Summer equals dub. It is the elemental music of the season. And not simply because it comes from a tropical island. Everything in dub feels suspended in the heat and humidity: a little slower, a little hazier—all the elements delayed in the muggy atmosphere. There is something about the laid back languor of dub that feels especially appropriate this time of year, when the sun is high and the stakes are low. In that spirit, we’re serving up a couple hours of some of our favorite cuts from the golden age of dub.
Search Results for: mixtape
Zandoli :: A Mixtape (Spring 2025)
Step inside Zandoli, a humid TDK embrace spanning 1971-2025. Analog Estonian groove opens the set before sliding into vintage Italian film funk, Grecian honey skronk, imitation Bengalese hypnagogia, and a rousing 1977 exaltation from Fort-de-France, Martinique. And that’s just the first twenty minutes. Press play, let it soak.
Mood Stabilizers: The Post-Rock Era, 1993-2002 (A Mixtape)
We’ve had post-rock on the brain lately. New music from genre pioneers Tortoise and the prospect of a North American tour by Stereolab this fall, not to mention recent archival releases by the likes of Aerial M, Gastr del Sol and Seefeel have many of us revisiting the sound’s 1990s salad days. For those wanting more, we’ve compiled a mixtape of some three hours of the genre’s knottiest groove logistics. For the uninitiated, here’s a crash course in what the end of the twentieth century sounded like.
Pink Cloud Motel :: A Mixtape
Sixteen tracks spread over two continents, it’s springtime at the Pink Cloud Motel. Hyacinth and citrus with the windows rolled down half mast — shades of palm fronds, fresh cut grass, 501 cutoffs, Modelo and watery domestics. Late check-outs encouraged …
Pangaea Deluxe: Live Miles in Japan, 1975 (Mixtape)
Drifting from spiraling psychedelia into frightening soundscapes and ecstatic funk, the Miles Davis septet built a universe unto itself across its 1975 tour of Japan. This tour-spanning mix gathers some of the choicest cuts and most experimental moments from the unissued tapes.
Grey On Gray II :: A December Mixtape
For the darkest time of year, a wintry mix of stark sonic landscapes — jazz, ambient, acoustic and unclassifiable. Instrumental treks through the snow, hopefully with a mug of hot chocolate (or something stronger) awaiting you at your final destination.
Pulp Jazz: Twenty-First Century Groove Music (A Mixtape)
Pulp Jazz draws on long-traduced, sometimes crassly commercial, musical forms—jazz-funk, exotica, new age, sci-fi schlock, lounge music and library—and channels it all into deeply funky, low-key psychedelic groove music. More than that, like the best pulp, it somehow comes out sexy as hell, slinky and dangerous. Aquarium Drunkard has been here for it. The world could stand to be a shade groovier. And when we were asked for a mixtape of the primo stuff, we were more than happy to oblige. It’s what we do.
Let’s hope this fresh wave of fusion doesn’t reignite the jazz wars of old. But we’re down to fight if it comes to that.
Trick Or Treat: Vintage Halloween Mixtapes
Spooky season is officially here. As such, we are uploading each volume of the Grey Haas compiled Trick Or Treat mixtape series for AD patrons (they begin with Volume five). Choice vintage Halloween spookers…
Grey On Gray :: A December Mixtape
All vinyl hour long slide to close out another weird year. Fireside GORP-jazz, new age, and beyond. 1969-2022.
Big Time Things (Influences) :: An Office Culture Mixtape
To celebrate the release of the jazzy and deft Big Time Things, Office Culture brings a mixtape of influences encompassing neo-soul, spiritual jazz, and singer/songwriter fare. “Often we think about a very specific element of an artist’s approach—a rhythmic cadence, a weird production choice, or a vocal approach—and wonder how it could work in an unlikely context. Hopefully you find something new you like.”
Radio Is A Foreign Country :: Electro-Folk Sounds of North Sumatra (Mixtape)
Radio Is A Foreign Country is a not-for-profit radio platform and mixtape series that exposes listeners to obscure (and mostly vintage) regional folk and pop music from the global hinterlands, featuring cut-ups of international radio broadcasts (AM, FM, shortwave), field recordings, ethnographic film, vintage records and cassettes, and digital ephemera from the far reaches of the internet. For this special mixtape, the Radio Is A Foreign Country crew brings us a cross-section of North Sumatran electro folk.
Mark Mothersbaugh’s Insomniak Flora (A Mixtape)
A one hour compilation of assorted Mothersbaugh muzak, from Insomniaks cuts to highlights from 2017’s 45 RPM box set Mutant Flora. Sprinkled in are other rarities, musical pieces composed for some of the musician’s visual art exhibitions. The weirder the better.
AD Presents: Sonor Music Editions | Italian Library Music (A Mixtape)
Founded in 2013 by Lorenzo Fabrizi and Andrea Galtieri, the Rome based Sonor Music Editions focuses strictly on the world of vintage Italian Library music and original soundtracks, largely from the 1970s and early ’80s. Prolific, we asked Fabrizi and Galtieri to curate a medley of sounds via their catalog, and the following mix is most definitely a vibe.
Tinariwen :: Radio Tisdas/Amassakoul Influences (Mixtape)
To commemorate a pair of remastered reissues of Tinariwen’s first albums—2001’s The Radio Tisdas Sessions and its 2004 followup, Amassakoul, the desert blues masters drop by with a special mixtape showcasing their influences.
Aquarium Drunkard Presents: A Spectrum of Blue (A Mixtape)
Hang your coat, unknot your scarf, kick your boots to the corner and open those windows–spring is almost here. Aquarium Drunkard presents: A Spectrum of Blue- an hour long medley of spring cleaning, dust knockin’ bluegrass …