Mixtape Mondays: The Heatwave, Smutlee, Cocotaxi, Riddim Wise

Words by Deejay Theory —

With January coming to a screeching halt after this week, we’re moving strictly forward with brand new music and vibes for 2014 at Mixtape Mondays. Fresh deliveries of reggae, dancehall, tropical, bass and more just shipped in from the UK, Australia, Sweden and Montreal. From gyrations to meditations we got you covered right here.

The Heatwave, New Year New Tunes: Without wasting any time, our guys in the UK at The Heatwave headquarters break down the newest bashment essentials for 2014 in their latest episode of their regular podcast. Leading off with the big man from 2013, Konshens, they swiftly introduce big new tunes from Alkaline — the black-eye-tattoed youth you’ll be hearing much more from in dancehall this year — plus more from Mavado, Vybz Kartel, the original Shabba Ranks, Leftside, Stylo G, Mr. “One Drop” QQ, and some brand new soca forwards leading into Trini Carnival 2014. Stream and download below, tracklist here.

Smutlee, Dutty Dancing x Oyster Mix: Keeping in the UK we have a new fireball from London badman Smutlee in conjunction with leading Australian fashion and pop culture authority Oyster Magazine. The collab was conceived to help hype up Smut’s recent jaunt to Australia to bless the folks at Good God for their ‘Dutty Dancing’ party, which I’m sure is a decent time. Big reggae and dancehall remixes and crossover joints here, including one from this guy, some Smutlee blends and exclusives, some of the baddest and most slept on tunes of ’13 and more. Stream below, tracklist here.

Cocotaxi, The Yellow Cake Mix: More tropical bass rumblings this week this time blasting off from the guys in Stokholm at the Cocotaxi camp. Some badd tunes on here across the board from Coco themselves, Ape Drums,  a remix I flipped for their original release “Hot Like Fiyah” with our man Red Fox last year, plus a sneak peak at a rendition from yours truly of one of our top reggae singles of 2013 by the one Gappy Ranks (more on that soon). More twists and twerks in the dancehall, rap and and bass departments here from this well versatile crew. Stream and download below, tracklist here.

Riddim Wise, Roots Salute: Rounding off the week properly with steady roots music from the good folks at Montreal-based production team and soundsystem Riddim Wise. Strictly current one drop and rub a dub offerings from this team (including some of our favorites) leaving slackness at the door on each of their mixes and dances. As always the tapes include the purchase links whenever available for each tune so you can cop the ting while you’re enjoying the free music. Salute to Riddim Wise every time for supporting reggae music to the fullest. Stream and download below, tracklist here.