Buraka Som Sistema

In my 9-to-5 gig (often more like 10:30-to-midnight) as the events editor of a Boston alt-weekly, I’m constantly running across all kinds of awesome, completely legal free music downloads of all stripes. And rather than keep ‘em to myself, I’d like to share them with you fine folks.

So let’s start off with a mixtape from Buraka Som Sistema (a Kuduro collective of three Portuguese DJ/producers and a coterie of MCs), whose white-hot new album, Black Diamond, drops on April 7.  Pitchhfork originally posted this mix, “a 20-minute mix of African drum cadences and zippy house synths,” back in November. But since BSS just posted their U.S. tour schedule, I figured it’s plenty relevant. Enjoy!

MP3 LINK: http://downloads.pitchforkmedia.com/Buraka%20Mixtape.mp3 [via Pitchfork]

Now that New England has finally vanquished winter once and for all, we’ve been inspired to create una mezcla of bouncy Afro-beat, raza rap, gypsy punk, funk carioca and sitartronics to help shake off any last remnants of winter sluggishness. Clocking in at 2.5+ hours, this high-energy 34-track mix is bound to get those creaky joints in motion, whether you’re throwing a party, working out or attacking your spring cleaning. (For easier listening, click on the “Launch Standalone Player” button to pop the playlist out in a separate window.)

Click here to see the mix in its full glory.

We’ll be posting new mixes periodically every couple of months; you’ll be able to find our most recent playlists embedded in the righthand column of this blog and on our MySpace page. And if you enjoy our (nigh impeccable) musical tastes, why don’t you rate our mix on iMeem?

Speaking of iMeem: With all the music-sharing jukebox apps out there, why did we decide to go with this one? Our top 6 reasons: Read the rest of this entry »