Friday, January 15 2016

Songs We Listened To A Lot In 2015

My dude Skratch Bastid and I just released the latest instalment of our annual “Songs We Listened To A Lot” mix. A 2 1/2 hour mix 38-song mix of songs that we gave many spins in 2015 – new releases, new discoveries, and classics that came back. Special thanks to THUMP who have premiered it – check the link in below for the mix along with some words about the mix and select songs. Artwork by Alex Rhek, duh. GO LISTEN! LINK:

Wednesday, December 2 2015

Live At Mighty 5 Year Anniversary With DJ Excel

Big shout out to my homie Frank D2K on the 5 year anniversary of his monthly Mighty party, which I’ve played at a bunch of times. The list of DJs who have performed here over the past 5 years is a who’s who of top choice artists and I’m honored to be among them. For the 5 year anniversary Frank had me team up with my other great homie and awesome DJ, the one and only DJ Excel. Excel and I did a 4 hour back to back tag team jam so here it is. Check it out!

Cosmo Baker & Excel – Live from Mighty 5yr Anniversary at Silk City by Excel on Mixcloud

Thursday, July 30 2015

Baker’s Dozen: The New Mix Series

Thanks for tuning into Baker’s Dozen – episode 18!

For those who may not know, for years I’ve been putting out a kind of “Best Of” monthly mix which was called Cosmo Baker’s Top Ten. And over the years, having put them out off and on sporadically, I’ve amassed 17 different mixes.

Now “Best of” is really a misnomer because there’s really no “best” songs in my opinion – like this isn’t some sort of award show or race – it’s more of just the tunes that I was personally feeling at that particular time. And over the years the “Top Ten” mixes really evolved into a particular sound that was definitely more dance-oriented, but never losing the funk quality that I feel drawn towards.

Also with the Top Ten mixes, it really gave me a few different opportunities to stretch out musically. Sure, lots of people knew of me as a DJ who would play some great rap tunes (and sure there have definitely been rap tunes rinsed on these mixes) but the pleasure I get out of playing dance music is unique. And it’s not only about my growth as an artist which is what these mixes are about. It’s also sharing and spreading the love of my friends and other people that I work with and admire in music. These mixes give me the chance to spread love to people that I respect and admire. Another thing about these mixes is that it gives me the opportunity to play things that may be exclusive, things that may have fallen under the radar, and things that maybe I might not bang in a typical Cosmo Baker set. But then of course as art imitates life, sometimes my sets started sounding like my Top Ten Mixes.

The last thing about these mixes is the way I’ve traditionally approached them. Unlike a lot of the other mixes that I – or most DJs do – they’re not about fancy tricks or wicked blends or any of the bells and whistles. I’ve always approached these mixes more from a curatorial perspective, and to allow that to reflect in the actual mix itself. Going out and finding new tunes, new tunes that I like and can stand behind, and figuring out a way these all work together in one cohesive mix. The mix is always done bare bones, using nothing but two turntables and a mixer, but the music as a whole speaks a lot more in what it contains than how it’s presented. Truth be told in my mind’s eye it’s a version of me being my own John Peel or Pete Tong.

So here’s Baker’s Dozen – the (new) new series of music presented by yours truly. Hope you enjoy it!

 

René & Angela “I’ll Be Good (King Of Nothing Edit)”
Gallant “Open Up (Neonhund Remix)”
Luca Lush “Velvet Girls”
Mura Masa “Firefly feat. Nao”
Dr Packer “Shared Nights”
Jeremy Glenn “LIV”
Jean Tonique “What You Wanna Do feat. Dirty Radio”
Junktion “I’m Wishing (Original Mix)”
Lion Babe “Jump Hi feat. Childish Gambino (Todd Edwards Remix)”
Aroop Roy “Quen Vai Querer”
Enzo Siffredi “Sometimes (Original Mix)”
Earth People “Dance (Steve1der 2K15 Edit)”
Chet Faker “1998 feat. Banks”

Thursday, June 4 2015

Cosmo Baker All Vinyl Mix from The Do Over Miami 2010 Hosted By Aloe Blacc

OKAY! So since I’m playing in Miami this Saturday for the second time in 2 weeks (YOU BETTER BE THERE) I thought I would bring back an oldie but a goodie! Here’s my ALL VINYL set from. It’s my ALL VINYL set recorded at The Do Over in Miami during WMC 2010. Me on the turntables, Aloe Blacc hosting, vibes abundant. Recorded live at BAR in Downtown Miami on Sunday March 28th 2010. All vinyl, a little tipsy off the sangria, wearing the dashiki so you know it’s going down…I’m playing a lot of 45s and also 12″s and it’s funk and R&B and rap and breaks and disco and stuff… It was a truly amazing day!

I was fortunate to have The Do Over’s own Aloe Blacc handle the hosting duties that afternoon, and the DJs that played that day is kind of a line-up made from heaven. (thee) Mike B, Rich Medina, Jeremy Sole, DJ Maseo, Vikter Duplaix, Daz-I-Kue, Jeremy Ellis… And I had be difficult and play RECORDS hahah. And this was either the day that ‪#‎Vibes‬ was born or it may have been ‪#‎SharkAttack‬ I am not sure. But it was definitely vibey. I was wearing my dashiki at that. Anyway. SoundCloud took this mix down a long time ago but I just reposted it on Mixcloud and if you’re thinking of some good tunes that you may wanna hear in a sunny backyard BBQ style then this may be it.

Extra shout to one of Miami’s finest Mr. Brown I woke up that morning in Miami and I knew that I wanted to play one of my all-time favorite records, Idris Muhammad “Could Heaven Ever Be Like This” but this is vinyl and I couldn’t just download this song and make it appear in my crate. But I put the word out there and halfway through my set Mr. Brown showed up and handed me off a copy of it on 12″ (and for those who aren’t record nerds and may be unaware of the significance it’s a pretty rare, pretty expensive record.)Anyway, I was happy to end my set by playing that song in full, making me – and a few other people I know – very happy!

Enjoy… and for more Miami love check this out! (Just an an FYI this was up a long time ago but SoundCloud took it down so thanks Mixcloud to the rescue!)

Cosmo Baker All Vinyl Set Live @ The Do Over Miami hosted by Aloe Blacc by Cosmo Baker on Mixcloud