Posted by: Jay

I don’t think it’s gonna make quiiiite as much money as The Avengers, but there’s another movie out that throws together established superheros into some kind of ad-hoc collaboration, hoping that the sum of their parts will turn into something transcendent, something greater than any of them could have achieved on their own. In “Re:Generation”, a documentary brought to us by The Grammys and directed by Amir Bar-Lev*, our five superheros are Skrillix, DJ Premier, Pretty Lights, Mark Ronson, and The Crystal Method and their mission is to reinterpret five traditional genres of music with their on unique style and flair.

* I had no idea “The Grammys” presented anything besides The Grammys. And Bar-Lev also directed “My Kid Could Pint That” & “The Tillman Story”

As a big fan of genre bending in general I was all in when I heard about the project, and with one exception* all the tracks turned out great. As for the movie itself, it ranges from “well worth watching” to a “must see!”, depending on how much you follow these modern day musical superheros. As a super fan of all these guys it was thrilling watching them so far out of their element and really having their sound pushed to the limit.

*Crystal Method, I’m looking at you.

I appreciated all these tracks more after I watched the whole movie so really I hope you’ll make the time to do that, but let’s just take ‘em for a quick spin:

Skrillex vs. Rock (and featuring the living members of the Doors*) - “Breakn’ A Sweat”

Mark Ronson vs Jazz (featuring Erykah Badu, Trombone Shorty, Mos Def, Zigaboo Modeliste, and Members of The Dap Kings) - “A La Modeliste”

DJ Premier vs Classical (Nas and The Berklee Symphony Orchestra) - “Regeneration”

Pretty Light vs Country (featuring LeAnn Rimes and Dr. Ralph Stanley) - “Wayfaring Stranger”

To watch the movie and get all these tracks check the official website:

http://regenerationmusicproject.com/

Trailer and re-mixes from Bonobo and Zedd after the jump:

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Posted by: Jay

“50 told me: go ‘head, switch the style up and if they hate then let ‘em hate and watch the money pile up” - Kanye West

With Kanye West and 50 Cent proudly looking on, it gives me great pleasure to officially “switch my style up”. I’m breaking my DJ/production personality in two: Austin Gregory plays progressive house and trance. Period. Check him out, he’s awesome. Hella Beats, though, is not restrained by genre labels.

Under my new DJ persona I am freed to play whatever new hotness catches my ear: uptempo or mid; broken beats or fixed; grimy or pristine; house, breaks, funk, wobble, Hip Hop, dubstep (yeah, I said it) or moombahton; it’s all on the table. Which brings us to this set right here.

The new sounds catching my ear of late are: nu-funk, mid-tempo wobble, Ghetto Breaks and moombahton. Don’t even trip if you haven’t heard of these, we’re talking micro EDM sub genres here. What’s important is that they all go about 100-110 BPM and get heads bobbing, booties shaking and bodies grinding.

I am totally drinking this mid-tempo Kool Aid and I invite you to try a glass. It’s refreshing, cool, and ohh so funky in the best of ways! Drink up!

Hella Beats - The Kool Aid (DJ mix 2011) by Hella-Beats

Click the little arrow to download & click the stars below if you dig it!

Track List:
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Posted by: Cor

Over the past few months, I’ve noticed the same ridiculous name popping up time and time again on my mid-tempo funky breaks shopping list, which means it’s probably time that one Funk Ferret get his due propers here on the Beatery. This dude is the shit. Not much more to say than point out the fact that he has a knack for taking classic old school rhymes and throwing them over thick funky basslines. In fact, the thick funky baseline in the first track below comes from one of my favorite movie soundtracks. I’ve got a free prize for the first person to name it.*

Crooklyn Rippin (right-click to download)

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Learn more about Mr. Ferret on his website HERE.

*Offer void in Tennessee, and for Jay and Cara who I know have the soundtrack in question.

Posted by: Matt

Hey hey hey! It’s podcast time once again and this week a local friend of the Beatery is gracing us with his presence. SF superstar-in-the-making DJ KidHack recently scored a major coup recently by landing a slot in the Subsonic Tent at this year’s (always) epic BFD festival at the Shoreline Amphitheater. Sharing the stage with great artists like Wolfgang Gartner, Blaqk Audio, and Innerpartysystem (among many others), KidHack dropped a slammin’ set of Dubstep, Drumstep, DnB, and just really some sick ass bass pounders. He’s generously allowed us to podcast it and we certainly aren’t going to pass that up!

Peep photos from the event and a tracklist below the jump. Download the mix from the Soundcloud player, KidHack’s website, or why not subscribe to our very own iTunes Podcast!?

If you love this and just need, need to hear more, check out KidHack’s SF collective Future Universal on Facebook. They have a pretty happening page going over there right now.

DJ KidHack - Live @ Live 105 BFD 110605 by KidHack

Hit the ‘more’ link for the tracklist and epic photos! Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: Jay

The Northern Hemisphere just celebrated its first official day of summer, and for those of us in the Bay Area it was a long time coming. To honer the long, hot days, warm nights, beaches, festivals, bike rides, camping trips, BBQs and of course the summer fireworks shows, I’m proud to present “Summer Jams”: tracks to heat up your Summer.

We’re going with mid-tempo and breaks today, so be sure to put on some extra sunscreen, trow some meat on the grill, and try not to blow off any fingers with those M80s.

DJ Twister - “Feel Good La”
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DJ Twister - “Got To Be That Real Thing”
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BadboE - “My Bad” - Jayl Funk remix
BUY IT!

Jayl Funk - “We Got The Funk” - Sould Out DJs mix
BUY IT!

Big M - “Kilario”
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Cmc & Silenta - “Funky Town” - Slynk mix
BUY IT!

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