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!

I was lucky enough to catch Tune-Yards & Sudan Archives live last week and I’m still fully inspired and in awe. I’m also trying to figure out how Merrill manages to start many of her songs by stacking her own vocals to create chords, which she then samples & loops throughout the song… but without hearing or playing a note to tune to first! Perfect pitch perhaps? Or maybe someone is sending a note to her in-ear headphone for her to tune with? Either way, I was fully impressed. If this combo is swinging by a theater near you, I highly recommend you go. Got some other great sounds for you this week, from the psych-rock-soul of Nick Hakim to some Talking Heads-ish revivalism by LCD, and a bit of electronic future funk from Royce Wood Junior. Also some uptempo low-fi funkiness from Washed Out and a Bobby McFerrin-esque bouncy house experiment from Wajatta (Reggie Watts & John Tejada). Then I dive into a touch of classic disco funk from Bohannon, Stevie, and Patrice Rushen, because it sounds good now and always. Finishing things off, I take the tempo & vibe down for the latest from Rhye (honest opinion is that the new album suffers a bit without Robin Hannibal on board), Emmit Fenn, & the downtempo don Galimatias. Visual inspiration today comes courtesy of Danny Fox, who I randomly discovered this weekend after I bought his lawn furniture which was for sale on Craigslist.

My fellow funkateers, from where I stand (in the DJ booth) there are more than a few things to be optimistic about this year, but they are all musically related. So while politricks, disasters and the forces of evil tend to take center stage in the outside world, here on the dancefloor we have a bounty of vibration makers who continue to push the boundaries of hip shaking and bass quaking. Take for example, Jubilee’s marimba-laden floor breaker ‘Wine Up’, a masterful coming together of hip hop subwoofer workout, patois lryicism and electronically expressed creativity. I’m also super stoked to share songs from homies of mine this week- starting with a new tune from the incomparable Dominican bombshell Jenn Morel. Then we have the new project Reyna Tropical produced by my dude Sumohair which hits the sweet spot by combining lilting beachy guitar licks, soft Spanish crooning, dembow drums, and a healthy sprinkle of seemingly unrelated samples from hip hop vocals, tropical birds, and the pleasant sound of coffee pouring into your mug (or is it cold coca-cola on a hot day?). We have some new dancehall vibes with classic inspiration, and then some new wave Baile Funk joints with tasteful minimal production that leave me always waiting for the drop. Then we’ve got a taste of the new remix album by my boy in NYC- Uproot Andy. With his ‘Bumper To Bumper’ mixtape (& remix album) the legendary global bass maestro has succeeded once again in connecting the dots between recent music movements in Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean and American hip hop, which all seem to blend so seamlessly when their shared DNA is brought to the forefront. I conclude in my positive assessment of worldwide bass music with songs from France, Colombia, and a touch of tribal trap heaviness from Chicago. For your eyes, I’m sharing a taste of the recent Parker Day ‘ICONS’ portrait collection. Hope you dig!