Posts tagged with basement jaxx

06/22/2010

Summer Drive Mixtape!

As you hopefully recall, last month, we put together our first ever mixtape entitled A Blogwave Summer which was curated by 20 of our favorite music blogs, each contributing a track of their own and mixed together by none other than myself. Well, I had so much fun putting that together that I decided to do it again with a bunch of tracks of my choosing. There wasn’t really a theme at the onset, it was just a lot of mostly high energy (and, for the most part, extremely bright) tracks that I love, most of which I hadn’t heard until I started this site last May. When I gave it a listen this past weekend on a 4-hour solo drive up to Traverse City, I decided it made pretty great driving music, especially on a sunny day, and thus, Summer Drive was born.

I could have also very well called this mix dailybeatz 101, because for someone who doesn’t visit the site regularly, it’s a fantastic representation of exactly the type of music that we love here. In fact, most of these songs have been posted on this site at one point or another, so you may have heard many of them here already, but I must say there’s something to be said for the way that juxtaposition can really change the feel of a song.

Special thanks to CrystalSister whose picture I used for the mixtape artwork.

Just like last time, you can right click/save as the zip file below which includes the mix split into individual tracks as well as front and back covers. Or, you can download the full mix from the soundcloud player below (this is what I recommend as you are sure not to encounter any split second gaps between tracks which really hurt the flow) and you can save the front and back artwork from this post. Either way, I really hope you enjoy it as much as I do, and please please PLEASE let me know what you think. I apologize for naming every mixtape “summer” something, but it’s what I love, and what the music sounds like for me. Check out the track list below.

Summer Drive mixtape (individual files)

Or listen and download one continuous file from the Soundcloud player below (what I recommend) by clicking on the down arrow on the right side of the player.

dailybeatz.com presents: Summer Drive by dailybeatz

Here’s a sample track from the mix that’s become one of my favorites the last few days. It’s the beautiful, flowing “We Ah Wi” by Javelin, which sounds like a breezy summer afternoon.

Javelin – We Ah Wi

buy it on We or amazon

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04/26/2010

basement jaxx – my turn

While we’re on the topic of groups we’ve always heard of but never really listened to and don’t know anything about, now might be a good time to mention Basement Jaxx. The London duo of Simon Ratcliffe and Felix Buxton (how are those for some British names?) originally began by holding a club night called Basement Jaxx at various locations before starting to record their own scheisse under that name. And as it turns out there are actually tons of Basement Jaxx tunes that I know (and that we all know), but I just never knew they were by Basement Jaxx.

But recently I was smitten after “My Turn”, featuring Devonté Hynes, aka Lightspeed Champion, was recommended to me. I really like the heavy beat, which is really heavy at times, but backs off when appropriate. Sort of a slow jammer. And the various strings that come in throughout really add a nice touch. I’m also digging the video a ton. There’s a great contrast between black and the bright colors throughout, and it’s a nice exercise in creative use of silhouettes. There’s something about this whole song that just sounds fresh and/or refreshing. Give it a look and a listen.

Basement Jaxx – My Turn

buy it on Basement Jaxx - Scars (Bonus Track Version) - My Turn (feat. Lightspeed Champion) or amazon

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