I’m currently messing about with themes, widgets, and plugins. Like Doctor Who metamophosing (is that a word?) this blog my change chameleon-like for a couple days, and look less than stellar. “Do it live” as Tones might say. In the meantime, please enjoy this, if you can:

UPDATE:
The best part’s at the end! Someone made a snip of it. Man, I hope they actually make this episode one day. Might have to be the intro of some future mix…

WTF?!?!?!? You might be saying…

Yup, things are changing round these parts. Kidkameleon.com is getting reborn, sort of … still be a blog, but hopefully a more active one. The change is prompted by a lot of things, but the official (and very real reason) is that I’m sick of Blogger for two major reasons -

1) They suck.

2) They suck. Technically. With the final straw being that despite all my efforts, I may have lost my archive of posts. Or rather, I have the XML file but damned if I’m goint to go back through and copy/paste and recreate the whole thing post for post. There’s still some possibility that it might be salvage-able  … I’ll try some stuff tomorrow to get it to work (I’ll definitely find a way to get some of the mix posts back up)… but I went into the WP-install process fully prepared to lose everything and really being OK with that. And it seems to have come to pass.

Right now though, despite everything, I’m feeling pretty happy, am safely installed at my new digs, have my kitty and my record collection with me, and am blasting Stacy’s Mom at 3:30AM. So things could be worse.

I leave you with this thought, and I’ll spruce up the site over the weekend.

UPDATE – Well I’ll be danged. A little perseverance seems to have paid off. See below for the last 5 years. I’ll tinker with the photos/sounds/links tomorrow. gnight!

You only get to do this once every couple years. Don’t miss it. And if you don’t live in SF, catch ‘em in LA, SEA, PDX, CHI, MTL, NYC, and BOS.

This blog will soon be melted down and recast as a WordPress Blog. It’ll be my final attempt to kick-start it again as a more 2.0-type venture, complete with content. We’ll see how we go this time, but look for that some time in the next month. Until then, check it!!!!!!

Ha! You like that!

Flying Lotus makes some of the best music on earth right now. It’s like a soul soldier slipped on a coat of circuits and then played hide and seek with all five of your senses at once. 1983 laid out the blueprint, the Reset EP upped the anti, and I’m here to tell you that “Los Angeles”, coming in June from Warp Records, will be on so many year end lists it’ll seem like it came outta 7 dimensions all at once.

We’re proud to have him back to SF for the first time in more than a year. Check him out this Saturday at Surya Dub. All the Tea Leaf Dancers will be there.

The world is crazy. The world of law and technology is especially crazy at the moment. What with the RIAA having pressured lawmakers into including absurd provisions in bills that link financial aid to a university’s willingness to police copyright. (link here and here – this is a must read thanks to ripley!) Or the fact that you can effectively get out of it by going to Harvard? Or the fact that you can pay your ridiculous $3000 extortio- I mean pre-legal settlement online (in what has to be one of the crappiest designed sites ever) WITH A CREDIT CARD?

Makes you want to go out there and press tofu with your law books, eh?

I was fortunate to musically organize and play at a totally awesome party last night for the Electronic Frontier Foundation‘s 17th birthday. It was at the “venerable” 111 Minna and the place was packed. (300-400 people I’d guess? Don’t really know). 6 artists that all were adventurous but kept in mind the crowd and the early hour. But the most impressive thing? 5 technology systems on a pretty crappy 2 channel / 4 input mixer…. Ableton, Torq, IDJ2, Serato and vinyl. All with about 30 seconds of silence once over 5.5 hours. w00t! Thanks to Ripley, Qubitsu, Jimmy Tones, and most especially our special guests Adrian and Mysterious D of Bootie! Favorite pictures below.

Been meaning to do a “best of” for January, a “currently feeling” as I work on my Baltimore Club mix (although I have to admit that I’m once again revisiting The Coral Sea since I’m in a thoughtful mood… when’s the next album coming doods?) I just keep finding good stuff, or luckily people just keep passing it along, and since I don’t do a radio show I might as well write about it. So 16 things I’m feeling, with links where I can get them.

* DJ C and Zulu – Dear John
This is upcoming at some point from Chicago-based (yipe!) DJ C and the awesome Zulu on Mashit. A dancehall beat transformed into jungle and back again while the Zulu lays out the story of an over-the-phone break up, bouncing back and forth between his gruff voice and croon. Don’t know when it’s coming, but for now check out the collab that’s coming out from them next week on Mashit. It’s called “Darling” and it’s total bouncement, playful fun.

* Kuma – Dawn Stepped Outside / Dawn Stepped Outside (HORSEPOWER REMIX) / Lost in Translation (Immerse 006)
Yup, you read that right. The first original material to see a release from Benny Ill in maybe 4 years. Real dark operatic material and not a whole lot of dub in the step, but still very cool to hear and definitely of a level of quality not matched by many others. This is also Kuma’s first release, and his two tracks are well deserving of a listen too, fusing the dreamy with the step-y.

* Flying Lotus - Golden Diva
I’ve made no secret of my love for Fly Lo, and it sort of because my impression of him slips sideways, kind of like his music … I can’t quite get my mind around what it is that I love about it. But I do. Golden Diva should be forthcoming at some point, but for now check the myspace page for a preview of what the new album is gonna sound like.

*Ghislain Poirier and Zulu – Go Balistic
My favorite track from the upcoming album also features Zulu, but the production stands on its own. It’s a lot like other stuff you might have heard from Ghislain, but that just means it’s good! Check his website for the releases, but it should be out by the end of the month.

*Dubmood – Everything!
If you ever see Everything! in my current top 10 list it’s usually because I’ve just found out about an artist and am currently trying to acquire everything by him or her. I’d heard of Dubmood before through the chiptune scene and even had an mp3 hanging around my hard drive, but Jan drove it home to me as he always does by giving Dubmood the most recent release on Jahtari! Get Atari-Ska L’atakk here. 6 chip tune cover of some ska classic songs like “Exodus”, “Pressure Drop” and the Tetris Theme. Yes, it’s a bit goofy. But that’s the awesome thing about the chip tune scene, cheesy isn’t bad, it can be a plus, and measures of authenticity are VERY different than many other scenes.

Dubmood is a Swede living in France, and has a blog here. He’s got some tremendous art, and has recently collected a bunch of his best tunes from the last 4 years. It’s all really rich stuff, full of crazy swooping synths and lots of noodling that if you ever spent time working your way through Mega Man or 1000 other games from that era will sound totally familiar to you. But then he musically quotes other stuff while he’s doing it, almost as though it’s an after thought. I pulled a little clip from “Razor Comeback” to demonstrate.

It’s like, why did 50 Cent’s “P.I.M.P.” show up there? The answer is probably “because it could”. Anyway, check him out, he’s one of the most accomplished chip tunes artists I’ve heard, up there with Bit Shifter for meeting other music styles head on and taking the chiptune aesthetic to ‘em, right in the face!

*Secret Agent Gel w/ Warrior Queen – Body
Corey and Sharmaji finally get their new label Low Motion Recordings off the group with mind boggling raunchiness from Warrior Queen. You got to hear it to believe it, but it’s good music and I have give Warrior Queen props for taking it there. You can hear the track on Secret Agent Gel’s Myspace page.

*Ikonika – Please / Simulacrum (Hyperdub 008)
Just amazing stuff from a new name to me but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t been holding it down in London for some time now. Kode 9 has signed her for the next release for Hyperdub, which is coming off of a perfect record for 07. Got to check “Please” out on her myspace page, it’s like the best, weirdest parts of Detroit mixed with the dubstep vibe. Totally unique.

*Pacheko & Cardopusher – Harp Shaped Box
Don’t know when this is coming, I think it’s still looking for a home, but I adore this kind of creation that skirts the line between heavy and hypnotic and being manipulated and ever changing without sounding crunchy or nood-ly. Big up to Caracas! Tune is on Pacheko’s and Cardo’s myspace players. Another track, “Lemna” by them is great as well

*Cloaks – Rust on Metal / Against
Cloaks are back! The world probably knows them only through some murmurs and their one EP “Hi Tek Buzz” on Werk from last year. Well, they’ve been hard at work and have totally taken their sound to the next level… it’s a sort of combination of digital thrash with the low end and beat of dubstep and the disintegration of analog gear run through 1000 MAX patches. “Rust on Metal” is really a throbbing creation, but gets you with its subtlety. In other words, they don’t have to get some MC to scream “We’re frakin’ hard!” at you to get their point across. Check out their tracks on myspace. Reminds me a bit of Kush‘s stuff at his darkest.

*Tittsworth – Thunderstruck Remix
Yes. That “Thunderstruck”. The one by AC/DC. It is off the chain. Best application of B-More to rock. I don’t know how he keeps doing it. You got to check it out. Glorious cheese. I can’t wait to play this out.

*Leaglize It (East Coast and West Coast Versions)
Argon is finally getting the two dubstep versions of “Legalize It” out there. What I love is that they’re samples of two different versions of the same song, one by Peter Tosh and one by Barry Brown, one of my all time favorite singers. Nice to finally have these out soon, although it will probably be several months yet.

*MachineDrum feat. Yo Majesty – Oohee
It’s up on Machinedrum’s myspace, it’s so good. RnB filtered through Drum’s 8 bit brain with the three best ladies out there for the job. Check it! Twista style…

*German Wasteman – Short Dick Man Rmx and Neva Eva Rmx
Real simple, but real fun… Chicago trash talking classic reinterpreted in a german techno club dubstep style. But it’s more than just taking the piss, it’s actually a good track, and anything that pokes fun at dubstep’s seriousness is fine with me.

*Fracture – Phone Call
Finally finally released, amazing track by junglist Fracture on Compound One. This one’s a bit older but I just found out that it’s finally gotten a release. It’s got the most killer vibe to it, plus this awesome skippy break that gets introduced in the second time through. Really really spooky stuff.

DJ Amazing Clay – Baile Funk Masters #4
Only one man in the world can make me like Baile Funk. And that man is Daniel Haaksman of Man Recordings. And as usual he has bought an absolutely amazing new artists to my attention, apparently a boss man in Brazil for decades. Check out the whole thing here and Amazing Clay’s myspace page for a preview of more things to come!

*Digital Woods – Mogadishu series
Ever since I sort of discovered the wonders of 80s dancehall and the ridiculously simple fun of reinterpreting it this summer I’ve been on the look out for more stuff like Maffi and The Firehouse Crew. And of course I found it, once again, in Denmark, this time with Digital Woods. It’s very simple stuff and it might not be for everyone, but I find it totally beguiling and know the power of playing stuff like this on a big system. Check it out.

————-
That’s all for now. Here are some other pictures from the party last night (all taken by me).

The three crews represented, EFF, Surya Dub, and Bootie

Out special guests Adrian and Mysterious D

Tin gets down in style

Top 10/End of Year lists are weird. That’s all there is to it. As I now spend most of my non-music life thinking about how information is organized, these lists seem more and more arbitrary. Why January 1st? (Although Billboard and such use different dates) Why a ranked list? (or not) Why 10? (or not) Etc.

And increasingly, what are you ranking? An album? A single? An EP? A Mix? A remix? If it’s an album, what’s an album? Did it have to come out in physical form? Did the tracks have to be recorded this year? What about remix albums? What about an unauthorized remix album with a whole bunch of producers remixing tracks by artists they’ve never even met, perhaps released by someone else they’ve never met, possibly recorded before this year?

These questions aren’t new, they’re as old as music itself, questions of organization, ownership, categorization, etc. But the internet has certainly both broadened the ways in which these questions come up and increased the number of people bringing them up. And anyone who tries to take a broad overview of music, ESPECIALLY dance music, in 2007 may increasingly come up short when trying to wrestle with them.

AND YET! We humans have NO problem with creating categories, even in the face of monumental change. That’s because we’re so darn good at adapting to circumstances, especially when we care deeply about the subject matter we’re trying to categorize. Take mixes for example. We didn’t have the concept of a mix 40 years ago. Yes, there was the concept of compilation, of putting like musical objects in proximity, and law and common sense even recognizes the creative process involved in doing that compiling. But think of all the things that a DJ mix represents today, things that we DJs especially still argue about endlessly. Is a mix merely selection? Is it exclusivity of the tracks to the DJ, or how well the mix moves (or theoretically MIGHT move) the crowd? Is it how the beats are fit together (and if so does it matter if each track is seemlessly mixed over a long period of time or if we just crash from one song to another)? Is a mix purely a recreation, frozen in time, of what a DJ could do live? Or does it fundamentally go beyond that? Or does it even do both at the same time? Does it matter if you make the whole thing at once? Or weave it together in multiple takes? What if you just EQ it? … And on and on. Hopefully it’s clear that I think it can be all these things and more, possibly at the same time. The same applies outwards to remixes, samples, original tracks, singles, web releases, albums, ad infinitum.

And so I’ve taken a page from Eleanor Rosch and selected “Natural” categories for my top sounds of the year. I tried not to push it too much and came up with 8 categories, and even then intra-category comparison reveals comparison of M.I.A. to Elliot Smith, which just seems weird. But there you go, Billboard would say both those albums came out “This Year”, even though Smith has been dead for 4 years. As you read this, some things might seem out of place, but there’s a method to the madness.

So without further ado:

KID KAMELEON’S 72 MUSICAL THINGS THAT ARE IN SOME WAY CONNECTED TO 2007
(numbers/order do not imply rank – links to follow)

Albums and Compilations
(See, right off the bat there’s an “and” in there, and in some systems that’s no good. But I’m letting it slide for now)

01. Aaron Spectre – Lost Tracks (Ad Noiseam)
02. Boxcutter – Glyphic (Planet Mu)
03. Disrupt – Foundation Bit (Werk)
04. Elliot Smith – New Moon (Kill Rock Stars)
05. M.I.A. – Kala (XL)
06. Pinch – Underwater Dancehall (Tectonic)
07. Radiohead – In Rainbows (Self Released)
08. Thom Yorke – The Eraser Remix LP (Boomkat)
09. Ulrich Schnauss – Goodbye (Domino)
10. VA – Street Bass Anthems (Slit Jockey)
11. VA – Street Bass Anthems Vol. 2 (Slit Jockey)
12. VA – Box of Dub Vol 1 (Soul Jazz)
13. VA – The Warning Riddim 2K7 (Audiomaxxx)

Honorable Mention
01. DJ C – Sonic Weapons (Wimm)
02. Edit – Certified Air Raid Material (Alpha Pup)
03. Modeselektor – Happy Birthday (B-Pitch)
04. Strategy – Future Rock (Kranky)
05. VA – Skull Disco: Soundboy Punishements (Skull Disco)
06. VA – Hot Flush Presents – Time and Space (Hotflush)

Notes: I thought I wasn’t going to come up with too many albums for this year, but it seems otherwise. Dev79 and Starkey’s Street Bass Anthems are solid gold, they exemplify what a remix album AND what a web release should be. And they did it TWICE in 6 months! Lost Tracks: Best album to chill to in a long time. Radiohead: Hey, technology press, it’s a good freakin’ album!!!! M.I.A.: Dope and diverse – she got weirder, not safer, and that’s to be applauded. Goodbye: Epic!!! Dark moments in there too, which are great in Schnauss’s hands. Underwater Dancehall: Pinch is the best overall dubstep producer out there. Thom Yorke Remix LP (3 EPs together makes an LP in my book): Why is no one talking about this, this is a touchstone collection of artists remixing. Go check it out!

EPs and Singles
(More than a single track download, less than a full length)

01. The Bug – Poison Dart EP (Ninja Tune)
02. The Bug Feat. Killa.P + Flow Dan – Skeng (Hyperdub)
03. Dave Nada – Kick out the Jams EP (T&A)
04. Aaron Spectre – Say More Fire (Rag and Bone)
05. DZ – Slums Dub / Strong On Ya (Hot Flush)
06. 2562 – Chanel Two / Circulate (Tectonic)
07. Flying Lotus – Reset EP (Warp)
08. Ghislain Poirier feat. Face-T – Blazin (Ninja Tune and elsewhere)
09. Emynd & Bo Bliz – White Tees and White Belts (Flamin Hotz)
10. Drop the Lime – Hear Me (Trouble and Bass)
11. El Carnicero – The Butcher EP (Slit Jockey)
12. Illyah & Ltd. Candy – Fight the Formation / Poor Girl (Jahtari)
13. Benga + Coki – Night / Drumz West / Emotions (Tempa)

Honorable Mention
01. Al Ripken Jr / Curtis Vodka – Heavy Hittaz EP (Heavy Hittaz)
02. Cardopusher – Down to the Wire EP (Terminal Dusk)
03. Cloaks – Hi Tek Buzz (Werk)
04. Joker – Kapsize EP (Earwax)

Notes: The Bug!: He just gets better and better, and Kode 9, Warrior Queen, Flow Dan, and a cast of others make the two singles/EPs stellar. Emynd & Bo Bliz / Dave Nada: Two awesome new faces (new to me that is), both putting out EPs with 100% grade A material. Benga/Coki/DZ/2562: The best full dubstep releases of the year outside of Pinch and Hyperdub, and I think that’s because all of them are concentrating on the uptempo stuff (the half tempo tunes are wearing thin on me, although there are still some great ones out there). Fly Lo: In a way it’s very reminiscent of stuff from a decade ago, but radically updated. Seriously captivating. Aaron/El Carnicero/DTL/Ghislain: Cheers to all of them for pushing the hard hard end of dance music while still making it fun. Illyah & Ltd. Candy: Beguiling beautifulness from Jahtari … put out more stuff!

Miscellaneous
(Single tracks I got form somewhere or another. Maybe they were sent to me, maybe they’re dubs, maybe they were on zshare, maybe they came out on larger releases. Info in parenthesis is a best guess)

01. Alchemyst – Biorythms (Grimelock Dub)
02. Low Bee – Call It Murder Remix (Low Bee Board)
03. Diplo – Wassup Wasuup ft Rye Rye (Unreleased)
04. Diplo – Work is Never Never Over (Hollertronix #7)
05. The Pack – Vans (Curtis Vodka Remix) (Unreleased)
06. DJ Dub aka Jim’ll Mix It – Set on You (T&A Forthcoming)
07. Passions – Emergency (Kitsune)
08. Last Zulu – Caress (Unreleased David Last / Zulu Collaboration)
09. Metallica vs Run DMC – Tricky Sandman (DJ M.i.F Bootleg)
10. Christina Aguilera – Aint No Other Man (Blaerg Oral Fistfuck Remix) (Mashit)
11. DJ Scotch Egg – Aaron Spectre’s Scotch Acid Remix (Unreleased)
12. R. Kelly – Real Talk (Jive)
13. San Quinn – Do Ya Thizzle (Unreleased)
14. Saviour – Stampede (Grimelock Dub)
15. Tinhead – Stuntin 60s / Hood Kill (Unreleased)
16. Tittsworth – Rock Sand (Unreleased)
17. DJ Zebo – Southside (Unreleased)

Notes: Whole mishmash here. Alchemyst and Saviour did two of the best unreleased dubstep tracks ever. Low Bee, Diplo, Tittsworth, Zebo and whoever DJ Dub is all pushed Bmore in new directions. R. Kelly is a loon (and not worth album of the year AT ALL but “Real Talk” is a priceless moment), Last Zulu’s collab needs to see the light of day, San Quinn kept the hyphy fire burning, and Tinhead gave me two of the best mashups ever executed. And the Passions track, more than any other, turned me on to the possibility of whatever genre it is that it’s in, which I don’t think I would have listened to before this year. Awesome work, Ben!

Mixes
(The best DJ Mixes of the year, the ones that stayed with me)

01. DJ N-Ron – The Collaborator Mix (Forthcoming)
02. Firehouse – Mastermind Computer Style II (Jahtari)
03. Kode 9 – Sonar Mix (Sonar)
04. Maga Bo – Confusion of Tongues (Soot)
05. Ripley – Histeria De La Ripley (Spannered)
06. Starkey – October XLR8R Podcast (XLR8R)

Notes: Putting N-Ron in is a bit unfair because as far as I know I’m one of the only people to have heard it, but a lot of his tracks are around and I’m sure this will gain a lot of attention when it gets its full release in a bit. Firehouse introduced me to the wonders of dancehall from the 80s and I listened to it all summer. Kode 9′s mix for Sonar came as close as I got to recreating his set with Spaceape at Mutek, my favorite set of the year. Bo’s long awaited and brilliant Confusion of Tongues flipped the script on world music, and Ripley killed it as usual with her mix for Spannered.

Artists
(Four artists who impressed me overall this year)

01. Bird Peterson
02. Clouds
03. Rustie
04. Starkey

Bird Peterson: The dude is golden. I hadn’t really heard his stuff till about 3 months ago, and then every single remix or original track was golden. He remixes folks no one else would dare to and does them all one better. Club tunes that sound good on headphones. If there were any justice this stuff would be on commercial radio and millions of people would be listening to it.

Clouds: My favorite Finish dubstep outfit. As far as I know they only have a single track out, but the 8 or 10 tracks that I’ve heard from them are all amazing. Totally rides the line between 1/2 tempo and full tempo, and they seem totally aware of the endless possibilities of grounding dubstep in dub and roots music while taking it forward with new ideas. They could be a major force in 08.

Rustie: Again, only a few releases to his name (3 EPs I think), but one of them landed near the top of Boomkat’s favorites, and for good reason. When I first heard Rustie last year I thought it was like techno-tweaked, twinkling dubstep. But then very quickly it was super glitched out party music a la Passions. And then in no time he was a hip-hop producer in the loping style of Sa-Ra or Flying Lotus or even Dabrye, but with way more layers of sound. Truth is, whatever it is it’s almost universally good, and he is so prolific it’s almost unbelievable.

Starkey: To me, Starkey is Producer of the Year. Like Rustie and Bird he just has a slew of stuff that keeps coming, and it runs from the super-heavy, almost breakcore take on instrumental hip-hop, to party hip-hop jams, to his MOVES!!! stuff, the more club based tracks. On top of that, he and Dev79 put out the two Street Bass Anthems volumes, showing their impeccable tastes and curatorial gusto, and then he does all sorts of other stuff that I only vaguely know about (engineering, electronic composition, artwork)… He’s dance music’s renaissance man, and watching his beats flourish over the last 18 months has be an awesome ride. Plus to top all of it off, he remixed Real Talk on request from yours truly, so you can’t front on that!

Labels
(Two overall impressive labels)

01. Jahtari
02. Argon

Argon: Argon had such an impressive output this year. Great original tracks from Matty G, Babylon System (“Dancin Shoes” kills me every time) and Skynet, and four of the best tracks of the year, all remixes, were Argon’s as well (Pinch’s remix of “Swamp”, Tes La Rok’s remix of “Round the Way Girls”, Loefah’s remix of “50,000 Watts”, and Caspa’s Remix of “West Coast Rocks”). Reppin’ the bay area like no others. All this from the mind of the man who made one of my favorite DnB tracks when I was starting out DJing, so cheers to you, Nick!

Jahtari: More than anything else, to me this was Jan Disrupt’s year. Ripley and I met him in 06, and were overwhelmed by his generosity, by his love of dub, by his knowledge of its history, and by his supreme dedication to making a net label work and work well. I’m so happy that so many have found Foundation Bit and that it might have opened them up to Disrupt’s music. Hopefully they went on to explore jahtari.org and learned not only how a net label is done right, but also saw how dub lives on in open-minded individuals, who can use it as a framework to explore new possibilities. Ras Amerlock, Maffi, Clouds, Illya and Ltd. Candy, John Frum, Rootah, Roots Ista Posse, Volfoniq, Normaa, African Simba, Mikey Murka, Bo Marley, and others I’ve come to know through Jan’s impeccable ear, and in that way he fulfills the classic dual split of Selector and Producer that is so difficult to pull off. So cheers to him, and if you don’t know the sound, it’s all there for free at http://jahtari.org.

Released before 2007 but important to me this year anyway
(Like the title says)

01. The Coral Sea – Volcano and Heart
02. The Knife – Silent Shout
03. Masta Ace – Born to Roll
04. Phillip Roebuck – Fever Pitch
05. Ratatat – Classics
06. Trentmoller – The Last Resort

Notes: Just a few personal noises. Coral Sea and Trentmoller got me through some sad times this summer. The Knife and Ratatat I totally missed before this year but now am glad I’ve found. Phillip Roebuck is THE MAN! This is the problem with top 10s based on music released in the last year, because so much of what we come to at a certain time comes out of the past. Why didn’t anyone tell me when this stuff came out originally!

A Final Thought

01. Burial – Burial is conspicuously missing from anywhere above (although he does show up in two places, Box of Dub and The Thom Yorke Remix album). I think Burial as a whole is great. I liked Untrue. I didn’t love it. My favorite tracks of the past 18 months of Burial’s all weren’t on the album (the Ghost Hardware EP B-sides, the Thom Yorke remix, “Versus” from Warrior Dubs and “Unite” from Box of Dub.) I love all those tracks. To me the album was just a little too close to the weebly house music that I grew up disliking, which didn’t kill it for me, it just makes it less viscerally inviting to me than if Burial had applied his brilliant technique to other source material, as it were. It’s not that I don’t like synths or overthetop-ness (I love Ulrich Schnauss). But I didn’t like Untrue enough to have it in my top 10, especially when EVERYTHING else on Hyperdub was also vying for a spot. But the Ghost Hardware EP was great, and I’ll be very curious to see where Burial takes it in 08. Do I have “A stone where my heart is?”, as Nick Gutterbreakz might claim? You be the judge.

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)