Dry January. How long did your New Year’s resolutions last? i-D online made just one, that we intend to keep: continue breaking the best new music, first, via our monthly mixtape.
Getting back into the swing of the general 9-5 grind ain’t easy. Dark mornings and early nights are dull. Maybe you’ve decided this is the year you will get fit, give up a vice or just do better. Need a soundtrack to motivate you back to life? Or give you a reason to ditch those good intentions and behave badly? Enter ‘GETME!’ signed Alfie MacGibbon, a producer and DJ from Oxford with a penchant for warm bass and techno percussion. Opening our first mixtape of 2012 with a Roska remixed track, ‘Mama Grizzlies’, this fully wonky and warped 4 minutes and 26 seconds of bouncy beats should get you thinking ‘weekend’. Moving swiftly on, Hoquest, Sacha Robotti, Azari & III, H.O.S.H, Laura Jones and The 2 Bears wrestle out strong sequences of muscly mixes and the stop/start pace slows down to the sound of Odd Future duo Matt Martian and Syd Tha Kyd, aka The Internet, lowering tempo levels, alongside Amateur Best, Gang Colours and Enchante.
Ready for the next episode? Mean, lean, pink-haired machine Nicki Minaj is joined by her boyz A$AP, Wiley, Droop-E, The Weeknd and School boy Q for the unforgiving instalment of the hip-hop chapter to this eclectic compilation. Fusing elements of garage, R & B, roots and reggae, this funk flows from old school inspired riffs to fresh off the bone vibes, served up straight. Then to cleanse the palette and end this deep phat fried montage of sounds, we deliver some chilled out tunes courtesy of Holy other, Clams Casino, Vessel and Caribou. It’s just like Christmas, all over again!
Bright, pink and loco motive, this month’s mixtape cover-art comes courtesy of bubblebyte.org and intercitymainline co-founder, Rhys Coren. A fan of Gifs and football memorabilia, he divides his time equally, working on personal ‘projects’ in his bedroom, contributing to art collective Jaguar Shoes and editing content over at the local Leisure offices. A true exhibitionist, Rhys graduated from Bristol Uni in 2006 has been hosting, curating and organising art shows around the country ever since.
Browse the full monthly mixtape catalogue by clicking here.
Text and selection: Milly McMahon
Artwork: Rhys Coren
