NickNack - Life In The Speaker

I first heard this on Ernest Gonzales' amazing Texas Compilation (which you can download for free)

For me this is one of the standout tracks on a phenomenally diverse mixtape. It's dreamy and propulsive all at once, and (for once) I actually like the old-school wicky-wick scratches.

NickNack explains his good intentions in this interview, and also talks about the crossover between jazz and hip-hop. He's a melody-driven producer, so if you like your electro to sound like robots singing gospel, this is the stuff.

You can hear more NickNack on his Myspace and his Soundcloud, and you should definitely also get that mixtape. It's free - what harm can it do?

NickNack - Life In The Speaker by nicknack

Mexicans With Guns - Viva Radio Podcast

Mexicans With Guns always deliver the goods. This is a gorgeously sleazy, upbeat hour of tropical bass.

Tropical bass is a catch-all term for all of the deliciously filthy bass-heavy music coming out near the equator. This podcast is a really nice sampler - and it's annotated so you know what you're listening to. Which means you can chase up genres like tribal guarachero, if that floats your boat.

It makes sense that if white people aren't the world's best dancers, they're not going to be the best at making dance music either. (Please take the casual racism lightly - I'm pretty white myself, and an atrocious dancer).

So get global: pop this on next time you need some backing music. Am I wrong?

Viva Radio & Impose Magazine Podcast by mexicanswithguns

Mexicans with Guns - Dame Lo

This is absolutely and utterly the music video of the week. Although it features more firepower than I've ever seen in a music video, it's not your usual gun-toting idiocy. It's artistic, innit.

I love the Mexican Day of the Dead facepaints, and the superhero cholas. All that day-glo Catholicism looks gorgeous too. I want a holiday. But in the meantime their website will suffice - there's lots of free downloads.

Mexicans With Guns - La Bambaclot

Do you have those nights when you come home drunk and try to make something to eat? Like pasta, or toast, or cereal with extra sugar. And it turns out to be the tastiest thing you have cooked in your whole bitter life. I think Mexicans with Guns have done the same thing. And I think I've worked out the recipe...

1. Take a classic latin tune (La Bamba - trust me, you know it).
2. Chop and screw it beyond almost all recognition.
3. Add laser sounds to taste.
4. Eat and enjoy: when the bass drops you can't help but smile.

La Bambaclot by mexicanswithguns

Freddie Gibbs - Playa (Mexicans With Guns Remix)

This little number combines some of my most favourite things: Freddie Gibbs, Mexicans with Guns, and cow bells.

I love the funky syncopated low-ride sound, (and the cow bells), but it took a couple of listens to get used to it, probably because MwG put Freddie on the off-beat, and that always sounds weird. That guitar melody is sweetness itself though. If you like MwG, check out their soundcloud for more juice.

Freddie Gibbs - Playa (Mexicans with Guns Remix) by Drewtewksbury