February 2010
1 post
valentine's day 1990-1999 // february 2010.
Here’s a mix I made for my girl friends for this Valentine’s Day. It’s a bunch of the best stupid girly songs from the 1990s. There are sappy sad songs (remember Expose?) and sexy, soulful ones, but they definitely brought back sweet memories of couples’ skate at the roller rink, getting ready for school dances and sitting in the waiting room at Dr. Virgulti’s...
January 2010
2 posts
mesomorph // jan. 2010
Mesomorph, besides being a really fun word to say, is a body type associated with leanness and muscular definition. This mix has nothing to do with fitness, but I made it for my friend Alex, who is the most in-shape dude I know.
Download here.
1. Solange – Silence Is The Move 2. The xx – Crystalised 3. Jay Electronica – Suckas 4. Florence & The Machine – You’ve Got The Love (The xx Remix)...
originals vol. 1 // january 2010
A while ago, I started spending a lot of time researching and hoarding sampled tunes from great rap tunes. The idea was to make a mix to send to all my music-lovin’ pals out there. Very quickly, my obsession got the best of me and this collection grew way too big to send out all at once. So here’s the first installation of ORIGINALS, a mix series in which we nod and acknowledge the...
December 2009
1 post
best christmas ever // dec. 2007
Here’s a fun Christmas mix I made in 2007. I’ve sent it to many of you in the years past, but I’ll re-post it here because it’s Christmastime again and some of us can’t stomach the Mariah Carey/Andrea Bocelli crap that surges over the airwaves this time of year.
There’s lots of R&B, blues and reggae that pretty much everyone can agree on, so put on your...
October 2009
1 post
beard season // october 2009.
Here’s a new mixtape for fall, or as I like to call it, Beard Season. Mellow, fuzzed-out indie & electronic stuff. Good for indoor listening.
How do you like that deer? Pretty rad, huh?
DOWNLOAD: Jess Besack Mixtapes - Beard Season
Patrick Lee - Luna Moth
Gang Gang Dance - Vacuum
Radiohead - Videotape (Phaseone Remix)
Zero 7 - Ghost Symbol
Black Moth Super Rainbow - Drippy Eye
...
August 2009
5 posts
headcold mixtape // fall 2005.
In life, few things are certain. Death. Taxes. The fact that, when you are 23, you can scamper around the Lower East Side, drinking gallons of Stella Artois, meeting musicians and flirting with bartenders, having drunken Myspace profile-photo shoots with your friend in front of some ”artsy” graffiti - AND, you can still get to work on time the next morning. This is exactly what I was...
what it is? // february 2008.
This mix comes from that time in my life when I was balls-deep in all those great funk n’ soul blogs out there on the interwebs; you know, Soul Sides, Funky 16 Corners, Diddy Wah… I went through a crazy phase where that’s all I listened to, and this is just a nice collection of quasi-obscure funky tracks guaranteed to turn your cocktail party into a certified jam palace.
No...
lush life // january 2008.
I must have been in a really good mood in January 2008, because this mix is like audio endorphins. It’s probably because early 2008 was the last time in memory that I had a surplus of money, you know, before the recession kicked all of our collective asses. It might be safe to assume that this is a mix about love and money, which is great because I’m pretty much a certified expert on...
road mix for a touring musician // fall 2006.
Well, I moved about a month and a half ago, which meant shoving all my “loose CDs” into liquor-store boxes and hoping they survived the journey. I had a shit ton of discs that never made it on to my new hard drive, and for that, I dreaded opening the boxes after the move. I knew the guilt of not having the three-disc Gang Of Four retrospective, or that one DFA remix disc that came...
17 Best-Loved Somali Pirate Hits // april 2009.
Oh, Somali-Pirate Hits…I’m not sure if there is an actual theme here. I made this mix mostly for a friend, right around the height of SOMALI PIRATE MANIA!! You know, back before shit got figured out.
I guess I liked it because some of the songs sounded threatening, foreign, harsh (see Major Lazer - “Zumbi”) Stuff that would only enhance the suckitude of being taken...