Words by DJ Theory—
Big week of Mixtape Mondays here, with a monstrous thank you from one of North America’s baddest soundsystems, dub and tropical heat from the Bay, and a pre-carnival warmup straight from the source in London. Get crackin’ and start your week right.
Federation Sound, Federation Invasion #250: Our good friends and faithful reggae/dancehall ambassadors Federation just reached another milestone, charting 250 episodes of their world-renowned Federation Invasion podcast. When they aren’t running things on their equally massive Scion Radio program, Federation head honchos Max Glazer and Kenny Meez bring the people an hour-long podcast of reggae and dancehall music with everything from dubplates to foundation to world premieres straight from top artists and producers, every week. To mark their 250th show, they’ve served up 250 minutes of material for this episode, which is essentially four weeks of shows wrapped up in one. That’s just the kinda guys they are… Click the podcast button on the right of their site to listen and download this and all 249 previous episodes here.
J-Boogie, Tropi-Dub: Veteran San Francisco DJ/producer J-Boogie (of J-Boogie’s Dubtronic Science) makes his MM debut with a refreshing mix of down- and uptempo tropical vibez. Appreciated the world over for blending a signature style of house, Afro, latin, downtempo and hip hop, Boogie is also well-versed in the Caribbean department, dipping here into some essential remixes, dusty and future dub, UK steppers, J Boogie originals, and tropical versions from the likes of Germany’s So Shifty and SF’s Kush Arora. Tropi-Dub also serves up a preview of what’s to come with his upcoming El Ritmo EP on longtime affiliate OM Records, highlighting the Kush Arora remix of “No Freedom” featuring Afrolicious and MC Zulu. To get the full effect we definitely recommend copping that full release when it drops on Tuesday. Stream and download the mix below, tracklist here.
The Heatwave, The Hot Caribbean Party Mix: Here at LargeUp we’re blessed to have some well-qualified contributors at hand, among them the busiest man in bashment in the UK and our own Cockney & Yardie reporter Gabriel Heatwave. Amidst a weekly program on Rinse FM, original production and remixes, massive parties around the UK and a steady onslaught of mixes, even we can barely keep up with him. The Hot Caribbean Party Mix is a promotional ting for the party which took place last night in London with Gabriel and other top UK selectors, and also serves as a warning shot for the rapidly approaching Notting Hill Carnival 2012. After a bit of promo in the beginning, the mix treats you to the best in dancehall and soca from Cham, Kes The Band, Laza Morgan & Mavado, Vybz Kartel, Mr Lexx, Vital and more. Stream below, download here.