mixtape « Frequency blog: Music news and reviews from Bend and Central Oregon, by Ben Salmon

Archive for the ‘mixtape’ Category

Say farewell to DJ Mud tonight

Friday, August 27th, 2010

I know all you Frequency readers pick up the print version of The Bulletin every day, so you probably saw this in today’s GO! Magazine. But just in case: Local DJ Mud (aka Mike Graham) is moving to Portland very, very soon, which is a bummer for Central Oregon’s dance-floor denizens, but great for him.

Bend is a town with several cool, creative DJs, but I’ve always connected with Mud’s work more than anyone else’s. Not sure why; I just dig his aesthetic: dark, murky, minimalist, slightly agitated. If you’re unfamiliar, he’s got lots of music available online. Start here, with his newest mix, called “Let Tomorrow Be”:

Mud – Let Tomorrow Be by mudsimple

You can grab tons of other stuff at his Soundcloud account, and here are two other mixes that I posted last year. (He’s also the man who made this classic track, don’t ya know.)

OK, enough screen-gazing. You need to go and say goodbye to Mud and dance, once more, to his sound. Tonight is the official Farewell Mud party, starting around 10 p.m. at The Blacksmith (211 N.W. Greenwood Ave., Bend). On hand will be Mud’s old buddy Mosley Wotta, hosting and toasting and doing what he do.

If’n your interested, I sent Mud a few questions (yes, they’re the same as from this post … I’m lazy) and he sent me back a few answers:

(more…)

Tags: DJ Mud
Posted in interview, mixtape, mp3 download, tonight | No Comments »

Download a new mix from DJ Swett, and see him perform tonight

Saturday, July 3rd, 2010

Late notice: If you’re looking for a place to dance tonight, strongly consider the Madhappy Lounge (known until recently as the Bendistillery Martini Bar downtown), where local DJs Swett and Smoke — two members of the vast and productive Grove family — are gonna pump the place full of party-whompin’ happy gas all night long.

DJ Swett

They’ll get going around 9 p.m., and there’s no cover. The gig will double as a release party for DJ Swett’s new mixtape “Come Shine,” which you can and should download by clicking here. I can’t tell you how stoked I was when I heard the mbira kick in at about 3:20; that’s “Blastit,” by Seattle hip-hop act Shabazz Palaces. You can read some of my past praise for them here and here.

Tags: DJ Smoke, DJ Swett
Posted in mixtape, mp3 download, tonight | No Comments »

Free music. Dig in!

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

Welcome, music aficionado! You’ve found your way to the Frequency blog and Near/Far, The Bulletin’s online hub for coverage of 2009′s best sounds.

For the third year in a row, we’ve collected dozens of the best songs of the past 12 months from both local and national acts and created a two-disc compilation of free, legal MP3s for your downloading pleasure. You even get cool CD sleeves with artwork and tracklists! Let’s get to the good stuff:

Download “Far” by clicking here
Includes 18 songs by some of the coolest national acts of the year, including Animal Collective, The Avett Brothers, Brendan Benson, Japandroids, The Very Best, Felt (with Aesop Rock), Atlas Sound, Portugal. The Man, Box Elders, Alela Diane, J. Tillman, Telekinesis, Shabazz Palaces and more. See the entire “Far” tracklist here.

Download “Near” by clicking here
Includes 18 songs by some of Central Oregon’s best artists, including Empty Space Orchestra, Person People, Moon Mountain Ramblers, Eric Tollefson, Erin Cole-Baker, Mosley Wotta, Anastacia Beth Scott, The Mostest, Tuck And Roll, The Snag, Dan Shanahan and more. See the entire “Near” tracklist here.

(Please be aware that a few of these tracks might contain some coarse language.)

In today’s issue of Frequency’s big print brother, GO! Magazine, we’ve got several pages dedicated to reviewing music in 2009. For example:

-My favorite albums of the year.
-My 10 favorite local albums of the year and a round-up of some other notable local releases.
-The best musical moments of the year through the eyes of those closest to the scene, presented in handy Top 5 list format.
-My short overview of the Central Oregon music scene in 2009. (Hint: Local musicians stepped up big time.)

Here are some bonus things that are only on the blog:
-My favorite concerts of the year in Central Oregon.
-More Top 5 lists from locals close to the music scene. (We got a ton of these, and ran out of room in print.)

Last, but not least, you’re currently looking at The Bulletin’s music blog, Frequency, where for the past couple of weeks I’ve been reviewing the best music of the past decade. Click here to see those posts, and check back, because I’m not done yet.

And finally, we still have the 2007 and 2008 Near/Far compilations available for free download. Just click here to grab them.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to send me e-mail. I love feedback, and am always looking to improve Frequency.

Tags: Best of 2009, Near/Far
Posted in administrative, lists, locals, mixtape, mp3 download | 3 Comments »

Download a Sisters Folk Festival digital mixtape!

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

The Sisters Folk Festival kicks off Friday evening, and tomorrow’s GO! Magazine is going to have it covered from top to bottom. Pick up a copy of The Bulletin or check back here in the morning for feature stories on Peter Rowan, Blind Pilot and Anastacia Beth Scott, plus blurbs on a few other artists, the festival schedule, and just about everything else you need to know.

But that’s tomorrow. Today, it’s time to dive into the music. And guess what? You’re diving into the deep end. Just look at this schedule. All those boxes containing all those names; unless you’re the world’s biggest folk fan with all kinds of time on your hands, chances are you haven’t heard all — maybe even most — of those artists.

Frequency is here to help. I’ve spent the last couple of weeks checking out these acts, picking some of my favorites, and compiling a digital mixtape featuring artists who are playing the festival. It’s wide-ranging, stretching from the big names at the top of the poster to the small names at the bottom, and from straight folk to indie-pop-folk to Latin-flavored folk and back again. Artists include out-of-towners Alison Brown, Blind Pilot, The Belleville Outfit, Susan Werner, Kelly Joe Phelps, Joe Craven, Danny Schmidt, Antje Duvekot, Lincoln Crockett, Pancake Breakfast, Tremoloco, Ellis, Rick Shea and City Folk, plus locals Anastacia Beth Scott, Deb Yager and Bo Reynolds.

Click right here to get the mix. (It might take a couple minutes to download, so be patient.)

Once you have it, you’ll have all 17 MP3s, plus a document with a list of the tracks and links to the artists’ Web sites.

One note: The Blind Pilot song will only be available in this download for two weeks. After two weeks is over, I’ll keep the rest of the files in place, but the Blind Pilot song will come out. There’s your motivation to go ahead and snag this now.

And hey, after you take these tunes for a spin, come back here to Frequency and let me know in the comments if you’ve discovered a new fave.

Tags: festival, Sisters Folk Festival
Posted in mixtape, mp3 download | No Comments »