Enlightened Listening for February 26

We've reached the final Friday of this perfectly balanced February, and that means it's time for Enlightened Listening. This week's playlist is headlined by two tremendous albums from John Tejada and Dense & Pika; the former a lighter, more explorative affair, while the latter thrives through its impenetrable sound design. There's a trio of remixes from KAYTRANADA, KUU and Claptone, who takes on a personal favourite from the 80s in Trans-X's "Living On Video." Other favourites appear as AkaMatisse makes good with his debut EP, Prospa amaze with their Rave Science Vol. 1, and Matroda goes for monumental grooves with his Insomniac offering. Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't point out the barmy bass house brilliance of ToMix's GOLD DiGGER drop, God Damn. Stream the playlist, organized for maximum flow, below and find each of the releases linked individually at the bottom.

AkaMatisse - Sonata Episode 001

Jacques Greene - Promise

Busta Rhymes & Vybz Kartel - The Don & The Boss (KAYTRANADA Remix)

Prospa - Rave Science Vol. 1

Diplo & Sonny Fodera - Turn Back Time (KUU Remix)

Trans-X - Living On Video (Claptone Remix)

John Tejada - Year Of The Living Dead

Don Rimini - Ghetto Fabulous

ToMix - God Damn

Dense & Pika - Colour Burn

Matroda - When We Were Young / Gimme Some Keys

Le Youth - Colour

Enlightened Listening for July 10

Back to our normal Spotify format for this week's edition of Enlightened Listening. The weather is still at its peak so I'll keep things short. My favourite labels had a big day here as All Day I Dream, This Never Happened, Anjuna, Afterlife and Night Bass all deliver the quality I've come to expect. There's another taste of Tensnake's forthcoming album in new single "Strange Without You." Prins Thomas appears twice, first alongside Lindstrøm and then again with an epic album in Træns (which I can't wait to get properly lost in). Like the latter, Low:r's EP will certainly help me power over the hills on my next bike ride, as will the equally awesome Ekcle track "Sosen Yahn." Filling out the rest of the playlist are strong singles from Good Times Ahead x Tony Romera, Goldroom x Moontower, and Jessy Lanza, as well as remixes from Yuksek, The Glitch Mob and Madeaux. Find each individual release linked below. Enjoy!

Roy Rosenfeld - Lift Of Love

Tensnake - Strange Without (ft. Daramola)

Good Times Ahead & Tony Romera - Let Go

Goldroom & Moontower - Guess I'm Jaded

All We Are - Not Your Man (Yuksek Remix)

Cut Copy - Cold Water (Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas Remix)

Jessy Lanza - Anyone Around

Le Youth - Waves

Prins Thomas - Træns

Yotto - Another Riff For The Good Times / Daydreaming

Alfa Romero - 1001 Nights

Ekcle - Sosen Yahn

Low:r - The Journey

Ilan Eshkeri & Shigeru Umebayashi - Saikuron (The Glitch Mob Remix)

William Bolton - High Fashion (Madeaux Remix)

NOY & Jordan Burns - Like Me

Enlightened Listening for November 8

Keeping the write-up short and sweet for this week's Enlightened Listening. That said the playlist is just short of 40 tracks and three hours. It's bookended by epic albums from SebastiAn and Grum, and you'll find a couple EPs from the house sphere on either side of them, where Shaun Frank hits the bass, while Le Youth puts forth some progressive beauty. A couple of my favourites offer exceptional remixes, where Sinjin Hawke and Zora Jones take on Murlo's magic and ABSOLUTE. stuns with Big Wild. There's two more power duos, in 2¢'s brilliant banger "REBEL" and the latest taste of TNGHT II. While Mura Masa and slowthai are not an established duo I'm sure hoping we get more of their mix, as "Deal Wiv It" is awesome. Finally, a trio of solo singles from Skream, Eli Escobar and Jessie Ware. Enjoy!

SebastiAn - Thirst

Shaun Frank - Activ8

TNGHT - First Body

Murlo - End Of The Road (Sinjin Hawke & Zora Jones' Flashback)

2¢ - REBEL

Mura Masa - Deal Wiv It (ft. slowthai)

Skream - Pussy Pop

Eli Escobar - (All Night) Rhythm

Jessie Ware - Mirage (Don't Stop)

Big Wild ft. Rationale - 6's To 9's (ABSOLUTE. Remix)

Le Youth - Aquiver

Grum - Deep State

Sunday Hangover Saviours [Free Downloads]

After a weekend of living life to the fullest, my musical appetite focuses on the more light and bright productions than the raucous, hard-hitting bangers of the previous nights' debauchery. And while the majority of my blog posts focus on brand new music (save for Throwback Thursdays), I'm going to share some of my favourite Sunday morning saviour tracks, in no particular order. All available for free.Awesome future vibes abound with this new one from Kayoh. It's easy to get caught up in the sparkling, magic of this production as it bounces along. A little explosive but nothing that's going to make your head throb any more than it likely already is. And of course "Shh" is something that you're probably saying anyway. Another new track, Kidswaste's remix of one of my all time favourite tracks Chet Porter's "tbh ily." Genre tagged Ambient, Kidswaste's version ups the already high cuteness factor, filling out the original with additional vocals and a freeing twist on the percussion. Comforting, calming, and utterly relaxing, the love oozes, filling hearts in this this sublime, laidback Zelda-house affair. Down-tempo haunting beauty comes to the forefront Obeson's 2013 track that's just come to light this week. The wavering, hollow vocals trembling is situated so delicately around the ringing ambiance of the bells and chill trap stylings. Wonderful progression and story-telling in this emotive arc. Warm French, disco house vibes from Le Youth will get your toes tapping and extremities starting to get their feeling back. Energizing and exhilarating, Le Youth live up to their name refreshing listeners with a youthful resilience that inspires the desire to do something, anything, even if your body is still sore. Playful production and light bounciness support Lil Dicky's rap and Fetty Wap's melodic crooning perfectly. The lyrics, like your headache, will have you swearing off drinking and the tremendous expense that comes with it. Musically, you'll be cracking eggs and breaking bacon dancing around the kitchen cooking your favourite hangover meal. Maybe the best example of the kind of track I'm looking for in this particular situation, bright and playful with a great melody that's incredibly infectious but never too boisterous or in your face. Each element in "zZz" is full of emotion and feeling that works either before your nap or as an alarm of sorts. My affinity for Henrik The Artist is well known, and it would be ridiculous to think I wasn't going to include one from his genius. "On The Moon," somehow went generally unnoticed in my playlists until one day coming up in a shuffle, the awesome Henrik The Artist aesthetic blew my mind, as one of his best all around productions. There's not much that I'm capable of with a Sunday hangover, but playing video games is one of the few things, that I can do. The incredible playful and charming production of each of Henrik's tracks make his library perfect for a day like today. His just released Friendship EP is exactly the kind of musical arc that can transform a sleepy Sunday into savory one. Of course beauty is the most desirable aspect in tracks with a Sunday hangover, but I always want playful, energizing tracks not moody, sit-in-a-dark-room, tracks, so this dopamine inducing track absolutely nails that aesthetic. The jamming synthed steel drum overwhelms with love and happiness, cools your heartburn and cleanses your palette with some sweet ear candy.

Sia ft. Sean Paul - Cheap Thrills (John J-C Carr Remix)

Fresh off the press, come seven new remixes of Sia's collaboration with Sean Paul, "Cheap Thrills." With mixes from the likes of RAC, Le Youth and Nomero, this package can boast a tremendously diverse collection of artists, sounds and styles. Being a big fan of Cyril Hahn, I immediately went to his mix, and was pleasantly surprised with how deep, dark and heavy it was. It's awesome to hear artists push their boundaries and step outside the norm. Cyril's mix would likely fit perfectly into his DJ sets, as they seem to skew more towards this sound than his light and ethereal productions, especially his Begin EP. But let's return to the topic of this post, John J-C Carr's remix.

Both in the Spotify playlist and in my iTunes, Hahn's mix leads into Carr's. Immediately the styles contrast, in an actually pleasing way, which is often not the case in remix packages. The light and strident synth work in Carr's remix fills me with comfort, calling back Aeroplane's remix of Gypsy & The Cat "The Piper's Song." The warm and energizing synths somehow dissipate into an absolutely turnt, Tchami-style bass drop. But fear not, the soaring synths triumphantly return bolstered by Sia and Sean Paul, coercing us with the lyrics "I don't need no money, as long as I keep dancing." The incredible contrast of the shining brightness and brutish bass drop make John J-C Carr's remix, my favourite of the compilation. Listen to it below, and check out the full EP here. SUPPORT JOHN J-C CARR: FACEBOOK TWITTER
SUPPORT SEAN PAUL: FACEBOOK SOUNDCLOUD TWITTER
SUPPORT SIA: FACEBOOK SOUNDCLOUD TWITTER

Flaxo Retiring Thanks To Soundcloud?

We have yet another case of Soundcloud's copyright policies striking artists down; it might be a final strike for San Francisco's, Flaxo. Via a facebook post, not more than an hour ago, he expects his account to be terminated within the next day or two. Appreciating the growth as a person and artist, the Flaxo monitor supported, he's decided to move onto another a new alias he's "tremendously excited about." Much like fellow Soundcloud snub Lido, Flaxo's music will live on courtesy a massive, complete discography zip, available for free download. It's sad that Soundcloud helped bring down Flaxo, however I'm confident and excited to hear what he comes up with next. He certainly did a great job blessing us with such a range of productions: the powerful "Cosmic Love" remix, sparkling "Diamonds" remix, striking "Weight In Gold" remix, and, perhaps my favourite, the angelic "Touch" remix. Having remixed such massive artists, Kendrick Lamar, Jamie xx & Jack U, along with the others, his tracks were clearly a threat to Soundcloud's radar, but the 25+ thousand followers also came for his original releases. Get on that free zip and get yourself some final Flaxo.

SUPPORT FLAXO: FACEBOOK SOUNDCLOUD TWITTER

please read - Flaxo says goodbye: https://t.co/XhrkCnET06

— FLAXO (@itsflaxo) February 2, 2016

hey there - how you guys doing? good? cool. I'm doing ok. last week I got 2 copyright takedowns on my Soundcloud page...
Posted by Flaxo on Tuesday, 2 February 2016