Capping off the year in style, our big homie Mackpaye from France presents to you one of the finest techno/house mixes in recent memory.
Flawlessly mixing some of the year's tightest selections in the darker side of techno and house, this young producer takes us on an epic trip. Both rabidly heavy and insanely danceable, his mix for French magazine WeAreTheMascotte deserves all of your love. This is a mix that you can drop at a party, on the ipod, in the car, and it will still elicit the same feverish reaction. Mackpaye, as we have been saying for an ungodly amount of time, is one of the finest young selectors on the rise. Production-wise and mixing-wise, he is a serious force to contend with.
You need to play this, download it, and spread it amongst your friends. You won't regret you did.
So long, 2011. It's been an interesting ride. Too much work, not enough partying. 2012's looking mighty sexy, though.
2011 Last Mixtape: mixed by Mackpaye for WeAreTheMascotte
1 - John Digweed & Nick Muir - 30 Northeast [Bedrock Records] 2 - Baba Black - All Black [Palms Out Sounds] 3 - SCNTST - Globus [BNR] 4 - Def Rock - Attack [CDR] 5 - Hey Today! - Minor (TWR72 Remix) [Kitsuné] 6 - La Fuente - Bang Bang [Mixmash Records] 7 - Attaque - Moderate [Badlife] 8 - Fareoh - Ipren [CDR] 9 - Nero - Crush On You (Brodinski Remix) [MTA Records] 10 - The Loops Of Fury - I Need [U&A Recordings] 11 - Dj Triplex - Scream [CDR] 12 - TWR72 - Summer Of 91 [CDR] 13 - Grown Folk - U Know The Time [CDR] 14 - Carte Blanche - Jack On The Moon ♥ ∞ M
If you've been a regular follower of Avenge The Virgins for the past few years, you will have come across the fine stylings of Reims' rising star, Mackpaye.
Since we've been so fucking dormant for so long, we've kinda missed out on putting on dope tunes when they get released. Regardless, there's no expiry date for great music.
Let's get reacquainted with some of the remixes you may have missed.
First off, we have a great, synth-heavy house refix of frequent Neptunes collaborator Kenna. Mackpaye's strengths lie in making memorable, melody-driven house music; remixes and originals that remind you of champagne-soaked loft parties that last until the early morning. This remix of Chains fits Mackpaye's modus operandi to a T, and considering he has yet to make a bad tune, that's not a bad thing.
Second on the list is one of my favorite remixes by Mackpaye. Equal parts acid/techno/electro/whatever, it is one of his heaviest remixes yet, sure to get play in any peak-hour set. It is wild, energetic and deliriously addictive, and I'm pretty bummed that I didn't get to show this to you sooner.
We are failing pretty miserably at updating this week, so I've prepared 4 posts in advance, which will all drop in the next few days. We shall redeem ourselves in your eyes, my friends. Do not fret.
This morning, I've got a really dope post lined up for you, featuring 4 tremendously fly tunes. We have a great remix of The Shoes by our confrère Mackpaye, an incredibly trippy tune by Al Ripken Jr, a preview of the upcoming Pelican Fly release , and a mellow reggae tune.
Mackpaye is ATV fam, and we're pretty stoked to present to you his newest production, an amazing remix of French producers The Shoes' song Cover Your Eyes.
He's pretty much a maestro of proper house music, stuff that sounds champagne-soaked and forces you to two-step with the quickness. This particular production, which is already supported by The Shoes themselves, is probably his best work to date. It starts with a delightful piano line, and then injects a healthy amount of uptempo bass, snaps and flutes into the mix. Cover Your Eyes is already a pretty groovy tune, but Mackpaye's take on it is so unbelievably organic and raw that you can't help but listen to it on repeat. Keep it up homie, you're on the right track.
Holyyyyyyyyyyyy mother of god. The first time I heard this frantic behemoth of a tune was during Lunice's set at the Boiler Room, where he played a few seconds of it, literally stopped the music to tell everyone how dope it is, and then restarted it and started wylin' out as he usually does. Everything I Got Now is one of the craziest tracks in recent memory. This is pop-and-lock music on amphetamines.
We posted the vid on our Facebook page a while back if you want to check it out. The part I'm talking about is around 22 minutes in. Oh, and become a fan of the page while you're at it.
Al Ripken Jr also released a free EP under the name Captain Cougar via Top Billing a few days ago, which you can get here. It's on that sci-fi lazeriffic rap tip, and totally worth the download.
Keep an eye out for this bad boy, people, because his recent output is unbelievable.
I've mentioned this before, but it bears repeating: Pelican Fly is definitely one of my favorite labels. This young Belgian label is my coup-de-coeur; my recent obsession. They've only put out two releases so far, the Richelle & Mister Tweeks EPs, but both of them are been so tremendously insane and fresh-sounding that I couldn't wait to see what they had in store for us next.
Their newest release, the Thy EP (FLY003), will be released on the 17th of June, and it comes to us straight from Australia. Lucid, an insane producer I've been following for a while, is a perfect choice for the third Pelican Fly release. His innovative style is pretty out-there and bizarre (in a good way), and this riddim continues the trend. Kalso is pretty much the audio equivalent of descending into madness, a grandfather/cuckoo clock & kazoo-sampling carnival of horrors. The EP will feature 4 original tracks, and remixes from Pelican Fly's own Richelle and Bay Area producer Cosmic Revenge.
Don't forget to follow Pelican Fly on soundcloud, they'll probably start releasing previews of the other songs soon enough. My prediction: Thy will be a pretty wild and unbelievably trippy ride. Insane asylum swag.
To finish off the post, I figured I'd delve into a bit of laid-back reggae. Pressure Buss Pipe, the talented Rastaman most known for his classic anthem 'Love and Affection', which we've already posted in the past (here!), puts in a solid effort with this amazing love tune.
Pressure is one of the greatest artists in modern reggae, and this gorgeous tune should put you in a great mood. If you've never heard 'Love and Affection', though, do yourself a bloody favor and download that shit from our site pronto. It is one of my favorite songs, real talk.
Fantastic new tune from Reims' Mackpaye. Proper house music for the soul, with a diva-esque vocal sample and an unforgettable groovy bassline. Top notch release, once again.
I hope that you've enjoyed the tune. Once again, please do not forget that we are dropping the first edition of the Avenge The Virgins mix series tomorrow afternoon. (EDIT: We're acutally finishing up a few things to make this mix series top notch. We're trying to aim to drop it for thursday. Sorry about the delay!)
It will be featuring none other than French DJ/producer Azamat B on the decks.
I really must apologize for the rushed post , but I am faded. I am so completely exhausted because of work, and therefore unable to type anything of substance. I'll try to throw up another post once I wake up.
In the meantime, please try your best to experience the vibes. I've tried to include a little something for everyone, I guess.
When we first started to gain a following on Avenge the Virgins, about a year ago, one of the first people to contact us and suggest music was a like-minded blogger named Loic Mackpayen, a.k.a Mackpaye, a 19 year old from Reims, France, who runs a hip-hop and electronic music website called Source of Cool.
Mackpaye also mentioned that he DJed and was thinking of getting into production. As he started releasing his Source of Cool mixes, which you can grab on his soundcloud, posted below, I started noticing his remixes and original productions start creeping into them.
Therefore, it was only natural that he would start releasing his music on a proper platform, and lo-and-behold, he recently sent us an e-mail informing us that 12-3 Recordings out of Stockholm was releasing his debut EP, Appeal/Fragrance.
12-3 Recordings is a relatively new label, founded and curated by Sticky Stockholm, a producer and DJ out of the Swedish DBTY! camp. Mackpaye's EP is their third release, and it is a very solid effort indeed, already gaining early support from LOL Boys, Art Nouveau and WATM Magazine, among others.
Both tunes can be described as proper house music, with a very deep soulful vibe. The A-Side, Appeal, is a nostalgic and groovy deep house tune that features a sexy r&b sample, but my favorite of the two is Fragrance, probably because I'm a sucker for horns that melt into great stuttery vocals. Jazzy, loungy but still likely to make you dance until the early hours of the morning. This is heartfelt house music, the kind that forces you to put your hand in the air with your eyes closed. Soulful & sexy.
I've included the press kit and both songs, which are streamable. Appeal/Fragrance drops tomorrow, the 9th of March, on both Beatport & Itunes, so be sure to cop this impressive effort from this talented newcomer in the strong Reims scene.
Young Reims-based producer, dj and blogger Mackpaye was picked up on 12-3 after sending some super dope, and truly soulful demo tracks this winter.
This very debut EP is a smooth master piece consisting of equal parts deep vibes and vocal flow. House music paying tribute, and looking forward, it fits the 12-3 catalogue perfectly.
Appeal is almost melancholic, modern r’n’b meets a classic house sound in a sweet symbiosis. The B-side, Fragrance, is a more classic track in both structure and sound, a true jewel full of groove.
The songs featured on this blog are for promotional use only. Our goal is to promote the artists we feature, to expose great talent to a wider audience, and not to steal money from their pockets. If you would like a song removed, just get at us in the comments and we'll be more than happy to oblige. If you like the music we feature, then support the artists next time they roll through your city, either by going to a show, or by buying merchandise!
