The word mixtape has plenty of different interpretations. It used to be that mixtapes were actually DJ sets recorded on cassette tapes, but with the coming of the digital music age, the name remained the same, but the definition expanded. Nowadays, people call mixtapes many different things, some of which are not necessarily mixed and most of which were never taped. Here we try to cover them all. In this column, Juan Data gives you a worthy one every week.
DJ: Frikstailers
MIXTAPE: Un Poquito de Esto y Aquello
Nobody in the whole ZZK family is as prone to extreme experimentation as the Frikstailers. Those guys simply have no limits, they’ll grab samples from pretty much any music style out there, tweak them and mutilate them in the most imaginative of manners. Hence, when putting together a mixtape, Frikstailers will for sure surprise us with their odd selections. No clichés, no common places, no radio-friendly tunes.
Sure, the set has a little bit of ñu-cumbia by the likes of label-mates El Remolón and Tremor, Mexico’s Sonido Desconocido II and genre pioneer Dick El Demasiado. After all, they became known worldwide as part of that scene, even if only a couple of their tracks fall under that denomination. So it’d wrong to expect them to stick to that genre when mixing a DJ set, these guys go way beyond ñu-cumbia, even way beyond the electropical or tropical bass umbrella term.
All you can do, when confronted with a Frikstailers mixtape, is expect the unexpected, leave all your preconceptions behind and listen with an open mind while they take you in a friki trip to the unknown.