The Signal: EP120

The Signal: EP120

The Signal: EP120 – Closing out the year with one final 45-minute mix of music for any and all creatures that are able to translate the vibration of air molecules against any sort of internal ear-like structure into anything understandable.

The file is posted for a limited time only, so if you suspect it’s something you might want to listen to while you live in a society capable of supplying you with electricity and free time, then download it now, please. When we all return to subsistence farming in a drought-ridden post-peak-oil wasteland, you don’t want to have the regret of missing the 120th installment of a series of music mixes, do you?

The track list is embedded in the file itself, in the id3 tags. Your mp3 player should allow you to take a look.

Also, if you like these mixes, tell your friends about ’em. And heck, if you’ve not done so, let me know! I don’t have any stats on how many of these things get downloaded so honestly I have no idea how many folks are out there listening. Sure, I could do something about it, by it’s much easier to live with mystery.

01. & 02. This mix has three tracks that are collaborations between beat-makers. That doesn’t happen too often.

03. Since the end of DJ /rupture’s show on WFMU, I’ve been finding it hard to stay on top of the global bass sound, which is a personal favorite. I love hearing international sounds mixed with wobbly bass lines.

04. In the last year, I went through a long phase of exploring the blues genre and you know what? It makes those Led Zeppelin guys a lot more interesting. Anyway, here’s someone else doing an amplified blues riff thing.

05. This track came up on shuffle on my mp3 player recently, which is a nice way to be reminded of deep cuts that should have made it into Signal mixes before, but didn’t.

06. Croatian jazz funk! Who knew? Now we all know! Croatian jazz funk!

07. If this sounds familiar– besides that way that anything this 80s-soaked sounds like the entire decade of the 80s– it’s probably because, like me, you heard it in a Key & Peele sketch.

08. Keeping the retro-80s thing going, here’s a French band with a track that came out this year perfectly recreating that vintage sound.

09. This collaboration cemented my opinion of which member of Outkast I prefer. (Not this one. But the track is great anyway.)

10. Doot doo doo, doot do doo-do.

11. The best song about feeling like bugs are crawling all over you that you’re likely to hear in what’s left of this year.

12. In every mix– because I decided that each mix must be exactly 45 minutes– I always hit a point where there’s a very specific gap that needs to be filled to complete the mix. That’s where this scratch l’il record comes in. This is many times my favorite part of the mix: Where I have to go through tracks to find one that’s exactly the right length and tone to fit in. It’s light snapping the final puzzle piece into place.

13. My fondness for this has not an ounce of irony attached. In case you were wondering.