What is the glamorous life? Is it some P. Diddy fashion show shit with flashbulbs poppin while you're showing off how many diamonds you got in your teeth? True playas know it's a state of mind - it's all about vanity and...
expand review voguing, hairspray and hot pink. On this CD, white boys with flava Ayres and Eleven show their love for the worst (meaning of course best) decade, and rock you with some serious 80s R&B action. Not just memorable radio monsters like BBD, Janet Jackson and a ton of Prince-related groups, but also disco legends like Gap Band, Fonda Rae and Grace Jones who survived the transition to the 80s. Using his fancy shmancy high end Pioneer mixer, Ayres adds some light production touches (echoes, delays) and some low-key doubling to his mixes, letting most tracks play out but also cutting some short (I don't really need to hear all of "Jungle Love" anyway). The result: these two guys rip through 30 tracks and come off like a radio station without some guy telling you every 10 seconds about ladies night at Hunka Bunka in Sayerville. If you're afraid of drum machines, heavy synths, divas and catchy choruses, stay the hell away! Otherwise, get this mix and play it before a night of heavy drinking - this is some "I must beautify myself" music. By the way, Ayres spins like a robot: he doesn't move, each mix is on-point, and he insults people with requests (to their faces!). -the Woodman
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Another unmixed, DJ-friendly collection from Mr. Ayres. I don't need to tell you how huge Baltimore shit is right now (just check the Lab's top selling records), and outside of the Unruly dudes, Ayres & Titts & Bamabounce have been making some...
expand review of the best club remixes around. This CD collects up a grip of rare, unreleased and previously available tracks from the boys, especially handy to CD DJs, Seratonians and those who missed out on the first pressings of Tittsworth's self-released EPs. My favorite track here is still Tittsworth's remix of The Jeffersons theme song(1), but there's other strong contenders: Ayres' Luda-jacking "Broke Ass Home(2)" has quickly become a staple for a lotta DJs and Bamabounce's mixes of Kelis' "Bossy(3)" and Three Six's "Poppin' My Collar(4)" are pretty damn hot too. For goofy Bmore fun, it don't get much better than Tittsworth's ultra-retarded Milli Vanilli remix(5). A bargain and a half right here. 12 tracks in crisp CD quality. (P.S. Look out for a Money Studies release from this pair in the near future…) -Chris Lemon-Red
When Cosmo put a preview of this mix online in early 2005, it crashed the Rub's website in a matter of hours. Like most people, I slept, and never got a chance to hear it until he mercifully pressed up CD copies...
expand review a few months later. Now it's come to the Lab, and the world can finally feel the love. Clocking in at almost 70 minutes and comprised entirely of soulful 60s & 70s babymakin' music, Love Break is maybe Cosmo's best mix to date, and anyone who's followed this man's career knows that that's really saying something. The mix is full of joints that most of you probably haven't heard before, without being willfully obscure or inaccessible; it's just gorgeous music from front to back. But Cosmo doesn't shy away from better-known samples either: check William Bell & Mavis Staples on "Strung Out" (the basis for Cam's "Down & Out" or Z.Z. Hill's "That Ain't the Way You Make Love" (sampled by Madlib on Madvillain's "Fancy Clown"). If I had to pick highlights here, I'd go with the Meters' incredible cover of Glen Campbell's "Wichita Lineman", the Dramatics' "In the Rain" and Nina Simone's absolutely fucking heartbreaking rendition of "Baltimore". Easily my pick for the best mixtape of 2005. Highly recommended. -Chris Lemon-Red
If you need to catch up the last two years of cool electro and punk disco, this is an awesome selection. Lab favorites Cut Copy select 25 of the hottest 12" tracks, most of which are so hot, we have a hard...
expand review time keep them in stock in vinyl. Big tracks from Joakim, Munk, Who Made Who, In Flagranti, Daft Punk, Mstrkrft, Soulwax, Justice, DFA, Presets, Midnight Juggernauts, and other buzz-worthy bands. In addition, the guys have included several of their own tracks of the unreleased / remix variety. Fully mixed. Comes packaged in a metal case. -the mgmnt
Fabric gave Diplo free reign on this mix, as he compiles and mixes 26 tracks, many which have been crucial in his sets for the last couple years. Hollertronix-defining stuff like The Cure, Cybotron, Debbie Deb, Hashim, Aphex Twin, Cajmere, MIA, Outkast,...
expand review and Le Tigre. He also reveals some new secret weapons, constantly amazing me how all over the place he is while maintaining his sound. Packaged in a metal case. -the mgmnt
Madlib returns to grey areas with two more simultaneous releases in his Mind Fusion series. Much like its surrealist covers, the series is hard to define: not really a mix and not really a compilation. It's an impromptu Madlib stew, put together...
expand review with heaps of randomness and mysterious herbs. The series skips volume three and heads directly to this volume four. The theme here is hip-hop and features indy hip-hop, remixes, freestyles, a sizeable Nas vs. Jay-Z section using Madlib beats, and tracks from Lib's own Crate Diggas Palace archives. Over one hour of music. -the mgmnt
Madlib returns to grey areas with two more simultaneous releases in his Mind Fusion series. Much like its surrealist covers, the series is hard to define: not really a mix and not really a compilation. It's a impromptu Madlib stew, put together...
expand review with heaps of randomness and mysterious herbs. The series skips volume 3, and heads into volume four and this volume five. The theme here is "Dirty Crates From Around The World" aka the fruits of Madlib's many tour travels. The second half of the CD consists of a 36 minute live set from LA's best kept secret, the Do-Over party. Over one hour of music. -the mgmnt
New mix cd from resident lab reviewer and blog herder Nick Catchdubs. If you checked out his last one (Whats Really?), this continues the pace with clever mixes and blends (don't call them mashups), and undercurrent selections of dancehall, southern-leaning hip hop,...
expand review a little rock, and other ‘dubsian fun things which defy categorization. Hardly any vocals here are on their original beats, but Oh Snap never sounds forced or eye-rollingly “cheeky.†He's just in there. From his site: “Honestly, I was going to try and make a really straightforward, well-mixed new hip-hop CD with this one- but I couldn't stop from pressing "record" and going all over the place. My shit happens to be weird club music, danceable joints that are a little offbeat for whatever reason. I like remixing and recontextualizing stuff. But it's funny how being diverse can get you pigeonholed as...being diverse.†You got a problem with that? -the mgmnt
Rub N Tug take their leftfield disco-electro crack game to the Fabric series. This mix focuses more on contemporary 12"s than previous RNT mixes. Sharp Lab DM buyers should be able to name drop a third of the selections here, but the...
expand review other part is where Rub N Tug make their name, presenting records you've never heard of or would never dream of playing. Of all the DJs we know, these guys are one of the best at creating their own style and selecting the records that other djs don't play. 17 fully mixed tracks from Jesse Rose, Emperor Machine, Serge Santiago, Ame, Nemesi, Dondolo, Gary Martin, Claude Vonstroke, Slok, and others. Packaged in a metal case. -the mgmnt
DJ Ayres' Brooklyn-based Rub party has turned into one of the longest running and most successful nyc club nights, garnering best club night awards in the local press and featuring top guest djs. For this project, Ayres gathered remixes from the Rub's...
expand review resident DJs and some of those guests, giving you access to their "secret weapon" sure shot club blends (previously personal CDRs). Key contributions come from Mark Ronson, Diplo, Ayres himself, Cosmo Baker, Eleven, Zeph, DJ Crooked, and others. There's an excellent variation of material with "weird" mixes like Breeders vs. Rah Digga(1), Outkast vs. Franz Ferdinand(2), and "Got It Twisted" vs Ghostbusters(3) to nyc-style straight hip-hop blends like "Stunt 101" over Wu-Tang beats(4), "Bonnie & Clyde 03" vs. Arrested Development(5), and "Oh Sheila" vs the Coolie Dance(6). The 20 tracks plus are mixed by DJ Ayres, and ends up sounding a lot like the tronix kids (in a good way). In addition, each remix is tracked to appear in its entirety for all you CD DJs who actually want to use this for your gigs. -the mgmnt
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