http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsQrKZcYtqg
(if YouTube is blocked in your country, enter this URL at atunnel.com)

A dirty breakbeat mix to get your groove on, wherever you are! Mixed by yours truly. 🙂
Tracklist
The Aut0b0ts & Timmy Schumacher – Attitude (feat. MC Kyla & Bex Riley)
Bobina – Kylie Minogue’s Slow (Cosmonaut Remix)
General Midi – The Westerner
Unbalanced Jack – Flaming Tongues (feat. Crown Jewelz & Killa Benz)
Farace – Guys Girls Dance (Farace Breaks Mix)
Bassnectar – Everybody (Freq Nasty vs Bassnectar Remix)
Chase and Status – Running
Tayo – March of the Soundbwoyz
Tambour Battant – Atomik Cirkus RMX
Entity – Coming On Deep (feat. MC S.A.S.)
ILS – Burn Again
Noisia – Groundhog
Overdub – Killing The Psyche Rock (RATM vs Pierre Henry vs FatBoy Slim)
Prime Suspect – Megalomanic
Specimen A – Nightmare
Freestylers – Push Up (Plump DJ’s Remix)
Freestylers – Push Up Word Up (Stanton Warriors Remix)
Duel Calibre – Devil in Flight
Grievous Angel – Lickle Friction
Download here: http://uploaded.to/?id=idhaf3
Presented by The MiX-Files. Photo by Miss Loisy.
There’s a lot of business coming through my street here in Istanbul. Men carrying big stacks of bread on their head, men with carts with second-hand junk, women selling flowers or tissues, but we also have street accordionists… Not sure if I mentioned them before, but it’s time to dedicate an article to them, since it’s a really unique thing about living in Istanbul.
First things first… The video! Click play. If you’re on a slow connection, like me, pause the video directly after clicking play and wait until the black bar becomes grey.
I’ve encountered this before in my neighbourhood, but didn’t think of making a video. Last time it was a gypsy father and his son, the father playing the accordion and the son collecting the money thrown from the windows. Yes, I was following the ‘ettiquette’. You’re expected to throw the money from the window as a reward. They then stay around your corner for a little while before they walk further down the street.
This custom of accordionists collecting money thrown from the windows might seem strange, but since a lot of business here happens in the street, as described in the first paragraph of this article, it’s completely logical. For instance, something else I’ve seen is people lowering buckets on a rope to receive vegetables from the sellers coming through the street with their carts. They then put the money in the bucket and lower it to give it to the salesman.
Truly some romantic customs here, even though they might seem ‘uncivilized’ to some. I know a lot of people from all around the world visit this blog… My question for you is: do you have street musicians like this? Do you have customs of purchasing stuff right in your street?
If you have anything interesting to share, please do! And remember, what might be normal, or boring for you… migth be extremely fascinating for someone living at the other side of the world… and since my readers are from all over the world, you really have no excuse not to contribute. 😉
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Last Saturday DJ Food‘s Strictly Kev was playing in a place called Babylon, here in Istanbul, as part of the Akbank Jazz Festival. DJ Food is a project by several turntablists (including Coldcut) creating jazzy breaks and is one of the best projects to come from the Ninja Tune label. Strictly Kev is the public face of DJ Food and travels the world playing their music. Below, a video I made with some of the highlights of the gig.
It was a nice night, with breakbeats blended with jazz, hiphop, balkan beats, latin house, classic britpop, oldies and more. The 1.5 hour set left many hungry for more, but a local DJ playing afterwards was able to satisfy most visitors’ appetites.
Stictly Kev played a phenomenal set. He used a computer with two digital turntables. Meaning he wasn’t playing with actual records, but loading tracks from the computer onto the turntables and then using those for his mixing. He easily switched from style to style, without anyone really noticing the difference. As I have some DJ experience myself, I was in awe at this guy’s skill and ease, although it’s possible he’s playing the same set throughout his whole tour.
A very funky, danceable night, which I’m sure you’re able to see in the video. The Turkish music fans are an ecstatic bunch, their dancing and hopping around being accompanied by frequent shouts and flailing arms.
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Last night I was relaxing a bit, since that’s the main reason why I came to Sofia, and I was looking for some documentaries on Istanbul. Hoping to learn about some interesting things I didn’t know yet in my current hometown, I came across a famous 2005 documentary called Crossing The Bridge – The Sound of Istanbul. It shows a lot of the music and culture that Istanbul has to offer, but also captures the daily life quite well. From rock to gypsie to Turkish traditional to rap to the whirling dervishes… It’s all in there! Without further ado… the documentary. (some commentary below)
Press CC to turn subtitles on. The subtitling is decent and sometimes inaccurate (both for the German as well as the Turkish parts). However it doesn’t prevent one from enjoying and understanding the documentary. So don’t let it hold you back. If you prefer to watch the video on Google Video’s site, click here.
My commentary
Ok, so most of the sights seem really special, right? That’s what I see every day. The sunsets, the Bosphorus… If I want to go to the European side, I go on one of the ferries displayed in the documentary.
At some point the video shows a group of rappers walking the street (one of them stops to say hi to a girl that’s on the phone)… I walk that street every day. It’s the street that goes from the main Kadıköy busstation to my neighbourhood, Moda. The next shot shows them walking down a street and it has the Bosphorus in the background… I walk down that street every day too. 🙂
I thought this documentary shows the daily life and the cultural life in Istanbul quite well. Some I have experienced, some I will experience, and some I will probably not experience. Having seen this documentary, I’m more inspired than ever to make the best out of my time… living in Istanbul!
As I’ve stated before, in my free time I love mixing music and DJ’ing, especially if I can get a little creative and experimental with it. I made a mix the other day in the dormitory I blogged about and I’m very happy about the result.
Eclecticism at its best in this set containing dub, minimal, breakcore, dubstep, grime, world fusion, breakbeat and psychedelic. Not much to add. Just exploring the waves of electronica. Enjoy!
Tracklist
Omar Faruk Tekbilek & Steve Shehan – Ya Bouy (Shulman Remix)
Headphonics – Corrupt & Immoral
Nagual Sound Experiment vs Ital Roots – Forward
Younger Brother – Sleepwalker Part 2
Shulman – Fromage
Ed Davenport – Apples
Dave Seaman – Gobbledygook (Jori Hulkkonen Remix)
Combichrist – Red Signal
The Bug – Murder We ft. Ricky Ranking
Mood Deluxe – The Living Receiver
Beat Bandits – O.I.T.S.
Venetian Snares – Öngyilkos Vasárnap
Ott – Evil Do’ers
Venetian Snares – Senki Dala
Click to download as MP3 (VBR), 78 minutes
Enjoy! And support the artists when you get the chance!

For those of you that know me, also know I mix music every now and then and post the mixes on my site called The MiX-Files. One and a half month ago I made a summer mix to get ready for the summer and to entertain me while travelling. Summer’s half way over, but it’s not too late to get into the right vibe if you haven’t already!
It’s summer! Sun, beaches, swimming, relaxing outside, reading, partying, holidays, seeing friends, picknicks… and here is the soundtrack! Here’s 3 hours of the best summer house music to get into the holiday mood!
Featuring artists like David Guetta, Bob Sinclar, Laidback Luke, Alex Gaudino, Axwell, Daft Punk, Deadmau5, Dave Spoon, Tocadisco and Ferry Corsten. For the complete tracklist, read below the download links.
All files as MP3 at VBR (Variable BitRate). You can choose from any one of the free file hosting sites listed behind the file.
Download first hour – MegaUpload | uploaded.to | rapidshare.de
Download second hour – MegaUpload | rapidshare.de
Download third hour – MegaUpload | rapidshare.de
Download whole 3 hour set in one file – MegaUpload | vipfile
Enjoy the music, enjoy the artists, enjoy the summer. Support the scene, support the artists, support the magic.
Tracklist below.
Miro, a friend I made in Bulgaria, just sent all his friends on Facebook (including me) a dedication via a particular application. Apparently his song “What A Music” is now uploaded in there and while listening to it again, I realized just how much that song reminds me of Bulgaria.
I met Miro in the middle of November. Asya (sorry if it’s misspelt), a colleague of mine at the National Radio, gave me a call one day that she said she was still going to take me to a party. I had no recollection of this, but then again, when I met her at the Balkan Youth Festival, days were long and nights were drunk. She told me there was a CD presentation of the winner of the Bulgarian Pop Idol in a club in the centre and asked me to come along. I hesitated for a second, then told myself to just say yes. So I did.
We arrive… free booze! She runs off and starts talking to people and I’m kept busy with people who talk to me because I’m not from Bulgaria (and because they’re just as drunk as me, from the free booze). At some point after the CD presentation, Asya gets us into the ‘artists’ area and I meet some of the people there. They are getting restless and want to have a party somewhere. Asya leaves. I was told to come along, because it was going to be fun. Obviously, I was intimidated, so I went along – I would have rather been responsible and go home of course. Who likes parties anyway?
So uhhh, the next day I wake up with a massive hangover. Pictures I don’t remember, business cards I vaguely remember, and random entries in my phone. Names with no numbers, just the letter ‘E’ with a number. You know those nights where you’re too drunk to type the name and then in your mind you go “fuck it” and tell yourself you’ll just remember it? Yeah. You won’t. If you’re too drunk to type… you’re too drunk to remember. And also, you might take pictures of the Iranian embassy on your way home.
I remembered one business card that I got belonged to the producer of the CD of the girl who won. I was a bit intimidated… It’s not every day that I get the contact cards of a ‘celebrity’. If I think back to my thoughts at that time, they’re a bit ridiculous, but make a good story. So I think I emailed him or called him, I don’t remember. Added him to Skype and it turned out his studio was right around the corner from my apartment. Literally, not even 2 minutes from door to door. He invited me and I came over. He showed me his studio and his pride. We maintained our connection and were hanging out about once a week, I guess. One of the songs he let me hear when I first came ’round to his studio (correct me if I’m wrong Miro) is ‘What A Music’, the track I was just sent on Facebook.
Those times were strange. The Pop Idol party, sitting at the same table as Philip Kotler at a high tea-styled press conference with a panorama view of Sofia, meeting my current girlfriend… but also Sofia getting colder and the weather getting harsher and harsher. It was a moment of highs and lows, which makes the highs even more magical as they already were. And that’s what this song reminds me of. The song has a magical sound to it and reminds me of the magical times I had back in Bulgaria. Therefore, without further adue, I present to you the video of my friend Star Tattooed’s ‘What A Music’. Dedicated to everyone I met in Bulgaria!