We’re back at SXSW in 2013 and for the second year running we’re throwing a mad party with Tormenta Tropical! Get there early, this one will be roadblock. [Note: this is an official SXSW showcase and you need a badge to get in. There will also be a few tickets available on the door first thing.]
Check the Facebook event here.
It’s that time of year – lists, charts, ratings, looking back and forward at the best and worst of the last 12 months. This year, The Fader chose 21 artists, musicians etc to pick their best of 2012, featuring Dre Skull and an appearance from Dubbel Dutch in Samo Sound Boy’s picks; while XLR8R placed both Machel Montano’s ‘Go Down’ and DD’s ‘Self-Help Riddim’ in their top 50. Watch out for our outlook for Mixpak 2013 coming soon.
XLR8R ran a feature on Dre Skull & Mixpak this week:
“My take on a modern music listener is that they’re open to listening to a lot of different music,” says Dre, explaining the label’s ethos. “Throughout the day, they’ll listen to a dancehall mix, a deep-house mix, Pandora, and all these other things. It’s like what Afrika Bambaataa was doing—if he liked it and he felt like it would get the club rocking, he would drop it. Whether that’s a good business model, I don’t know. It’s definitely more complicated. But for me to do a narrowly focused label feels like a fraud. I would feel like I was selling my interests and my passions short. I feel, in a way, that I’ve chosen a harder battle, but I don’t think I could have chosen another way.”
Mixpak 024 is brought to you by New Jersey’s DJ MikeQ, a pioneer of the new generation of Ballroom DJs that’s been steadily bubbling up from the underground NY scene and making waves worldwide. Producing tracks and remixes in the vogue fem style, MikeQ has put his magic looping touch to Chelley, Egyptrixx and Willow Smith to name but a few, and heads up his own production company, Qween Beats. His Mixpak FM offering is 90 minutes of brash, club-driven sounds, jumping between Ballroom and Jersey club. It includes tracks and remixes from Vjuan Allure, DJ Jayhood, DJ Tameil, Kingdom and more, alongside tracks from his forthcoming EP on Fade To Mind, released on November 22nd. It will be sure to get you (trying) to vogue.
[For a more comprehensive look into the Ballroom scene, read the XLR8R feature from earlier this year]
You can subscribe to Mixpak FM via iTunes, subscribe with an RSS reader from the Mixpak FM site or download this mix directly.
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Melé’s brand new EP, Starlight, drops right here on Mixpak records on Tuesday September 13th. XLR8R are exclusively streaming the EP as of today, get over there to hear all four tracks in full before they drop. Stay tuned for more exclusives.
Uproot Andy supplied SF’s XLR8R with this incredible mix that bounces across funky, dancehall, and his usual Latino madness. TNT dropping into R1 Ryders? YES PLEASE! (Oh and there may even be a Mixpak release and a Dre Skull remix in there!)
In case you’ve been sleeping on the brilliance that is Night Slugs, XLR8R have kindly invited Girl Unit for their latest podcast. Dubplate and unreleased tunes galore!
