Mix #1: See rap run. RUN DMC, Run!

So, without further adieu, I bid you the new project for the blog I've been working on. Yes, I am a mediocre DJ, but without practice, I can't get too much better now can I? At the same time, I want to share music with you guys without it being of cost to you, but at the same time I want it legal. So, what is the solution? Eureka! Though technically I don't have the legal rights to do this, I thought maybe I could present you with mixes I have made and you can listen to. If you download it, good for you, if you just listen, that's what it's meant for. Since I'm not making money off of it, I don't believe it is illegal, but I'm still trying to check in on it.

So, today I present Mix #1: See rap run. RUN DMC, Run!

If you were not present for the 80-90's rap scene, who was more famous than RUN DMC could only be Public Enemy, Nas, or maybe even Eminem, or even Wu Tang Clan. Rap was starting to hit the radio hard and people were eating up the pop-rap hits. So, I thought, for those of us not too familiar with RUN DMC, why not make a mix and then let you explore it more if it is something that seems to interest you? Either way, here's a mix (The download is fine, let me know if you can't get it).
 

See rap run. RUN DMC, Run! Mix

Track List :
Quasimoto - Blitz
Run DMC - King of Rock vs. Run DMCJam Master Jay (Minimal foX mix)
Run DMC - Peter Piper
Run DMC - Mary Mary vs. Zombie Nation- Kernkraft 400 (Stadium Mix) (Minimal foX mix)


Let me know if you have any mix preferences, or comments about the new idea behind presenting bands, or if you just have something to say. (I know there's some work on my part that I need to do, but I've spent the past few months developing new ideas and mixes so let's get this done together, eh?)

-DJ Minimal foX

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When We Rise!

Sorry if the breif Hiatus had paniced anybody, but sometimes a blog writer has to face the life outside the internet for a bit before getting back to the comforting glow of a monitor.

Well, summer has come and started, and for those in Alaska, the breakup period is over and it's damn green on everything. Time to get out, do something, dance about, and enjoy the few months before work starts up even heavier for next year. But, you're tired of that same music over and over again. You'd want to get your rump in gear, but, you need something new to move you. I have an idea for you...

Major Lazer. Now, before just blindly clicking the link, let me give you the down-low about this album. If you remember awhile back, progressive DJ Diplo was mentioned. Major Lazer is a collaboration of Diplo with DJ Switch. Switch  has made his name with Dub-House music; Diplo with reggae/pop DJ work, especially with Santogold. Now, the creation here, Major Lazer, is a fictional character, know to have "...faught in the secret zombie wars..." and is a big fan of the music coming out of Jamacia. This album Guns don't kill people... Lazers do, is an exploration of both artists into modern Jamacian music, poppy island feel mixed with reggae.

The whole thing is a bit hard to just sit down and listen to, but is great music to get moving too. If you want a couple track samples to convince you Link to Lala.

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Next update will be a bit better, still trying to find places to share music with you for free, so hold tight.

-Minimal foX

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Night Furries & Milkshakes

Hi-ho! No Soundtrack Outcasts today, but rather two film scores that deserve all of the limelight they've thus received (as always, tell me what you think). First, a small part of the score for Dreamworks' "How To Train Your Dragon" by John Powell. Gorgeous themes, boisterous brass and bagpipes for a Nordic/Irish sound, warm strings and flutters--fun and powerful and unashamedly smile-inducing:

"This is Berk"



"Test Drive"



"Romantic Flight"



Now a total gear shift. Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood" has a disconcerting soundtrack fashioned by Johnny Greenwood, a member of Radiohead. The songs work best and rile your blood most when you pair them with their respective on-screen scenes (durhay), but their discordant percussion and upsetting, pulsing unease still loft them high enough on their own to disquiet you:

"Proven Lands"



"Oil"



"Convergence"




--The Last Moslow

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French Atmosphere

Around for over 10 years, Air is a French synth-electronica duo. They aren't really club techno; though some of their beats near the border, don't go slapping that stereotype too quickly. It's their myriad of fun, slip-beat, and poignant themes which makes them both minorly ambiant and cooly pigeon-headable. Their official YouTube channel doesn't allow embedding, but take a sample from these 200% virus-free hyperlinks to said port and tell me what you think:

Sing Sang Sung

Playground Love

Don't Be Light

How Does It Make You Feel

Alpha Beta Gaga

--The Last Moslow

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We Need Heroes; Build Them

There’s a hell of a lot you can voice about Flobots, which is incredible because they already say so much, and they've only had one major commercial album release (until now). To me, and undoubtedly many others, Flobots’ “Fight With Tools” is about coming together for change, voicing that things are not the ideal, looking hard and realistically at race and capitalistic no-nos. Their sound is kind of a hodgepodge: they emphasize wonderful violin solos and highlight sparse brass and their harmonies have the real-world texture of a clubhouse of people, not boy-band conventions. There is a theme, a message to their efforts, sure, but there are still some fun, non sequitur tracks (“The Rhythm Method,” “Combat”) to break the tension. They’re entertainers slash community advocators. Take a listen:

“Fight With Tools”



“Never Had It”



“Handlebars” (According to the band, it’s about the power of decisions--you can do great good or evil depending on where you hone your efforts.)



“Rise”



Just for reassurance, it isn't mandatory for you to embrace their worldview or their political ideals--I know I sure don’t to a T (very anti-Bush and -globalization). You don’t have to agree with every couplet or little history lesson. But I think there’s something to be impressed by here. That a quasi-rap/hip-hop album makes you open up the Dictionary to find out what the world the intricate metaphor you just heard means is a rarity in any musical genre these days. I think it’s something to admire that they've had 5 number one chart toppers but their rap harks back to the first rappers, the fountainheads, the ones who used it as an outlet for social change and sung expos’es about class issues with present-tense violence. They are not perpetuators of materialism or dropping their name every other verse or writing a success autobiography, electronically warping the same vapid, repititous lyrics. They acknowledge that being impartial or stagnant is not an option in America anymore. It’s a welcome, gritty, heartfelt album.

Most reviews and forum posts seem to say--and I’d agree with them--that their second dip is more hopeful. If the first disc can be interpreted as a “distant early warning,” this one is the coin’s nicer side—still scuffed with chips and gum but there’s a shine there, dull though it remains. I like it on-par with “Tools.” (CLICK RIGHT HERE to safely listen to “Survivor Story," their second major release out now, on LaLa. Actually, just buy them both--they're less than $12 bucks each most places.)

Jonny 5, Brer Rabbit, and the rest of the group may not convince you to join a rally or jump up and volunteer or join Big Brothers, Big Sisters...but they’ll make you feel like you should, and not through guilt. They’re not renegades or extremists—they’re iconoclasts with a lot of talent and energy. These guys are important; they speak for themselves about all of us.

--The Last Moslow

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/Rupture, Shade, and Moor

DJ /Rupture has been becoming a legend in his own field in New York. His skills at sociopolitical commentary through DJ work has been staggering. His work speaks subtly and is rabidly unique. When a DJ develops a taste that just sits in your head for days after, that DJ has done something great. DJ /Rupture is just that.

If you're not familiar with DJ/Rupture, he is a quite the interesting DJ, having remixed country songs, poetry, and made amazing architecture with his music. His renown Special Gunpowder and Uproot albums were quite critically acclaimed. Work with Andy Moor, not the Brit DJ, has also lead to quite unique songs The Sheep Look Up. Now if it's not your cup of tea, that's quite alright, but you should learn to respect how unique DJ /Rupture is and how well he crafts his voice and ideas so subtly into his work, and his amazing ability to take you song to song and keep a single idea going. Tiesto really doesn't have much on him, but that's a whole other story.

If you're not familiar with Matt Shadetek, he is quite the good dance remixer, and is starting to gain lots of popularity. He too has quite a ability to logically flow songs together like threads in a blanket. Just have to check out only one of his mixes, (this one is one of my favs. I might add), Get Drunk and Loose Your Phone to become aware at how well he can craft flow.
The two combined create an amazing trip into the consciousness. That's what Solar Life Raft really does. The poetry and mix of it all create an other-worldly experience like no other! It's a cd that is continuous, and though some of the songs are great stand alone songs, you need to sit down for the full hour the cd takes, turn off the lights, and just go through the experience that this cd will take you.

DJ /Rupture's work with Andy Moor, as stated above NOT THE BRIT DJ, is just as powerful. Andy Moor has become a strong guitarist (from the band The Ex)and has an amazingly great musical sense about him, as can be heard in the collaboration album with /Rupture, Patches. It is quite it's own taste, but, again, if you can find a place for DJ /Rupture's style, you're really going to dig this album as well.

If you also find that you're liking DJ /Rupture more and more, check out his music blog here.

--Minimal foX

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Apples In Stereo?

There are many bands out there that have made themselves entirely known, been playing popular songs, made impressive covers, been on tours, and yet are never publicly known more than, "Oh, they play that song??" It's not a shame, but it's just a bit sad to see it happen to The Apples In Stereo. You know this band, even if you don't know you know. Don't believe me? This is their website and listen to a few songs. You can even sign up for their mailing list and download the latest single "Dancefloor." Ah psychedelica music, where would we be without the 70's?

-Minimal foX with a short note.


*cough cough* Did someone say advertisements? *cough cough* Heh, it's a good buy if you're into the band and want their single hits. Even a great introduction to the band. But I'd suggest... finding... other ways... of getting it instead... >>

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