Seeking to Believe

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(pic: lisa alisa)

I spent the past weekend snowboarding and drinking whiskey in a cabin in the woods in NH. Snowboarding is a funny sport, because it involves long periods of downtime. Driving to the mountain (or the house the night before) is always a road trip. You generally snowboard during the day, so at night you're relaxing around a table or a fire with your friends (or alone). And you spend a lot of time on chair lifts. These are all prime mixtape listening opportunities, and we here at La Moda strive to service the whole spectrum of your listening needs. The following mix is perfect for that first ride up the lift, first thing in the morning, when only a few people are on the slopes, and the 4 lifts in front of and behind you are empty, and the sun hasn't yet touched the side of the mountain, and the cold air has that extra-clean morning bite, and the snow below you hasn't yet been carved up and snowplowed and it's all perfectly groomed, and the mountains behind you remind you how tiny and insignificant you are, and how lucky you are to be alive on that particular morning...

Mantisounds - seeking to believe by Mantisounds

1. juana molina - que llueve

I have such a crush on Juana Molina, just because her voice is so soft and warm and pretty. I think she's like some sort of Argentine Alanis Morissette, in that she was on tv as a kid and grew up to be a sensitive, serious artist. My Spanish has gotten so rusty that I only understand about half of this song, but Juana Molina could sing me her grocery list and I'd enjoy it...

2. four tet - everything is alright

This song got used in a commercial a few years back. I'm definitely one of those "go for yours however you can get it" people with respect to artists/musicians licensing their work for commercial purposes. If licensing your song to Bud Lime gets you that much closer to making art or music your full time job, or keeps you making art or music as a living, go for yours. "Selling out" is so 20th century. Do your thing, Moby...

3. bebel gilberto - august day song

This is another singer who could sing me test questions from the SAT and I'd enjoy it...

4. lemon jelly - kneel before your god

5. soulstice - color me blue

I am a sucker for any song with that "Mardi Gras" sample behind it (or any variation/recreation thereof). Soulstice put out some great music in their day, and always lined up the killer remixers too.

6. nightmares on wax - finer

Nightmares on Wax make weed music. No two ways about it. Hell, his first downtempo album is called Smokers Delight. This track is off of Carboot Soul, the following album, though as you can tell, it's no less smoked out.

7. nash - keep rising

Nash didn't release a ton of songs, but the ones they did release were good. Izzi Dun, who appears later in this mix, played cello in Nash...

8. groove armada - tuning in (rewritten)

Groove Armada has been turning out high-quality music for over a decade (not to mention the amazing compilations and remixes Tom Findlay and Andy Cato have been involved in). It is both a blessing and a curse that they are famous for one of the more annoying songs ever made (don't front, you want to gouge out your own eyeballs whenever "I See You Baby" comes on), because I'm sure they got paid for it, but it's not at all representative of their body of work. "Superstylin," "Wholemeal," "Easy," "At the River," those are timeless tracks. This is Groove Armada's "Beatles" song. It sounds really good on nice, loud headphones...

9. groove armada - suntoucher

I loved Jeru's first album, but I have to say I think he must have gotten a LOT of help from Premier, because nothing he ever did after that was that good. This song is not Jeru's finest hour, but the beat is so damn hot that I'll let it slide. I played this for someone once and they said, "Jay Z's gonna be pissed." But this song came out in 2001, "What More Can I Say" came out in 2003. Just another example of rappers borrowing from electronic artists ("Stan," Kanye's "Stronger," etc.)....

10. massive attack - protection

The term "trip hop," as cringe-inducing as that might be today, was practically INVENTED for Massive Attack. Massive Attack is another one of those groups that can do no wrong. Everything they do is a masterpiece. And Tracey Thorn's vocals on this track are hauntingly beautiful. This song is right near the top of my "all-time downtempo greats" list...

11. izzi dunn - big picture

Samples "Protection," so the mix fits very nicely.

12. ms. dynamite - dy-na-my-tee

Dynamite got her start in the UK Garage pirate scene back around the turn of the century (I still love saying that). This track is off her first album, which was fire. Dynamite was one of those acts that just missed her window. She won a Mercury prize, had a hit album, and was getting ready to tour stateside. I think she could have been M.I.A.-big with the right promotional push. But she got pregnant, and took time off from music to have her son. While an admirable choice (versus the ever-rotating nannies, odd hours, and non-stop travel), the oh-so-fickle public quickly moved on. Her follow up release a few years later wasn't as warmly received, and then she was arrested for assaulting a cop outside a nightclub, and her label sort of backed off. File under "What Might Have Been"...

13. pepe deluxe - beat experience

Killer Donna Summers sample from Finnish downtempo producers...

14. imonster - daydream in blue

I think AT&T used this song on a commercial recently. Get that money, iMonster! We ain't mad atcha...

15. zero 7 - up with people

I absolutely adore Zero 7. Not only do they make some of the warmest, fullest, beautiful music, but their albums have introduced me to such vocalists as Sia and Jose Gonzalez. This song has a soaring, lush string arrangement and a very "age of aquarius" vibe to it.

16. freeland - physical world

17. weekend players - jericho

More turn of the century downtempo...

18. zero 7 - destiny

This is the song that made me fall in love with Sia. Her voice is so amazing (as anyone who has heard live versions of this song can attest to), and when she talks about watching porn in her hotel dressing gown, you KNOW she's a cool chick. The video for this song is also one of those cool rotoscope animations, like Waking Life or Scanner Darkly (both amazing movies, BTW)...

19. lemon jelly - ramblin' man

This is the second Lemon Jelly track on this mix, so you can tell I like them. Lemon Jelly was one of those groups that got a lot of shine from the vinyl purist heads, because the EPs they dropped were such well thought out packages. Colored vinyl, limited edition pressings, beautiful hand printed album art.

20. mazzy star & chemical brothers - asleep from day

DJ Triple A and I have spoken at length about our mutual love of the Chemical Brothers (his "Kut 2 Kill" mix is practically a tribute, I highly recommend it). I remember hearing singles by the Dust Brothers (before they changed their name to the Chemical Brothers) at illegal raves in Boston before Exit Planet Dust was even released. And they have held onto their own signature sound now for 15 years! The Chemical Brothers always had that downtempo psychedelic tune on every album, and this is the one from Surrender, which came out in 1999. "Fade Into You" was Mazzy Star's biggest hit, and it still sounds good today. Hope Sandoval is another woman with one of "those" voices, and it works very well with the swirling psychedelia that the Chemies were going for on this song.

Sleep When I'm Dead

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So I'm a total pack rat. I have collected random shit off and on forever. Mixtapes. Magazines. Books. Records. Stupid toys and figurines. One of the things that I collected a lot of in my day was rave flyers. I never threw flyers away. I started going to raves ("parties" we called them, "rave" was so corny) in the winter of 1994 (yes, I am old) in a bar somewhere on the waterfront in Portland Maine. My friends told me it was a "micro-rave" but I think they just made that up because it sounded clever and there weren't many people there. But there were enough people there. All of them VERY. VERY. FRIENDLY. And about 30-45 minutes later, I began to apreciate what they were so excited about...

Young people are so earnest! And they do everything earnestly. And we partied EARNESTLY back then. We'd drive forever, we'd stand in line in the freezing cold for hours, we'd wander around the worst parts of strange cities at 2am trying to follow the "thump-thump-thump" of the hidden party. We were invincible, and what better time and place to be invincible than at a rave. You'd never dance like that or talk to THAT guy during the DAY, but invincible people do whatever they want, and if that means talking to the 7 foot tall viking leading his girlfriend around on a leash, so be it! Going through some of these flyers that I've collected over the years, I realize I had forgotten how damn IMPORTANT everything felt back then. Every party was going to take me to "another dimension" or "a new sonic frontier" or something. Every dj lineup was unprecedented, unrivaled, gifted from the gods of music, assembled by mad scientists in a lab or something. And yet when you were there, one of a thousand loved up party kids dancing and laughing and rolling and lounging and networking and bullshitting, it actually felt unique, special even. "Wait a minute, I HAVE arrived at a techno shangri la where music is master and the vibe will sustain us for the next 10 hours and everyone is free to be themselves!" It all felt so important, but in hindsight it was probably equal parts boundless energy and youthful narcissism.

P.L.U.R. stands for Peace Love Unity Respect. I guess it was our equivalent of "Tune in. Turn on. Drop out." Or something. There was a series of parties thrown in the National Guard Armory in Charlestown (Chelsea?) based on P.L.U.R., and PLURalism was the final installment. At the time, I probably DID think that it was all about the "wealth of openness" and "giving and receiving Peace, Love, Unity & Respect" though in hindsight it was probably more about selling tickets and keeping the cops at bay for a few more hours. Given that this party was supposed to be a "movement," I'm pretty sure that the crowd outside eventually ripped open a garage door and bumrushed the party (PLUR indeed). It was a dope party, the music was great (seriously, check that lineup: Onionz, Joeski, Dieselboy before he was big, Overload), I met a ton of friendly people, and there WAS a bouncy moonwalk, which was cool until the pills started kicking in, then it turned into a giant sex mattress and eventually deflated like some symbolic post-coital comedown. The free snow cones lasted about 45 minutes, but hey, it's the thought that counts. And they did have free massages for a while, but it was a rave, so after a few hours EVERYONE was giving out backrubs.

I went to the first Bassrush party in Allentown, Pennsylvania (a, um, 'sleepy' little city in the middle of nowhere). It was at a giant club called the Frightyard and, trust me, the bathrooms were f*cking terrifying. Get a load of the mission statement on the inside of the rather large flyer for Bassrush: New Year's Eve Rush: "The party that is set to explode, we are going to take you on a voyage of musical delight and enter 1997 right! After an amazing year of Bassrush parties we come to the grand finale. Absolutely no expense has been spared and this is guaranteed to surpass all your expectations!" FYI, I went to this party, it was supposed to be somewhere on the northeast edge of Washington DC until the cops raided the venue AS THEY WERE SETTING UP! Long story short, arrests were made, venues were ditched, and I spent my NYE in a dingy motel room with 6 other ravers watching Dave Letterman killing time while the Bassrush folks convinced The Capital Ballroom to let them have this party there. Doors opened at 2am. Happy New Years, ravers.

I just read a flyer that's too big to scan that says "come join us: when the colored lights shine off the dj's turntables and the floor becomes alive with the energy we all create and all our senses heightened and we all unite as one LIFTED spirit." Have another, drugbags! You can just imagine the "brainstorming sesh" the promoter called with his team to come up with THAT promotional copy...

"Taste the rainbow?" Tastes like lysergic acid, you bug-eyed little troll!

Thanks for indulging my meander down memory lane. I won't bore you any further today, but reserve the right to post random old school rave flyers when I'm feeling nostalgic. Here's a mix of ravetastic breakbeats for your listening pleasure. "I'll sleep when I'm dead" was something of a mantra for me and my crew back in the olden days, and was usually heard at about 6am when the discussion turned to heading home or reupping and staying until the after-party. Please to be enjoying....

Mantisounds - sleep when I'm dead by Mantisounds

1. Future Funk Squad & Tamara - Kissing Air (Kraymon Mix)

2. Sole Claw - Goth Chick Handjob

3. Tayo meets Elroy & Piper - Down Under Dub

4. Aquasky & the Breakfastaz ft. Dianne Charlemagne - Good Sound

5. Freestylers - Warrior Charge

6. Tayo - Wildlife Dub

7. Ivory - Free the Beast (Breakfastaz Remix)

8. Ian Van Dahl - Inspiration (Breakfastaz Remix)

9. Freestylers - Punks (Krafty Kuts Remix)

10. Deep Impact - Methods (VIP Mix)

11. General Midi - Turn it Loud (Rollin Mix)

12. Ils - Angels (Ed209 Remix)

13. the Autobots - Seconds Out

14. Ils - Feed the Addiction

I'll Give You Something To Cry About

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Edit the Sad Parts You Baby

I told Jason Keith and Rocket.One that the moment I dropped into my Radiohead edit, I knew this mix was going to be something special. mantisounds has been hitting yall over the head with all them floor-sweepers. get up and dance he tells you. well, this is not that. Chillout. Contemplate life. there is a definite story that this mix is the soundtrack to, but what that story is, I don’t know. I was imagining a piece of classical music as I was mixing one song to the next. The way classical music is written and performed in “movements”. this mix is about movements, about feelings and experiences. you start one place, and in a way you return there at the end, but you are not the same. No. you are never the same…..

Edit the Sad Parts You Baby - Track List

Edit the sad parts you baby by mosart212

Videotape (mosart212 ghost in the machine edit) – Radiohead
Another crack at making edits. I made this one using my AEM 100i (greatest mixer in the world!), kaos pad and my serato scratch. added a couple of effects to give it that dirty sound, right towards the end I went a little crazy with my analog effects on the AEM. the original song is, in true radiohead form, unbelievable. I do mean unbelievable in the truest sense of the word – I CANT BELIEVE IT IS REAL. It blows me away every time I hear it. I hope I captured the essence, but more importantly how I feel when I hear it, in my “remake”.

Video tapez (ft. del the funky homosapien) – AmpLive
Amplive was gonna “grey album” the whole IN RAINBOWS, then he received a cease and desist order (or so I heard from the interwwwebs, which I never question) and stopped. for a while there were only two singles from that project floating around that i could get my hands on. Here is the whole thing! This rhyme is vintage del the funky homosapien. I was sooo not into the whole deltron 3030 thing, I mean, yeah I knew the dude was a nerd (and really if you believe that most rappers aren’t you need to get your head checked, and as the old folks say, I have a bridge to sell you in bk when you get back from your appt.) but deltron3030 was a bit too much. on this track he is rhyming words, semi coherently, circa ’93. yeah La MoDa has been jockin the “golden age” of hip hop, but the love is mad deserved.

Mince Meat – Danger Doom
wow… is there anything Doom cant do? I mean seriously the guy is like Mantisounds, he is just always on, always working. (cue the clipse “grindin” instrumental) I love the way mf doom rocks a mic. he understands that sometimes rapping is about rhyming words together. even if you are rapping about seemingly nothing, which is NOT what doom does. he weaves together these stories that have a david foster wallace flow to them – footnotes, asides, and even some marginalia. first he is telling you about the ionic breeze quadra, then about how his secretary likes to tease him, and finishes it up by telling you that he is so paranoid he wears a HAZMAT suit under his tuxedo. Wowz. is he a secret agent? is he a private eye? and of course “…wherever mouse go danger follows…” Dangermouse has been on a tear lately. the evolution from ODD COUPLE, to MODERN GUILT, alone, is enough to show you the kid ain't finished. he is looking for the perfect combination. it's sort of how I felt before I met up, and started working with, Mantisounds. with beck, dangermouse is getting closer to the wall of sound 2.0 – stay ready!

Cosmic Rapp – James Pants
Again. I can’t stop. please james pants come visit me. I ain't rich but I have a guest room. and no cats.

Passport Radio (mosart212 poetic edit) – Broken Social Scene
first thing is first. My wife knows I LOVE leslie feist. she's the one person i would leave her for. And now you do too. I first discovered Feist thru Broken Social Scene, the come and go band with a million famous folks, from Canada, where every good indie band from the last 4 years has come from. I added a poem (“night feeding” by Muriel Rukeyser, off a disc of famous poems read by the authors themselves, my home girl Lilly, let me burn a couple of years ago. I do a lot of damage to the poem before I underplayed it with the BSS song) to this one, some digital decay, re-looped the middle, stretched out the time, threw in a thumping drum and hat on reverb, and the rest is history. I love the noisiness of this edit. on the verge of breaking up all together, but keeps it together right thru to…


Dumb Hyphy – E-40
I am just now getting into E-fizzle. this guy is a genius, why no one told me this before (except for P. Strong the III who told me this and the fact that lil weezy was gonna be HUGE, back in 97. P knew in 97 yall!) E-figgidy, in case you haven’t heard aint an arrogant rapper. but he is a wordsmith of the highest caliber. he ain't super witty ala canibus, but he is a better rapper than ‘bus. he is more fun, less obsessed with aliens. The hyphy movement is pretty intense too. I don’t really like the other guys in the scene, but Forty Fonzarelli, has a style I can relate to. perhaps it’s his earnestness, his boastful humbleness. this track is a lot of fun. Music right now is too serious, I was just saying to my man, Liam, the other day, there are not too many people out there having fun, and making fun music. these ARE trying times but come on yalls, can we get a little dumb erry now and then?

Pass It on - Faust & Shortee
another F&S track? Yes.

Thanks For Your Time – Gotye
Gor-tee-yeah. also rocks out with The Basics. the lyrics to this one are brilliant. this song is about how when I call T-mobile, or ComCast, or Bank oF America. I can never really get through to a fucking human. they don’t want to inconvenience me, but they do it anyway. the hook, “don’t ask me I just work here,” is straight up slackerdom. I feel like it’s the new mantra of all big-box working idiots. and if you are a big-box working idiot, sorry about the fact that you are going to lose your job. make sure you RSS this blog, so you can at least listen to some good music while looking for another dead end job.

Hip Hop Saved My Life – Lupe Fiasco w/ Nikki Jean

Lupe is fire. Lupe is a Muslim, but you can’t tell. as I wrote that I felt guilty. is it wrong to point out that he is Muslim? I think maybe saying “but you can’t notice” is also a little weird. but it’s the first thing I think of when I think of lupe. the next thing I think about is how lupe is the best in the game right now. ain’t no one (yes good for you if you caught the "double negative. now move on) writing on lupe’s level. Period. Food & Liquor, was a great introduction, he took it easy on us. He drove us to the church, but he didn’t force us to come inside. he preached, but he was on that subversive tip, you didn’t know he was preaching. but with The Cool, which by the by, is nominated for 4 Grammies, he dragged us inside. he said, “listen if you wanna hang, you have to listen” and if you heard what lupe was spitting on The Cool, you should be disturbed, inspired, sad, ecstatic, pumped up, and depressed, at the state of this godless world, all at once. If you can follow Lupe’s narrative arc on this one, you’ll see that it’s the gift that keeps on giving. Lupe is the truth right now.


Avante (mosart212 extra nyc edit) / Italian Visitors – Michna
Adrian Michna came to the scene as a dj, and thank god he moved on to making beats. blazing beats. beats that sound old in their compositions, but could only come from the mind of an ADD addled, city dwelling, techno-porn loving, white kid. Thank god. the edit on the front end of this mix extends the intro, and layers on the intro piano, and voices, (thru midi), from Italian Visitors. I hardly ever play them back-to-back, but it just felt right this time. Let me know what you think. the songs switch over as soon as the voice says “holler” and I throw on the kaos effect #53 at 101 bpms.

Delirium – Owusu & Hannibal
“Your delirium, something, something, something….” these two mofo’s are smooooth. I mean like marble-floor-in-your-socks smooth. Yacht rock smooth. please pick up Living With… so you know just how sexy Copenhagen gets. they make baby making music. when I first received this album in the mail, from my boy Dan (holleracthaboing!) I really did not like it. at all. I hated the beats. I thought it was a bit boring. But its complicated, and like all complicated things, if you work at it, and try to understand it, you arrive at this place where Owusu & Hannibal are tearing shit up.

Robots – TV On The Radio
I cannot believe all these robots fucking in the middle of the street. pictures of oprah winfrey fucking robots, on ebay….go pick up “dear science” aight….

Dutty Six Pack – Santogold & Diplo
Cutty Ranks, is the DJ (get with the lingo, gringos! That’s what mc’s are called in Jamaica, birthplace of reggae) on this one. this one gets me amped up err time. Cutty’s flow is sick, and supposedly this is a freestyle. it’s the guitar in the background, that makes all the difference. it ain’t even a big guitar sound either, it’s got almost no bottom or base to it, but it makes you want to break something just the same.


Flight Of The Conductor (mosart’s girl is crazy edit) - Beatfanatic ft. Mad Midget / Soko
this is off the Mad Midget myspace bio: "Mad Midget brings some gangsta shit with a flavor of delta blues. With a dirty mouth that never use toothpaste he makes cash and more cash. With guests like Cleancut, Rinning eye and Tacky Tick he brings that ultimate blues shit for the pimps and hoes who likes to shake their bootay! BLING BLING CASH IS KING." it cracks me up good. I blended the middle part of the F.O.T.C. track with this stripped down / acoustic version of Soko’s “my enemy”. I thought her lyrics went along real well with the backing track. its an acoustic version so there wasn’t much to isolate on the Soko track, which makes it all the more smoove. I love the way the breakdown in the backing track works with the hook of “my enemy” which by the way was actually pure luck. this mix is a one shot deal, blended in real time. If I had to do it over I would pump up the vocals just a tad more. what do you think?

Until It Comes Again – The Black Ghosts
the hook/break part of this song, when the electric guitars come in (right before the actual hook “until it comes again/oohh ooh oh”) reminds me of one of those grungy rock songs from the early 90’s. I would expect a little bridge like that to exist in a “jesus and mary chain” song. this is a funky song, with some really nice drumming, Theo Keating is Fake Blood, for those of you still trolling missingtoof and discobelle for the latest remix of a remix of an edit. Fake Blood is a little too hard for my taste, but I love the laid back style of the Ghosts. I am always blown away when I find out that all these new group that I love are just duo’s. two people pumping out all that sound. Simon Lord, the other half, was in Simian, not to be confused with Simian Mobile Disco and they were pretty fly for a bunch white guys. his voice is beautiful. A little sleazy, a little silky, a little, dare I say, black?

Forgotten Places (moodymann remix) – Alif Tree
again, this is a song, that although I love the whole thing, I come in at the 2-minute point. the guys shouting out the names and places, really bring me back; reminds me of riding late night, in the west Indian cabs in queens, nyc. the dudes are always listening to underground radio, which is one, very long, trini beat and the dj constantly shouting out folks. what I especially love is the way the beat comes down a little when the dj begins to talk. 5 minutes of the beat coming in and out and some ill, island patois. I used to ask the cabbies to translate what the dj was saying, and they would always look at me like I was crazy. they’d tell me, but they would still think I was nuts.

Cross Bronx Expressway – Cross Bronx Expressway
pure funk. sounds old, feels old. makes you shake your hips. why is this sound so hard to recreate? Discuss…

Paper Float (Styrofoam x-911 remix) – Cassettes Won’t Listen
you know that thing I said about amazing duos and how they get me all charged up? well solo acts, like my new favorite (in every mix I have submitted for posts so far) Cassettes Won’t Listen, makes feel inspired and makes me want to quit trying all at once. this remix is about the chaos I was feeling, during the last few moments of recording this mix. I felt I was melting.


set list said and done....

The Breakbeat Bug

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(pic: chiara bautista)

I've been personally collecting music for almost 20 years, maybe more if I count the years I ganked all my dad's good tape dubs of the Beatles, Steely Dan, Creedence, and Cream. My sister and I would make sure we had a blank tape at the ready to record our favorite songs off the radio when they'd come on Rick Dee's Weekly Top 40 on Sundays. Remember the Columbia House hustle? 17 Tapes for a penny? Then a tape in the mail every month that you had to remember to return or get charged? Thanks for all the hair metal, Columbia House and BMG.

My music collection really exploded, really boomed, if you will, when I started going to raves and buying, boosting, sharing, or trading dj mix tapes, those DIY mixtapes with the photocopied tape covers if you were lucky, sometimes so far removed from the original dub that there was no label or cover at all, just a tape in someone's trunk and faith that it was who that dude said it was. There was a guy who ran a company called Fusion Mixtapes and if you sent him a self addressed stamped envelope he sent you a photocopied "catalogue" of all the mixtapes you could buy from him. A lot of them were recordings of dj sets from other raves, little windows into these little underground scenes in Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, California, Florida, etc. My "rave radius" was pretty much Portland Maine to Washington DC in those days, so it was dope being able to get my hands on mix tapes from cities or towns or countries I'd never visited. In this age of instant gratification and online access, you forget sometimes how much more effort and energy went into maintaining these little scenes back then. We used to use Mission Control, an automated voicemail number that would list the raves in the northeast (Jersey to Maine) each week. Or we'd just hit up Satellite records or Boston Beat or roll through Axis or the Paradise and collect fliers, planning our upcoming roadtrips on the drive home from Boston. And with all that time in the car, we listened to LOTS of mixtapes.

I miss those days, and the music of those days. I was a breaks and jungle fanatic, and probably still have hundreds of mixtapes in boxes just waiting to be converted to digital. If you'd like to relive your 90s rave years as well, or just get a sense of what the hell I'm talking about, check out EZSkankin Mixtapes. They've got a ton of 90s era west coast djs like DJ Dan, Doc Martin, John Howard, and Jeno, plus some great classic Joeski and Onionz mixes. I highly recommend the DJ Dan "Scratch the Bass" mix.

Sometimes when I get to reminiscing about those halcyon days, I feel the breakbeat bug bite. This mix scratches that itch. It's been a while since I did a proper breaks mix, but having enjoyed the mix Triple A recently posted on his site, which is chock full of 90s/early 2000 era big room breaks, I thought I'd switch it up over here at La MoDa and jack up the BPMs, fire up the smoke machine, and get a little warehouse up in here...

Mantisounds - fire by Mantisounds

1. kid cudi ft. crookers - embrace the martian

2. 2 live crew - party (2 bit thugs badboy bmore 2X2 redub)

3. javier morillas - rock yours

4. maral salmassi - fire gem

5. NAPT - gotta have more cowbell

6. WI:RE - fresh moves (electric soulside mix)

7. slyde - frequency (NAPT remix)

8. evil 9 - they live (dj version)

9. agent k - can't hold back (curtis b remix)

10. n. annan & ed solo - handz up (stanton warriors remix)

11. stanton warriors - blaze (baobinga & ID remix)

12. beat assassins - gunclip

13. prato - hotterdam (mr. no hands remix)

14. plump djs - listen to the baddest

15. plump djs - shifting gears (stanton warriors remix)

16. stanton warriors ft. big daddy kane - get wild (bassbin twins remix)

17. kid sister - pro nails (rusko remix)

18. b. rich ft. rick ross - everyday hustle (ac slater remix)

19. bassbin twins - woppa

(pic: pacman23)

On a Crowded Floor

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(pic: Themrock)

Here’s a little mix to ease you from the chillout room onto the dancefloor. Funky midtempo breakbeat stylings of the “organically cultivated, slow roasted” variety. This set is a little more deliberate, I let the songs bubble and blend in the mix a little longer. And the Bonobo song at the end is a perfect example of why I’ll buy literally ANYTHING with Bonobo’s name on it (has Bonobo EVER made a bad song? If so, I haven’t heard it!).

No lengthy discussion of the tracklisting this time, just a linky link and a flash player (I’ll let the music speak for itself, brah)...

Mantisounds - on a crowded floor by Mantisounds

Mantisounds - on a crowded floor

1. krafty kuts - the funk is
2. fort knox five - dodge city rockers ft. mustafa akbar
3. freestylers - b boy stance (dub pistols remix)
4. ed royal & dj enne - vamos irmanos
5. flow dynamics - edit
6. All Good Funk Alliance - AGFA Theme
7. flow dynamics - superjam
8. All Good Funk Alliance - smooth daddy
9. anita o'day - swing, swing, swing (RSL remix)
10. shirley horn - come dance with me (sugardaddy remix)
11. mr. scruff & quantic - it's dancing time
12. NONO - funk master
13. hydroponic sound system - blue notes for the puma set
14. herbaliser - gold rush
15. dj shadow - right thing (z trip remix)
16. goyte - a distinctive sound
17. bonobo - recurring

Cherry Soul

direct link to mix

(pic: cyberanubis)

If I had to choose between going deaf tomorrow and going blind tomorrow, I'd pick blind. Pretty quickly. My moms is a singer, my dad was a jazz drummer, and my childhood was pretty full of music (plus a 13" black and white TV for much of my childhood, and no cable EVER), so it makes sense to me that I gravitate towards the aural. Plus I stopped playing video games that aren't solitaire like 6 years ago (everything after Gamecube is smarter than me). I've been legally blind since the fifth grade, and without glasses or contacts I am a danger to myself and others. Computers can read to you now. The thought of never being able to hear a new song scares me far more than darkness. Never hearing Stevie again? Eff that. No more Bill Withers? Nope. Blind me, please. Without my ears I couldn't hear amazing funk and soul like the selection below. Enjoy, and try to imagine a world where you could never hear this again. Sucks, huh?

mantisounds - cherry soul

Mantisounds - cherry soul by Mantisounds

1. the mary jane girls - all night long

this is the song "Around the Way Girl" sampled. Ah, rooftop romance...

2. the barkays - holy ghost

the killer break is at the end, but the whole song is sloppy, sweat soaked jumpsuit funk

3. george mcrae - i get lifted

So do I, George, so do I....

4. ernie k. doe - here come the girls

this song is so pimp. "I was born to be free. Freedom of choice. Ring that bell. Give all the girls to me." HE'S the one with freedom of choice, to choose from all the girls! King of pimps!

5. garnet simms - stop and check yourself

I like to imagine he's singing to a crazy ass ex...

6. the explosions - garden of four trees

I think there's a sex metaphor in there somewhere, but have never been able to figure out the significance of the "garden of four trees." If anyone knows, please tell me...

7. bobby rush - mary jane

story of my life...

8. bill withers - who is he and what is he to you

Bill Withers is one of my all time favorites. His whole vibe was simultaneously vulnerable and cool, sensitive and badass. That's a tough tightrope to walk, if you think about it, but he killed it. He could tell a story, and most of them did not have happy endings (anyone who has listened to "Better Off Dead" knows what I'm saying). I am totally on Team Withers.

9. candi staton - best thing you ever had

Candi Staton is a badass broad. She's got one of those voices, like Sarah Vaughan or - I'll say it - Amy Winehouse, that's bigger than the singer herself, like she can barely control it, barely harness it to do what she wants it to do. Don't hate on Amy Winehouse just because she's a crackhead with a predilection for cutting. Hate on her because she's SQUANDERING REAL TALENT!

10. bobby womack - nobody wants you when you're down and out

Nina Simone did a version of this song that is totally different, I almost didn't realize they were the same songs when I first heard this. I was talking to someone recently about how timely all these old 70s musical themes, the "life's a bitch, there's no jobs, crime is on the rise, America is insecure" types of songs, are relevant again. Thanks a bunch, W.

11. lee dorsey - yes we can (mantisounds edit)

Si se puede. This song will always be the "Obama song" to me, even though it was recorded 38 years before President Obama was elected. Lee Dorsey was ahead of his time!

12. the meters - handclapping song

Tribe sampled this song for "Clap Your Hands" off Midnight Marauders. Whenever the "what year" game gets played, I always go with 1993. No question. Buhloon Mindstate. Midnight Marauders. Souls of Mischief and that whole Heiro crew. 36 Chambers! Illmatic (came out in early 94, but RECORDED in 93 according to wikipedia, which is NEVER WRONG). The motherf*cking CHRONIC. I worked at Hampton Beach that year slingin' syrian subs and spending my paychecks at the little skate shop in the dining room (it was more like a closet/display case that the owner would wisely keep locked). Skateboarding all night, popping No Doze and pounding Dew for the lunch crowd, then splitting warm pita bread for an hour before getting a fistfull of cash, a new deck, and a tuna wrap with tomatoes, pickes, onions, and hot pepper relish to go. Life was simpler then.....

13. tyrone chestnut - bumping

14. allen toussaint - get out my life woman

this guy knew his way around a f*cking piano!

15. allen toussaint - either either

So nice, I played him twice...

16. lee dorsey - give it up

So funky. The Beastie Boys were right!

17. dianne & carole with the latin watchmacalits - the Fuzz

I definitely got caught up hard in that boogaloo craze that went around a few years ago. I dropped a lot of money on Soul Jazz compilation disks at Kim's on St. Marks back in the olden days. I love the style so much, it's so evocative of a specific time and place in America. I gave a disk of boogaloo music to a guy who grew up in Queens in the 70s, and he told me it took him right back. Plus this song's about getting busted by the cops, which is funny....

18. lemuria - hunk of heaven

Obscure Hawaiian funk. You can almost smell the pineapple roasted pig...mmmm, pork....

19. jimmy castor bunch - maggie

The saxaphone can be dangerous in the wrong hands. Jimmy Castor is the right hands.

20. stevie wonder - all day sucker

Stevie Wonder is ACTUALLY the Best. Ever. It's been proven. Songs in the Key of Life is the standard by which truly great albums are measured, and he also did Innervisions. Case closed. (oh, and I forgive him for the Woman in Red soundtrack)

21. ground hog - bumpin'

22. bohannon - run it on down dj

I think this was on the Brainfreeze mix that Shadow and Cut Chemist put out almost a decade ago (that just made me feel f*cking old!).

23. bill withers - kissing my love

To learn more about my unhealthy mancrush on Bill Withers, see #8 above

History IN The Making

OUT ONE EAR IN THE OTHER

i love indie rock. i like the music. i like the lyrics. for a while there, its felt as if the indie kids were the only ones breaking new grounds and going out on a limb and trying new stuff. bringing emotion back into the mix. i get tired of all this rap shizz, which quite frankly, isnt that very good right now. i know errbody is saying that, but just cause they are doesnt make it a lie. i love sufjan stevens, new pornagraphers, and the new matt and kim is off the wheels (do the kids still say that?) sometimes you just wanna rock out with your caulk out ya know? sometimes these guys and girls get it just right. they do know how you feel. i love me some biggie, but that ninja never peered into my heart. La MoDa has feelings, lots of them. sometimes a little indie is what soothes the beast. this mix is an attempt to put together some under-appreciated gems from the past couple of years, along with some (well deserved) over hyped stuff. grab yourself a PBR tallboy , put on some leggings, hell strap on a fanny pack, its 09, we got a black man in the white house, pretend you are on the L train, sit back and enjoy

Out One Ear In The Other (mosart212)set list

funkdafied - Faust and Shortee /
my man DJ JASONKEITH put me on to Faust and Shortee, and I have been a fan ever since. Its not exactly electro, it aint funk- but its funky, its kinda breaks, but not really... is this what florida sounded like in the late 90's?

Ankle Injuries - Fujiya & Miyagi /
they are not japanese. they will not teach you how to kick some cobra kai ass, but they will rock it with some smooth lyrics, and beautiful instrumentation.

Gotta get rid of Rick (James Pants Rmx) - Baron Zen /
so Baron Zen came out with his crazy ass shizz, a long, long, long, time ago, 1988, and then went on to found Stones Throw, which by the way, you need to stop jocking. I mean they are good, but not that good, for every Madlib on the label there is Charizma, and by the way even if you have never heard of Charizma, keep in mind that its not, "Charisma", its Chari"z"ma. La MoDa is militantly opposed to your incorrect spelling - unless we like your music, in which case we will make an exception, like you OUTCAST, uhm, OUTKAST... so, yeah, the Baron, he kills it. but this is about James motherfudging Pants. the new prince, not the color, but the awesome little musician? the new, weirder, robert smith? you tell us, but be on the lookout we will rock him again...

This month, Day 10 - CSS /
i was afraid of the new album, Donkey, was it gonna suck? was it gonna prove all the haters right? was CSS and their first album all hype? nope and nope. this song rules, this album rules, the new one rules.

Circle Square Triangle - Test Icicles /
test icicles is thrash rock, or "noise". they dont exist anymore. they had a black guy in the three- man-band. La MoDa loves when bands that dont sing rap music, have a black guy. this is progressive, after all La MoDa loves it when "people" point out that black people started rock and roll; having a black guy in the band legitimizes that "claim." this song has just the right amount of yelling with a broken voice, to make it awesome, but not annoying.

I just had to die - The Knife /
the knife is like when ghostface killah wore the stocking on his face for the first few months of the wu's career. then tony figured out he was too pretty to wear a stocking on his face and stopped.

its like that, except that the knife didnt stop. they hate the media, they hate interviews, and they hate all the things curt cobain hated. they are brother and sister, and Karin Dreijer Andersson's voice is so goddamn sexy i dont want her to die.

Since you were gone (mosart212 icey cold mix) - Chromeo /
I am over the whole chromeo craze. its was hard to break out, but i am now on the other side. from here i can still say they are incredible. worth the hype? its so hard to say as a former junky. what do you think?



Kennedy Killed the heat (MSTRKRFT rmx) - Buck 65 /
Thank me with your hands (MSTRKRFT rmx) - Panthers /
Death From Above 1979 had to change their name because apparently James Murphy came up with it first! seriously? yes seriously, they had to add the "1979" part. Jesse Keeler from MSTRKRFT is one half of the phenomenal DFA, not to be confused for DFA from NYC, right james murphy?!. there was a point at the height of the electro-music blog craze (you know where errbody you knew was downloading errthing that was put onto missingtoof, and discobelle, and, and...) where whenever you saw this: "mstrkrft remix" you knew it was going to be good. not too much glitch, not too much pretension, just enough of the song left in that you actually recognize it as a remix.

Black Background - Presets
this beat is banging. oddly enough its not indicative of what the whole presets album sounds like, but a good clue that you should get your hands on their art.

Nothing Better (mosart212 1000 bongos remix)- Postal Service /
dont hate on the postal service. they make real emotional music, that is great to listen to when you are feeling depressed. I especially loves this song when we are feeling blue. seriously. dont. hate. ben gibbard is wack with death cab (yeah we said it)(they take that feeling sad thing a little too far and all of a sudden you no longer feel ike someone knows how you feel, you feel worse!) but awesome in his shoegazing emo-ness when it comes to the postal. we cant say we loved DNTEL at first but then like a tumor, they grew on us, and now i likes DNTEL. so jimmy tamborello is cool too. this is one of mosart's first ever edits. we think it came out alright.

Young folks (Dj Serafin breaks mix) - Peter Bjorn and John/
this remix is off the hook (do the kids still say that?) i know you are sick of this song and we are sorry. but whenever we throw this joint on at the enormous room the kids go crazy. still. serafin doesnt do anything special here except find the most perfect, basic, breakbeat to throw behind an almost perfect song.

Chi Ching - Lady Sovereign /
yo we are still waiting for that album with Juelz Santana (hey if you gonna like ignant rap, you might as well go all out and like the sleeziest, dirtiest, nihilistic dudes out there, right?) and the young "lady" from england.

Time stands still - Cut Copy /
so La MoDa notices that this mix is covered with peeps who received a lot, and we do mean a lot, of hype when they first drop, and in the case of cut copy, the hype is still on high. we meant to do this. its what we do from time to time. you know you liked it when it came out so why dont you like it now?

Baby Doll - NERD
not the full song, but here it is if you just have to have it. and yeah that new NERD album sucks. sorry. such a disappointment since everything before this one is kaboom! perhaps pharrel is, dare i say it.....busy with other things?

set list said and done
peace

Kareem Abdul vs. Bruce Lee?!

Too Busy Looking Good

i love this mix, i cant say that about all my mixes, but after repeated plays, i still think this is good, so i have chosen it for first mix out the gate. i love the sample at the beginning of the mix, "Enter The Dragon" shizz. i have this excellent sample record called "Fractured Breaks" its a battle record and one of the first records i got when I started dj'ing 11 years ago. i have no recollection how the record came into my hands. i do remember breaking it though. i was at a gig and by the end of my set i was pretty drunk, i was putting away the record in my bag, back when i had to lug around crates of records to get a party going. thank god for laptops, i for one am NOT one of those dj's bemoaning the end of wax at parties; dont get me wrong i love rocking the lone turntable in my living room when the wife and i sit down to entertain guest - an LP has no substitute during a dinner party - but there is immense freedom gained from showing up to the gig with my old school, manhattan portage, bizzle that i have been using as a dj bag for a decade, and plugging in to the serato box, and boom, im off to the races. so as i was putting away the record i grabbed it upside down, sleeve side down, and it fell out of its protective cocoon, bounced once on the floor and then landed on its side. broken. a huge chunk taken out of outer edge. i continued to spin it anyway since i mostly used it for the awesome and ubiquitous samples on the end of side A. Last year a student of mine borrowed it and recorded the samples and the salvageable breaks on it, to mp3 and sent me a copy of the file. i let him keep the record itself. after all if you love something you should let it go right?


the mix is, as usual, unconfined to genre's, speaking to you through the shifts in drum patterns and melodies. you've got your nu-funk, your house music lite, your breaks; i even break out two edits for this mix. like all my mixes, there is deep interplay between the song being mixed in and the song being mixed out. i like to think of it as an edit-on-the-fly, old school dj's call it "deep mixing". is this made to make you dance? not on purpose, but it cant hurt if you do. is it designed for maximum chillaxing, oh, most def.....



track list :
Alienation (Alias Remix) - Lali Puna

Harrison Reverse - Lali Puna
i am crazy for lali puna right now. major crush on valerie trebeljahr, and her voice which is itself an incredible electronic instrument. i just love how she plays within the bass lines. ooh so seductive...

Hold On - Holy Ghost
big big ups to mark, from electrik cokaine, be on the look out for those dudes, on the real they are going to be killing it soon. as for this track - i love how the synths sound so 80's and yet the arrangement is definitely post-ableton, the hook is cheesy but in a i'm-drunk-lets-dance-and-pretend-we-know-the-words, sort of way

Return To Paradise (Mark De Clive-Lowe Remix) - Shirley Horn
there is a glut of "soul" remixes out there and boy am i sick of them. for every 100 "rmx" there's 1 good one, this is an example. here is an example of one that is norm, and thus, awful, just awful

Long Way (Sun Orchestra Remix) - T'boys

Sunrise On Fujiyama - Lemongrass
i have been into lemongrass for a minute now. real laid back almost new-agey sound. toes the line between house, downtempo, and yoga sountrack

Pink Funk - Lumiere (Mosart212 Edit)
an edit where i sent the first couple of notes to my oxygen pad and then played them in different arrangements throughout the song, then messed with the middle section by looping and unlooping in 4 to 8 bar increments

Good Morning - Fred Everything
check out any remix by this dude, very good

Keep On Pumping It Up (DJ Anonymous Edit)
ok, so here is where i start to indulge my way lame love of old hip house, remember hip house? terrible raps, repetitive drum patterns, poor production, fun

Fuk Dat - Sagat
classic for real

The Definition Of A Track (The Back Room Mix) - Back Room
1989!

I'll Follow You - Captain Hook

Fairytale Of A Working Day - Electric Brother (Mosart212 extra city Edit)
i love the ambient city sounds mixed into the background of this song, makes me miss nyc

Slowdown - Eyereel Allstars

Forever - Gold Lust

Everything is Changing - Groove Collective

Keep You Hird (Plej Remix) - Hird
every remix of this particular song kills. all the time. the original is killer as well. yukimi nagano doesnt really get into the full lyrics on this version, but she still brings the soul to the mix. hird is another band that i think is lumped into house music, but is so much more than your average-guido-backing-soundtrack

So Far - Miguel Migs
old school dude, still out there doing his thing, this one has it all, chunky bass line: check; disco diva just coming off of a night of studio 54 inspired debauchery: check, lame lyrics cribbed from 10th grade poetry class: check

Alone - Tennis Hero
based out of sweden, electronic duo, great name. is everything good right now coming from sweden. norway, and germany? discuss!

Just Waiting (Chillhouse Mix) - Wooden Man
i only play a minute off this track before sliding the mix volume down, but the synth-play is incredible. this is to me, the sound of late 90's early 2000's house music. i am a sucker for those "best of lounge" collections, and that is where i found this one

set list said and done. we hope yalls enjoys this one, as usual we worked hard and we dug deep to bring it on the La MoDa tip.

word.

1977....Back to the Future

1977 is the year of our birth. Its when it all began. SO we thought it would be fitting to start our blog, and our first mix with the date. 1978, 1979, and the rest will follow.

For this mix we pulled out some of our faves, some came from the vault, others just popped last year. One of our specialties, is the faux-capella edit. We use the AEM 100i (big up to elliot!) to strip away beats from vocals, we can get pretty close sometimes, and then drop them onto a beat in real time. Everything is real time. All the time.

Check out 1977 and let us know what you think. 1978 coming up in a few….

La MoDa - 1977

Multipitch - Jel
Rolf Royce - Fila Brazila
Something For Windy (La Moda Dirty Hair edit) - Bonobo
Freeze Explode - Cassettes Won't Listen
Go Left (ft. Lateef the Truth Speaker & Gift of Gab) - E da Boss
Good Times - Strange Fruit Project
DJ Food Style (La Moda Makin Dollas edit) - DJ Food
Kalimba (Flute Mix) - Freakniks
Chicken in a Box - Krafty Kuts
Notion - Flevans
Nothin Goin' On But the Rent - Gwen Guthrie
Athena - Hercules & Love Affair
Venom (ft. Joe Dukie) - Dutch Rhythm Combo
PPP (PEACE & Rashaan Ahmad) - J Boogies Dubtronic Soundsystem
All I Do (U-Turn Remix) - Stevie Wonder