Using Predator-like drones, private military contractors remotely defend water reserves in Mexico from drought stricken locals to a soundtrack by Nacional Records. This all-too-possible near future set to a nasty beat is the vision of Sleep Dealer, a Spanish language science fiction film written and directed by Alex Rivera.

It premiered in NYC last April, which makes it ancient in internet time, but we had to post something about it. The thoughtfulness of Rivera, who resides in New York and first filmed the Sixth Section documentary for PBS, charts the genre into unlikely territory. By addressing current political and environmental issues, he grounds it in reality. And he avoids diving into fantasy by exploring technology that seems probable in the near future and in need of serious discussion. All this brings the movie closer to social commentary than mere entertainment.

As for the soundtrack, it features a number of good songs that have since been released for free in one form or another. Bomba Estereo’s “Raza” made its psychedelic Cumbia debut here. It’s since been released as an MPFree over at NYRemezcla (hastily compiled English translation after the jump). The album also included the Latin dub stylings of Fidel Nadal’s “Puerta De Oro (Con Pablo Lescano)”. That was more recently part of the free Nacional Records Sampler 2009. Nortec Collective’s “Tijuana Sound Machine” and “Discoteca Nacional” were also on the soundtrack.

Race (Raza) - Bomba Estereo (lyrics translated to English)

Race…

If you ask yourself where it came from
If half from the sea
If half from the river
I like singing to my friends
Sing to the wind, to the heat and the cold
To reach you I would love to
(My) political stance: undefined
(My) relationship status: stable and single
(My) perfect drink: cold beer, hey!

And my speech is not very easy and it’s not written down
But whoever wants to know, I’ll explain it
I multiply with the percussion
I ring and ring that’s why I criticize you
I’m not a fan of protest
However, I respect your project
It’s just that kind of analysis which sometimes stinks
That you complain and don’t do anything is what bugs me

And that’s the way my race is
My folklore
And this is the cumbia that I sing to you
And that’s the way my race is
My folklore
From deep within the heart
And that’s the way my race is
My folklore
And this is the cumbia that I sing to you
And that’s the way my race is
My folklore

I was not born a rasta, no
And I’ll say that upfront
But I grew up in the sea
Very close to the people
With the sun strong at 2:20
When the sweat gets hot
And sometimes I complain about the president
About dumb women, about the smart ones
I don’t want to sing to those who are absent
I want to sing to those who are present

I don’t have a valid visa or passport
But I want my music to reach other continents
Those who speak English
Those who don’t understand it
If I can’t travel let the music try to
Hot, upfront, so that it explodes
Yes! This music is for intelligent people For Bogota and for Baranquilla
I like cumbia because it is simple listennn!
Because it’s simple listennn!
Because it’s simple listennn!

And that’s the way my race is
My folklore
And this is the cumbia that I sing to you
And that’s the way my race is
My folklore
From deep within the heart
And that’s the way my race is
My folklore
And this is the cumbia that I sing to you
And that’s the way my race is
My folklore
My folklore
My folklore
My folklore
My folklore
My folklore
And this is the cumbia that I sing to you
That’s the way my race is
That’s the way my folklore is
(My race) And this is the cumbia that I sing to you
And this is the music that I sing

So you like Rock
I like Santa Marta’s, yeah!
Oh, for my neighborhood

Listen, man
This is the house
This is the house
When you want to come on by

And that’s the way my race is
And that’s the way my race is
And that’s the way my race is
And that’s the way my race is

(Thanks to Ricardo for transcribing this.)

Barney Iller is a Brooklyn hype man of sorts, but he still doesn’t understand why New York doesn’t have more music producers. He calls BK’s “Fort Stuylliamsburg” (Clinton Hill?) home, and labels it the “epicenter of the Brooklyn underground.” In fact, “the Brooklyn underground party scene,” Iller adds, “is among the best if not the best in the world, and most people would have no idea where to look for it.”

Yet he still can’t figure out why there’s not more producers here killing it: “New York rules, but the one area I feel we lag in is a community of producers. There are super talented people here too, so I think busy schedules are partly to blame, and partly that there wasn’t already a tight community of producers for people to glom onto when they arrived on the scene.”

His music is part of a new fusion of pan-Latino and tropical sounds with electronic and other contemporary influences. He credits the interest in this style of music in New York “to individuals with a passion for promoting it such as Geko Jones and Uproot Andy of Que Bajo.” But he also notes that this kind of scene “only exists right now, I think, because of the small handful of talented producers worldwide carving out a new genre, making really killer new music.” Here’s a couple tracks he hit us off with to share with y’all:

In “Underworld Merengue“, gold plated NES tomb raiders hyped up on pixelated tamboras make a mad dash for underground dancefloors. It’s a frenetic combination of Dominican-birthed beats, dark ’80s sample-play nostalgia, and washboard-grated analog basslines. The smoother and more organic “Tamborito Breaks” pairs horns and fuzzy, amelodic jaw harp styles with persistent clappers and big bass strings. It’s an edit of “Tamborito Swing” by Los Silvertones, released last year on the Panama! compilations by the excellent Soundway Records. (Aztec Calendar installation by Fernando Mastrangelo.).

Ghostly International just released a free instrumental hip hop EP by Brooklyn’s own Mux Mool called Viking Funeral. It’s a promo of his also recently released single, Lady Linda, which itself is a promo of Mool’s upcoming full length, Skulltaste. (Did we even get all that right?)

The track featured here, from the EP, is a good example of the disco downbeat popular with Brooklyn beatmakers like homeboy, Eliot Lipp and Machinedrum. It’s full glittering melodies, fuzzy bass and a doors of perception keyboard solo. With full bravado, the rhythm hits the beat at the very last possible chance.

But the star of them all is “Hog Knuckles“, the B side on the single, with its meticulously layered melodies and richness of composition. Stuttering, chopped and repurposed guitar melodies lay the foundation on top of a wonky, wavering beat of clacking percussion and hollowed out bass kicks. Synths uttering melodic nonsensical computer speak and crushed keyboards flesh the rest out. Overall, it gives the impression that the song was the last drops of music squeezed out of a pile of discarded, yet recently valuable hardware. That’s the one you gotta buy. “Lady Linda”’s sputnik satellite styles and latch clasping percussion are actually available for free at RCRDLBL. Also, in case you missed it, Mux Mool’s most recent Moongadget effort “NAFE” was pretty good, so cop that too. (Photo by Tuftsmania.)

It’s nice to hear an all original track with a Brooklyn rapper spitting over a subs-filled beat. Elucid collaborated with British producer Metabeats, AKA Chesus, to create this intergalactic joint called “Whirlwind Through Cities”. Elucid’s previously shown his affinity for bass music by spitting over the beats of Joker, Kode 9, 77Klash, and others on his mixtapes. Why reuse an acapella everybody’s heard countless times? Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but there’s such a large well of fresh vocal talent within our shores and we’d like to see more exposure for up and coming artists. (No disrespect to all the toasters out here - you know y’all keep killin’ it.) Emcess on the hip hop circuit seem to be more open to this type of collabo in other parts of the country. Like the West Coast, probably due to the whole Wonky thing. And presumably Atlanta, since the beats down there are more electronic oriented to begin with. Photo by Ian Fox.

DOWNLOAD

A collection of mostly unreleased and new bass music from New York. From dubstep and dub to boom bap and garage. This mix is not comprehensive, it’s more of a snapshot. There’s quite a few more artists we’re really feelin’ out here.

Nate Mars — “Horizon feat. Juakali” (unreleased)
Soroka — “Uncrushable” (unreleased)
Jahdan Blakkamoore — “The General (Ticklah RMX)” [buy it]
Goonda — “Fearless (KRTS RMX)” [buy it]
Radiohead — “I Might Be Wrong (Slouch RMX)”
Mike Slott — “Gardening” [buy it]
Nebulla + Chromatik — “Slowburn” [buy it]
Sepalcure — “Feeling That I Know So Well” (unreleased)
TK Wonder — “Nightwalker” [buy it]
Yellowtail — “Mongoose” [buy it]
Zack Hagan — “rm1x 8-99″ (unreleased)
Mikey Dubs — “Kerala”
Dave Sharma — “How To Move” (unreleased)
Incyde — “I Know” (unreleased)

Original cover photo by Yeshvir Daamineni.

Got a few mixes here y’all might want to check. Follow the links for tracklistings.

First up is Crooked Clef’s Mittelschmerz. We’re not sure why he named this mix after pain related to the menstrual cycle, but dude reaps a mood of havoc on this one. Rooted in dubstep, the mix evokes a mysteriously idle clear cutting operation in the rainforest, where tractors sit vacant but the sound of their action still stains the air. Rather than straying into bassline bangers or the mid range wobblery that so often draws comparisons to rock, Clef chooses to explore the sonic relations of atmospheric industrial. Most of the tracks strike a mood and ride it, but the mix rarely lingers on a song longer than two minutes, which keeps it interesting.

Next up is a shuffle-filled dance mix by Saputotime. Dude played much of this mix at the last Turrbotax party, where he’s a resident. It’s impossible not to move to this sound. Although some of the breakdowns were a bit long and there were strained stretches of loopyness, his selection was a refreshing perspective on what makes a New York dance floor raise the roof. Download here.

Finally, we just want to make sure no one slept on Douster’s XLR8R mix. Since it’s untitled, we’ll call it Tropical Storm Douster. We’re a bit late posting it, but this is a gem. It’s a hype blend of hip hop with European club and tropical dance styles that will leave you covered in sweat like you got caught in the downpour. (Sorry, we can’t stream the mixes hosted at XLR8R.) Photo by Marcus Mumbach.

NYC-based singjay Beniton the Menace rocks an undeniably bouncy delivery on this one. And yea, independent women turn us on, too. The riddim is produced by the Bassrunner crew out of Vienna, Austria. They’re also responsible for the Lexie Lee joint, “Crying.” Definitely cop that also if you haven’t already. Image by Gigi Bio.

To avoid any hating, listen to this track before reading on. It’s probably an easy guess anyway.

Finished? Ight, then. The switched up beat, the polyrhythm drum madness, the chopped vocals and horns, and yes, even the incessant whistle in the background. They all combine to make for an intelligent, sweaty and moody night. We are not fans of vocal house, nor are we fond of lyrics about love. But this one is just crispy. Besides, it’s Deee Lite. What do you expect? The song is “Bring Me Your Love (Johnny Vicious Cosmic Isness Remix)” from the secret track on their 1994 album, Dewdrops in the Garden. It’s crazy that musicians like this used to be on MTV. Painting by Sylvia Ji.

Comin’ with thorough rhymes and solid punchlines, Flatbush’s Sene looks askance at the dreams of riches that fill the minds of so many rappers. He’s definitely on that underground, late nineties backpacking tip, and it shows on his new release The Future, which features Blu. (Together, the two call themselves Patch Adams). But homepiece got a delivery that’ll keep your head nodding and he’s got a good outlook on life. Even if your shoes are scuffed and your pockets are mostly filled with lint, you can still grab some of his music: “Elevator Music (A Collection of Rejected Excellence)” is a free LP download of his. Below, we posted a couple of the best joints on there. Photo by tellzoe.