The end of the year is a lovely time when everyone decides to share their Best Of lists that usually end up looking like the same and all, but I do love it for all of its great end-of-the-year mixtapes and releases. So here’s another edition of Five Mixes Are Better Than One to celebrate! Tracklistings at the end as usual.
I’ll admit that I used to catch of Diddy’s Making The Band when it was on but damn, I would’ve never thought that I’d be jamming to a Danity Kane sample over four years after the fact. Leave it to Brenmar to make the impossible happen. His latest thirty minute mix for LuckyMe gets down and dirty with highlights including but most definitely not limited to his edit of 112’s Let This Go and his anticipated upcoming remix for Nguzunguzu’s otherworldly Mirage that has enough bass to make my heart beat at a different frequency. This mix even has me singing along to a Young Joc track. Damn Brenmar, you nasty. PS, peep this amazing remix of Jamie Foxx’s Fall For Your Type if you’re in a more mellow mood/having a nice calm evening/trying to seduce someone.
Download: Brenmar – 12th Day The End Mixtape
Download: Jamie Foxx – Fall For Your Type (Brenmar Remix) (320 kbps)
Next up is a feisty little mix Mumdance did for Clash Magazine last month. Well actually, I suppose ‘little’ is hardly the word to be used for a massive one-hour tape like this one. Though this starts off innocently enough with some smooth slow afternoon vibes, it soon enough shows off its serious weight by exploring all kinds of bass for the forty minutes that proceed the mint and memorable Hot As Hell remix by Canblaster. Basically, this mix embodies the kinds of nights that you expect to be an ordinary and toned down evening but you somehow unexpectedly end up getting so hyped up that you eventually pass out in an unknown location where none of your friends can find you back. Watch out for a crazy unknown Bambounou track on this, as well as a Mums of Death collabo track between Drums of Death and Mumdance himself.
Download: Mumdance – From Deep To Nasty (Clash Magazine December Mix)
So this is the second LuckyMe mixtape in this post, but I can’t help it. They’ve been running things with their mixtape series, especially during the holiday season. Montreal-#based Ango, whose debut EP is due for a spring release on LuckyMe itself, delivered close to fifty minutes of goodness for their 81st installment jam-packed with R&B jams causing it to be one of the best mixtapes I’ve had on rotation in the past few months. Sure, any mix that starts with one of my fave ever unreleased Drizzy tracks probably has my attention to begin with, but Ango kinda kills it here by proceeding into the best of tracks by everyone’s favourites Cassie and The-Dream but also the likes of Jesse Boykins III and Pleasure P. Don’t really know what to add to this except that you don’t wanna sleep on this one. I do love that Drake track, so I’ll throw that one in here too.
Download: Ango – Make Out To This Mixtape
Download: Drake – Something (192 kbps)
Jamie XX’s latest mix for Benji B’s Radio 1 show is another attestment to why everyone should build a secret altar to the talented beat manipulator in their closets. He pulled out an incredible selection of songs once again, including one of my favourite tracks from the James Blake album that we’ve all ~previewed~ by now, I Mind, and won my heart over by mixing it into absolute Truants favourite and one of 2010’s best remixes, Jacques Greene’s Marriage Proposal Mix of Cassie’s Must Be Love. There’s even some Lumidee throwback sessions going down in here. If you’re gonna tell me you don’t know the lyrics to Never Leave You by heart, you’re lying.
Download: Jamie XX – In The Mix For Benji B
Amidst all the other great end-of-the-year releases, M.I.A.’s awaited Vicki Leekx mixtape in collaboration with the homies Nguzunguzu is something that’s been standing out on heavy repeat on this side. The latter half of this mixtape contains a great deal of fresh and unreleased material that could really make up a wholesome album, but it’s sounding rather lovely mixed with these energetic beats, so I ain’t complaining. Plus there’s some extremely catchy lines that’ll linger in your head for a while too. My mind is still recovering from the genre hybrids in the forms of moombahthon meets Tamil beats Munchi reworks and some more incredible productions by Danjahands, Switch, Rusko and more. If MAYA was too much of a distance to travel from Kala for you, Vicki Leekx should be the perfect balance between the earlier nostalgic act and the experimental bass. Here are some hand-picked stand out tracks for you to enjoy, and head over to the site if you want to grab the full mixtape.
Download: M.I.A. – Bad Girls (320 kbps)
Download: M.I.A. – Listen Up (320 kbps)
Download: M.I.A. – You My Love (feat. Rosaly) (320 kbps)
Download: M.I.A. – Get Around (320 kbps)
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Brenmar – LuckyMe Mixtape
1. Brenmar – Intro
2. 112 – Let This Go (Brenmar Edit)
3. Brenmar – Tasting
4. Samo Sound Boy – Burning and Stealing
5. The Living Islands – Empires (Sam Tiba Remix)
6. Young Joc – What She Like feat. Yo Gotti
7. Gutta The Producer – Your Body
8. Rizzla – Bandmind HA
9. Pure – Body Talk
10. Pocz & Pacheko – Tuki Love
11. Just Dre – All I Want Is You (Club Mix)
12. DeeJay Runnah – Alley Hoop Dat Feat Dj Tone Vocals
13. Nguzunguzu – Mirage (Brenmar Remix)
Mumdance – Clash Magazine December Mix
1. Jane Maximova – Skiff (Aspecta Remix) – Pitch Music Recordings
2. Felix Cage – Nikopol – Abandon
3. Aardvark – Nosestep (Cosmin Trg Remix) Rush Hour Records
4. The Streets – Weak Become Heros – 679
5. Apster & Firebeatz – Cencerro – Samsobeats
6. Drop The Lime – Hot As Hell (Canblaster Remix) – Trouble & Bass
7. Panton, Keith & Supabeatz – Liquidance – CDR
8. Gesaffelstein – Variations – Turbo
9. Bambounou – ?????? – CDR
10. Mums of Death (Mumdance & Drums of Death) – Golden Axe – Greco Roman
11. Randomer & Fife – Five – Super Recordings
12. Panteros666 – Kegstand – Sound Pelegrino
13. D.O.K – Chemical Plant (Dark Tone Sound Remix) – Butterz
14. Marabre Unit – Lift Off – Terrorhythm Recordings
15. Kubo ft Anbuley – Tsu Bo – Man Records
16. Bert On Beats – Gunclap – Man Records
17. Spooky – Spartan (D.O.K Remix) No Hats No Hoods
18. Splurt – The Return (Mega Refix) – Oil Gang
19. Mr Noba & Dirty Jack – Gun Machine – Toff Music
20. Dj Ghost & Gave – Diet Coke – Complex
21. Ruthless & Goone – D.E.N.S – Toff Music
Jamie XX – In The Mix For Benji B
1. Timmy Thomas — Why Can’t We Live Together
2. Zomby — Tarantula
3. Jamie Woon — Night Air – Becoming Real Remix
4. Koreless — M.T.I.
5. James Blake — I Mind
6. Cassie — Must Be Love – Jacques Greene’s Marriage Proposal Mix
7. Mount Kimbie — Before I Move Off
8. Rui Da Silva — Touch Me – Chopped and Screwed
9. DJ Choko — Stealth Drums
10. Jamie xx — Far Nearer – The Knife Bootleg
11. Beach House — 10 Mile Stereo
12. Crazy Cousinz — Inflation – Chopped and Screwed
13. Tanya Stephens — Can’t Touch Me No More
14. Dj A B — Darbuka
15. Harmonic 313 — Problem 7
16. Lumidee — Never Leave You
17. Adele — Rolling In The Deep – Jamie XX Shuffle
18. Gil Scott Heron and Jamie XX — One Take
M.I.A. & Nguzunguzu – Vicki Leekx
1. The World
2. Bamboo Go
3. Illy Girl
4. Super Tight
5. Let Me Hump You
6. WWW/Meds/Feds
7. Steppin/Up
8. Go At It
9. Vicki Intermission
10. Gen-N-E-Y
11. Bad Girls
12. Dutch Dutch
13. Marsha / Britney
14. Tamil Beat Munchi
15. Listen Up
16. MurdersoundsMunchi
17. You My Love (Featuring Rosaly)
18. Get Around
