Mix: Loose Leaf (long cut)

I will steep you and drink you.

I got up extra early (think: 4am), drank a pot of tea (think: kettle of earl gray), and managed to stay up this morning (I’ve been up for 11.5 hours and it’s 2:30) to finally deliver on my promises of mixes. Without further ado:

Download: Loose Leaf (long cut by mahmoud)

(mp3, VBR ~220kbps, 128MB, 1:24:31 running time)

For this mix I basically grabbed a handful of music with which I’d been meaning to mix and threw it on my decks. It starts out with some downtempo, but quickly gets into some funky and house-y stuff, even mixing in some indy with one of my faves, Pipas. Pipas, quick note, since you’ll probably read this blog post (nope): your songs are all great, but they don’t have enough repetition and as a result are short and hard to mix.

It wasn’t all haphazard, though. A while ago I read about harmonic mixing, using the key of the song to make a smoother transition without using special effects or techniques. If you listen to the mix, you’ll actually hear that I didn’t a significant amount of filter or fx, letting the music speak for itself. Also, I’ve been playing with making the big tempo changes during the transitions instead of on beats during the track. This shows in a couple cases, but it doesn’t sound out of place.

Also, I was distressed that I used 2 Towa Tei songs, neither of which was the one that I had intended to use. You guys will just have to wait for that track. What do you guys think about me using the same artist multiple times in a single mix? It’s tough to listen to whole albums and then only be able to use one song, not just from the album, but from the whole discography. Oh the challenges of being a DJ. I actually had an idea of taking really good albums then rearranging and mixing the songs the way I’d like to hear them. Hit me with some feedback on that, too (in addition to the question about using the artist multiple times). Oh, and I recorded using an optical cable followed by normalization, so let me know if you notice any improvement there.

Well, this was fun. I hope to do it again real soon. Image credit linked. (I’ll get my photos up soon.)

Stream

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Tracklisting:

1. Tosca – Suzuki
2. The Blackbyrds – Future Children, Future Hopes
   (I should have trimmed the brassish stuff at the start, I mainly included this for its awesome old school synth/keyboarding goodness)
3. Kid Loco – Relaxin’ With Cherry
4. Sounds From the Ground – Marshemello
5. Passion Pit – Sleepyhead
6. Goldfrapp – Koko
7. Kings of Convenience – Little Kids (Ladytron mix)
8. Towa Tei – Obrigado
9. Stretch – Why Did You Do It?
10. The Bird and the Bee – What’s in the Middle?
11. Pipas – Barbapapa
12. New  Young Pony Club – Ice Cream
13. Gui Boratto – No Turning Back
14. DHS – House of God 2000 (DHS remix)
    (Being DJ buds, Matt and I will occasionally “steal” from one another)
15. Mateo & Matos – Journey Beyond
16. Carl Craig – Frustration
17. Juno Reactor – Nitrogen (Part 1)
18. Grace Jones – Williams’ Blood (Aeroplane Remix)
19. Towa Tei – Congratulations!