It’s with great pleasure that we kick off a new monthly series of guest mixes in conjuction with the Friends of Friends label. FoF should be no stranger to regular listeners, as we’ve been strong supporters of the label ever since it started in late 08/early 09. We’ve worked with them in supporting the releases and spreading the word, and even hooked them up with Om Unit for a forthcoming release, so when Lazy Brow who runs the label got in touch recently about starting a series of guest mixes and asked me to do the first one it was a no-brainer. Not to mention a real honor and pleasure.

Once the mix was wrapped we got chatting about how best to get it out there to as many heads as possible and so the next logical step was to do a Rhythm Inc/FoF team up. So starting this week, once a month we’ll be dropping an exclusive mix as part of the Friends of Friends mix series – each mix will be brought to you by a friend of the label. The next one in the series is already done, but we won’t give out who it is just yet. Expect to be hearing sounds from worldwide producers who are doing things we love. It’s a friend and family thing really.

Each mix will be podcast on Rhythm Inc and also available via FoF’s Soundcloud page and website.

The artwork for this one comes from a friend of FoF, of course. Photographer Oliver Kish snapped this truly incredible picture and had this story to tell regarding how it came about. It is not staged! (click it for a bigger version)

“This photo was taken during my first tip to the blooming poppy fields in Southern California. Thinking the day was over, I turned a corner and there he was, the tinman. I took a quick snap on my original Russian made LC-A, then headed home. I’ve been to the poppy fields since and have never run into the tinman again. Right place, right time, channeling the Wizard…”

As for the mix when I was asked to do this the idea of a theme for it came pretty quickly – showcase music from friends and family worldwide. People I know and have worked with over the years in various music scenes. In my 8 or so years as a music journalist and in various other roles relating to music I’ve had the pleasure to meet and work with some amazing artists, many of whom I feel lucky and honored to call friends, and quite a few who are close personal friends of mine and continually inspire me and drive me on. This mix aims to represent that by showcasing as much of the talent I feel close to – it covers scratch music, jungle, dubstep, beats, hip hop, electro and much more. The mix also reflects the truly worldwide spread of exciting music today and my own times spent in various countries, including the UK, France, Italy and Japan.

The mix itself is a pretty intense ride with 27 tracks in 45 minutes but I hope people get as much enjoyment from it as I did putting it together and that it leads to them checking out the artists and supporting them. The mix features a heap of exclusives, unreleased tracks and forthcoming releases. I have worked with every artist and/or label featured in this mix, so this is truly a snapshot of my friends and family.

So I won’t blabber on much longer and let you enjoy the music. As always embeds for stream and direct download links are below. Subscribers to the RSS or iTunes feeds will have the mix on their way to them now.

I’d like to just thank all the artists for the music but also their support over the years. It’s been a pleasure working with each and everyone of you in whatever capacity and I hope to continue to do so in years to come. And huge thanks to FoF for asking me to do this. It’s truly a pleasure!

Peace

Laurent aka Kper

Download Kper – My Friends, My Family (right click and save as)

Tracklist:
Ken One – Mind Rain – Unreleased (Japan)
Danny Breaks – Hemisphere – Forthcoming Groove Attack (UK)
Dday One – Contamined Energy – Unreleased (USA)
And – Untitled beat – Unreleased (UK)
Onra – Iron – Forthcomig Ubeat (France)
Uncle Lew – Chop Chop remix – Unreleased (Ireland / Canada)
Lorn – Running Ink – Unreleased (USA)
Tatsuki – Kiyasu Breaks – Original Cultures (Japan)
Ernesto Gonzales – Self Awakening (Take remix) – FoF Music (USA)
Othello Grey – Feeling (BJu remix) – Unreleased (Germany)
Fulgeance – Smartbanging – One Handed Music (France)
2phast – MoynaQ – Unreleased (Italy)
Paul White – Body Spirals pt2 – Forthcoming One Handed Music (UK)
Throwing Snow – Elephant Trees – Unreleased (UK)
Grems ft Foreign Beggars – Brockabilly (Machine Drum remix) – Forthcoming (France/UK/USA)
Skyfish – Heso Cha remix – Unreleased (Japan)
Om Unit – Searching – Forthcoming Stretched Records (UK)
ENA – Drop – Unreleased (Japan)
Foreign Beggars – No Holds Barred (Goth Trad remix) – Forthcoming Dented Records (UK/Japan)
Dong – Suzuran (LV + Quarta330 remix) – Hyperdub (UK/Japan)
Lone Wolf – Badman – Unreleased (UK)
100 Mado – Club Asia – Unreleased (Japan)
Jamie Vex’d – Saturn’s Reply – Planet Mu (UK)
The Bug ft. Flowdan and Killa P – Skeng (Kode 9 remix) – Hyperdub (UK)
XLII – Podgy Swing – Raid System/Fubar (Ukraine/Japan)
Om Unit – The Corridor (Shigeto remix) – Forthcoming Terrorhythm (UK/USA)