Back in February Dub Bait’s Larsey pulled together a few choice cuts from the more sentimental side of his Dancehall collection for a neat little Valentines mix.

 With recent tracks from the likes of Busy Signal, Gyptian and Cali P alongside older classics like Vybz’ “Yuh Love” and Popcaan’s “Only Man She Want”, it would have been the perfect soundtrack to a cosy night in on 14th Feb, if we’d thought it appropriate to tell ya about it at the time!  A few months on and we’re still find a reason to stick it on, again and again, maybe we’re just too sentimental, maybe that’s’ why we spend so much time writing a blog, who knows.

Largely though, we figured that if you’re anything like us, then you have an eclectic taste in music and a strong passion for a least another two or so genres other than the one you perhaps spend most of your time researching, dubbait-ing, listening to and buying records within; so in that respect we hope theres at least a crew of Dub Bait regulars that share our soppy sentiment. If you do, then you’ll love it! Listen below or hop on over to his mixcloud page.

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Hip Hop, Broken Beat and all round funk, brass, dub jazziness label First Word Records have been busy again compiling the eighth edition of their generous free release pack series Two Syllables (someone there is obviously a big fan of charades) and this time round the selection is pleasing to say the least!

Since picking up on them a couple years back their free offerings and general label output having been evolving and maturing month by month.  This time round the likes of LV, Kidkanevil, Ariya Astrobeat Arkestra, Yosi Horikawa and along with many more present an extremely eclectic sound across the entire compilation; of which many artists or remixers will, or have featured on the official label.

As in many cases of free release compilations not every track is on the mark and sometimes you sense that, the beat may have been interesting to the artist originally but yet they decided to lame out on the creative arrangements for one reason or another, either that or the minimal approach is intended.

Yosi Horikawa – Wandering (Rough Fields Remix)

Preview two of our favorites here but be sure to check out the entire release as each track is very different. Expect Hip Hop, Afrobeat, Leftfield, Grime, Dub and more. A quick note on Yosi Horikawa; you can pick up his sensational Wandering EP here for a mere £1.50. It’s a stunning little EP utilising a range of field recording samples that rain down over his beats in a most unique, rhythmical and melodic forms.

Tall Black Guy – I Feel Good (James Brown Flip Up)

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We’ve along awaited new output from Argentinian producer Pedro Canale aka. Chancha Via Circuito and to our surprise its been released entirely for free via our favourite forwaerd thinking South American label ZZK.

Following up from his hugely supported first album of 2010 Rio Arriba, Chancha offers up a neat 5 track EP entitled ‘Semillas’ (translating as Seeds), of his classic, modern take on South American folk music. Although in general its a little less stand out than his debut release the EP is perhaps a little more DJ friendly and conformative in its form.  The beats are a little more straight forward and the breakdowns and dynamics not quite as excessive, but the strong rootsy influences and tight production are as satisfying and as deep as ever.

The fact its free begs the question whether we’ll be seeing an official secondary album on the horizon any time soon and while we could only speculate we certainly hope this to be the case. Listen, support and download below.

Chancha Via Circuito - Semillas EP

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Included with the EP is a tale or fable written by Pedro, akin to tradition folklore but with a morden slant. Its affirming and enjoyable as many of these stories are. Enjoy!

“It turns out that my neighbor’s tree grew so much recently that one morning I woke up to a large tree branch in the kitchen of my house. It seems to have come in during the night, through the window, below the exhaust fan.

As soon as I saw it I stood there blinking and confused, and before I was able to say anything she swayed, and in a language without words she recited a poem from the most yellowest of leaves.

It was so sweet that it instantly won me over, I invited her to have breakfast with me and she accepted rocking back and forth.

Leaning towards the cinnamon cloved tea she said “Wait till it cools off a little and sip it on the earth beneath my trunk” and so I did.  We stared at each other for a while, and later with a gesture of courtesy we began to talk.

It was a silent conversation, where we spoke about the importance of rainy days, that although we humans don’t always get wet, we too get watered. We both agreed that the morning rays of sun were the best and also how special the autumn light is.

I told her how the seasons affected us and she was surprised to hear that we were also affected by the influence of the moon and its cycles.

I was surprised to hear that she was also knowledgable of the lives of all the other trees and plants in the neighborhood, and how well they kept their secrets.  When she told me of the speed with which they accept the pain of their losses, I could not believe it.

We spent the afternoon philosophizing as good friends, and as the night arrived she allowed me to curl up with her until I fell asleep.

The next morning the branch had disappeared.  And as I looked outside I was saddened to see that a neighbor had completely pruned the tree.  Desperately I screamed at the amputated tree trunk to see if I could help, but it no longer was able to respond.

But to my dismay I looked down and saw the answer.

The branch had left her seeds scattered all over my kitchen floor.”

Pedro Canale aka Chancha Via Circuito

Tracklist:

1. Burkina
2. Gevgelis, Karpis & Papas – Deropolitissa (Chancha Via Circuito Remix)
3. Tornasol ft. Leando Frías
4. Vaina
5. Hipopótamo

Ha – you wish!  I don’t think theres a Deep House fan out there that could think of a better way of passing a sunday afternoon, especially when the northern luminary decides its time to get the Afrobeat out!

If you’re unfamiliar with Cottam then you really do need to get to know!  He’s a man with a love of House music slower than most, everything he puts out has one hell of a funkin’ progressive groove, and his afro vocal sampling is sure to get your feel good chems racing!

Before a recent gig for Disco Africa‘s 1st Birthday bash alongside Auntie Flo, Cottam knocked out this sweet little promo mix in preparation, and with a sweet 3 track EP entitled ‘Ubuntu EP’ gracing the stores this month courtesy of Sound Of Speed Records we just had to let you know about them.

The mix is a hefty 92 minutes of Afro House and Afrobeat mixed beautifully as always, listen below.

The new EP takes things one step further – I  could safely say I don’t think I’ve heard a better merger of Techno, House Afrobeat, Funk and Dub ever! For combinations of sounds that have been done a lot in the past, its a challenge to get tracks like this right and yet somehow the man makes them sound fresher than running water! Listen below.

As always we want to give you something for keeps right away, so below are two of our favourite free Cottam tracks of this year.

Cottam – Badustylee

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Cottam – Tribute to Watson

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You’d have to had spent Christmas in a remote cottage in the Hebrides to have not noticed the mass of seasonal themed music flooding soundcloud this winter, and this seems to be a growing trend whether it be Halloween, Valentines day or Christmas.

Being very particular we tend to keep at arms reach this kind of music, being usually promotionally orientated in its aims (as much free music often is), the content isn’t often that solid.

Kab Driver – Half Way

Some might say, the same could be said for WotNot‘s recent musical advent calendar. From the 1st to the 24th December the relatively new label, that introduced us to new hot-shot producers such as Deft and Chesslo Junior gave away a free track for each day of advent.  Culminating in a 24 track pack of free music, and yes the odd duff track, but who cares, the bulk of the tracks are on the money.  And to be fair, WotNot‘s offering is designed more with the intention of slipping us a glimpse at their exciting output for 2013.  And for us, the picture it paints is vivid; smooth electronics, blissful broken beats, glistening funk and colourful sampling – phrases that are all music to our ears!  Keep it locked to these guys for much more quality music this year.

Boeboe – Sixsondatchevywissumhoes

Blud Fruit – At this hour

Featured are a few of our favourites from the calendar but we advise downloading and listening to the entire pack yourselves from the link below.  It’s also quite nice to read the supporting text for each track over at their soundcloud page mentioning forthcoming releases and artist’s Top 10 tracks of the year if you get a moment.

WotNot – Advent Calendar 2012 Download Pack

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With all the confusion brought on by the festive season it seems we let a few important releases pass us by.  As one of our early COTW’s Jack Dixon has always been a prominent name on our radar and with a string of solid releases on many of the important House music labels of 2012/13, any free offerings from this young man are gratefully received.

Much like the three wise men, long ago, Dixon presents us with three fine gifts for Christmas in the form of the almighty ’1 EP’.  A trio of deep atmospheric house tracks that are suitably entrancing in the club, as they are though the headphones.  As with much of Dixon’s music, the tracks are easily accessible to all that seek to listen, especially those whom give them time to burn.  And with most good house music, there isn’t anything particular to any track that makes them overwhelmingly stand out.  I can though assure you, that as your ears prick up to those sweet progressive grooves, whether you’re getting-down to them in the club or just socialising with friends you’ll likely utter the words “nice, this has got to be some Jack Dixon”.

Jack Dixon – Sequin (1EP)

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If we had to pick a particular DJ that really stands out as influencing the Dub Bait and Springstan family’s musical tastes throughout the early years, then this guy has to win hands-down!  A big man in the game, Dub Boy (Tim Rayner) has always been a strong advocate and facilitator of Caribbean music and his relentless passion for promoting  the various genres has played a major part in shaping young peoples love of the music in and around the west country.

Over the years Dub Boy’s various promotions under their parent umbrella ‘Ruffnek Diskotek‘ (once voted best night in the UK) such as, Monster Bass and more recently Karnival, have played host to a wide range of UK and worldwide breakthrough artists (way before you’d even heard of them) and firmed up Bristol’s musical links with many parts of the world, all the while;  propping up the UK’s take on the sound and helped bring UK Dancehall & Reggae artists and DJ’s closer together.

So, being the lovely guy he is, Tim has kindly produced this buzzing Soca mixtape brimming with positive vibes to promote his upcoming set and, undoubtedly the best NYE party happening in the UK this year, SWINGSTAN’S NYE SPEAKEASY!

Offering three rooms of huge tight sound all night long, covering House, Techno, Garage, Dancehall, Funk, Drum & Bass, Electro-swing, set in a beautiful 19th Century hotel nestled within the Brecon Beacons, a VIP pre-party, swimming pool and restaurant, this NYE party will certainly not disappoint! Unfortunately the event sold out weeks ago, but there is still chance to bag a couple of ultimate VIP tickets for the master bedroom suite of the hotel over at the Spingstan facebook page, so get on it if you want to stand a chance!

For more info on the event and line up, check our event post and then head over to the FB page to stay up to date with the competition and spare tickets.

Back to the music.. Once again Dub Boy’s Soca selection doesn’t disappoint, 43 minutes of high energy packed rhythms for us to whine and grind in the new year! 100% positive vibes – as if we’d just survived an almighty apocalypse – maybe! Anyways, nuff said, listen and download below.

Dub Boy’s ‘Swingstan’s NYE Speakeasy’ Soca Mixtape

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Track listing

1. Face-T ft Boogat – Hands Up Deh (Coolie Dance rmx)
2. Sarkodie ft EL – You Go Kill Me
3. Shal Marshall – Workout
4. JW & Blaze – Look Good
5. Benjai – The People’s Champion
6. Machel Montano – Bottle Of Rum
7. Bunji Garlin – Gift Of Soca
8. Kerwin Du Bois – Bacchanalist
9. Patrice Roberts – Gimme It
10. Devon Matthews & Sean Caruth – Whole Day (Puncheon Anthem)
11. Azman – Hands Flat (Road mix)
12. Shurwayne Winchester ft Popcaan – Nobody Badder Than We (remix)
13. MX Prime – Born In Paradise
14. Miss Alysha – Woman Is Boss
15. Teddyson John – Nasty Whine
16. RDX – Jump
17. Lil Rick – Work
18. Ricochae – Stamina
19. Champeon – Nastyness
20. Swappi – Nah Go Play
21. Zuki & Tim Tim – Doh Beat Up
22. Stylo G ft Warning – More Ganja
23. Rayzor – Sponser Meh
24. Beenie Man ft Dwayne Bravo – Bad Man Soca
25. First Lady – Doh Fraid
26. Baby Cham ft Swappi – Wine (Bubble On A DJ)
27. Kes The Band – Gangnam Mas
28. Mega Banton, G-Loc & Singer J – Gangnam Badman Style
29. 645 – Better Than The Average
30. Lil Rick & Benjai – Cyan Bother Me
31. Machel Montano – Mr Fete

This weeks catch is lifted from, what at first looks, a rather bizarre compilation courtesy of the Grasslands Gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

As an early Christmas present they’ve collated a range of tracks from bands and artists that have graced the homegrown psychedelic venue over the past year or so, hence the eclecticness.  Disappointingly for us the compilation is not particularly to our taste but there are a couple that stand out, and none more so than a cheeky little number from our old friend Sweater Beats.

As you may remember Sweater Beats was one of our early COTW‘s and now the only producer to be featured twice, strange considering we’d never heard of him before we started Dub Bait!

The track itself is a short and modest sounding little number, but still retains SB’s tight production, and with its warm Christmas cheer has easily beaten off all other competition this week.  In all honestly though, it’s probably the beautifully timed sample at 1:35 from ‘Elf’ that sold us, it actually made me laugh on first listen! I’m far too easily pleased!

Anyway check it out along with his other tracks as it seams he’s been exploring new territory of late and ‘nailing it’ pretty damn good! …nothing new there then!

Sweater Beats - Elves Got That Good Good

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I’ve finally got round to recording a new one sixty mix, and as the first two seemed to go down well with people I thought I’d share it on here first.

Hopefully it’s a fairly smooth ride through some of the stuff that’s been doin it for me recently. There’s plenty from the deeper end of trap, some intergalactic footwork and a general shed load of laid back bubbly bassy wavey underwater baby makin head noddin trvpwerk dolphins drums and shit. It’s definitely an extra mellow one anyway [#wetrvppymane]

99 minutes/41 tracks. Enjoy….

DOWNLOAD BROCKSTEADY ONE SIXTY THREE  (right click save as)

TRACKLIST

1. Moist Ghost – Witch Doctor [Astro Nautico]
2. Self Evident – Standin On The Corner [B.YRSLF Division]
3. Elefo – Walter White [Loveless Records]
4. Beardus – Time [Free Download]
5. Sekis – Back In The Day [Free Download]
6. Hesk & Thomas White – Lullaby [Free Download]
7. Mike Q – Let It All Out (Self Evident Remix)
8. Booty Hunt – Wekedano (Apoch Footwork Bootleg) [Free Download]
9. Taste Tester – Been Had [Free Download]
10. Cestladore – AwwYeaYup [Free Download]
11. Wrekafekt – Drive By [Loveless Records]
12. Enderman – Ean [Cosmic Bridge]
13. Elefo – Wavey Lady [B.YRSLF Division]
14. JMSN – Somewhere (Hesk Remix) [Free Download]
15. Stranger Arranger – Lets Do Acid [Stranger Beats]
16. Kimbra – Plain Gold Ring (Elefo’s ReGOIB) [Free Download]
17. Djemba Djemba – I Just Go [Jeffries/Mad Decent]
18. Nah Like – 36 Swords [Free Download]
19. Seapoint – Echo Nights [Infinite Machine]
20. Hesk & Nadus – You Bout It [Free Download]
21. Raumskaya – Just Back [Free Download]
22. Juke Ellington – Beyond The Star [Free Download]
23. Mike G – Everything That’s Yours (Hesk Remix) [Free Download]
24. Drake Ft. Prive City – Best I Ever Had (Moondoctor Juke) [Free Download]
25. Unknown – Whitney Juke
26. Jeremih – 773 Love (Daedelus’ Pacific Remix) [Free Download]
27. Chump Change – Fleet [Free Download]
28. Thomas White – Rainbow Dolphins (L’Explorateur Et Les 2 Yetis Rmx [RAW Records]
29. Noms – Showtime [Free Download]
30. Murlo – Transform [Free Download]
31. Def Raadu & General Levy – Give It To Dem (Chump Change VIP Remix) [Lejal Globe/Lejal Genes]
32. Dj Footmerc – Bass Innerspace Means Peace [Free Download]
33. Traxman – Da World Around Us [Sewage Tapes]
34. Poivre0529 – limit to your footwork [World Wide Juke]
35. Diplo ft. Nicky Da B – Express Yourself (Higher Internet/Starfoxxx Remix) [Boyhouse]
36. Hesk and Paveun – She Wants Dat [Free Download]
37. Marvin Vital – Ladies, Drama [Forthcoming Good Street]
38. Thomas White – Bravo [Raw Records]
39. Mele – Look At My Gold Casio (Branko Edit) [Free Download]
40. XXYYXX – Fields (Hesk & Paveun Remix) [Free Download]
41. Popcaan & Dre Skull – Get Gyal Easy (Emynd Remix) [Free Download]

Get the first two mixes below -