It’s Halloween season and we’re not about to be undone for participating in the ‘festive’ spirit. Rhythm Inc regular DJ Zedvantz charges in head first with a Halloween-themed mix which should fit the ghoulish needs of music fans, while also doubling up nicely as a mix you can also listen to outside of the Halloween season.

He dropped us a line over the weekend, explaining that he’d just finished a ‘Death Mix’ which went something like (and we quote) ‘Turntablism meets Hardcore/Metal meets Hip-Hop meets everything else under the sun’. That already had us open and listening. He added, ‘lots of evil dialog scattered through the mix… perfect for the halloween vibe but listenable anytime of the year!’

And with the likes of Kid Koala, Marilyn Manson, Kurt Cobain, Dibbs, Jel and more all rubbing shoulders (or should that be severed limbs?) in there we couldn’t agree more and hope you’ll enjoy this early Halloween treat. Perfect as a soundtrack for the kids’ trick or treat round (if you’re the kind of person who likes to freak out kids that is) or getting ready for whatever Halloween activity you’ll be partaking in.

In related Halloween news I’d be hoping to drop a creepy/evil dub mix for Halloween too, unfortunately my laptop decided to pack it in over the weekend so unless I can pull something out the bag in time before saturday it’ll have to wait till a little later.

For now though, sit back, crank the volume to 11 and rock the f*ck on.

Download the mix (right click and save as)

Tracklist:
01. Kurt Cobain – At The End Of My Rope (zedvantz rmx)
02. The Slew – Battle Between Heaven & Hell
03. Mr. Dibbs – Taste Of Death*
04. Johnny Cash – Thirteen*
05. Gaslamp Killer – Afterall
06. Kid Koala – Wrong Side Of The Tracks
07. Prince Paul – Beautiful Night
08. Reanimator – Abigail/Summer Turns To Snow
09. Presage – Unseen Force
10. Jel – Changing Patterns
11. Dj Scientist – Atarius
12. Mr. Dibbs – Chaos*
13. Marilyn Manson – Fight Song*
14. Eddie Noack – Psycho*

Its a new year and we all need the pickup. Good thing then that ZedVantz is here with just what you need… Fresh from his awesome Turntable Jazz mix that we aired last year, we got an email in our inbox just a couple of days ago with this – a mix we’d describe as “the mother of all pick-me-ups”. Not content with delivering some killer audio though, ZedVantz also enclosed a comic that is, quite frankly, stunning. More of that in a second though…

Flipping from hook to hook like a gazelle, on this mix ZedVantz drops all those riffs you know and love. Now some would think this would mean you listening thinking “heard it…”, but we’re talking about CLASSICS here dammit. At Rhythm Inc Towers that had one effect: we all got smiling and hopping about the place. Sublime, and just the thing to blow away the cobwebs of January and get you screaming “HELLS YEAH – BRING IT ON!!!”

And now the comic. We can’t say enough to big this up, so let’s just show it in full eh?

Records he stole:

1. Marlena Shaw – California Sou (Diplo Rmx)
2. A-ko – Untitled
3. Joey Beats – Truth Be Told
4. Metaform – Urban Velvet
5. Cut Chemist – The Garden
6. Blend Crafters – Bad Luck Blues
7. Shoes – Afta Lafta
8. Mophono – Groovin Skip On Beat
9. Ghostface Killah – Daytona 500 (PZ Iron Lung Rmx)
10. Bob James – Nautilus (Shoes Rmx)
11. Palov & Mishkin – Oscar Boot Jr
12. Pablo – Record Shop (INTERLUDE)
13. Edan – Sing It Shitface
14. Prince Paul – You Made Me
15. Dudley Perkins – Flowers
16. Daedelus – Aplomb
17. Buck 65 – You Know The Science

38 min

Click here to download the mix! (92Mb)

Its always a delight when I get contacted out of the blue by someone who has done a mix or track, and that offering turns out to be exceptional. DJ Pain is one such excellent example, and now I’m pleased to present DJ ZedVantz and his excellent Turntable Jazz mix for your downloading delectation.

On paper, this mix is a tricky one to sell. I realised this when trying to explain it to Wrongtom, whose reaction was at best cautionary. What ZedVantz has done here is take a selection of classic ragtime/dixie style jazz beat tracks and blended it into one blinding 30 minute mix. With a style of music such as this one I’d argue that its a VERY thin line between brilliance and twee drivel. However ZedVantz negotiates that line with aplomb, delivering an exhilarating listen that can’t help but get you nodding your head, whilst drawing attention to a fairly small but brilliant line in obscure twists on a classic genre.

I was curious as to how this mix came about, as it certainly is something pandering to current trends or whatever. ZedVantz’s response was simple:

What inspired the mix was that “Swing Set” song by Cut Chemist featured on the first Jurassic 5 album. Its also the last song on this mix. It was old swing/jazz music mixed with break beats. I wanted more! So, I started collecting/searching for hiphop instrumentals with jazz samples. I made a few mixtapes but nothing that stuck. Then in recent years all these great labels started popping up – Jazz & Milk, Melting Pot etc – so I just took all the beats I had and kept filtering it down to the best of the best, with an end result being this nice short 35 min mix; no filler, dope from beginning to end.

I couldn’t agree more. So, download the mix for yourselves and take a listen. As ever comments are welcome below!

Click to download DJ ZedVantz – Turntable Jazz! (86Mb – 320k MP3)

Check out DJ ZedVantz’s MySpace page

Tracklisting:
You Let Me down Billie Holiday RMX – Free The Robots
I’ve Got That Tune – Chinese Man
Good Lord – Kormac
First Met You – Funky Fresh Few
Fire – A-ko
My Spider Walks Again – Mooch
Another Gone Record – Rube
Big Band Jump – Rube
Soul ’69 (part 2) – A-ko
Artichaut – C.M.R.
Swing set – Cut Chemist & Numark