As the musical side of our brand grows ever larger, we’ve had a lot of opportunities recently to look back at all of the projects we’ve already been a part of. It was in this recollection that we all collectively noticed: “holy shit, have we really done thirty three Keep Watch Mixes?” Started way back in 2008, this regularly released series of party mixes has been our most enduring ongoing project. Spanning literally dozens of artists and dance genres, the Keep Watch Mixes have been party fuel par excellence.

Obviously they’re all our babies and we love them all. We believe each and every one to be of truly premium quality, and still listen to each with frequency. But there have certainly been some which stick out as the most memorable of the bunch, and we’d like to give a shout out to five of those today. I wish we had an article series called The High Thirty Three. But, unfortunately, we don’t. This is the High Five.

Honorable Mentions: Jokers of The Scene - Keep Watch Vol. I & Teki Latex - Keep Watch Vol. II

I would be remiss not to include the two mixes that started the whole thing off right. After all, you’re only as good as your first step. I’m pretty sure that’s not a real saying, but for the sake of this discussion I’m going to stand by it. The first of the the first was a banger from Canadian duo Jokers of The Scene. This was back when the mixes were supposed to be tied to specific events, and theirs was to celebrate the 5th Anniversary of their club night Disorganize. Needless to say, it got the job done.

Often it can be hard to live up the the promise of a premiere, but Paris’ Teki Latex did all that and a bag o’ chips with Keep Watch Vol. II, delivering a truly deep mix that belied a skilled hand both at digging through the crate and managing the deck (in this case, the digital deck as KW Vol II was one of Teki’s first experimentations using Ableton Live). These two really got us out of the gate super strong.

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5. Trouble & Bass - Keep Watch Vol. VII

If there’s one thing that’s woven into our brand’s musical DNA as much as the Keep Watch Mixes, it’s our long standing and continually fruitful partnership with the Brooklyn based (zing!) Heavy Bass Champions of The World, the one and only Trouble & Bass crew. When we brought those two things together for the 7th edition of Keep Watch, some foundation shaking magic happened.

This mix is a fantastic summation of the supremely heavy bass sound that made T&B so renowned. Featuring appearances from the entirety of the crew, Keep Watch Vol. VII was a real “best of the best” as far as NY bass music in early 2009. Listening to it today… yeah, it seemed like a pretty damn good time.

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4. Congorock - Keep Watch Vol. IX

We had to include this one on the list, as when it came out it not only sounded great it also sounded so friggin’ new. At the time we wrote that “Congororck fuses together every conceivable genre in electronic music to create a sound all his own,” and little did we know that he would be one of the artists laying the groundwork for the EDM takeover that is still in full effect today.

Moving away from stratification and towards unity, this Keep Watch mix didn’t seem in the least bound in by genre, instead coming off as a joyous, delirious mish mash that you could never pin down. Even now it sounds like a whirlwind tour from dancefloor to dancefloor all over the world.

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3. Royal-T - Keep Watch Vol. XXXIII

Maybe it’s just because it’s still fresh in our mind, but I highly doubt it: Royal-T’s turn on the Keep Watch is a true grime masterpiece. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, we’ve been right obsessed with UK grime label Butterz lately (check out the t-shirt we made) and when an opportunity to do a KW with one of their artists arose, we were in like Flint.

The young Royal-T more than delivered, cooking up a pulse-pounding ride full to spilling with filthy riddims and massive grime tunes that still has our office going wild. Our Badman Shark has been quoted saying that 2012 is going to see a big resurgence in grime, and Royal-T will certainly be leading that charge.

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2. Skream - Keep Watch Vol. VI

I remember back before dubstep blew up, shockingly becoming one of the most popular musical genres in the world (that’s fair to say, right? Sorta?) I remember hearing Skream’s track “Midnight Request Line” and just basically having my mind blown. I wasn’t the most well versed in the UK electronic scene, and the dubstep I was familiar with was stuff like Burial, Kode9, and Pinch.

Skream’s stuff was just so heavy and dancy, but without sacrificing any of that grimy London mood of the Hyperdub artists. Listening to his Keep Watch mix makes me really nostalgic about a time when I was really getting into that kind of music and it all felt so new and cool, and as a result I just had to include Keep Watch Vol. VI on the list.

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1. Shiftee - Keep Watch Vol. XXIII

At the end of the day, a mix is not just a collection of tracks, but it’s the combination of those things into a larger singular unit. Shiftee’s turn on the decks had to number one just because of the immense skill this world champion DJ displayed putting this thing together. You can practically hear him panting in the background as his hands fly lightning fast from knob to slider to scratch.

In addition to the technical aspects, Shiftee was aces on the track selection, mixing of the moment hip hop with every kind of dance music under the sun and then chopping it all into an intoxicating mixture that hits as hard today as the day it dropped. Kudos to you Shiftee, and to all the artists who have contributed a Keep Watch mix. You all killed it!

What’re some of your favorites?

I’ve long said that Tuesday is the grimiest day of the week, and now it’s an irrefutable truth! We’re crazy excited to be dropping the brand new Keep Watch Mix (the 33rd installment!) right now, this massive dispatch coming from rising grime superstar Royal-T. We’ve been singing the praises of Royal-T, and the rest of the Butterz roster, for a minute now, and we knew that recruiting someone from Butterz would net us a killer mix. The proof is in the pudding as they say, except this time the pudding is 50 minutes of guaranteed party. The 21 year old from Southhampton, England, truly crushed it.

Royal-T, despite his young age, has already done releases on Butterz, No Hats No Hoods, Boogaloo City, and Rinse Recordings. He’s also done official remixes for the likes of Katy B and Wiley, as well as produced extensively for Grime MC P Money. Royal-T (who you can see in the above cover photo shot by Rob Vanderman) stuffed his Keep Watch Mix to the brim with a utterly choice selection of Grime tunes (including many from his Butterz cohorts). Keep Watch Vol. XXXIII features tracks from Swindle, Skepta, Champion, Shiftee and Мишка’s own Badman Shark, Terror Danjah, and of course Royal-T himself.

In more Butterz related goodness, label head Elijah is going to be in New York unofficially celebrating their two year anniversary once again, this time with help from the homies over at Trouble & Bass. That party is gonna be this Friday, April 13th (spooky!), and it marks the return of their Trouble & Bass NYC monthly party. Look for a full post about that soon, but for now get excited about this exclusive Butterz related tee we’ve cooked up to sell at the event.

In case you haven’t heard, Butterz is in fact the label, and their Grime strength is so heavy it’s gonna punch you right in the face. There’s a super limited amount in our online store right now, so if you want one for sure then get yourself to the show this Friday. Grab the mix below, check the tracklist after the jump, and make your day that much grimier!

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R U ready for heavy bass? You better be, because the newest installment of our Keep Watch mix series comes straight from the booming, brain rattling, earth shaking Subscape. Part of Caspa‘s Dub Police label, Subscape has been a shining star in Dubstep since the late aughts. We’ve been fans from the start, even recruiting him for our Fall 2011 Lookbook. For this Keep Watch mix he’s put together almost 40 minutes of brutal bass to set the dancefloor off and leave cracks in your foundation.

This thing is so vicious it’ll have you bouncing for days – and that’s just the first 10 minutes! Subscape really went all out on it, and made sure to include a bunch of stuff from all your favorite Dub Police artists. Featuring tracks from Caspa, Emalkay, Trolley Snatcha, The Others, and more, Keep Watch Vol. XXXII is dubstep at its finest. For more Dub Police, check them out on tour in the US this Winter, including February 24th at Webster Hall. Cop the free download below.

Keep Watch Vol. XXXII by Мишка Bloglin

Hit the jump for the full tracklist!

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It’s grime time! Мишка is proud to present Keep Watch Vol. XXXI, curated by Darq E Freaker. If you’ve been following the grime renaissance of the last few years, you already know Darq E Freaker, the producer behind Tempa T’s ubiquitous “Next Hype” and this year’s break-out single “Cherryade.”

A member of grime collective Oil Gang, Darq E Freaker is a vicious producer with a taste for metallic synths and trunk rattling trap beats. His Keep Watch Mix is packed to the gills with originals and exclusives – the only place you can get all of Freaker’s freakiest tracks in one place. Don’t miss his remixes of Adele and Kelis, which get grimey makeovers, and head after the jump for the full tracklist.

Keep Watch Vol. XXXI: Darq E Freaker by Мишка Bloglin

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Мишка is proud to present Keep Watch Vol. XXX, curated by Toddla T. If you couldn’t tell from his Serious Saturdays feature or the review of his new album Watch Me Dance, Мишка fully supports Toddla T’s rude boy riddims. With his mix for the Keep Watch series, Toddla digs even deeper into the tropical bass revolution that is sweeping electronic dance music.

If you’re not familiar with moombahton, this is as good an introduction as any to the slowed-down tropical house variant. Kicking off the mix is “Blaze Up” by moombahton maestro David Heartbreak. On “Blaze Up,” Heartbreak adds some bashment to this jump-up ode to herbal refreshment. Toddla soon transitions into a remix of “Take It Back” by Mad Decent’s Dillon Francis, a 108 BPM re-imagining of his throwback anthem. Next up is some dancehall by moombahton wunderkind Munchi.

Toddla T is nothing if not a genre-hopper. Soon after his moombahton diversion he’s back to the dancehall-influenced bass music that he’s known for. Tracks by Redlight and Dismantle sound like electro-dubstep by way of Carnival. Then it’s back to his roots with DJ Powa’s “Dancehall the News” jam “Nobody Canna Cross It.” Bouncing from influence to influence, some downtempo grooves from DJ First Aid & Pulsar (“Bombaclat”) melt into the unforgiving jungle of Jaydan’s “She Gives Me Love.” Similarly, Toddla closes with the Serial Killaz remix of his latest single, “Streets So Warm” (out now on Ninja Tune). Serial Killaz give their trademark drum-and-bass twist to the Toddla / Wayne Marshall / Skream dancehall collab, an amped up race to the finish line.

Toddla T has made a name for himself by doing dancehall better than anyone east of Kingston. Not content just to be the master of one domain, Toddla’s forays into everything from moombahton to jungle prove he isn’t a one-trick pony. Don’t sleep on this Keep Watch mix, and head after the jump for the full tracklist.

Keep Watch Vol. XXX: Toddla T by Мишка Bloglin

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Dance music from the Netherlands usually takes one of two forms: the stadium-sized trance of Tiesto and Armin van Buuren or the dirty Dutch sound popularized by Afrojack and Chuckie. For whatever reason, some of the most mainstream electronic dance music originates from the land of tulips and windmills. For those of us who like our electronic music deeper, darker, and served up with more bass, there is a Dutchman to the rescue.

Мишка is proud to present Keep Watch Vol. XXIX, curated by none other than Bart B More. Bart van der Meer (the B More moniker has nothing to do with Baltimore) has been making a name for himself with his techno-electro house bangers for a few years now, from the engine-revving “Brap” to the gypsy swing of “Romane.” His remixes – for artists like Chocolate Puma, Drop the Lime, and Crookers – consistently tear up the Beatport charts. Whether you know it or not, you’ve definitely danced to one of his tracks. Accordingly, this hour-long mix shows that the Netherlands exports more than music for fist pumps and glow sticks.

The mix is bookended by a pair of tracks that tell you everything you need to know about Bart B More’s sound. First up is the orchestral house of “Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens” by Carte Blanche, the duo comprised of Riton and DJ Mehdi (the mix was completed before Mehdi’s untimely death). Bart closes shop with a stellar rave-throwback, “The Bass,” his second collaboration with Trouble and Bass founder Drop the Lime (after his remix of DTL’s “Sex Sax”). Bart B More may be Dutch, but his sound is pure NYC, from deep house grooves to even deeper bass waves. Keep watch, America; you can catch him as he wraps up his fall tour in Sacramento, San Francisco, and Detroit this weekend. Head after the jump for the full tracklist.

Keep Watch Vol. XXIX: Bart B More by Мишка Bloglin

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Grime is riot music. But as England burns, reactionaries who try to blame music for the violence have the cause and effect backwards. Grime is vicious because youth life in poor boroughs is vicious, not the other way around. That’s why grime has an energy and urgency like nothing else.

Fittingly, the latest entry in the Keep Watch series is Мишка’s first grime mix. Curated by East London producer Spooky, the mix is an unrelenting mix that captures the spirit of the resurgent sound. Spooky (not to be confused with the house duo or trip hop DJ of the same name) started DJing at 13, breaking out in 2006 when his bashment riddim “Joyride” became a surprise grime hit.

Since then, he’s produced and remixed tunes for a grime who’s-who that includes Slew Dem, OG’s, Skepta, Kele Le Roc, Family Tree, Teddy, Rude Kid, Infared, Brick & Lace and Mark Morrison. In addition to playing gigs all over London, he holds down three weekly radio shows and runs his Ghost House label. In 2010, Spooky scored another grime hit, the “300”-quoting “Spartan,” a banger reminiscent of those by Alias and J-Sweet. He’s also released tracks on the label that’s spearheading the grime renaissance, Oil Gang Records.

For his Keep Watch mix, Spooky lives up to his name, kicking off with a refix of Faze Miyake’s “Take Off” and never looking back. For nearly an hour, Spooky drops sawtooth bass, rumbling beats and verses from grime heavyeights P-Money, Blacks, Tempa T and D Double E with a turntablist’s touch. In the UK, grime is the soundtrack this week. And when the riots end, Spooky will keep starting fires. Full tracklist after the jump.

Keep Watch Vol. XXVIII: Spooky by Мишка Bloglin

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A few months back the girls of CREEP modeled for our Spring 2011 lookbook. Not only do Lauren Flax and Lauren Dillard look damn fine decked out in in those Psychic M65 jackets, they are a truly gifted couple of DJs and producers. CREEP are one of those artists we have known for forever. Lauren Flax has been an old friend of Greg and Mikhail’s since before Мишка released it’s first tee. So seeing the whole world go crazy over her newest musical project is such a thrill for us because both Laurens deserve every accolade they’ve gotten. These girls got mad flavor and that’s why we love ‘em.

We’re proud to now add CREEP as the newest addition to our long running Keep Watch Mix series. The mix they’ve assembled this time is a strange and eclectic brew of dark dance music stirred and served to you in a bejeweled, ancient grail. Put your lips to their cold concoction, our 27th Keep Watch mix. The ghoulish electronic compilation, sewn together by the remarkable female two-piece that is CREEP, features musical styles that range from a haunting Gil Scott-Heron piano suite to the echoing industrial-influenced pounding of Einstürzende Neubauten. I couldn’t ask for a more beautifully esoteric jambalaya of jams.

That’s not all folks, the mixtape also offers up a couple exclusive remixes from under it’s slimy outer skin. One of the two being a remix of CREEP’s tune with Nina Sky, “You” by our beloved, in-house electronic duo, of Baryshnikov. Comprised of a pair of Russians named Mikhails, this same name thing is eerily familiar to me, Baryshnikov adds a handful of synthy weirdness to everything they touch. The other is a debuting remix, closing out the album by CREEP themselves for ”Deep Water Heartbreaker” of London’s FOE.

But that’s not all that we’ve got in store with CREEP. This Friday the girls bring their seductive haze right to our Brooklyn shop for what will be a very intimate and probably ridiculously packed in-store performance. We are proud to present Keep Watch XXVII in all of it’s shadowy goodness.

As with all of our in-store shows, this one is totally free but admission is on a first come-first served basis, and there is a very limited capacity. Arrive Early, cause you’ll never be catching the duo in such a close and personal setting again… count on that. For more information hit up our Facebook events page.

In the meantime download Keep Watch Vol. XXVII, it’s free and it’s awesome. You can find the full tracklist for the mix below.

Keep Watch Vol. XXVII: CREEP by Мишка Bloglin

Keep Watch Vol. XXVII: CREEP
1. PsychicTV – Ordeal Ov Innocence
2. Einstürzende Neubauten – Feurio!
3. Wynardtage – Cold
4. Shabazz Palaces – An Echo From the Hosts That Profess Infinitum
5. Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie XX – Piano Player
6. Azari & III – Into the Night (Nicolas Jaar Remix)
7. Nguzunguzu – Spittin ‘n Riddim
8. Nosaj Thing – Fog (Jamie XX Remix)
9. CREEP – You (and I) [Baryshnikov Remix]
10. Mittageisen – Neues China
11. Araabmuzik – Electronic Dream
12. Nine Circles – Miss Love
13. Xeno and Oaklander – Celeste
14. FOE – Deep Water Heartbreaker (CREEP Remix)

What a new Keep Watch mix so soon?!? Yup! I know it’s been just shy of  a month since we dropped Flinch’s badass mix, but what can we say? You lucky guys are getting a new one early this time around. Don’t question why, just embrace it’s sounds…

Although the French electro-madmen of Club Cheval have been very busy performing globally, they’ve taken time out from their incessant partying to graciously hook us up with the newest installment in our Keep Watch series to help promote their current Summer tour. This is clearly a mix made by international nightlife moguls: It features a jacked-up blend of house, Hot 97-esque sexjams, and cerebral techno remixes which make this edition of Keep Watch appropriate for discerning partiers of all different creeds. If we’re to believe what we hear in this selection of tracks, booty-dropping and “Bodytalk” in general are universal languages.

It’s no wonder the mix is so diverse – Club Cheval is a team of four well-respected DJs that all come from different stylistic backgrounds. They’re kind of like the hot boy band of the DJ world in that they’ve got the rock ‘n’ roll one, the retro one, the cool younger one, and the hip-hop one…and they’re all totally dreamy!

You shouldn’t expect any canned radio anthems from this wild crew, though: Panteros666 is a professional drummer who has played with Sexual Earthquake in Kobe as well as The Teenagers, and this intimate familiarity with dirty beats is reflected in his affinity for thumping, tribal percussion in his remixes. Canblaster believes that everything old can be made new again and uses vintage synthesizers and equipment to showcase that idea. Myd‘s fresh take on classic dancefloor goodness has made him a favorite of top-notch DJs Solo, Brodinski, Sinden, and Radioclit. Finally, Sam Tiba drops his hip-hop knowledge in the group’s tracks, tweaking them with bits of ghetto goodness throughout the mix.

Together, their stellar remixes have cropped up in our Keep Watch series in the past, and we’re glad to give them the space to show us what all their talents can do when you turn them loose for an hour or so. They use both their individual and collective skills to showcase their sublimely cut-up tracks on this mix, then diplomatically juxtapose them with R&B of the sing-songy persuasion, as with Omarion’s jump-rope-rhyme catchy “I Think My Girl Is Bi.” The standout tracks come from the group’s own Myd with the slinky “Octodip” as well as Canblaster’s fresh remix of Drop the Lime’s “Hot as Hell,” which will almost certainly help you become fluent in the language of grinding.

And if this mix isn’t enough awesome for you (and how could it be?), Canblaster will be in town on June 11th to quite possibly demolish Glasslands Gallery dancefloor here in Williamsburg Brooklyn. Don’t miss it! Full tracklist for the mix after the jump.

Мишка Presents Keep Watch Vol. XXVI: Club Cheval by Мишка Bloglin
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Мишка is proud to present Keep Watch Vol. XXV, created by Flinch. Adam “Flinch” Glassco is all about throbbing bass sickness backed by intricate, twisted melodies, as heard in his remix of Hussle Club’s “Loose Tights,” and his Keep Watch mixtape is no exception. His infectious, beat-oriented tracks have made him a favorite of heavy-hitters like Skrillex, Designer Drugs, Drop the Lime, Busy P, Skream, and many more names in the dubstep and dance communities, and this 42-minute mix of grinding outer-space electro will definitely show you why.

Although the buzz around Flinch as a solo artist is relatively recent, he’s been producing well-received electronic jams since 2000 and created his own electro group, True Pseudo, in 2007. Since then, he’s worked with many other dubstep icons, including 12th Planet and SPL, who are featured on this exclusive mix along with the pulsing single “World on Fire,” which has been hotly anticipated by the dub world and is available for the first time here.

Flinch has created a twisted blend of favorites like Kastle and RUN DMT (who, besides being talented dance artists, have the best name in existence) and his own uniquely distorted tracks, like the banger “Let Me Go,” a collaboration with Villains. His original work and carefully-selected favorite tracks come together to make an overarching hybrid mix of dubstep filthiness and gritty melodica. The result is a hard-hitting electronic release guaranteed to become a favorite of fans and DJs alike. Tracklist after the jump.

Keep Watch Vol. XXV: Flinch by Мишка Bloglin

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