twenty of the most bangin' mashups i could find all across the vast internet. all in high quality (192kbit and above), and volume normalised. as always, the compilation is cd-friendly. this might possibly be the greatest mixtape you've EVER heard.

you've got me all mashed up inside.

1. team9 - Loaded vs Oops Oh My (Primal Scream vs Tweet) (3:16)
2. DJ Earworm - What's My Name? (too many to list*) (4:22)
3. DJ Mei Lwun - Sweet Home Country Grammar (Lynyrd Skynyrd vs Nelly) (4:27)
4. Divide & Kreate - Ride My Pony (Roxette vs Ginuwine) (3:14)
5. AudioDile - Manic Depression (The Bangles vs Ben Folds Five) (3:30)
6. Party Ben - Walking with a Ghost in Paris (Tegan & Sara vs. Mylo) (4:05)
7. Loo & Placido - Rock & Roll Trick (Kelis vs The Roots vs Jimi Hendrix vs J-Lo) (3:13)
8. Dopplebanger - Can I Kick It Like That? (Pharrell vs A Tribe Called Quest) (4:08)
9. A plus D - Nelly Furtado's Crazy (Nelly Furtado vs. Gnarls Barkley) (3:01)
10. Divide & Kreate - What Smile? (Lily Allen vs Everlast) (2:42)
11. AudioDile - More Werewolves of Alabama (Boston vs Lynyrd Skynyrd vs Warren Zevon) (5:20)
12. DJ Matt Hite - Lick It Wild (Tone Loc vs. 20 Fingers) (3:19)
13. DJ ZAX - Shake It Off (Mariah Carey vs MIA) (ZAX Bucky Shake Up) (4:34)
14. team9 - Lullaby vs Only U (The Cure vs Ashanti) (3:09)
15. DJ Jay-R - Smells Like Beach Boys (Nirvana vs Beach Boys) (4:29)
16. Party Ben - Dontcha Wish... (Veruca Salt vs Pussycat Dolls) (3:20)
17. DJ John - 1999 Teenage Wasteland (Overproduced mix) (6:08)
18. DJ Earworm - Fixing Up for a Love Connection (Frou Frou vs. Stereo MC's vs. Madonna) (3:26)
19. Go Home Productions - Sexual High (Radiohead vs Marvin Gaye) (4:11)
20. ccc - Stand By Me (Ben E. King vs The Police) (3:31)

running time: 77 minutes.

click here to download the entire compilation. 118mb

* track 2 contains samples from: Ace of Bass, Mamas and the Papas, Brandy & Monica, Aaliyah, Britney Spears, Beyonce, Donna Summer, Maroon 5, Eminem, Alicia Keys, Destiny's Child, Snoop Dogg, DMX, The Who, Madison Avenue, Eurythmics, Peter Gabriel, Irene Cara, Kanye West, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jason Mraz, Phil Collins

mixtapes usually make themselves. you can usually tell right away if the song fits or not. and half of its usually already compiled in the back of your head. then you hit the anchor track one day, standing outside the arts building sipping on the third coffee of the day. the track that brings it all together, that you build the rest of the songs around.

i was about a half hour late. she stood there with her arms crossed, and if she were a little older, she probably would have been tapping her foot too. i told her i had a good reason (i didn't). i told her i'd explain later (never happened). my earbuds dangled against my chest, and i could make out her voice. soulful. crooning. a surprisingly powerful voice from a little white woman.

i said, 'listen to this.' and the rest was history. hurry on now.

this compilation was definitely one of the most fun to make, and showcases basically everything i like about music. the driving percussion that opens the first track. the icy crisp vocal work on the last one. the delicate keys work on tracks 10 and 14. the soothing instrumentalism of track 3. the funk of 6. the melody of 5. the seductive south american styels on 2 and 12. the cheeky girl on 8. and of course, alice russell.

this tape runs across most of the downbeat genre, to trip hop, funky breaks, and deep house. it skirts the edges of soul and jazz and ambient and ... well, you get the picture.

best enjoyed in the late evening, in between dinner and the party.

a soul tape for a downbeat kind of day

1. Speedy Consuela - Sunday Dream (3:37)
2. Si*Sé - Bizcocho Amargo (4:20)
3. Aim - Pier 57 (3:59)
4. Alice Russell - Hurry on Now (feat. TM Juke) (4:40)
5. Coco & Puttnam - Starlight (feat. Cathy Bittistessa) (4:09)
6. Fort Knox Five - Once Again (feat. Jah Kamonzi) (4:30)
7. Mozez - Feel Free (3:54)
8. Cirkus - You're Such An... (4:09)
9. Backini - Little Big Horn (4:52)
10. AFX - (untitled) (a.k.a. CAT 00897-AA1) (4:05)
11. Lemongrass - Bee (Sunflower Mix) (3:43)
12. Sandboy - Viver (Butti 49 Re-fusion) (6:54)
13. Cities of Foam - Out of Reach (3:06)
14. Blue Stone - Break Of Dawn (4:27)
15. Urban Myth Club - So Beautiful (5:43)

running time: 66 minutes

click here to download the entire compilation: http://www.bigupload.com/d=303FF9C6

(as always, this mixtape is availible on my soulseek - expendableyouth)

i've always preferred it when things get a little complicated, a little hard to explain. that's when you know it's yours, when you're the only one who understands even though it might not make a lot of sense on paper.

i remember the first time where i felt i had control of my life. it was a day that i developed an unwaivering belief that the world owes me nothing, that nothing would ever be given to me, and most importantly, that i cannot do everything, that i would eventually be forced to pick sides, make choices, and occasionally fuck up in a really big way. i was sixteen. junior year in high school. a week before christmas. i sat in the front row, right beside the door because i knew things were not going to go well.

in front of me sat a six page calculus exam. questions on matrices, on factoring, on derivatives. none of which i knew anything about because i preferred hanging out in the parking lot smoking pot than going to math class. i stared for about 20 minutes. questions like "what is the derivative of x^3-3x+4/ 2x^2+3x-2" drawing only blanks in my head. i didn't understand what any of the symbols meant anymore. i put random numbers and variables and equal signs in the spaces provided.

i got about half way down the first page before it occured to me that i was stressing out over something i didn't care about, will never care about, and will never have to think about again after walking out that door. then it hit me like a punch to the back of the head. i crossed out the last half of the page. then crossed out page two. three. four. five. six.

it was my first "i don't give a shit" moment, the first one that would change the direction of my life, the first of many that would follow.

handing in the exam, i said, 'this is not what i want to do.'

he nodded. i knew he was disappointed. he knew me well. he was my football coach. he was the first person who ever put me in a leadership position by naming me captain of the 98-99 team. i knew he knew. he never gave me any shit about never attending class.

before i walked out that door, i should have followed up with, 'i'll show you what i can be someday.' but i had not yet fully developed my concrete and arguably misguided certainty in all things.

since then, i've felt like a pinball, going whereever the bumps seem to take me, colliding against bright lights, rolling into dark corners, drowning between two flippers waving frantically, occasionally hitting the jackpot, and sometimes going to the bonus round. i feel as directionless now as i did on that december day, but as i continue to make the choices that smooth out the pavement, things are starting to make a little more sense, albeit very metaphysically. i still don't have any answers, but i feel better prepared to handle the questions.

i guess this explains why i get caught up in the moment. the moment is all there is. i can't live in the future, and while sometimes i'd like to change the past, that's just wishful thinking for wistful sunday afternoons. everything is now, everything is transitory, everything goes away eventually, and i've been shocked too many times by how short now can be.

so maybe i like her a little more than i should. so what? she is my right now. there is nothing else.

the dream's the same. she stands underneath the awning of the door. light from the hallway spills in from behind her, over her slender shoulders and onto your clothes on floor. you can't make out her face through the darkness as she makes her way toward you with one hand on her hip exposing graceful fingers, fingers long and thin like the rest of her. and you know with that jazzy sway, she used to dance a little 'cause she's shown you before what a beat could make her do. so you feel it come quietly in waves, the warmth of that bass swelling, the tremelo building, when she pushes you down against you.

you catch your breath and say 'i had no idea you could-'

but she cuts you off, 'you have no idea at all.'

getting good girls into trouble - an introduction to the new jazz and sweet acoustic to help you along.

1. Touch and Go - Tango in Harlem (3:26)
2. Rae & Christian - All I Ask (4:51)
3. Nouvelle Vague - In a Manner of Speaking (feat. Camille) (3:58)
4. dZihan & Kamien - Basmati (feat. Daniela Müller) (5:31)
5. Ganga - Ho-Fi Love (6:34)
6. Mo' Horizons - Foro Viva (Brazilian Dub) (4:18)
7. Grassskirt - Pleasant Dream Part 2 (3:11)
8. Luke - Zoé (2:01)
9. Emilíana Torrini - Heartstopper (3:02)
10. Tosca - Every Day & Every Night (feat. Sugar B.) (6:13)
11. Lemon Jelly - Make Things Right (5:52)
12. The Dining Rooms - Jazz X (5:13)
13. Aim - Vipco (5:30)
14. De Phazz - Word in a Rhyme (5:03)
15. Four80East - Sweet Tooth (4:31)
16. Etro Anime - Diablo (4:42)
17. Everything but the Girl - I Don't Understand Anything (4:25)

running time - 78 minutes.

click here to download the entire compilation.