Young Argentinian producer Nicola Cruz put out one of my favorite albums last year- mixing deep, highly textured electronic beats with Andean folk & indigenous music styles. He’s part of the growing wave of artists experimenting with similar sounds in South America and beyond, but his special touch is one of the most sophisticated I’ve heard. He hit me up months ago, before the release of his now critically acclaimed album “Prender El Alma” on ZZK records, and asked if I’d be interested in doing a remix. I was honored to oblige, and this became one of the only finished pieces of music I was able to make during my 3 months in Asia (mixed in my hotel room on headphones and crappy little speakers), but I’m quite satisfied with the outcome. I kept some of the original samples, but flipped the tiny flute pieces into a whole new melody that I hope gets caught in your head. The full album of remixes dropped last Friday on ZZK, featuring tracks from other top notch producers like Chancha Via Circuito, Umoja & El Buho among others. Please support if you dig it!

I know I know! It’s been way too long. I’m sorry guys, life has been getting the better of me lately. Grinding on this new album with Chico Mann (yes, a full collabo album and it’s very exciting) has taken all of my waking hours which remain outside of my increasingly busy DJ schedule. I just returned from a little east coast run which included a dope Brooklyn party with Aaron DRM and a super fun, Brazil-centric bash in Montreal with the Tupi Collective (thus the slight lean towards Brazilian sounds today). Other selections today include new heat from my man Thornato’s new EP (get it!!!) and some heavy African digs as well as a couple picks from the new Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band album (top notch). Artwork above comes from the vibrant mind of Hassan Hajjaj, check him out.

After a highly refreshing getaway to Palm Springs with my lady over the weekend, I feel fully equipped to dive head first into the very busy work week ahead (making an album is hard work). But first, let’s set things up properly with an inspiring soundtrack of new acquisitions. As per usual, I have shameless stolen many of these selections from other DJ mixes I listened to over the past couple of weeks. But something tells me you aren’t mad about it. Shout out to Mr. Assin for putting me on to the hypnotic slow building grooves of Umoja. This guy seems to have mastered the understated with a patience that I find almost impossible to bring to my own work. The new album from Kaytranada very well might be one of my favorites to come out this year, super solid start to finish. Other tunes this week include some mellow non-dancefloor house business and some really chilled out soulful sounds from Mop Mop and the forever dope harp queen Dorothy Ashby. Shout out to LA WEEKLY for the great feature today on Brit Manor who’s mini-album (which I produced) drops Friday, so stoked for that!

Back with a new episode of MTR Radio for BrooklynRadio.com. As always, fresh eclectic soulful sounds from near and far. The mix starts off with some mellower material from Jamie Woon & Miguel, then picks up the pace midway with funky dancefloor material from Psychemagik, JKriv & Bonobo, before bringing it all the way back down with the latest from Anderson .Paak & Bibio. A lot of familiar material for you regular readers, but there’s a few in here that you probably haven’t heard yet, plus you get to hear me yap a bit.

For the full tracklist as well as a link to download the mix, proceed to the BrooklynRadio page, and while you’re there, be sure to check out any past episodes you may have missed along with some of the other great shows on the site.