I’m incredibly proud to announce the second installment of my mix series Driving North. For those of you who are new to this series, the idea is pretty simple: I take the last song of my last mix, and use it as the first song in my new mix. It’s a pretty simple constraint, but it helps give direction and makes for an easy gimmick. If you haven’t heard it already, take a listen to my first installment of Driving North. As always, please feel free to tweet/post/blog about this mix. You can find me on Twitter or Facebook.

About Part 2: This is a dark and moody collection of house, garage, and dubstep. Though I have a really hard time with “brostep” (dubstep that sounds like a chainsaw), there are elements of the genre that are really just incredible. The moodier part of dubstep tends to have heavy R&B influences, something I’ve always appreciated. If you’re looking for more of this sound, I highly recommend you check out extrawater radio by my friend Joe Lzrz.

This is a pretty good mix of new and old, all tied together by more or less one constant: I’ve never been able to play them out. That’s not entirely true, I’m sure I’ve managed to squeeze a couple of these into a set somewhere, but these aren’t typical going-out songs so it’s been nice to finally give them a home.

Download: Ezra Mechaber – Driving North, Part Two (save target as)

Tracklist:

1. School of Seven Bells – Half Asleep (Lusine remix)
2. Florence & The Machine – You Got The Love (XX remix)
3. Paul Kalkbrenner – Sky & Sand
4. CWB feat. Tash Baxter – Into The Twilight
5. Katy B feat. Ms. Dynamite – Lights On
6. French Fries & Chaos In The CBD – With You
7. Joy Orbison – The Shrew Would Have Cushioned The Blow
8. The Count & Sinden – You Make Me Feel So Good
9. Joy Orbison – J. Doe
10. Addison Grove – Footcrab
11. Disclosure – Linstigator
12. Throwing Snow – Un Vingt
13. XI – Light
14. Gold Panda – Snow & Taxis (Throwing Snow remix)
15. Skream feat. Freckles – Give You Everything
16. Todd Edwards – I Might Be (MJ Cole remix)
17. Maddslinky – Special (MJ Cole’s “Back To The Future” remix)
18. Broken Social Scene – All To All (Skeet Skeet remix)
19. Drake – Fireworks (Deadboy Slo Mo House Edit)

Production note: this was recorded in 3 pieces and then cleaned up a little (2 volume edits, tweaking a loop, and smoothing out a recording glitch). The original sounds good, but this is a little shinier.

But anyway, back to the point. “The Only Exception” is a revox (like a remix, but not – you’ll see what I mean) by Colin Munroe and it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve heard all week. He takes a Paramore track, strips it of nearly everything but the vocal, and sings around it. Vaguely haunting and totally awesome.

Colin Munroe – The Only Exception (Paramore Revox)

Download audio file (04-The-Only-Exception-Paramore-Revox.mp3)

Miami Horror – Sometimes (Shazam Remix)

Download audio file (02-Sometimes-Shazam-remix.mp3)

Zola – Ghetto Scandalous
Download audio file (19-Ghetto-Scandalous.mp3)
One of kwaito’s early superstars, this is one of my favorites from him.

Mandoza & Mdu – 50/50
Download audio file (50_50.mp3)
Because somehow a track based around a Destiny’s Child melody just seems great.

DJ Cleo – Hands Up
Download audio file (08-Hands-Up-Club-Edit.mp3)
This one is big in the townships these days, though it’s been out for like a year. To the left, to the right, everybody say.

Just for fun I threw together my own “moombahton” track this afternoon, you can grab it right here. It’s not nearly on Nada’s level, but it’ll let you get your fix in. The original track is Mowgli’s “London to Paris,” and yes, that is a Cruel Intentions sample you hear in there.

Ezra Mechaber – London To Paris (Moombahton Edit) [mp3 download]

Download audio file (london%20to%20paris%20(moombahton%20edit).mp3)

First and foremost, I’m (basically) on Thanksgiving break and it is wonderful: I’m re-reading Strunk & White, I only have one Theories of Religion book left for the year, and I have the chance to finish up another mixtape.

If you haven’t seen the new stuff Clipse has been up to you’re missing out majorly. This song has been going so hard, and the video is equally phenomenal.
Popular Demand (Popeyes) (feat. Camron) [mp3]
Download audio file (Popular-Demand-Popeyes-feat.-Camron.mp3)

Also floating my boat is this new Sting project, If On A Winter’s Night (see the album art above). There’s something so pleasant about an album that fits perfectly with Rochester’s weather without even trying. Though I suspect Sting was thinking a little more about dark european winter nights, but he really nailed it for upstate NY. The last album that did it this well must have been Fleet Foxes.
Sting – Soul Cake [mp3]
Download audio file (02-Soul-Cake.mp3)

Lastly, has anyone else heard the new John Mayer album? It’s phenomenal, but upsetting that one of my favorite songs happens to feature Taylor Swift. That is so not good for my street-cred.

Hopefully this won’t go down as one of those posts where I profess my love to something only to grow sick of it a week later. I hate those posts. I think this one will stand the test of time and my musical ADD. Anyway.

Calvin Harris, the UK producer responsible for “Dance Wiv Me,” is a cool guy with crazy sunglasses. His album, Ready For The Weekend, was just released and I have given it a listen. It is glorious. In fact, I enjoy it as much as Passion Pit’s Manners. (Sidenote: I am sorry for not blogging about Passion Pit, I just never got around to the monstrously long post it would have been).

This is synth/dance pop, with a little hip hop and rock thrown in for good measure. I don’t know where to start on this fantastic little creation, save that I listened all the way through 3 times tonight and it’s good. Take a listen to “The Rain,” the first track off Ready For The Weekend.

Calvin Harris – The Rain [mp3]

Download audio file (01-the-rain.mp3)

Your music is terrible. There, I said it. I’m not tryin’ to start beef or anything silly like that, I just wanted to get it out of the way. First, because I’ve never brought this up with you before, can we talk about your first single?

You know, “Beautiful Girls?” Anyway. In that single you mentioned “Back in 99 . . . when I went away for doin’ my first crime.” But you’re 19 (actually, just a few months younger than I am). Which means that in 1999, you were exactly 9 years old. And you were in 4th grade. FOURTH GRADE. You know the term “Keeping it real?” You are the exact opposite (edit: I just researched, and apparently you spent 21 days in jail as an 11 year old. I’ll assume that the “99″ was just convenient for rhyming purposes. Whatever. Your lyrics are still garbage).

And they kept getting worse. Who has the gaul to sorta-kinda-almost sample Pink Floyd? That’s just absurd. Yes, I am talking about the opening 5 seconds to “Fire Burnin’,” your newest single. RedOne, the producer who produced so many incredible hits for Lady GaGa might be to blame (and this track is awful compared to his other work), but I’m in a ranting mood and you look like a good target.

I could go on for days regarding how much I dislike your music. But I’m over all of that. Because I found a song that I can only assume will be a major hit for you and one I am reluctant to see rise to the top. Not reluctant because the song sucks, but because the song is great and it well get overplayed. In a fake-epic-sort-of-way, but great nonetheless. It’s not listed as your second single on the album (that title goes to the seemingly terrible “Girlfriend” track), but it should be. No, no, your amazing track is “Face Drop.” And it’s like really good.

“Face Drop” has the sort of echo-y big-ness to it that might draw comparisons to “Live Your Life” (now THERE is a song that sucked) or Maino/T-Pain’s “All The Above” track I once sort-of-kind-of enjoyed. Actually, I think there might be a reference to the Maino joint when he goes “This was none of the above.” Or I’m crazy. Whatever.

But the melody is awesome and the lyrics are really okay for about half of it. You still have some songwriting work to do (“You said I would look much better if I was thinner/you should have judged me for my inner”), but the rest of it? Mmmmm, tasty. On first listen, click straight to the chorus @ 45 seconds in. It’ll warm you to this track much faster.

Keep it up like this and I might call you a guilty pleasure. Keep it up like this and I might even play your track in a University of Rochester frat party. That’s major exposure – 300 drunk kids in a basement, in upstate NY no less. Major exposure.

All the best, EM

Sean Kingston – Face Drop [click to download mp3]

Download audio file (face-drop.mp3)

Listen, I used to love Pitbull. Culo? Hot. Toma? Badass. I remember when that awful show “South Beach” was on, those tracks had just come out and nothing conveyed Miami’s crazy nightlife better than those two songs. And then Oliver (aka Gucci Vuitton), co-owner of Bodega, had this fantastic blend of Toma over a drum-line. And then I used the “Culo” acappella over a house track to great effect.

And then Pitbull started to suck. It started with Krazy. The rhymes were terrible, I wasn’t totally in love with the drums, and the rhymes were terrible. And then Calle Ocho happened. And it was also a disappointment. The beat was so good, and the chorus was decent, but once again the verses were so, so, so terrible. I had just about given up on him. While Miami’s other hometown hero Rick Ross had gotten better (We Shinin’, for instance), Pitbull had totally regressed. Well, except for that remix of the Rick Ross/Avery Storm track “Here I am.” That one was okay. Whatever, not the point.

And then I heard “Hotel Room Service.” The beat, essentially a re-edit of Night Crawlers’ “Push The Feeling On,” was hot, and when I listened I didn’t hate the lyrics. That was a shocker.

And then I listened again. And I liked it more. This song is fantastic, and I can only hope he continues to push in this direction further. Because if I have to hear “Krazy” once more, I will cut off my ears. Or smash the iPod responsible.

Big Krit – The South [mp3]

Download audio file (the-south.mp3)