Amadou & Mariam - "Sabali (Miike Snow remix)"

An unbelievable remix of a beautiful song. Amadou & Mariam are a a duo from Mali. They both lack the gift of vision, and both realized they had a passion for music while attending the Institute for The Blind in the 1980's. They're married now and play what has come to be known as afro-blues. Right on.




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Deadmau5 - "Limit Break"

And apparently Deadmau5 dropped some new shit the other day. Christmas presents are better late than never.




Deadmau5 - Limit Break by Ear Cande

The Clancy Brothers & The Dubliners

Nothing reminds me more of Christmas, or any winter holiday for that matter, than being drunk before noon and listening to music from the green isles. I guarantee that if you put these on and pour yourself a pint of Guiness and a shot of Crown, you're going to have a great day. I couldn't find links for the songs so Youtube must suffice, disregard the videos. Happy Holidays people, drink and be merry!










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Jerry Garcia & David Grisman - "Whiskey In the Jar"

Mele Kalikimaka

Happy holidays from The Beat Garden!

Vasudeva

If you happen to be in Manhattan tonight, come check out Vasudeva's show at The Delancey. If you don't know where that is, it's on Delancey st near Clinton st. Come one, come all fools.

J Mascis - "Not Enough"

After a week long impromptu backpacking trip to California, I have returned to so much good music. First up is the new single from J Mascis' much anticipated album 'Several Shades of Why'. I used to be obsessed with Dinosaur Jr., and haven't heard anything from their reclusive guitarist since he did the soundtrack for Alien Workshop's last video Mind Field, so I'm stoked for this entire album, and highly suggest that you check it out whenever it does drop.





Download

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Mac Lethal - Love Potion 5

It's rare that I find a rap or hip-hop tape that I can listen to straight through, let alone on repeat. I'm not going to hype this up too much, but this mixtape makes me love hip-hop again, and gives me faith in humanity. Mac Lethal is honest as fuck. Every track has a different, unique beat and his flow is remarkable. There are no catchy hooks or radio friendly tracks, just eloquent and complex rhymes that leave you waiting for what he's gonna say next. Fucked up relationships, smoking kratom, acid binges, hating Pitchfork, twitter, politics, fake mc's, playing gears of war, paying the rent, staying educated; his commentary is priceless. Words like 'real' and 'legit' get thrown around a lot in the world of hip-hop, but Mac Lethal is one of the only dudes I've yet heard who I would actually apply those adjectives to.
You can get Love Potion 5 on itunes for $9.99, shits worth every penny. Here are my two favorite tracks off of the tape.

Combo Breakers: Epic Unlikely Jams

Spending an unnecessary amount of time on YouTube has it's perks. All these videos fall under the category of "holy-shit-they're-playing-together!?" The first two are John Frusciante and Flea jamming with Omar Rodriguez from Mars Volta, and the rhythm they get into towards the middle of the second video is ridikulus. The third video is Dinosaur Jr. & Del tha Funkee Homosapien doing a song from the movie Judgment Night. The last, but not least jam, is Lotus playing with members of Future Rock and Big Gigantic at a secret stage in the woods at Rothbury. And yes, they do jam into a fucking "Robot Rock" by Daft Punk at the end of Moonrise. I will never forget missing this show.

Two Door Cinema Club - "Come Back Home (Tropical Chill Remix)"

Another hit from Two Door Cinema Club, and another great remix to complement it. This time the icing on the cake comes from Tropical Chill, an entity I can literally find no information on. A/S/L? Nope. An 8-bit sounding synth with some hard hitting bass and a bit o' distortion; touche. Nice work random heroes.




Two Door Cinema - "Come Back Home (Tropical Chill Remix)"

Metric - "Help I'm Alive (Alcala Remix)" + "Twilight Galaxy (Death To The Throne Remix) "

Double the Metric, double the fun. Two new mixes, one song of old and one song of new. All I know about Alcala is that he's a NYC producer/DJ, and I like his stylee. If you're into it then check out the rest of his stuff at his site, and enjoy his odd 8-bit mix of "Strobe" and a great remix of "ADD SUV" below.




Metric - Help I'm Alive (Alcala Remix) by Alcala


Metric - "Twilight Galaxy (Death To The Throne Remix)" - download

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Uffie - ADD SUV (Alcala Remix) - REMASTERED by Alcala

Deadmau5 - "Strobe (Alcala 8-bit remix)"

Beef Theatre - "Purple Pain" & "The Dentalist"

You might be saying to yourself, wow, what an off-putting name for any sort of group. But these guys are fucking dope, on par with el Beetroots. These are the only two tracks they've released so far, but I can only hope they come out with an E.P soon.




Beef Theatre - Purple Pain by beef theatre


Beef Theatre - The Dentalist by beef theatre

Ercola - "Sax (Yasmin Le Bon Remix)"

Sax and electronic; lamb and tuna fish. This is like Big Gigantic, just way less funk and much more club.




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Playlist: $ /\/ 0 \/\/

I like to make playlists, it's what I do. I figured I'd channel that into something productive and turn it into another semi -regular section. BEHOLD, the first playlist.
This is a slimmed down version of my snowboarding playlist, compiled over many years of watching snow and skate movies and collecting mixtapes from friends. What you see before you is the bare essentials required to enjoy any powder day.




1) Mint Royale - "Show Me (Ft. De La Soul)" - The most standard song in existence
2) The Fitness - "Analog Synths" - 90's Dance-punk outfit from Seattle
2) Solvent - "My Radio (Dr. Lektroluv Remix)" - Best song to snowboard to in the world
3) Dramarama - "Anything, Anything" - Jeff Anderson's song in Full Metal Edges, R.I.P
4) Midwest Product - "Swamp" - Chill IDM-type electro, just download the whole album
5) The Sounds - "Queen of Apology" - Before there was Uffie, there was The Sounds.
6) Sweatshop Union - "Cut Back (Since June)" - Dope Canadian hip-hop guys
7) Pretty Lights - "I Can See it in Your Face" - Self explanatory
8) Fischerspooner - "All We Are" - It sounds like snow falling
9) Solvent - "Panel Of Experts" - More chill electro for glade runs
10) Thievery Corporation - "Lebanese Blonde" - Good to zone out to
11) Youth Brigade - "I Hate My Life" - Awesome.
12) Mr. Airplane Man - "Not Living At All" - Terminally chill
13) Ratatat - "Lex" - I only put one Ratatat song on here, but I usually just put them all.
14) Reggie & The Full Effect - "Apocolypse WOW!" - Synth-punk for the slopes
15) The Stooges - "Gimme Danger" - Classic.

There it is, Boom. One or two didn't have links, but the chances are you probably know how to find a song and download it yourself if you're reading this. Enjoy!

Sky Ferreira - "One"

Catchy female vocals and Miike Snow style synth beats, there's nothing not to love about this song. Que bueno!

"Head to the ground,
I don't ever want the beat to stop"




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Afrojack - "Replica"

New Afrojack! Yaaaaaay! It seems he is unstoppable.




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Afrojack - "Pacha on Acid (Original Mix)" - Three Thumbs Up

Cyberoptix - "Geisha"

Dubstep with a decidedly eastern flair. Cyberoptix is a DJ from Huntington Beach, CA, which I feel is cool to begin with, and according to his myspace, his music sounds like 'megatron taking a shit on your face.' I think that's good enough. Thanks to the Iranian Sensation for this one.



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Aled Jones - "Walking In The Air (Linton Brown Dubstep Snowman Remix)"

Here's a great seasonal dubstep track. If you ever watched The Snowman when you were a little kid, you'll immediately recognize how incredible this song is. Otherwise, you'll probably be a little confused. Either way you should just check it out.





"We're womping in the air..."

Vasudeva

I've decided to add a semi-regular new section to this here blog. Each week I'm going to highlight a different band / DJ / group / entity. It's pretty simple.

"The more he realized it, the less strange did he find it; the more did he realize that everything was natural and in order, that Vasudeva had long ago, almost always been like that, only he did not quite recognize it; indeed he himself was hardly different from him." - Siddhartha

Vasudeva is the lovechild of a foursome of Basking Ridge and Bernardsville, NJ locals; Derek Broomhead, Chris Ratay, Grant Mayer & Corey Mastrangelo. I've been fortunate enough to know approximately 1/2 of them for a long time, and can honestly say they are some of the most talented musicians I know. Comparisons are odious, a wise man once said, so I will just say that Vasudeva has mastered a sound and style that I have yet to hear anywhere else. Their Live E.P is available for download, fo free, here.
However, their live show is where it's at, and seeing as they play only on ultra special occasions, I would highly suggest attending their E.P release party at The Public Assembly in Brooklyn, NY this Sunday night, December 12th. You can also check out their myspace for upcoming show dates, new tracks, and videos.

Enjoy the tunes ya'll, see you on Sunday night.

The Live E.P

Just Jack - "Starz In Their Eyes (Boss Boss Remix)"

Nothing Just Jack does sounds bad to me. In fact it sounds quite good, and this remix is no exception. So behold; A sped up, danceable version of a classic, from deep within my itunes vault.



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Steve Angello - "Sweet Dreams (Remix)"

Another member of the SHM A-team, Steve Angello does a great edit of the Eurythmics dance floor classic.



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Skrillex - "With Your Friends" & "Kill Everybody"

I missed alot while I was in the woods these past few months, and one of the artists brought to my attention after returning was Skrillex. "With your Friends" takes cues from early Daft Punk and Dada Life, combining the two styles into an infectious dance anthem. "Kill Everybody", as the title suggests, is a little heavier and truer to Skrillex's dubstep roots.



Listen - "With Your Friends" ++
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Listen - "Kill Everybody" +
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Minus The Bear - "Into The Mirror" & "Animal Backwards"

Minus the Bear killed it again this past Saturday night at Terminal 5. They played a number of new jams from their 2010 release of Omni, as well as the standards like Absinthe Party and Pachuca Sunrise. They have a heavier new style, with way more synth and bass, which I will go ahead and give 3 thumbs up. Enjoy these noisy new melodies.

"And we could play a lot,
You get what you pay for.
But you do it for the taste of a good high
You do it for the sake of a hot night"



Listen - "Into The Mirror"
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Listen - "Animal Backwards"
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Clockwork - "Airflow (Original Mix)"

I'm trying to figure out how to do HTML, so the site will be going through some renovations in the near future. This is a dope track from LA/NY based music-maker, Clockwork. If you're familiar with that ridiculous mash-up of the Office Space theme song and a Lil' Wayne verse, this is the same dude. Except this is actually really good, and that wasn't really. Check his myspace for a list of other mixes, enjoy.



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