March 2011 Mixtape: Summer Night Dreams

Ever find yourself longing for a long lost time, only to wonder if it ever really existed?

Around 1996 I was driving a silver-primer painted 1977 Buick Le Sabre, a car older than myself, and blowing almost all of my summer paychecks on gasoline. I complain about gas now, but when you had an hour drive one way to your job and an hour the other and it required almost an entire tank of gas each way, that was a hard job and a giant waste of my paycheck. My mother would ask me to contribute to the family's bills but I had a hard time giving up my paycheck when at least 75% of it went to driving expenses. I could be stupid though, finding several hours between my morning and evening shifts to drive home, sleep for a few hours and then drive back, whereas it was summer and there was an empty school parking lot in a good neighborhood not far away that I could read, listen to music or nap in. Nevertheless, it did afford me a lot of time to perform one my most consistent activities, record shopping, and there was a great indie store named Quonset Hut nearby where I could still buy current releases on cassette and also get CDs and vinyl at great prices. All of the Quonset Huts are now gone, bar one that is pretty much a head shop and sells nothing musically related, but between there, the Record Exchanges throughout the Cleveland area and other indie stores, I bought a lot of great music that summer. I found myself listening to Tricky's Maxinquaye a lot and grabbed Nearly God as soon as it became available, but that year I found a record that really changed my perspective on music, Throbbing Pouch by Wagon Christ aka Luke Vibert. What a trippy record, conjuring visions of darkness and the unknown, all the while remaining wonderfully mellow. I'm not a pot smoker but, if I was, that album would have been my soundtrack. I also found a promo cassette of Everything But The Girl's Walking Wounded which is an immensely beautiful album that, while essentially completely different from the Wagon Christ album, had a similarly dark vibe running throughout. I would drive home around 11pm on the dark Cleveland highways listening to Tracey Thorn singing Walking Wounded or Single, having my heart ripped out every time, or vibing to Throbbing Pouch from start to finish because I didn't want to miss a moment of it. For me, this was the beginning of a regular hunt for midnight music, as I sometimes called it, and I later made a mixtape named 3am Eternal (I'm sure you get the reference) that stayed in my car forever.

Lately, I've been thinking about those warm summer nights, though it's funny how time blurs things. I feel like I lived through those records, but I'm not sure how accurate that statement is. When I look back I remember a lot of other music that had nothing to do with that world, a lot of experiences that were simply awful, and I have to wonder if I'm wearing rose-tinted glasses or not. The love of the music hasn't changed though, and I still find myself attracted to those summer grooves, and they were the inspiration for the mix this month. There are some tracks I thought about including that I've had here before so I passed on them, but I'm going to at least mention them. I hope you find this as enjoyable as I do.


The Unheard Music - March 2011 Mixtape: Summer Night Dreams

01 Still Going - Still Going Theme
Piano house returns! What a wonderful summer record, perfect for driving during a sunset.

02 Beck - Where It's At (Make Out City)
The Dust Brothers do a simple, more party oriented remix of Beck's re-breakthrough single.

03 Common Factor - Horizons
I first heard this on the Planet E Geology compilation. What a great track! Planet E, in general, is an amazing label and the first Geology compilation is essential house music.

04 DJ Shadow - Changeling
Endtroducing... is essential ephemera, though I always remember this track as sticking out. It's just so dreamy. Mutual Slump, on the other hand, doesn't get a lot of mention but is funky like nobody's business!

05 Q-Tip - That's Sexy (feat. Andre 3000)
This is an unreleased cut from an early version of Q-Tip's The Renaissance, back when it was named Live At The Renaissance and scheduled for release on Dreamworks. I'd much rather had an instrumental version of this one as Tip's flow takes away from the romanticism, but it's still a great track.

06 Massive Attack - Exchange
I don't fully understand why everyone was so "on" about Massive Attack's Mezzanine. It's a really depressing record. This is a beautiful track though and I always found myself skipping to it or the reprisal at the end of the album. Don't get me wrong though, I do love some Massive Attack, though I've always been more into Blue Lines or Protection, and the No Protection dub remix album is incredible!

07 Luke Vibert - Get Your Head Down
Wagon Christ's true identity, Luke brings hip-hop funk mixed with easy listening chill. An ex-girlfriend bought me a Ninja Tune comp with this track on it. This might sound cruel but that's the only good thing I want to remember about dating her.

08 3rd Bass - Gladiator (Easy Mo Bee Remix Instrumental)
I remember finding a lot of Easy Mo Bee productions that had a wonderful groove about them, but all I can seem to recall now is Craig Mack's Flava In Ya Ear and this. Maybe he didn't have that many incredible tracks. Anyone wanna refresh my memory?

09 Quasimoto - MHBs (Instrumental)
I played this to my girlfriend recently and initially she was loving it, until the lyrics kicked in! Beautiful groove.

10 The Pointer Sisters - How Long (Betcha' Got A Chick On The Side)
Never heard it on the radio and didn't hear it until listening to a Pointer Sisters compilation, though this would be in regular rotation if I had my own radio station. What a funky groove!

11 De La Soul - Breakadawn
This is an incredible track, though I'm glad De La never tried to make a career out of tracks like this or Ring, Ring, Ring. They're great on their own and don't need to be replicated, although I'm not sure how many people would want them to be. Still, you can't help but think of some after dark fun when you hear this.

12 Tigercity - Let Her Go
How did these guys perfectly capture the eighties in a record from only a few years ago? Their full-length, Ancient Lover, was a minor let down, but the EP before it, 2007's Pretend Not To Love, from which this is taken, is utterly perfect. It is available for purchase on iTunes and is worth the entire $5.94 they're asking.

13 The Pharcyde - Passin' Me By (Instrumental Edit)
I chopped a small portion from this so the mix would be under eighty minutes and burnable to a CD. Please forgive me!

14 Everything But The Girl - Good Cop Bad Cop
Shiv, the manager of the music department at WFAL, didn't see eye to eye with me, though that was really all my fault as I was young, cocky and thought I knew everything. He was much more informed than I was and I'm glad I eventually got smart enough to apologize and he was cool enough to accept it. This was one of the first tracks we agreed on, as he loved it just as much as I did. Tracey Thorn has such a sexy voice, though it's not the type of voice most people probably swoon over when they first hear it. This was one of those tracks I listened to on those summer nights while driving home, hoping to meet a girl who would make out with me while listening to Wagon Christ or Nine Inch Nails. That girl was a year or two off, but it was worth the wait. It's funny in retrospect, everyone always says they want to meet someone to make out with, but how long do you actually spend making out with them before you're trying to get their clothes off and put more than just your tongues together?

15 Amon Tobin - Nova
Oooh! Wouldn't have expected such a make-out classic on an album full of breaks and beats like Amon Tobin's Permutation, but I guess that's the secret. Amon knows just as much about rocking a party or wrecking your speakers as he does about sensuality and smooth grooves that set the mood! Bebel Gilberto later added vocals to this track and released it as Samba da Benção on her Tanto Tempo album. That's some make-out music, for certain, though the original instrumental is just as essential. Put this on at home around that certain someone and see what they say. Or do!



BONUS: Summer Night Dream Outtakes
These are tracks I considered for the mixtape but decided to leave off. They're in the main archive so you don't have to download this seperately. Enjoy!

01 Janet Jackson - When I Think Of You (David Morales House Mix '95 UK 7" Edit)
02 The Pharcyde - 4 Better Or 4 Worse (Instrumental)
03 Lucky Pierre - Cool Summer Night
04 The Herbaliser - The Blend (feat. What What aka Jean Grae) (Peanut Butter Blend by Peanut Butter Wolf)
05 Everything But The Girl - Walking Wounded

N.I.C.E. Vinyl #5: Maggie's Dream vs. The Dust Brothers

Yesterday I saw that a nice fellow named Bill left a comment regarding a mixtape I'd posted a while ago. He was happy to hear the Dust Brothers remix for Maggie's Dream's It's A Sin and said it would be nice if I could post the rest of the mixes. Well here they are, ripped freshly today and available in FLAC and V0 MP3 for your listening pleasure.

To give you a little background on Maggie's Dream, they were a band led by Dräco Rosa, an ex-member of Menudo and a very popular star in the Latin Alternative music scene. Their sole album was released in 1990 on Capitol Records and a single for It's A Sin was also released. Dräco is still around and kicking today but Maggie's Dream seems to be long gone. Too bad, but they made damn good music when they were around and It's A Sin is some fine stuff. This 12" was a promotional only item with five different mixes by The Dust Brothers, although two of them are just edits. None of the mixes are all that different from each other but they're all here for the sake of posterity. Enjoy!


Maggie's Dream
It's A Sin (Dust Brothers Remixes)

FLAC Part 1

FLAC Part 2

V0 MP3

01 It's A Sin (Hot Peas 'n Butter Mix) (edited version)
02 It's A Sin (Hot Peas 'n Butter Mix) (long version)
03 It's A Sin (Jimmy D. Is In The House Mix) (instrumental long version)
04 It's A Sin (11th Avenue Mix) (long and hard)
05 It's A Sin (11th Avenue Mix) (not so long)
06 It's A Sin (Album Version)
07 It's A Sin (Acappella Mix)


PS - Sorry I haven't responded to any e-mails. I'll be writing everyone back later tonight.

The Dust Brothers - More, More, More

So I got to speak with Peter Reardon today. Really nice guy! You should check his company, Shadow Hills. They sell top of the line analog recording hardware. I asked him a little about that and he also had some nice things to say about Matt Dike, but I wasn't interviewing him and I didn't ask to share our conversation so I'm leaving it at that. VERY COOL GUY!

What does Peter Reardon have to do with the Dust Brothers you ask? It's simply a matter of degrees of separation as Peter is friends and worked with Matt Dike who worked with the Dust Brothers, and I've been sitting on another post's worth of Dust rarities I wanted to share with you so I figured this was an apt way to start a post.

The first part of this post is a collection of remixes and rarities but the second is an EP of remixes from the Fight Club soundtrack. I can't remember for sure but I might have gotten it from The Lost Turntable a long time ago, and I'm not one to rip anyone off, so if I did indeed get these tracks from there, props and credit to The Lost Turntable for ripping and sharing them initially.


The Dust Brothers - More Productions, Remixes & Other Things

01 Cogasm - A Sign From God
Cogasm was a very short-lived project with The Cure's Robert Smith and David Bowie's late nineties guitarist, Reeves Gabrels. Their only released work is this very song which appeared on the Orgazmo soundtrack. Apparently there were supposed to be two separate mixes of this song on the soundtrack, one by Smith and Gabrels and the other by the Dust Brothers, but only the Dust version saw release.

02 The Offspring - Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) (Dust Mix)

03 Technotronic - This Beat Is Technotronic (Dust Mix)

04 April March - Sugar (Remix)

05 UNKLE - Rock On (Nutcracker Mix)
This remix is SIIIIIIIIICK!!!

06 Urban Dance Squad - Demagogue (Dust Brothers Remix)

07 More, More, More
This Dust Brothers' remake of the Andrea True Connection's classic was made for the soundtrack to HBO series version of Sex and The City.

08 KRS-One - Check It Out
This is also from the Orgazmo soundtrack. The instrumental for this track is named Try Your Luck and also appears on the soundtrack. Sadly, KRS is really, REALLY weak here.

09 Coolio - (I'm In Love With) Mary Jane
From the Half Baked soundtrack. A duo named the Dust Brothers producing a song about smoking weed for a movie about smoking weed? Synergy!

10 Halo - Not At All (Dust Brothers Remix)

11 Whale - Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe (Doggy Style)

12 Money Mark - Maybe I'm Dead (Dust Brothers Remix)

13 The Rolling Stones - Might As Well Get Juiced
One of the few released contributions from the Rolling Stones' Bridges To Babylon album. Decent track, but most of the Dust Brothers' contributions were deleted from the final album. Apparently Mick Jagger thought they were great but Keith Richards wasn't having it.

14 Morgan - Miss Parker (The Dust Brothers Mix)

15 Sukia - The Dream Machine (Norris Stretch Mix)

16 Styles Of Beyond - Winnetka Exit (Dust Brothers Remix)

17 EMF - Lies (Dust Brothers 12" Club Mix)

18 Howard Stern - Tortured Man
This began as a track for Sugartooth's The Sounds Of Solid but, having been left over, was repurposed for Howard Stern's Private Parts soundtrack.


The Dust Brothers - The Fight Club Remixes

01 This Is Your Life
02 What Is Fight Club (Wally Gagel Remix)
03 Finding The Bomb (C.M.G. Remix)
04 Chemical Burn (Headshop Remix)
05 Who Is Tyler Durden (Dust Remix)
06 Homework (Fitz Remix)


PS - The image for this post is the lyric sheet for Wesley Willis' tribute to The Dust Brothers who are credited, albeit rather loosely, with producing his album, Feel The Power. More on Wesley in the near future.

a little mixtape

So I was planning on doing a WaxTrax! retrospective this week, but something REALLY BIG has popped up and I have to turn my attention towards it, as it could prove to be of life-changing proportions. That said, I'm not going to be around for the rest of the week but everything will return to normal next week, starting with the WaxTrax! retrospective. For now though, here is a little mixtape I put together mostly from things I recently purchased on vinyl, although there are a few exceptions.


a little mixtape

01 Nirvana - Tourette's (Shitkicker Re-Edit)
This is a "remix/re-edit" I created a while ago for the hell of it. I'm not sure what I think of it, but I figured I'd share it with you all. If you hate it, just skip it, but I'd love to know your honest opinion of what you think about it.

02 69 - Ladies & Gentlemen (Original Version)
I got this from a friend, so it's not my rip, but the quality is quite good. This is longer than the version re-issued in the 69 box set, The Legendary Adventures Of A Filter King, and in my opinion, the extended portion should never have been deleted.

03 Joe Lentini - Mooonmen Jam #2
Joe is an up-and-comer who has a record, Pink Pussy Popsicle, coming out on Schematic next month. Really good, funky, clubby electronic stuff with some attitude! I'll be sharing some more info on Joe in the near future, but he's a really cool guy and the record is definitely worth grabbing!

04 Malcolm McLaren - Duck Rock Cheer
This is on the A-Side of a promotional 12" I recently purchased, with an edit and a track from another McLaren project on the B-Side. This doesn't really have anything to do with the Duck Rock album, rather it's from the Swamp Thing album. Trevor Horn gets the writing credit and a co-production credit alongside Stephen Hague, leading me to wonder if Malcolm really had anything to do with the track. Not that it should surprise anyone if he didn't.

05 Jean-Luc Ponty - Twenty Small Cigars
From Ponty's amazing King Kong album, which features five Zappa compositions as well as Zappa on guitar, George Duke on keys and Ian Underwood on whatever he's playing whenever he's playing. Incredibly slept-on classic of a jazz album!

06 Beastie Boys - Shake Your Rump (Latch Bros. Remix)
The Latch Bros. were another Beastie side-project, but I may do a post about them eventually so I'll leave it at that. This is actually taken from the Beastie Boys Video Anthology DVD set.

07 Meat Beat Manifesto - Re-Animator (Part 1)
Probably my favorite track from Storm The Studio, this is from an original US WaxTrax! vinyl copy of the album I recently found in Pittsburgh. Crank it!

08 Maggie's Dream - It's A Sin (11th Avenue Mix)
This is a really odd discovery. Maggie's Dream was a band led by Dräco Rosa, an ex-member of Menudo and a very popular star of the Latin Alternative Music scene. Their sole album was released in 1990 on Capitol Records and a single for It's A Sin was released. The track on it's own is pretty good, but what makes the remixes stand out is they were created by the Dust Brothers! The mixes sound like left-overs from Paul's Boutique, albeit a little more subdued and featuring soulful singing in place of raps. I may post some additional mixes eventually, but none of them are all that different from each other. Still though, really great track!

09 The Marvelettes - Don't Mess With Bill
From an oddball red vinyl pressing of a Motown singles compilation from, I believe, Japan. The packaging is pretty horrid as the cover is made from something resembling construction paper and the vinyl is a bit beat up, but it was so strange I couldn't pass it up.

10 Chris de Luca - One
Not my rip, but a great track from de Luca's Unknown EP. Worth hunting down if you can find it, and as it's no longer in print as far as I know you probably won't. I might have to post the full EP here eventually.

11 Aretha Franklin - 96 Tears
From another assumed Japanese red vinyl record, this one a copy of Aretha Arrives. Never knew she'd recorded a cover of 96 Tears.


Again, sorry for the little break guys. I'll tell you a little more about it next week when I'm back. Enjoy the tracks!

The Dust Brothers: OVERDOSE!

Not a real overdose of course, but I figured I might as well hit you with all of this in one shot as there is a lot here and I don't want to drag this out over a week.

I feel kinda bad for the Dust Brothers as they are clearly great producers but seem to get hired for lots of odd stuff that doesn't really utilize their abilities. There are a lot of their remixes that never really blew my mind but it seems like some of them were simply quick jobs for labels they may have been contractually obligated to produce. I can't wrong them for making money and their productions are always quality, it's just they seem occasionally rushed and don't get to feature a lot of their creativity. On the other hand, the labels may limit their work by not allowing them to use excessive samples or stray from certain defined genres. Whatever the reason, it's a shame because when they're hot, they're simply amazing! With that, I'm posting a collection of their remixes and productions as well as three rare albums they produced. A little information on each one will be provided below.

The Dust Brothers - Productions, Remixes & Other Things
NOTES: Some of these tracks appear in my previous Dust Brothers related post entitled dusted. Sorry for the repetition, but I like those tracks so much and think they're of such high quality that I couldn't help but re-post them. Also, the quality is low on this one (128kbps) so it would be an easy download, hope that doesn't disappoint anyone. One more thing, if anyone is wondering why tracks like the Offspring, Technotronic and other various remixes aren't included here, I either didn't think they were that hot or there simply wasn't enough space. I know, I know, what makes me qualified to judge? It's my site after all, isn't it? That said, if enough people want to hear the other stuff, let me know and I'll do another post with more remixes and such.

NOTE 2: This has been reuploaded in hope that it repairs problems with the previous version. Please let me know if anyone has any problems opening this version.

01 Mellow Man Ace - Hip Hop Creature

02 Machines Of Loving Grace - Richest Junkie Still Alive (Cherry Valley Mix)

03 Eels - Susan's Apartment (Mike Simpson Remix)
As the title implies, this remix is the sole work of EZ Mike. Also, it's actually a remix of the Eels' track Susan's House from their debut album, Beautiful Freak.

04 White Zombie - Grease Paint and Monkey Brains (Sin Centers Of Suburbia Mix)

05 Searchin'
A Dust Brothers instrumental contributed to Mo'Wax's Headz 2 compilations.

06 Def Jef - God Made Me Funky
The Dust Brothers actually contributed four tracks to Def Jef's Just A Poet With Soul album. This is my favorite.

07 Money Mark - Cry (Dust Brothers Remix)
This is a really great remix. Just sayin'.

08 The Folk Implosion - Insinuation (Dust Brothers Remix)

09 Nitzer Ebb - Fun To Be Had (Dust Mix)

10 Hanson - Mmm Bop (Radio Version)
If you're not familiar with this one, I want to know what year you were born! But seriously, I know this one is super-ubiquitous, but it's a great track and kind of important to the whole run-down of their productions.

11 Filter - Hey Man Nice Shot (Nickel Bag)

12 Smash Mouth - Virgin Girl (feat. Chopper)
Ooh, how I LOVE to mock Smash Mouth! Their first album was pretty good and their second wasn't too shabby, but it's not like anyone should expect anything earth shattering from these guys. That said, this is a really funky reggae-esque track from the Half Baked soundtrack which is, as you'd expect, all about getting stoned. I guess if you want records about getting stoned, you contact people with a name like the Dust Brothers. I'd say to contact Tricky too, but the producers of that soundtrack did, so they clearly knew their musical demographic.

13 They Might Be Giants - Snail Dust (Dust Brothers Remix)
Dust Brothers remix of Snail Shell.

14 Fluke - Bullet (Afro Funk Remix)

15 Squirrel Nut Zippers - Suits Are Picking Up The Bill (Dust Brothers Remix)
Another favorite of mine, this is a simple enough remix but it's a ton of fun.

16 The Chemical Brothers - Elektrobank (Dust Brothers Remix)
Chemicals vs. Dust! Short but sweet remix for which the favor was later returned when the Chems remixed a Dust track for the Dead Man On Campus soundtrack. As good as that track, named Realize, is, I'd really like to hear the original version, but it remains unreleased.

17 The Groomsman
Another Dust instrumental from the Headz 2 compilations.

18 Creeper Lagoon - Empty Ships
King Gizmo aka John King gets the production credit on this track. This and the album it's taken from was released on the Dust Brothers then label, Ideal Records, which was distributed via Mammoth. Sadly, it's out of print, which may give merit to a post eventually. It's worth it for more than the Dust Brothers connection.

19 The X-Files Theme
Not bad, but certainly nothing incredible, this was recorded for the soundtrack to the X-Files: Fight The Future movie. I don't think it was actually in the film though, although I don't believe much of anything on the soundtrack was. That's the worst type of soundtrack, but it was the mid-nineties and there was a lot of that going on.

20 Wesley Willis - The Dust Brothers
The Dust Brothers actually received the production credit for this, which even they acknowledged was kind of ridiculous, although Wesley's people insisted on it since they engineered the sessions at their PCP Labs studio. For more info on Wesley, check here.








And on to the albums! First up is Vince Neil's second solo outing, the Carved In Stone album. I haven't found much about this one online but I assume by it's non-availability that it bombed. That said, the production is top notch and the Brothers sound totally into it, although the songwriting, mostly courtesy of Neil and Marti Fredrickson, is a bit lacking.

The Dust Brothers got production credit on all tracks but one, Skylar's Song, which I believe is a tribute to one of Neil's children. There were also two bonus tracks released in Europe and Japan which aren't featured here that are assumed to be Dust Brothers productions as well.

Vince Neil - Carved In Stone








Next up is Sugartooth's The Sounds Of Solid, and this one is kinda painful to listen to. Sugartooth is probably best remembered for their song Sold My Fortune which was featured in an episode of Beavis and Butthead where they assumed the song was named Sold My Futon. That song sounded a lot better there than it did in my car stereo, so I kinda wrote them off rather quickly, but they released this follow-up in 1997. Apparently, their drummer left the band (I believe it was the excellent Joey Castillo, who has since played with Queens Of The Stone Age) and, rather than hire a new one, they decided to hire producers who knew their way around drum machines and samplers. Having just produced Beck's Odelay which was also released on DGC/Geffen, it probably made a ton of sense to get them on board, and the production is indeed excellent, but the songs are practically non-existent, kind of like Silverchair but even more boring. There is only so much the producer can do in a situation like this, and the Dust Brothers clearly did everything they could, but if the songwriting is weak it simply can't be salvaged, and at around a half-hour there wasn't much to begin with.

Sugartooth - The Sounds Of Solid








Last up is Buggin' Out by 10¢, a full-on Dust production on their own short-lived Hi-Ho/Ideal labels. This one has an oddball charm to it, being rather short at around a half-hour and kinda childish, but it's still a lot of fun. I can't promise that everyone will enjoy this, but at least half the album is truly winning and charming with the other half being subliminal growers. This one is really worth your time as it's truly a diamond in the rough. I don't know anything about what happened to 10¢ since but I know they had at least one other release prior to this with no Dust influence. This is also still available for purchase digitally via iTunes and Amazon, and while I don't normally post things that are still available, I'd feel bad for anyone paying ten dollars for an album this short if they didn't know what they were getting themselves into, so if you enjoy this please buy a download, as I'm sure the folks from 10¢ would appreciate it.

10¢ - Buggin' Out

dusted: The Dust Brothers and Matt Dike

Everyone already knows how much I love Paul's Boutique, but if you don't, explore the site and I'm sure you'll have a good idea. I love the Beasties but I'm also a big fan of the Dust Brothers and Matt Dike, which is kind of a curse when trying to follow their careers. The Dust Brothers, as in John King and Mike Simpson, aren't nearly as difficult to follow, what with their productions for Beck (Odelay, Guero, etc.) and the soundtrack for Fight Club among other contributions, although I don't get the impression that most of those other works would rank high on their resumes. I read that a lot of artists who hired them for production work treated them like magicians who should be able to work their spell on anyone, which is just not the truth. Take Odelay for instance, there aren't a lot of samples from pre-existing sources on the album, rather they built grooves from hours of recordings they made with Beck and used those as the album's foundation. Then listen to the Rolling Stones Bridges To Babylon and the songs they contributed to, it sounds like their work was included in the final mixes strictly so the Stones couldn't be accused of not being hip, but they haven't been in years so they missed the point of hiring the Brothers Dust in the first place.

Matt Dike's body of work is rather limited. Apart from his works with Michael Ross for Delicious Vinyl (Tone-Loc, Young MC, Jesse Jaymes) and Paul's Boutique (upon which he was credited as a Dust Brother which, accurate or not, was short lived) he provided a handful of remixes, several for Delicious Vinyl artists, and contributed his studio skills to works for Geffen artists (Apollo Smile for example. Remember her? Yeah, practically no one else does either.), Rick Rubin and Henry Rollins' Infinite Zero Records (he apparently mixed their reissue of Trouble Funk's Live double album) and others. For the most part though, Matt disappeared into his own little world of music and privacy. He almost made a comeback in the mid to late nineties as part of a production duo with Peter Reardon named GonsterMacher (which I believe is Yiddish for big shot) that was to release an album and provide several remixes, but the only thing that appeared was a remix for Josh Wink. I so wish he would do some more works or that I could find some of his early mixtapes or unreleased productions because he is so talented and it's such a shame to see so little from someone so sharp. An easy comparison that I'm not the first to make is that Matt Dike is the California hip-hop equivelant of early eighties New York Rick Rubin.

Anyway, after hunting Matt and the Brothers' works, I've collected a number of remixes by the Dusties and a few by Mr. Dike. I'm posting five tracks from each for your listening pleasure, although one of them may haunt you if you listen to it more than once. Also, if you've got any Dust Brothers or Matt Dike productions you'd like to share, let me know because I'd love to get them and, in turn, I'll share them here on the site for all interested.


dusted

01 Filter - Hey Man Nice Shot (Nickel Bag)
Sweet ass remix by the Dust Brothers with horns and unbridaled funkiness! Never thought you could take a song as down as the original version of Hey Man Nice Shot and make it a serious jam!

02 Young MC - I Let 'Em Know (Matt Dike Remix)
Good remix now available with the deluxe reissue of Young MC's Stone Cold Rhymin'. Proof Dike got skills!

03 10¢ - Bubble Bath
Not a remix, but a track from 10¢'s Dust Brothers produced album, Buggin' Out. The album is a bit of a mixed bag with ten tracks clocking in at around thirty minutes, but at least four are classics, and this is one of them. Worth checking out the album which is available on iTunes and Amazon for download, just don't expect brilliance.

04 Fine Young Cannibals - I'm Not Satisfied (Matt Dike Remix)
Not my favorite Matt Dike remix, but not at all bad. Maybe if it had been for She Drives Me Crazy instead.

05 Machines Of Loving Grace - Richest Junkie Still Alive (Cherry Valley Mix)
Machines Of Loving Grace are probably best remembered for their contribution to The Crow soundtrack, which is fair because otherwise they were a decent pseudo-industrial band on Mammoth when that label was being distributed by WEA at the same time as Nine Inch Nails. I'm sure you know who got the promotional push, which is kinda funny since Trent Reznor actually did a remix for them. That's all beside the point though, because this is another rather funky remix in the vein of the Dust Brothers' Hey Man Nice Shot remix. Good shit indeed!

06 Wink - Simple Man (Gonstermacher Longer Remix)
To my knowledge, this is the sole release by Matt and his partner Peter Reardon under the Gonstermacher name, which is not to be confused with the blues-rock band of a similar name. Apparently there is a Gonstermacher remix of the Barenaked Ladies' Alcohol that was supposedly sent to radio, but I can't seem to find any evidence of it's existence apart from this article.

07 Styles Of Beyond - Winnetka Exit (Dust Brothers Remix)

08 The Pharcyde - Ya Mama (Matt Dike Remix)
Already posted this before, but it's such a great remix it deserved a reprisal.

09 EMF - Lies (Dust Brothers 12" Club Mix)

10 Aerosmith - The Other Side (Matt Dike 'Honky Tonk' Version)
This is the mistake. No offense to Mr. Dike, but this remix screams contractual obligation. It's included because I can't find much in the way of Matt Dike remixes so I figured some people would like to check it out, but this is a VERY dull remix that I simply don't enjoy. Again no offense Matt, I'm just not feeling this one like I feel your other stuff.

Beastie Boys - The Paul's Boutique Companion UPDATE!!!!!

The time is here Ladies and Gentlemen!!! The complete Paul's Boutique Companion has been uploaded to Demonoid and can now be downloaded at your leisure! Prepare for 2.23gb of music featuring:

1) Demos and Rough Versions (Lossless versions of the tracks already posted here)
2) B-Sides and Rarities (Lossless versions of the tracks already posted here)
3) Instrumentals
4) Show Vinyl
5) Sample Sources
6) A Lossless 24 Bit, 96 Khz vinyl transfer of the album from an original UK pressing
7) Imagery from the Paul's Boutique era of the Beasties

If you liked the abridged version of the Companion, you'll LOVE this version! So go to Demonoid or just click this link and start downloading!

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming!


PS - Is it just me or did this post come off like a commercial?

Beastie Boys - The Paul's Boutique Companion

The Beastie's Paul's Boutique is one of my favorite albums of all time. It's an easy desert-island disc pick and should be heard by everyone. I like to tell my girlfriend that when we have kids I intend to play Paul's Boutique as often as possible. I might have to make a clean edit of the disc as I wouldn't want them hearing all the dirty language, but I honestly believe Paul's Boutique is an album that can be enjoyed by young and old alike. I genuinely find the album enjoyable from start to finish and can't imagine my life without it. That said, I'm sure you can imagine how psyched I was when a deluxe reissue was announced last year. Initially, the official Beastie's website featured the cover of their Love, American Style EP and a vinyl-only remix of Shadrach. I, like everyone else, assumed that the album's reissue would have a second disc featuring all the b-sides and remixes featured on the Boutique-era singles, but we were all pretty disappointed when the reissue only contained the album. That said, the reissue was fantastically remastered, featured amazing packaging restoring the photos from the original gatefold vinyl release, all versions came with a free audio commentary by the band themselves and the deluxe digital release came with all the music videos for the album and a high-quality pdf with the album art. All of this was really great, but those non-album tracks are really needing a reissue. Information started circulating about the lack of bonus material and it may stem from legal issues surrounding the samples used in the album. It's been said that the album, if reissued, would not be able to contain any bonus material if a lawsuit was to be avoided. I'm not a lawyer but this sounds plausible enough, so we probably won't see an official reissue of these great non-album tracks, at least not officially.

The official part is what makes services like the internet so great, as people with the necessary technology can now make beautiful, digital replicas of great items like these Paul's Boutique leftovers. I've had a good number of these tracks for some time but decided it was time to put them together for my collection. Of course, one of the first things I thought about posting when I started this blog was this collection of Paul's Boutique rarities and so, finally, I'm posting an abridged version here for the time being. Sometime in the near future I will be posting a significantly larger, mostly lossless version of this collection on a popular torrent site. That version will feature a lot of goodies that can't be included here due to space limitations, and I will let everyone know as soon it is made available and where to find it, but until then, I'm sure you will find this a very enjoyable collection.

I can't take credit for transferring these tracks myself, but I have done a little bit of work to some of the instrumentals and show vinyl. As for the original sources, part of the torrent version is provided courtesy of Miscreant Productions (sorry, not included here), but the instrumentals are taken from the Flavor For Your Ear compilation that is quite popular within the Beastie community. No one seems to be able to find the person who actually compiled the set, but I bought mine from him directly quite a while ago so my copy is second generation to his, which is probably third or fourth. They are said to be taken from a promo cassette that Capital Records produced to possibly be included as a bonus with a reissue of the album in 1989, but nothing came of it and I can't seem to find a better quality copy of them anywhere, apart from the versions on the show vinyl. To make them sound a little nicer I normalized both channels so they would be as close to equal as possible. Now, for purists, I'm sure I've messed up the chain of custody from the original source to now and I've done all this with a lossy copy of the recording, but beggars can't be choosers and I'm sure you'll agree, if you've heard the original mp3s, these sound much better. As for the Show Vinyl, I tweaked it slightly as well due to some skips in the recordings. I won't bother noting these changes as I don't believe you'll notice them, which is how it should be. They were taken from Professor D's site and are lossy sourced, but they sound very nice. You should check his site for other Beastie rarities. As for the rest of the recordings, the b-sides and remixes are taken from excellent quality FLAC rips of the singles that were posted on Oink back in the day. I can't be any more specific than that, sorry, but if you were responsible for posting those, thanks a million! Otherwise, there are slight tweaks on the Hey Ladies composite and the Country Club version of Shadrach, but everything else is untouched.

It's worth noting that the original demo tape presented to Capital is most likely featured as part of the first disc of this collection. The demo consisted of Shake Your Rump, then titled Full Clout, and Car Thief, then titled Dust Joint. These tracks are in the zip but I'm posting them separately in case anyone wants to check these out without downloading the whole set, although you'll want to grab them all after you check these two out!

One last thing, if you're as in love with Paul's Boutique as I am, you should get Dan Leroy's excellent contribution to the 33 1/3 series of books and is dedicated to Paul's Boutique and it's creation. You can find it at Amazon or order it at any of your favorite book stores. Don't think, just buy it! You'll thank me later!


Beastie Boys - The Paul's Boutique Companion (Abridged Edition)
Part One
Part Two
Part Three


Disc 1: Demos and Rough Versions
01 3-Minute Rule (Rough Version)
02 Hello Brooklyn (Rough Version)
03 Johnny Ryall (Demo with Mike D Scratch Vocal)
04 Johnny Ryall (Rough Version)
05 Looking Down The Barrel Of A Gun (Rough Version)
06 Egg Man (Rough Version)
07 The Sounds Of Science (Rough Version)
08 33% God (Get Off The Mic)
09 Full Clout (Shake Your Rump Demo)
10 Dust Joint (Car Thief Demo)
11 Car Thief (Rough Version)

Disc 2: B-Sides and Rarities
01 Shake Your Rump (Video Version)
02 Hey Ladies (Single/Video Composite)
03 33% God
04 Dis Yourself In '89 (Just Do It)
05 Shadrach (Live @ The Country Club)
06 Ask For Janice Pt. 2
07 Caught In The Middle Of A 3-Way Mix
08 And What You Give Is What You Get
09 Some Dumb Cop Gave Me Two Tickets Already
10 Shadrach (Live @ Soul Train)
11 Your Sister's Def
12 Ask For Janice Pt. 3
13 Some Dumb Copy Gave Me Two Tickets Already (45 RPM Version)

Disc 3: Instrumentals
01 Shake Your Rump
02 Johnny Ryall
03 Egg Man
04 High Plains Drifter
05 The Sounds Of Science
06 3-Minute Rule
07 Hey Ladies
08 Looking Down The Barrel Of A Gun
09 Car Thief
10 What Comes Around
11 Shadrach
12 59 Chrystie Street
13 Mike On The Mic

Disc 4: Show Vinyl
01 Shake Your Rump
02 Johnny Ryall
03 Egg Man
04 High Plains Drifter
05 Time To Get Ill
06 The Sounds Of Science
07 3-Minute Rule
08 Hey Ladies
09 Hold It Now, Hit It
10 Untitled



Beastie Boys - Capital Records Demo
Full Clout
Dust Joint