May 17th, 2012

Hard Ass Compilation

Enchufada’s Hard Ass Sessions have been holding down the Kuduro corner for three years now, with six volumes of compilations that saw the likes of Bok Bok, Douster, Kingdom, Canblaster and more all provide us with their personal take on the Angolan genre whose name literally translates as ‘hard ass’. To celebrate, J-Wow of Buraka Som Sistema has chosen his top picks from the series, including tracks from Mixpak family members Poirier, Melé, Dubbel Dutch, Douster, WILDLIFE! and Brenmar. It drops on May 28th, and you can preview the only brand new track on the compilation below:

Slap In The Bass – Tapa (prev) by Slap In The Bass

Dre Skull will be at On The Sly in New York this Thursday alongside Jillionaire, Dunes and Knomad. Check the flyer or the Facebook event for full details. Be sure to check their interview with Dre too, where he talks about upcoming Mixpak releases and projects.

Taking inspiration from Skatta Productions much loved 2003 riddim, Coolie Dance, UIM Records (aka Anjublaxx and Dinearo) deliver a new, eastern-inspired riddim, the Coolie Gal. There’s a big cut from Tommy Lee, decent offerings from Versatile and Bugle, but Popcaan brings it large with the title track:

May 15th, 2012

Mixpak FM: XXXChange

fm12_034

Mixpak FM 034 comes straight from our own hood, from Brooklyn’s XXXChange. After catching people’s eyes (or rather, ears) with his production on Spank Rock’s debut album, he has since produced and remixed for a heap of huge names, from The Kills to Kool Keith, including this favorite of ours, his dancehall remix of TV On The Radio’s ‘Will Do’.

Normally taking a backstage role, this year he’s finally stepped out with his first solo EP, Bounce, on DJ Ayres’ & Tittsworth T&A Records, the description of which could read much like that of his Mixpak FM mix – a large offering of electro and some hot remixes.

You can subscribe to Mixpak FM via iTunes, subscribe with an RSS reader from the Mixpak FM site or download this mix directly.

[audio: http://traffic.libsyn.com/mixpak/Mixpak_FM_-_XXXChange.mp3]
Mixpak FM 034: XXXChange

Tracklist below »

Swiss producer WILDLIFE! is a man after our own heart – his forward-thinking club sounds, that have been picked up by the likes of Terry Lynn, Poirier and The Very Best, are never too far from his dancehall beginnings. He often impressively crashes together foundation Jamaica with contemporary bass – featuring the likes of Major Mackerel and Sammy Dread on his sophomore EP for Phree Music – and only plans to further this recipe in 2012. It’s been around two years since he released Buckup, but now thankfully his full length album is on the horizon and he’s just dropped a brand new EP for Man Recordings – Pastiche – featuring Toddla T, J-Wow and Daniel Haaksman that manages to successfully house Kuduro, Dancehall and Juke. Straight from his studio, he told us about his album project, working on his latest EP, his favourite soundclashes and more…hit play on his Juno mix and read below:

Pastiche Mix by Wildlife! on Mixcloud

Mixpak: It’s been about 2 years since you released your last record – what have you been up to?

WILDLIFE!: I’ve basically been in the studio the whole time, I’ve been finishing an album project that’s gonna drop later this year, that took like almost all my time. Then for the past few months I’ve been working on the Pastiche EP that just dropped.

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