Memekast™

Episode mk087 comes to us from Chillage Records artist Spoken Bird. Comprised mostly of newly released material, we think that you're in for quite the treat! The episode starts out strong and moves easily from song to song, with his signature style of laser infused glitch hop. This mix is set to compliment his most recent release, How Old is the Wind. It contains many of the songs from this release, as well as many other remixes.

Episode 86 is something a little special and a little different than the normal Memekast. This mix comes to us from the one like Origin, with an intro from the original badman, Geno Cochino! It was recorded live at Lucidity Festival on the Lucid Stage (sponsored by Memekast), Saturday afternoon. The selections range from deep half-time business through some bangin' footwork and even a bit of DnB for good measure.

Episode 85 comes to us by way of DubCOliNG. Over 65 minutes of squishy, bubbly beats and bass served up with a side of turntablism and scratch technique. Showcasing his own music alongside selections from Tipper, Digital Rust and Kalya Scintilla, among others; we really feel like they stand out, with solid sound design and theme. He's surely an artist to watch in the near future.

This mix comes to us by way of LO-SCORE. We’d love to tell you more but all we got is a mix and a tracklist. There is no Soundcloud. No fan page. That’s all we know. *shrug* UPDATE: Apparently there is a SoundCloud.

Episode 83 comes to us from SugarBeats. This dynamic duo comes in hot with almost 50 minutes of straightforward Glitch Hop bangers. The mix starts out with their own original tunes and then moves into some of the genres most sought after artists, including Au5 & Fractal, Mr.Bill, Circuit Bent, and Stickybuds- chopped and screwed with layers of vocal edits and acapellas to keep it feeling familiar and danceable the whole way through.

Memekast resident Dabis' last mix was back on 4/20 of 2011, and now he's back for another run. This selection takes us on a journey into the deep and dark depths of half time Drum & Bass and Footwork. Many of these selections encapsulate the terms "progressive" and "minimal", while still holding a theme and intention that feels clear the whole way through.

Episode 81 comes to us by way of our favorite master of the funk infused, squishy bass — the one and only VibeSquaD! This new mix contains a few tunes from his recent album Spinning Gears and Making Things. He also drops a couple of our old favorites, Swivel and Snagglepuss. Also notable are the Spoonbill collaboration and the remixes for Hellfire Machina and previous Memekast selector Freddy Todd (mk075). Definitely one of the most solid Memekasts to date, and we're stoked to be able to share it with you.

RudElgin comes in blazin' with mk080, for his follow up mix: a deep exploration into the many sounds and styles of Drum & Bass. WIth great track selection and practically flawless mixing, we expect nothing less from one of our favorite residents. While Elgin has been "laying low" for the last year, he's also been getting some really good looks. 2013 saw him playing Coachella, multiple EDCs and most recently supporting the popular "EDM" group Krewella on their recent North American tour.

Episode mk079 comes to us from Headtron and Muti Music artist, Andreilien (formerly Heyoka). Comprised of mostly un-released material, all of the tunes are forthcoming soon on Muti Music. We think you're in for quite the treat! The mix starts out mellow and dreamy, slowly moving into his signature style of dubbed out, glitch hop. It's the perfect soundtrack to help with those post festival season blues!

Episode number 78 comes from our own resident selector of selectors, Spektrum. This mix is an exploration into the current world of deep, dark, and at times minimal Dubstep.

Episode number 77 comes by way of jOBOT. Another one of the rising stars on the ever growing Headtron roster, he comes CORRECT with this mix. Starting out with some of that Zapp & Roger business, then moving through some heavy Electro influenced Glitch Hop cuts with Love and Light. Featuring mostly original material or remixes and collaborations with Stephan Jacobs, Gridwork and Walkerling, this mix is sure to please. The whole episode is a showcase of his skill not only in producing quality music, but also the ability to transition from tempo to tempo, style to style with very little effort. Although a required DJ skill crucial to a quality live performance, it seems that with the advent of Ableton it's one that's too often overlooked.

Kicking off the Year of the Snake, 2NUTZ delivers a 45 minute slammer. Starting out with some crunked out lazer beats and chopped, screwed vocals, then moving through some straight forward glitch hop a la Tipper, this is a mix designed to hold your attention from beginning to end. After seeing their live set at an outdoor music festival in Southern California, we knew they could deliver the goods, and would make a great addition to our growing catalogue, so we decided to get them on ASAP. The track selection on this episode is top notch and the mixing is solid. Promoters should definitely pay attention to this duo for bookings this year.

Welcome back! We wanted to have someone special to roll out our 75th episode, and wrap up 2012. Who better than Freddy Todd? His most current release, Sick in the City, Alive in the Woods just came out via our friends over at Adapted Records. The whole album is a constant challenge to what Glitch Hop "is". His versatility and constantly evolving style make him hardly the type of producer that you can label as being in this genre, or that genre.

It's time for a resident mix! This episode comes to us from our very own Seventh Swami. His last Memekast was in 2007, and aside from a couple of releases on Muti Music, we haven't heard a lot out of him. He's been off the grid, living and doing some soul searching, occasionally surfacing for a booking here and there by his crews, Want It! and the Ambient Mafia. What he puts down for episode 74 is oozing with soul and sexiness. It's a mix made for the Summer.

Episode number 73 comes to us by way of Glitch Hop Forum co-founder, ill-esha. This mix was recorded live, using the Novation Twitch and Serato. She blasts through a huge list of tunes, coming from the likes of S.P.E.C.T.R.E., heRobust, Stephan Jacobs, ChrisB, Samples, and her new project Intellipaths with Unlimited Gravity. It includes many of her own originals, remixes and collaborations from far and wide. One of the many things that strikes us about ill-esha is the way that she is constantly setting herself apart from her peers with her own unique, soulful compositions and vocal style.

Oh snap, it's time for the 4/20 Munchies mix y'all! Episode 72 comes to us from Pizza Party, the side project of Stephan Jacobs and NiT GriT. This order starts out crunchy with some of their freshest originals for the meat of the mix. Then it starts moving through some of their own solo works and remixes. To top the order off, they threw in the Freddy Todd remix of Stephan's tune In the Vortex and remixed a track by Metric. On the house.

For this episode, we give you a uniquely crafted mix of favorites and originals by Bay Area up and comer Tinker.  Fresh back from her Hawaiian Tour in February, we asked her to give us a taste of what the hype is all about.  She absolutely delivered, sharing a selection of bumping tunes with tight basslines, wonky beats, and playful melodies. After setting the vibe with a cheeky remix of Henry Mancini's Pink Panther Theme, the mix slinks along with attitude, steadily increasing in tempo and injecting high levels of head-nodding bass and beats into your blood stream, warping your brain and stealing your heart. This one's not to be missed.

For this episode we take you to a secret underground bunker, hidden somewhere along the coast of Northern California. To give you a mix from the man known by many, simply as Hypnotech. Being the co-owner one of the most well known online music resources for both dj's and listeners of the most cutting edge of todays bass music. We were expecting more of the "dope" hybridized mid tempo, womptastic, west coast, glitch hop and dubstep sound that we've come to expect from Addictech as a label and music outlet. Little did we know that he would send us a deep, dark, and at times minimal autonomic drum & bass mix of all new tunes from around the globe. In our minds this mix further solidifies him as a downright excellent DJ, top notch selector and purveyor of only the finest beats. Every one of these tracks are seemingly hand picked out of the thousands that he sorts through every year. Progressing from sparsely programmed clicks and scattered beats and then breaking into some deep roller action. It runs the gamut of minimal to techy. It is both thematic and progressive in its evolution without ever straying too far from the sound that binds it together.

For this episode, we give you a selection of all original songs from Ratchet. He shot us a slammin' mix, hot off the release of his new album Warp Speed on Ooze System Recordings. It starts out with the uptempo dance floor friendly feel of Natural Movement, the Memekast giveaway track available for free on our Soundcloud Page. After that it breaks loose into his tunes Raw and Family Style, runs through a natural progression of bangers, then settles into some of the more melodic textural material he's released. With subtle tempo changes and on point edits he keeps you listening the whole way though and doesn't disappoint the ears.

Bringing it home with yet another Headtron episode (it really was unintentional, we swear), Number 68 comes from the man known as +verb. We've had him plugged in since he put out his 2010 X-mas mix-tape. Let's face it, he's kind of hard not to notice, given that he's putting new music out seemingly every week. He also has a string of highly acclaimed releases and remixes on Simplify, Muti Music, Robox Neotech and most notably his remix for Starkey on Civil Music.

Episode 67 takes us to down to Santa Cruz, where we catch up with Mad Zach. His latest release has been causing a stir in the West Coast bass community. While he might be a fresh face on the scene, he's definitely no stranger to writing a good beat, having already released a full album, Wolf Spiders with collaborator R2 The Specialist. He also released a new EP entitled The Devil's Dancehall which came out on Muti Music in November. Even when he's not writing music, Zach stays involved in the EDM scene through various jobs and projects. He works for the music technology blog DJ Tech Tools as a video producer, photographer and a product designer. He's also the owner of Custom MIDI Controllers, where he builds custom midi controllers for DJ's and producers all over the world. You can expect to hear some new music from Zach, forthcoming on Muti Music and through his own label, which he plans to start later this year, focusing on "more psychedelic and thought provoking experimentations."

It's been a minute since we've heard a mix from Memekast resident Audiovoid. For episode 66, he starts it bouncing with his signature grinding crunchy mid tempo style, occasionally teasing in the pretty stuff, including Bassnectar’s remix of Fever Ray's When I Grow Up and even a new remix of NovaTRON's Fugue Regolar from our buddy Heavenly Father. The midtempo progression gradually bumps more and more, finally settling in on his own track Scared Slitless. Finally he lets the momentum of the mix take over, unleashing a barrage of twisted electro and dubstep heaters all the way up to drum & bass and back down again. Especially notable mixes include Culprate's Finger VIP into Audiovoid's re-edit of the Feed Me tune Cloudburn, then into Cutline's Runnin' Ft. Belle Humble VIP. The range of genres and sub genres that are explored, and the ability that he has to tie them all together, are refreshing to say the least. And he does it all while staying true to his own style. He seamlessly moves through tempos and constantly mixes it up with original tunes and re-edits. Score.

For the first Memekast of 2012 we offer up a 22 minute mix from Los Angeles native, ChrisB. We were drawn to the smoother sexier, more melody driven productions that only partly describe Chris's sound. But don't get it twisted, it's not all chocolates and silk panties. There's a mad amount of chopped up West Coast crunkedelic vocals and slick, morphing basslines moving around under his straightforward Hip Hop style beats. We were lucky enough to catch multiple performances from Chris this Summer. Most notable was his impromptu morning set at Sonic Bloom and his sunrise set at Nexus, with fellow musician Gladkill, playing as More Champagne. Boldly exploring vast melodic realms full of hypnotic textures and a heavy dose of emotionally-resonant driving bass, his high energy live performances never fail to inspire each person in the audience. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he is utterly unafraid to toss aside the crutch of 'brute-force' sonic assaults and instead relies only on his brilliant melodic compositions. Chris’s sound reflects a developed musicality not often associated with the bulk of contemporary electronic music. — ChrisB's Bio

This episode of the Memekast will be the last one for 2011, and in typical fashion we like go out and in with a bang. For number 64 we take you to Los Angeles, for a special mix from Stephan Jacobs. Having known Stephan for a few years, it was an obvious choice. But we had to wait until he had the time. Also having been selected by The Do Lab as a featured performer at Coachella for the last two years, Lighting in a Bottle, Nocturnal Wonderland, Burning Man, and many other festivals, underground events, and clubs this summer. He has a virtually non-stop touring schedule. As one of the most exciting multi-genre producers in Southern California today, Stephan Jacobs draws from a powerful collection of original material and heavyweight remixes. This passionate young producer slings out stimulating sets of uptempo dub step, twisted glitch hop and straight-up West Coast crunk - stephanjacobs.net

For this episode of the Memekast we check in with our Brooklyn, New York home base to bring you an all original mixture from the one and only MartyParty. We've really admired his DIY style of making, mixing, mastering, releasing and playing his own material and the amount of love that he shows for his fans. Never one to be outdone, he asked us what kind of mix we would like to hear. The choice between a "90bpm melodic, pretty mix" or a "140bpm purple rager" was an easy one for us. Full of original tracks, exclusive collaborations and sick remixes. We were more than excited when he agreed to be featured, let alone to be given multiple styles to choose from. It’s all about experimentation and invention - that’s why I make music the way I do. The new tooling in digital music production allows me to sit alone in my room on my iMac with two KRK Rockit monitors and a subwoofer, and produce original music from the first chord, right through to mastering and release on the internet - in one day. This freedom and power make it easy to explore the limits of the audible sound spectrum, including sub bass, poly-melodic harmonics and sound design, with incredible speed, productivity and without complying to any convention. My mission is to change the way people think about electronic music and to bring the art of musical composition back into popular music. My dream is that I inspire others to do the same. We live in a digital world, I’m not interested in emulating anything that has been done before. -MartyParty

For this episode we stay at home in the Bay Area to bring you just under an hour long mix from MiHKAL (mee·KALL), which stands for "Music I Have Known And Loved". We've been big fans of MiHKAL's for quite some time, having seen him develop and fine tune his signature style over the past few years. Combining smooth sexy beats, custom mashups and glitched out vocals with exclusive tunes from some of glitch hop's most prominent artist's, we're sure this mix will keep your head nodding for months to come. Perfecting the art of audio alchemy, MiHKAL approaches his musical creative process as a chemist synthesizing a newfound molecule. Blending an omnitude of genres and tempos into a seamless bass induced euphoria, MiHKAL brings both the light and dark elements into harmony with melodic rhythms intertwined with heavy bass lines. Whether serving the crowd a plate of face slapping bass with a side of womp sauce or raising the vibe with higher frequency melodic soundscapes, he puts intention into his performance just as a shaman would, guiding his ceremony.

For this episode we go to New South Wales, Australia to bring you Mr. Bill. If you haven't heard of Bill before, we're not too surprised. He's been sort of under the radar until recently but we think this mix will get your attention. Recent credits include remixes for Vaetxh and Bluetech, as well as collaborations with Bran Richards and our own resident Tha Fruitbat. My name is Bill, however I am currently more well known for writing and performing electronic music under the pseudonym Mr. Bill. This project is based around evocation, I like to write music that excites the ear and the brain. This requires me to explore all sorts of strange production methods and musical theories to keep exciting my senses.

For this episode we take you back to the Bay Area for another appearance from Memekast resident Genji. This mix is a bit of a departure from the sounds of his previous Memekast, in 2007. An exploration in texture and movement, the dark, grinding bass and copious crunch of mk026 was both moody and heady, but with enough solid grooves and glitchy rhythms to keep your head bobbing.

To get the new season of Memekasts started off right, We selected Denver native ProJect Aspect, a member of the Mile High Sound Movement, a talented pool of artists and producers located there. We had a chance to hear him play a few times at Sonic Bloom this year along with previous Memekast guest Seied as well as Tipper, Vibesquad, Eoto, Jantsen, and Jamie Janover just to name a few. We were very impressed by the consistent quality of music that we heard while we were there. ProJect Aspect's production made us take notice and get him on the short list for a Memekast. Which also happens to coincide with his ProJect Aspect fan page acquiring over 2000 fans as well as a new release featured on the music label Gruntworthy. And in celebration of these two recent achievements he gave us an all live mix tape of unreleased material to swing into the Fall season. Exclusively for the Memekast.

Is it still a fanny pack if you rock it in the front? Is it still Dubstep if there isn't any dub? Niles plays the music that he feels is embracing the future of Dubstep without losing sight of its roots. Referencing the sound of early Tempa two step and sometimes stripping it down to a more minimal dub techno feel. He's been keeping his head down and his ear to the ground while planning some new projects you are sure to be hearing about soon, as well as doing more remixing duties for VTG.

Digital Honey is the dynamic duo of Alia (13moontribe, Raindance, Nexus) and Ginger Vaughn (hitgirl!). They consistently lay down some of the fattest breaks available. Fresh off the heels from slamming performances at both Raindance and The Bounce Festival, we thought it was about time to bring you some straight up hard, funky Breakbeats, enjoy.

We decided to chill out this week and not book the bangers, this episode comes from Rena Jones' new music label, Cartesian Binary. We've followed and been fans of Rena and her many projects for a long time. We met up with her recently in San Francisco and she gave us a preview of some of the music featured on her label's new album, so we asked her if she wanted any of her artists do a mix for us. After keeping in contact over the last few weeks, she sent a beautiful moody piece comprised of select tracks from the album Cloud 11 , mixed by b0t23. We hope you like it.

For Memekast episode #55, we roll down to Los Angeles for an exclusive mix from one the most prolific of our favorite SoCal producers, Ruff Hauser. He slapped us with over 48 minutes of melodic, throbbing, twisted, bass heavy beats. Mixing much of his own unreleased material with tunes from some of the hottest producers out on the charts, like Tipper, Zeds Dead, High Rankin and also his partner in Kether, Stephan Jacobs. Moving seamlessly through different tempos and styles, from glitchy Mid Tempo, to Dubstep, Dub Techno and 2 Step. This mix solidifies Ruff Hauser as being a top notch producer in our minds, he has definitely achieved that polished sound that producers spend many years trying to achieve. He's seen releases on Muti, Addictech, and Beatport. And for good reason...

From Hawaii to Hollywood, up and down the West Coast, New Memekast resident Dabis has been dropping tracks for many years in well known clubs, off the beaten path and everywhere in between. Dabis hits you with a fully charged pulse of low frequency energy, flooding dance floors with waves of sub bass. While the tracks he drops hail from far-flung corners of the electronic music sphere, you can count on him to grace your eardrums with individually mined and polished gems.

For this episode of the Memekast, we are very pleased to bring you Digital Rust. He gave us an all exclusive, all original mix of 3 released and 6 unreleased tracks! Expect a new forthcoming EP on Addictech in the very near future. He played an epic sunrise set at the Temple of Flux this year and we knew that we had to have him on the Memekast. But he made us wait until he had a release under his belt. His first offering, Loophole, out now on Addictech Records, takes listeners on a ride through dirty wobbles, thick basslines, talking synths bits, and chunky beats. Digital Rust constructs a twisted soundscape that pulls inspirations from Glitch Hop, Dubstep, and Breaks.

To start April off right, we head to back Oakland to bring you another mix from Dirt (Cymbalic Recordings / Techno Truth). Dirt's production has been highly acclaimed for taking the listener on a journey through several different moods and levels of intensity. He is especially known for his hard thumping Techno. Combining evolving textures and stretched out psychedelic layers with moving basslines and thumping 808 sub rhythms. Stay tuned for releases from Dirt later in the year.

For this episode we are proud to present Bass from Above. The new album from SubSynthesis.com and GlitchDrop.com mixed in entirety by Pairadimez (iONik + r.e.g.). The first in a series of all-original exclusive compilation albums from SubSynthesis & GlitchDrop showcasing many new and establshed artists. Mastered by Bill Bless. Featuring 22 original tracks by producers such as Freddy Todd, Sugarpill, Gladkill, Stephan Jacobs, +verb and many more. This album was originally intended to be sold to help fund future releases, until the recent Japanese disaster. Everyone involved decided to donate the proceeds to the disaster relief efforts currently underway in Japan.

To celebrate our 50th Memekast we are teaming up with ill.Gates to announce the launch of the new illGates.com and releasing a 20:11 megamix featuring all the heaviest ill.Gates releases along with two new bangers, complete with elephants and muthafuckin' monkeys*! We got a chance to preview the new site last week when we co-hosted the Sound Theories Workshop. If you are at all interested in being a DJ, digital music production, or in the psychology behind how music makes you feel. You should check out the new illGates.com. It's full of information, videos, tips, tricks and loads of freebies. "The first new track is a remix of King Kapisi's Safari created with Kiwi badman Flex during the No Sleep Til Tokyo tour, the second new track is a Drumstep remix of T.O.B.’s Decoy written with Muti mastermind Dov." + 30 Minutes of New Tutorial Videos!

For this episode of the Memekast we were lucky enough to catch up with San Francisco's Bird of Prey. His psystep hybridization of breaks and dubstep has been showcased on releases by Addictech, Cyberset, and Vaporvent. He also has an upcoming Addictech EP due out in the next couple months as well as a brand new website launch. Expect quite a few surprises from him in 2011. We're stoked that he had some time to get us an all exclusive mix just for the Memekast.

For this week's episode we check in with Seied, out of Denver, Colorado. We've been listening to Dave's music for for quite a while. In our opinion he has been overlooked for far too long. He has releases on Addictech, Digital Distortions, Plastic Sound Supply, and Be Green Records. Having been remixed by the likes of Bassnectar as well as doing bangin remixes of Si Begg's Tyranny of Pesto and Dicrylium's Hippy Britches. Not to mention being a staple performer of the Burning Man festival scene and all around nice guy.

For this weeks episode we cross The Bay to Oakland, where we caught up with Gruntworthy label bosses Carly-D and Dr.Knobz. We asked them to give us a preview of where they thought the future of bass music was headed... or at least what it sounded like to them. 

He's been called LA's best dubstep DJ... but his mom has always been really supportive like that. Elgin first fell in love with electronic music in 1996 when a high school buddy turned him on to Music for the Jilted Generation. Three years later, a friend needed a place to store a set of belt drive decks and an old mixer...it was on these decks that his fascination with mixing was born. Out of this fascination and after many years of dedication, he gained the skills to mix with ease, moving through various tempos and styles, while making sure that YOU are having as much fun as he is!

East Coast Operations checks in with a mix from our resident in Brooklyn, djSpaceInvader, who drops a stack of intergalactic gangsta shit best described as "music to jack spacecraft to".

Welcome back, and welcome to 2011! We have a lot planned for this year, as our East Coast operations ramp up and our West Coast team expands and cranks up the intensity. We have a serious lineup already, including new resident Spektrum, more resident mixes, and some surprises… To start the new year and new chapter off proper, we head to Oakland to bring you a set from Dirt (Cymbalic Recordings / Techno Truth). Known for his infamous Wilderbeats events in California's Sierra Nevada mountains, going strong since 1999, Dirt is especially known for his half-tempo work, a "hybridization of Dubstep and Downtempo, combining beautiful guitar playing along side shifting textures and ever evolving atmospheres for late hours of the night or early mornings."

This episode we get a visit from our homie at Surya Dub and XLR8R magazine, San Francisco's Kid Kameleon. A twleve-year veteran in the game, the Kid got his start in NYC's illbient scene in the late 90's as a member of DJ Spooky-affiliated Soundlab collective, quickly establishing a reputation as a selector not to be pigeonholed.

DALY CITY RECORDS TAKEOVER NOTICE This is Daly City Records... We have temporarily taken control of the Memekast to bring you a ton of new music that you NEED to hear. We've got six back to back sets from Daly City Records artists: MusSck, Lokae, Deceptikon, Monk Fly, Samples, and Mochipet!

Back to the Bay this month for a session from dubstep soldier Rastatronics. Repping Subwize and MalLabel out of Santa Cruz and SF, respectively, Rastatronics has been pushing subs throughout the Westside with an unapologetically heavy sound. On the decks since 1998, he joined forces with fellow bass slinger 187 Sound System to found the Subwize crew in 2008. Since then they have brought more members on board, and worked collaboratively with other crews to push the dubstep sound in the greater Bay Area.

The Memekast officially spins back into action this month from our new headquarters in New York City. Much is going on behind the scenes, and we will be introducing some new personnel this year, as well as expanding our primary geographical focus, which to date has been primarily the San Francisco Bay Area. Notably, our new base of operations places us in proximity to some highly capable operatives in NYC. Speaking of personnel, for MK040 we are proud to introduce a longtime MK2 operative who has taken on the additional role of Memekast resident!

For this show we got a visit from Tha Fruitbat, reporting from Sacramento with a collection of originals and remixes. It's fast, hard breakbeat and electro — glitched, chopped, and beaten like the redheaded bastard lovechild of Si Begg, Aaron Spectre, and Audiovoid, having slipped each other GHB in the secretly shared hopes of setting off just such an unholy union. Don't picture it.

Welcome back, and thanks again for tuning in. For program 38, we present an exclusive mix from San Francisco's Sexytime. Comprised of Sleepyhead (LowPro Lounge) and Mimosa (Muti Music), this duo's sleek, dubbed out crunkstep will get that fine ass shakin', and rattle your man's grill right out his mouth.

After about a year and a half of slacking, Memekast resident and founder, djSpaceInvader, decided to stop by for a half-hour shift. We asked him where the hell he's been and he replied, "Time is bullshit." Be that as it may, there are really only so many times we can listen to that Ce'Cile track. Seriously, it's time for a new mix. You're up.