Global Bass Music
ed meds buy cymbalta ed pills ed drugs viagra vs cialis viagra canadian pharmacy cialis vs viagra azitromicina cheap generic viagra viagra viagra online canadian pharmacy viagra canadian pharmacy viagra cialis buy nexiumHere’s a blend of genres containing already blended genres. From electronic dub, to a series of tracks that wobble back and forth between hip-hop, dancehall and jungle, to pop-undergroud mashups, this mix, featuring tracks by Wildlife, Disrupt, Goulet, Krinjah, Vinyl Blight and more, is all over the map. Just how I like it!
Download: DJ C “The Blends” ->
Or listen on Mixcloud:
The Blends by Dj C on Mixcloud
When I heard M.I.A. was performing at the Superbowl halftime show it was almost compelling enough to get me to tune in for that oh-so-overblown of American past-times. I didn’t, partly because I knew if there was anything interesting to see it’d be all over YouTube before you can say YouTube.
Sure enough, the most talked about aspect of the Super Bowl this year — besides Clint Eastwood’s ode to American sticktoitiveness — was M.I.A.’s middle finger. It doesn’t sound very interesting on the surface but if there’s one thing M.I.A.’s really good at, it’s being controversial, and with one tiny little gesture she was able to whirl media spin rooms into a frenzy.
Meanwhile, M.I.A.s new video for her track Bad Girls had already been generating some controversy of its own. Whether it’s for vapid lyrics, or stereotypical Arab imagery, not everyone gives the track or the video a +1. But I tend to agree with this assessment in Albawaba In Defence of MIA’s ‘Bad Girl’ Arab-Bashing. Here’s an excerpt:
Bad Girls is surely not something new in the pop-world with Madonna and many before singing vacuous lyrics on ‘material’ feisty or just ‘naughty’ girl types. If ‘bad girls’ on this occasion signifies gun-touting or even, in being strewn over, and in, cars, criminal, girls in a country that prohibits them from driving (while filmed in Morocco it is distinctly meant to represent Saudi Arabia), then the video presents a distinct challenge to the stereotype of Arab subjugated women.”
Anyway, I find it to be a compelling piece of pop with an underlying sense of rebellion that invokes the kind of discussion which brings me back to the heyday of Public Enemy. It’s beautifully crafted in a way that truly paints M.I.A. as a bad girl in the eyes of both the east and the west. What’s your take?
The drawback for me was that I couldn’t easily find an instrumental version of the bangin’ beat by Timbaland protege Danja, so I decided to make one through the magic of editing.
M.I.A. Bad Girls (Instrumental) MP3
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And while I was at it I whipped up a little mashup featuring another of my favorite female vocalists, Yukimi Nagano from Little Dragon.
DJ C Bad Girls Scale it Back (ft. M.I.A. & Little Dragon) MP3
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When I first heard the TB303 “acid” bass line sound I was blown away by its alien feel. The wobbly portamento tones sliding into each other struck me as an audible illustration of the mailable, bouncy nature of rubber.
I also remember when I first heard Fatboy Slim’s Rockafeller Skank I thought the vocalist was saying “Right about now the funk’s so rubber” and while that was a great way to describe the bouncy guitars in the track, it was an even better way to describe the elastic acid-breaks tracks I had been getting into at the time. So I was disappointed when I figured out the vocalist was not sharing my enthusiasm for rubbery sounds but instead was conjuring “the funk soul brother.”
Those acid sounds which developed in the ’80s Chicago house movement, and continued to evolve throughout the ’90s worldwide, are still a major influence on bouncy tunes today. I’m always a sucker for a good tweaked out acid line and this mix encapsulates some of my favorite rubbery tracks throughout the ages:
MP3 Download
DJ C – The Funk So Rubber ->
Tracklist
A couple of newsy bits flew by the radar today including:
“Don’t Believe The Hate: Skrillex Is Already The Next Big Thing…”
&
“James Blake is Not Feeling the U.S. Dubstep ‘Frat Boy Market‘”
It’s quite obvious that “Dubstep,” weather it’s the indie-rock version or the metal version, has seeped it’s way into the pop world.
So I was excited to find in my inbox on the very same day, some music that to me represents something closer to a direct descendant of the roots of dubstep:
Max Ulis’ soundtack to Illustrator, Tyler Fewell’s Seven:
Disclaimer: Listen to this on a system with large bass capacity.
A few years ago I was asked to do this remix of Suffocation Keep by The Slip. It was a fun challenge to make an electronic interpretation of their sweeping, melancholic, indie-rock tack, and I really liked the outcome, but alas, it was never released.
I added it on as the last track on my Umami album, but instead of selling it along with the rest of the album I decided to give it away as a free bonus track.
Listen and download
Available from these and other fine music download outlets: iTunes | Juno Download | Amazon MP3 | eMusic | DJ Download | Satellite Records | 7Digital | Napster | Rhapsody
Please join us for a free Umami album release party at Smart Bar in Chicago, June 9.
They call it Boston Bounce but we call it banging. A bouillabaisse of b-more, dubstep & uk bass, a gleeful disregard for genre and rules. Uniquely American & awesome
The sense of fun and humor that pervades the tracks is a welcome break from all the moody and dark sounds more typical in the bass scene”
DJ C has to be one of the best but most under-exposed artists out there. From Boston and now Chicago he is one of those rare artists whose every production is top notch, can’t find a bad track under his name. I have been dropping heavy tracks off his Sonic Weapons album in my sets for years, these things are party monsters that still manage to be smart and intricate. His remix of Gregory Isaacs “Gone a Jail” on the Shockout label and his “Let it Billie” 7″ are two of the favorite records I own. The man himself has a new album out called Umami, check it, dig it, buy it and support great music!”
A real journeyman of house, garage, funky and beyond, DJ C shows how he’s able to conquer a variety of sounds on this new full-length album… With future-funky rhythms underscoring big tunes like “Nu Strut”, “Blaze” and the lethally minimal brilliance of “Whistler”, there’s also slower beats to enjoy, such as “Dear John Bounce” which flits between jump-up jungle and slow, punchy dancehall. With London don The Heatwave joining C on “Change” and Sub Swara hooked up on “Belgrade”, this is a belting album, replete with some of the baddest beats out there at the moment.
Party scientist & beat producer, DJ C is known far & wide for his Boston-bounce sound, but he’s now called Chicago his home for the past 4 years and the influence of that historical home of house music, those fertile fields of footwork & juke, that booming base of booming bass, has seeped stealthily into his subconscious. Add this new layer to DJ C’s eclectic signature sound and this album equals an irresistibly fresh sonic flavor. From dubstep & club bangers to ravey dancehall anthems; from balkan to bhangara to baile, DJ C mashes it all into the deliciously varied and delectably danceable Umami.
DJ C’s debut album, Sonic Weapons, was originally released in 2007 as a CD on the Japanese label, WIMM Recordings, and soon after as an MP3 download album exclusively in the Mashit Shop.
Now, for the first time, it’s available all over the internets in download shops like iTunes, Amazon MP3, eMusic, Rhapsody and Napster.
This is the 3rd release in our series of DJ C & EOSS back catalog leading up to the release of DJ C’s new album, Umami in May.
Listen: DJ C Sonic Weapons
Hype
A digital-dancehall groove graced by the otherworldly sound of theremin; crunk, dub, [jungle], reggae, & the distroted bass & beats of grime & breakcore crammed into a three-minute track — Sonic Weapons is not your everyday album” 4 Stars – Time Out New York
Riddim Scholar, ragga scientist and remixer of artists from M.I.A. to Gregory Isaacs, DJ C dropped this, his debut full-length album, in the summer of 2007. Straddling dancehall, grime, crunk & dubstep, Sonic Weapons was designed to kill sound-systems and destroy dance-floors.
The album features guest appearances by Chicago bad-man ragga vocalist MC Zulu, renowned Viennise thereminist Pamelia Kurstin, wicked wicked Boston riddim scholar Wayne&Wax, Jamaican vocalists Wasp & Dami D, & U.K. toaster, Quality Diamond. The tracks draw from diverse musical roots deep in the global underground & radically join those genres together into a sturdy trunk The branches reach around the globe like tentacles slapping bootys and moving feet everywhere.
DJ C knows the bass! Sonic Weapons is a perfect collection of digital ragga, post-jungle tracks and big riddims with a really distinctive and personal approach. It’s heavy, bouncy and perfect party music. I play his tracks often in my DJ sets”
- Ghislain Poirier
Bringing out the big guns… Sonic Weapons is a rush.†4.5 Stars
- Remix Magazine
This is about as proper as it gets. Throughout, C showcases his seemingly effortless abilty… Hard to imagine a summer throwdown without this little beaut. Verdict: C gets an A.”
- Boston’s Weekly Dig
[July 2007] saw the long-awaited release of DJ C’s first full-length album, the formidably enjoyable ‘Sonic Weapons’.
- XLR8R
Like New England weather, the debut from Boston’s own DJ C changes gears without rhyme or reason. Having remixed songs by M.I.A., the mash-up artist works his magic on a set that ping-pongs from hip-hop to dub to bhangra to rock.”
- Boston Globe
DJ C, one of [Boston's] most accomplished and influential electronic musicians is leaving the Bean and moving to [Chicago]. But not without a bang… Sonic Weapons is the first full-length he’s released as DJ C…. [He] has produced an abundance of some of the best beats and mixes to come out of Boston in the past decade.”
- Sonic Heart
This is a continious mix album. You can buy the tracks individually, but played together as a gapless album they form a seamless DJ-style mix.
A Sonic Weapons 12-inch EP was also released on the Death$ucker label. It featured a couple of tracks from the album, as well as the infamous bluegrass-core tune, Who Wah Seek Yo, and a remix of said track by Leipzig, Germany’s LXC.
Originally released at the turn of the century, Roots Wreck Remix was my sophomore full-length album recorded under the name Electro Organic Sound System (EOSS). It was the follow-up to my 1996 album, Herbanism which was re-released here in digital format here a couple weeks ago.
Like Herbanism, Roots Wreck Remix has been out of print for years, but today it’s available for the first time in digital download format from Amazon MP3, iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody, Napster and other fine online outlets.
On this album, recorded during the late ’90s, I was messing around with ambient-dub, jungle, hip-hop, dancehall and other styles. At the time I called it “wreck-step” which seemed to be an apt description of some of the frenetic beats woven through parts of the album. It mashed genres and styles together, tweaked and recomposed into something eclectic and strange.
Here’s what some of the critics had to say at the time:
Roots Wreck Remix” is “fibrous Jungle and post-Orb dub overlaid with grainy electronics.” – The WIRE Magazine
EOSS is “ground-breaking musical experimentation.” – The Boston Globe
This delightfully hard grinding album, textured with ambient and atmospheric sounds, escapes all genres by pulling pieces from every corner of the underground music scene.” – Deeper Magazine
Up next in this digital download series is a re-release of DJ C’s Sonic Weapons album, followed by a brand new DJ C album called Umami. Stay tuned…
If you follow the signs about the future of music distribution they all seem to be pointing toward streaming and away from downloading actual files. In general this makes a lot of sense. Having an entire music library accessible from anywhere, on any device, at any time is a great idea, especially once social features and sharing become more ubiquitous. It’s why services like Spotify and GrooveShark — and Netflix on the video side — are so popular, and it’s why mega-companies like Apple, Google and Amazon (for movies so far) are working on similar services.
This leaves me wondering about how DJs will adapt. In recent years, DJs media of choice have moved from vinyl and CD to laptop, using tools like Serato Scratch Live and Traktor Scratch which still give the feel of vinyl or CD but allow DJs to carry much more music with them in a compact form. I assume the next generation of DJs, who didn’t grow up using vinyl and CDs, will use a new wave of tools which will be even more portable; iPad apps for example. I’m also pretty sure there’ll be a retro resurgence of DJs who use actual vinyl again at some point, but I digress.
What I’m curious about here is what digital DJs will do when streaming takes over. Will DJs have to use specialized portals that allow actual file downloads? I imagine sites like Juno Download, Beatport, Bleep, Boomkat and TurntableLab won’t stop doing where they’re doing, but they carry very DJ specific music. You can’t go onto those sites and get, say, top 40 tunes for example. Will iTunes and Amazon MP3 continue selling downloads as an option once streaming takes over?
Tools for DJs to use audio streams will inevitably emerge, but as we know, internet connections are fickle which could lead to a very frustrated DJ and audience. That said, I’ve already been to a number of house parties where folks wind up playing YouTube videos or tracks from GrooveShark and it seems to work out OK. The only thing missing is the ability to beat-match, equalize, and mix those streaming tracks into a seamlessly engaging set.
Another very real possibility is that machines will eventually make DJs obsolete. What if IBM’s Watson was stuffed with every conceivable music recording and used The Echo Nest‘s spectral waveform analysis to determine similar tracks? Combine that with Pandora’s music genome info, Amazon and Netflix recommendation algorithms, sensors that could read and predict audience reaction, the ability to seamlessly mix tracks, and you just might have a recipe for a workable DJ replacement.
Mostly though, I’m just curious about what new tools DJs will use in the meantime.
15 years ago my first CD was released under the name Electro Organic Sound System. The album, called Herbanism, was 6 extended tracks of ambient-dub and breakbeat experiments. It went out of print pretty quickly and has not been in circulation since, but from time to time folks still mention to me how much they like the record. I figure the 15th anniversary is as good a time as any to re-release Herbanism. So starting today it’s available once again from Amazon MP3, iTunes, eMusic, Last.FM, Rhapsody, Napster and other fine online outlets.
This is the first in a series of back-catalog re-leases which hadn’t seen their way into digital distribution before. Next up will be the Electro Organic Sound System album, Roots Wreck Remix, and then the DJ C album, Sonic Weapons. The series will culminate in a brand new DJ C album called Umami.
Stay tuned for all the upcoming releases. In the meantime, enjoy Herbanism.
More on Herbanism
Recorded in 1994 – 1995 & released in 1996, Herbanism has been remastered and re-released for it’s 15th anniversary. Here’s what folks had to say about it when if first surfaced:
It’s great to hear excellent domestic electronic music that covers a lot of ground without sounding forced. Paying respect to electronic-music masters past and present, DJ C (a.k.a. Jake Trussell) Layers his melodic excursions into drum and bass, dub and trance over moody, grayish electronic atmospheres, which imbue his creation with a distinctive voice. This CD falls more on the chillout side of the electronic fence, which may disappoint those looking for more standard dancefloor fare. But with so much attention being given to European and British electronica, DJ C reminds us not to forget those Americans currently mastering the art of noise.”
- Alternative Press magazine
Employing tenets from the spectrum of dance music, herbanism is a cool thing. Exploring ambient, drum and bass, funky breakbeat, electronic, and dub, DJ C, a.k.a., Jake Trussell gives props to the Orb, King Tubby, & Boogie Down all in one breath. It’s nice to see so many influences at work with in a collection that evolves into some pretty funky stuff. Respect.”
- URB magazine
If you like a range of chill-out music from the Orb to Bill Laswell to Aphex Twin you’ll like this a lot.”
- Drop magazine
If you need a sweatshirt, a thong, a wall clock, or a lunch box, and at the same time would like to support the Mashit brand, this is just the place to feed two birds with one scone. ->
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