(is the name of this mix.) but i wouldn’t really disagree though….this ‘track’ has found its way into my speakers more than anything else has this week, even though its over 30 minutes long. it’s mixed by preacha, a dj named chris from australia. when this was released, these were all the tracks that he’d released, the unprecedented beats that were garnering momentous hype even before his critically-acclaimed self-titled debut dropped. i actually meant to post it over a year ago, when i was still in tallahassee, but it found its way into my drafts folder along with some text that was never completed, and somehow got scrapped as a post. shame. favorite part is from around 16: to 22:, when james blake’s enormous take on mount kimbie’s ‘maybes’ is seamlessly blended into his already-classic ‘cmyk,’ which was, among many other things, the first big drop in tokimonsta’s camp bisco x set. it’s a remix of ‘caught out there’ by kelis (the ‘i hate you, so much right now’ song…sample at :57), with some aaliyah clips (from ‘are you that somebody‘…sample at :47) in the mix as well. my favorite spot in this whole mix is at 17:33, when he throws down a tectonically disruptive climax that fellow english bassmavens mount kimbie surely admired. i also love 33:, because ‘the bells sketch’ is the first track of his i ever came across and i still think it’s one of the more unique dubstep tracks i’ve ever heard. the whole thing is a free download.
so my roommate, who pedicabs around downtown austin, and makes damn good money doing it, met james blake during sxsw in march and gave him a ride, as well as advice on a good spot to buy a shirt. the name was familiar, but he wasn’t a big follower of his music or anything. (he paid via credit card on my roommate’s iphone, so i saw the payment under his name show up.) they exchanged numbers in case james ever needed another ride around the city. six months later, he’s pedicabbing around during acl weekend, and he heard “akiiiiiiiiiiin” from the distance. he’s a very recognizable dude, six foot with dreads, so he gets yelled to all the time, but turned to look and noticed james blake standing outside of the four seasons. they talked for an hour or two, and then for another hour later on after he called for a ride to another spot. apparently he’s a totally down to earth and genuine guy, extremely knowledgable about music (my roommate akin is from the southeastern caribbean, grenada, and grew up on calypso, dub, roots reggae, etc….said james blake is totally on top of dub history and all that), and exchanged email addresses with him so that he could send him some new tunes and maybe receive some stuff he hasn’t heard before as well. pretty awesome. i think people already knew that he’s legit, but nothing wrong with a little bit more evidence towards the affirmative.
(before he got a new shirt, maybe)
