Chris Daly will DJ your after-after-after-party is you provide him with Speed. He’s a big early Sandra Bullock fan.
If you’ve been fortunate enough to catch the Analogue Monsta tour and weren’t too stoned to forget, you quite possibly picked up the aptly named “Analogue Monsta Mix,” a little over an hour of music by the two headliners, Suzi Analogue and TOKiMONSTA. And even if you weren’t (fortunate enough) or were (too stoned), the Gods of Fate clearly saw you eating your Lucky Charms this morning. To celebrate the recent release of TOKi’s Creature Dreams, these emerging Queens of the Beat Scene have decided to share said mix with us, the little people, so we have that going for us. The mix is broken into two parts, granting just over half an hour to each.
I believe I will forever kick myself for missing TOKi open for Bonobo last year, and her half of the mix certainly isn’t helping me feel any better. TOKi demonstrates a strong grasp of the first rule of DJing—you’re only as good as your record collection. Unfortunately, this proves what I think most of fear, but have secretly known all along—cute Asian biddies always are going to own a better beat collection than any member of the phallocracy could ever hope to have himself. The MONSTA doesn’t get too tricky here, but finds a mellow groove, blows smoke into its ears and watches as it gets all sorts of loopy. Alternating between tracks of her own and those of such fellow Brainfeeders Flying Lotus, SAMIYAM and Ras_G for most of the first half, she then flips on a dime to start dropping simply appropriate vocal tracks by everyone from James Blake to Cee Lo Green. In effect, TOKiMONSTA here proves she’s the female you most want to spin at your next after-after-hour birthday party.
Suzi Analogue’s second half is a bit more self-serving, but this is OK for two reasons. A) She’s the lesser known quantity here, at least in my beat circle of one (which sounds like a really sad masturbatory existence now that I look at it) and 2. Girlie girl acquits herself well. Ms. Suzi’s half, comprised of 14 tracks exclusively of her own, spans beats, actual singing and a bit rapping. With a voice hovering somewhere between the higher registers of Ms. Badu and the stoned drawl of Amy Winehouse, Analogue’s catalogue tends to focus on covers, but with choices including Nirvana, who am I to complain? Her beats are crisp, yet spacey, much like I imagine astronaut potato chips must taste. The rapping portion here sounds like it was recorded on an old school tape deck, but that only adds to the DIY charm the artist brings. At the end of the set, you’ll still want more, as I hear astronaut Chinese food makes one feel an hour after eating, because I clearly spend a lot of time talking to astronaut cooks.
And while you’re grooving to this, I’m off to find some freeze dried ice cream. Remember, kids, friends don’t let friends write and review with food metaphors while stoned.
Download: (via Fresh Selects)
MP3: Tokimonsta-“Tokimonsta Mix”
MP3: Suzi Analaogue – “Analogue Mix”
ZIP: Suzi Analogue – COVRS 3P
