FunJunkie's 2010 Summer Burn!

For the fourth or fifth year in a row now, i'm participating in FunJunkie's annual Summer Burn. Essentially, the fine chaps over at the site host an annual "mix swap" with anyone who signs up to participate. To prove you're not a wanker who just wants free CDs for nothing, you have to sign up ahead of time and even send them a postcard to prove you are for reals, but other than that, it's just putting together a mix of just about anything one that you, the sender, feel is "summer-y" music. Pretty simple, eh?

In return for your efforts, you are supposed to receive two random mixes from two random folks who also are in the mix mastering mood. Unfortunately, i think i'm batting under .500 in the receipt department over the past few years, but i do it because i love making mixes. It's called the Summer Burn as CDs are due to be sent out on the actual summer solstice, but, as usual, i'm a couple of days behind. However, my mixes officially are done, i've spent all morning working on the covers, and they'll be in the mail first thing tomorrow (still need The Missus to help a bit with the covers, what with me having sausage fingers and all). But why should the fun stop with two random strangers when i can share the fruits of my loom with literally hundreds, if not thousands, of random strangers?

Now, i'm leaving a couple of tracks off these posts (Part II to follow shortly, but blogger.com only allows for so many labels per post, so...) because A. i don't want to raise the ire of any lawyers bitching about recent releases and B. gotta have a lil' sumfin' special for the folks who actually signed up, right?

Many of these tracks already have been recommended here at LET, but when combined into one mix, well, they'll probably cause an aural orgasm the likes of which your undergarments may not survive, so consider yourself forewarned. For hot, sticky nights. Drugs not included, but certainly not discouraged, either.

Without further ado, Burn, Baby, Burn, Part the First.

mp3: When I'm With You (Best Coast from Best Coast 7" )

mp3: Blackmagic (José James from Blackmagic)

mp3: Snowflake (Malachai from Ugly Side of Love)

mp3: When I'm Small (Phantogram from Eyelid Movies)

mp3: Lovers' Carvings (Bibio from Ambivalence Avenue)

mp3: All I Want (Joni Mitchell from Blue)

mp3: Sweepstakes ft. Mos Def and Hynotic Brass Ensemble (Gorillaz from Plastic Beach)

mp3: Beautiful People (The Books from The Way Out)

mp3: Sole Brother (Born Ruffians from Say It)

mp3: Dontchusee (Chin Chin from Chin Chin)

mp3: Go Outside (The Cults from The Cults 7")

mp3: Where's Danny? (Danny! from Where's Danny? )

mp3: At Last (The Dø from A Mouthful)

mp3: We All Wanna Be Prince (Felix Da Housecat from He Was King)

mp3: Photo Shoot (Gucci Mane Remix) (Flying Lotus from Adult Swim and Beaterator present ATL RMX)

mp3: Fresh Hex (ft. Beck) (Tobacco from Maniac Meat)

mp3: We Are Water (HEALTH from Get Color)

mp3: Hurry Up and Wait (Nocando from Jimmy the Lock)

More Free Mixtape Love

i hope to get another post up later today, but i'm totally blown away by what i'd call some rather glaring omissions from some of the "Top 10 Mixtapes" lists i've been seeing. i'm pretty sure it's my self-appointed duty to do what i can to enlighten the masses, no? As always, props to those that helped me find this stuff in the first place.

Heads noddin' and bobbin' shout out to the incomparable Berkeley Place for heppin' LET to "LE DA SOUL: 20 Years of De La Soul" from GetRightMusic.com. i've professed my love for those D.A.I.S.Y. lovers here before, so imagine my delight finding a mixtape of some up and comers rapping over De La beats. Very, very nice.

And, of course, yet another tip of the kangol to Passion of the Weiss for introducing LET to both Danny! and Flying Lotus. i've already waxed rhapsodic on Danny!, so let me take a moment or two to do the same for Flying Lotus. The fool is a space-age DJ that sounds years ahead of the game. When he gave away those Lil' Wayne remixes earlier this year, i figured he'd done enough to keep the masses happy, but then he goes and releases a 10-year retrospective mixed by the Gaslamp Killer. Sweet Bippy, this is some incredible stuff.

(Ed. note: i hope LET readers are checking out those aforementioned blogs with undying loyalty, so my apologies to those that are and see some repetition of topics. However, it's always good tuneage, so don't be so damn pushy.)

mp3: Pease Porridge (Mick Boogie & Terry Urban ft. Phife Dawg from LE DA SOUL: 20 Years of De La Soul)

mp3: Fa Fa Fa (Danny! from Where is Danny?)

mp3: Robo Tussin (Flying Lotus ft. Lil' Wayne)

mp3: A Decade of Flying Lotus (Flying Lotus remixed by Gaslamp Killer)

Free Mixtape Love

Sadly, i do not have any interesting medical updates today. Nothing was stuck in an uncomfortable orifice, my pee hasn't started glowing in the dark, and my cravings for brains remains pretty much at a constant, controllable level. So what the hell do we have to discuss today, class?

Well, i would hardly be worth my Irish heritage if i couldn't think of something with which to regale you lot. As luck would have it, i've stumbled across all sorts of good freebies in the past 24 hours. Luckier still, i have deigned to share these treasures with you jackals. After all, it is the holidays, and LET is all about the love.

First (and second) up are two incredible rap mixtapes by some freaking incredible underground, indie MCs, Danny! and Lupe Fiasco. i could lie and claim i stumbled upon this myself, but i won't. As with all your hip-hop news related needs, it came from one of my top three mp3 blogs, Passion of the Weiss. i could turn this into a real blog-on-blog handjob article on how dreamy PotW is, how i have their picture in my locker at school, blah, blah, blah, but that hardly would be very exciting, now would it? Instead, i will draw your attention to their take on the new Blakroc release. Any of that sound familiar? Did LET and PotW have some emails going back and forth on the topic, spitballing review ideas to one another? i really want to use the Robin Colcord lines from when he took Sam's ideas for the bar upgrades, but Google is really letting me down here. Anyway, they do a far better job than i can describing the latest from Danny! and Lupe Fiasco than i can, so i'll let you read theirs. i will say this, though--both spit fire with quick, intelligent and still goofy rhymes. Personally, i like Danny!'s beats better, but that's just me. Anybody who can add a Cheshire Cat sample from Disney's Alice in Wonderland is alright in my book.

(Ed. note 1: Students, refer to earlier chapters on Beef Wars. What's happening here is good natured ribbing to help cross-promote an excellent blog. Always remember and never forget, LET always using ribbing because we care about your pleasure.)

(Ed. note 2: Yes, i did go that far for that juvenile a condom joke. You're welcome)

Last, but most certainly not least, is a holiday treat from ex-Grandaddy frontman Jason Lytle. He's whipped up a handful of instrumental piano pieces just for us. Other than the album artwork and the note on the webpage denoting this is for Xmas 2009, there's nothing particularly "Christmas-y" about it, but it is excellent music to have on while wrapping presents nonetheless. According to the J-Man, the music is a result of him simply sitting down and recording about a half hour's worth of improvisational tunes. He claims this is one of his favorite things (musically) to do at home, and i have to admit, the comfortableness of the moment certainly does shine through.

You'll need to follow the various links below to get the full mixtapes, but here are some of my fave tracks to get your tongues in chop licking mode.

In summation, i'm not saying PotW is biting on my rhymes, chomping on my styles, macking on the kid like a crocodile, i'm just saying. You know what i'm saying?

mp3: Where is Danny? (Danny! from Where is Danny?)

mp3: The National Anthem (Lupe Fiasco from enemy of the state: a love story)

mp3: out cold on indian ambien (Jason Lytle from Merry X-Mas 2009)

Fast Break Breakfast Raps

On-going LET favorite Passion of the Weiss did it again recently, introducing yours truly to a damn fine MC by the name of Danny! In a kush addled haze, I distinctly recall him posing the question, "Who else rhymes about breakfast?" I took that clearly rhetorical musing, of course, as a direct challenge to put together a brief mini-mix of rap songs specifically about the alleged "most important meal of the day."

Of course, upon re-reading the post just now, there obviously is no such question posed, rhetorically or otherwise. But I still have a mini-mix of breakfast raps here, so you're gonna take 'em, and you're gonna like 'em. Along with real food, it's part of a well balanced meal. Or something like that.

To get things started, we're going with the original culprit in this whole thing, Danny! As Passion sagely points out, any song with the lyrics “fuck rhyming about a broad, rhyming about a necklace, rhyming about some sex, I’m rhyming about my breakfast” obviously deserves to kick things off. Next in the line-up is an older jam I've dug for years, "Milky Cereal" by Ladies Love Cool James himself. For those of you old enough to have been around, do you remember when LL did his unplugged performance on MTV? To this day, the one thing that sticks out most in my mind is the screamingly blatant deodorant pits the guy was sporting. As I attempt to return from that tangential line of stream of consciousness, I'll point out that LL uses the names of various cereals as euphemisms for what essentially is one of his trademark sex raps. Following that, Biz Markie does what Biz Markie does over a smooth beat by the always excellent DJ Yoda. Afterwards is the track that drove me coo coo for Cocoa Puffs for both Murs and DJ Z-Trip. This track is as much about watching 80s cartoons as it is about breakfast, but that simply makes it that much more awesome and amazing, right? I possibly should have stopped there, but I found I simply couldn't, so sue me. "Bitties in the BK Lounge" by De La Soul really only opens with a line or two about breakfast before going on to describe an encounter with less than helpful BK workers. Wait for the second half, though, when the argument starts between the manager and Shoshana. That's comedy gold right there, kids. And that, I would hope, should be enough to fill you up for now.

mp3: Scrambled Eggs (Danny! from Dream, Extinguished)

mp3: Milky Cereal (LL Cool J from Mama Said Knock You Out)

mp3: Breakfast Cereal (DJ Yoda ft. Biz Markie from The Amazing Adventures of DJ Yoda)

mp3: Breakfast Club (DJ Z-Trip ft. Murs and Supernatural from Shifting Gears)

mp3: Bitties in the BK Lounge (De La Soul from De La Soul Is Dead)