For Mirth Only

Dance Your Pants Off, You Big Freak

Long vacay in the bay. Lots of family time, no computer/going out time, until tonight!

Honey Soundsystem in SF with DJ Spun was the perfect way to end all the filial drama, overeating and requisite wii gameplaying. It was just like A Club Called Rhonda in LA but with a san fran twist. Really fantastic party: couple trannies, almost all gay but best of all a small room full of sweaty, dancing (some semi-naked) bodies.  Fresh air from the usual ny hipster trash, felt nice.  Tune of the night was some song that went “I’m a freee man!” for quote, all the single men in the house, unquote.

Luis’ Faves – 2008

CLICK HERE FOR TRACKS MENTIONED IN THIS POST

(this is part II of 2008 – more tracks here)

hey, y’all! i don’t have much to say about this year. didn’t really think it through. dubstep’s gone almost entirely to shit (although that wobbly stuff can be fun in small doses), i fell in love with grime all over again (and HARD!), i listened almost entirely to singles, few of which i can thoroughly remember, and… hmmm… there were many pleasant surprises, to be sure. lots of “oh, SHIT!” moments. they came in odd measures, but when they came, they were marvelous.

i hope you enjoy the list!!!

FAVORITE…

SINGLES/DUDES/DUDETTES
zomby – this guy… holy shit. spliff dub (original, not the 2008 mix), THE LIE, gloop, liquid dancehall, STRANGE FRUIT… DAMN. he’s got the dark bounce, the effortless dread vibes, the deeeep low-end, the lazer synths… that ALBUM… easily the most scarily promising producer to follow in 2009. PLEASE, zomby- don’t slip up!!!

bun b – you’re everything – this one wins the Bassline of the Year award. kept me company on many nocturnal bike rides durin spring.

lil’ wayne – comfortable, a milli – liked, didn’t love the album. anyway, standout track “comfortable” gives us lil’ wayne at his most amusingly crazed, and there’s no explanation necessary for “a milli,” although it deserves runner-up for Bassline of the Year (what a thumper!), and maybe an award for Way Too Many Freestyles on a Beat, None of Which Matter.

t.i. – swagger like us – SUPERhype m.i.a. vocal, tough beat, and solid verses from everyone involved, especially t.i. it just hits really hard.

young jeezy – straight out the rarri -this time, it’s grime influencing american rap. huge, huge beat. it almost sounds like a chopped-up joker production???

izza kizza – hello – VERY odd beat, and it KNOCKS.

beyonce – single ladies – guaranteed dancefloor stormer, yeah? dope chorus.

the dream – his productions – i guess i kinda slept on him. rihanna’s “umbrella” is and was a mammoth track, but it wasn’t until i heard more of his own album from last year that i noticed his penchant for combining discordant melodies and sweet harmonics, usually in minor chords, and if there’s one thing i’m a sucker for, amongst others, it’s melodic dissonance (kano – what have you done?, t power – runnin’, threat misses – juke ya girl). electrik red’s “drank in my cup” and the chorus in beyonce’s “single ladies” are prime examples- tense, uneasy, strained… exciting…

da govment – puffin on the purp – kinda like crisp, vintage 90s boom-bap laced with a thick, syrupy southern bounce, despite the fact the dudes are from philly .

VIDEOS

flying lotus – parisian goldfish – soooooo, so hot. SO hot. glad to see smut done so artfully and with some much fun and humor. best tune on the album, too.

beyonce – single ladies – another hot video. kinda thrilling, really.

LINES
“if we play it, we mean it. irony is for pussies, and we are bold.” – bok bok & manara

“it’s hard getting rich, it ain’t shit to go to hell/it’s hard selling dope, it ain’t shit to go to jail” – rich boy, “drop”

ALBUMS
flying lotus – los angeles – sounds warm from beginning to end without EVER being “laid-back,” “chiiiill,” “jazzy, man!” three sure-fire descriptors of a boring  piece of shit. it’s calm and wild in equal doses, but most importantly, it maintains that warm, slightly woozy texture throughout.

eminem – the marshall mathers lp – from the year 2000! after not having heard this album in eight years, based on the good memories of that first listen, i went back to see what it’d sound like. a week and about fifty continuous playthroughs later, i wholeheartedly declare this album one of my top ten of the decade (two more years, y’all!) above all else, it’s shocking, even in the face of plenty of offensive material out there, primarily due to one supreme strength: it’s not for show. it’s all real hate (a wealth of hate) and fear and energy and excitement you’re hearing. it’s stunning.

MIXES
jackmaster – mix for sinden on kiss fm/ mix for fact magazine – a welcome discovery this year. like other favorites of mine like flosstradamus, drop the lime, and diplo, he just plain does it right: the momentum, the sick tracks, and the tight mixing are all there. excellent.

joker – mix for skream on stella sessions – the only good dubstep mix this year. the wobbly mid-range garbage all over the place now is dubstep’s death knell, and that BORING “techno-infused” stuff on the outskirts of dubstep is shit, no matter what anybody says. bring back 2005!

rustie – mix for mary anne hobbs experimental – damn… i wanted to name this one the mix of the year!!! it got inched out by something just a liiiiittle tiiiny bit more, er, bangin’, but still, this mix is BIG! insane and heavy and huge and BIG. all about that doomed-to-be-unreleased keyshia cole remix (the second track in)… BIG!!!!!!

bok-bok & manara – club vortex mix/ mix for no love lost records/ push soundsystem mix (2007)/ what’s a niche? mix for mad decent radio/ 69 allstars mix (2007) – unbelievable. really, really high-quality output from these two. they’re unique and distinctive. their sets flow beautifully. their grime instrumentals compendium “69 allstars” is a masterpiece.

ghislain poirier – his mixes! – you know, i just realized that i’ve never praised his mixes ever since we started making our lists. in my mind, he’s way up there: his selections, his refixes, his sequencing, his overall cohesiveness… most definitely one of the greats. i hope i can check him out live someday!

boys noise – live at sonar 2007 – house the way it should be- JACKIN’!!!

AND THE WINNERS…

#1 SINGLE: THREE-WAY TIE!
joker – snake eater – i heard that this was the number one song in the world in an alternate reality? seriously… i would throw myself out of a window to hear this one beating down the block on 18-inch subs just ONCE.

prgz – bama gettin’ money (diplo remix) – anthem, anthem, anthem. pure menace, pure hype, pure punch-your-fucking-wall music. anthem.

silkie – sky’s the limit – the drop in this song = the happiest moment of your life.

#1 MIX
lazer sword – mix for mary anne hobbs experimental – the first third of this mix alone nearly gave me a heart attack. the rest is consistently crazy, but really, if it kept the intensity of the first portion, the mix would burn you alive. high hopes for these two next year!!!

#1 ALBUM
zomby – where were u in 92? – druuuuuuuggy, reeeeeally druggy. an almost disturbingly dreamlike aural approximation and condensation of every rave you’ve ever been to. you know those memories you have of walking around a rave, walking around the different rooms, having all those sounds reverberating in your head? this album IS those memories.

LOOSIES
june – cakey – minimal/ maximal
jim jones – pop champagne (hot beat; shame it went to jim jones. why the HELL is he still rapping? *shudder*)
little jinder – polyhedron – (supra1 remix) – raaaaaaave
no age – teen creeps – makes me feel like a teenager
t-pain ft. ludacris – chooped & screwed – genius
deadmau5 – faxing berlin – not from 2008? not sure. lush
scuba – twitch (vex’d remix) – diamond-sharp crispness… vex’d productions put 99% of other producers to shame
his majesty andre – nrg555 – nrg, indeed

that’s it! here’s to a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2009!

be good, be safe, and stay up, dudes!!!

HORSE MEAT DISCO

As Luis would say:

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah man, it’s next wednesday.  I would not miss it for the world…

But for now I’m gonna go back to the one thing that makes me truly happy: season 1 of gossip girl.