Woohoo!!! Been waiting to share this one for waaaay too long. Mixing traditional Nigerian Fuji music with deep sub bass, “Oluko” gives you the first taste of my upcoming Mystery Trip Vol.II mixtape – dropping July 10th on Bastard Jazz Records. This project is all about going back to my roots: pulling out obscure vinyls from my global collection, then lovingly chopping, remixing and editing them into new tracks with a contemporary edge and classic Captain Planet touch. All 9 edits have been blended, along with other audio samples and field recordings, into a 45min mix, which will be printed to cassette tapes like my earliest mixes from the late 90’s. Similar to Mystery Trip Vol.I, which was listed in Sasha Frere-Jones “Best Music Of 2012” (thank you very much), Vol.II leads you on a psychedelic journey to destinations around the world, where you are drawn out of your sonic comfort zone via a soundtrack that bridges styles of music from Asia and Africa to South America, The Caribbean and beyond.

Press play and begin the trip… Also for those who dig it, please support by pre-ordering the cassette tape or the 12″ vinyl and receive a download link. Then share the sounds and spread them widely!

Took a very serious and much needed breather this past month- winding my way through Paris and Southern France, and then transitioning back into California through Napa Valley to help soften the blow. Much wine was drunk, many insanely good meals were had, saw friends, jumped into the Mediterranean, visited museums and cathedrals and mountains, and overall reminded myself how big and beautiful this world is and just how important it is to travel around it. With that in mind, I’ve got some more chill selections today. Some sounds for a BBQ or hanging at the beach, or maybe just keeping your sanity in traffic. Take a few deep breaths, enjoy the vibes, and give some props for the fact that I was able to include 2 musical artists with “Flamingo” in their name. Artwork today comes courtesy of Costas Spathis.

Ok today’s selections are mainly intended for late night after-hours hijinks and shenanigans- some heavy club sounds that are meant to pump loudly from oversized speaker stacks in big spaces filled with lots of bodies. That being said, you can often find me solo on my couch, with a whiskey on the rocks at midnight, headphones on blast, imagining the perfect rave and what song I should play next. Both experiences are pretty sweet in my book. A week back I was up in Portland playing some of these very songs at a Living Prism afterhours party that approached grimey psychedelic perfection, and if there’s anyway that I can share and spread that liberating debauchery through my wifi connection, count me in. Photo above comes courtesy of Milan Boonstra, check him out.

On to the tunes- we start things off with a downtempo future funk stomper from Anka, then the pace picks up with a new edit from Scrimshire’s latest collection. Bringing up the tempo a little more with the funky multi-textured sound of Klaves, then a funky afro house joint from the Kraak & Smaak boys. From here, things start to get really heavy… When entering the world of techno, a good place to start is Berlin duo Kullektiv Turmstrasse. Riva Starr is another one of those artists who manages to pull the soul out of a computer (or put the soul in there maybe?)- just drop this one on an unsuspecting crowd and wait for the grandaddy of all airhorns to pummel them into ass-shaking submission. Then we have something bouncey from Javi Reina, followed by a slice of UK ragga-bass bizniz from Moony, topped off with the grimiest joint of the lot from DJ Godfather & Deeon, then I had to sneak in this oldie from Ming & FS that I used to rinse repeatedly on 12″ back in the day (any D&B heads out there??? haha). Then there’s some recent heaters from Jax Jones, Go Freek, and a deep nasty acid wormhole from Artwork with a soulful First Choice sample that I still never get enough of. Finally, some pop-soul-house from Autograf with a bass synth that wins me over. Coming back down to Earth gently, I’ll let the final word here go to a highly slept on 80’s single that you may recognize from being sampled by Nero a while back, I of course prefer this oldie by a million miles.

Another tune for you all today… this one is a remix I did for the funky Greek global beatsmiths SUPERSAN. Based in Athens, these guys have put out a bunch of really nice productions (a couple have found their way onto this site in the past), and I was happy to oblige when they reached out asking me to make a remix from their latest album. The full collection of remixes drops today, with nice re-works from Maga Bo, Yukicito and many more heavy hitters. Additional bonus, the whole thing is available for free. Take a listen and snag the whole lot!

Happy to share a new edit with you all today. My homie and frequent party collaborator DJ Gozar and I cooked up this rework of a 70’s Nigerian tune, now with extra bump for today’s hungry dancefloors. He actually acquired the original from a burned CD in Colombia, and we had to do some research to figure out what the joint was (extra props for any diggers who know). Snag the free download from soundcloud and bump it loudly! Also, BIGGUP the excellent website / culture hub Music Is My Sanctuary for premiering the song along with a nice write-up. Catch Gozar, along with me and the rest of our Subsuelo crew, holding down Sunday’s all Summer long at Caña Rum Bar here in LA, starting in 2 weeks.

Back with a big fat plate of savory sweet musical nourishment to satiate your inspiration starvation. I’ve got some familiar faces in the line-up, but also some new names and a couple unexpected twists (Barry Manilow??? JUST LISTEN). Why do I do it? Because I think I have to. I was asked this question recently and I really think that there’s some small part of that kid who loved recording songs to cassette tapes that still gets pleasure out of putting together this highly digitized, much less time-intensive, version of a mixtape. But I do miss making the cover artwork haha. I don’t have the time to even try to bring that back though, sorry. We start off with some daydreaming-of-summer type vibes from Yuno, Diplo (with Santigold & Yachty!?!?), and Kali Uchis (with Tyler the Creator & Bootsy Collins!!!). Then there’s a sweet new cut from Phonte which sounds like it came right from 2005 (back when I featured Little Brother on my “Captain’s Crate” blog– can you believe how long I’ve been doing this???). Next we take it to Brazil with a bouncy edit from my man NewLife, before turning to Nigeria for the buttery sounds of Maleek Berry (perhaps my most listened to artist in the past 3 months). Then I pick up the pace just slightly for some disco vibes old and new, courtesy of The Reflex, Discodeine, SG Lewis, Lord Echo, Kraak & Smaak and more. Then the playlist drops all the way down into some new-ish soul sounds from the likes of Durand Jones, Joey Dosik, & Bahamas before the final touch which is a gorgeous rework of Solange by the maestro iZem. Press play and enjoy the ride!