Losing Games

So it's been quite some time since we here at La MoDa Mixtapes have posted a podcast.  Oh, we've been staying busy (check out Mo's most recent deep-as-a-Chilean-mine offering for BrooklynRadio here), but it HAS been more than a fortnight or so since we last dropped a La MoDa Mixtapes exclusive for y'all.

Since our last official post, the Occupy Wall Street movement was born, the Enormous Room closed, Muammar Gaddafi was ousted, Kim Jong Il stopped looking at shit and Steve Jobs ascended to the great App store in the sky.

Oh, and Justin Bieber and/or Korn killed dubstep.  Or something.

I've been trying my best to avoid this topic since I last picked that scab back in January.  Being a little long in the tooth, I've tried to take the long view on this whole "dubstep is dead/brohstep makes me sad" topic.  I really have.  I mean, it all sounds so familiar to me (see:  death of jungle, death of trance, death of UK Garage, death of grime, death of hip hop, and on and on and on).  But, after a few recent articles/posts from other writers/artists making some valid points, I figured I'd strap on my hip boots and wade into these murky waters.  (If you're just here for the music, please feel free to skip to the bottom of this post).

2011 was a big year for dubstep.  We saw Britney dip her toe in the pool, we saw Skrillex pop up on the playlists of every high school kid's iPod Nano (and score a grip of Grammy nominations in the process), we learned that the Bieb was going to bless us with his particular brand of wobble pop, and by the end of the year we learned from washed-up nu-metal "pioneer" Jonathan Davis that Korn had in fact "invented" dubstep.  In 2011, dubstep sold us cereal and outerwear and cameras.  And, depending on who you talk to, this all added up to the "death" of dubstep.  And the haterade came out by the GALLON, especially for the man of the moment, Sonny Moore, aka Skrillex. 

The "dubstep is dead" keg has been tapped pretty frequently this year (seriously, Google that shit), from a variety of different angles.  Rather than rehash the whole trajectory of dubstep, I will just link to an article that I think really captured the whole debate rather succinctly:  Who Killed Dubstep? and the follow up article posted on the From Eternity to the Next Beat blog.  As the author stated, "Mainstream acceptance doesn't make good music any worse. The purists might disagree, but personally, I don't need to be part of an elite crowd to enjoy music."  That pretty much summed it up for me.  I don't love Skrillex, but I don't fault that dude his success.  

More importantly, some of the djs and producers I respect and enjoy, who are not exactly Johnny-come-latelys in the world of subsonics, seem to feel the same.  I mean, if Skream can tip his cap to what Skrillex has done (as he does rather effectively in this interview), then who am I to judge?  Anyone who follows DMC Champ and stateside D'n'B player DJ Craze's Twitter feed knows he's also on Team Skrillex.  Hatcha, one of the universally recognized pioneers of the sound, seems just fine with Skrillex's success.  And Skrillex himself argues that he is not a "dubstep" artist, but an electronic musician who incorporates dubstep tempos and formats into his work.

But the blog commenters and forum posters just can't hate him enough.  He has come to embody everything that is "wrong" with "mainstream" dubstep, or "brostep" as the cool kids like to call it.  Being rather uncool myself, I find this whole debate tedious, and a little confusing.  If the people who "invented" dubstep don't give a shit, why should I?  From where I stand, the whole debate can be reduced to a few main beefs:

1.  "it's not REAL dubstep."  Who gets to define "real" dubstep?  And how is it defined?  Because as soon as you define it, you set limits, you build walls.  Is there a dubstep "formula" one must follow to "qualify?"  Doesn't that sound terribly boring?  Or, worse, something music writers sit around lamenting because, let's face it, they're the ones who invent these sub-sub-sub genres and they've got deadlines to make and dilettantes to look down upon.

2.  "s/he is too young/new to the scene."  This line of criticism would argue that anyone who didn't buy white labels from Big Apple Records or go clubbing at FWD>> or tune into pirate radio to hear their dubstep is not authentic enough.  This argument always puzzles me.  I remember the first few raves I went to, and how enamored I was with the sounds of New York house and Detroit Techno.  I'd never been to a NASA party or heard Juan Atkins or Kevin Saunderson play techno in Detroit, but I knew what I liked.  And I paid $20 to get in, just like the cool kids....

3.  "brostep is ruining the scene."  Again, this one confuses me.  If 1000 kids show up to see a Skrillex show, and get their faces melted to "brostep," how is this BAD for Mala or Silkie or Von D?  If your argument is that those 1000 kids don't know the history of dubstep, or don't care to learn, who gives a shit?  Those kids are there to party, not learn.  If 100 of those kids leave that show and do their homework, that doesn't make the other 900 kids stupid.  But it DOES have the potential to open those 100 kids' eyes to the deeper, more underground sounds of the genre.  Is that a bad thing?  Furthermore, if 500 kids show up to see N-Type at a club, and only 50 of them actually know who N-Type is, and 50 more think N-Type sucks because he doesn't play enough face-melting drops, who gives a fuck?  All 500 of those kids paid the cover at the door, so if anything, N-Type is BENEFITING from "brostep."  Skream says as much in the above-linked article:  everyone benefits, if only a little, from the expansion of the scene.  Maybe they have to put up with a few more stupid requests each night, but really, is that so bad?

4.  "s/he doesn't have the proper pedigree."  This argument supposes that, unless you have crates full of underground UK Garage/futuristic 2-Step records in your basement, unless your playlist includes sufficient offerings from Horsepower or Tempa, you're not "coming at dubstep properly."  One of the main knocks against Skrillex is that he was a metal/emo kid until 2008, and this metal/rock influence brings the "wrong" sort of fans to the scene.  Again, this implies a certain level of unsophistication of his fans, due to their lack of pedigree.  In addition to #2 above, this argument also dismisses those who arrived at dubstep from a place that didn't include the original Dubstep Warz broadcasts.  So if your CD book includes more System of a Down than Digital Mystikz, if your crate contains more Leftfield than Loefah, you're disqualified.

Anyway, as I've stated before, I enjoy all sorts of bass music.  Though I've been repping breaks for the last 15+ years, I thoroughly enjoy dubstep in ALL its variations, and I wanted to put together a mix that really covered a broad spectrum of sounds, especially those of the 140 bmp variety.  There may be some "brostep" in here, some "fake dubstep," I'm not sure.  I don't know, and I don't care.  

One of my favorite magazines is Waxpoetics, and the editor's note from issue 46 keeps coming back to me as I consider the "dubstep is dead" argument from this last year.  Editor Andre Torres, in discussing the effect that "purists" had on jazz, states "...So though some think they're doing jazz a service by protecting what they feel are traditional elements of the music, they're also doing it a terrible disservice by so narrowly defining jazz that it's forced to stay a niche music forever."  To me, purity is boring.  And it would be tragic if, in 10 years, we look back and realize that this vibrant, diverse, storied genre called "dubstep" was sacrificed on the altar of purity.

Plus, sometimes you just want your face melted.....

Mantisounds - losing games by Mantisounds on Mixcloud

1.  Amy Winehouse - Love is a Losing Game (Lucian X & NAPT Redub)

2.  Fugees - Ready or Not (Rastah Mouse Remix)

3.  FJH - Borsche

4.  George Lenton - RDD

5.  Skream - Rollin

6.  FJH - Enter the Dragon

7.  Torqux & Twist - Relentless (16bit remix)

8.  Datsik & Bassnectar - Elevate

9.  B-Phreak - Body Check (Random Scarves Remix)

10. RackNRuin - Skanker Riddim

11. NAPT & Lucian X - Blow Your Mind

12. Freestylers - Say Yes (Ben & Lex Remix)

13. 601 - This Year's Champion

14. Ellis Dee & DJ Twista - Touch Me ft. Marie Louise

15. Shakes - Gangbusters

16. Pyramid - Feel Like Jamming

17. Schema - Move

18. Iman - Only You (RackNRuin Remix)

19. Queen Latifah ft. Al Green - Simply Beautiful (Pyramid Remix)

20. Jose Gonzalez - Crosses (The Boogaloo Crew Bootleg)

DIRECT LINK TO MP3

Revolution

It has been a bad few months for the powerful on this planet. From Tunisia to Egypt to Libya to Madison, Wisconsin, the underserved and underrepresented have been making their voices heard. These are not your parents' revolutions: information-driven, secular, and televised. It's been amazing to see entire societies cast off the yokes of fear and oppression armed with not much more than smart phones and social networks. History is writing itself as we speak, and it sure reads like a new chapter for millions of people on this planet.

It is against this backdrop that I put together my newest mix. I've been vibing HARD on the new "140bpm jungle" sound that's gripping the underground, harnessing the raw energy of amen madness with the wobble of dubstep and the surgical stutter of top-shelf breaks. This mix starts off with a call to revolution from Ghetto Priest (remixed by man-of-the-moment RackNRuin), which is quite fitting for all my brethren in the Middle East. Skull-cracking dubstep/140bpm flavors get it rinsed right up through Ed Solo's MONSTROUS version of "Egyptian Horns," which I included as a little nod to all my January 25th Massive, and because it's arguably one of the greatest "rave" anthems of all time (I first heard the original on a DJ Overload mixtape from 1995 and the rest is history). Then it's all 140bpm jungle/breaks tomfoolery up through to the last track, Hybrid's epic remix of FSOL's classic "Papua New Guinea."

A wise man once said "If you make nonviolent revolution impossible, you make violent revolution inevitable." Get up. Stand up. Word up.

Mantisounds - Revolution by Mantisounds on Mixcloud

1. Ghetto Priest - Evolution (RackNRuin Dubstep Remix)

2. Skream - Lightning VIP

3. Magic Mash - M.A.G.I.C.

4. Karton - All You Need (Mars Remix)

5. Schema - Savage Henry

6. Ed Solo - Egyptian Horns

7. RackNRuin - Soundclash

8. Altered Beats - Bad Man Soul

9. HeavyFeet ft. MC Mad Rush - Vs Up (RackNRuin Remix)

10. Schema - Rat Bastard

11. La Roux - In for the Kill (Skream Remix)(Future Funk Squad Rerub)

12. Mobius - Champion Hounds

13. Ben & Lex - Soundboy Step-Up

14. Schema - Turn Off the Lights

15. Future Funk Squad - Shakedown

16. Future Sounds of London - Papua New Guinea (Hybrid Remix)

DIRECT LINK TO MP3

Ender's Game

So dubstep has arrived. Officially. I don't say that because it's being used to sell cereal and sneakers and electronics (it's not...yet). I don't say that because Diplo has finally slapped the Mad Decent stamp of approval on the genre with Blow Your Head: This is Dubstep (he has, and it's not bad). And I don't say that because Madonna's new album is all dubstep produced by Skream or Rusko or whoever else might be the go-to dubstep producer of the moment (though I will not be surprised if that's EXACTLY what Madge's new album eventually sounds like, given her flavor-of-the-month output of late).

Dubstep has arrived because it's beginning to eat itself. For all you drum n'bass heads out there who are a little long in the tooth (like me), what's happening in dubstep now is beginning to look an awful lot like what happened to jungle after its initial underground explosion in the late 90s. Jungle was starting to blow up, you started hearing it on main stages and peak-time slots, rather than side-rooms. Artists from different genres started "experimenting" with the sound (cynical interpretation: trying to cash in on a budding new market). The music press started trying to churn out endless sub-genres (jump up, ragga, trance & bass, darkstep, techstep, etc.). And then along came Roni Size and Reprazent: a stable of "old school" jungle cats performing dnb "live" with a drummer (Si Begg) and live vocals. Suddenly, jungle wasn't side-room niche drug music, it was "respectable." (BTW, I saw Reprazent twice live, both times they absolutley murdered it!).

With the rise of all of this "respectable" attention, and the need to compartmentalize everything for the music press, the genre began to split into different camps: the posers who heard the Aphrodite/Jungle Brothers single and decided they liked jungle and/or could sell it to lots of new fans, and the "intelligent drum n'bass"/intelectuals who were "pushing the genre forward" and who looked down on all the jump-up hip-hop sounds, the kids who loved them, and the producers who were making it.

(SIDEBAR: is there a descriptive term MORE obnoxious than "intelligent drum n' bass"? Like, not all that stupid UNINTELLIGENT shit, it's "intelligent." I always felt bad for LTJ Bukem, purveyor of that smoother, broken-beat/liquid/atmospheric jungle sound, because record stores and magazines would aways slap the "intelligent drum n' bass" sticker on his cds and make him seem like some pretentious asshole, which I'm sure he wasn't, and I'm also sure he didn't think his music was "smarter" than anyone else's)

I think that's about where we are with dubstep right now (seriously, google "dubstep" + "commercial" and take a gander at all those complainers!). You've got a lot of people making ear-scorching wobble tunes at 70 bpm that sound great on a soundsystem with hands in the air and pupils dilated, and then you've got a lot of people claiming that the "scene is changing" and the music is getting diluted because the sound is starting to be appropriated by other artists/genres. You've got folks trying to distinguish between "legit/underground/artistic" dubstep and the pervasive (and some would say formulaic) wobble of the more "commercial" stuff. And with the release of Magnetic Man's self titled debut, and the critical acclaim it's received (including from me, who loves me some Magnetic Man), it appears dubstep is having its "Reprazent" moment, and tribal boundaries are being drawn.

I mention all of this for a few reasons. One, I was around for the explosion and subsequent implosion (and rebirth/realignment) of drum n' bass, and I am very interested to see if dubstep follows the same trajectory. And two, this new mix would probably be considered a little more "underground" than previous dubstep sets, embracing artists and sounds that I've heard described as futurestep, future garage, lovestep, breakstep, junglebreaks, 140bpm jungle, etc. To me, it's all bass music, and there's a time and a place for all of it. Like, I generally enjoy microbrewed/homebrew beer, but apprecaite that there is a time and a place for a 30-rack of light domestic beer. Same with bass music in general. Some of it is all drops and builds and face-melting wobble bass designed to slay a dancefloor, and some of it is a little more subtle, a little more intricate, maybe appreciated more in your headphones or in your car. But it's ALL GOOD, homie.

Usually in my mixes I try to incorporate a little of everything (a splash of Anchor Steam, a dash of porter stout, maybe a pint of cider, and a can or two of Bud Light), though this mix is light on Bud Light and heavy on the microbrew. But that doesn't make it "intelligent" or "underground" or better than any other style or micro-genre or sub-category being pushed by the latest issue of Knowledge or Mixmag, because, really, in the end, this is DANCE music, people, not an anthropology class. Don't worry about how "commercial" something is, or how "underground" it sounds. Look around. Are people dancing? Are you? Isn't THAT what's important?



Mantisounds - Ender's Game

1. Liondub & Matt Shadetek - the General Riddim (OG Riddim instrumental)
2. BangaTang - Bashful
3. Bill Withers - Ain't No Sunshine (Indaskyes & Tracksmyth Remix)
4. Hunter Vaughan - High Hopes
5. Eric Hassle - Hurtful (George Lenton Remix)
6. Bertie Blackman - Peekaboo (Marco del Horno Remix)
7. Excision & Datsik - Swagga (Homegrown & Nils Jumpen Mondays Afternoon Mix)
8. I.D. - Flay
9. the S.K. - Bass
10. George Lenton - Cold Rocker
11. Nero - Something Else
12. Downlink - Moonrock Badman
13. Nero - Bad Trip
14. Excision - Obvious
15. Skool of Thought - Heart of the Hood
16. I.D. - Akusative
17. JSaxton - Kick Snare Ganja Buddha
18. Ludwig Coenen - Green Movement (XI Bas Vapour Dub)
19. Doorly - UK Geee
20. Ramadanman - Offal
21. Redlight - Rock the House ft. the Voodoos
22. Foamo - Centavo (Warrior One Remix)
23. BSD - We Are Elektro

DIRECT LINK TO MP3

P.S. All you sci-fi nerds out there might recognize the cover artwork appropriated above. "Ender's Game" was one of my favorite books growing up. It's the story of Ender Wiggin, a child prodigy recruited into Earth's "Battle School", a training camp orbiting the planet designed to develop the planet's next great generals and warmakers in the ongoing battle against the evil alien "bugger" race (kind of Harry Potter meets Starship Troopers with less campy bullshit and magic wands). If you have not read this book, cop it in paperback (or eBook like the kids on their Kindles) and get busy!

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

blessup, wile out!

Stoked about this mix. I've always loved DJ Zinc, his Bingo Beats imprint was killing the dark 2step/breaks hybrid sound back at the turn of the century (I love writing that), and his drum n'bass output was always rugged ("Tru Playaz Vol. 1" is still one of my favorite jump up compilations). I recently copped his Crack House EP as well as the "Wile Out" package (with Ms. Dynamite's long-overdue return to good music), and have been feeling his warehousey, bassed-up toasty dancehall-tech sound, so I decided to put together a mix along those lines (sidebar: there very well could be an actual genre that encompasses the sound on this mix. Being an old fart, I stopped trying to figure out what every new micro-genre was a long time ago. So if you're saying "duh, this is totally formulaic Jackin Ethno-Fidget Wobble, get with it!" you're a young whippersnapper who should respect his elders...

When putting together this set, I imagined wandering into a seriously grimy rave full of rudeboy antics and toasting mcs, dancing my ass off, and then hitting the afterparty of that rave on a beach with the sun coming up and the scent of purple kush and Nag Champa incense filling the air....(In case you needed a visual). Starts all shuffling and shady, peaks with some annihilating rhythms, rave sirens and generally over-the-top bassbin madness, and finishes with some serious skankin and toasting. I used the Kaoss pad for this mix, and will admit that I got a little carried away at the end with the dub reverb/feedback effects, but hey, put something in the air and let this mix freak you out....It works...

As usual, please sign up for La MoDa Mixtapes podcasts using the instructions at the top right of the page. And if you like the mix, tell a friend!...


Mantisounds - blessup, wile out by Mantisounds

1. layo & bushwacka - love story (SOLO bootleg)
2. dj zinc - music makers
3. sub focus - could this be real
4. roisin murphy - momma's place (heavyfeet remix)
5. trevor loveys - organ grinder (greenmoney's lighter remix)
6. rox - my baby left me (arms remix)
7. dj zinc ft. ms. dynamite - wile out
8. dub pistols - i'm in love ft lindy layton & rodney p (d-funk's summer of love remix)
9. flore - we rewind ft. rodney p (am I angry? flore remix)
10. sub focus - move higher
11. dj zinc - nu sound
12. rusko - woo bost (subskrpt)
13. benga - 26 basslines (elite force refix)
14. benga ft. ms dynamite - my dj
15. freestylers - cracks
16. dee patten - who's the badman
17. aquasky & tayo ft. earl 16 - looking for a session
18. evil 9 ft. toastie taylor - restless
19. dreadzone - king dub rock

Direct link to mp3

Jailbreak!

Quick, before the kids start crying! I made a new mix!

Life has been non-stop neon-green poopy diapers and spitup-covered shoulders for the last few weeks, and my prior life as a rave kid getting by on little to no sleep has definitely come in handy, but the one thing I really miss is music. Loud, wake-the-neighbors, head-nodding hands-in-the-air music. I have to be on point 24 hours a day, so even rocking headphones isn't really in the cards right now, as I still need to hear them breathing and catch them fussing before they wake their mother up. These kids got us on Shawshank lockdown right now, and after two weeks, even a sip of pruno or extra socks from commissary is a treat.

So when the in-laws came by a few days ago, my little baby jail wardens allowed me some time in the yard, and I arranged for a conjugal visit with my mixer and some new breaks tracks. No practicing, no thoughtful track selection, hell, I didn't even get to listen to a few of these tracks first, just turned the mixer and the Kaoss pad on, hit "record," and jacked up the volume. 60 minutes of bass at high volumes (preferably in a res-i-dent-ial area). All in all it came out pretty well, I'd love a do-over on a couple mixes, but for a blind run it was aiight.

As usual, for the most up to the minute mixes from the La MoDa brethren, follow the instructions at the top right of this page and sign up for our podcasts. The jailbreak siren is sounding, I better get back before roll call or it's extra hours of latrine duty for me.

mantisounds - jailbreak

1. Wiley ft. Emeli Sande - Never Be Your Woman (Solo "Loves Garage" Remix)

2. Chase & Status - Eastern Jam (Kyle Watson Re-rub)

3. Josh Money & MC Flipside - Wave Over Me

4. Felguk vs Tim Healey - Rio (Slyde Remix)

5. Tim Healey & Tai - Pocket Rocket

6. Deekline - I Don't Smoke (Deekline & Tim Healey Mix - Krafty Kuts Edit)

7. Sidney Samson - Riverside (Peo De Pitte Dub)

8. Beat Assassins - Put Em Up

9. Diverted - Big Baby Fear (Nick Thayer Remix)

10. Slyde - Jetset

11. Bassnectar - Art of Revolution (Prepmode Remix)

12. Hostage - Skin Out

13. Nick Thayer - Pressure Point (Thayer's Drop the Bass Mix)

14. Lee Mortimer & Foamo - Superman (Streetlife DJs Remix)

15. Hostage - Lost in Bass

16. Deekline & Wizard - Back Up (For the Music)(Krafty Kuts Summer Mix 12" Edit)

17. Groove Diggerz - Just Be Good to Me

Direct link to mp3

Knowhow

(pix by =surround)

So it's my turn to rock your iPods, and for this mix I've gone back to what I know: jackin' beats and funky breakdowns. This mix is awash in BASS and I tried to keep the intensity high throughout. I also made a conscious effort to make this mix familiar and new at the same time; thus, lots of remixes of songs y'all can sing along to. A little Sir Mixalot, some Run DMC, a bit o' Stevie Wonder and some Lionel Ritchie, even a remix of that Robin S classic "Show Me Love." Oh, and a bit of a "fuck you" to Henry Rollins by AC Slater, flipping one of Rollins' more obnoxious "spoken word" rants into a face-melting bassed up workout! (Sidebar: I fucking HATE Henry Rollins!).

Anyhoo, as always, you can enjoy the mix with the embedded flash player below, and even download it from divshare if that makes you happy, but what makes la MoDa happy is when you sign up for the podcast by following the instructions on the top right of this page. It's easy, it's fun, and it blasts our weekly mix madness straight into your iTunes/iPod! While it might cause you to accellerate out of control, or stop you from braking properly, we promise we won't have to issue a recall!

mantisounds - knowhow

1. A1 Bassline - 8oh8
2. Hostage - Achtung!
3. Joakim - Watermelon Bubbalicious (torro Torro Party Remix)
4. Rye Rye ft. MIA - Bang (WTF I Asked for a Kuduro Remix by Buraka Som Sistema)
5. Young MC - Knowhow (Stanton Warriors Edit)
6. AC Slater - Play the Record Again
7. Sir Mixalot - I Like Big Butts (Tom EQ's Cellulite Edit)
8. Run DMC - It's Like That (2 Bit Thugs Remix)
9. Don Nola - Roasted & Toasted
10. Curtis B - Cough and Choke ft. Mafioso
11. DJ Dan & Hatiras - Drop Hits (DJ Dan Unreleased Mix)
12. Black Noise - Knock You Out (Kik the Break VIP)
13. Fake Blood - I Think I Like It (Philly Blunt Mix)
14. Robin S - Show Me Love (Redlight Remix)
15. Stevie Wonder - Sir Duke (Dirty Monkeez Remix)
16. Lionel Richie - All Night Long (Rico Tubbs Remix)

Direct link to MP3