Wave Count

MIT’s Stefan Helmreich and I have collaborated on a mega-mix of music that evokes or otherwise represents ocean waves. Building on Stefan’s anthropological work with ocean scientists and my ideas about telling musical stories musically, this mix carefully stitches together 70 pieces in a 3 movement, 44 minute montage. The pieces were composed between 1830-2018 […]

Read More →
¡Antigua Vaina!

This mix amplifies the resonances between the music of 19th century composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk and the bedrock rhythm of reggaeton and a great deal of recent pop music — a/k/a, dembow. As much a tribute to Gottschalk’s faithful fantasias as to the numerous architects of dembow aesthetics, we hear in their juxtaposition how one […]

Read More →
Another Crunk Genealogy Turns 10

Hard to believe, but my ol’ mix, Another Crunk Genealogy, was published 10 years ago today. It’s been up all this time (along with the other 49) — and indeed, I welcome any newcomers to peruse the detailed notes and FruityLoops demos here — but I’ve just posted it to Soundcloud to let it circulate […]

Read More →
Summer of Technomusicology (2014): DJ Mixes

The fifth etude in our summer session required students to cook up short DJ mixes that follow a particular musical thread across time and space. As readers will know, I’ve made a few of these over the years, and I’m obviously enamored of such an audible form of storytelling about music culture in the age […]

Read More →
Jampacked Picó

Picó Picante is always a nice nice time, but this Friday they’ve really stacked the decks — All these DJs are stellar and longtime friends & colleagues, and among other things, Jubilee has a poppin new EP out on Mixpak Records, and Dev/Null just posted a helluva 2 hour session devoted to atmospheric jungle from […]

Read More →
Cyaan Stop Won’t Stop

If raggamuffin hip-hop never gets tired for you either, I’m happy to report that yet another juicy mix of fliptongue stylistics over dusty breaks and jeepbeat bass has come to my attention — Originally cooked up in 2010 by one Matt Nelkin, and now re-upped with special edits for your DLing & DJing pleasure, “Boombap […]

Read More →
Picó’clock

Once again it’s that time! I’ll be guesting at Boston’s Best Dance Night™, Picó Picante, this Friday– Picó is always the ideal occasion to break out treacly dancehall pop covers, classic reggaeton, salsa remixes, and azonto jams, among others, so, yeah, pretty much always ready for that. And readers of W&W need no intro to […]

Read More →
Raggamuffin Hip-Hop Mega-Post!

illustration by Patrick Kyle for Cluster Mag I’m very happy to share some new work that involves quite a bit of collaboration: two articles and a truly epic mega-mix devoted to the rich, ruff-and-ready sound of raggamuffin hip-hop — aka, dancehall-derived flows over breakbeat-based beats (ca. 1987-94). It’s a distinctive and special repertory, near & […]

Read More →
Owed to Picó Picante

Tonight is the 2 year anniversary of Picó Picante, one of the shining lights of Boston’s club scene, and something I’ve been grateful to be close to — The pics of me at Picó over the years attest to the special vibes of the place (even when I’m seemingly giving the stankface to someone making […]

Read More →
Riffs on Riffs on Riffs

If you haven’t heard it yet, I finally cooked down a Zunguzung Mega Mix that features all 50+ instances that have come to my attention since I first started listening for that catchy likkle tune and, with the publication of this piece back in 2007, enlisting others to lend me their ears. The impetus for […]

Read More →
Boston Mashacre

On the 243rd anniversary of the Boston Massacre (bigup Crispus Attucks!), I’m reposting the merely titular-pun-related mix of Boston-associated songs I cooked up for the Somerville Art Council back in 2005. This is also (barely) germane to the day given the currently flaring debate over Massachusetts’ official rock song. (As they say around here, I […]

Read More →
It Takes a Little Sharing

In honor of the late, great Aaron Swartz, pictured above, I’m making an overdue effort to get some of my own works out from behind walls of various sorts and into the open. (This is always my practice, but sometimes there’s more of a lag than I’d like.) I can’t say that I ever met […]

Read More →
Rocksteady to Lit City

If you happened to have slept on either of these two recent and utterly epic Beat Research sessions, I’m happy to report that both DJ Rashad’s blistering juke set and Junior Rodigan’s masterful tour of Studio One’s rocksteady resonance are now online and listenable & what-not. Enjoy!

Read More →
Find Us In Da Clob

So super siked about Beat Research 2nite! We’ve got not one but two local luminaries, Ivanna Bergese (aka DJ Philomena) and Pete DevNull, two of my all-time favoritest lovers of music and dance and total stalwarts and supporters of so many scenes here that they really do each deserve an award. In lieu of that, […]

Read More →
Atropical Base

This week at Beat Research — now every TUESDAY at Good Life in downtown Boston — we’re enthused to host none other than NYC-based Dutty bredrin (and local alumnus!), Atropolis. Hailing from / representing Queens, Atropolis co-hosts regular parties (and expeditions) as part of Cumba Mela while pumping out remixes that get to the essence […]

Read More →
Lambada Is a Feeling

I’m happy to report, just in time to soundtrack that new spring in your step, that I’ve cooked up a new mini-(mega)-mix! This one follows the circulation and permutation of a song I’ve tracked here before, “Llorando Se Fue” — better known to the world as “Lambada.” [audio:http://wayneandwax.com/wp/audio/moments-in-lambada.mp3] You can get some sense of the […]

Read More →
7 Years of Beats Researched

Tonight marks an amazing 7 years of warped records, self-destructing mp3s, and other mutant musical tricknologies at our modest but massive Monday institution, Beat Research! #swag To celebrate, we’ll be ringing the anniversary alarm with two of our favorite purveyors of bassculture-bred dance musics from the wide, wired world: erstwhile Bostonian DJ Ripley and Boston’s […]

Read More →
dubble dub (riddim meth0d repost)

Although I initially posted this mix in November 2005, springy days like today — it’s nearly 70 degrees and flowers are poking out of the ground! — always seem like just the right setting for my dubby take on dub, as prepared a little over 5 years ago for bredrin Brynmore‘s erstwhile weekly, Heavy Dread. […]

Read More →