This summer has been crazy for me, personally and professionally. Well, mostly personally. Mrs. Mantis is preggers with twins, so I've been trying to get my affairs in order in preparation for the Battle of Sleep Deprivation. Being an old school party kid, I'm actually well-armed for the fight (being the King of Disco Naps and all), but I know it's going to seriously cut into my rave time. While I haven't been posting much this summer, I have been mixing. A lot. So here you are: a summer's worth of mixes, most posted at various times on Facebook but never here on the blog (or over at La MoDa Mixtapes, which is undergoing some changes and should be back with a vengence very soon!).
Deekline and Tim Healey have both been around for a minute. Deekline has been cranking out dancefloor madness since the late 90s UK Garage scene with such favorites as Ed Solo, Wizard, Freq Nasty, Stanton Warriors, etc. Tim Healey got his start as more of a "main room" act, making big techno/electro-house bangers since the mid 90s. They've teamed up to form Giant Pussy records, which they describe as a "vault of sleaze, trash, and bass." I think the world could use a little more sleaze, trash, and bass....
The video above is the first project these two embarked on. The video below is their most recent offering. In addition to being SMOKING hot songs, these guys have figured out that adding just a few bells and whistles to a YouTube vid will assist greatly in spreading the word (take note producers uploading videos with boring still photos!). The future is booty....
Slyde has been KILLING it over the last 12 months, from last year's LP "Everyone's Entitled to Our Opinion," to all of the bangin' remixes that LP spawned (NAPT and Miles Dyson remixes of "Frequency" coming in for special notice). Well, they're teeing up what appears to be another smoking release, based on the video teaser above. As a breaks head from way back, Slyde (and some of the other acts on Fingerlickin') continue to get me hyped with this updated, bass-heavy take on funky breaks. These guys are definitely ones to watch!...
There was a time in the not-so-distant past where turntablism was the dopest thing since sliced bread (Wave Twisters was a highwater mark for the genre, IMO). Glad to see people keeping the flame burning, and even pushing the boundaries a bit...
Dubstep is thought of as a very British genre (much to the frustration of some of the folks holding it down on this side of the pond like the heads at Soulchampion and Selector Moldy out of Portland), growing as it has out of drum n’ bass and downtempo with a dash of dub reggae. Marine Parade records, one of my all-time favorite labels (and Bri'ish to boot), is putting out a new album by an AMERICAN dubstep duo called Pantyraid. Check out their site for a streaming 50 minute mix. Who sez America can't do bass?
The Year of the Ox is shaping up to be a year of change. As I've discussed previously on this blog, I have recently formed a new musical partnership with the Mighty Mosart212, and as such, we've started a collaborative home for our collective mixes and ramblings. Since cross-posting everything on that site, this site and the occasional Monkeys for Helping collabo just seems like way too much work for someone as lazy as me, I'm going to indefinitely shutter this site and start posting solely over at La MoDa, but I'm going to keep the Mantisounds blog archive (and corresponding Divshare links) active so my legions of fans and groupies can continue to do the science.
If you want to check the Mantisounds mixes I've put up on this site to date, click here.
For new posts, more funky goodness, and more Black Metal Mondays, please join me at my new home:
While I hope that making these songs and works of art available to more potential consumers is a positive thing, and I try to link to official websites whenever I can, I understand that some artists might prefer I not offer up their work for download. While I can't promise I won't keep sweating your work, I can promise I'll remove it at your request. Don't hesitate to email me.