Pushin'!

Picking up where Mo left off on his last post (which I assume not many people read, but definitely should), Mo and I both come from the same place when it comes to WHY we do what we do: because we love it. Not because we want to be famous, not because we think it looks cool, not because we're show-offs or because we think we're the best djs in the world. We both love music of all kinds, and at different places and times in our lives, we each were bitten by that post-modern sonic bug that says, "wow, if this song sounds this dope on its own, how much better could it sound mixed with this OTHER song, or sound, or rhythm, or peom, or whatever." We like the sound of two different things being mixed together to create a THIRD thing. And we like to play those things loud, preferably with other people who like to dance to those things. Because dancing to dope beats is fun.



With all the millions of songs out there, there are a thousand billion permutations of combinations, and that alone keeps us pushing to find that next dope mix, that next perfect rhythm or sequence, which, like a surfer's perfect wave, only comes along a few times, or maybe just once, in your life. But once you've caught it, once you've stood in front of that speaker stack and it's all clicked and you've captured that perfect rhythm, you will spend the rest of your life looking for it again, or trying to create it, or top it. Sometimes we get close, sometimes we totally lose the plot, but it's something you never stop shooting for...


I don't want to speak for Mo, but I don't spend most of my waking minutes obsessing about obscure micro-genres of music and trolling the dusty corners of the internet for sounds because I think it will make me famous, or get me laid, or be the "best" at scratching or juggling or reverse crab flaring. I don't do it to try to inflate my friends on Facebook or followers on Twitter. And I definitely don't do it to make money (though a little here and there doesn't hurt). I do it because I like hearing dope shit. Period. And making something dope into something REALLY dope, even if just a little bit more, is never a bad thing. Plus, what the fuck else am I going to do, play videogames?


I bought myself a gangload of subsonic weaponry recently, and spent about 90 minutes mixing it together and throwing down effects on the Kaoss pad. I recorded it, check it out below. I hope you like it, but I fucking love it, and really, that's all that matters...


Still lookin' for the perfect beat...





1. Slyde - Block Party
2. Slyde - SlydevsMGMT booty
3. Skool of Thought - Villa Funk
4. Hot Mouth - I Don't Care (Krafty Kuts and Hot Mouth Re-Reub)
5. Stanton Warriors & Bassbin Twins - Rhythm Rocks the Blue (Elite Force Mix)
6. Slyde - Discofukka
7. 30 hz & Vlad - Get Low
8. Lee Morimter & Laidback Luke - Blau (Fog's Blunderbuss Mix)
9. Micky Slim & Mark Brown - You Know What's Up (Krafty Kuts re-rub)
10. Hatiras, Vandal, JELO & Stanton Warriors - M.A.D. (Elite Force Remix)
11. Twocker - Stitch (Bass Kleph Mix - Krafty Kuts Re-Rub)
12. NAPT ft. Louise Marshall - Make my Day (This is NOT a Jack Beats Remix)
13. Deekline & Wizard - Angels (NAPT remix)
14. Deekline & Wizard - Back up (Krafty Kuts remix)
15. Bar 9 - Shaolin style (Elite Force Mix)
16. Splitloop - Ghetto UK
17. Elite Force - The Law of Life
18. Deekline & Wizard - Fire (Adsorb Remix)
19. Stupid Fresh - Get the Fuck Up ft. Stellar MC (Krafty Kuts re-rub)
20. Si Begg - Are You the Big Boy DJ (Milo Firewater Remix)
21. Deekline & Wizard - Bounce and Rebound (Beat Assassins Remix)
22. Deekline & Wizard - Keep It Pushing ft. Freq Nasty & DJ Assault (Specimen A Remix)



Direct Link to MP3

I Wanna Know... How To...Roll With It Baby!

direct link to mix

greetings friends! long time no see. work has been kicking my ass. and so my jumbled brain invites you inside. set up, get comfy, and follow me on this stream of consciousness.....

my fellow Butter Brother, Todd the Rocket, sent me this awesome link today to a Eugene McDaniels article written by Cosmo Baker of The RUB from BK. Todd has been working with Eugene (or Gene as he is now privy to call him) for a couple of months now and their relationship is blossoming into something mega. Cosmo is an ill dj. After i read the link the Rocket sent me i perused the rest of Cosmo's blog which i havent done in a while. i do so love me some RUBs, they guys are an inspiration. At one point i came across a comment : "Cosmo is a dj's dj" and it got me thinking... i say shit like "your favorite dj's djs" and the like, all the time. here, on faceboob, and in my real analog avatar-less life. i started wondering (read: worrying) do motherfuckers get insulted when i say that? i love dj'ing and one of the biggest disappointments in my life is that lately i dont have enough time to devote to it, the blog, editing, remixing, and go to shows. i envied Cosmo, but at he same time i am happy as hell for him. he got his. he earned his. and he IS MAD FUCKING GOOD. but i am also happy with my position too. i was explaining to a friend that although i dont get to do any of this stuffs full time, i do get to enjoy it and the pleasures it brings. i gig, i meet interesting folks, i have a likkle recognition. and i get props. there arent too many things we humans engage in outside of shit that involves an inflated ball, where we get props. i get props. sometimes i want more, and sometimes a homeboy (big ups to REV1 for always being my jimminy cricket) has to slap me back down to earth. i do well and i do what i do out of a sense of love and urgency.

how do we get to where we are going? how do we earn the titles bestowed upon us? why must we "stay in our lane" and "play our position"?

theres been a lot of flack about who is legit, who is for real, who is down, who is fake, who is a poser, who is a groupie, who is full of shit... but its all flack. its easy to get caught up in all that and lose sight of what you originally started out to do. i never started out to become a world class, world famous dj. i am not sure if Cosmo did, but he is now, and he is really good at it. Me, i get props from other underground cats around the globe who stumble upon my humbly made mixes (can i proclaim to be your favorite dj's favorite dj and still be humble?) and i go to bed happy. i hope you enjoy what Mantisounds and I do. we eek it out, we sneak it in, we sacrifice where we cant afford to, and we keep bringing it on the real.

check out Cosmo's blog here and my boy Soulstatic's excellent internet radio station, BrooklynRadio.net, where THE RUB is hosted, here

......

and without further ado, here is my latest offering to the masses:

Girl I'll House You by mosart212

Up Down Up Down Left Right Left Right B B A...

direct link to mix

here is what happened: I went from 65 beats per minute, to 165 beats per minute, back down to 65 beats per minute. tried some double time over some traditional time signatures, tried some contrapuntal melody arrangements, tried to wrangle some blends into some sort of symmetry. this was done several times over in what is known as “practice” then the results were induced onto a recording device, which doesn’t really record but actually transcribe a series of 1’s and 0’s onto some sort of “memory” the final product was re-branded a “mix” received the La MoDa blessing (think kosher v. non-kosher) posted onto a web diary, along with a snarky “pic” and then sent out into the world alone and vulnerable for others to make judgments about the creator’s insignificant life filled with trifling minutiae… enjoy!