February 2011
January 2011
Opposites Attract - Paula Abdul
Yesterday I wandered into a random bookstore in an abandoned neighborhood in LA, the store was about the size of a large bedroom but it had a lot of charm and lovely old books stacked to the ceiling in wobbly fifteen-foot-tall columns. I saw so many incredible things I didn’t know existed, rare art books, vintage magazines, first prints from San Francisco beatniks… and beside a cashbox and a mini-shrine to Charles Bukowski was a single crate of some of the dopest vinyl ever.
Beyond the warm, rich sound, amazing artwork, and cool factor of records, most 12” singles and EPs have remixes and dubs that haven’t been heard since the 80s. Sure you can find almost song imaginable online, but these versions were pressed in the 70s and 80s for DJs, heard mostly in dance clubs of decades past and never remastered or re-released digitally. I picked up early hits from Janet & Michael Jackson, Stacy-Q, Paula Abdul, and a Dutch white label of Nu Shooz I’ve been looking for since I Saw Grandmaster Flash spin at a Jean-Michel Basquiat retrospective many years ago.
I love digital media, the internet puts centuries of rare and mythical content just a google-search away, but it will never replace the feeling of wandering through a bookstore or library or record store and stumbling upon things you weren’t looking for… because you never knew they existed. I hope that kind of discovery isn’t lost on future generations.
6’7’808 (Bassnectar Remix) - Lil’ Wayne
This is Wayne’s dopest track in a little bit, a lot of my DJ friends say it’s his best since Lollipop and A Milli, and Bassnectar killed the beat on the remix.
If you want something a little more thug, check out his new straight up gangster rap single on the Patron & Purp mixtape, SooWoo (with Game who’s a Cedar Block Piru Blood).
DJ AM - Live from Winter Music Conference (WMC) 2008
I’ve been trying to decide whether or not to post this for a while now… A little bit of me wants to keep it for myself and my close friends, but ultimately I think everyone should get to enjoy it.
I love this mix a lot and it never seems to get old. Right now I’m poolside, about to blast it while I watch the sun set with some friends. But whether you’re freezing your ass off somewhere snowy or getting freaky on a beach in Australia, this mix will definitely warm you up a little bit.