1. 007
The intro. All of the beats after the gnarly guitar actually come from songs I originally wanted to include on this mix. But after realizing that my priority with this one was to put some newer, faster sounds out there that I’m really excited about and want Flagstaff to become familiar with, I took some of the hip-hop and condensed it. If you don’t like hip-hop you’re probably racist and don’t realize it yet.
2. Rakim + DJ Premier “It’s Been a Long Time” (Emlord Chop)
Speaking of (hip-hop, not racism), arguably the game’s best vocalizer and best producer on one track together. I never let this one get past about the 15 second mark, to make my point: “It’s been a long time!” And it has: 6 months since the last one. But if you’re not familiar with either of these fellows, I strongly recommend Eric B. and Rakim’s “Paid In Full” and Gangstarr’s “Step In the Arena”. Classic golden-era hip-hop that anyone can get down with.
3. Aaliyah “Try Again”
Not to sound crass or anything, but I never really cared about her before she died. It’s funny what untimely death can do. It can turn an average R&B singer into a legend, and make a heartless dictator into a human being. Now that she is dead, her songs speak some timeless universal language. It’s bizarre but cool. I was thinking of including this song on here when my roommate told me that the Gossip had covered one of her songs live in Albuquerque. Sold. Producer Timbaland has been on fire this year, between making Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake sound amazing, he’s managed to make R&B sound like trance. This acid house bassline proves he was down for techno since way before it was a cool, retro thing to reference, in fact when everyone was being embarrassed of ever liking it. In the 90’s I was too punk to give a shit, but I’m really looking forward to seeing Tiesto at Coachella, no joke.
4. “Tu Quieres Rrandom!” Hector El Bambino/Menta (Emlord Blend)
I’m embarrassed to admit, I don’t know more than two licks of Spanish. I even went to public schools here in the Southwest, but they don’t make you learn it. RACIST. I have no idea what they’re saying here, although from the inflection and consultation of a Reggaeton documentary, I’m pretty sure its about sex. Arizona is lucky enough to have one of the only Reggaeton radio stations in the world (95.1 FM), which you should be taking advantage of. This beat was a remix of Lady Sovereign’s “Random”, featuring some dude rapping over the phone from jail. Grime is the new black metal.
5. “Tell Me (+U)” Groove Theory/Cassie (Blendlord)
Mary Jessica of Gopher Sounds fame likes this one. I made it this summer, right after “Summer Oh Sick” came out. That beat is sinister, those vocals so heartfelt. Being a one hit wonder must be one of those sublime joys in life, no one remembers what you look like, yet you can look into a crowd and know half those people probably had your voice stuck in their head for at least a day or two. In five years you’ll see little fuck trophies conceived to your jam running around. Damn.
6. Spank Rock “Chilly Will”
I split up from my traveling partners this summer to catch the Spank Ro show in San Francisco, only to find that all my Cali friends were too punk to check out some Baltimore booty rap. Their loss. One of the funnest, sweatiest, most diverse, most worth it dance parties I’ve ever changed my schedule to attend.
7. Simian Mobile Disco “Hustler”
Dance music is the new punk rock. You get to move around a lot, have anti-social messages pounded into your head, yet not get hurt in the process. Yay!
8. The Beatles “Shake It Up” (Diplo Remix)
This sound that lends itself so well to remixes of many different genres (oldies, hip-hop, cartoon theme songs) derives from Baltimore, Maryland, where they call it “Knucklehead” or just “Club”. The rest of the world knows it as Baltimore Club or “B-more”. Now people from Switzerland to Australia are making it, as well as this guy from Florida. I think Lennon would be stoked.
9. MSTRKRFT “She’s Good For Business”
Death From Above 1979 decided that guitars were superfluous and started MSTRKRFT. Next time someone around you says they don’t like techno, refer to this, then call them a liar. And racist, if you want. Techno, along with the elevator, refrigerator, and the Super-Soaker, was invented by black people.
10. Bugz In the Attic “Move Aside” (A. Brucker + Sinden Remix)
Bugz In the Attic are a collective. Like those well-meaning endeavors that usually end in a disastrous mound of broken friendships, busted bank accounts and boxes of poorly Xeroxed zines here in the states. But somehow in Europe, miraculously, they see a very different yield. Everything from successful, well-maintained squats to genre-mashing, nuanced dance music.
11. B.S.O.D. “Roflcopter”
I know nothing about this group other than the fact that this song totally sounds great coming out of the song before it.
12. DJ Sandrinho “Don’t Go” Missy Elliot “Bad Man” acapella
I actually don’t know if Sandrinho was the person that put Missy Elliot’s vocal on top of this, but am fairly sure he made this beat with the Yaz sample. See, something weird happens when the First World consumes what is produced by the Third World: We become mysteriously separated from the people and situations that produced it. Whether its music, diamonds, bananas, or yes, even cocaine, the human face is lost and we are left with a “value-free” commodity out of context, that exists solely for our enjoyment. While music has the potential to reverse that flow of cultural and economic capital, too often music from non-English speaking nations is grouped together under the “World” moniker, re-packaged with taglines like “Guaranteed To Make You Feel GOOD!” Nevermind that they might be singing about paramilitary death squads or Structural Adjustment Programmes, the tunes are “exotic” and you couldn’t understand them if you tried. Lately some hipster North Americans and Europeans went apeshit about this music from the slums of Brazil, “Funk Carioca”, which consumes the musical legacy of the Global North, digests it in its gizzard, attachs some vicious bass to it courtesy of Miami, and spits it right back out with little regard for copyright law or harmony. Shit is punk as fuck, and when its bad its terrible, but when its good its transcendent, ecstatic, liberatory. But somehow, outside of (and even inside of some) official releases, artist credits and track names are hard to come by. Negligence on the part of the artists? Careless, racist consumers in the First World? Don’t know. But what is for sure is that this is the most exciting thing in music for me right now, and those beats make me want to go buck wilding out.
13. MC Andinho “Ja e Sensacao” (DJ Marlboro Remix)
More Funk Carioca, or “Baile Funk” as some people refer to it. Check the breakdown for some foreshadowing.
14. The Crystals “He Kissed Me” (Emynd remix)
Probably my favorite oldies song ever, done in that B-More stylee again. Remember in “Goodfellas”? That part made me swoon.
15. Buraka Som Sistema feat. Petty “Yah!”
The other so-hot-right-now genre sung in Portuguese, Kuduro. Coming out of Angola and being propagated in Portugal proper, this is being heralded as the harbinger to a world-wide rave revival. If it all sounds this dope and is being led by women from Angola, count me in! They have a 7” out and a whole ep for sale on iTunes; its about the only thing on there I would seriously recommend buying. It’s amazing.
16. Real McCoy “Run Away”
It’s all about context, peoples. If you were in high school/college during the 80’s, you most likely would not want to go to 80s nite, you little iconoclast, you. The 90’s perfected pop techno to the point of pure effectiveness, not that I would have known, cause from about 94 til 98 (the peak years) I had my head so far up Kent McClard’s ass that I scarcely realized there was such a thing as music without chest-beating and guitars. Such passive listening may have been my saving grace for stuff like this, cos now I freaking love it. This song, taken out of its soundtrack-for-sports-events-attended-by-wack-power-lunchers environment, is pretty freaking rad. However, I understand that adolescence is a sensitive period, and if this was the soundtrack to you getting beat up, made fun of, or something (god forbid) your parents liked, then I sincerely apologize and won’t be offended if you don’t dance to it. However, if you sit on the fence about it, that probably means that you realize how ridiculously catchy and fun it is, and you really should take that tongue out of your cheek, lose all inhibitions about the pop cheese of it and harness the power of that amazing soccer chant. Also, those Blade Runner-esque lyrics sound more relevant every day. Re-contextualized, this shit could be the soundtrack to the revolution. The Choice Is Yours. *See above for “rave revival”
17. Gravy Train “You Made Me Gay” (Emlord Remix)
My friends Celeste and Emily do this great all-queer radio show on Kjack called “Everybody Out”. They wanted to use the original as a theme song, but that shit is pretty raunchy i.e. illegal to play on the radio. They asked me to do an edit for them minus the bad words. It took a few weeks of sitting on it but one nite I holed up in the camper and kind of went off the deep end with it. Actually every song I sampled from it is pretty freaking raunchy, which is funny because the end result is radio playable. I think Gravy Train would approve.
18. Zombie Nation “Kernkraft 400”
Ecstasy. Glowsticks. Soccer stadiums full of Europeans. This group makes quiet, minimal ambient electro now. I wonder why.
19. Cozmo Dee! “Kome In 2 Mi Whirl”
Minimalist proto-juke. It’s Ok, I don’t know either.
20. “Hopping Trains” Quad City DJ’s/Toomp (Emlord Blend)
I love this beat. So triumphant, yet so cool. It makes me wanna run up those steps like Rocky, if only I could do it in a big easy chair. Senior year in art class this hippie girl I used to hang out with ditched all her Nirvana CD’s, started dressing at K-Momo and decided she loved the “Ride The Train” song. I had no idea what she was talking about.
21. The Church “Under the Milky Way”
Keep warm this winter.

Thanks to Ray Walker and Jason Moore, for great webspace and great design, respectively, and for supporting all things Flagstaff. One Life to Live! WhiteSlavery.Org!

 

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