Dope dope dope dope fucking beats from Lewis James, an Irish producer based in Amsterdam. His  KRAKATOA EP came out last week on Original Cultures, and here’s a mix celebrating it. Largely his productions, as well as tracks by Submerse, Ital Tek, Clicks and Whistles, EAN and Mr. Carmack to tie it all together – damn fine company. While the EP tracks are great, I think the ordering does them a disservice – the first two (Million Dollar Lady and Mr. Cannibal BBQ) don’t grab me nearly as much as the last three. But in the mix, they all really shine – you can really feel the energy and focus Lew put in to these tracks seeping out.

Like contemporaries Eprom, Desto, and Doshy, Lewis James has been producing crunked-out mutant 808 tracks since way before the whole trap thing blew up.  But such base(d) comparisons sell short what Lewis James does in the studio. This is some neon hyphy bitcrushed gangster shit. His 2012 Heavy Romance EP (which featured the best album art of the year) was full of fantastic ideas and great moments; the slap bass on Everything, the sample chopping over gritty bass on Only Me. But the new EP shows a lot of growth. It all just sounds more urgent, more self-assured – cleaner, tighter and far more deadly for the dancefloor.

LEWIS JAMES Xclusive Mix by Mixology on Mixcloud

TRACKLIST:
The whole – Lewis James
Algorithms and Ghosts – Submerse
Cant Believe – Clicks and Whistles
Fire (No Payroll) – Mr. Carmack
All or Nothing – Lewis James
Wrinkle Free – Lewis James
Vesuvius – Lewis James
Burnt – EAN
Powerchild – Lewis James
Powerchild (EAN Remix) – Lewis James
Hyper Real – Ital tek
All Your Demons – Lewis James

Rob Booth – Electronic Explorations Compilation
out July 1st on Electronic Explorations – LISTEN ☟/BUY

Eprom – Metahuman LP 
out July 2nd on Rwina Records – LISTEN/BUY

EAN – Darknet EP
out July 2nd on Cosmic Bridge – LISTEN ☟/BUY

Paleman – All Good EP
Out July 16 on Fulcrum Records LISTEN ☟/BUY

DJ Oneman – Fabric Live 64
Out July 16 on Fabric Worldwide LISTEN/BUY

Danny Scrilla – Flash Powder EP
Out July 16 on Cosmic Bridge – LISTEN ☟/BUY

Ikonika – I make Lists EP
Out July 16 on Hum and Buzz – LISTEN/BUY

Doshy – Electrophilic EP
Out July 19 on Lowriders Recordings – LISTEN/BUY

Deft – Masquerade EP
Out July 23 on Rwina Records – LISTEN ☟/ BUY

Om Unit – Aeolian EP
Out July 30 on Civil Music – LISTEN ☟/BUY

Disclosure – The Face Remixes EP
Out July 30 on Greco-Roman LISTEN ☟/BUY

Glitchy, blippy midtempo minimix from Metske/Metaphi, courtesy of Mary Ann Hobbs. This guy’s outta Nottingham, with the Wigflex crew, but it sounds like something you’d hear at a west coast glitchhop forest rave. A tasty blend of crunchy basslines, pixellated rainbow synths, 8-bit melodys, scifi soundscapes and lush futurebass production. There’s even a track with some harmonica, for all you hippies.

You know what I hate? When a DJ is talking about how good a track is, while said track is playing, so that the listener can’t really hear it, enjoy it or come to their own conclusions. That being said, I don’t mind it in so much in this case: the track is “Feldspar”, by Bay Area homie EPROM, and the DJ is Philly’s Street Bass Don, Starkey. Starkey’s enthusiasm is just so effervescent and genuine, and it’s hard to be mad, given what great exposure this is for EPROM to get biggup’d from such a preeminent tastemaker as Starkey. Nice one bruva!!


Feldspar (Starkey SUBFM Radio Rip) by eprom

I get so HYPED when the little blue dot shows up next to the Brainfeeder podcast in my iTunes. More than any other crew, Brainfeeder makes me miss the West Coast. And today’s mix is extra hype because it’s chock full of fresh exclusives from one of my absolute all-time favorites….from San Francisco, California: