"...in da hood, summa time is da killin' season - it's hot out in this bitch, that's a good 'nough reason..."

SUMMER! SUMMER! SUMMER! Oh, it's here alright. The air-conditioners are are blasting, the fire hydrants are flowing, the water-boys are hustlin', and r. kelly is bumpin...in the street again. ahh...sweet sweet summer. anyway. it's time to get into some summer jams...those blockbusters and guilty pleasure's you'll probably leave in '08 and never think on again. anyway here are my pleasures (guilty and not) for the month of June:

Kids - MGMT

Open Sesame - Kool & The Gang

Another One Bites the Dust - Queen

Brazilian Rhyme (Tittsworth Remix) - Earth, Wind & Fire

Hope you enjoy. Congrats to Obama!

(speakeasy)

Read more!

I need to (italo) disco

Travel from today to 1979 and back in a little over an hour with:

Max Power's Time Traveling Birthday Mix

1. Max Power - Intro
2. Talking Heads - Making Flippy Floppy
3. Alan Braxe Fred Falke - Intro
4. Felix Da House Cat & Kris Menace - Artificial
5. Daft Punk - Around the World
6. Mylo - Rikki
7. Digitalism - Zdarlight (Discodrom Edition)
8. Para One - Dundun-Dun (MSTRKRFT remix)
9. Linstrøm - I Feel Space
10. CSS - Let's Make Love (Spank Rock remix)
11. Tom Tom Club - Wordy Rappinghood (12" Version)
12. Mr. Flagio - Take A Chance (12" version)
13. Roysopp - Beautiful Day Without You (Rex The Dog Remix)
14. Dharma - Plastic Doll
15. Kano - It's a War
16. Digital Emotion - Go Go Yellow Screen (12" Version)
17. Edwin Birdsong - Cola Bottle Baby
18. Casco - Cybernetic Love (Vocal)
19. A.I.M. - Thailand Seeds (vox)
20. Mike Mareen - Love Spy
21. Charlie - Spacer Woman (Vocal)
22. N.O.I.A. - Stranger in a Strange Land (Club Mix)
23. Claude VonStroke - Beware of the Bird
24. Roger Sanchez - Lost (D. Ramirez Lost in Rave Mix)
25. Fat Phaze - It's Magic (Lottie and Serge Santiago's Version)
26. Boys Noize - Let's Buy Happiness
27. Gonzales - Working Together (Boys Noize Dub Mix)

Read more!

Fela!

So I like good music, don't you? No, seriously...doesn't everyone like to chill out and listen to some really, really, good tunes? I'm not talking about some obscure 40's bluegrass band or Tibetan throat-singing which may be appealing to few (if any?)--I'm not talking about the latest Lil' Wayne joint or the same five Michael Jackson songs you hear at every party. What I'm talking about is that feel-good music that absorbs you but lets you be--something you can listen to at any time, for any occasion, and always puts a smile on your face. I should be cautious--who knows--some of you might get your jollies off from listening to the Gyuto Monks or playing "Lollipop" on repeat for hours at a time--for me I can only listen to that music so long before I go a bit nanners. Diagnosing a problem I have of shifting though genre's of music like taxi-driver through 5th avenue lanes during rush-hour, I've recently sought out the all-purpose cure for my various musical aches and pains. The prognosis, I found, was quite simple: type F-E-L-A K-U-T-I into the iTunes search thinger, press play and let him do the rest.

Fela Kuti, has, to say the least, become my life in the last week or two. His subtle melodies and upbeat approach has given me a most wonderful outlook during the crunch-time of school, jury-duty (which I'm currently serving) and the horrible weather in New York. I don't seem to be able to get bored or antsy listening to this stuff--it's infectious style has me dancing on train platforms and smiling at old women (even when they aren't to pleased to see me). It is no wonder people consider him to be the pinnacle of Afro-beat and one of the most important musicians of the 20th century--these beats have me begging for more every time I stop listening. I don't usually say this, but if you can't download any of Fela's work, go out and buy it--you won't regret it. It seems impossible to describe him--I'm certain the music needs to speak for itself, so I'll let you be the judge:

Fela Kuti - Roforofo Fight
Fela Kuti - Expensive Shit
Fela Kuti - Coffin for Head of State
Fela Kuti - Zombie

Best wishes, everyone,

Peace,

(speakeasy)

Read more!

Randos

It's been a while all around. I've certainly been busy, though. Highlights of what I've been up to during our little hiatus after the fold:



January Mix

1. Kissy Sell Out – Harriet (Kissy's Special Annie Mac Edit)
2. Daft Punk – Human After All (Guy Man After All Remix)
3. Boys Noize – & Down (Teenage Bad Girl Remix)
4. Simian Mobile Disco – It’s The Beat
5. Robbie Williams – Never Touch That Switch (Switch Remix)
6. Solid Groove – This Is Sick
7. Kissy Sell Out – Let There Be Blazing Light
8. Justice – Let There Be Light
9. Feist – My Moon My Man (Boys Noize Remix)
10. Fat Phaze – It’s Magic (Lottie & Serge Santiago’s Version)
11. Bodyrox feat. Luciana – Yeah Yeah (D. Ramirez Dub)
12. Daft Punk – Oh Yeah
13. Matt & Kim – Yeah Yeah (Flosstradamus Remix)
14. Les Rythmes Digitales – Jacques Your Body (Make Me Sweat) (Club Mix)
15. LCD Soundsystem – Daft Punk Is Playing At My House (Soulwax Remix)
16. Stardust – Music Sounds Better With You
17. Black Strobe – Italian Fireflies vs. Axel Foley Theme
18. Cansei De Ser Sexy – Let’s Make Love (DJ Streetlife’s Rappinhood Remix)
19. Soulwax – NY Lipps
20. Soulwax – NY Excuse (Justice Remix)
21. Daft Punk – DaFunk (Casino Inc Amazing Disco Remix)
22. Arthur Agent – Hold Your Head Up (Soulwax Mix)
23. Claude VonStroke – The Whistler
24. Daft Punk – Around the World
25. Digitalism – Zdarlight (Discodrome Edition)
26. Vicarious Bliss – Theme From Vicarious Bliss (Lifelike Goes Disco Remix)
27. MSTRKRFT – Bodywork
28. Les Rythmes Digitales – Jacques Your Body (Make Me Sweat) (Switch Remix)

March Mix

1. Hot Chip – Over And Over (Naum Gabo Remix)
2. Franz Ferdinand – The Fallen (Ruined By Justice Remix)
3. Benjamin Theves – Texas (Sebastian Remix)
4. Justice – Waters Of Nazareth
5. Feist – My Moon My Man (Boys Noize Remix)
6. Boys Noize – Shine Shine
7. PUZIQUe – Don’t Go
8. Kano – It’s A War
9. Mylo – Otto’s Journey
10. Sinichi Osawa – Star Guitar (feat. Au Revoir Simone)
11. Lindstrøm – I Feel Space
12. Cansei De Ser Sexy – Let’s Make Love (Spank Rock Remix)
13. Adam Sky – Ape X
14. Kaiser Chiefs and Boys Noize – Everyday I Love You Less and Less
15. Klaxons – Gravity’s Rainbow (Soulwax Remix)
16. Röyksopp – What Else Is There? (Trentemøller Remix)
17. Mika – Relax (Take It Easy) (Arcadius Electro Remix)
18. MSTRKRFT – Easy Love (Remix)
19. Chromeo – Bonafied Lovin’ (Riot In Belgium Remix)
20. Simian Mobile Disco – Love
21. Prince – I Wanna Be Your Lover

April Mix

1. Justice – Valentine/Bonde Do Role – Melo Do Tobaco (A Cappella)
2. Surkin – Next Of Kin
3. D.I.M. – Is You
4. Goblin – Tenebre
5. Justice – Phantom
6. Kazyo – Make Yeah
7. PUZIQUe – Thomas
8. Shadow Dancer – Daytime Drinking
9. Teenage Bad Girl – Hands Of A Stranger (Vitalic Remix)
10. Teenage Bad Girl – Hands Of A Stranger (Yuksek Remix)
11. Sebastian – Untitled
12. Kiss y Sell-Out – Her
13. Boys Noize – Lava Lava
14. KIM – Fistogram
15. Gonzales – Working Together (Boys Noize Dub Mix)
16. Thomas Bangalter & DJ Falcon – Together

Read more!

Under stress of misfortune, or in dread of tyranny, it is still preached...

If you ain't seen this yet... you're in for one hell of a ride. Apparently this shit has also been getting banned left and right in France, for the sheer violence and cruelty within. This isn't even to mention the reminders it provides of the banlieue violence that, as you might recall, exploded in late 2005. It's a tight video, and probably the best one they could have shot for this song. It also totally echoes the video for "Smack My Bitch Up." Speaking of which - Stress? Is the new Justice single? I did not see that one coming. Either way, I must have one of those jackets.



Justice - Stress
Justice - Stress (ZUER Edit)
Fucked Up - Stress (Justice Cover)

Read more!

Мои Друзья

"...too blunt as an instrument, as VChK officials concede, because the government could not simultaneously institute bankruptcy proceedings against 90% of the enterprises in the country. Instead, the VChK devised a complicated arrangement under which the tax debts of the delinquent enterprises would be restructured as bonds. If an enterprise defaulted on these, a controlling stake in its shares would be taken over by the government and auctioned off to the highest bidder. But one year after the plan was announced, only three large enterprises were restructuring their tax debts, and the government's attempt to seize the assets of two oil refineries only ignited..."



Michael Hunter - The Soviet Connection
Seryoga - The Invasion
Detsl - Pizness (Feat. MC Molodoy)

Read more!

Past Participle

It has been a while. Our bad. Although speakeasy kind of made up for it. Pssh. Excuses, excuses.

At any rate, if you don't know DJ Format, you better get on that train. He's a whole mess of freshness, having produced two albums and a Fabric Live compilation. A frequent collaborator with Abdominal and D-Sisive, he just put out a new single, a mix-blend, if you will, of a bunch of James Brown tracks.

The moral of this story is that funk is back, in a big way. Or maybe it isn't. Then again, was it ever gone in the first place?


DJ Format - Stealin' James, Pt. 1
DJ Format - 3 Feet Deep (feat. Abdominal & D-Sisive)
DJ Format - The Place (feat. Chali 2Na & Akil)

Read more!

Energy Drinks, Academia and Perversion

It's 5am. I'm alone in the library save for the companionship of some obscure movies and books, many empty cans of energy drinks and an unwritten paper that makes my brain feel like ouchies. Oh! There's also this A Clockwork Orange soundtrack my friend gave me (to keep me on the sane side). Well anyway, all work and no play makes a speakeasy delusional--so delusional that he went and spent the last half hour mashing ghetto tech with various songs on this wonderful soundtrack. Why? I really don't know. I'm soo sorry, world. So yeah...that's my confession, I took a perfectly good song and brought more perversion than Pee Wee Herman's Playhouse. I'll save you the time of finding out if its any good: its horrible. I put about as much effort into it as I have this paper tonight--and yet in my cracked out state, I can't help but laugh at this monstrosity. So here you go...another silly mashup:

William Tell (Throws Up All) Over(Her)ture - Gioachino Rossini vs. GhettoTech (zSHARE)

Read more!

Catching up.

It's been a while...sorry. Hope everyone had a good winter. I've been busy failing out of school, bullshitting: watching pretentious movies, smoking endless cigarettes, and getting addicted to lost and the wire. Yes, that's right, I like lost. Yes, it is a good show. No, YOU'RE a loser. Anyway, here's some shit I've been working on over the cold months:

Sympathy for the Devil (spkEz Bmore Glitch Edit)
Goin' Down (spkEz remix)
Kick out the Sweet Child (Guns and Roses vs. Dave Nada)
Rock Steady (Steady Rockin' spkEz edit)
Bongos on the Ground (Rye Rye vs. Zongamin)
Cranque Dat (MSTRKRFT vs. Soulja Boy vs. Frederico Franchi)
Hood Nigga (spkEz rough remix)

And a mixtape I just put together...Winter '08

--Glad that's off my chest.

Love, speakeasy.

Read more!

I Miss the 90's

My childhood memories are inextricably mixed a (perhaps fantasized) image of the "golden age" present nowadays in the lyrics of wizened old MC's. I remember a 90's New York (more specifically, Prospect Heights and Flatbush, Brooklyn, where I grew up) as a blur of BBQ's, West Indian Day Parades, and red cherry ice's that cut your lips. Call me nostalgic, perhaps even romantic, but at some point I became obsessed with this period of New York City's history. The transition phase--a no-man's land between the wreckage of the eighties and the inflated, hipster-filled realm of the 21st century--a time when you could still buy loosies or use tokens. When red painted train cars still ran, at the height of graffiti, this was the glory age of Hip Hop...

My junior year of high-school I beat my friend in a game of c-lo for a Mecca t-shirt (remember them?) and a DJ Skribble mixtape. Suffice to say that the mixtape didn't leave my cd player for a month or two. It seemed at the time that I had finally found the sound I had always been searching for (again, forgive my romanticism). Anyway, the mixtape, which dug deep into the a quickly dying music tradition of the 90's, became my new drug--and I spent the next two years exploring that incredible moment in hip hop history...

When I got to college, that music began disappearing from my life. New people turned me on to new music and I moved on. Fast forward two years and I'm sitting in my bedroom listening to yet another fast-paced electronica remix or something...UGH. Don't get me wrong, I love the stuff, but goddamn...sometimes I gotta bring it back. I started searching through my computer and what do I find? NaS's Illmatic...ahhhhh. Anyway, since then I've been on a serious east coast 90's kick, and I thought I'd share some of it with you. I threw this sampler together for anyone interested.

I Heart 90's NYC
Track Listing:
Powaful Impak!-Black Moon
Woo Hah-Busta Rhymes
Oh My God-A Tribe Called Quest
The Rep Grows Bigga-Gang Starr
Bucktown-Smif N Wessun
Everyday Struggle-The Notorious B.I.G.
Memory Lane (Sittin' in the Park)-NaS
Drink Away the Pain-Mobb Deep
Supa Star-Group Home
Rainy Dayz-Raekwon the Chef
D'Evils-Jay-Z
Street Struck-Big L
4th Chamber-GZA
Come Clean-Jeru the Damaja
Outta Here- KRS ONE
Return of the Crooklyn Dodger-Various Artists

Or you can download a zip of the singles

Enjoy,

(speakeasy)

Read more!