MIX NO 49

WORKIN' NIGHTS MIX NO 49
Created by yours truly

A great mix for a sad lad. I’d like to thank TK Nicholson for the artwork, and for letting me do this.

Click on the mix artwork above for the list of tracks and download.

THESE STREETS WILL NEVER LOOK THE SAME

Bushwick's Heaven Street Grand Opening; New Favorite Record Shop

fatigued and out of work with Marco and Laura

Thank HEAVEN STREET I decided to come out of my hermit coma for once or else I would not have stumbled upon my new favorite record store. Located just skips away from the Morgan Avenue stop on the L, Heaven Street record shop just had its grand opening tonight and everyone from musicians to writers and designers salivated over the free PBR and impressive inventory. "New York's only counter cultural record store!" proclaims the Facebook event page. The shop is curated by Cult of Youth's Sean Ragon and is often run under the friendly hands of my buddy and former Hospital Production shopman, Jim Siegel. Whatever you can trace in the two's musical paths is what you will find in the shelves of this store. It's no surprise that a store that's run by total angels (though I know OF Sean through mutual friends but I'm sure he's a sweetie too) makes DETAILED labels on almost every release in stock. Now that's service! Believe me, it was very hard to keep my wallet shut tonight, and when I found out they accepted Paypal payments upon purchasing Chronic Sick's "Cutest Band in Hardcore" e.p., I willingly kept my account open on the shop's laptop.

The store is open seven days a week (I believe) and is currently cash only - and Paypal, if you're nice and ask. It's located on 184 Noll Street, opens from 12-8 p.m., and all you have to do is walk left on Flushing and see a big ass window with a red wall and records behind it. They really like pizza. Jim loves waffles, pretzels, and cats. You will probably see me frequent the shop on the reg.

Melding Screams and Shouts

stylin' into 2012 with origami samurai hats cause the dollar store across the street was closed

If you think about it, it's pretty lousy of us to wait 365 days just to tell ourselves that within the next 365 days you're going to do what you didn't do in the 365 days you just lived. I try not to force myself to make a turn-of-the-year resolution lists as a result, but I can't help but go to bed - covered in confetti, champagne, and remnants of slime from some celebratory Frenching - with thoughts of what the new year will entail and how I can better myself to make shit happen.

My family came to visit me last weekend, but more so to experience new year's eve in Time Square for the first time. (I'm pretty sure I put their travel priorities in the right order.) That weekend marked the end to the longest I've gone in not seeing my family, five months since August; and before that only three months last summer when I was in this city for an internship. Although there were bouts of annoyances that I didn't miss in living under the same roof, it was overwhelming to accept that through time, these familial encounters will shrink and the length of absences will expand. My mother is more understanding, more open, curious but not invasive; my siblings are more mature, more willing to share their personal passions, more respectful. I need to make the most out of these qualities and shared times for now on.

Mentally, this has been a very trying year. I stepped up to a green platform decorated in honors ropes questioning what I've been working on up to that point, realizing it may not be what I wanted to pursue as a career. Dealing with various setbacks has sprinkled my year with thoughts of uncertainty, uncertainty turned to fear, and thus slowed down my motivation and productivity. My social support fluctuated as my closest friends settled on opposite coasts (and Chicago) for the next chapter of their lives. Despite the tiny handful remaining in the small town which I spent most of my life, I knew that their emigrations were imminent, including my own.

I won't say that this has been a terrible year. A lot of my money went into some solo traveling on the weekend and breaks: visiting friends at shows and events around Ohio, Chicago, and saying hello again to my New Yorkers before settling months later. I've sent snail mail and care packages to those I couldn't see in the immediate future. I split my birthday week in Chicago and Columbus eating, drinking (a lot), dancing (not enough), and sweating (hot as balls that week), and somehow turned several awkward encounters into budding relationships. That didn't stop when I abruptly packed my bags and headed East. I stumbled upon new friends, rekindled old ones, and even developed unpredictable relationships with former acquaintances.

So fuck it. I'm diving into this year with smiles and laughs, and embracing my creative potentials. I've limited my resolutions to a very small, but powerful list: take chances (the part of 2010 me I miss greatly), embrace relationships, and "get money get paid." (Thanks, Chi City.) Oh, and finally combust into a giant cloud of dust when an asteroid hits the planet on doomsday.

... and I guess blog more. That was last year's resolution, and frankly I don't think I did a terrible job with that!

Reality of NYE: wasn't covered in confetti or doused in champagne, and didn't even receive my first kiss of 2012. (Yet.) I lost contact with all of my friends and, therefore, potential plans, around 9 p.m. Luckily, my brother bailed my family and the Time Square ball drop and come back to my apartment to use the toilet. A mixture of blasting Lil B, streaming the ball drop happening mere miles away (ungrateful denizen), walking around Williamsburg after midnight, and heading to bed before 2 a.m. Next year, a hotel party's gonna save me from being stranded YET AGAIN.

BUT WAIT! DON'T LEAVE. In the midst of this jovial state of mind, I compiled a mix of songs that stuck with me in the past year. This is not so much a "top songs of 2011" sort of mixtape... okay, maybe so as a lot of these tracks went through heavy rotation on my iPod, turntable, cassette player, etc. I know the music tastes of you readers are all over the board, but c'mon! It doesn't hurt to give it a spin and surprise yourself with a track or two you didn't expect to love. Hell, that's how I discovered a lot of these tracks. Plus, I decided to go pro and use my amateur knowledge of Audacity to MIX the mix. So ENJOI.

brought to you in 3D thanks to Miss Chance Morris

DOWNLOAD HERE

TRACK LISTING
1_ Lil B "Pretty Bitch"
2_ The Spits "No Place to Live"
3_ Warsaw "Leaders of Men"
4_ Unwound "Lucky Acid"
5_ Career Suicide "Cherry Beach"
6_ Duffy and the Doubters "Spider Baby Jesus"
7_ Milk Music "Out of My World"
8_ Bleached "Think of You"
9_ Toro Y Moi "Fax Shadow"
10_ Xeno and Oaklander "Sets and Lights"
11_ Pictureplane "Techno Fetish"
12_ Gary War "Grounds for Termination"
13_ Shabazz Palaces "Free Press and Curl"
14_ White Ring "Rick Ross - BMF [White Ring/One Nation Under God Remix]"
15_ Trust "Bulbform"
16_ Glass Candy "Etheric Device"
17_ //Tense// "Pulse Beat"
18_ Tyga "Racks City"
19_ Tyler, The Creator and N*E*R*D "Inside of Clouds [Remix]"
20_ Araabmuzik "Lost in A Maze"

And if you haven't gotten the chance to do so, download my other 2011 mixes: Sweaty Summer and Indonesian DIY Punk.

EAR CRUSH: ASAP ROCKY 'LIVE LOVE ASAP' MIXTAPE

Download at Datpiff.com

Get in on the "trillwave" and download ASAP Rocky's mixtape. NYC born and bred, this man converges all of hip-hop's familiar sounds, but the execution is done so well that your ears will take it in as something new. I cannot stress how good this mixtape is - hell, it's been on loop since I have downloaded it. Not only are the songs pure quality, but ASAP Rocky doesn't shy from his love of fashion and great menswear designers who are near and dear to me. "Raf Simons, Rick Owens, usually what I'm dressed in." That I can back hard.

I found out about the ASAP mob's Halloween show the day that it happened and waited too long to RSVP. (List was closed by then.) Huge fan. ASAP Rocky: if you're reading this, make sure I can attend your next gig. Guarantee I'll show up wearing all black and going ham.

"The only thing bigger than my ego is my mirror."

Great tracks: "Palace," "Wassup," "Trilla," "Bass," "Out of This World"

BEST TRACK: "Brand New Guy, feat. Schoolboy Q"**

**: heard this song drop for the first time at Terry Richardson's exhibit after-party thanks to GHE20 GOTH1K's Venus X. Girl knows how to mix it on the turntables and she's one of the few legit NYC DJs keeping parties going these days. Impending rant aside, almost dropped my drink because I was so elated.

And speaking of that party: boom shaka laka boom.

9_21. WEIRD NIGHT W/ DAWN OF HUMANS, PHARMAKON @ HOME SWEET HOME, NYC

PHARMAKON: was easy to photograph



DAWN OF HUMANS: fuck it, I got a video of their set to make up for this.



To my chagrin, meeting up with friends at Weird after gallery hopping in TriBeca was a challenge. Home Sweet Home, a bar/venue on Chrystie Street in which the most beautiful and most explicit of hell broke loose, was all fog and dismal lighting. Second, it's in the basement. So not only was my attempt to cell communicate one fat failure, but closing in towards the stage meant you couldn't see shit. Thankfully I've been to enough goth/darkwave club nights to fine-tune my capability of recognizing silhouettes in a smokey, dark basement and all was scarlet cherries and penciled-in eyebrows.

The night's bill was lacking in number, but the energy accumulation of Pharmakon and Dawn of Humans was on level to a four-band show. When it's past midnight and you're one of the surprising few who have to clock in at 9 a.m. in mere hours, all you really want is a happy meal show with a super-sized sensation. My friend Nick told me that Pharmakon, stage alias for Far Rockaway's Margaret Chardiet, was feeling very nervous about the performance tonight - but if anything, I was nervous about possibly being post-bewitched by her noise set!

The precedent atmosphere left an unusual playing field for Dawn of Humans, mostly because it was unusual to see someone monkey-scaling-the-ceiling-water-pipes action in the foreground of fog and strobe lights. I didn't whip out my camera fast enough to capture that, but I hope you can get my drift on how maddening this set was in the video posted above. I need someone from the show to confirm for me whether those are his real (purple) balls, or whether it's some rubber toy.

The show was not a usual one for Home Sweet Home's Weird Nights, which, in the past, has headline the label's rosters including Automelodi, Led Er Est, and Xeno and Oaklander. The inevitable finally happened during Dawn of Humans and the Weird disco ball on the low ceiling was knocked off and torn to pieces. I don't think there's any need to add words to that metaphorical gesture.

9_5. Words by A Girl Who Couldn't Get In: Fool's Gold Day Off @ City Winery, NYC

On Labor Day a friend and I got out of Brooklyn and headed to SoHo, a.k.a. my second 'hood, for the annual Fool's Gold Day Off fest. We made it to the event... with the exception that we didn't make it INTO the event.

The website urges attendees to come out early as "attendance is based on capacity," and the flyer is proven evidence that this warning was all in the bill. Juicy J of the Three6Mafia and weed aficionado fame headlines with Just Blaze, Bros. Macklovitch (A-Trak & Dave1), Araabmuzik (see post for how awesome he is), and more + special guests. Since Electric Zoo ended the day before, it's guaranteed that the special guests were going to be real treats for the crowd - one of them being Diplo and his forever unforgivably amazing dog tee. (See this photo I copped from Facebook. Glorious.) So of course everyone and their moms are going to make the trek to this event. It seemed acceptable to arrive an hour later than the start time because a) 2 p.m. is too early to those hungover from weekend BBQs and b) doesn't the majority arrive fashionably late to these all-day events anyway?

A surprise to many, it turns out that this was housed in a confined backyard of the City Winery with capacity of what must have been a teeny number. Long lines for both general and VIP admission were in queue and hopefuls stick around waiting to get in on the fun. A small crowd of kids in front of me grew agitated as event staff members and Fool's Gold representatives tell them that entry is closed due to capacity and fire hazard regulations. Fool's Gold wristbands were distributed among those in lines in hopes of alleviating the tension, though I didn't see them as guaranteed admission but symbols of a lost cause.

The metal gates are locked and what was once a linear line became a cluster and eventually a terrifyingly annoying cluster of teens/"adults" scheming to "stick it to the man." The premonition of madness laid in these words said by the king of brainstorming next to me, "There's more of us than them." Next thing you know, the whole front successfully plowed through the gates and failed an attempt to run to the event. I then see an event staff who previously tried to work with the crowd come out breathing fire through words, telling everyone that the event is indefinitely closed and no one will get in. Speechless and shaking heads at what just happened, the lingering crowd finally dispersed.


So it's almost like I was at the event. A piece of 2011 history for my autobiographical scrapbook.

So I'm going to say what's been on everyone's mind at that point, but may have not been said: the event organizer(s) needs to change the way these free shows are done. This whole ordeal took me back to December, when Fool's Gold hosted a free-for-the-public, admission-limited holiday party at Tammany Hall of which was headlined by Manny Fresh. Boom! Line down the street, barely moving, vips with an entourage of too many were cutting through, and those arriving on time suffered near hypothermia just to try their luck on getting in. Those in line got rowdy because they're freezing their asses off, and (surprise) authorities arrived to tell the crowd that they should go home.

I LOVE the label and its roster, and I'm sure these events were fantastic to those involved and those who were lucky enough to be a part of the crowd, but if you know that your events are going to be this big for the love of God please do not book them in small venues and, while doing so, advertise it as a free event for everyone. Either do what Mad Decent does with their block parties and book them in open air venues in which people can easily come and go, or host an admission lottery. I vehemently condemn the behavior of those who roughed it up with authorities and bum rushed the gates, but precautions could have eliminated this stupidity. If those in VIP can't even get in, then I say this is a problem that needs to be addressed and fixed at the next event. That's just my two cent.

9_3. Swimming with Sharks, Le Bain @ The Standard, NYC

+

KAWS


Trouble & Bass took over Scion's last Swimming with Sharks event and turned this night time hotspot into a Common music video - sans Common. Leave it to this sharp-dressed crew to make Labor Day weekend feel as labor-less as possible.

8_3. CRYSTAL CASTLES @ NEWPORT MUSIC HALL, COLUMBUS

So for this sold-out, Crystal Castles show at Newport, I decided that for the first time, I wanted to watch the show from the balcony. One, because I learned my lesson about the misery of trying to dance in a tin-of-sardines-kind of a crowd when I saw M.I.A. at NYC's Hard Fest last year (and had a heavy storm come through and made it more miserable... go find the videos); and two, because I busted out the Rick Owens racer tank dress I gifted myself for my birthday and, although flexible and comfortable for a night of dancing, I don't think I trust its integrity rubbed against some sweating bodies. But cool story, let's move on with the actual show.

My two male buds and I arrived around 7:40 p.m. to 3/4 of the venue already crammed - the opening act didn't take the stage until 8:30! During that idleness, I pointed out to my friends a particular person in the crowd who may have, in the words of my friend Kent, "reached his peak a little too early." His enthusiastic jazz hands, hair whips, and air thrusts had us in hysteric. There was a good 30 minutes ahead of him before the show finally started. Poor dude couldn't hold it in any longer. The Columbus-based opener was not my cup of tea, but everyone else seemed to be gulping them up. To put it succinctly, whoever manned their lights should be paid generously, there was some rock 'n' roll (which I had little appetite for that night), and the keyboardist/vocalist would definitely do well in a mid-'00 Blood Brothers sounding band (which is not bad, really).

Crystal Castles finally went on around 10 p.m., though prior, members of the crowd and I speculated a possible second opener due to the presence of a drum set. (Did they always have a touring drummer?) Nope, that was for them, and of course the fogged up theater should have made it all more obvious. Amidst the flashing strobes in their hell of an impressive lights arrangement, they opened up with "Fainting Spells" and bulldozed through the first half of their set with all the hits. You couldn't see Ethan and Alice until "Baptism" kicked in, which is when their hunchback silhouettes had everyone go bananas and I'm practically losing my shit over the song's hypnotic trail. I've somehow managed to record the next song, "Courtship Dating," in its entirety (video below). If there was any problem I had about this show, it's that there were minor occasions, like the "Courtship Dating" performance, in which the vocals were hard to discern.

Sorry for the shaking camera. Can you blame a lady for dancing?

Alice will hand over anyone's ass in being the most energetic frontwoman for a live performance. Almost every time I come back from the dark, there goes Alice's feather-like body walking, sprawling, and fucking crawling through the sea of heads and hands gravitating to her beckoning like magnets. Those were the only instances of contact with the crowd, because otherwise they were completely removed. They did not check in on how the crowd was doing, verbally making it known that it's Crystal Castles on stage, or even said thanks. But really, is there any need or demand to break the mood with some small chat? Hell no. As the lights erupted and escalated like a fireworks show and hits like "Empathy," Celestica," and "Crimewave" (fuck yeah) had everyone feeling themselves up, and "Not in Love" had everyone nearly toppling over the balcony rail just to sing along, the group made sure that everyone was there to dance in their own ecstasy. If you didn't and you just stood there to "watch" them, then you're probably went bat blind staring at the violently pulsating strobe lights.

They came back onstage for the encore with not a word out of their mouth (no surprise there), and Alice comes out smoking a cigarette like a boss and swaying her shoulders and hips as "Intimate" slowly leaked out of the speakers. Two more songs came after that before they called it a night, but at that time my friends and I dashed to the door to avoid the crowd rush. And failed. It was in the rush that I noticed that the Crystal Castle male fanbase was total babe-topia, and it certainly wasn't saving me that these Josh Hartnetts and Simon Nessmans came through with shirts unbuttoned and hair side-swept behind their ears. (In Ohio?! How come I rarely see these men around?!) I met up with a friend who told me that being in the pit was, given the circumstances, surprisingly bearable. Now combining these two instances, I'm starting to wonder whether having all the free reign to dance on the balcony with this great view really was the better alternative.

Night accompanied by these lovely shits. I swear they were thrilled the entire night.

7_30. KVLT V: TEENGIRL FANTASY/PICTUREPLANE/GATEKEEPER/I†† @ DOUBLE HAPPINESS

This is my first time at Double Happiness, a bar-slash-venue located in downtown Columbus on Front and Fulton. It's actually rather swanky, and the theme of the decor and general vibe is Orient - hell, not only were there paper lamps, reed plants and amber tinted dome lamps, fucking House of Flying Daggers was playing on the big screens at the bar area. (Should have taken a photo of that, the dimly lit bar area is gorgeous.) Originally, the set up of KVLT V was going to have two different acts play either on the patio or the indoor stage throughout the first half of the fest - but as I arrived to get my wristband, Scott told me that residents were complaining that the sound was too loud. Whoever was complaining should have thought twice before signing a lease next to a bar/venue.

As a result, the time slots got pushed back by an hour and the headlining trio took the night around 10 p.m. Three of my lads and I didn't feel as terrible about the Dirty Franks hot dog rush hour that held us back (though it was tasty), but unfortunately we still arrived late and caught the last ten minutes of Columbus's Dirty Current's set: a a great mix of dark, crunchy bass bumpers that I feel in love with back when I saw them open for Deathface at Skully's. Despite the night being rather young for the dancefloor crawlers, the venue was half filled up - a positive sign for the fest as it's a crowd that makes the night.

I†† performed under minimal glowing light made convenient by the pre-placed lamps. This was my first time seeing the married duo live - let alone hearing the material. It was a drastic step from the brazening DJs before them, and it took that crowd a while to adjust from the environment change. This was the first time that I've witnessed the theremin being put to use for a live performance. It was both entrancing and fascinating to see the oscillating eerie hums added to washing sounds of minimal noise best described as the tortured, self-flagellating voices in your head.

It's no secret that the main anticipation of my night was seeing Chicago-to-Brooklyn transplant Gatekeeper play in my home state. I saw them headline Pendu night back in spring break with Streetwalker (1/2 of White Car) and Innergaze, so I was curious to see what their set would be like under the variables of touring and a crowd that blends a lot of the regulars of the Columbus eletronic dance music scene - a little more bright colors in the crowd of transparent black and denim. Albeit these circumstances, out came the rapidly pulsating strobe lights, abusing fog machine, and headlights well needed - perplexing otherwise - for this dark duo. Somewhere within the first half, their set got cut off during what I think was "Storm Column" for reasons I was unable to discern after investigating within the crowds. When everything went back into gear, the crowd erupted back to its raving state and I was in my self-sexual trance until blue tanktop guy plowed to the front to hard grind against this girl with so much force, he grinded against me and my goat-masked friend - up to a point to which I was not having it. Gatekeeper played a lot of what I assume was new material for upcoming releases and ended their set with "Chains" (yess) and "Giza" (yessx2).

I was with two friends who saw this tour in their current residence of Louisville, Kentucky. One of them told me about his funny predicament with Travis Egedy (stage alias, Pictureplane) and how he was mean mugging him due to the two showing up at the venue wearing the same parental advisory hat. This is why you Google search these performances prior to attending a show, preventing wearing what may be the stage/tour costume of a performer, and preventing being on the shit list for the night haha. But I digress. Real was indeed the feeling of the night, and Travis did a great job balancing his engagement (though from a distance - if that makes any sense) with the audience and even submerging himself into a moping euphoria through his own music. The glitch-hopping synths and drones are accompanied by Egedy's serenading breaths of soulful melodies that makes Pictureplane, and this entire set so dreamy. I wasn't too familiar with him prior to this night except for "Body Mod" and the "Real is the Feeling" music video, as well as an explosive amount of coverage he seems to be getting from music and art culture publications. That night I feel in love with the soundtrack to my future dreams. Get the "Thee Physical" full-length when you have a chance, I purchased this at the show on a cassette. Oh yeah, there were gimp dancers who, aside from the death glares they casted at the crowd, were completely removed and unresponsive to their environment except within the confinements of their duty to dance. I don't know why I thought this was slightly terrifying. I stuck around for 3/4 of the set because it got to the point where the poorly vented venue resulted in waterfalls of sweat, and I had to get out to regain sanity.

I unfortunately had to miss Teengirl Fantasy because it was hitting 2 a.m. and we had not only a long drive home ahead of us, but a mad craving for Taco Bell. (A very rare food mood for this health freak.) The Gatekeeper boys were doing lighting for this group, so I'd like to get the 411 on how all this went down. The drive home almost became a drive to our grave beds because when we got close to Nelsonville on 32, there was fog as thick as milk for miles.

Wanderlust.

Athens, Ohio's "Boogie on the Bricks." View from the south side of the street. Basically like a college street party except the general 21+ crowd gets beyond buzzed on craft beer and jives to daddy rock.

Achtung, I am one step away from finally getting my college degree. I turned in my final paper for my writing and rhetoric class around 7 a.m. today, then blacked out from my iced-coffee fueled all nighter. On the bright side of things my online Shakespeare class will be done in 5 weeks, I somehow found a way to squeeze a little money out of this small town by babysitting two kids, the Etsy store is finally open, and I have all the time in the world to prepare for my move, discover new music, and do a little bit of traveling (on a budget).

Speaking of traveling and music, feels like it's been over a month since I last been to a show (and therefore suffering a dry spell). Being chained to schoolwork was a great way to save money - enough to make it out to these following shows. (Still pretty bummed to have missed Wiccans, Milk Music, and [just now] the Backslider/Disciple of Christ duo these past few weeks.) Hope to see some of you guys out there. I'm looking forward to doing some reviews + photo recaps of these shows (linked for info/ticket vendor):

7.26 to 7.29_ Chicago birthday
7.30_ KVLT V: INTO THE DARK. DAYLONG FESTIVAL feat. Teengirl Fantasy, Pictureplane (!), Gatekeeper (!), Todd Pendu (of Pendu NYC), Textbeak, Funerals, I†† & more @ Double Happiness, Columbus, OH. adv. $10 tickets here.
8.2_ Cold Cave, Austra @ The Grog Shop, Cleveland. $12adv/$14door. Tickets here.
8.3_ Crystal Castles @ Newport Music Hall, Columbus, OH.
8.9_ ICEAGE, The Men, White Walls, Unholy Two, Scavenger @ Carabar, Columbus, OH. FUCKING FREEEEE SO DON'T MISS THIS OHIO (but damn that means I have to miss the soon after Avon Ladies show, blech)
8.13_ MAD DECENT BLOCK PARTY feat. Dillon Francis, Dawn Golden & Rosy Cross, Bosco Delrey, Kito, Reptar, Lunice, Benzi and Curren$y @ Wicker Park area, Chicago. FREEE
8.19_ bye Ohio

Gatekeeper is entrancing live and I feel like I'm in some sci-fi underworld every time I hear their stuff. The video above is from their set at the Secret Project Robot in Brooklyn. I'm not hard to spot in that video: I'm the one getting my dance on. Particularly excited with this dance marathon and my little break with the astounding bill for the Carabar show. That will spark an exciting overview of booze-fueled fun. As far as the Mad Decent Block Party, Chicagoans looking to gyrate against the August heatwave and are down with moombahton should hollar at me, my crop top, and my air horn. That's not completely set in stone, but I certainly don't want to miss this.

Edit: re-opened my Netflix account now that I'm less occupied. Two thumbs down to the extra charge for DVDs (first world problems); thumbs up to my fattened instant queue dashboard. Which reminds me, I need to check out Spotify soon because everyone's raving over how it's the music of Netflix... yes?

Last.fm Scaicha

Very cool.

Disconnect Myself

//TENSE// - Disconnect Myself by Mannequin Label

DE RIGUEUR MIX #2: SWEATY SUMMER DANCE MIX

a.k.a. THIS is how you do summer.
From Mad Decent on Vimeo.

It's a little early for me to declare siesta season, but I'm already in that mindset. Probably not a good thing as I still have two weeks before I sit half-asleep and partied out in an ill-fitted green gown at my college graduation ceremony. (What the... ?!) Ramblings aside, nothing screams summer like some sweating body-on-body action, billowy crop tops, lawn parties, popsicles, fireworks, and dance music that will help you dip low, slow and to the floor.

The mix is divided into two parts. Download both for the complete compilation of music that, I hope, you'll want to blast during a joy ride or through your outdoor stereo system. To help you readers discover something new to love, I tried to cover various grounds of music and artists - even threw in some Ohio love with tracks created by friends Cassius Slay and DJ Self-Help. So if you like anyone on this mix, go do some further diggings and buy their stuff/attend their shows.



Stop bumming and start twerking. Mediafire links are below the track listing.

_PART ONE TRACKLISTING
1. "Hot-N-Fun feat Nelly Furtado (Boys Noize Remix)" N.E.R.D.
2. "Masta Blasta (Original Mix)" DILLON FRANCIS
3. "Run Hide feat. Amanda Blank (produced by Diplo)" TROUBLE ANDREW
4. "C'Mon!" TIESTO VS DIPLO (TOADALLY KROSSED OUT REMIX)
5. "BASED" CASSIUS SLAY
6. "Paris Orly" DEUX
7. "Gunbeat Falls" SHABAZZ PALACES
8. "Tent in Your Pants" PEACHES
9. "Time of the Season (Self Help Remix ft. Kain)" DJ SELF-HELP
10. "Green Velvet - Everybody Wants" KID SISTER
11. "Hold On" HOLY GHOST
12. "Jungle First Date" NIGHTBEAST
13. "Behind the Stars" PANTHA DU PRINCE
14. "Ringfinger" NINE INCH NAILS
15. "Tits & Acid" SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO
16. "NYR (Will Eastman remix)" OUTPUTMESSAGE

_PART TWO TRACKLISTING
17. "Chains" GATEKEEPER
18. "Love At First Sight" ABSOLUTE BODY CONTROL
19. "Sex Sax" DROP THE LIME
20. "Only Girl Part Two (Rihanna vs The Cataracs)" DOSVEC
21. "Riverside (Moombahton Edit)" DAVE NADA
22. "Look At Me Now feat. Busta Rhymes & Lil Wayne (No Big Deal remix)" CHRIS BROWN
23. "I Got A Lot (New New New)" MIKA MIKO
24. "Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above" CSS
25. "DVNO" JUSTICE
26. "Something to Do" DEPECHE MODE
27. "Lead Head" //TENSE//
28. "Over (dJ eSenTRiK Remix)" DRAKE
29. "Murderers" JOHN FRUSCIANTE

Get the Mix:
SWEATY SUMMER PART 1 (Mediafire)
SWEATY SUMMER PART 2 (Mediafire)

I would love to style a shoot that pays homage to the epitome of men, Depeche Mode. This will also give me an excuse to dress men in t-strap shoes (à la "Master and Servant" music video), 9 to 5 suits, leather drop crotch pants, and hand cuffs. Meow.



Image source: the internet.