Image borrowed from Paul Simon’s Twitter feed.

Direct download links: MP3 or FLAC

WARNING: Long read ahead. I’d be delighted and honoured if you didn’t TL;DR me, simply hit play above and read on down the page – pretend it’s a Sunday paper or something… As always there’s an interesting story behind the mix.

The temptation to call this mix “Gumboots: Accordion Jive Hits, Volume 2” was huge, but it would be misleading.

By way of explanation, if you google “Gumboots: Accordion Jive Hits, Volume 2”, you may well be surprised at the number of results. A popular record, you might think; well known and discussed. But try to find a copy, and you’ll while away a day or more clicking from site to site around the world, maybe chancing upon “Greatest Accordian Jive Hits, Volume 3” or even “Sax & Accordion Jive Hits, Volume 1“. But Volume 2? Not a sniff.

The “Gumboots” album, should you be unaware, has been awarded it’s place in history due to a cassette copy which found its way into Paul Simon’s car stereo sometime in 1984-85 and providing him with the initial inspiration to seek out (and eventually travel to South Africa to record with) the musicians playing on the album. An occurence that has been documented virtually every time the story of “Graceland”s creation has been told, over the course of thousands of interviews, several documentaries, and now again with the release of a 25th anniversary edition and an accompanying tour with Simon reuniting on stage with many of the original album’s participants.

So, considering the legacy of “Gumboots”, one would imagine any music-minded enterpreneurial soul, or even Gallo, the label that allegedly released the original album, would jump at the chance to re-issue such inspirational recordings and make a few bucks off the back of the multi-million selling “Graceland”. Standard form for the music industry, indeed, but in this case, nothing.

(I say Gallo allegedly released it, but as no-one I’m aware of has actually seen a copy of the album, and as repeated enquiries to the label from a multitude of Paul Simon fans have gone unanswered, no-one’s entirely sure.)

To further confound the investigation, from information given in interviews by Simon and other musicians, only one track on the original tape is actually identifiable. The “title” track, “Gumboots”, lent it’s music lock stock and barrel to become the backing track of Paul Simon’s song, also titled “Gumboots” on the finished album. Indeed it’s not difficult to imagine Simon driving around singing his prototype vocal melodies and lyrics over the bouncing mbaqanga groove.

But was the original tune actually called “Gumboots”? or did Simon just use the title scratched on the cassette as an identifier? You can see one side of the actual tape above – does it have “Gumboots” written on the other side? (It’s rather doubtful the tape came with a tracklist, as any car-driving cassette fan would understand.) There’s certainly no mention of Gumboots in the lyrics. Further Simon interview comments reveal the track originally involved The Boyoyo Boys, yet any online search for “Gumboots” by The Boyoyo Boys brings back, yup, you guessed it, thousands of results for the phantom “Gumboots Accordion Jive Hits Volume Two” album. Another dead end.

Furthermore, one would imagine somewhere along the assembly of the two very large scale re-issues of the album, someone involved might think to seek out at least this individual recording and add it to the album as a bonus track. But no, nothing.

Indeed, very little previously unheard music has been added to the original album by way of bonus material on these re-issues, despite co-producer Roy Halee’s assertion that there was more than enough material generated during the initial sessions at Ovation studios in Johannesburg: “You should hear some of the out-takes. Even today, there could be two instrumental albums consisting of those fabulous grooves.”

It’s also known, through “Graceland”s writing credits and investigation of the wealth of documentary evidence, that at least two more of the albums tracks are based on presumably pre-existing music – On “I Know What I Know” Simon shares the writing credit with M.D. Shrinda, and on “The Boy In The Bubble”, he shares it with accordion player Forere Motloheloa (part of Tau ea Matsekha, the Lesotho group responsible for the “Bubble” backing track). Although no original titles have surfaced for the music that formed part of these songs, I’ve located what I consider to be reasonably close matches, and included them on this mix.

I’ve also included at least a handful of tracks that have surprisingly close links with riffs and melodies used on Graceland, and many, many other excellent tracks that could (and should) be considered forebears of “The Big G”. Note that I’m not making any claims of plagiarism (like I would dare!), simply demonstrating the common trading and development of grooves, basslines, horn, guitar, accordion and vocal riffs that took place between musicians at the time in both South Africa and Lesotho, and still takes place today, I hope.

As for the mysterious “Gumboots” instrumental? With no confirmation of the orginal title, and very patchy availability of The Boyoyo Boys back catalogue, it’s proved impossible to locate. I’ve included a track on the mix that The Boys recorded with Lulu Masilela (co-writer of “Gumboots” as it appears on “Gracelands”) which I consider to be it’s closest locatable relative.

I refuse to delve deeper into the discussion about whether the writing credits on “Graceland” are fair – Indeed amongst Simon’s catalogue “Graceland” is rare in the number of songwriting credits shared – proof that, for once, he was certainly not shy of demonstrating, and remunerating, the collaborative effort involved in producing the finished work.

More importantly, I must thank Paul, who, alongside sterling work by broadcasters John Peel and Andy Kershaw, both promoting similar music at the same time, opened up a new musical world to the young me, giving South African music far more of a UK (and worldwide) audience than it had previously enjoyed, and paving the way for many artists to bring that music out into the world. Also, in my opinion, he made a truly great album that, by blending his New York lyricism with another continent’s grooves, gave my young ears a taste of what marvels can be accomplished when different styles of music collide.

01a Tau Ea Lesotho – Nyatsi Tloha Pela’ka
01b Tau Ea Lesotho – Puleng
01c Puseletso Seema & Tau Ea Linare – He O Oe Oe!
02 Mahotella Queens – Umculo Kawupheli
03 The Rainbows – Mashonisa
04 Soul Brothers – Bayeza
05 Dark City Sisters – Ezomculo
06 M.D. Shirinda & The Gaza Sisters – Pfuka N’wavolo
07 Abafana Baseqhudeni – Mubi Umakhelwane
08 Mgababa Queens – Maphuthi
09 Zorro Five – Barcarolle
10 Amazulu Queens – Sankatana
11 Marks Mankwane – Khupa Marama No. 2
12 Naledi Boys – Bump Again
13 Ebrahim Isaacs – Meadowlands
14 John Amutabi Nzenze – Angelike Twist
15 Queue Sisters – Ethembeni
16 Spokes Mashiyane – Kalla’s Special
17 Soul Of The City – Hustle Bump!
18 J.K. Mayengani & The ShingWedzi Sisters – Khubani
19 Mahlathini & Izintombi Zomgqashiyo – Okwamadoda Kuya Bhikwa
20 Izintombi Zodumo – Mississippi River
21 Sannah Mnguni Nesimanjemanje – Ukhulupheka
22 Lulu Masilela & The Boyoyo Boys – Small Time No.4
23 Tempo All Stars – Take Off
24 Paulus Masina – Umalusi
25 Intombi Zephepha – Ingoina Le Nyathi
26 Mgababa Queens – Akulaiwa Esoweto
27 Mahlathini & The Mahotella Queens – Bophumthwalo
28 Izintombi Zesi Manje Manje – Awufuni Ukulandela Na
29 African Symphonics – Zulu Roll
30 Kings Messengers Quartet – My Lord

Images of Ethiopian art, as used on Graceland artwork, borrowed from The Peabody Essex Museum.

Compiler’s note: One of the most appealing yet frustrating characteristics of this music is it’s timelessness, both in arrangement and recording quality. I say frustrating, as it’s tough to tell the difference between an archive 1950s recording, a rather expensive studio recording from 1968 and a lo-fi shed studio recording from 1980, especially considering sound quality alterations due to poor quality vinyl, cassette-to-cassette dubbing and yes, a modern layer of MP3 encoding.

Post-1980 the differences are easier to note, as the introduction of electronic drums and early FM synthesizers give the game away somewhat, but even then dating things is not that easy. According to Global Groove’s blog, the track “He O Oe Oe!” is from a 1985 UK album, but the blog claims the original recording dates from 1981. Also the Tao Ea Lesotho tracks date from an album released in the UK by Sterns in 1988, but “Puleng” was apparently a South African hit a few years before that. The truth is very, very difficult to find, so even if a couple of these actual recordings actually don’t pre-date “Graceland”, the songs and grooves most definitely do!

Apologies also for any spelling errors in the tracklisting, and the largest of thanks to all re-issuers of this music, particularly the “Indestructable Beat Of Soweto” and “Next Stop Soweto” series of albums, and the blogs Afro Slabs, Matsuli, Electric Jive, Global Groove and Soul Safari, who do an amazing job unearthing and digitizing tons of outstanding African music.

There’s plenty more I could add about the above artists, but I’ll save that for another time – Thanks for reading and listening – hope you enjoy the mix!

(Previous Hectic City mixes can be found by clicking here!)

Yowsah! Been wanting to do this for a while, and it seemed like it would be a daunting undertaking, but seeing as Ableton & Soundcloud have donated some extra free storage space for a few months, I thought we’d better use it, and it all seems to have turned out rather splendid indeed. Three one-hour-or-so mixes and a compendium of some of our favourite mashups, remixes, edits and general insanity, or at least the ones that we could string together in some sort of coherant order. If you’ve heard us DJ at any point over the Kleptones lifetime, there will be more than a few familiar things here, for sure…

So here you go, nearly three and a half hours – 72 “tracks” and a few uncredited inserts and nibbles. And there still wasn’t room for any drum’n’bass, or any mellow stuff… and we tried to limit each producer and artist to one appearance only (Tried and failed as a couple are in there twice…) – guess we’ll have to pick all that slack up in future mixes, won’t I?

Hope you enjoy – We certainly had a ball mixing it!

If you’re in a hurry, download all three mixes and a tracklist in one zip file here:
MP3 (450MB) or FLAC (1.5GB)!

Part One: “A Massage From The Swedish Prime Minister”

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01 Grant Green – Let The Music Take Your Mind (Muro Mix)
02 Muddy Waters – Mannish Boy (Baxter Park Sunbather’s Korova Edit)
03 Aretha Franklin – Rock Steady (Sure Is Pure Mix – Danny Krivet Edit)
04 Hot Chocolate – Cadillac (The Revenge Rework)
05 Beat Conductor – Only A Thrill
06 DJ Melo – Grown Man Shit pt.2
07 Aaron Neville – Hercules (Groovement Inc Remix)
08 Sect – Man Of Wisdom
09 Claptone – Good To You
10 Chic – I Want Your Love (Todd Terje Edit)
11 Bottin – Eagle
12 Barry De Vorzon – Warriors (Cristoff Remix)
13 Frank Sinatra – This Town (Morgan Page Unreleased Remix)
14 Animal Collective – My Girls (El Remolon Cumbia Mix)
15 Andy Ash – Timmy
16 Kraftwerk – It’s More Fun To Compute (Busy P Edit)
17 Tanita Tikeram – Twist In My Sobriety (Alf Tumble Re-Dress)
18 Claptone – Cream
19 Dimitri From Stoke-On-Trent – I Wanna Be Your Lobster
20 Nina Simone – Ain’t Got No, I Got Life (Groovefinder Remix)
21 Radiohead – Nude (Jarrad K Remix)

Part Two: “Stop That, It’s Silly…”

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01 Kool & The Gang – Jungle Boogie (Kovary Nu Jump Up Booty)
02 Josh Wink – Higher State Of Consciousness (DJ Apt One Remix)
03 Sabo – Patchy Moombahton
04 Trick Turner – Sirens Comin’
05 2pac vs Feed Me – Hell To The Stars (Funkanomics Blend)
06 Featurecast – Rock Ya Body
07 Legion Of Doom – Crazy As She Goes
08 The Beatles – The Word (The Captain Remix)
09 Moondog – Lament I (“Bird’s Lament”)
10 Obvious Productions – Standing In The Way Of Your Friends
11 DJ Faroff – Ray No Speak Americano
12 G3rst – We No Speak Cantina
13 Mashup-Germany – Everybody No Speak Americano (Chaos Club Edit)
14 Mad Mix Mustang – Let’s Dance ‘n Stuff
15 Duck Sauce vs Fatboy Slim – The Barbra Skank (DJ Myagi Awesomesauce Mashup)
16 DJ Schmolli – Barbra & Gerry
17 Basement Jaxx – Red Alert (HeavyFeet vs Nick Thayer Bootleg)
18 Rye Rye ft. M.I.A – Sunshine (Smalltown DJs Remix)
19 DJ Topcat – Bust A Flawless Move
20 Big Boi – Shutterbug (Jack Beats Remix – Krafty Kuts Re-Rub)
21 Adele vs Robin S – Show Me In The Deep (DJs From Mars Mashup)
22 Tom Jones vs Lipps Inc – Funkytown Kiss (DMC Mashup – Kleptones Remake)
23 Nate Dogg – All The Girls Get Up (Mr Andersonic Remix)
24 Nero – Crush On You (Sound Remedy Remix)
25 Bell Biv Devoe – Poison (Risk One Bigger Room Bootleg)
26 Rick James vs Salt’n’Pepa – Superfreak Push (Gary G Mashup)
27 DJ Zebra – Happy Friends

Part Three: “I’m Sorry, I’m Going To Have To Shoot You”

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01 Ramones – Blitzkreig Bop (Tea Time Remix Ft. GSUS)
02 Dem Slackers – Swagger (Evil Nine Remix)
03 Nicky Romero – Generation 303
04 Bingo Players – L’Amour
05 Megadeth – Sleepwalker (Kaze V Croma Remix)
06 Fatboy Slim – Ya Mama (Moguai Remix)
07 Faith No More – Epic (Utah Saints Bootleg Mix)
08 Poet – Disco Statuz (JD Live Edit)
09 Daft Punk – Around The World (Kid Dub Remix)
10 Hedflux & Neurodriver – Energy Vibration (Kill Dyl Bootleg Remix)
11 Breach – Fatherless (Doc Daneeka’s MRR remix)
12 Queens Of The Stone Age – Better Living Through Chemistry (Streetlife DJs Remix)
13 Plump DJs – The Volcano Coalition
14 Human Resource – Dominator (DJ Hell Remix)
15 Wolfgang Gartner – Funk Nasty V3 (Krafty Kuts Re-Rub)
16 Exactshit – Crazy Humanoids
17 KRS-One – Sound Of Da Police (heapy’s Brooklyn Fire Bootleg)
18 Led Zeppelin – Immigrant Song (Mr Peaches Remix)
19 AC/DC – Thunderstruck (Tittsworth Remix)
20 The Rolling Stones – Satisfaction (Discotech Remix)
21 Benni Benassi – Satisfaction (J. Rabbit Remix)
22 Metallica – Seek And Destroy (Bassnectar Remix)
23 DJ Parker – Iron Mandem
24 The Kinks – You Really Got Me (Diffusion Remix)

(Oh and the “M3B” title? It’s another Monty Python reference which fitted the concept, but proved a bit too long for the titles, so got abbreviated – sure you can figure it out if you’re a fan… ;)

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Back with HC13! The unlucky one? Well, I hope not. Just as well I’m not superstitious, isn’t it?

That said, there’s definitely a thread here that I can’t explain in a sentence or two. Which is why it’s a mix, and not an essay. Feel free to try and explain it, it would help me out…!

Everything’s had a bit of a snip, naturally, however the ones titled as edits differ more significantly from the originals in terms of arrangement… I may make them available individually for your own mixing usage – if you want any one in particular let me know :)

01 Flux – The Value Of Nothing (Kleptones ‘I See What You Did There’ Edit)
02 African Head Charge – Unplanned
03 Wally Badarou – Mambo
04 Brian Eno – Ali Click (Rural ‘Doo Gap’ Mix – Kleptones ‘Brianless’ Edit)
05 Thompson Twins – Nurse Shark
06 The The – Soul Mining (Kleptones ‘Lost Johnson’ Edit)
07 Blancmange – Feel Me (Kleptones ‘Feel The Count’ Edit)
08 XTC – It’s Nearly Africa (Kleptones remake/remodel of Apiento Edit)
09 Mental Remedy – Heartbeat Inside Of The African Womb (Outro Rhythm)
10 Keith LeBlanc / Tackhead – Mechanical Movements Dub
11 Daniele Baldelli – Cosmic Parsley
12 Thomas Leer – Saving Grace
13 The Three Johns – Downhearted Blues (Kleptones ‘The Fourth John’ Edit)
14 Fad Gadget – State Of The Nation
15 Pink Skull – u.g.uo.aaaahhhh
16 Bohannon – Summertime Groove (Kleptones ‘Nearly No-Bo’ Edit)
17 Shriekback – My Spine (Is The Bassline)
18 Cabaret Voltaire – Sensoria (Kleptones ‘No Plink Plonk’ Edit)
19 New Fast Automatic Daffodils – Big
20 Buzzcocks – Money

Additional riffs and beats from Nitzer Ebb, John Martyn, Grace Jones, Queen, Eurythmics, Peter Gabriel, Vera, Said Mrad and Throbbing Gristle.

Thanks to Grant Martin for the CD source of “Soul Mining” (My vinyl’s past it, sadly…) and Apiento for the idea on “Nearly Africa”. Coincidentally, his version has just been reposted here.

Hope the listening is as much fun as the making was.

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Okay, a few friends have been asking me to do one of these mixes for a while, so here goes – it focuses on the deeper, funkier and sometimes jazzier end of 70s West African music (okay, Congo is Central Africa, but let’s not split too many hairs) – I’ll do another mix of the more intense stuff sometime in the future.

Docteur Nico & L’Orchestre African Fiesta – Zadio (Congo, 1967)
The Funkees – Acid Rock (Nigeria, 1971)
Bola Johnson – Buroda Mase (Nigeria, 1970s)
Ogyatanaa Show Band – You Monopolise Me (Ghana, 1970s)
Gnonnas Pedro & His Dadjes Band РLa Musica En V̩rit̩ (Benin, 1979)
Alhaji K Frimpong – Kyenkyen Bi Adu Mawu (Ghana, 1976)
Don Isaac Ezekiel Combination – Ire (Nigeria, 1970s)
Thony Shorby Nyenwi – No Wrong Show (Nigeria, 1978)
The BBQ’s – Aya Lolo (Nigeria or Ghana, 1970s)
Sahara All Stars – Alikali Adajo (Nigeria, 1970s)
Super Mama Djombo – Dissan Na M’bera (Guinea-Bissau, 1970s)
Peter King – African Dialects (Nigeria, 1979)

I didn’t intend to focus so heavily on Nigeria & Ghana, just tried to get a mix of some of my favourites that flowed well. I’ll be giving this a good few spins myself for sure, so it was definitely worth the effort! :D

The original vinyls of these tunes are worth mighty dollars, so these have been grabbed either from the many fine blogs posting this rare stuff or from the great series of compilations on Soundway Records – Thanks to them for making such excellent music more widely available!

Direct download: MP3 or FLAC

Another contrast for HC 11 (Isn’t it always though? ;) – This time something a little more dancefloor-friendly, but with a twist, as we enter the world of Moombahton.

I’ve been following a few blogs over the last couple of years that promote a range of “Global” dance music. A variety of different styles from around the world, some of which I liked and some I didn’t care for, but it’s always interesting hearing what people around the world are getting off on :)

Through these blogs and the producers I’d discovered there and then followed on Soundcloud, the name “Moombahton” started popping up in the tags. I heard a few things I liked, but then I read this article by Wayne Marshall that gave me the backstory to it’s creation. I’d recommend reading the whole article, but in essence the sound originated (as did Cumbia Dub, I believe) through playing slowed-down European dance tunes, some of which had already picked up on certain offbeat snare rhythms – a very “now” style in Euro-house – listen to Afrojack, for example, who provided the remix that, slowed down, gave the style it’s name (“Moombah”).

But, as is often the way with a style that gains a name so early in its gestation, a lot of people aren’t really that sure exactly what Moombahton is yet, but as with something like dubstep there’s a template; a tempo (roughly round 110) and a rhythmic guide (in this case, the flying offbeat snares over the 4/4 that provide the necessary syncopation).

This obviously is the brightest of green lights to many a producer, who can quickly adapt and remix their own and others work to suit.

So naturally this tweaked my brain considerably, as I’ve been enjoying quite a large chunk of slower dance stuff recently (the “slow house” and “cosmic disco” styles which operate around 110-120 and sometimes slower – not a marked, or new, difference in tempo (more a reversion!) but considerably different to euro-house’s 130 and dubstep’s 140). There’s something that resonates with me also around that tempo – it definitely allows for a bit more space and groove – better to actually dance to, rather than just bounce. However, the tempo has prevented me from DJing the stuff, as crowds generally view it as a warm up to something faster and harder, rather than the main course.

Reading Wayne’s article left me highly inspired to experiment with mixing at that tempo, using the Moombahton tracks that I liked and also adding slowed-down versions of tunes that I already had, some of which I’m not so keen on playing out in their original form as they’re a bit too intense (and also there’s a lot of peeps that do it better than me!).

In the spirit of the speed this sound seems to be mutating I wanted to do it very quickly (also grabbing the inspiration while it was there!), so I spent Friday working my way through a pile of tracks, mostly taken down 15-20bpm (although the odd one pitched up!). It was very surprising to find what worked best – quite an across-the-board selection indeed. I assembled the tracks and spent the weekend jamming with them and putting together this mix (recorded live, but tweaked and edited in Ableton afterwards), which is about 40% “genuine” Moombahton tracks and remixes, and the rest my own slow-down edits, samples and added percussion.

I think it sounds pretty good indeed. I’ve certainly achieved what I set out to do, had a blast doing it and am looking forward to experimenting some more. Have a listen and see if it suits you! :)

01 Sabo – Jesus Creates Moombahtron
02 Stereo 77 – Moombahton 1989
03 Kid Kaio – We Don’t Give A Fuck (Uncle Jesse Fuckin’ Moombahton Edit)
04 Frikstailers – Cumbia Kamisama
05 Switch – A Bit Patchy (Kenny Dope Mix – Kleptones Edit)
06 Mark Knight & Funkagenda – Shogun (Jimpster Remix – Kleptones Edit)
07 D.Ramirez, Mark Knight & Underworld – Downpipe (Kleptones Edit)
08 Technotronic – Pump Up The Jam (Da Fresh Goes To Miami Boot – Kleptones Edit)
09 Moombahtron – Get Stupid (Redlight Remix)
10 Lloyd Banks – Beamer, Benz Or Bentley (Skeet Skeep Edit – Kleptones More Edit)
11 Hostage – Badman Sound (Kleptones Edit)
12 Abe Duque – Acid (Kleptones Edit)
13 Square One – Vesuvius (Justin Martin Remix – Kleptones Edit)
14 Beat Pharmacy – Drifter (Drifting Drums Mix – Kleptones Edit)
15 Alter Ego – Fuckingham Palace (Dirk Leyers Remix – Kleptones Edit)
16 Retrohandz – Turn The Bass Up (Calvertron Remix – Kleptones Edit)
17 Diskjokke – I Was Go To Marroco And I Don’t See You
18 L-Vis 1990 – United Groove (MJ Cole Remix – Kleptones Edit)
19 Benny Benassi – Satisfaction (Afrojack Remix – Morningstar Edit)
20 Hostage – Otis (Kleptones Edit)
21 Audion – Noiser (Kleptones Edit)
22 Ghost – Ghost 2000 (Kleptones Edit)
23 Lykke Li – Get Some (Combo Edit)
24 4hero – Mr Kirk’s Nightmare (Kleptones Edit)
25 Billfold – Knockin’ Boots (Bill’s Fr33ky Edit)
26 Crystal Fighters – I Love London (A-Mac Moombahton Remix)
27 Outlander – Vamp (Kleptones Riff Drop Edit)
28 Emvee – Glitch Dub (Kleptones Edit)
29 Yolanda Be Cool – Afra Nuts (Kleptones Riff Edit)
30 Joey Beltram – Energy Flash (Kleptones Edit)
31 DJ Shadow – Scatter Brain (Kleptones Edit)

Direct download: MP3 or FLAC

Haven’t done one of these in…well, far too fucking long. Sorry about that. This time taking a dip into the slightly murky world of groove-influenced 70s rock – an odd time for many artists, some of whom really weren’t known for, or quite sure exactly how to “get funky”, but it produced some interesting tracks for sure. Some things you might know, some things you might not, some are edits, some don’t need editing!

Dire Straits – Once Upon A Time In The West
Suzi Quatro – Can’t Trust Love
Danny Edwardson & Seamus Sell – Stuck In
Bob Dylan – Gotta Serve Somebody
Ian Hunter – Bastard
Ace Frehley – New York Groove
ZZ Top – Cheap Sunglasses
The Equals – Mystic Syster
Bad Company – Burnin’ Sky
Thin Lizzy – Johnny The Fox Meets Jimmy The Weed
Area Code 615 – Stone Fox Chase
John Lennon – What You Got
Nazareth – Born Under The Wrong Sign
Steve Miller Band – Macho City
Fancy – Wild Thing
Czerwone Gitary – Coda
Sweet – Funk It Up
Status Quo – Don’t Drive My Car

Hope you like it – shouldn’t have to wait as long for the next one, I promise :) x

If you’ve been following on Soundcloud, you might have noticed that we’ve been sticking up a few experimental remixes and edits like the one below – there’ll be more to come, so it’s worth keeping an eye there too!

2 Live Crew ft. Mannie Fresh – I’m 2 Live (The Kleptones um-bia remix) [Direct Download]

Okay, due to seriously popular demand, and cos technical gremlins interrupted some people’s listening at the time, here’s the mix from the plinth. It’s a bit ragged, as my controllers were playing up a bit (not their fault!) and I’ve hacked off the last tune, as it was an afterthought to leave something running while I packed away and left, but apart from that… here it is – warts and all.

All K-tunes (including quite a few new album ones) apart from the last track, which is the Chase & Status mix of Nneka’s “Heartbeat” and is an absolute bomb that I only heard that day for the first time. I couldn’t get out of my head and it became my anthem for the day, so I played it!

Thanks again to all who tuned in, or tried to and failed. If so, hope this makes up for it. What an intense experience! It’s given me a taste for Extreme DJing though, so I wonder where next…?

Direct download: MP3 or FLAC

The final part of HC8, and the final word from me on 2008 (maybe ;). Looking back on this there’s some things that really should have gone in (Squarepusher, Byrne & Eno, “Shackler’s Revenge”, Busta’s “Don’t Touch Me”, Wiley etc…) but they didn’t quite seem to fit anywhere while I was mixing, so it goes… Hope you’ve enjoyed the selection anyways, and a very Happy New Year to you all.

Only thing that remains is to ask if you think there’s anything obvious I’ve missed out on? – let me know if so – I’m all ears as usual :)

Direct download: MP3 or FLAC

Pacific UV – Alarmist
Shearwater – Rooks
Bon Iver – Blindsided
Evangelista – The Blue Room
Thomas Brinkmann – Words
Portishead – The Rip
Peter Broderick – Stopping On The Broadway Bridge
James Blackshaw – Echo And Abyss
The Caretaker – Long Term (Remote)

Right – Let’s get on with 2009!

(pic via the esteemed Speakers Push Air)

Direct download: MP3 or FLAC

Fleet Foxes – White Winter Hymnal
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Dig, Lazarus, Dig
Mrr-Adm – Track 04 (from unmarked 12″ EP)
Clinic – Corpus Christi
El Guincho – Antillas
Neon Neon – I Told Her On Alderaan
Mountain Goats – Lovecraft In Brooklyn
Deerhunter – Nothing Ever Happened
The Fall – Can Can Summer
The Dodos – Fools
Elbow – The Fix
Durutti Column – Glimpses
James Yuill – This Sweet Love (Prins Thomas sneaky edit)

Professor Pork says : “It’s a fine line, I know. Oink. But as house music continues it’s return journey from innovation back into pure functionality (discuss somewhere else, pls), it’s been left to the online production world to come up with the goods – Unfortunately their tendancy to promote and duplicate musical memes as quickly as possible for fear of seeming out of touch has left them with five hundred remakes of every half-realised idea, and no one that has the time nor the inclination to sift and sort through. Snort. You could make your own variation in the time it takes to listen to everyone else’s. See what you’ve done, Kleptone? Underground, overground, now everyone’s wombling free, you dig?”

Eric says: “Good for them, I say. Kudos to Fake Blood though, for having the decency to avoid repeating the same sounds across every tune he makes, and to Duke Dumont and Funkanomics for their persistance of vision in the face of fashion.”

Direct download: MP3 or FLAC

Mystery Jets – Two Doors Down (Duke Dumont remix)
Gregor Tresher – A Thousand Nights (Dubfire Quiet Storm remix)
Letroset – Skillex
Kriss Kross – Jump (Funkonomics Planet Cross remix)
Alex Gopher – Belmondo (Just A Band remix)
South Rakkas Crew – Mad Again (Fake Blood remix)
Underworld – Ring Road (Fake Blood remix)
Shinichi Osawa – Electro411 (Lies In Disguise Remix)
Trip – Who’s That (Jack Beats remix – Kleptones sharp end edit ;)

P.S. Apologies for the language skills. And thanks for the comments – very welcome as always :)