I’ve got two new mixes going on, released jointly by Mashit and Spannered! I did ‘em both withing a couple days of each other, and they represent what I consider to be some of the best dubstep tracks of 07, with several extra bits thrown in here and there.

It’s been an interesting time this year for Dubstep, as a genre, as a scene in San Francisco, for me as a journalist, and for me as a DJ. I think these mixes are both really influenced by my writing for XLR8R, in terms of what tracks are represented here. Even though there’s quite a bit of unreleased material on them, these aren’t the huge tunes that a Skream or a Mala or even a Joe Nice or a Monkey Tek would have. Since I follow a lot of music genres pretty closely, I can never put in all the work it takes to really present yourself as a viable part of a scene, at least to the level where you’re slinging the big dubs. Now, I heard plenty of great sets like that this year, Kode 9′s at Mutek and Benga and Hatcha’s in San Francisco come to mind, plus every time Subtek spins it’s always genius, he’s just a really good DJ. But I didn’t think that’s where I could contribute to the scene, so I tried a different approach instead.

I certainly don’t say that to diminish the tunes here. A lot of these great artists only get selective play, and while Hot Flush, Skull Disco and labels like it seem to be the darlings of the media, I don’t really hear those tracks out a lot, at least in San Francisco. So I set out to sort of gather some of the “outsider” tracks, loosely defined of course, together in one place. As usual I had too much for one mix, so I broke it apart into two.

Have to give a big shout out to Inkcore who did the artwork for them on VERY short notice. But I love it and think the images work together perfectly. Hope to be doing more collaboration with him in the future. Notes on each are below, with links to the respective pages where you can download ‘em, as well as artist links where I could. And don’t worry, there’s a lot more mixes to come, classic Jump Up, a Bmore one, a couple dub/dancehall ones, and attempts at the follow ups to the Shocking mixes and The End of Dub. So enjoy!

KID KAMELEON – AIM HIGH (MASHIT)
(Click artwork for link)


Both mixes include a range of tunes, from the atmospheric to the dark to the danceable. This one has a bit more of the dance in it (hence “Aim High”, hands in the air, high energy, etc). I love all the tunes here, but several things to look out for: Nyabingi’s Japanese Wolf, really awesome weird squiggly stuff from one of the Slaughter Mob members; Philly by Boxcutter which totally nails the skippy side of dubstep that’s sorely lacking; Kode 9′s Magnetic City which just captivates me every time – it’s spooky, weird, and driving all at the same time; I’m pretty proud of the 2562>Benga & Coki>Mala>Matty G Caspa Remix section, that came out damn good; Kode 9′s Skeng remix is THE track of the year, this is what music should sound like; and Madison Wisconsin’s Tinhead totally creates the best mashup ever, my hat goes off to him every time.

Also, I think that this is the first mix I’ve ever released that I did through in one take where there was no setlist at all, I just made it up on the fly. I’m usually too critical, but thanks to some encouragement I felt it was good enough. So thanks to Jake and Mashit for hosting it, I’m happy to be a part of what’s become a truly poppin’ blog.

Kid Kameleon – Aim High (link to the download page at Mashit)

01. DJ Panzah Zandahz – Planet Telex Loop (Token Recluse)
02. DZ – My Roots (Dub)
03. Elemental – Raw Material (Hot Flush)
04. Sky City Rising – Fever Gasp (Broklyn Beats)
05. Starkey – Instant Response (Trouble and Bass)
06. Scuba – Out There (Hot Flush)
07. Nyabingi – Japanese Wolf (Hot Flush Dub)
08. Dark Angel – Cool N Humble[Untold Rmx] (Boka Dub)
09. Cotti feat. Kingpin – Let Go Mi Shirt (Soul Jazz)
10. Boxcutter – Philly (Hot Flush)
11. Grievous Angel – Immigrant (Hot Flush Dub)
12. DZ – Strong On Ya (Scuba)
13. Solvent – Think Like Us (Bombaman Remix) (Lo Dubs)
14. Rogue State – Bounce Step (R8 Records)
15. Dutty Dubz - Gameboy Love (Aeclectrick)
16. Clouds – Elder Dub [Ras Amerlock Rmx] (Jahtari)
17. Kode 9 – Magnetic City (Soul Jazz)
18. 2562 – Channel Two (Tectonic)
19. Benga & Coki – Night (Tempa)
20. Mala – Left Leg Out (DMZ)
21. Matty G – West Coast Rocks [Caspa Rmx] (Argon)
22. Taal Mala – 4AM Request Line (Dub)
23. Pinch – Step 2 It ft. Rudie Lee (Soul Jazz)
24. Clouds – Harvest (Dub)
25. Ital Tek – Deep Pools (Square Records)
26. Demonic 1 & Dr. Coil – Kids in The Rain (Swaeg)
27. Boxcutter – Brood VIP (Hot Flush Dub)
28. Dot – Firered (Dub)
29. The Bug – Skeng ft. Killa.P & Flow Dan [Kode 9 Rmx] (Hyperdub)
30. Pinch – Angels in the Rain ft. Indi Khur (Tectonic)
31. Tinhead – Hoodkill (Dub)
32. DJ Pushups – Game Over (Dub)
33. DJ Panzah Zandahz – You and What Army (Token Recluse)

KID KAMELEON – AIM LOW (SPANNERED)
(Click artwork for link)

This one is just slighly more head-y (although there are still some good dancing bits)… I thought I’d really indulge myself in the well produced paranoid end of dubstep, stuff from the producers who clearly listening not only to classic Tubby style dub, but who are also interested in it’s 90s permutation, stuff ranging from Muslimgauz to Witchman to The Orb circa Orbus Terrarum to Spectre to lots of the Macro Dub Infection comps. That was the stuff I came up on so I can hear connections in tunes that brings it back to that era. Check especially the whole section between Ramadanman and Dhruva + Sharmaji, including Bombaman and the Skull Disco Stuff. And actually, I’ll take this moment to say that while I big up Shackleton and totally loved his set at Mutek, I don’t think Appleblim gets the credit he should as a producer. A good three quarters of my favorite tracks out of Skull Disco are his, and he just gets the narrative structure of dub so well. So big cheers to Laurie! Other bits of the mix: Starts out on the atmospheric tip, me recalling that LTJ Bukem was one of the first DnB producers I got into … Love the Distance track Tuning, I don’t think Distance gets enough credit for his half-tempo paranoid stuff … And man, Alchamyst and Saviour, both incredible artists making the link between Dubstep and Grime. Big ups to them.

Really happy that this mix is on Spannered, I’ve been wanting to do something for them for a year, so it just worked out that they happened to be relaunching their site with some design tweaks, and I got to be the kick off. So cheers to Tom and everyone else there, and click below for the link to the page with the download on it.

Kid Kameleon – Aim Low (link to the download page at Spannered)

01. Boxcutter – Windfall (Planet Mu)
02. Clouds – Shallow (Dub)
03. Blackdown & Dusk – Northside Cheng Dub (Keysound)
04. ***** – ***** (Dub)
05. Reform – Untitled (Dub)
06. Secret Agent Gel – Banker (Dub)
07. Sky City Rising – Glock Box (Broklyn Beats)
08. Sarantis – Why Dem Fight ft. Bunnington Judah (Subsonik)
09. Distance – Tuning (Planet Mu)
10. Loefah – Disko Rekah (Deep Medi Musik)
11. Tes La Rok – Cold Blooded (Dub)
12. Massive Music – Find My Way [Kode 9 Rmx] (Hyperdub)
13. DZ – Slums Dub (Hot Flush)
14. Elemental – Bleep (Pitch Black)
15. Burial – Homeless (Hyperdub)
16. Ramadanman – Every Next Day (Soul Jazz)
17. 6Blocc – Creal (Lo Dubs)
18. Appleblim – Gold and Silver (Skull Disco)
19. Shackleton – New Dawn (Skull Disco)
20. Bombaman – Rise Against (Lo Dubs)
21. Cult of the 13th Hour – Wickedness (Soul Jazz)
22. Dhruva & Sharmaji – Koli Stance (Sub Swara Dub)
23. Matty G – 50,000 Watts [Loefah Rmx] (Argon)
24. Alchemyst – Biorythms (Dub)
25. Saviour – Stampede (Dub)
26. Alchemyst – Kilik (Dub)
27. Ghislain Poirier – Blazin ft. Face-T [Starkey Rmx] (Slit Jockey Dub)
28. Pinch – Get Up ft. Yolanda (Techtonic)
29. Rustie – Fin Remix (Dub)
30. Babylon System – Dancing Shoes (Argon)
31. Flat Fizzle – In Da Air (Dub)
32. DLX – You Wan Dead (Steps in Time)
33. Cat Power – Moonshiner [Exillon Rmx] (Dub)
34. Moving Ninja – Alien (Dub)
35. El Carnicero – Northgate Riddim ft. Tiny Bee (Slit Jockey)

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