Summer Jamz #9: Nate DeYoung & Todd Hutlock

Download this mix: http://www.sendspace.com/file/58zmwc

Tracklisting:

1. Bandulu - Phase In Version

2. Delta Funktionen - Nebula

3. Two Lone Swordsmen - Turn the Filter Off

4. The Mole - Hey Girl (I Feel So Good)

5. Stephen Beaupre - Fish Fry

6. Sweet Exorcist - Clonk (Freebass)

7. Matthew Styles - We Said Nothing

8. Ernesto Ferreyra - The Last Shooter

9. Robert Hood - Master Builder

10. Slowhouse - Unknown Track 3

11. Teste - The Wipe (5 AM Synaptic)

If we have a theme for this mix, it would be ‘nothing from the new milennium.’ Well, for Hutlock’s portion of the mix - he went so far as trying to convince me that ‘everything old is new again.’ And if that’s not a plea for a way out of a mid-life crisis, I don’t know what it is.

Old jokes aside, Hut gave me some nice surprises - “Phase in Version” is a little wonky Basic Channel rush. Todd crushes hard on this track - it probably doesn’t hurt that it was released on a Creation sub-label - and I can finally say I totally agree with him. Same goes for Sweet Exorcist. But those of us with Warp fixations already knew that. Maybe my favorite of Hut’s choices is Teste’s send-off of “The Wipe.” It’s pretty bleak for a summer jam, but the bassline nuzzles in just right.

If everything old is new again, then there’s only one constant in my selections and that’s keeping it as ephemeral as possible. Tracks like Matthew Styles’ “We Said Nothing” might be a nice little trick - detuned drums and an insistent analog synth screwdriving - but I don’t care how it ages. It’s perfect for right now. Same goes for the overwhelm-o-disco of Mole’s “Hey Girl (I Feel So Good).” But Stephen Beupre has spent the longest time as my instant-fix, from the spring deep into the summer. “Fish Fry” is nothing but modest - a slow accumulation of atmosphere, held down by just the vibrato of a meandering melody.

Ableton didn’t play nice so this “mix” is unmixed. It’s a paint-by-numbers, if you will, so make your own.

–Nate DeYoung