Words by Eddie STATS Houghton
Happy Monday. Ugh. We wish we could upload a steaming mug of Blue Mountain coffee and link it to you but that technology is still being tested. We can, however, beam out a few liters of premium-blend reggae, dancehall, soca, dubstep and champeta which will have a similar effect on your sluggish monday-morning metabolism. When it hit you, I’m told, you feel no pain…and it’s even said (by Jahdan) that it “nice like a coffee whey in a ther-mos!” Music we a talk bout, the free kind and there’s a lot of it, so let’s get started or you’ll still be downloading next monday:
Federation Sound f. Natalie Storm, Songs 2 Fuck & Fight 2 (via Federation) – First of all, big homie Max Glazer of Federation Sound is unveiling Natalie Storm’s new mixtape today and if you haven’t heard “Feel Up” or “Boys for Breakfast” already, let us be the first to tell you, it’s a monster. Get it here in both individually tracked and continuous-blend formats. If you’re in NYC, Nats will be hosting Rice & Peas tonight at Sway and the official mixtape release event will be Thursday at the Brand New Machine/Deadly Dragon night over at Happy Ending. Come true!
Red Rat & DJ Outkast, The Red Rat Mixtape (via Shadyville Caribbean) – Yes, cartoonish 90s throwback legend and author of such immortal boom tunes as “Dwayne” and “Tight Up Skirt” is back in mixtape form, with a bunch of new jams, mostly unexpected combinations with people like MIMS and Janet Jackson (!) Have your mind blown here.
77Klash & Cobra Krames, Dubstep Dickens (via Klash City Records) – Just in time for the holidays, Klash meets Charles Dickens (A Christmas Carol) in a dubstep style! Conceived while these two were snowed in at a smokeboarding event in Vermont. I mean smoked out at snowboarding event. Whatever. Hot dub time machine! Listen via soundcloud or download the zip-file here.
DJ Stephen aka the Professor f. Kevin Lyttle, Evolution Mix (via Fox Fuse) – Soca, rapso, pop & dancehall courtesy of two-time winner of the International Soca DJ title. Hosted by Vincy ragga-soca star Kevin Lyttle of “Turn Me On” fame. Download it here.
DJ Arems f. Shinehead, Fiyah Foundation ( via Faction sound) – We almost slept this tribute to the original Jamaican-in-New-York, Shinehead. Our boy Arems put this together in support of a recent Shinehead show in Vancouver, pairing his essential tunes with six original dub plates! Download it here.
DJ Chief Boima, Ghetto Palms Champeta mix (via Ghetto Palms) – Last but not least, if I can sound my own airhorn, Ghetto Palms featured a wicked 16-minute mix by DJ Cheif Boima last week, shining a spotlight on a lesser-known corner of the Caribbean (at least to us English-speakers) with this tribute to champeta, a whole subculture of Colombian soundsystems that chat over chop-and-looped Congolese afropop. Includes dub plates! Download or stream here.