knightriders Podcast

Dave Segal — Mon, 20 May 2013 08:08:27 -0700

Seattle techno label Knightriders offers another excellent techno podcast from Maria Goetz, a producer who'll be releasing her Neuronal EP in late June through KR. Feel the deepness and darkness of this hour-long mix.

Knightriders PODCAST I 004 - Maria Goetz May 2013 Mix by Knightriders on Mixcloud

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Laura Stevenson's Summer Mix Tape

Megan Seling — Wed, 08 May 2013 09:55:34 -0700

In this week's music section you can read an interview with Laura Stevenson, the New York-based songwriter responsible for writing some of the most addictive pop songs I've heard in years.

Lyrically, her latest album Wheel can get pretty dark, but musically some of the songs—"Runner" and "Sink, Swim" especially—sound just like summer to me. So with summer songs on my mind, I asked Laura if she could share her own summer playlist with us. Have a listen, and maybe these morning clouds will burn away.

(Glad someone else still appreciates "Semi-Charmed Life," too—doo do do, doo do do doo!)

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Unsafe Travels: Alan Bishop's Made Like a Tree Podcast

Dave Segal — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 09:50:53 -0700

Alan Bishop—Sublime Frequencies co-founder and leader of the Cairo-based band the Invisible Hands—has a new podcast up on Seattle's Made Like a Tree blog. It includes an interview that I conducted with the former Sun City Girls bassist about Sublime Frequencies’ working methods and goals and the origin of his Uncle Jim alter ego. The mix includes highlights from SF's worldly and wildly diverse roster, Bishop’s solo recordings as Alvarius B., and a smattering of classics culled from Sun City Girls’ vast and twisted catalog. It serves as an illuminating introduction to Bishop and SF's aesthetics. You can listen to the podcast and read the interview here.

Tracklist
1. Alvarius B - Dirty Angels [Abduction]
2. Jo & The Magnificent - Sunshine [Silent]
3. Boutaiba Sghir - Malgre Tout [Sublime Frequencies]
4. Artie Barsamin and his Orchestra - Nene Aman [Ilissoss/Kathreftis]
5. Group Doueh - Zayna Jumma [Sublime Frequencies]
6. Omar Khorshid - Raksat El Kheyl [Sublime Frequencies]
7. Group Inerane - Kuni Majagani [Sublime Frequencies]
8. Neung Phak - Beng Touyib [Abduction]
9. Omar Souleyman - Shift Al Mani (I Saw Her) [Sublime Frequencies]
10. Sun City Girls - Ruby Soul Lao [Abduction]
11. Sun City Girls - Nights of Malta (Live 1992) [Nashazphone]
12. Sun City Girls - The Imam [Annihaya Records ]
13. Sun City Girls - Blue Mamba [Majora]
14. Sun City Girls - Sev Archer [Dub Ditch Picnic]
15. Sun City Girls - Cruel and Thin [Abduction]
16. Umni Nadra - Senjah Indah [Sublime Frequencies]
17. Uncle Jim's Superstars of Greenwich Meantime - Graduation Day [Black Velvet Fuckere Recordings]

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Blur : [X] The Great Escape

Dean Fawkes — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 08:43:11 -0700

At the peak of Britpop, Blur lost the goddamn plot.

Conventional wisdom, you old dog.

In the second of the band's most discredited albums, 1995's The Great Escape was at first welcomed with the galactic warmth of fascist-busters on parade, only to be later blowtorched at the stake, and for the exact same reasons.

Hypocrites.

While the album — a 'baroque masterpiece', as bassist Alex James recently described it — is over-bearing in idea and sound and it just goes on and on, it's always retained a sense of music-hall fracture and New Labour British regret. Of deep, dark confidence and, in "The Universal", total Orwellian, era-defining beauty.

Outside the insanity of the time, putting the pieces back together, you realize there's always been greatness here.

A farewell to the unequivocal core of Blur.

Ignore history's snigger.

Tracklisting:

Stereotypes*
Country House
Fade Away
Topman
Best Days
It Could Be You
Globe Alone
Entertain Me (Live It!) [Remix]
Yuko & Hiro
The Universal

* Bonus intro to dodge wave-form robots

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Giallo-Fi: Andy Votel - The Applehead Crepaxian Interligne Mixtape

Dave Segal — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 10:48:18 -0800

Remember that post from Jan. 7 about Finders Keepers label boss Andy Votel’s top 15 horror-film soundtracks? Of course you do. Now Votel has uploaded a continuous mix of music from those ~~giallos~~ gialli over at the Red Bull Music Academy’s site. If you’re a connoisseur of spooky soundtracks, you probably can’t find a better guide than Votel to expose you to the most marrow-chillingest obscurities. If you're not a connoisseur of spooky soundtracks, The Applehead Crepaxian Interligne Mixtape ought to set you on the path to becoming one.

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Kymberley Kennedy

Dean Fawkes — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 11:33:34 -0800

We've been looking for an excuse to pass along something from York, England's Kymberley Kennedy ever since she put out last year's charismatic and red-herringly simple, 21st-Century-Sade ear-turner "Blackout" and a tear-off-the-curtains take on Portishead's "Glory Box".

But now that she's piled up a fair amount of material and even a recent mix-tape — one with enough Big Beat peaks to charm the grump off the wet weather — there's no reason not to now.

Tracklisting:

Kymberley Kennedy : "Four Leaf Clover [BurntSpaghetti Remix]"
Marlena Shaw : "California Soul [ASkillz Remix]"
The Incredible Bongo Band/Grinny Grandad : "Apache"+"Keep Your Hands To Yourself [Feat. Kymberley Kennedy]"
Ashes : "Dubvine"
Chemical Brothers/Grinny Grandad : "Block Rockin' Beats"+"Good Girl"
Scanty Sandwich : "Because Of You"
Kymberley Kennedy : "That's What He Said [Mighty Moog Edit]"
Fatboy Slim/Kymberley Kennedy : "Rockafeller Skank"+"All I Wanted"

There. Better.

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Gunnar Lockwood - Less Talk More Plok Mix

Dave Segal — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 15:41:39 -0800

Local label Knightriders has been one of the region's strongholds for high-quality techno over the last couple of years. One artist in its stable I think has breakout potential is Gunnar Lockwood, who put on a devastating display of intense, libidinous techno at Electric Tea Garden last December. He made a believer out of a lot of people that night.

Lockwood has a new podcast up on KRecordings' site called Less Talk More Plok. It's full of motivational, uptempo techno tracks geared to make you move more elegantly and purposefully than you're used to. And it's always welcome to be reminded of the greatness of Surgeon and Space DJz. Tracklist after the jump.

///track listing:
8 Blip • Lakker • Killekill
When The Earth • Terence Fixmer • Electric Deluxe
Transients (Mike Gervais Remix) • Truncate • Truncate
M28 (Advanced Human Dub) • Mark Broom • Gynoid Audio
Rear Window • A Made Up Sound • Delsin
Mad Science (Samuel L Session Remix) • Svida • Klap Klap Records
Running (Edit) • Rivet • Naked Index
Warped • SCNTST • Boysnoize Records
New York • Zoo Brazil • Turbo Recordings
Don't Phonk • Milton Bradley • Music Man Records
Matter • Clouds • Turbo Recordings
Hyperventalist • Gunnar Lockwood • Unreleased
6 To 6 Lick • Blawan • Black Sun Records
Tasu • Go Hiyama • Stroboscopic Artefacts
BSR2 A1 • AnD • Black Sun Records
AK-47 (Gaetano Remix) • Space DJz • Potential Recordingz
Rave (Dirt Mix) • Head High • Power House
Klonk Part 1 • Surgeon • Dynamic Tension
Baptism • Regis • Downwards
Stiff Neck • Errorsmith • errorsmith
Oblivion's March • Mix Architekt • ECI Korea
Hopscotch • Space DJz • Roots Records
Sear • Cassegrain & Tin Man • Killekill
Travellers (MRSK Remix) • Anthony Shakir • Rush Hour
Cloud City • Nautiluss • Turbo Recordings

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The Sight Below's Totally Awesome Valentine's Mixtape

Dave Segal — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 09:21:59 -0800

Not sure if you're aware, but it’s Valentine’s Day, and seemingly everybody and her mother-in-law is making mixes to commemorate this occasion. I've not listened to every blessed one of these, because days aren’t 72 hours long, but it seems safe to say that nobody except the Sight Below has done a mix composed entirely of My Bloody Valentine gems ranging from their mid-’80s cutey-pop phase to 2013’s sleeper hit, m b v. The selections include "Only Shallow," “Slow,” “Cupid Come,” “Kiss the Eclipse,” "Soft as Snow (But Warm Inside)," and “Loomer.” This is a connoisseur's endeavor, made out of true love(less). A Totally Awesome Valentine Mixtape* is 86 minutes of dream-pop bliss, no matter the status of your personal life.

* Calling MP3s uploaded to the web a "mixtape" makes the linguistic fundamentalist in me go crazy, but I realize trying to stop this ubiquitous usage is futile. I get it: People love to fetishize analog formats, but making a mockery of meaning is a weak way to do this.

UPDATE: The Sight Below (Rafael Anton Irisarri) writes to clarify a few things about this post.

for the record: a "bunch of mp3's" were not used in the making. even the new MBV tracks are high resolution .wav, which I acquired when I purchased/ordered the vinyl+CD version off their website.... I was very dissatisfied with the album's mastering however - did you notice how unbalanced the levels are? I'm no fan of the volume wars, but this particular record overall volume is really low - it's My Bloody Valentine for crying out loud, if anyone if going to have a loud album it's them! So being the tech nerd I am (and a mastering guy myself), I spent two days remastering it to my own liking, the results I used on this mix. Rest of tracks came from my own collection of cd's, etc. I sat down in my studio the other night and went through my MBV collection, figured out the key signature and/or tempo for each track (some I know by heart of course); then determined which ones could work well together and curated the so-called "mixtape" afterward.

A totally awesome Valentine's mixtape by The Sight Below by Thesightbelow on Mixcloud

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Fhysical Graffiti at FRED Wildlife Refuge

Trent Moorman — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 13:36:48 -0800

Natalya Pemberton

Friday and Saturday this weekend and Fridays and Saturdays for the month of February, FRED Wildlife Refuge will be hosting FHYSICAL GRAFFITI, an audio/visual dance happening with installations by street artists Weirdo, Baso Fibonacci, NKO, and Kevin Krow. Original musical landscapes are mixed live by Kirk Huffman (Kay Kay & His Weathered Underground/Wild Orchid Children), which include material from Mad Decent's Schlachthofbronx. Sari Breznau (Circus Contraption) also contributes, and there’s a full band, with special guest New Orleans bounce artist Vockah Redu.

10PM doors – 3AM close. RSVP Required: HERE. 128 Belmont Ave East, across from Captain Black’s. Picture yourself inside Andy Warhol’s balls staring off a cliff 500-feet high at a kaleidoscopic ocean, with aerial artists. Kirk Huffman and Chris Snell spoke:

What is this Fhysical Graffiti? There’s so much shit going on. Music, dancers, and visuals. What’s happening? Is it all a metaphor for sex?

Kirk: Anything at any given time can be a metaphor for sex at FRED. I've had trouble explaining the evening to folks myself. I'll let Chris give you his grand idea breakdown, but I will say that you will be thoroughly entertained and in a way that is unlike anything going on in Seattle right now. Side note: this shit is ideal for psychedelics, just a heads up.

Chris: It's an enormous conceptual-art piece with visual, both painted and digital, music and dance elements all combined to create this experience we are calling Fhysical Graffiti. To put a cherry on top we brought bounce poster boy from New Orleans, internationally renowned artist/dancer, VOCKAH REDU. Dance and aerial artists include Liza Rose, Paris Original, Trojan Original, and Amy Clem, with choreography by Ellie Sandstrom, Liza Rose, Amy Clem, and Fae Phalen. Massive 60 x 20 projected visual wall designs and installations were create by Jonathan Womack.

Bruce Dugdale

Kirk, for the show, you remix music from Schlachthofbronx (MIA producer). What’s it like? What was your process for it? Do you play live during the show with a full band? Or do you DJ it?

Kirk: The Schlachthofbronx stuff, at least from my perspective on the tracks I remixed, incorporates elements of break, Miami bass and bounce, but there's heavy Calypso/Caribbean music influences, too, that give it its own uniqueness. I was given all the individual stems from the original sessions from Schlachthofbronx's Carimbo EP and chopped them up into new compositions and remixes. Sari Breznau and Scott MacPherson both wrote horn arrangements over a good deal of the remixes and play live with a band, including drummer, baritone sax, tenor/alto sax, tuba, trumpet and synths that play with the tracks.

Basically, because the show is one long production that operates with lighting/visual/sound cues, I'm operating a large 90-minute ProTools session with click track sends to a headphone splitter for a couple band members vs. building the set each night with triggers in Traktor or Ableton.

How did you go about composing? What guidelines did Chris give you?

I composed from the raw files sent from Schlachthofbronx, and I added a lot of my own samples. On certain tracks, I added real bass, percussion, and keyboard elements. I composed the tracks in ProTools and then had them mixed by Elan Wright (Kung Foo Grip, Riff Raff, SOL) in Logic. There weren't a lot of guidelines going into the project, I remember at first that the project idea sounded really grandiose, but vague, too. As things progressed, Chris sent me a few tracks he liked as well as the Schlafchthofbronx material, a handful of Vockah's recordings to marinate on. A lot of the music was inspired by descriptive words we all used and whatever was going on with the visuals/dancers or horn lines.

Have you done this kind of remixing before?

The remixing and composing electronic music stuff I've been doing as a hobby on the side for a while, but have been involved with it a lot more recently since I spent 6 - 7 weeks last year in LA working with producers/songwriters who primarily work in this genre/medium. I was able to observe and pick up a lot of things that enabled the Fhysical Graffiti music to be produced more comfortably.

What is the difference between a “musical landscape” and a “song”?

Um, I don't know, one has trees and mountains and the other is just bummin' on the corner? I guess I think of musical landscapes as something Sergio Leone-sounding. Music made to enhance something visual rather than standing alone on its own.

At any point does anyone twirl from their teeth or hair? I went to the circus when I was a kid and a girl was twirling around on a rope by her mouth. It scared the shit out of me.

Yeah, the stuff the dancers are doing is fucking nuts. Pulleys, ropes 'n' harnesses, chandeliers. I keep saying, “Y’all are gonna hurt yourselves.” [Laughs]

Fhysical Graffiti happens Friday and Saturday this weekend, and Fridays and Saturdays in February. 10PM doors.

Bruce Dugdale

Bruce Dugdale

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Instant Kamma: Phaedrus' Bassment Mix

Dave Segal — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 12:39:44 -0800

Local electronic-music label Knightriders is hosting a fantastic podcast titled Bassment by Seattle-via-the-Netherlands techno producer/DJ Phaedrus (aka Joris Kamma). It's an uncompromising excursion through some of techno's darker and more mind-expanding quadrants, geared for that stark, vast warehouse rave of your sickest fever dreams. (Check the tracklist below.) “I’m always looking for that special track that doesn’t sound like anything else,” Kamma says, and he largely keeps his word here.

Phaedrus also has an EP, Anno Patris, dropping Jan. 12 on Knightriders. You can hear clips from it here. His second EP on Knightriders Recordings is due out later in 2013.

Knightriders Podcast | 001- Phaedrus Dj mix “Bassment”

Soundstream – Wenn Meine Muttie Wusste
Gingy & Bordello – Iron & Water
Barker & Baumecker – Schlang Bang
Leeon – The Outsider (Conforce remix)
Dense & Pika – Mooger Fooger
Das Glow & Strip Steve – Calcium
Sigha – Scene Couple
Indigo – Wake
James T Cotton – Press Your Body
Locked Groove – Different Paths
Blawan – Tuesday’s March
Norman - Dunkel Wars Der Mond Schien Grelle
Measure Divide – MD5 (Yan Cook Dub mix)
Thomas Smith – Retina Scan (SCB edit)
Marcel Dettman – Push
Indigo – Kali
Tom Dicicco – 9926
Matt O’Brien – Without Warning
Claro Intelecto – X
Sleeparchive – Hospital 01

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Turquoise Wisdom's Play It As It Lathes Site and Like a Coat From the Cold Mix

Dave Segal — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 11:27:37 -0800

DJ Turquoise Wisdom (aka Zach Cowie, former Sub Pop employee and the catalyst behind Light in the Attic’s excellent Country Funk comp) has started a new website called Play It As It Lathes on which he digitizes gems from his extensive vinyl collection every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Cowie’s one of my favorite DJ/record collectors, and if you explore his mixes and this page long enough, there’s a good chance he’ll win your heart and mind, too.

Today’s selection is “Everyday” off William Onyeabor's Anything You Sow LP, and it’s as charming and quirky a song as you’ll ever hear by a Nigerian messing with synth pop. Love at first hear!

Turquoise Wisdom also has a deeply poignant and beautiful new mix up at Aquarium Drunkard for your early-January/post-holidays blues, titled Like a Coat From the Cold. Track list after the jump. Ah, my favorite Talk Talk tune!

1. Terry Callier – Dancing Girl (excerpt) – What Color Is Love – Cadet (w/ a sampled introduction by Gil Scott Heron. RIP to both of you.)
2. Robert Wyatt – Biko – Work In Progress – Rough Trade
3. Henri Texier – Le Piroguier – Amir – Eurodisc
4. Talk Talk – I Believe In You – Spirit Of Eden – Parlophone
5. Byrds – Triad (DJ Steef “Triolisme” Edit) – 12″ – Magic Wand
6. Arthur Russell – Arm Around You – Calling Out Of Context – Rough Trade/Audika
7. You Gotta Woman (Abel Edit) – 12″ – ESP Institute
8. Ebo Taylor – Come Along – Afro Beat Airwaves – Analog Africa
9. Brigitte Fontaine & Areski – La Harpe Jaune – Vous Et Nous – Saravah
10. Smog – I Feel Like The Mother Of The World – A River Ain’t Too Much To Love – Drag City
11. R Stevie Moore – Time Standstill – Glad Music – New Rose
12. Big Star – Kanga Roo – The Third Album – Aura
13. Harold Budd – The Chill Air – Ambient 2: The Plateaux Of Mirror – Editions EG
14. Bill Fay – Cosmic Concerto (Life Is People) – Life Is People – Dead Oceans

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(Nearly) The Last Rave On Earth

Dean Fawkes — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 11:56:06 -0800

Heatwave, still on a super-roll after this year's monstrously smart and platter-packed historical celebration of all things Jamaican in the bloodlines of modern British music culture, just offered a smiling flick of Vs at all the recent Mayan mess.

A few days ago, they wrote:

If the world is ending, let's have a rave: Heatwave have made you a dancehall soundtrack to Armageddon. Spend your last hours on earth having the wildest party since Mayan times. Featuring the biggest party tunes ever: from Sean Paul to Sizzla, Biggie to Bob Marley, Michael Jackson to Mavado and R. Kelly to Rihanna.

Rewind!

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Hear Optimo's Entire Trouble Set @ Q

Dave Segal — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 12:37:42 -0800

Scottish DJ duo Optimo (Jonnie Wilkes and Keith McIvor) did an expansive, eclectic, and exciting set at Q Friday December 14, and the good people at Trouble recorded it all. Settle in for 340 minutes of trippy deepness, starting with the great Arthur Russell and Peter Zummo and finishing with a Slayer/Nina Simone mix. Yes!

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El Ten Eleven Have Made Us a Playlist

Trent Moorman — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 15:02:32 -0800

From prolonged stints in the capsule of their van, El Ten Eleven has chosen some songs for us to listen to. Long interstate stretches mean quality van time. Quality van time means time to listen to music (and Aziz Ansari) and eat banana chips. From their choices, I've audibly fed on and gleaned Chicago's Lujo Records-released Yourself and the Air. See them tomorrow, Saturday with El Ten Eleven at the Crocodile.

Yourself and the Air- Sick Days from pushlight media on Vimeo.

El Ten Eleven Philip Lorge Choice Playlist:

Tame Impala – "Why Won't You Make Up Your Mind?" - Erol Alkan Rework Edit
Michna – "The Dust Off"
El Ten Eleven – "Yellow Bridges"
Devo – "Mongoloid" - Remastered Album Version
Hall & Oates – "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)" - 2003 Remaster
Beacon – "Jiggly"
N.W.A. – "Gangsta Gangsta" - 2002 Digital Remaster
Immortal Technique – "Watchout" - Remix
Louis C.K. – "Cell Phones and Flying"
Aziz Ansari – MTV's Next
Yourself & The Air – "Sick Days"
Roxy Music – "More Than This" - 1999 Digital Remaster
Local Natives – "Who Knows Who Cares"
Lucius – "Don't Just Sit There"
Simple Minds – "Somebody Up There Likes You" - 2002 Remaster
Tones On Tail – "Rain"

For those on Spotify, a link to this playlist is HERE.

El Ten Eleven plays tomorrow, Saturday, Nov 10, at the Crocodile with Michna and Yourself and the Air.

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Jimi Jaxon's 2012 Indian Summer Mix

Dave Segal — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 11:29:12 -0800

Seattle DJ Jimi Jaxon (aka Trevor Walker) recently put up a sweet mix on Soundcloud that captures the spirit of our brief but brilliant Indian summer. Now that fall’s kicked in with a vengeance, this salubrious and seductive collection of house-music Vitamin D is most welcome. [Track listing after the cut.]

Jaxon—who runs the Disco Droppings blog and 7 Deadly label and is also a street-promotion assistant and resident for Decibel—opens for Mount Kimbie and Cedaa at Chop Suey Sat. Nov. 10. More info here.

DJ Sneak - Disco Breaks (Original Mix)
Todd Edwards - Main Vibe (Original Mix)
Rubix - Sophie (Original Mix)
Franco Cinelli - Black Rhythm (Original Mix)
Solid Groove - Throwing Stones
Ian Pooley, Analog People In A Digital World - Vega (Dub Mix)
Maceo Plex - Frisky
Norm Talley - Cosmic Waves (Delano Smith Remix)
High Powered Boys - Udon (Julio Bashmore's Sax Dub)
Maya Jane Coles - The High Life
Erdal Mauff - Wanna Bath (John Tejada Remix)
Nina Kraviz - Aus Feat. King Aus On The Mic (DJ Qu Remix)
Azari & III - Lost In Time (Jori Hulkkonen Remix)
Disclosure feat. Ria Ritchie - Control (Joe Goddard Remix)

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A Hella Creepy Mix That Spotlights the Madness of John Carpenter

Dave Segal — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 10:16:03 -0700

Via Burning Ambulance

Just in time for Hallo—oh, wait. Um, well, better late than never, here’s a mix of intensely harrowing music by horror/sci-fi-flick auteur John Carpenter, who wrote his own scores, often in tandem with the superb library-music composer Alan Howarth. With impeccable timing, the Death Waltz label reissued in mid October the soundtracks to Halloween II and Halloween III that Carpenter created along with Howarth; their score for They Live is due out on Death Waltz in December. Think of this mix as getting an early jump on Halloween 2013. Yeah.

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Blur : [X] Leisure

Dean Fawkes — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 09:36:30 -0700

Blur's Leisure has few fans.

Originally released in 1991, the band's initial full-length is a frustratingly malformed, black-sheep debut album harassed by premature international attention, behind-the-scenes battles with their label, lopsided tempo shifts and gusts of noise, an apparently drunken track-listing — which remains different for three different countries — and an overall sick feeling of a band already devolving from promise to punch line.

Question is: By scrounging the archives of B-sides, demos, and fantastically chaotic live clips of the time, thanks to the recent Blur 21 box set, can an album like this be fixed? Or at least given another go?

A dare.

Tracklisting:

She's So High
Bang [Extended Version]
Uncle Love
Explain
Repetition
Berserk
Birthday
Day Upon Day [Live]
There's No Other Way [Extended Version]
Sing

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Tune Up to DJ Slow's Motor Collective Sampler Mix

Dave Segal — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 11:17:24 -0700

You may have seen me babbling in these pages about Motor, an event held every other month by Sam Melancon of Debacle Records that focuses on unconventional electronic music. it’s one of my favorite new nights in Seattle and now DJ Slow, a frequent performer at Motor, has constructed a 64-minute mix of artists who’ve played it. It's a vigorous, stimulating blend of mainframe-busting techno, cosmic disco, heavenly ambience, and razor-edged IDM.

The next Motor takes place Sat. Dec. 1 at Lo-Fi Performance Gallery with Goodwin, Dr. Troy, DJ Slow, and the live debut of TJ Max (Jayson Kochan and Timm Mason of Midday Veil).

Tracklist:
Patternmaster - DM3
Mood Organ - 10 Hearts A
Airport - Sweat
HOM - Cult of Sleep
Black Hat - #000000
Crystal Hell Pool - Visionaire
TJ Max - Quintesson
UWE 60D - Strung Out on Zen
Panabrite - Atoll
Megabats - Ill Eagle
Goodwin - Surface (edit)

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Chimurenga Renaissance: PUNGWE Mixtape

Sean Jewell — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 11:52:03 -0700

Check out this mixtape that dropped yesterday in advance of Chimurenga Renaissance's (Tendai Maraire) forthcoming album. It's a promo piece put together by Tendai himself with help from Brooklyn DJ Chief Boima.

Both artists were born in Africa, and raised in America (Boima in Sierra Leone and Brooklyn, and Maraire in Zimbabwe and South Seattle), and the tape seamlessly merges the sounds of Tendai's hip hop with traditional and contemporary Chimurenga music. Boima goes deep into the record crates and pulls out music from Western to South Africa to include such folk heroes as Thomas Mapfumo and Youssou N'dour, and even uses some of Tendai's father Dumisani's music for the mix.

If you weren't already familiar with Tendai Maraire's lifetime of music (literally) through his family, his performances, or his production, you most definitely heard his work from under your rock on Shabazz Palaces Black Up in 2011. His chime toned mbira solos have been salient contributions to the rest of his Shona style rhythm section, and were part of the woozy mystery that made Shabazz Palaces the stand out hip hop act of the year. They introduce themselves again to you, along with a guest spot from Palaceer Lazaro himself, on the first track of the tape A Toast To Frame and Ro.

The rest of the tour through this brief history of African revolutionary music, is guided by a Tendai himself under his rap moniker Fly Guy Dai who aggregates a lifetime of worldly wisdom on the soulful Help Me Out, and professes scornfully on the street wise F U, over the very music that he so ardently embodies. Just like the music of Africa is neither a performance nor an art but a participatory event for all, Maraire is neither proposing revolution nor pitching a cultural ideal; he's relaying his life to you in song, and on extremely personal on tracks like Boom he's the Chimurenga Renaissance incarnate.

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Royal-T Spot

Dean Fawkes — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 11:02:45 -0700

In quick second-wave grime news, Rinse FM's recent acquisition Royal-T shoved a mix out the door for XLR8R earlier this week to help set up his debut album next month, and it's striped with a spectacular and urgent suggestion of the genre's new future, even in the face of how the sound's been on the brink of counter-cultural irrelevance ever since it finally conquered the British charts around four or five years ago.

Highlight: besides the first half's full-throttle, it's the mixture of 2000's "Nicole's Groove" by Phaze One and the too-forgotten, commendably over-the-top "Shoot 2 Kill" by U.K. garage's Oxide & Neutrino, who were just about the pre-dubstep equivalent of early Joker, which isn't a slur.

Setlist follows.

Royal-T
XLR8R Mix

01. Royal-T : "Intro"
02. Royal-T : "Space Cowboy [Feat. MIK]"
03. Filth Collins : "Bomb Bass"
04. Razzler Man : "Renk Dread [V.I.P.]"
05. Spooky : "Coolie Dance Joyride 2012"
06. X5 Dubs : "From Dem Ah"
07. Royal-T : "Work Your Body [Feat. Roska]"
08. Cassie : "Me & U [K1 Remix]"
09. Royal-T : "Music Please [Feat. Merky Ace]"
10. Alias : "Gladiator [Spooky 2012 Refix]"
11. MIK : "MOR£ [Acapella]"
12. Royal-T : "Gully Funk"
13. Spooky : "Spartan"
14. Preditah : "Attack"
15. Darq E Freaker : "Ironside"
16. Danny Weed : "Creeper [Royal-T Remix]"
17. Dizzee Rascal : "I Luv U [Royal-T Refix]"
18. Phaze One : "Nicole's Groove [X5 Dubs Remix]"
19. Oxide & Neutrino : "Shoot 2 Kill"
21. Minnie Riperton : "Inside My Love [Royal-T Remix]"
22. Royal-T : "Missing Aurora"
[Download]

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The Pop Punk Puberty Playlist

Megan Seling — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 11:10:36 -0700

This week I wrote about pop punk, puberty, and how everything I know about being a woman I learned from boys singing songs about girls. You can read it here.

I mention a lot of songs in the story, and I made a playlist to go along with it, should you like to listen while you read. Prepare for a wave of nostalgia by way of the Ataris, Fenix TX, Less Than Jake and other bands and songs you maybe haven't thought about in years.

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An Excellent Sexy Mix by Erik Blood

Charles Mudede — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 13:48:20 -0700

Hear it here, The Color Awesome. Erik Blood provides a comment for each track.

Freescha – Come Good
– From the album “What’s Come Inside You”, this song is playfully sexy, like the “golden age” porn I tend to like and wrote about.

or

My Bloody Valentine – Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside)
– Nasty nasty nasty. And no one seems to notice.

The mix forms a background (erotic, sensuous, voluptuous) to his forthcoming album Touch Screens (August 7th, 2012).

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Download FREE Good To Die Records Summer Comp

Kelly O — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 14:59:33 -0700

Download me, bitchez

Oh, lucky day! The best new rock label in the PacNW, Good To Die, wants you to have a FREE new comp! It's got tracks from prog-metalllers Dog Shredder, insane punks Deadkill, and sci-fi power rockers Sandrider. It also has a couple of exclusives: one from Portland Oregon queers Gaytheist—a politico song called "Condemn The Condemners"—and two, the debut of Good To Die's most recent signing—sludge punkers from Portland known simply as Rabbits.

Go download it now!

Like the press release says: "Those eardrums of yours aren't going to puncture themselves."

Track listing after the jump...

1. Absolute Monarchs - "Attack"

2. Sandrider - "The Corpse"

3. Monogamy Party - "Never to Rise"

4. Dog Shredder - "Battle Toads"

5. Brokaw - "Berlin Heart"

6. Deadkill - "Oh God Help You"

7. Rabbits - "Meth Valley 99"

8. Absolute Monarchs - "Thinking Thieves"

9. Brokaw - "Terms of War"

10. Sandrider - "Paper"

11. Monogamy Party - "Covenant of Brothers"

12. Deadkill - "Outta My Head"

13. Gaytheist - "Condemn the Condemners"

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Free Music! "What's Up Seattle"

Kelly O — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 14:42:21 -0700

Want some free music? Sure you do. It's free... a 100% free digital mixtape, featuring lots of local yokels. Many of the bands are about to play the Capitol Hill Block Party (names, below, in bold.)

>>>CLICK COVER TO DOWNLOAD<<<

Featured bands: The Numbs / Nightmare Fortress / Rose Windows / Naomi Punk / Perpetual Ritual / Stickers (debut track) / Constant Lovers / Wimps / Footwork (debut track) / Dude York / Neighbors / Punishment (debut track) / Pony Time (debut track) / Haunted Horses / White Coward / dreamdecay (debut track) / USF

All tracks have been approved for online distribution by the artists.

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Ms. Shystie Science Theater 3000

Dean Fawkes — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 10:32:32 -0700

Thanks to Anna Minard's heads-up, our favorite moment of Azealia Banks's first full mixtape is the surprise appearance by grime's Shystie.

Despite its highlights, Shystie's 2004 major-label debut Diamond In The Dirt was a bit of a rushed and stillborn affair that failed to fully extract her talents, which prevented her from grabbing the British black dance-culture cross-over baton from the likes of Ms. Dynamite or Kano, both of whom she previously and subsequently worked with to fantastic effect.

A real treat, then, to hear her pop up and run the road on all cylinders again.

Let's leap down the memory-hole.

[Three more clips after the cut.]

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Pop Mash-Up (To Be Used for Good or Evil)

Megan Seling — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 13:33:04 -0700

Here's something to listen to while reading Dave Segal's music piece this week, titled "Justin Bieber Is Not That Bad." It's mixed together clips from the current radio hits, including many songs that made it into Segal's piece, and if they didn't put the album covers in the video when the new song started, I'd be hard pressed to tell when one song ended and the other began. Good job, pop song writers! You can do exactly what all the other pop song writers can do.

I'm going to blast this at my cat the next time he refuses to move off my side of the bed. Or maybe I'll save it for my cranky neighbors who like to slam cupboard doors shut for hours at a time in the middle of the night (WHAT ARE YOU DOING THAT FOR?).

Video is after the jump...

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Roll the Dice's Canadian Mixtape

Kathy Fennessy — Wed, 30 May 2012 14:08:22 -0700

The Leaf Label
Roll the Dice

Just as Seattle has Decibel*, Montreal has Mutek, the International Festival of Digital Creativity and Electronic Music, which runs from May 30 - June 3, 2012.

This year's line-up includes Apparat Band and Shackleton. Swedish duo Roll the Dice, whom I wrote about earlier this year, are also part of Mutek's 13th edition.

To pay tribute to their host country, Malcolm Pardon and Peder Mannerfelt have compiled a moody mixtape of Canadian cuts—some electronic (Plastikman) and some not (Joni Mitchell). Check it out here. I found the segue between Paul Anka ("Autumn Leaves") and Tim Hecker ("The Piano Drop") particularly moving.

* Decibel runs September 26-30, and also features Biosphere, Fennesz, and Robert Henke.

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