Hopefully you’re reading this before heading out to whatever sunsoaked BBQ awaits the rest of your day. If so, let these mixes provide the soundtrack while the shish kebabs sizzle. Berlin’s DJ Zhao has put together a whole series of mellow globetrotting mixes that sound around 98 degrees F, if not hotter. As you can see from the cover, he really fits in a lot of different styles here, but the consistency comes from the slow hip swaying all these songs induce. To get the full tracklist and more mixes from Zhao, check his website.

As the sun sets and things start winding down, I can’t think of a better accompaniment to packing up the beer cans and paper plates then this new imaginary soundtrack recently put together by DJ / rapper / producer / designer – Cool Calm Pete. Among other notable accomplishments, this dude just designed the superfly new labels for my man DJO‘s unfukwitable gourmet kimchi products. On “Over You”, he pulls out a plethora of dusty breaks, serious soulful crooning, and enough cool trippy shit to satisfy any listener coming down off shrooms. Check this site for more info.

DJ Zhao :       Ngoma 5 (or click here to download the mix separated into tracks)

Cool Calm Pete :       Over You (soundtrack to a make believe film)

So many good records been dropping lately!

Quadron is yet another hot fire project from Danish producer Robin Hannibal (remember Owusu & Hannibal, anyone?). On this record he’s teamed up with young female vocalist Coco for some moody, minimal, and sometimes soaring neo-soul music. The whole album is solid, get it.

I don’t know much about Kings Go Forth, but the fact that they got Mingering Mike to design their album cover says a lot! The music doesn’t disappoint, following suit with the same lo-fi, raw soul, olde tyme aesthetic. People with an affinity for classic, feel-good disco should look for the Tom Moulton remix of their track “Don’t Take My Shadow”.

Mr. Day is another new discovery to me, but apparently he’s been putting music out since the early 90’s. The French Mayer Hawthorne? Definitely safe to say this man has listened to a lot of Motown. Fellow french funky man, Patchworks comes correct with his remix, which I’m very much looking forward to dropping on a dancefloor soon.

Finally, NEW SHIT FROM JANELLE! The album is a trip, way beyond the furthest realm I ever expected P-Diddy capable of travelling to. But apparently AR’s up at Bad Boy are now getting high on hallucinogens and listening to 60’s psych records. What else are we to assume when we hear tracks like “Mushrooms & Roses”?!? Closest contemporary comparison I can make is honestly Black Moth Super Rainbow. But then there’s just undeniable retro-dancefloor bombs like “Tightrope” too.

Quadron :       Slippin ,       Jeans , &       Average Fruit

Kings Go Forth :       Fight With Love &       High On Your Love

Mr. Day :       Heaven Knows &       Small Fry (Patchworks Remix)

Janelle Monae :       Tightrope ft. Big Boi &       Mushrooms & Roses

To cement the views express in Chuck’s post from a few weeks back, I thought I’d bring you this little ditty. Living proof that “Spottottiedopalicious” is more than just a beat. It’s a way of life. Just listen Hypnotic tell it.

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble:       Spottie

Taken from the forthcoming album Heritage

These dudes make really good music, I saw the opportunity to remix one of their best songs over at MadDecent.com, I jumped on it (albeit a little late in the game). The official site where you can vote for your favorite remix is annoyingly glitchy, but if you like my mix  then please take a minute to a least try and vote for me. But really, all competition aside, I was just happy to play around with their audio files and see all the different layers of their music broken down. My take is focussed on the dancefloor- funky,  dubby, electro-disco to your dome. I’m staying really active right now, so more remixes coming soon…

Yeasayer :       ONE (Chuck Wild Remix)

DJ Center (Left) and Mophono (Right)

Here’s a couple new joints from DJ/producers who I’ve been following for a minute now. Mophono is the alias of Bay Area DJ Centipede. I remember hearing some of his remixes on Soul-Sides a while ago, but this new EP he’s just put out on Bastard Jazz is a big step forward. The beat sounds like a drunken boxing match between baritone sax and drumkit. “Bumps” is right, this track will leave a weak listener bruised. Next up is a smooth bossa-hop number from NYC’s own DJ Center. It comes from his very solid debut album called “Everything In Time” (peep a nice little ‘making of’ video here and then BUY IT). I’m trying to work out a remix of this one, so stay tuned. Finally, just got my hands on one of my favorite Outkast instrumentals, one of my all-time favorite instrumentals period, and figured why not share it? Organized Noize circa ’98 = unfuckwitable (**EDIT, this track was actually NOT produced by Organized Noize! Peep the comments). Also, for a little extra Mophono flavor, check out this free mix that the man put together to help promote the new EP- highly recommended!

Mophono :       Bumps

DJ Center :       Center's Groove

Outkast :       Spottieottiedopaliscious (Instrumental)