How important is a producer to an artist? Well, the Michael Jackson sound we all love wouldn’t really exist without Quincy Jones. The psychedelic pop genius of Oracle Spectacular wouldn’t be nearly as adventurous without the vision and direction of producer Dave Fridmann. Would there even be Snoop Dogg without Dr. Dre? M.I.A. without Diplo? I mean the list goes on and on. Don’t get me wrong making music is a collaborative effort, one which like any successful relationship requires compromise and love so it’s silly to say that one person is solely responsible for anything. However, I believe in giving credit where it’s due and having studied many before and after examples, I have to tip my hat off to these guys for helping take these ideas to the next level. Anyways, I was so impressed by this Switch remix that I had to take a moment to show appreciation to all the great producers.

This Florence and the Machine remix is nothing short of amazing. Switch, one of the main producers behind M.I.A.’s groundbreaking Kala, creates a hopeful yet extremely energetic version of this track that will have you feeling good, thinking, partying and dancing all at the same time. I enjoyed the original but I mother truckin’ love this remix, can’t think of a better song for a Monday morning, enjoy.

Florence + The Machine – Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) (Switch Remix)

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Will someone please explain to me the phenomenon that is time while at work? Doesn’t it feel like right before you get to work time is flying and you can’t move fast enough but the second you sit down it’s like you go into some alternate world and it takes an hour for 5 minutes to pass. Work sucks huh? You know what, I really like the concept of that new Bruce Willis movie. We should have robots that represent us at work while we do important things like thinking of more ways to use robots and not do anything. That probably won’t happen today so I’ve got a little something to help you day dream and procrastinate more than you already do…

The Twelves released a new 60 minute mixtape two days ago and I think my friend Ben’s facebook message describes it best: “new 12s mixtape = predictable amazingness.”  This is the followup to their previous mixtape Episode II, which I never got around to posting but will in the next week or so.  I’ve been listening to this all morning and it rocks, there’s really nothing else to say.  These guys just get it when it comes to song selection and production. The transitions from song to song are seamless, the mash-ups and remixes are top notch and the overall flow and feel is energetic and entertaining all throughout.  it’s quite good.

The Twelfth Hour (Download)

Zeigeist – Humanitarianism (The Twelves Remix)

Zeigeist – Humanitarianism (The Twelves Remix)

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Groove Armada – Drop The Tough (The Twelves Remix)

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Here’s the set list:

Methusalem – Robotism
Groove Armada – Drop The Tough (The Twelves Remix)
Glass Candy – Miss Broadway
Daft Punk – Da Funk
DJ Agent 86 – Wavestate
Gossip – Standing in the Way of Control
Gaz Nevada – I-C Love Affair
Phoenix – Lisztomania
Arpadys – Mystery Rock (Vlad Maywad edit)
The Do – On My Shoulders
Zoot Woman – Information First
The Jacksons – Shake your Body
Mr Oizo – Two Takes It
Bushy – Sqezy Soul
Zeigeist – Humanitarianism (The Twelves Remix)
Snoop Doggy Dogg – Sensual Seduction
Juan Maclean – No Time
DJ Agent 86 – Magic
K.I.D. – Hupendi Musiki
Franz Ferdinand – Ulysses
Siriusmo – Discoding
Dan Hartman – Vertigo / Relight my Fire
Air – Sexy Boy
Fever Ray – Seven (The Twelves Remix)
Pacific – Hot Lips (The Twelves Remix)
Patrick Alavi – Power
Dynasty – I Dont Wanna be a Freak
Metronomy – Radio Ladio
Siriusmo – Last Dear
Empire of the Sun – Walking on a Dream
Elitechnique – Spectral Escape
The Virgins – Rich Girls
Black Kids – …Dance With You (The Twelves Remake)
The Juan Maclean – Happy House
M.I.A. – Boyz
Cut Copy – So Haunted
Space – Magic Fly
PNAU – With You Forever
Eddie Tour – Up The Glitter
Mr. Oizo – Hun
Cerrone – Give Me Love
Mr. Oizo – Steroids (ft. Uffie)
Tiga – Shoes
Kano – It’s a War
Daft Punk – Revolution 909
Radiohead – Scatterbrain (The Twelves Remix)
Terry Poison – Comme Ci Comme Ça (The Twelves Remix)
Sebastien Tellier – Sexual Sportswear
Chemical Brothers – It Doesn’t
Matter
Database vs. French Horn Rebellion – Beaches and Friends (The Twelves Remix)

First of all, this remix is amazing. Now that we’ve addressed that let’s go to the post… While everyone was at the Jay-Z concert on Friday I chose to go seek out some business and catch The Twelves DJ set at NYC’s Webster Hall. I got to the event pretty early so by the time the Brazilian duo started rocking I was a bit tired but my what good music can do for your energy.

In short, The Twelves aren’t the most technical of DJ’s; you won’t get much scratching, looping or cutting from their set, but what you will get is impeccable taste, great song selection and seamless execution.  As many of you know, one of the most exiting things about these guys is their knack for unique dance remixes and their set on Friday had some cool ones I’d yet to hear.  The best part of the show was in fact the remixes, their production decisions and style are nearly unmatched in the remix game, it’s very impressive.  So without further ado, I bring you a special treat today, The Twelves first official mixtape – 30 Minutes of Twelves. After this tape they’ve released another called Episode II, which I also have but will save for part 2 of this post. In the meantime make your Monday a good one and put this on at work, you won’t regret it. To be continued…

M.I.A. – Boyz (The Twelves Remix)

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The Twelves – 30 Minutes of Twelves (Download)

30 Minutes of Twelves by etmusiquepourtous

Intro -Title Music from A Clockwork Orange
1.  Revolte – Weak Generation
2.  Michael Jackson – Thriller (instrumental)
3.  Chromatics – In The City (The Twelves Replay)
4.  Datarock – I Used to Dance with my Daddy (Metal on Metal Remake)
5.  Lifelike – So Electric
6.  Theatre of Disco – YOA (The Twelves Remix)
7.  Boys Noize – Feel Good (TV Off)
8.  Thieves Like Us – Drugs in my Body (The Twelves Replay)
9.  Le Knight Club – Rhumba
10.  Les Rhythmes Digitales – Hypnotize
11.  Black Kids – I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You (The Twelves Replay)
12.  M.I.A. – Boyz (The Twelves Remix)

Black Kids – I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You (The Twelves Replay)

Black Kids – I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You (The Twelves Replay)

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Randomly ran into this during a YouTube binge and what a pleasant surprise it was. I’m not very familiar with speed painting but this undeniably cool. It’s from an upcoming artist called Salena, out of Berlin, Germany. She’s done a few of them which are featured on her Myspace. The featured track is one of my all time favorites M.I.A. songs called Pull Up The People, from her freshman effort Arular. Nothing like some invigorating Diplo production, London Sri Lanken street slang and cool art to get Friday started. Enjoy.

M.I.A. – Pull Up The People

Here’s a bonus track from the Piracy Funds Terrorism mixtape released back 2004.

You can be a follower but whose your leader?”

M.I.A. – M.I.A. (Diplo Mix)

A good friend of mine has been trying to get me exited about the Baltimore music scene for quite sometime now, so I started looking into it and ran into a very promising young female rapper called Rye Rye. In my search I came to find out I wasn’t the only one looking, in fact I’m a little late. Rye Rye happens to be the first artist signed to M.I.A.’s N.E.E.T. label and is one of the main reasons Mia came out of her so called retirement last year. So what does Rye sound like? Well on this song she sounds like a machine gun that manages to make out words. He delivery is intense, energetic and fierce, a little young sounding but not to the point where it’s annoying. Her cadences certainly remind of M.I.A. but that’s partly due to the Diplo style productions she’s selecting. EMPT favorite. Bang!

Rye Rye – Bang (Feat. M.I.A.)

It’s June and traditionally that meant warm weather in NYC but instead were still dealing with this annoying winter/spring/summer hybrid that won’t seem to go away. Fortunately, there are other things to look forward to in the new month, one of those happening is right here on EMPT – Le Miel du Mois. Courtesy of Steph Lund, Le Miel du Mois is a downloadable mixtape full of amazing songs, covers and remixes. This months is fantastic so I’m writing a post about it and highly recommending you check it out. Here’s the song list along with two of my fav’s from the tape, enjoy.

Le Miel du Mois at work? That’s much better than work at work! Télécharger (clic droit+enregistrer sous)

1. The Whitest Boy Alive – Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix)
2. Futurecop! – N.A.S.A
3. Bloc Party – Your Visits Are Getting Shorter
4. The Foals – Red Socks Pugie
5. Friendly Fires – Paris (Aeroplane Remix)
6. Paul and The Patients – Complaint 15
7. The Twelves – When You Talk
8. Phoenix – Rome
9. Sebastien Tellier – Roche (Breakbot Remix)
10. Kevin Drew – Safety Bricks
11. French Kicks – So Far We Are
12. Peter Bjorn & John – Up Against The Wall
13. The Lust Puppets – We Smoke Fags
14. M.I.A. – Paper Planes (DFA Remix)
15. DiscoTech vs Radiohead – Everything in its Right Place (Gigamesh/DiscoTech Remix)
16. Gui Boratto – Beautiful Life

So after performing 100% pregnant at the Grammy’s M.I.A’s finally  a momma. She blogged about it on her Myspace Celebrity Blog, here’s what she had to say:

T O F A N S F R I E N D S O N F A M I L Y . M Y B A B Y I S H E R E

HAPPY VALENTINES!SUNDAY NITE I CA M E HOME FROM THE GRAMMY’S STILL IN THE MOOD TO PARTY , I COUDA EASILY GONE OUT BUT I WENT HOME INSEAD , LUCKY I DID!! COZ MY EARLY STAGE LABOUR KICKED IN AROUND 2 AM .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vfndz8pW9WY

MY BABY WAS BORN WEDNESDAY , HE IS HEALTHY , FINE , BEAUTIFUL AND THE MOST AMZING THING EVER ON THIS PLANET, OF COURSE IM HIS MUM!!!

ME AND BABY ARE PUTTING OUR TOUR DATES FOR 2010 TOGETHER
AND MAKING MIX TAPES
AND FIGURING OUT A WAY TO BREAK OUT OF THE HOSPITAL !

HOPEFULLY THE WORLD IS BEEN TICKING ALONG AND I AINT MISSED MUCH!

C U SOON ,

AND MY BABY BOY SAYZ HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Gotta love, M.I.A. here’s Fire Fire, it is produced by her one time boyfriend/producer Diplo. one of my favorite tracks from her first album Arular.

With the success of “Kala,” many of us may have forgotten or possibly not even know of M.I.A.’s first album, “Arular.” While not as adventurous as her sophomore effort, Arular still packs the same social consciousness, catchy cadences and hard hitting rhythms that make Maya irresistible to begin with. A true underground classic. Here’s “Hombre” & “Pull Up The People.”

M.I.A. – Hombre

M.I.A. – Pull Up The People