Here we have this year’s Christmas compilation. It’s a collection old and new, contemporary and revamped classics, to sway to over the festive period – there’s also last year’s doozy streaming too.

So if you’re done with Shakey, Wham!, Sufjan or Low, give State’s Merry Mixmas a spin.

Also, don’t forget to join us for some spiritual guidance at State’s Midnight Mass on Friday night in The Mercantile, Dublin. (disclaimer: starts before midnight).

His 30 minute State mix showcases his style with tracks and refixes from Detboi, Lorcan Mak, Major Lazer, Flore and Zombies For Money. Check out more mixtapes and tracks at Soundcloud, Follow him on Twitter or like him on Facebook. He has gigs this month in London and France.

Baxter is in Dublin until early December and so get on to him about bookings.

Baxter Beez State Mix #37 by statemagazine

Tracklisting

1. Daniel Klauser – Rootz (Original Mix)
2. Bert On Beats – Chega Mais feat. MC GI (Tambour Battant Remix)
3. Elo & Fokn Bois – Thats Much Better (Flore Remix)
4. Nadastrom – Diabluma Theme (Tittsworth Remix)
5. Malente & Zero Cash – Hardware (Original Mix)
6. Zombies For Money – Oy Shaba
7. Major Lazer – Original Don (Zoomtronic & Douchka Remix)
8. Detboi – Unleash The Hounds (Original Mix)
9. Slap In The Bass – Egypt (Hostage Remix)
10. Lorcan Mak – Brass My Ass (Original Mix)
11. Lorcan Mak – Peyote (Original Mix)
12. Zombies For Money – Mina!
13. Firebeatz – Funky Shit (Original Mix)

After 10 years of working on their repertoire and collaborating on various side projects, Salim and Aminah Dastan just recently finished recording MADU‘s first album From the Elders’ Yard. The work was carried out between Kuala Lumpur and Dublin and it features the sounds and flavours of many very talented friends. These include Daniel Rostrup, Simon Wall blasting magic horn parts, Liam O’Maonlai singing and playing on ‘The Lucky One’, trad man and luthier Frank Tate on Banjo, Aidili Fitri and Ridzwan Shaffi of Malaysia’s brassiest ska band 40 Winks, Angola’s beautiful Aline Frazão and Brighton’s Lucy Sessions both doing backing vocals and music activist DJ Izem.

The pair have put together a State mix for us that provides the perfect introduction to their sound, featuring the following tracks:

Madu – Striking Gold
Dj iZem – Do Avesso
Projetonave – Dubplate
Colm K – Basics
Dj iZem – Debaixo D’Agua
Benny Tones – Fire Fly
Madu – The Lucky One
Mr Upfull – Guembri Riddim

We also have four pairs of tickets to give away to the gig. To enter, just mail us at giveaway@state.ie by 5pm on Friday 30th September.

Madu mixtape by statemagazine

Also audible are the energetic riddims of Zander Hardy, Breach and French Fries as well as the techno influenced sounds of Martyn, Objekt and Scuba. Acid soaked darkness creeps in towards the end with tracks from emerging talents Jacques Greene and XXXY while Peter Van Hoesen’s euphoric remix of Mount Kimbie’s carbonated concludes the mix.

august mix by deletia

Tracklisting:

1. Toyface – ‘Death of an Oldboy (Kahn remix)’
2. Jimmy Edgar – ‘Hush (Kyle Hall remix)’
3. James Fox – ‘New Jack Swing’
4. Lost Heroes – ‘Bambatta’
5. Zander Hardy – ‘Attack’
6. Hackman – ‘Your Face Pulling My Hair’
7. Seiji – ‘Easy’
8. Breach vs T Williams – ’2 Bob Note’
9. Greenmoney – ‘Into You (French Fries Remix)’
10. Littlefoot – ‘Sell My Soul (DJ Rom remix)’
11. Spark – ‘Revolving (Ramadanman remix)’
12. Ben Damage – ’808′
13. SBTRKT – ‘Wildfire (Objekt Remix)’
14. Egyptrixx – ‘Recital (a version)’
15. NKC – ‘Partisan Efforts’
16. Kidnap Kid – ‘No One Else’
17. Dark Sky – ‘Speeding Blue’
18. Martyn – ‘Masks’
19. Kryptic Minds – ‘Can’t Sleep (Scuba remix)’
20. Mala – ‘Changes (Majic remix)’
21. XXXY – ‘You Gotta Do’
22. Jacques Greene – ‘Lay It Down’
23. Mount Kimbie – ‘Carbonated (Peter van Hoesen remix)’

Photo by Ashley Joesph Edwards.

In the meantime, Tenaka has put together this 21 minute mix of original music from the album with diversions into mashups featuring Little Dragon, Four Tet, Toby Kaar, The Rolling Stones and more. It as produced by our own Ian Maleney and properly mastered by Analog Heart.

Tracklisting and custom artwork below. More new songs at the bottom of the post.

Download: Tenaka – State Mix by Tenaka

Tracklisting

Side 1 Waves
a. Throw Sevens
b. The Alaskan
c. Blood Box (The Beatles/Portishead/Sufjan Stevens/Four Tet)
d. Home (Featuring Daithi and Elaine Mai)
e. Gimme Buttons (The Rolling Stones/Royksopp/Fuck Buttons)

Side 2 Ride Out
l. Three
e. The Dog (Tenaka remix)
m. Little Heart (Toby Kaar/Jeff Alexander/Little Dragon)
o. three (Featuring Colin J Morris)
n. Open Out

Promo [2011] by Tenaka

To mark the occasion AA sent in this mix for State, and it’s pretty bonkers … in the best way possible.

State Mix by Avalanche Ammo

Playlist:

1. Cornelius – Gum
2. Ed Harrison – Footprint
3. Baths – Rain Smell
4. Waiting Room – I Took Some Painkillers
5. Guitar Vader – I Love Love You (Love Love Super Dimension Mix)
6. Fantastic Plastic Machine – Paparuwa
7. Nujabes – Silver Morning
8. Xploding Plastix – Shakedown Shutoff

For Benoît Pioulard (aka Thomas Meluch), the kind words and love that his music inspires are sometimes a little baffling. Over an email interview with State last week, the Portland-based, Kranky-signed musician wrote of how he feels lucky that his music, which spans three full-length albums, and numerous EPs and 7” releases, has been so wonderfully received.

But one listen to the multi-instrumentalist’s work and it’s no surprise that it has hit a chord with many. There’s an intimacy to his music that invites you to peel back the layers and see what awaits beneath. Often, it feels like we are eavesdropping on the private recordings of a man who never goes anywhere without a Dictaphone in his pocket; someone who finds inspiration in nature, and natural sounds that are so omnipresent the rest of us have tuned them out; someone who has a gift for melody but swathes that melody in a gauzy wrap of ambient noise.

2010 was a big one for the 26 year old: he released his third album under the Benoît Pioulard name, ‘Lasted’, got married, and started working on another musical project. This year will be spent working on new music, and, State hopes, perhaps even booking some European gigs.

Here, Meluch speaks to State about his music, dreams, the difference between Benoît and Thomas, and future and past musical collaborations. Below the interview, you’ll find a mix that he has specially put together for State, which was inspired by the skills of the touring drummer at a recent Mogwai gig.

Congratulations on your latest album, Lasted – were you happy with how it was received?

I’m happy that it was received, you know, at all.  I have been very lucky, and it baffles me a lot of the time because I know more than a few people who have more talent than me, and who deserve to be known beyond the basement but it remains a struggle.  So, thanks for caring!

The name Benoît Pioulard was something that came to you in the middle of the night, which I believe you scribbled down in a notebook and discovered the next day – what other ideas to do with your music have come to you in such a way?

I had a dream the other night that I was chasing my wife playfully through a version of her school (which is, in fact, a castle in southern England) that was more like a cavernous library with vines hanging from the rafters and old men in really tasteful vests with pocket watches pushing the book carts about.  There was also a McDonald’s in there, for some reason, and I found a covert door that led to a corridor full of compartmentalized little offices with weird little greasy portholes as the way for looking out.  Those were the teachers’ quarters.  I don’t know what that was about.  So, to answer your question, none, really… I’ve dreamt of songs that are – at least in the dream – really good, but I can never remember them upon waking.

How different is Thomas to Benoît ? Is it a case of two sides of the same coin…or two completely different things altogether?

A friend of mine came on tour with me last year and remarked on a distinct difference between my off- and on-stage personalities, such as they are.  I have very slowly become ok with the literal spotlight, but I tend to retreat into the shadows before and after those 45- to 60-minute stretches, and Thomas is spectacularly awkward at times; Benoît is probably a touch more confident.

Do you consider yourself a natural performer and do you enjoy performing?

Natural?  Goodness, no… As a kid I would often hide in my bedroom closet before my piano recitals in the vain hope of not being found.  Nowadays, like I said, it’s become way easier and my tours in the past couple of years have all been really terrific in a lot of ways.  Some shows are unremarkable but some are just locked in, you know?  Like whatever sliver of musical instinct I have takes over and I’m just thrilled with what’s happening and everything goes really well.  Those rather rare occasions are worth the nights that end in second-guessing and insecurity and all those kinds of things.

You toured with (Kranky labelmates) Windy and Carl in 2009 – how did that go and what did you learn about touring and performing during that time?

Windy refers to herself as the ‘mother hen of the Kranky family’ so I heard a lot of advice, plenty of which turned out to be pretty valuable.  By that point she and Carl had been on the road at least a half-dozen times so they were definitely veterans, and I was the naïve, slightly rambunctious one who didn’t mind loading and unloading most of the amps and guitars and demanded that we listen to that Black Sabbath tape again ’cause ‘oh my God I’m on tour and people think I’m actually doing something that’s reasonable for a human being to do and it’s super exciting’.  That was a fun trip.

Listen to the mix and read the rest of the interview on page 2.

This month’s mix catches up with what is happening on the peripheries and draws attention to artists like Lapalux and Asa who operate on the hazy intersection of 140 BPM music and lo-fi electrionica. Elsewhere on the mix Kahn channels Massive Attack’s brooding vocals while LV show off their unpredictable grooves on Primary Colours from the excellent new LP as well as the fantasic remix of Kevin McGhee’s ‘Get in with You’.

One of the most exciting new developments is the emergence of the dark house sound which sneaks into the second half with Lone’s late night reinterpretation of the classic ‘Kinetic’ while Punch Drunk‘s latest signee Andy Mac delivers a bouncey shuffle on ‘Asteroid Belt’. Closing the mix is an inspired meeting of two of this year’s most promising producers with Midland’s remix of ‘Ask Yourself’, originally by Julio Bashmore. The Leeds based artist takes advantage of the eerie atmospheres and constructs an even darker track, bringing out the best elements of both producers. Enjoy!

WTF is Post-Dubstep Part II by deletia

01. Lapalux – ‘Quick Kiss’
02. Asa – ‘Sweeter Things’
03. Kahn – ‘Stop Me Dead’
04. Koreless – ’4d’
05. Sug(r)cane – ‘Outside’
06. Mizz Beats – ‘Dirty Dishes’
07. Monkey – ‘Drunkerdz’
08. LV – ‘Primary Colours’
09. Throwing Snow – ‘Vingt Et Un’
10. Kevin McPhee – ‘Get In With You (LV Remix)’
11. My Panda Shall Fly – ‘Injury (Throwing Snow Remix)’
12. Golden Girls – ‘Kinetic (Lone Remix)’
13. Andy Mac – ‘Asteroid Belt’
14. Julio Bashmore – ‘Ask Yourself (Midland Remix)’

State.ie mix (Dubh Thrian 18 4 11) by dubh thrian

Tracklist:
01. Culture Voyage – ‘Electrostasy (intro)’
02. Dubh Thrian – ‘Sub Routine accapella’
03. LO:TEK – ‘You don’t know my name’
04. Mount Kimbie – ‘Blind Night Errand’
05. Joy Orbison – ‘So Derobe’
06. Sepalcure – ‘Love Pressure’
07. Joe – ‘Rut’
08. Falty DL – ‘Phreqaflex’
09. Cluekid & LD – ‘Don’t wanna cry’
10. Submerse – ‘Hold it down’
11. Smokey & Casper Crisp – ‘crisp (burnkane’s fire mix)’
12. Dubh Thrian – ‘Nia V2′
13. Eomac – ‘Monk’
14. El-B feat Juiceman – ‘Buck n Bury’
15. Pluge – ‘Identify Your Position (loop)’
16. Eleven Tigers – ’111_my name is wind’
17. PhOtOmachine – ‘Live & direct’
18. 2562 – ‘Aquatic Family Affair’
19. Anti Pop Consortium – ‘Capricorn one (intro)’
20. Anti Pop Consortium – ‘Ghostlawns’
21. Untold – ‘Yukon’
22. Radiohead – ‘Feral’
23. Dead Sound – ‘Dead Slater’

His recent EP on Hsuan Recordings is already one of 2011′s essential releases and with more productions in the pipeline Eomac is definitely one to watch. For this mix Ian has put together a varied selection of tracks from different styles, showcasing his own genre-jumping DJ skills and presenting some of his own productions.
STATE Mix by djeomac

Tracklist:
1. Eomac – Forget The World
2. Eomac – You Don’t Know What This Means To Me
3. Bad Autopsy – Ginmixer (Jam City Remix)
4. Funkystepz – Fuller
5. Cosmin TRG – Izolat
6. Robert Hood – Clash / Tempa T – Next Hype (Acapella)
7. Boddika – Syn Chron
8. Ben Klock – Napolean Hill
9. Benga – I Come From London
10. Kink – The Roots of Techno
11. Untold – Stereo Freeze
12. Baby Ford – Normal (Heston Flora Mix by AFX)
13. Shed – My R-Class
14. Scuba – Tracers
15. Burial – Near Dark
16. Old Apparatus – Untitled (Side A Track 2)
17. Objekt – Tinderbox
18. Eomac – Clap Your Hands (Pt.2)

For the last couple of years he has been creating his own brand “electro-disco-punk” tunes, check them out on his Bandcamp.

Gallagher also makes mini mix ‘n’ mash tapes on a weekly basis and his ethos is admirable:

I aim to condense the top ten songs I’ve been listening to during the week into a nice digestible 10 minute blast – it includes anything, stuff hot off blogs, old classics i might have heard at a party or even an earworm that i cant get out of my head all week.

I just want people to discover new things in a fun way, and if mashing Twin Shadow/Mos Def/Ace of Base/Flying Lotus does that, then coolio.

For his State Mix PUNKSTATIC has crammed 30 tunes into 31 minutes. Tune in folks.

PUNKSTATIC – m xTAPE7 [State.ie Special] by PUNKSTATIC

MP3: State Mix #33 – PUNKSTATIC

Playlist:

1. Tobacco – Sweatmother
2. Shaggy – Boombastic
3. Com Truise – Slow Peels
4. Imatran Voima – In/out
5. Gobby – Xocomil
6. Mariah Carey – Fantasy
7. Gvcci Hvcci – Blowin up
8. Shigeto – Eternal Life
9. Austra – Beat and The Pulse
10. Daft Punk – Da Funk
11. Gloria Estefan – Conga
12. Solar Bears – Neon Colony
13. Guns n Roses – Rocket Queen
14. Beastie Boys – Shake Your Rump
15. Earl – Luper
16. Jacob 2-2 – Brainstorms
17. Body Cheetah – Pontiac
18. Oasis – Live Forever
19. Crazy Town – Butterfly
20. Underworld – Born Slippy
21. And So I Watch You From Afar – Search:Party:Animal
22. Republica – Ready To Go
23. Bronski Beat – Smalltown
24. Oneida – Up With People
25. Beck – Peaches & Cream
26. PUNKSTATIC – The Lights
27. Muse – New Born
28. Beans – Glass Coffins
29. Sebastian Tellier – L’Amore et La Violence
30. Brown Bread – Candy Apple

The Losers make lo-fi scuzzy guitar pop with garage rock sensibilities, buried vocal melodies and electronic nuances and their State Mix is a nod to all those things and more.

MP3: State Mix #32 – We Are Losers

Tracklist:

1. Zach Hill – The Primitives Talk
2. Cloud Nothings – Real Thing
3. Cults – Go Outside
4. Real Estate – Out of Tune
5. White Denim – Radio Milk (How Can You Stand It?)
6. Happy Birthday – Girls FM
7. Echo Lake – In Dreams
8. Gold Panda – I’m With You But I’m Lonely

A graduate of Universtity of Michigan, Cory is now studying at Queen’s University Belfast and will play his first gig in Ireland alongside Sacred Animals and Low Sea at The Workman’s Club in Dublin on March 4th.

Kohwi has earned some airtime state-side with his remix of Toro y Moi’s ‘Still Sound’ featuring on Hypem’s February Radio show.

Toro Y Moi – Still Sound (Kohwi Remix) by Kohwi

An album of tracks Hidden Trees is available for free download via bandcamp and his mix below gives some insight to his influences.

MP3: State Mix #31 – Kohwi

Tracklist:
1. PEPEPIANO – Bounce Haus
2. Macklin Underdown – Live Doesn’t Have To Be This Hard
3. Rommek – Fishermans Friend
4. Teams – Based Love
5. Purity Ring – Ungirthed
6. Shigeto – Escape From The Incubator
7. Man The Hunter – Take My Train
8. Pina Chulada – Appropriate Stranger
9. Franklin – I Know (Com Truise Remix)
10. heRobust – Shark Howard
11. James Blake – Postpone

Check out his genre bending mix and learn more about Duffstep in the interview below.

MP3: Dubstep February Mix – Duffstep

Tracklisting:
Elan – I Can’t Breathe
Mosca – Tilt Shift (Duffstep Edit)
Aardvarck – Nosestep (Cosmin TRG Remix)
Altered Natives – Heavenly Melodies
Altered Natives – The Rain
Kasper – So Right (Gerd’s Old School Remix)
Ladzinski – Outside Chance
FaltyDL – I’m Gonna Show You Somethin’
Headhunter – Chasing Dragons
Martyn And Mike Slott – All Nights
George Fitzgerald – Don’t You
Sepalcure – Your Love
Salva – Wake Ups
Tom Trago – Lost In The Streets Of NYC

First of all, tell us a bit about yourself- when did you start producing music?
My name is Jeremy Duffy…. hence ‘Duffstep’. I started at a really young age, about 11 on an actual computer and messing about on instruments before that. I signed my first track when I was 18 so I guess I started properly around then.

You’re a bit of a newcomer to the scene yet you’ve just finished your first album – what attracted you to put out an LP?
Two summers ago I had to get a job in the city to survive, which of course was very frustrating when all I wanted to do was make music and party. It took up so much time that I wasn’t doing anywhere near the amount of music making I wanted. One day I just quit with no backup apart from the tunes and I wrote that album in a month on headphones between lots of overnight sessions as to not disturb my housemates. The tracks all came of that time and just seemed to work really well as an album so I decided that would be the case.

There’s an A/V element in your live show, what’s it going to look and sound like? Can you give us more details about this?
There’s vids of it on Vimeo. We’ve just started it so we are always adapting it and will continue of course. The main set up at the moment is a four screen / four projector one, two bigger screens behind me and smaller ones in front which sync up to each other. Rebel Overlay and I have worked closely together to really hone in on creating visual elements of the music, represented by shapes and movements that are sometimes even as detailed as representing individual elements within the music.

Duffstep Live Audio Visual Feb 2011 from Join The Dots on Vimeo.

You’ve got a gig coming up with Animal Collective in Switzerland – are you a fan? Do you like performing alongside non-dubstep acts?
Yeah I like Animal Collective lots, very much looking forward to that one – it’s the main stage too!?
As much as my name might suggest to people that I’m a Dubstep act I don’t really see myself as one, just electronic music! I don’t mind performing alongside anyone really as long as they aren’t hideous. I mean their music not their face. Ugs are OK too.

Getting to Sirus comes out on Valentines Day – would it make a good gift for my girlfriend?
I must say, there are some real sexy tracks in there (If I do say so myself) but I’m not sure your girlfriend would appreciate it, maybe I’ll do you a signed copy then she might

Duff Disco is another project you’re working on- what’s that about?
It’s generally for more disco, slo-mo and deep house type stuff. I do a run of edits only on vinyl and original stuff too.

I started around the same time i started the Duffstep project, I make loads of different styles of music and thought it was best to separate them a bit, or maybe it’s my twin brother?

There are a lot of different influences going on in your music – can you pick a few key artists who’ve inspired you?
I get asked about this loads and I find it hard to answer. Firstly probably because I have a slow access to my memory and secondly I’m not massively sure who has directly influenced me. It’s generally the rare occasions when a party is so ‘off the hook’, when the music is so good for hours and hours and doesn’t die down that leaves me inspired. There is some really good artists out there but it is rare that i’m fully blown away, where I physically feel so attached. One artist that did this for me on numerous tracks is Flying Lotus.

London is seen as the centre of the dubstep scene – what’s it like being in the middle of such a melting pot?
I’ve grown up in London so think i probably take it for granted – I guess I’m fortunate that there is always a party worth going to each weekend.

What else are you looking forward to in 2011?
Touring and pushing my label Join The Dots forward.

Tell us a bit about the mix you made for us.
Just some bits i’m feeling at the mo, similar to what I might play in a DJ set. Enjoy x

This State Mix, number 30, by Alan Meaney, showcases some of the weird and wonderful sounds offered by the show. Included are Kosmische and Electronic pioneers; Cluster & Eno and Raymond Scott, some Dilla inspired warped instrumental hip hop, old skool party tunes from Tom Tom Club and Zapp, a mean Iranian cover of ‘Respect’ and recent post-dubstep future grooves with Deadboy’s mix of Creep and a James Blake (AKA Harmonimix) remix of Peverelist.
Facebook:

Download: State Mix by FeedMeWeirdThings

Tracklisting

1. Eno Moebius Roedelius – Luftschloss
2. Raymond Scott – Cindy Electronium
3. Gold Panda – You
4. Decepticon Bootleg Machine – Orbit162
5. Matthew Dear – I Can’t Feel
6. The Normal – Warm Leatherette
7. Tom Tom Club – Genius Of Love
8. Zapp – More Bounce To The Ounce
9. Googoosh – Respect
10. Creep Feat. Romy xx – Days (Deadboy Mix)
11. Peverelist – Roll With The Punches (Harmonimix)
12. Ekkehard Ehlers – John Cassavetes 2

If you’re a band, producer or DJ and would like to contribute to the State mix series, drop us a proposal or a sample mix.

Taking us out of January we start with a fittingly stirring tribute to Trish Keenan by Benoit Pioulard and Rafael Anton Irisarri along with tracks from Wild Vibes, Young Galaxy, Airbird, Keep Shelly in Athens, Solar Bears, Silent Portraits, Tearjerker, Grand Trine, Ghost Animal, Deptford Goth, Purity Ring, Creep, Stellar OM Source, MOTHS and Jacques Greene.

State.ie Mixtape – The Light Raid by statemagazine

Currently working on his second EP Courtship took time out for State giving some insight to his influences with a classic ambient, looped guitars, haunting ballads, sweet R&B, tropical sounds, dubstep and electronica mix all in one appeasing parcel – a gratifying and emotive listen.

Courtship Mix for State.ie by Courtship

Tracklisting
Intro
Brian Eno – ‘Ambient 1/2′ (played at 45rpm)
Don Caballero – ‘The Peter Criss Jazz’ (looped)
Ghosts and Vodka – ‘Nicholas Prefers Dinosaurs’
Modest Mouse – ‘Sleepwalking’
Chris Isaak – ‘Wicked Game’
Songs: Ohia – ‘Coxcomb Red’
Burial – ‘In McDonalds’ vs. The-Dream – ‘Put it Down’
Boards of Canada – ‘In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country’
Tristeza – ‘Muerte en Tu Sueño’

Photo by Hilary Pollack.

It’s a 25 minute hard-hitting belter and Warp have made it available to download.

Clark will play The Button Factory, Dublin on Friday 4th of February – tickets are €10 available from Tickets.ie, doors at 11pm.

Clark – Phrenic Mix by throttleclark

Tracklisting:
Clark – Dulceria (Remix)
Neil Landstrumm – Index Revisited
Cajmere – Only 4 U (Instrumental)
DJ Hyperactive – Teeter Totter
Thomas Krome – Woodcarver
Surgeon – 9 Hours Into The Future
Actress – Let’s Fly
Waxmaster Maurice – Tha Wop
Dorian Concept – Trilingual Sex Experience
Bernard “Pretty” Purdie – Disco Beat
Clark – Dirty Pixie
Clark – Untitled
Roedelius – Alle Jahre Wieder

MP3: State Mix#28 – Kevin Blake

What do you have planned for 2011?
I’m currently on the hunt for a bit of fresh inspiration so 2011 will see me move to Vancouver for a bit of an adventure. I’m looking forward to getting away from Ireland for a while and hopefully I’ll come back with a new lease on life. I definitely have to come back before the end of the year because I’ve just spent the last year recording a really good and promising album with our rock band ‘Private Underground Residence’. I haven’t released anything in about two years now as I want to get my production skills up to a level that I’m fully confident with. Going to spend the year hopefully working some form of job there, writing as much new music as I can, gigging along with a healthy balance of enjoying myself.

Is there a tracklist for the mix?
Unfortunately not yet. It’s that fresh!

When did you write the songs on the mix?
I wrote these songs over the past three our four months. I became a little bit obsessed with wanting to make wonky hip hop and this is what came out.

Any particular artists that have especially inspired your current sound?
I’m still not convinced that I have a current sound. At the moment I’m just making bass heavy music. Sometimes it’s dark, sometimes it’s colourful. I’m not in any rush to
get one either, just going to try and keep banging out good tunes.

As for artists who would have inspired the kind of tunes on this mix; Loops Haunt blew the shit out of me when I heard him first. He really took production standards to another level. As well as him there’s Flying Lotus, Prefuse 73, Kuedo, Zomby, Boxcutter, Dimlite, Mike Slott, Luke Vibert and a few more I can’t think of!

Ten Past Seven (Johnston’s Cows – Kevin Blake Sea Mix) by Kevin Blake

You reworked a track for Ten Past Seven – any plans for remixing other bands/ artists?
Ten Past Seven was my first attempt at a remix. It was pretty daunting until I actually dug into it. Would love to have a go at remixing other bands and artists, so as long as I’m into the music then I’m open to anything.

What lessons have you learned from your years with Electric Underground?
Electric Undergroundhas been a serious rollercoaster. The buzz never gets old meeting artists who’ve inspired you for years and getting bits of advice from them along the way. When EU first began my taste in electronic music was fairly all over the place.

I was pretty young though. I liked a bit of good dance music, but in retrospect some of the bookings were a bit naff. Over the course of it my taste has developed a huge amount. I’m a lot more musically educated so the bookings have hopefully gotten a lot better. I know the scene pretty well now and have gotten to know some great heads. I’ve also learned that to run a club night properly you have to book with your head more so than your heart. We’ve taken a huge amount of risks along the way booking people we wanted to see but if there isn’t a market for them you’re going to loose money. Eamon who runs the night with me will keep it going while I’m abroad.

If you’re a band, producer or DJ and would like to contribute to the State mix series, drop us a proposal or a sample mix.

In 2009 Transparent Records was created, circulating some of the finest vinyl and digital releases of the last couple of years, a debut point for many acts such as Cymbals Eat Guitars, Small Black, Smith Westerns, Washed Out, Active Child, Perfume Genius, Kisses and many more.

Their State mix is collection of six singles, with Yuck and Porcelain Raft covering each other, along with two non-Transparent tracks (Disclosure / Magick Mountain).

Tracklisting

01. How To Dress Well – ‘Ecstatsy of Jojo’
02. Holy Other – ‘We Over’
03. Disclosure – ‘Linstigator’
04. Lonely Galaxy – ‘Modern Romance’
05. Yuck – ‘Despite Everything’
06. Porcelain Raft – ‘The Wall’
07. Magick Mountain – ‘Plains’
08. Wise Blood – ‘Rot My Brain Away’

MP3: State Mix #27: Transparent

State.ie Mixtape – Out With The New by statemagazine

His State mix runs at 135BPM and features music from artists like Horsepower Productions, Velour, Ikonika, Neat, Duffstep, Ramadanman, 2562 and more.

Tracklisting

01.Horsepower Productions – Fist of Fury
02.Neat – Lime & Sugar
03.Duffstep – Know You
04.Pearson Sound – Blanked
05.Simon/Off – No Pills
06.Ramadanman – Glut
07.Ti – Mindless Torture
08.Stateless – Ariel (Dark Sky Remix)
09.Cinnamon Chasers – Luv Deluxe (Scuba Remix)
10.Velour – Booty Slammer
11.2562 – The Wind-Up
12.Ikonika – Shouldn’t Be Here
13.Dj Rum – St Martins

MP3: State Mix #26: Niiki Bushido

Side A is provided by Simon Roche and features the track from the now-ubiquitous (and rightly so) A Charlie Brown Christmas, that notorious reindeer lover Billy Corgan is joined by a 45-piece string ensemble on a Smashing Pumpkins holiday song from 1997, Yellow Magic Orchestra’s Ryuichi Sakamoto, some Danish cheer and Low.

Side B by Alan Reilly takes a more spectral tone but not before kicking off with The Carpenters. Then’s there’s festive fare from Parenthetical Girls, Dent May’s crooning, London’s Summer Camp cover The Waitresses, Closed Cassette and Mutual Benefit (from Unholy Rhythms’ amazing Christmas mix) along with The Golden Filter covering Psychic TV and more.

Side A:
Vince Guaraldi Trio – ‘O Tannenbaum’
Cocteau Twins – ‘Frosty The Snowman’
Glasvegas – ‘Please Come Back Home’
Smashing Pumpkins – ‘Christmas Time’
Ryuichi Sakamoto – ‘Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence’
Nørlund/Giana Factory – ‘En Helt Fantastisk Jul’
Low – ‘Long Way Around The Sea’
Irma Thomas – ‘O Holy Night’

Side B:
The Carpenters – ‘It Came Upon A Midnight Clear’
Closed Cassette – ‘Things Must Get Done’
Parenthetical Girls – ‘A Christmas Memory’
Dent May – ‘Holiday Face’
Summer Camp – ‘Christmas Wrapping’
The Golden Filter – ‘White Nights’
Houses – ‘This Is War’
Mutual Benefit – ‘Silent Night’

State Christmas Cassette by statemagazine

A man of many BPMs Kennedy has been probing house and jungle for possibilities and creating some of 2010’s best dance music in the process. His long standing friendship with Laurie Appleblim in particular has yielded some very interesting results at much lower tempos than he is used to. Even in the deep bowels of house he keeps the swing and swagger of the UK bass scene and propels the tracks forward with unpredictable beats and rhythms without losing the listener on the way. David Kennedys tribal percussions have also inspired newer artists like Joe and Shortstuff to experiment with erratic rhythms and bizarre bass.

This mix features some of Ramadanmans best moments, past and present, and begins with 2007s The Woon, a dramatic rework of Jamie Woon’s Wayfaring Stranger. Current dancefloor anthem Blanked and the juke inspired Foot Work transform what people have come to expect from dubstep and his housier moments are represented on his collaborations with Appleblim. Suitably Jamie Woon reappears to close the set with Ramadanmans refix of Night Air, possibly the remix of the year.

Ramadanman by deletia

Setlist
Ramadanman – The Woon (2ND Drop)
Pearson Sound – Gambeta (Soul Jazz)
Ramadanman – Pitter (Monkey Town)
Pearson Sound – PLSN (Hessle Audio)
Jahcoozi – Barefoot Dub (Ramadanman Refix Instramental) (Beat Pitch Control)
Pearson Sound – Blanked (Hessle Audio)
Ramadanman – Work Them (Swamp 81)
Ramadanman & Appleblim – Sous le Sable (Aus)
Beat Pharmacy feat Ramadanman – Piece of Mind (Ramadanman Refix)
dBridge – ZX81 (Ramadanman Refix) (Fat City)
Ramadanman – Void 23 (Aus)
Jamie Woon – Night Air (Ramadanman Refix)

Cat picture is used with kind permission from Casey Weldon. See more of his fantastic art here.

Solving your problems and delivering you back into the arms of the weekend are Julian Casablancas, Jon Hopkins, Beach House, Young Galaxy, Millionyoung, Houses, Puro Instinct, Star Slinger, Maps & Atlases, Friendly Fires, Tanlines, Mark Ronson And The Business Intl, David Bowie

State.ie Mixtape – One Possible Cure by statemagazine